Sunday, June 27, 2021

Company a Comin'

 Toby had planned on taking this past week off - a little vacation time. We were planning on breaking out the Casita and going to some lake here in OK and spending a few days. Instead, Toby had to work on Friday at a Halliburton job fair. In a way that is good because Halliburton is hiring again. But it was not so good for us and our vacation plans. Toby decided to just work all week and take a different week off.  In the meantime, we got a call from some folks who go to our church. They live in north Texas and are moving to the Duncan area. They needed a place to stay while they were here looking for a house. I had previously told them we had extra bedrooms. I was tickled that they took me up on my offer, but it kicked this old procrastinator in the bottom. I had to go into high cleaning mode. 

We have two extra bedrooms in the old part of the house. Our house is sort of divided into two parts - the old and the newer. The old part of the house is mostly my art stuff. I've kind of spread out and taken over the bedrooms as well as my designated art room. For a long time now I have wanted to clean things up and move my framing stuff into one bedroom along with my ironing board and other overflow stuff. Then I would fix up Jesse's old room to be a nice bedroom for guests. The procrastinator in me put off the actual doing of all that. Why do it when no one was coming to stay? :) With our church friends coming, I needed to get 'er done. We switched beds around, got a headboard from Jesse for one of our beds, shuffled furniture, and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.  That was just the old part of the house. I still had to work on the newer part where we live and are little pigs. It was all very tiring, but it sure looks nice now. Our friends came and stayed and were fun. They were able to come and go easily without bothering anyone. 

Also, I had to glaze 34 mugs for firing. Viridian Coffee emailed that they needed more mugs. Once again, I have been rather slow to get the mugs in the kiln. After getting the house ready for company, I was free to glaze. With Toby's help, we got that done and started the kiln this evening. It is always a bit like Christmas to open the kiln and see what you got. 

Next week is the end of the month CTAC meetings and then the Fourth of July! Jesse is bringing her little dog to stay with us while she goes to NM for the weekend. The grandkids will come over on Sunday for cooking out and playing in the kiddie pool. Maybe water-balloons. Maybe a few fireworks. We lead a simple life.

So now I am ready for company.

3 comments:

Etienne said...

I used to live in Oregon and the Californians started moving north in the 70's. They raised home prices and got their people elected.

I'm wondering if the Texans will be abandoning the place as all the Californians are coming in and raising prices and changing politics.

The other problem is, they don't have enough electricity or water.

Funny story, I have a pile of boxes I've been meaning to cut down and put in the recycling cart. It took over the whole kitchen, so last weekend I had to break down and git 'er done. Wow, I can move around again.

Jo Castillo said...

Etienne, the Californians are a real pain. They come to escape and then bring their politics with them. Mostly in the cities. The border may help convince them to adopt the Texas way. Ha.

Lou, happy you got your cleaning done! Lea, my potter friend, is always talking about surprises in the kiln. It is nice you are enjoying the pottery. Fun.

Out Fourth will be pretty quiet. Kiddos coming out on Saturday for Joanna’s birthday and belated Fathers Day. Some New Mexican food and Bastrop’s fireworks down at the river. Always fun. The Symphony from Austin isn’t coming, not sure what happened with that. It was always so nice. Looks like a choir will be doing the patriotic music. Maybe Joanna will come out on her Bday on the 4th for left overs. Hope so.

Sorry to have been awol. I’m working on that…….

Bag Blog said...

Etienne,
California folks have been leaving like rats abandoning a sinking ship for a long time. While we were in NM, they were buying up desert and building huge homes like crazy. Water is a big issue in NM, but that didn't stop them. I doubt they can push Texans around so much. Well, maybe in Austin.
While cleaning house, I threw out lots of boxes and still have some to go.

Jo,
We just fired the kiln on Sunday afternoon. On Monday when we opened the kiln, something had gone terribly wrong. The kiln had shut off before reaching the correct temperature. We refired, but about 6 mugs still did not work out. Very frustrating!
Have fun with your kids over the 4th.