Somewhere among all the sorting and searching and packing and getting rid of stuff, I took the time to make a little Christmas display for mom. I’d seen this on Pinterest and though mine is nothing like it, not vintage, just cheap dollar store decorations, it inspired me to make my version.
This is how the frame looked before I painted it white. Too gold for me. Now you can only see bits of gold.
I added two photos of the grandkid/great grandkid for mom and voila, a little Christmas in our 70s kitchen.
The little trees and little house light up.In my clearing out of old drawers I found this key. No idea what it’s from but I love it!
The beauty of this frame is that it can be used for anything, any time of the year. All you need is imagination.
Meanwhile I’m working out daily. Up and down 2 flights of stairs countless times. With weights (bags and boxes). I’ll have a body to die for come spring. And no gym fees!
Today I went up and pretty much finished the laundry phase of the tidy up. My theory is that once the laundry is empty of stuff that’s been in there for decades, there will be room for newer stuff mom can’t bring herself to get rid of.
Actually, I’m still storing old stuff in there – stuff I brought from Australia that don’t fit in my little house, old photo albums and sentimental stuff my brother and I both left years ago etc. The only stuff I’m getting rid of is the stacks and stacks of old clothes, linen, towels and bags etc. Things which were stuck in there and forgotten. Some of the stuff is still in its original wrappers.
My pile of stuff to donate is growing. The pile of stuff for mom to sort through is growing. And I’m listing the odd thing on Facebook. A lot of stuff would sell well in a garage sale, but we don’t have those here, and FB isn’t a good place to sell things worth little money. Athens is too big for someone to drive to pick up something unless its worth it.
If the weather is good tomorrow I’ll have another go at the ivy. Well, after I finish up upstairs, photographing and listing.
For today I’m done. Tired. Sore. Worn out. But satisfied that things are happening.
z
Update:
I found some old baubles so I was able to give the frame a more vintage look after all!
Today I can actually say I got a few things done so I’m proud of myself. And sore.
Yesterday mom went off with her youngest sister to her country place for a few days. It’s easier to work without her here… I just put on some rockin’ music and get to it. Today it was Johnny Cash. On the other hand I can’t ask mom what to keep and what to get rid of. Mind you… that’s probably a blessing. Mom would want to hang on to just about everything… cause we might need it, someone in the family might want it, etc.
I started the day by sorting through a few more cabinets and lining up crockery and glasses to see what she wants to keep and what to give away. There’s a LOT to sort through. Back in the old days family gatherings and parties often included up to 50 people – so you can imagine the amount of crockery and cutlery needed for that. And most of it’s still here, in cupboards.
I started boxing up my brother’s photos, souvenirs and posters for storage. Those were easy.
I made up bags and boxes of things to give away and a bag for rubbish and put them in the stairwell for easy access to ‘outside’.
I measured and ordered a shoe storage unit for behind the front door downstairs and a couple of other small things from Ikea. I won’t be going overboard with shopping as mom wants to keep and use as much as possible what she already ad.
I then tackled the ivy. It was a lovely sunny day so I figured best to move outside while the weather allows. Dad made a carport way back when and put metal across the top and grew ivy over it. That ivy is like a tree now, its so thick in placs. It’s time for it to go. Once its all cleared away I can get the railing repainted and can start planting pretty things in the garden.
The thing is, since there are wires everywhere holding the ivy in place you can’t just hack away at it with a hand or electric saw. I decided the way to tackle it was to cut and break off as much as I could by hand to enable me to see the wire and metal. That way I can attack the thicker bits with my reciprocating saw later.
While fighting ivy, a gypsy drove by shouting out about taking away old metal things people don’t want so I called him over. We get that a lot here. Guys in trucks and utes go around neighbourhoods playing recordings saying they will clean out basements, rooftops, yards etc and take away anything you don’t want. Some will take furniture and just about any household items. Others will only collect metal. Sometimes they charge you for doing it, other times they will only take things which have resale value for them. The guy today took some old metal chairs I needed to get rid of, some old radiators, some odds and ends, plus the bags and boxes I’d already put on the staircase.
