{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~


Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

I'm a non-coper. I admit it. I don't cope too well. That's why our last post was, let's see -- {pretty, happy, funny, real} from last week! Wow.

When it's 100° and a godforsaken amount of humidity, I fold. And yet the dryness! I never water my garden, but I relented in this case. Things were turning crispy out there. I don't know how you Texans survive.

My soul starts to get a little crispy.

Note the hose. From the previous, more crispy weather pattern.

And then the torrential rain. Not to complain, because I know some of you would really like to see the rain. But going from wishing you could shed your skin to wearing wool socks to bed in the space of a day? I think I'm getting old.




Anyway, stuff has been going on here.

Work on the third floor, which if I had any stamina at all would be done, but isn't because I don't. Spray painting. Sewing. Gardening. Reading. Thinking about all sorts of things I need to tell you and truth to tell, experiencing posting gridlock.


So let's capture some contentment, shall we?

Let's.

See these?



Yeah, these were in my den. For years. I kept saying I'd spray-paint them but they always have lots of books and clickers and lamps on them. This is just so embarrassing. The white one had been gesso-ed by my mother and then quickly pressed into service before art could happen to it, and the other one was pretending to be shabby-chic and, to be honest, failing.

But no more.


They are black.

{pretty}

In the sewing department, I made covers for the Observation Hive. Yes, he pulled some frames out of one hive and populated his little indoor bee village. And they needed to be kept in the dark!

 {happy}

So that makes him happy! (Although more juggling might be necessary, but you know what? That's how bees are. You are always moving them around, feeding them, splitting the hives, combining the hives, and otherwise trying to maximize their happiness!)

That bottle up at the top is sugar water, to feed the bees, on account of them not being able to find enough for themselves at the moment.

This was the order: Please make two curtains (but not gathered or otherwise frilly!), light on the outside so as not to absorb heat, but thick enough so as not to allow sunlight in.

I had thought of using felt (as I mentioned before), but the right thickness was not forthcoming without too big an investment.

I have noticed that when you can't find something just right to buy, it's often because you already have what you need. You just have to think a little!

Sure enough, I had this thrifted fabric in my stash, which started out as curtains, and I think it's pretty as well! (I made Deirdre a handbag out of some of it quite a while ago, but I don't think I took any photos of it.)

 {funny}

To provide the darkness, I backed the curtain fabric with pillowcases that needed to go anyway. They are just the right dimensions -- no cutting necessary. I had intuited this when told what size to make -- it seemed so familiar a size to me! And voilá!

A little tack at the bottom to keep the layers together.

 {real}

This is my way of clamping the veneer, which needed serious gluing at the bottom of the end table, before spray painting. Pieces of wood for evening out the pressure. Hey, it worked! Whatever works!

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