2 Lazy 2 Sort

Thomas Deachman Mills 

December 5, 1924- March 17, 2015 

My father was one of the most organized men I ever knew. His shop was always Just So, and Must Be Left in Perfect Condition or ELSE. He swept it nightly even if he hadn't been doing much. His tools were always hanging in perfect order on the wall. He could tell at a glance what was missing and he would FOR SURE find out who was doing what; they would get a scolding about they were HIS tools and one should not JUST TAKE THEM. Always ASK. Sometimes HE was the one who had misplaced it; but we really wouldn't get an apology if wrongly accused. He would just wink and tell us it had been found.

My dad was the manager of a Montgomery Ward store for awhile. It was just a tiny catalog and appliance store in a small town. When they closed that store, he brought home a bunch of "good stuff" including one of those spinning nuts and bolts display things similar to this one. Now he might have said, "no that was from the Stockton store" I don't remember. He was always a Scrounger. He would get all sorts of useful stuff just for helping with the clearing out a house or store. I guess that's where I get my scrounging ability (or curse sometimes) from!!

Anyway. He had it in the shop. Each section was sorted into different sizes and it was sometimes my job to sort a bucket of assorted nuts and bolts into this spinning contraption. At the time it would have made a good punishment because I just hated doing it. I am more the kind to have a drawer full of the stuff and have to search when I need something.

He also had a row of cans on a shelf with an assortment of things he might need; hog rings, fence tension bars, small hinges and braces, and many of Those Things I have no idea about. Each can (tobacco cans, coffee cans, Crisco cans back when they were metal) was Labeled Properly. I remember a day when he had me mark each one because he said I had such good handwriting.

But way down at the end was a special can. He had taken the handle from an old coffee carafe and attached it to a can. It contained a very random assortment. It's the only one I saved from that row of cans because it said volumes to me. Even though he often insisted upon perfection, He knew all my cans would be like this one. So this can makes me smile. There are some things I recognize in here but some I have No Idea.

As I get older, I get more like my dad, with all my little containers Properly Labeled. I take comfort in being orderly. I can see how calming it is to carve some kind of order from the chaos of life. I don't have rows of nuts and bolts, mine are more crafty: crayons, felt pens, watercolor trays, chalk pastels... and notebooks full of stencils, masks, screen printing screens, and rubber stamps.

Missing you today, Dad. Father's Day is coming up and even though you aren't here to celebrate, I will honor you. I'm so glad you were my father. I learned much from you. Life can't be expected to be Orderly and Peaceful, but we can learn to see and be the best in every situation. On one of the last days of his life, he told me he had figured out why he was still here. He said, "I understand what I am supposed to be doing now." I asked him what. "I'm supposed to brighten the corner where I am."

And he certainly did. He made people smile at the worst of times. He sang "Show me the Way To Go Home" in pig latin almost to the end (as goofy as that is, it was kind of a symbol of our relationship... we spoke often in pig latin. By the last day I couldn't sing it any more. It became showing him the way to a different Home... and I just got too choked up. Haven't been able to sing it all the way through since!)

 He always had kind words in the midst of his misery. He made friends with every nurse and aide and had many telling him their troubles and their life stories. He was just that kind of man.

 I had the honor of being with him those last few days. We spoke of Heaven, and of letting our bodies go. He asked me what I should do. I told him his body was just wearing out.  We talked about Mom and I taking care of each other. I didn't get to be there when he died, he waited until no one was with him. But I got to say goodbye, and I will always be thankful for that.




What's this? I have no idea. But it will stay in the 2 Lazy 2 Sort can at least until one of my kids says, "what on earth did Mom keep this stuff for??" and it will get tossed into the dump heap. 

As my father would say, It's a thing that screws on to the doomaflatchy and holds up the whatchamadoodle. Doesn't everyone know that?

Tutorials and such (this is supposed to be funny but I have a screw loose)

I'm not really blogging for anyone but me. I don't always know why. Today I was thinking, well I did those soother bottles differently than other people did. So I thought I would do a tutorial. I already did it so you get no pictures of them in process.

First, find someone who drinks Boost on a regular basis, or start to do so yourself. I am fortunate that my mom has weight issues. Meaning, she's so thin at 93 pounds she has to drink nutritional supplements. Of course, I would never wish that on anyone, since people continually tell her to eat more, which would be a nice problem for about a minute. Her latest response has been, "Why is it okay to tell me I'm too thin but it isn't okay for me to tell you you're too fat?" or "Why is it okay for you to tell me to eat more but it isn't okay for me to tell you you should eat less?" And she has a point, too. That reminds me of my mother in law, who was also a Skinny Minnie like my mom, who insisted that I could certainly wear a certain size 8 jacket... and when I tried to put my size 16 self into it when she wouldn't drop the issue, of course I couldn't even fit into the sleeves... and she said, "I had no idea you were so fat".

