I will be an Artist! update 3/7/19

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I was pretty happy being a nurse for many years but when I retired I had no plan for what comes next, then I read that anyone can be an artist so I thought I’m anyone, I  will be an artist.

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I am a woman wondering what comes next, open to new ideas, willing to exchange thoughts but confused and restless about who I am now in these later decades of my life.

Being a twice-retired person of meager resources and advanced age, I started out cheap, buying craft paints and board panels and skinny canvas. I painted flowers the ‘one stroke’ Donna Dewberry way. (she is the one who said anyone can paint) I had fun painting pretty flowers for children and sold them at school and community sales.

But lately, I have been watching u-tube videos of abstract painting and this is my new favorite way to paint.  I am a self-taught (artist) painter with help from U-Tube videos, Mr. Lang and Ms. Dewberry and  Mr.Tim Gagnon plus a heap of art how-to books  There is so much to learn, so many new ways to create art, I’ll need another life-time to learn all this , maybe next life?

By the way, this painting became an  amazing table! Resin was the perfect  finish!

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sold

Update 3/7/19

Still of meager resources and even yet older, Life has moved on with me to a very new reality, an old lady on wheels. And I’m loving this new life style with GiGI my gas guzzling RV and my Smart car Babe.I’m excited to get my life in my tiny RV settled soon so I can get back to painting I’ll need to find a space, I thought perhaps I’d paint outside at the table but it is really windy here, not sure it’s always as windy as it has been here lately, maybe it calms during the summer. Other than the wind, I think this is the best place to be now, warm and snow-less.

I’m not a real neat painter but at least I won’t be messing up any one’s space other than my own, and I won’t mind cuz that’s the way I am, nothing bothers me for too long. It’s taken me awhile to come to this, it hasn’t always been easy but now is generally my way of looking at and living my life. My sloppy life style doesn’t mean I don’t care, it means I don’t care enough to let details get in the way of my peace of mind. Not everyone sees my point of view however. Live and let live please………Wow I did get off on a tangent didn’t I! Must be the fact that I’m drinking wine from the box!

Hot water Hell

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No hot water for me yet!

We just keep finding new things to try but none have worked yet, I keep hoping we will get it fixed before I take it in to be fixed. You know what I mean? Anyway to save me money before I take her in on Monday. If we decided it was such or such a thing that needs to be changed and I could order it now so he’d have it to work with instead of needing to order it and a second 35 mile trip to the tech to have it replaced or repaired. With my luck I’d buy the wrong part, for sure.

I’ve been watching utube trying to find a fix: and one man tried a final crazy attempt…

.” I unhooked the propane lines and blew compressed air through them all. Takes only a few seconds to clear the lines. Lots of oil came out (by-product of propane) and POP, all was cleared out.”

I’m hopeful, we’ll try it tomorrow, today it’s cold and rainy

So I’ve spent the day doing paper work and finding out why my insurance climbed so high when I added my smart car to my RV insurance. from $69.00- $340 OUCH! So I used AARP insurance for my smart car and saved a bundle! Yes!

Of course my license plates got sent to Texas probably the day before I contracted Carmax to be sure to send them to me in NM. Asi es mi vida!

Have YOU been to my Website……….

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I ask that a lot.

Actually I like it when strangers read here, I don’t need to take care what I’m writing because they don’t know me and won’t be disturbed  about what I may write.  While I usually just write about my day and what I have to do to make this a good life for myself there are times when  I share thoughts and ideas and even complain about this or that   on other pages.  As I am less likely to call (phone phobia) family I think this is a good way to keep in touch with them but it is a one way conversation, I get little feedback. so I ask “have you been to my website ” 

 

 

 

Bathroom Update – – Kitchen Ideas

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desert flowers in camp

I’m wondering how long this white spray paint will hold up on the sink and counter. Looks ok, until I decide to do something different. I used the white wall tiles on the floor, may be a mistake but the area is so small nothing else looked nice, could be slippery when wet. Old lady falling in the bathroom breaking a hip comes to mind. I finally got the mirror behind the toilet to stay up using adhesive and strong strips of Velcro, I also have it boosted on a couple blocks of wood so that it is resting on something solid, hard to tell on these photos. Looking at Mexican painted ceramic sinks gives me ideas….

