Does this count as creative?

I'm working an early shift the next few days, which means early afternoon getting home.  I hate getting up before the crack of dawn, but it's so nice to be home with daylight to spare!  It is so pretty out that it is hard to stay in the house.  As I mentioned previously, I almost feel compelled to be outdoors. This afternoon I knocked off a few of my "Round 2 it" projects, all involving spray paint.

A good number of years ago, a friend and coworker at Woodland Lab was moving to Mississippi, so she gifted me with a patio set.  She said I would get around to redoing it before she would and they didn't want to move it.  Well, I'm ashamed to say I put it off until the cute little table that goes with these chairs was starting to come apart from neglect so we left it behind when we moved, bringing only the chairs.  My Mom had given me this little table several years ago.

I thought the table went fairly well with the chairs but now they all have a matching coat of paint to make them look more like a set. This is supposed to be a turquoise color but it ended up looking more blue than I would like it to.  I may try to antique with some touches of green and brown.  Will live with it a few days before I decide for sure.  I turned the stained-glass table top over so the colors were more subdued than the real top with green, brown, and yellow sunflowers.

The previous owners of our new house left a good bit of junk in the small workshop on the property.  We were astounded that they left a pair of lamps since they were so unique!  I can't imagine what the maker/designer was thinking when they came up with this design!  The pottery of the lamp itself has an embossed pattern that was totally ignored when they started applying these pink/gold giraffe-looking spots! I would imagine these are from the fifties or early sixties. I tried to get a brother to the woman to take the lamps since they once belonged to their mother.  He is a neighbor of ours now. Amazingly, he didn't want them either.  I plugged them up and they still worked, so I thought what will it hurt to try a spray paint job?  I was going to get rid of them anyway, but if I could make them more subdued, shall we say, maybe a couple less things in a landfill.  Not wanting to waste money, I opted for a hammered bronze that was left over from painting an old brass headboard(looked great BTW!). Taped up the base, so the gold there would still show and sprayed away. Thinking they look much better now!  If only the shades had been smooth fabric, I think I could try to redo them with some paper or other fabric, but they are a rough, nubby fabric that I won't be able to get glue to stick to. Will be on the lookout  for some decent shades at thrift stores first before I buy new ones, cause I'm cheap, don't you know!

Before(excuse the shed, not ours!)

After

Next on the agenda, while I had the paint out, were some brass Home Interior shelf brackets.  Forgot to take a before shot, but you can use your imagination, I think.  These hold a glass shelf and will now match the color of the master bathroom plumbing fixtures and look more updated.

After

Again, I forgot to take a before shot, but these hands used to be flesh-colored only. I am a messy painter, what can I say!

After

So that was my spurt of energy for the day.  Now if only I could get inspired enough to put these folded and sorted clothes away.  That lazy housekeeper never shows up to do this!

Limbo

So long since my last post and I didn't mean for it to be that way! I'm in this weird place in my mind right now and that is probably not great blog material but I offer it up as an explanation of my blog's inactivity the last TWO months.

We are fairly settled into our new place and I am still getting acclimated at the new job. I work PRN(as needed)which has meant I am filling in for positions for which I've been trained and still trying to get all my training in all departments in the lab as an actual lab tech. So far I've learned how to do courier, phlebotomy(which I did already know, just had to get their procedures down), Outpatient Lab, Specimen Processing, and Desk Clerk which are the support positions at this lab and am in the process of getting turned loose as far as actual lab tech work here.

As far as the house goes, we still have stuff in the storage unit. Kerry is in some strange place in his mind, too, that I can't get him to talk about. He's not a talker anyway. We can't seem to get motivated to finish up everything. As for me, although I don't feel like I am missing the old house, as in it is the "home" I need to be in, I also don't yet feel like the new house is "home". The end result being that I feel like I am living someone else's life right now.

 Creativity...I am so mad at myself in this regard. I have the time now, but no FOCUS! Can't decide where to begin. Do I make some jewelry? How about those art journals begun but never finished or the ones bought but never begun? What about all those UFO's that I took the time to keep together and move to a new house? Sewing projects, yeah, I've got UFO's there, too! The oil and acrylic paints and brushes bought but never used, what about trying my hand at those? I fuss at myself mentally and tell myself what I know, which is, just start SOMEWHERE! This will be the beginning of creativity. Focus...where is it? Excuses, excuses, and that makes me mad, too!

I keep going outside right now, working in my new-to-me flower beds and wondering what I could/should plant. I've made a start on planting some herbs so that one day I can have another herb garden. Thinking about some vegetables, too, especially tomatoes and peppers which should be easy just in the beds already here. Started repainting our deck furniture and giving those a facelift. So, if this counts, I'm not totally lacking in any creativity, I suppose. Maybe it is a beginning of making this place home that for some strange reason is not starting inside but outside. I've tried analyzing "why" but not come up with the answer yet.

Right now I'm looking at some creativity prompts and challenges. Hoping... Maybe this will be what gets me to get started on something, anything. This whining is getting on my own nerves! I have been questioning whether I am even talented enough to be an artist. It would seem if I had something to say artistically I would be compelled to "say" it, "do" it, "make" it happen. Praying that I find my way.

Pictured at the top, two of the blessings that I can focus on!  These little boys are a joy to my heart and when I'm floundering, I only have to think of pictures like this and I smile. God has blessed richly in so many ways!