Anyway. Now that you have a few Boost bottles, get some glycerin, dish soap, mineral oil, baby oil, or whatever the recipe you found on Pinterest calls for. Put whatever you want into the bottle, add some glitter, and glue the lid on. Hand it to a baby and see if they like it. Be prepared to clean up if you didn't get the lid on tight or you handed it to a strong two year old.

Hopefully if you are reading this, you understand that I am the one who WATCHES tutorials, and not one who MAKES them. And I hope you don't gain too much weight drinking the Boost. Get the diabetic kind if you have to drink it yourself. Just don't get Glucerna, which works great for diabetics like my hubby, but their bottles aren't clear, which would not make a soother bottle soothing because you couldn't see it.

Tongue firmly in cheek,
 

soother and shaker bottles

I really like these. They are small (made from my mom's Boost nutritional drink bottles--about 5 and 1/2 inches tall). So far they are just sitting on my kitchen windowsill waiting for more. They are soothing to me! I've been fighting lots of tears these days with my daughter moving far away... and these are helping. Just staring at them and watching the glitter settle is calming. These are going to be for me until I figure out how to seal them so they won't come off in little babies' hands. I have a bottle with little cars in it that one of my grandsons enjoyed shaking. He's almost a year. So I think these bottles will also make good shakers for them. They are just the right size to grasp and not heavy at all.

I saw this idea at my daughter's house. It was a bigger bottle, and swirls of fine glitter. I saw several blogs that showed how to do this. I explored it on Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/calming-bottle/

Anyway I just experimented. I have some perler beads, but they didn't work because they floated. I found some other beads that sank as well as some small gems. I used the glitter I had, some from my mother in law. In the jar on the left, there's large green glitter, medium pink and tiny clear snow glitter. The water ended up tinted pink. When you shake it, it's dark green, which gradually changes to blue (?) then pink. I stuck a few things in there but they are hard to see. I did discover that some of them sank in just water but floated when I added the glycerin. I'm thinking some tiny plastic creatures would be good but I don't have any at the moment.

The other one has red glitter in two sizes as well as gems and a few beads.

I used mostly water and added glycerin until I liked the way it floated. I think it ended up 2/3 water and 1/3 glycerin. There's all kinds of recipes to explore.


June 7
This one for today is my favorite. I started it with black sand and I hated it. So I strained out the sand, found Grandma's gold glitter from way back... and added some ultra fine gold, and a little multi color ultra fine. I scrounged around for shells and found enough. A drop of liquid watercolor in blue... a bit of glycerin to slow it down... and yes I love it. Here's a closeup. Now to work on lid glue. Saw one blog that used duct tape. I have some pretties so might do that.

July 3
I ended up gluing AND taping. Gave to Baby M. She loved them. I still have the shell one, I needed one for me. Am going to make some more for the Other Babies. I think Baby C. would love them. And then there are still two Unborn Babies coming up.....

rock collection

This picture isn't all of the rocks, by any means... my mom says I used to pick up rocks wherever I went and I kept all I could get away with keeping. I had many boxes of rocks hidden away.

 In seventh grade, I did a science project with my rocks. The grandfather of my across-the-street neighbors was a rock hound, and I had the privilege of spending time with him, learning about the rocks he had gathered and identifying the ones I had. He even gave me samples! I still have the petrified fish, some agate pieces, and a couple of geodes he gave me, and even a few tiny industrial diamonds as well as the beautiful specimen of pahoehoe!

Before Camanche Reservoir was there, a different neighbor took us gold panning and I still have a teesy tube with flakes of gold. Not worth much, I'm afraid!

I'm still at the rock collecting. Usually though I buy them where I go, since you cannot now legally collect rocks in national parks. I'm always fascinated with those pretty dyed pebbles, even though I know they are not naturally those colors.

My daughter in law added to my collection with a beautiful piece of jasper.

I have a display on the top of the bookcase, and a case of them as well... and some scattered around here somewhere, either in boxes or on display. That's another collection that doesn't get downsized.

Hmm.

This was from Bryce Canyon gift shop. You can't see the glorious
orange color very well.

a river rock with someone
in the hole.

this one is a beautiful green.

This isn't as pretty as most geodes, but
it just split without cutting
from Mr. Isbill

collections...

I am a Hoarder. I do not collect garbage, my house is not knee deep in stuff (well there is That Room...) I've been sorting and tossing and tossing..... until I can't toss any more, then I see what else I can get rid of.... but there are The Collections.