I worked cutting tiles, not easy or as much fun as I’d expected today my hands look terrible, remind me to never do this again inside the RV!.  There is a coat of ceramic dust covering everything.    I was cutting them to fill in the irregular spaces in several areas on the wall and floor.

Still no hot water, RV guy is so busy he wont be able to look at the problem for another week!  Glad for large sized wipes and my electric water pitcher to heat water for dish washing. I’ve decided to travel to him next week, he is 25 miles away from where I am and I need (want) several things done when he finally has time. I’ll park there for a couple days to get everything done.

This is a new idea for my kitchen. Space there is really limited, today I decided to cook up some vegetables and what a challenge to actually cook a meal. counter space is nonexistent and I ended up putting everything in the Instapot rather than the oven because the oven was too small for my pans. I think I’ll be using that more than my new and unfamiliar cook top or oven.

But look what I’m going to do with my Mexican garden pot. I’m going to use it in the area between the sink and my bed to keep stuff in, maybe a few dishes or just fresh fruits & vegetables or even a garden! it will give me a little more space to put things aside while prepping food. Right now it’s just sitting there as I have to remove one board to make space for it. I have a few more ideas, I’ll hang a large cutting board off the edge of the sink that can be folded up to use, and maybe a open shelf between the kitchen and my bed

tiny spaces make you test your resourcefulness and your resources.

this is just to give an idea, behind this is my bed, this it will act to divide the spaces.

Odd Notes….

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Today I did laundry, and I spent $3 for fresh eggs, I know, odd right… but there you are. Yesterday I burned the brownies in my new convection oven. Now they are biscotti and still tasty tho hard as rocks

Today my half my family are on their way to Panama for 10 days, yeah.

they have arrived in Panama, mandé saludos a la familia.

I didn’t know the induction cook-top made so much noise, could be annoying.

What to cook with my new kitchen appliances, I have no recipe books

what does that tell you

. it’s just me to cook for, I should try to eat well

GG and I need to travel to T or C for propane, that means I have to disconnect power and sewer so we are untethered and pack things up so they they don’t fly about while driving because they will you know. We haven’t moved for a good while….I hope she starts. It will be an adventure, I’ll tell you all about it. Later.

I need to get wheel covers, I’m told the sun is hard on the tires, I have new tires, I should cover them especially since we are not moving very far and plan to stay here for now. On my list of needs and to do’s.

that’s all I’ve got for now

Good night

My Hot Water Dilemma, is ongoing……….

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I’ve been going out several times daily since we removed the stove to restart the hot water heater without success,  I thought it was something I was doing wrong,  it has always been hard for me to get it IMG_0017 lit but I’d usually finally get it lit in the end.  

I was determined to do it myself but when Lupy, my acupuncture friend came by to look at my sink ( new faucet) I gave in and asked him to light my pilot light for me.

He couldnt either and found there was no gas coming through

I had three different men here today, all at the same time. trying to figure out why I wasn’t able to light the pilot light for my hot water heater.

 they couldn’t figure it out either 

All RV experts in their own way and no one could light my fire.

Tomorrow I’ll take her in to see if I am simply out of propane! Wouldn’t that be silly, the indicator shows I have a quarter tank still that could be wrong.

I really hope this is the fix i need.Would be so simple, even laughable! no hot showers, (really fast cold showers) no hot water to wash the dishes all because I ran out of propane and didn’t know it and didn’t want to ask for help.  Probably a lesson in there somewhere.

My old GG has her propane tank built in so to fill it up we need to take a ride into town. No one comes by to fill propane if your tank is located inside (really the outside) the rv.

I’m wondering if I should see about a setup using the smaller propane tanks, I saw on utube that is a possible fix. I only use propane for the water heater, now that I don’t have my gas stove, the problem came about when we removed the stove but we can’t figure out why that should happen, the gas line was only cut off to the stove. 

Maybe I should look into alternate water heating devices.   

 

 

 

FYI for the Ladies in my Age group

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I checked out the farmacia while over the boarder the other day and I found premarin cream for $25. It’s generic, same dosage as Premarin as that costs a copay of $100.