As a favour, he took a load of things down to the rubbish for me, heavy stuff I couldn’t move myself. He wasn’t interested in furniture so I’ll be calling another guy about that later.
I called the electricity company again and put in a complaint about them taking so long. Not a thing back from them yet. Again. And still no news from the natural gas people either.
All in all a pretty productive day. Meanwhile enjoy some pics from today.
Stage 1. After removing SOME ivy. This is what it looked like from the gate to the renovated apartment looking toward the carport.Tossing ivy cuttings into the run-down little garden as I go.Stage 2: you can see into the carport now.Stage 3: light inside the dark and damp carport! Still tons of ivy to remove.The bathroom is finished!A bar for mom to hold onto.The smaller window. Greeks and windows in showers… I don’t know…The bathroom really is tiny. Still need to get and put up a shower curtain, but love the hooks for added hanging space.Kitchen finished. Dishwasher in place.
So that’s about it for today. Tomorrow is a new day and I’ve barely made a dent in the things that need doing.
Well, since I had the paint and the stencils out, I figured I’d knock something up for mom’s new place. She’s always had a key rack by the back door in the house upstairs but that wouldn’t fit next to the front door in the downstairs place. I needed something taller and narrower instead of long and narrow.
This little guy will sit behind the front door so that mom can hang her keys in a safe place away from the open door.
Its nothing special, just a piece of old plywood I had lying around. But it will do the job.
There’s been a lot of trouble with the radiators in Athens. Mom left here on Sunday and she was only able to get heat on last night. Lots of calls to the plumber who’d replaced the water tank on the roof (holds heated water for the radiators). Lots of waiting for the plumber to come to take a look. A couple of visits from the plumber’s partner which didn’t fix the problem.
And me on Paros, with no knowledge of how radiators work, how to check the furnace, what to do other than get frustrated, worried for mom and make calls. There’s not much else I can do when I’m so far away – plus (as I kept telling mom) I couldn’t help even if I was there. If you showed me a donkey and a furnace and asked ‘which is the furnace?’ I wouldn’t have a clue.
Well, ok. I would. But only cause I know what a donkey looks like!
Sheesh.
Anyway, seems its sorted now, but I’m reconsidering waiting till next week to leave for Athens again. I’ve already started getting my stuff together in order to go on Friday.
I had this small shelf for a long time and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. Then somewhere along the line I decided it was time to make another of my little wall vases. I used to make things like this in the past (click here to see one of them) but its been a long time since I’d made one.
This time I couldn’t find a metal strap clamp thingy big enough to hold the empty jar so I made my own holder out of an old belt.
I told you I have tons of things ‘on hand’…
First I traced the stencil onto the wood and tried to burn the pattern into it but that didn’t work. I don’t have a wood burning tool, and trust me, a soldering iron just doesn’t cut it.
Next I transferred the pattern using black paint but hated the look. Even after trying to distress it.
As a last resort I decided to just repaint the whole thing. I had the kitchen cabinet colour I’d mixed up for the pull out bottle drawer I’d made a while ago, so I just used that and some leftover grey paint. As a result it kind of blends in on the ‘living room’ side of the cabinet.
Recently I framed and put up these two beautiful photos I’ve had for years. They are the two most beautiful girls owned by a friend of mine in Tasmania – both are long gone now but I remember them every time I look at the photos: Paris and Polly.
The most amazing thing about the photos is the incongruity of it: two standard poodles on a flatbed ute* outside a country pub in a small town in Tasmania. Not a sight you see every day!
*Flatbed ute: a truck with a tray in back, usually holding a kelpie or blue heeler.
Since I had the camera out I couldn’t resist taking a photo of one of my favourite spots in the kitchen – the shelf just over the sink with my collection of old crockery and the cute little bird salt and pepper shakers I’ve had for years. Some may remember them from my easter sideboard a few years ago.
Its nice to take a walk down memory lane… It all seems so long ago now!
This is what I’ve been working on most lately. In case you were wondering. Little puffy pouches to hang around your neck on cords of waxed cotton or leather.
