Sketches and the Saga Continues

I managed some sketching when I took breaks from attempts to get organized.  I sketched very quickly in the brown paper sketchbook with the Prismacolor Premier 05 marker/pen.  These are for Scavenger Hunt 248 which ends tomorrow.  I started on December 6 and am just now posting them.

Number 1, fingernails.  Number 2, jacket - my bright blue rain/golf jacket on the door handle.

Number 3, smells good - my coffee in the early morning.  Number 4, looks good - the view out the dining area window with the early morning light.  I added a bit of colored pencil to these just for fun.  I haven't varied my sketching material for a while, eh?

Number 5, moves at varying speeds - my feet, stationary on the ottoman at the moment!

Number 6, depicts the weather - the cloudy sky over the pine trees.  No, we didn't get rain!  Number 7, seasonal - an edge of the Christmas tree with a little baseball trophy ornament at the bottom that was given to us by Judi and artist friend.

That is the art for the Hunt.  I am meeting up this week with an artist to help her with an oil painting so I may actually touch a brush! That should help get me going.

Here is a link to Judi's page for my art link tonight.  She lives here in Bastrop.

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Now on with the saga of the move to a new house after the big fire in Bastrop destroyed our home along with 1600 more.

I don't mean to be negative and bore you to tears, but want you to understand a bit of what we are going through after the fire to hopefully get to a "normal" life .. whatever that is.  It is very difficult to do artwork.  I still have my things in boxes, bins and on the floor.  I ordered some shelves for my closet and that should help.  The desk/tables I got are great but are covered with all the paperwork we have been trying to plow through.  Change of addresses for everything.  Trying to get copies of accounts and such.

We are settling in the house but at times it is difficult to get motivated.  Sometimes it is overwhelming to think about gathering everything we need to be comfortable again.  No curtains, few rugs, few dishes, etc.  Gene is especially missing his tools.  He had finally gathered most of the things he wanted so that he could easily make or repair something.  He had so many gadgets, saws, tables, shelves, etc.  We keep thinking that we can use this or that and then remember there is no this or that.  Sigh.....

I have been shopping for a TV for the great room area and all the other items we need  and just can't actually buy anything.  I buy one or two things at Walmart, order one from Amazon.com, etc.  It is a slow process.

Tonight I was going to warm over some tortilla soup.  It seemed to be too much for a 2 quart pan but would be lost in the bigger pans I have.  Note to self, buy a 3 quart pan.  Heh.  I ended up putting it in a Corning Ware casserole type dish I bought the other day, but then that was not the kind I could use on the stove so had to resort to the microwave.

I did order and have received cookie sheets and rolling pin stocking and cloth so we can make biscochitos for Christmas.  The cookies are very thin and the only way to make them is with the stocking.  I haven't bought anise yet which is the spice other than cinnamon that we need for the cookies.

Rolling out the biscochitos.

Roll them thin and put them in cinnamon sugar, then on the cookie sheets.

They are about the size of a silver dollar and hopefully about that thick, too.  Otherwise they won't melt in your mouth.

This is the bottom of a perfectly done biscochito.

Here is Jennie emptying the sheet.  In the lower right you see some piled about 10 or 15 high.  We make a bunch and are very tired of them by the time we finish.  That must be why they are only made at Christmas in our family!

Jennie will be out on Friday night before Christmas.  We will make tamales, biscochitos, posole, beans, tortillas, enchilada casserole, rice, green chile balls, fruit salad, and maybe empanadas if we still feel like cooking by then. Ha.  We traditionally eat posole and tamales late Christmas Eve, it used to be after midnight mass.  Now we eat pretty late and open presents at 10 or 11 p.m.  There were stockings for Christmas morning, oops, have to get new ones.

We have gone to some music venues as I posted recently.  I went to the Christmas party for the Austin Pastel Society and the Bastrop Fine Arts Guild.  Everyone has been so generous and the camaraderie certainly helps.  The Guild members brought Christmas ornaments and decorations for the 11 artists that were displaced by the fire and lost everything.  Very thoughtful.  The parties were great.

A few visuals for you to share and a chance for me to record our process ......

Regina and Larry came out on Friday and took our home away from home back to Austin.  We can't thank them enough for their help.

Charlie was happy to have his corner back so he can look out the windows.  He is such a friendly and lovable guy.

We had some fog the other morning.  You can't see the water in our lake for the fog.

The front of the house, we still haven't cleaned the yard, hopefully next week!  this porch has tile on the floor.  Looks nice.  My studio windows face that porch.

This is the living and dining porch with the great glider that Regina and Larry gave us. (It has been a bit cool for sitting on it in the evening)  The steps are not connected and permanent.  Those will get fixed next week, too.   There were no steps by this porch gate.  Hmm

And the Christmas tree that we bought at the Festival of Trees.  We put it on the table that Kelly gave us as the ceiling is so high.  This gives it a bit more oomph.  The table is destined to be in my studio along with the rocking chair I bought for my corner to contemplate my paintings.  Heh.

 Ah, the chair shows in this photo.  Sort of........

So I have made a few purchases and folks have given us comfortable additions to our "stuff".  Oh, Dee gave us a dresser for the guest room so the TV has a spot to sit. Thank you, too.  Gene has been putting together our bedroom furniture that we got from Amazon.com.  Photos eventually.

Sorry for such a long post if you made it to the end.  :)  See you soon.