I don’t know about you but I sometimes have an uncomfortable dryness causing irritation and a while back went to get a rx filled for premarin and was told my copay would be +$100 . I left without it .

Just thought you’d like to know.

I plan to go back for some dental care soon.

The entry we took to get into Mexico was not large, close to Demming NMNM 11 Columbus, New Mexico Palomas and we only waited a short time to get through customs on our way back, it’s about a 2 hour drive.

I used my small passport good only for Mexico and Canada much cheaper than getting a regular passport but limited.

Tiles,Tiles,Tiles for GG

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I bought another box of tiles, my last I think as I have no more places to add them without looking like I have no better ideas in my head. They are everywhere. At the entry between the stairs, over and under the fridge around the bathroom door, in the bathroom over the entire wall, backsplash behind the stove and photos as though as tiles on the edge of the loft. I suppose I could put them on Jose’s table, even cover the interior water tank under the table. Or even on the sides of my bed, that could look cool, so now it’s a matter of where I don’t have tiles, yet. I put the tree tiles at the instep of the stairs at my entry, looks fine.

Ain’t life grand.

The Land is Getting Beautifully Green but the Wind!!!

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I was concerned that I could not be happy in such a brown environment but  driving south to Las Cruces I saw that Spring is here,  I see green patches of green grass and budding trees. In celebration I bought a gardenia plant that smells wonderful.

 Life is good.

The ride was 60 miles in my smart car, made me smile when I filled the gas tank for the first time,  and it cost $20 to fill the tank.

Today we’re having a red flag wind day with winds of35-45 with gusts of 60-70mph.  I can really feel it in my RV and would not think of driving my smart car.  The wind blew my new large and heavy patio planter off the picnic table, the one I bought in Mexico that must weigh 10-15 pounds, it didn’t break!

Today I tried cutting tiles with my Dremel, what a mess I made.  it was too windy to do it outdoors plus I had to keep measuring, not a pretty ending.  I had several spaces on my walls that needed  irregular sizes plus I put white wall tiles on my bathroom floor figuring why not. My hands look terrible I have abused them in all my works, I finally put on gloves today after the damage was done, I broke the bit and winged a couple fingers but I did wear a mask. I have tile dust everywhere on everything and me, my hair doesn’t move, it’s stiff with dust, means I’ll have to take a cold shower later, why a cold shower>  Cold shower because I haven’t been able to get the pilot light back on after we turned off the gas when we took out the stove and I refuse to ask for help cuz I need to do this myself.

I tried to fix the bathroom door latch, it looks unusual and old and messed up and unrepair able which is a shame because it’s cool and efficient when it worked. But really, I don’t need a lock on the bathroom door, it’s just me here and when the door is closed it’s pretty tiny in there, so I need to cover the holes made in the door, see what I mean?

 First try with convection oven failed. damn

had problems with corners
bathroom door minus the latch, may have to cover the space t with a tile!

GG’s New Kitchen

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   A combination of this and that has keep me from writing daily and now after a week (or more) I’m ready to tell you what has been happening in my space, good things..

 We removed my stove from the RV.  It made me nervous to have an open flame, cooking with gas is great but not if you are as absent minded as I am.  So the stove is out thanks to my friends here in the park (thanks Becca and Dan)  we took it to a flee market like place where earlier Becca and I  had found a perfect cabinet that will sit in the place of the stove.   Cabinet is lovely with real wood though very light weight.     It was installed  perfectly by another new friend that I am exchanging services with.

Some really fine people around me,  I appreciate them so much I would be one frustrated woman without their help. I’ve been very fortunate.

I’ve added a backsplash for the wall behind my new convection/fryer combo, yes more tiles! I think it will look good, my kitchen will look modern and clean when I finally get my sink faucet and drain changed out.  

I’m pretty happy,  I had a visit from my brother and sister-in-law yesterday on their way to their home in Wisconsin from California.   Either they were checking me out or they lost the map.

Can anyone tell me what these figures on the cabinet mean?  Love my new kitchen, now all I have to do it change the faucet and maybe the sink.  Quite a contrast in styles in here!

First thing cooked in my convection oven is brownies and they look odd? …cuz they are burnt!