I make them using all kinds of fabric scraps (I have a whole suitcase full of small scraps I’ve been collecting for years) which are too small to make much else out of. Plus some recycled beads, gem stones, trinkets, buttons and old lace. Oh, and the occasional chandelier crystals.
Basically whatever I have on hand. And I have quite a lot on hand…
The cords are mostly new, of course. As is the odd bit needed to complete each piece.
They make great little gifts and I have someone interested in buying a lot of them for his shop next year!
I also plan* to set up an Instagram shop but have run into all kinds of trouble – I once tried to set up a Facebook shop and, despite trying to follow all FB and google instructions, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it. Cause the links/buttons/whatever are never where they say they are for one thing! I’ve tried just about everything and I’m about to scream!
(*Plan: something we make to convince ourselves we have some control over things.)
Meanwhile I’ve been preparing my tiny home for going away for a month or so. I’m not leaving straight away as I have a couple of appointments which have delayed departure, but I will be going soon enough. I figured it was time to basically tidy up and pack away things I don’t need on display gathering dust.
You wouldn’t think a tiny place like mine would take so long to organise. But it does. I’m still at it.
Mind you, for me tidying and organising is an adventure in meandering distractions.
“I better start by packing away the objects on that shelf.”
“Oh look! I forgot about that xxx! I’ll find a box to put it in with others like it.”
Two hours later I get back to packing away objects on the shelf. Or not.
In that vein, I’ve bought and hung new (cheap) eyelet blockout curtains on the bedroom balcony door. Something I needed in summer… but at least it will keep the room warmer in winter as well.
I put fertilizer in my pot plants. Good thing. It rained for a couple of days straight. Constantly. Not like here at all. Normally we get a downpour which floods the place but only lasts a few minutes. This was good watering rain. I hope we get more, we sure need it on a dry island where the population explodes in summer.
I bought some cheap plastic tubs (like the kind you use to cart washing around) and put some of Lainee’s old cushions (I make new ones each winter using old pillow stuffing) in them and placed them in the only under cover area around my place so the the stray cats have somewhere dry to sleep.
I must remember to toss out the old cushions from the cat houses I have on my porch and put in new ones (ie, Lainee’s old ones – I have heaps of them).
I took out my measley Christmas decorations and put them out. Considering whether to put out the fairy lights. I normally hang them all over the bookcase. I wont be here for Christmas but I may as well enjoy the Christmas spirit while I’m here. I never do a Christmas tree, but I love fairy lights. I’ve already lit the outdoor ones.
I’ve made a key rack for mom’s new house. And finished another project I started a couple of months ago. I’ll share those soon.
I’m also thinking of rearranging a few things in the place. I mean, I have a gorgeous shelf which was given to me by a good friend and there really isn’t room to put it up. I want to make room for it!
So, as you can see… I keep busy.
I saw a Tshirt on Facebook which I really want. It says: “In my defense, I was left unsupervised”.
I must have it!
Just like the old one I have which says “I make things cause if I don’t I get sad”.
Anyway enough blabbing on for now. I have things to do, places to go, dogs to groom, electricians to oversee and meetings to attend.
In the cobblestone streets of Parikia. Be thankful its not giant underwear this time!
I got back from Athens a few days ago and will be going back again sometime next week. The house is finished (well, except for the power and natural gas). The contractor did his thing and called in a cleaning crew so when I get back I should have a new clean house that I can begin moving stuff into for mom.
Then we wait for power and heating…
Hopefully it will arrive before Christmas.
Meanwhile I’m still running into various greek labyrinths of getting things done, but I’m keeping a positive attitude. Most of the time…
Its great to be back home, even if its just for a little while. I’m catching up with friends and doing some stuff for my home etc. Not a great deal as I do sometimes get lazy, but I’m working on the fabric jewellery order for next summer, and I have a couple more things in mind to do before I go.
The weather has been alternately beautiful and sunny then windy and rainy. I don’t mind. Me and Lainee have our warm little home and eachother.
On the good news front, I now have two planters with columbines growing in them!! One was the last of the seeds I brought from Australia – I brought over tons and they never grew till this last lot. They’re doing well, fingers crossed. The second planter has seeds I bought online from England. They’re just babies still do fingers crossed on them too. All going well I’ll finally have columbines this summer!