Of course I can't toss my dollhouse dolls, although my mom decided I didn't need my old metal dollhouse any more. It was a Marx Tin doll house, I found a picture of one for sale on ebay, which I don't want to buy, since I don't want to spend $146 on an old metal dollhouse... but nostalgic of course. I still have some of the old furniture, including a dresser and a couple of beds... I remember I had a stove and refrigerator, and that the refrigerator door was broken... taped together like some of my other toys...

My dollhouse family was a bit odd. I had some porcelain dolls, but not your usual mother-father and children. Nooo.... there was The Cowboy, The Uncle, and three little girls and a little boy. I think the Cowboy and The Uncle were running some sort of orphanage; but nobody ever got adopted. For awhile I had some of those bent-legged babies, don't have any idea where they went. I don't think Uncle and The Cowboy were Up to anything, I was just Making Do with what I had... I have no idea where these little dolls came from, or why my doll house never had a Proper Family. But we did all right. They certainly kept me company. They were small enough to fit into a pocket.

For some reason, I never let the kids play with them, although they must have been sturdy enough, they survived MY playing. Then my father made a wonderful doll house for us, along with help from my daughter and my sons. It now sits in The Middle Bedroom with my dollhouse toys and my daughter's. She didn't have a Proper family either, she wanted bears. I did make a clothespin doll to be Goldilocks when she visited. We made furniture as well as acquiring a few things, like a tiny cast iron stove. I had a wooden cabinet that I let her play with, and we found a lovely table to use.

And so I'll reminisce...and hope someday some grandchild will enjoy playing with The Uncle, The Cowboy and the children, or Goldilocks and the Three (or more) bears....

turns out this guy is a groom. I never had the bride, I guess he got left at the altar. He never seemed bitter about it. :)

the children look a bit grimy. I think a good scrubbing and some paint should fix them right up.
Or maybe I will leave the dirt from my childhood fingers. 

June 3: I talked to my mom, who had absolutely no memory of these dolls. I showed my daughter the pictures, and she says I let her play with them every once in awhile. I know she used the furniture in her doll house and her bears.

June 18: Finally hit upon the Proper Search Words. These are Penny dolls-- originally sold in the 1930's for a penny. Some were called Bisque Cutie Dolls. I even saw The Cowboy, although he was just in a picture and no information. Didn't find The Uncle, although there were some similar ones that were tiny. Fun to find out what my childhood toys are worth these days.

what's new....

I'm working hard to get some sort of studio room going. I'm making progress but sometimes it seems so slow. My goal originally was to have it done by the end of the week. However. This week, I have an appointment with someone to alter her wedding dress; I am taking my mom to the doctor which requires an overnight stay with her; my daughter is moving and I will be going to stay with her this next weekend so I have to Be Prepared; I have a huge pile of laundry to do; I am getting quite overwhelmed. I still have a few pieces to make for K. for her American Girl doll. So. A little Argh.

So it's going to have to be postponed. Somehow wish I could just make the stuff in that room go *poof* and be all sorted and taken to donate or sell; I have a few things at a consignment shop but not much hope that they will sell. They offered way less than I expected... don't know what to do exactly. Sell them on Ebay? I wonder if I know anyone who would like to help me figure that out... then there's the where do I put my inventory and we are back to that room needs HELP... so just gotta laugh.

Found a Betsy McCall that isn't in very good shape; she's about $40. Get her? Don't? I want her even though she has a damaged foot and hand. Don't want to pay $125 for a mint condition one. Do I NEED it? Of course not. Do I WANT it? Of course. I could learn how to fix a leg. I don't think it would be noticeable with her shoes and socks on. I think I am nutty.

I want chocolate. LOL

The first try with a Gelli plate

I got my Gelli plate awhile ago, but hadn't gotten around to trying it out. Today I ran across the

Biocolor paints, and decided that would work. What I discovered is Yes and No.

The first one I tried looked like mud. I was disappointed, for sure, but hey you can't be perfect on the first try. The only thing I have done so far is watch several videos. I love the abstracts you can do-- I already have stencils from my art journaling with inks so it just seemed like a natural progression. Then I remembered the thermofax screens that just came in the mail, and thought maybe it would work to spark it up.











Yes it did! I love it, and will make it into a card.


Then I got bold with purple and teal. I used the comb tool that came with the biocolor. Lovely.













Then I tried some masks. Apparently Biocolor is too flowing to use with masks, they just stuck on the paper and tore when I tried to get them off. Also, there were no distinct edges.

I think Biocolor is great, I love its plasticity. I think it will be good for backgrounds on the Gelli plate, and doing other biocolor-ish things... but not good for stencils and masks.

So off to the store for some paint. What I have is pretty dried out. The Artsy Adventure continues.