March Miscellany

As I suspected, I was unable to keep up a daily, finished craft project all month.  I did, however, work on some kind of project every single day, so I did make stuff; it just need to be finished.

Another painted birdhouse done on March 14.

This one, which I call 'Celestial House', took both March 15 & 16 from start to finish.  There was a lot of drying time involved.  I got that large circular pin somewhere in my travels.  I snapped the pin back off it, and was saving it for a special project. This one is definitely not for sale.  I also like that 3D Saturn charm and was saving that as well.

I really, truly cannot get enough of the celestial motif!

The weatherpeople got everyone all whipped up into a frenzy about a 'big storm' for March 21st, with around 8"-10".  I woke up to this....it was barely snowing.  And it was melted by late afternoon too.  I am hoping this was the last gasp.

I'm a sucker for heat activated mugs.  

I'm also a sucker for all things Harry Potter.

We went out to dinner w/ my stepson & his g/f for Russell's bday, then they came back to the house for his fave pineapple upside down bundt cake.  

Decided to give casting resin another try.  One thing I am learning, paper does not do well in it, despite all the photos I've seen of resin jewelry with pretty paper.  I'm using what I thought was heavy paper but maybe it's not.  I hope that they lighten up after the resin dries.  I put some marbles in the mold on the right.  Also beads and glitter. 

Another ongoing project is this Create Your Own Calendar which I've been meaning to do for years. 

I wasn't sure just how many years, till I came across this page at the back of the calendar.  I'm going to guess I purchased it in 2006.  So far I have all the pictures processed and mounted on 12 pages.  I still have to put the day numbers for the year too.  I have no stickers for it so it looks like I'll have to use a stencil.  After that it will be a matter of filling in bits and bobs and birthdays.

I'm cranking away on this cross stitch.  I've worked on it every day, for hours at a time, since about March 16 or 17.  If I can keep up that pace, I should have it done by the weekend.

Kind of a crazy month....hoping that winter is over though.  It wasn't near as bad as people were expecting and definitely the best one since 2012.  Looking forward to spring and warmer weather!

March: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion

God what a frickin winter.  I thought March was supposed to go out like a lamb?  Not in New England.  Not this year.  It Just. Won't. Stop.  We get a few days of promising weather, then BAM! Back to snow in the forecast.  OK so it's not accumulating and is melting right away, but still.  I'm finally starting to see patches of grass in my back yard.  I really didn't think that pile on the deck would ever melt down.  If my back didn't hurt so bad I'd break this up with the shovel to help it melt faster.

But the plow piles are still pretty big.  That metal shed sustained bad damage to the roof on one side; it's all buckled and dented.  It always leaked, but now it's 10x worse.  I had covered the stuff in there with a giant tarp a couple years ago but I'm not sure how effective it was this winter.  We are going to wait a couple of months before taking everything out to assess damage.  I think most everything in there are tools, and totes with tools.

And that shed on the hill, which already had gaping holes in it, had the door torn off in the first blizzard.  I was finally able to get up there the other day and all the cardboard moving boxes will have to be thrown away as they got soaked.  The plastic totes are fine.

The front yard, which faces north, remains covered with at least 6-8 inches of snow.  Tried taking the dogs out but we all sank through the icy crust and then my boot got stuck so it'll still be awhile before we can go in the front.  I am grateful that the garbage can is back on level ground instead of half buried in the plow piles.  I left it out there because there was really no point in trying to put it in the driveway each week.  I am also grateful that the DPW continued to empty it considering it was always in 2 feet of snow, and covered with snow too.

So since I was still housebound (except for those 2 days I made it to the beaches), I decided to keep on cross stitching.  My friend Amy commissioned one made from this photograph.  It was somewhat difficult to figure out because the squares are hard to see, so I had to be kind of creative on how this was put together and I did end up ripping out several mistakes.  

Amy requested that hers be done in sage and purple.  Despite the screw ups that had to be fixed, I got it done in about three days.

My sweetie had his bday at the end of the month too, so I made his fave, pineapple upside down cake, but I did it as a bundt this time and it came out great!  We enjoyed lunch at our fave place, 99, and visited with his parents for a bit too.  

Then the next day, we were at Walmart and I spied these shoes in the clearance aisle.  Upon further examination, they were girls size 5.  Russell urged me to try them on anyway.  I was doubtful, but put one on, and it actually fit!  They are even a little bit too large, and honestly not terribly comfortable, but I don't see myself doing any marathon walking in them anyway.  They were only $5 and....so sparkly!!!

And celestial as well!  Yes I have freakishly small feet.

Ice covering one of my rocks in the rocks/shells bowl that I keep outside on the deck rail year round. Looks really cool.

On Monday I woke up to an email from Kreativ Drinking that they were doing a paint night that evening at the Mezza Luna restaurant, which is right in my town.  I asked my friends on FB if anyone was interested in doing the class with me and my stepson's girlfriend said she'd go!  So we met up at 6:45.  We were pleasantly surprised when food was brought into the room for us.  I realize it was included in the price but I had no idea that food was included so I was really glad I didn't eat dinner before I left the house.  Antipasto, stuffed mushrooms, garlic bread, ravioli, meatballs and a chicken-broccoli-pasta alfredo type dealie.  DELICIOUS!

Our project was a pretty ocean scene with the moon and pink blossoms.  Sam & I had a great time and it was cool to see everyone's paintings, as they are all different.  Some people added rocks, and land which were awesome.  I was too afraid to mess with mine and possibly wreck it so I left well enough alone.  I thought about adding a whale tale but once you paint with black, you are kind of committed so again, left well enough alone.

I sure hope April finally sees warmer weather because I'm not sure how much more this region can take.