The apartment still looks like a building site, but things are coming together faster now.
The kitchen has all its cupboards in, all doors on, the rangehhood is in place, the sink, the gas hob, the dishwasher, the oven.
The other rooms in the house are finished…
All we need now is for the bathroom fixtures to be put in… and electricity and natural gas to be connected and we’re set.
The natural gas connection application has been approved so we await delivery of the gas meter… Given I’ve been waiting for the plumber (from said crew) to come for a whole week to replace a holey tank for the radiators to work upstairs I’m not too optimistic it will be done in any kind of rush… sigh.
As for the electricity, I’m waiting on that too. Yesterday the contractor was able to get ahold of the ‘temporary’ application papers and I couriered them to DEDDIE. They should have gotten them this morning. I’ll call tomorrow to check on progress there. Assuming anyone can actually tell me anything…
A spot to store bottles and other stuff alongside the fridge cubicle.Pantry cupboard with lots of drawers inside.Sink in!Dishwasher in!
Tomorrow I return to Paros to catch up with stuff I have to do there, then back to a hopefully finished house, hopefully with gas and power connected, ready to clean and start moving in.
Most things are moving along well in the house. All windows and doors are in, the wardrobes are finished, the kitchen is coming together nicely.
Now if we could get power connected we’d be fine. See below for pics and further below for a rant.
We have a window in the main bedroom finally. And all flyscreens are in.The wardrobe in the main bedroom.The wardrobe in the tiny bedroom.A small cupboard in the tiny bedroom.The kitchen taking shape.The oven is in!
As I said, things are coming together. The dishwasher and oven which I ordered online on Monday have arrived from Thessaloniki in northern Greece, but the power which was supposedly connected on August 26 by a ‘local’ company has still not arrived.
Its a sad sad and oft-repeated story for Greece where no one seems to communicate with anyone else, even within the same organisation let alone across different ones.
Remember the envelope saga? (You can read that here…)
It all started a long long time ago, in a land right here… An innocent little girl who’d spent her whole life in a country far far away where things seemed to make sense, moved to a country where they didn’t.
Back on August 3 I called Protergia, the power company which mom and aunt 1 have been customers of for years. I requested they reconnect power to the apartment which had been vacated by the loser tenant. I have a copy of the application/contract.
Work on the house began in September. We had no power so I called to ask how the application was going. I was told that there was an issue with the electricity meter, something about a fire, that the man from the national electricity authority (DEI) had come, seen the meter, couldn’t connect power, and left. He had supposdely referred the matter to DEDDIE – the DEI maintenance section or whatever they are. The ones that fix things basically. I was to wait, it would be fixed.
Meanwhile we ran a LONG extension cord from upstairs so that the crew could work.
In October I began calling again to see if anything had been done cause we still had no power.
I got my first bill. For electricity I didn’t have. 58 euros worth of it.
I started a game of telephone ping pong. I’d call Protergia to complain that I still had no power, they would refer me to DEDDIE to register a fault. DEDDIE would refer me back to Protergia. I’ve spent countless hours on hold with one company or the other only to be referred back to ‘the other guy’ cause ‘its not our responsibility’.
Meanwhile in all the calls I’ve made I got about 53 different stories as to what the problem was and what I needed to do. Not a single person agreed on anything. Apparently there was a fire in the meter box, a cut cable, a burnt cable, a new cable was put in without permission or the meter is locked. Which is is. Sealed. By who? When? I don’t know. I presume by the first guy who came to check it out. I even had a guy from DEDDIE come out yesterday who said the meter box has been sealed, yeah, we get that, but was so confusing in his explanation of what to do about it – something about paying money for something… I don’t bloody know – even the contractor didn’t understand.
Today I got another bill for electricity I don’t have. 140 euros worth.
This morning I had a marathon calling session, sent emails, filled in online forms, yelled at people, told the power company to take their contract and shove it and am still pretty much nowhere.
