iamb the walrus: New digs....and dogs!

So the major shift of my summer is all but complete. Himself has moved in, bills are up to date or slated to be paid, groceries are in, and we're planning an Independence Day soiree for our friends. Life's going well!

The most important part of this is the release: we let go of so much junk and donate-ables that we both feel much lighter. Speaking for myself, this was especially cleansing, since I donated or sold a lot of my late mother's leftover things. Being sentimental and the self-appointed guardian of family history, I have informally archived a magpie's nest of things. Old photos and letters, linens from Grandmothers past, cookbooks from my own Grandmother's young-lady years, as well as unicorns, select record albums, and furniture from my Mom. But there is a point where too much really is way too much and you just have to let go.

So, through strict purging and a rummage sale, James and I ended up unloading barrels of *stuff* and made a bit of cash in the process. Today saw a trip to Goodwill to donate the remains from the rummage sale. This leaves us now with an old TV, a boxy old-style computer monitor, and some record albums that we know we can at least get a few dollars for. Our visit to the back of the goodwill store to donate vases, bags, blankets, and so on was followed with a visit to the front of the store, where I found these beauties:

Vintage, vintage vintage! What a statement these make! I was going to take them apart and make 2 pairs from them, but I think I like them as-is. Only problem is they are clip-ons, so I'll have to convert, and they may be a little heavy on pierced ears. I'll sort it out at some point.

Action shot:

Next, there's the ornamental "thingy". Due to the odd lighting in the craft room, it's a little hard to make out in the photo, but it's really pretty. Heavy old marble and brass with 4 surviving glass dangles. Those will be repurposed, and the thing itself will become a jewelry holder.

Love those old-style details:

That was the second half of our journey, though. The first was a trip to a used bookstore to divest ourselves of a bin full of old paperbacks. This resulted in 17 bucks worth of store credit, so naturally I had to see if I could find some goodies. I did!

I've been doing some light reading about the Symbolists, Decadents, and their occult leanings lately ("light" is a relative concept....) so I thought it was time to bring Oscar back into the mix. This 1944 book was the perfect opportunity:

Mr. Wilde, looking smashing as ever:

There's a section toward the end dealing with art versus morality, and I'm always up for a good re-tread of that area...do aesthetics have a moral component (yes!), how do we suss this out, and what do we do after that? That sort of thing. And it's Oscar!

In addition to the rest of the house, the craft room is now set up for 2 prolific occupants! That meant a radical rearrangement of my previous setup, but I like to do that once a year anyway, to keep things fresh. The whole place is looking better now, and it's more homey, and more decorated.

Here's Aunt Hazel peering down from her new wall (can't tell from the photo, but trust me!) She was a Zigfield Follies girl in her youth, then went into theatrical costume design on her retirement and made a nice living. I like to keep the only other creative type in the family around my art space :)

I finally hung a tiny shelf for some little figures. My mini gargoyles look happy in their new home:

A general idea of one of the walls. Sadly, not the prettiest one, but that will be a later photo. It's so nice to have more things on the walls and out of my work surfaces!

And speaking of work surfaces, Himself reassembled a 100+ year old oak table for my use in here. He's got his own desk on one side of the room, and I have this lovely antique all to myself! Of course, it's piled with jewelry stuff, but using it is better than leaving it empty!

Things are moving so well that I laid out a new project this week, for later stringing. Hopefully this one will sell when I get it done...It looks really pretty, if I do say so myself.

We're also babysitting dogs this weekend. James' mom is away, and we're watching her mini schnauzer Stella and her chihuahua Gypsy. Both are getting along well with our little Gobi (tho he's a little bowled over by two other dogs in his space). That means a full, noisy, cuddly house! Although everyone's pretty quiet at the moment: