Renovation (Rooms 1 and 2) Complete!

Phew!
It's been a long journey but I have finally finished renovating the first 2 of 5 1/2 rooms. (The 1/2 referring to the hallway, which is finished except I'm having trouble getting the doors back on!) How stupid was I not to take 'before' pictures of the living room?? I found some old photos and posted them instead.

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After

Dining Room (Mom in the kitchen)

Living Room Before (with my nephew Matt and sister Lauren)

Living Room After

Living Room Before (with my sister and sister-in-law Kathy)

Living Room After

Renew - Revitalize - Redecorate!

I've been bugging my mom for years now to let me update her house and she has been against it from the beginning. Since I am now in full possession of said property, I've finally worn her down to the place where she said "Do whatever you want...it's your house now". With the green light, I set about making plans and decided to renovate just one room at a time, as I didn't want to completely freak her out with upsetting the entire house, plus it wouldn't overwhelm me quite so much. Since I'm an amateur it can be a daunting task ripping down and replacing parts of a 100 year old house! So far mom has been pretty okay with it, even to the point of helping me to move furniture and doing small tasks that make my life easier.

The first thing I had to do was remove the drop ceiling and did so with no problems what so over...a really amazing outcome, considering I always do everything the hard way. Unfortunately, the ceiling itself is about to fall in! Apparently the leaks in the roof we had in the past continued without our knowledge. A drop ceiling hides a multitude of sins. What a huge mess. I had to call my contractor Joe and have him come and give me a price. As I write this he's ripping down the old horse-hair plaster ceiling. He'll then check to make sure no further leaks will be happening in the future. He'll also rewire for a ceiling fixture with was non-existent in my lifetime. (There is a light switch on the wall that's never turned anything on).

After the removal of the drop ceiling, it was time to get rid of the dark mahogany paneling. I needed help with that so my brother Dave came by on Sunday to help me rip it down. That too, came down without a hitch...along with lots of the wall! I wasn't surprised and knew I was going to have to do some patching. The next day I got a 20 lb. bag of joint compound and started mixing and patching the huge chunks of wall that fell out. These holes were deep and went right through to the lath and really needed to be mended before the new walls went up. This was a bit tedious because the more I touched the walls, the more they crumbled and in the end I asked the contractor to patch and skim-coat the plaster so now I'll just have to deal with the final finishing.

A little side note: There was lovely surprise underneath this all this old dark paneling...lots of graffiti from when we were kids! We've date this between 1968-1970.

TSO in the TSA

Okay, so you know I'm in government territory when acronyms are used in a blog title. Why am I using these and what do they mean? Transportation Security Officer in the Transportation Security Administration. This is my latest job application.

They need a great many screeners around the country at various airports due to the clogged airways so I applied for a job opening at my local airport, T.F. Green. The jobs are all part time and don't pay very well but I need something. Immediately after applying I was informed I was qualified and the next step would be to take a test. Ugh. I hate tests.

SO yesterday I took the test. It was in 2 parts...the first being an English test with various exercises in comprehension and the like, which I aced. The second part was really scary. I was required to study a series of object and then look at x-rays of luggage and try to pick out the objects, if indeed any were included in the image. It may sound easy but it was really difficult. I left there thinking I had failed that part miserably but when I got home and fired up the computer, I had an email telling me I passed as well as a contingent offer of employment! Unbelievable. Next step is a background check which isn't a problem for me and then an interview.

I wasn't too excited until I went to the TSA website and looked into available careers with this agency and saw that there were potential possibilities of advancement and the pay grades are incredible! I started to think that after being a security screener (which I imagine can be quite boring) I may be able to move up the ladder.

Only time will tell.

Diagnosis: I'm Special

I saw the doc today and she told me I was a very special person. I had to laugh because I knew what was coming...ta da! I have an autoimmune disease that is so rare I can't even find any good information on it! Diagnosis:  Chronic ulcerative duodenitis with duodenal stricture. Translation: Ulcers most likely caused by food allergens (gluten) with the result being my intestines are closing in on themselves. How nice for me.

So, rather than rushing to cut me open in that area, this will be treated through diet and non-invasive steroids (hooray!) In 3 months we'll meet again to see what's what. That's the good news. I still have to have surgery to remove the big apple in my bum, however. The docs afraid there may be cancer hiding behind it but I'm not too worried. I'll see the surgeon next week.

In the meantime I have to visit a nutritionist who is going to tell me "Do not eat flour".  As well I will visit the geneticist who will tell me "You have Lynch Syndrome". (A genetic propensity to have cancers of the bowel and/or endometrial cancer before the age of 50). Needless to say, it's a "been there, done that" moment.

End. Of. Story.

The Flying Shuttles Art and Weaving Studio

I've been volunteering since 2007 with the folks at The Flying Shuttles. These artists are "Outsider Artists" and developmentally disabled. They have amazing artistic abilities and I enjoy spending time with them. Over the years I have had different workshops with them beginning in 2008 with papermaking. From there we did mold making and bookmaking. For the past 8 months or so I've been working with them on different types of printmaking and sewing/quilting. Below see the results of their amazing works.


 Wall Hanging by Jackie

Wall Hanging by Brenda

Pillow by Damon



Pillow by Alfred









Pillow by Brenda



New Job...Old Job

I was offered a job as a mobile teaching artist for Riverzedge in Woonsocket. They are a great organization that specializes in art and community outreach. Find them here:http://riverzedgearts.org/
My job is to travel to various after-school programs in Providence and Pawtucket to teach art. Nice.
Well, no. Not really.

I was assigned to an elementary school to teach an 8 week workshop and I decided to do a painting course which would introduce the kiddies to Piet Mondrian. I showed up for my first day and I was told they didn't sign on for an art teacher this term. Huh. Okay. I called the boss and he didn't know what was up and I went home. No one gave me an explanation as to what happened so I guess I didn't merit one. The following week I went to another school where they were expecting me. Great. So far so good. I had a group of 10 4th and 5th graders...perfect. Yup.     

Nope.

For 90 minutes I was a nothing but a referee. "Don't touch that. Stop yelling. Come here. Sit down. Be quiet. What are you doing? Why are you screaming? Where are you supposed to be?" and on and on ad nauseam.  There was no learning taking place. There was no listening. There was no control.

I completely get it though. Those kids are at school from 8-5:30...they needed to be outside running around and not sitting inside a classroom painting. I just had the unfortunate time slot of 4-5:30 for this class. Can you see yourself at 9 years old being at school all day until 5:30 doing organized activities? It's like a full time job. God I feel really sorry for those kids.
When I sat in the car afterwards I was wrung through. I was thinking that this was a mere 10 children
yet it felt as if I had done battle with 30.

So, a glorified babysitter I am not, so I won't be returning.

Another Bump in the Road

Okay so...I never said my life has been easy. In fact, it seems like I have always:
1. done everything the hard way
2. done everything way too late
3. got sidetracked because of some major illness

Yesterday I opened...wait for it....da da da da! Door # 3. Huh.

Okay so harking back to the 2010 post "In my Dirty Hospital Johnny" http://thepapergirlsstudio.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-my-dirty-hospital-johnny.html
When my life took a nightmarish turn when I ended up in the hospital in Bucharest. So that was the beginning of my sojourn with the "7 Sisters" as my friend Barb likes to call them (7 ulcers). As soon as I came home I went to my gastro gal and she confirms I had not 1 but 7 ulcers (I am never one to do anything in a small way). Okay, so lets deal with it. She suggested this was a bad thing and I should not go into the Peace Corps (I was heading there in 2 weeks time) and I laughed. No WAY was I missing this chance!

Anyway, I'm fairly stringent with my health because of a previous cancer and a family history so I keep up-to-date with all that stuff but things got to be ridiculous on the pain side of things.

Okay, so fast forward to last December. I paid the doc another visit because it had been 2 years since my last endoscopy/colonoscopy. I had been having a lot of pain and just could not stay off the OTC generic Prolisec so I know that the "sisters" are either not clearing up or multiplying. To say nothing of the pain in my ass from a chronic 15 year old fissure I just had to get some relief. (Sometimes I live with pain for so long I come to think of it as normal. Just what the hell is wrong with me anyway?)

Yesterday I had my tests and the docs face was well, not good. "We got some problems here" she says in her accented Italianized English. "We need to fix you". Okay. So now what?  "You have bigger problems in the duodenum. Ulcers are spreading and are bleeding. They are also in the ileum (inside of the intestines)". Then she looks me in the eyes and says "In my 30 years of practice I never seen anything this bad. Never." Gee, thanks doc. But...didn't you get the memo? I ALWAYS do everything in a BIG way. Okay, so this isn't all of it. I also have some kind of monstrous mass in my rectum. "Too big to cut out" says the doc. Nice, I say. "So, now can we fix my fissure"? Okay. We can do that, she said.

