This week went by in such a blur! Was it that way for you? I started writing this Thursday evening after working almost all day on various posts and podcasts. It’s now Friday morning and I’m back to finish it up and post it.
This Week’s Artwork
Today’s featured artwork is The Music Room by George Goodwin Kilburne.
Wikipedia tell us (edited for brevity):
George Goodwin Kilburne (1839 – 1924) was an English genre painter specialising in accurately drawn interiors with figures. He favoured the watercolour medium, although he also worked in oils, pencil and initially trained as a wood-engraver.
George was born at Hackford near Reepham in Norfolk, the eldest of the three children of Goodwin Kilburne and Rebeccca Button.
Kilburne was educated at Hawkhurst, Kent – his father’s old school. On leaving at the age of 15, he went to London to serve a five-year apprenticeship as a wood engraver with the Dalziel brothers. He was highly regarded by his employers, who described him as “industrious and constant” and “one of the most satisfactory pupils we ever had”. His time as an engraver served him well, allowing him to develop the accuracy and detail which would enhance his subsequent painting. He remained with the firm for a further year before leaving to take up watercolour and oil painting professionally, quickly becoming one of the most sought after and well-known artists in England.
George’s paintings often portrayed the upper classes and ultra-fashionable female beauties in opulent late 18th- and early 19th-century settings. His depiction of this beauty was heightened by his attention to detail with dress, and richly decorated interiors. During that period his paintings would have been considered traditional, especially compared to the work of contemporaries such as James McNeill Whistler and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
I wish I had learned to play the harp. There has never been the right combination of time, money, and opportunity. I also wish I knew how to play the cello. Do you think we’ll be able to learn to play instruments in heaven? I wonder about things like that.
Homemaking
May I take a few sentences to whine lament vent discuss something that drives me nuts?
Every summer from June through September we are on the higher electric rates between 2-6 p.m. It totally messes up my homemaking life. You would think it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it is for me. The rest of the year I have a rhythm to my life where it regards laundry especially. But the summer rates just mess it all up. The rates are jacked up enough that I can’t ignore it and just do whatever I want. I’ve tried all kinds of ways to deal with it and it all comes back to I can’t find anything that creates the flow I have the rest of the year. It is the biggest relief when we hit October 1 and I no longer have to think about it.
I know.
#firstworldproblems
But it’s my world and the world I live in.
I did not get my kitchen cleaned out this week. It’s getting pushed back to next week (again).
I did my bigger monthly grocery shopping trip. Bigger is now a relative term. Every month the final cost is higher and the number of bags is smaller. I didn’t even make it out of the HBC/Medication area before I had spent $100. It was a small – and I do mean small – little huddle of products in the back corner of the shopping cart. When we got married, our weekly grocery budget was around $75. If I spent $135 in a week, it was a massive stock up for the two of us.
I don’t know how this is all going to end, but the average middle class or lower middle class family is not going to be able to absorb this forever. I am genuinely concerned for people on small fixed incomes. This is developing into a true tragedy. What makes it even more tragic is the fact that I don’t think we’ve even gotten close to the worst part of it yet.
Homeschooling
I think Caroline and I are going to start doing a few things next week. Nothing close to a full schedule, but just getting a bit done each day.
Honestly, I’d like to do nothing until after Labor Day but I know from many years of experience now how the fall goes. Caroline’s birthday comes around in late September and it seems to short-circuit her for about a week with building excitement and then a post-birthday crash. Thanksgiving. Christmas. The annual fall cold or whatever. Every time we seem to hit our stride in September or October for a few weeks, something blows it up. Add to that whatever is going to develop in our country this fall and it seems wise to start doing a bit.
Business
I had a full week of publishing and podcasting around here:
- Sallie’s Rebuilding America • Episode 34
- Sallie’s Rebuilding America • Episode 35
- Sallie’s Rebuilding America • Episode 36
- Even More Cozy Blogs
- Recommended Video: Trump’s Virtues By Tom Klingenstein
I also added massive amounts of information to the Forum on a variety of topics and not all of them are news-related.
Today I’m going to spend more time adding to my Made By Teachers store. They have a back-to-school sale next week and I would like more items in my shop. I’m only adding a part of what I actually have created for my own website Shop. Right now I’m focusing on adding the products that are truly unique and historically sold well in other places (if you know what I mean). So I’m focusing on things like my:
After that I’ll add my products in the areas where I typically did well before and the options seem thinner on this new platform. So I’ll start adding in my themed Copywork, etc.
We’ll see how it goes. I joined Made By Teachers at the worst time of the year for the selling cycle so I have no idea what a normal year would be. A little fairy told me that (according to discussions in certain places) sales are way down on another similar platform that shall not be named. I’m not surprised. Schools are experiencing the perfect storm.