This is how I see it: I chose to go with a power provider which was known to us, and we’ve been customers of for years. I made a simple request to have power connected to a house that used to have power before the tenant moved out and disconnected it. Its the power company’s job to connect me. They gave the ‘order’ to DEI and DEI supposedly reported back that power was not reinstated due to some fault. DEI suposedly referred the job on to DEDDIE.
At some point shouldn’t Protergia have notified me that there was an issue and connection couldn’t be done? Shouldn’t THEY follow it up? Apparently not. Cause apparently all they’re responsible for is ‘supplying’ power and billing for it!!!! Not making sure we actually HAVE power! According to them we’ve had power since August 26!!! You’d have thought that the 000s on the counter would be some kind of indication that something was amiss…
And now the law has changed. Since 06/10/21 in fact. I no longer need ONE electrician’s certificate of compliance for my electricity board but TWO. ie I now have to pay twice. If I’d been connected on August 26 I’d have been able to get my ONE certificate and be done with it.
So where am I at now? Besides bald in spots from pulling out my hair and losing my voice from screaming at people? Well, the contractor has to make up a plan of all new outlets in the house and send it to the electrician in order for him to get us a ‘temporary’ certificate, then he has to come inspect the power board and meter to get us a ‘proper’ certificate within 30 days of applying for the temporary one. And somewhere in there I presume someone from somewhere on this planet will come and fix the bloody electricity meter
I got a commission to do two portraits of a gorgeous little cocker spaniel called Choco. I did the first one over a month ago but stalled on the second one. Not to worry, they are delivered now so I can share them.
Both were done on 2 of my last 3 sheets of Art Spectrum pastel paper – a lightly sanded paper which I have come to adore. Pity I can’t get it here… well, not that I’ve ever seen anywhere online.
The second one I started weeks ago but stopped working on it for ages. I do that. I begin something, hate it and stop, let is percolate for days or weeks while I look at it in disgust till one day I have inspiration (or nerve) to tackle it again, having worked out what was wrong.
In the end I love it better than the first. Its a much looser, more expressive work than the first. Though both make you wanna kiss the cute puppy with the huge soulful eyes.
In Athens the apartment is moving along nicely. Not without the unavoidable delays of course… I’d given an optimistic/unrealistic deadline of end of October, but theoretically, all going well it will be ready by the end of November. Not too bad really.
I say theoretically cause I applied to connect electricity on August 3rd via mom’s (and aunt 1’s) usual provider and I’m still waiting. I’ve been bounced around from provider to the greek electrical authority for weeks now, no one can give me a definitive answer of when we will have power. Apparently they sent someone out to connect power in August, found there was a problem with the electricity meter – so the guy left and no one informed me, and as far as I know nothing further was done!
Now, I know I keep comparing Greece to Australia and it’s proably not fair, but I presumed that when you ask to have your electricity connected with a certain provider, they do all the running around to make sure its done… ha.
Here we are, the entire renovation till now has been done with a LOOONG extension cord. And the nerve:
We’ve already got our first bill!!!!
I wonder how long it will be for the landline to get moved downstairs once we’re ready to do that…
Meanwhile, here are a few pics of the house as it is now.
The living room is storage for all the wardrobe bits.The huge wardrobe in the tiny bedroom.Kitchen cabinets will be put in today once the wardrobes are finished.A couple of cabinets in position.The colour of the kitchen cabinets on the left.The wardrobe in the main bedroom is coming together.The bathroom is still an empty shell.
All in all I’m thrilled with how its coming along. The wardrobes will be finished today.
HOPEFULLY the plumber will be here this morning to put through the natural gas pipe BEFORE the kitchen cabinets need to go in. He was meant to come yesterday…
HOPEFULLY the electricity will be connected this week (dare I hope they come today or tomorrow? don’t hold your breath)
The gas cooktop I ordered should be delivered tomorrow. Long story – there was a mix up and they delivered it to Paros so mom has sent it back… my mix up. Oops. The benchtop can be cut once we have that. We already have the sink.
I should get a call today regarding delivery of the oven and dishwasher I ordered. Ideally they’ll be delivered while I’m still here… otherwise a neighbour who is almost always home has offered to accept delivery.
So basically, its moving along nicely. More or less. Then the big job of moving mom downstairs will start…
junk4joy 