Hi everybody! It has been ages since I have blogged. I can’t even begin to explain how crazy it has been since we moved from the heart of the Twin Cities to rural northern Minnesota.
Downsizing is supposed to make life simpler, right? Well, I can tell you that is not the case when you downsize and don’t have anywhere to put stuff. We purchased our new home last July and intended to build a garage and finish our lower level (which holds my studio) right away.
Unfortunately, it became impossible to hire a contractor. When the pandemic forced people to work from home, many decided to leave the city and move to the beautiful lakes region of Minnesota. As a result, every contractor is booked out for months with remodeling and new construction projects.
Instead, we ended up moving the belongings from our entire house AND a 3 car, two-story garage into the lower level of our new home. So now I am trying to work and make art amid a maze of towering boxes.
But the fun doesn’t stop there. During our “down time” we are trying to do as much of the remodeling ourselves that we can in between rare bouts of contractor help. So my desk is currently surrounded by stacks of insulation, drywall, unassembled ikea cabinetry and hanging wires.
To make it even more challenging, both our college kids returned to our supposedly empty nester home and are taking virtual college classes amid the construction and chaos.
It is so crazy that it is almost funny–at least when we are not tripping over boxes, shushing each other during competing zoom meetings and fighting over bandwidth. I had hoped I would have a beautiful new studio by now, but I have to be patient for at least a few more months.
Despite all the craziness, we are delighted that we moved to this new area. It is so breathtakingly beautiful. Almost every day I see something that delights me and each season brings new delights.
Yesterday I completed a new journal that reflects some of my delight with my new home in the northernmost part of the United States. It is a hybrid of an art journal, altered book and junk journal. I have decided to call it an Art-i-ful Journal as it is filled with ephemeral, envelopes, pockets and tags. Tomorrow I will share the journal with you, but in the meantime, I included a couple of sneak peek pictures. I hope you visit tomorrow to see my Art-i-ful Journal!