I heard online last night that one large school district in the south starts school in less than a week and they are short 200 teachers. TWO HUNDRED. And that’s just one school district. Multiply that across the country.
Still, every little bit of income helps so I’m trying to add an additional income stream via another platform.
I received my first payout this week from Ezoic for the ads on this website. It wasn’t a lot ($57), but over time these small amounts add up. I continue to learn about how to use everything they offer and making the most of it.
I’ve been preaching this for so long (Building A Small Diversified and Profitable Online Business), but every time a family adds an additional income stream to their life they increase their chances of making it through hard times. Most of us are going to have to hustle and work hard to make it through whatever is coming. We’re going to have to make the most of every single dollar Federal Reserve Note that comes into our hands. What can you do? What do you have to offer to others that they will pay you for? Start thinking now if you haven’t already.
So what happened in your home this week? I hope you’ll share. As others have said recently in the comments, it’s fun to read what other women are doing. I personally find it encouraging and inspiring!
Even More Cozy Blogs
We have not had the peaked electric rates yet, but that is coming very soon and I’m not looking forward to it.
I let a child or two or three go around with a metal detector. They found a number of coins, nails, and small auto parts, and also a mysterious spiked rack. They had a great time, and mostly didn’t dig up any of the grass.
They also helped trim back overgrown bushes to reclaim a corner of the yard. More room to run around!
I “shopped at home” and found two pairs of shoes in storage for a middle child who needed shoes. I need to re-re-organize our library of children’s clothing, which got all discombobulated after the move. It is all in one place, but not so I can find any particular size easily.
Hi Peggy!
We were talking about a metal detector as a fun hobby just last week! I think David and Caroline would have a ball with it. (I would, too, in the non-allergy season. LOL!)
Good to hear from you!
Sallie
Hi Sallie, We ordered a new desk from Walmart. It just arrived today. We will have that job to do. We will put out the old desk for the garbage pickup. The old desk broke and split. We have been going through some odds and ends to throw away. We receive notices from Con Edison to preserve electricity in this hot weather. The other night our lights went all the way down. That usually means Con Edison is having a brown out somewhere. They usually take some electricity away from others to help the areas effected. Our grocery bills are always high,too. Have a good week.
Joan,Marion and Marilyn
Our house has been scurrying about getting ready for a party tomorrow! E’s birthday is on Sunday and to celebrate, we have invited the youth group from our new church over for a pool party. Our new house has a large pool in the backyard, so I’m hoping that it will be enough motivation to get some of the kids to come! 🙂
I’ve never had a pool before and it’s been a lot of additional work, but E has been swimming almost every day since we opened it this spring. She has always loved the water. I know it would be a lot more fun if she could find a friend to come swim with her. Sometimes being an “only” isn’t the most fun.
I’ve not experienced the peak rates for electricity before, but that would be disruptive at one of the busiest times of the day in a home. We did have another black out in our little town. No storm this time, just had the electricity go out on a beautiful, hot, sunshiny afternoon. I’m not sure what happened, but they got it back on overnight. I did ask the neighbor if this was an ongoing common problem, since we might need to look into a generator if it was. He said they usually only lose power once a year or so, and we already did that, so he was surprised too. Both my parents use oxygen concentrators overnight and my dad needs some way to charge his phone, since it serves as the reader for his blood sugar meter. I need to find some way to at least keep those going. Power for our fridge and freezer would be nice too. We have a gas stove and water heater, so those still work, and we are on city water, not a well, so water is not an issue for a short outage.
My garden is still prolifically producing cucumbers and zucchini! I am able to mostly keep up with the squash, but I am having a hard time with the cucumbers – know any good ways to use them? 🙂 I have lots of green tomatoes that seem to be taking their time ripening, and a few cantaloupe and a watermelon that I’m waiting for anxiously to be ready.
It feels strange to not be ordering new books for the fall, but I think we are actually finished with school. We haven’t made any moves toward looking for employment or talking to the college about classes, so I guess that will be our next adventure once we make it through the summer.
Thanks for all you do! I appreciate your work in keeping us informed.
Amanda
We have peak electricity times here. It does mess up things for between 2-7pm. I have ended up doing some cooking in the morning or using my instant pot or crockpot to get past it and save some $$. I am still working on cleaning and organizing every area of my house. My bathroom is almost done. I have every room in the house to get to as we are in upheaval remodeling and cleaning out. I have been cleaning as I go along. In addition, finding out what I need to prepare for the upcoming shortages.
Meanwhile, I am also learning new things where I have interest to diversify income streams.
My week has been all about getting my kids registered for dual-enrollment at our local community college. I hate all the paperwork and nonsense I have to fill out to get that done, but it’s helpful because I pay the taxes to get reduced costs, might as well take advantage of it.