Huh. Finally. I have been complaining about this pain for 15 years and have done everything I could to fix it, and now that I have a big apple in my ass it's finally gonna happen. Lovely.

So, now the fun starts. CT scans, surgery (in 3 places mind you!!!) and ANOTHER colonoscopy in 6 months. GOD I hate the day before. Although, now that I think of it, if they get rid of my ulcers, maybe it won't be so painful to have an empty stomach?

Stay tuned interested readers.....

Finished and Finished (New Work and New Grant)

Finished and submitted, at long last, another art grant. This one is for artists in financial need. Huh.
I don't think I ever met an artist who WASN'T in need of financial help!  Crazy.

The Pollack-Krasner Foundation has been awarding grants for years. This is my second attempt and hope to secure enough money to fund a studio for 2 years. http://www.pkf.org/

Finished a new work yesterday and I am blown away by amount of work I have accomplished in the past few months. I have made 5 tea works and used almost every tea bag I had in my arsenal...about 5 or 6 years worth. Now I have to think about what's next. This new piece is a depiction of the year after I came home from serving in Ukraine as a PCV. Here is a link to the blog post that correlates to the work I call "The Year in Question Part 2 (127 Job Applications + 1 Interview = 0 Jobs)"
http://thepapergirlsstudio.blogspot.com/2013/11/not-yet-finding-my-place-in-world.html

I have put together a text of all the jobs I had applied to (and didn't get) and transferred it to the tea bags I had used in first few weeks of my return stateside.

New-Old Blog

Welcome to my new blog...clearly the same as my old blog but under a different designation. I've decided to start fresh, because like everything else in my life, it grows stale over time and needs a bit of a shake-up.

These past 2 weeks I have been really busy writing art grants. I've submitted 2 grants to RISCA (Rhode Island State Council on the Arts)....one for a fellowship grant and another an individual project grant. The former is won simply on merit for works created ( I won $1000 for 2nd place back in 2010). The latter grant is for teaching art workshops to the developmentally disabled. I volunteer at studio for artists of this caliber and I thought...why not get paid to do it? So I wrote a lengthy proposal for a pilot program. If it's successful than I can continue onward with these same workshops in other venues. I also applied for a grant from Zero 1 American Arts Incubator. This program is supported by the US Government Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. If I win I get to go to Russia for 1 month (FREE!) to do an art project. The current and not-quite-finished grant is from a private foundation (Chenven Foundation). I am hoping to win a travel grant so I can continue my quest to have a cup of tea with the world and turn the materials into great works of art.

Speaking of art, here are my latest tea projects:



“1 tsp. 4 min. (Tea Thoughts)” is the latest of my tea projects. This piece explains the musings that are in my mind when I am waiting for that first cup of tea to brew in the morning.

“Multitude of Voices” is an accumulation of about 5 years worth of tea bags. The collection comes from a multitude of people and places. Each bag was individually used by myself, close friends and family, acquaintances, and even from people who I never met, but had admired my work and saved their bags for me! The bags were cut in half, sew together in long strips, and woven on a peg loom.



 

“Teatime with Manette” is the story of my friendship with Manette Jungles, an artist whom I met a few years ago. Manette is one the kindest people I have ever known and this quilt is a tribute to her generosity. Manette purchased all the Tea Sacs and most of the tea. Each bag was filled and steeped with love. The quilt is still unfinished.

 



“Prosperity/Disparity” is about the economic disparity between the United States and Albania. Last year I lived for 3 months in Burrell, a tiny town in the middle of what is called the Albanian Alps. Unemployment in this town was hovering at about 40% at the time I was there.

Unlucky

Back tracking to 2 weeks ago: After 10 years of applying for full time faculty positions around the country I was finally invited to interview with a state university in South Dakota. The CAA conference is this week in Washington DC and that is where I am headed tomorrow to meet the hiring committee....

Or not.

Fast forward to this morning at 10am.  I received an email telling me there is now a 4.05% budget cut at the state level due to falling oil revenues so as a result there is now a hiring freeze on. No job. No interview.

Huh.

I've decided to go anyway. There is a career center at the conference that I need to go to and beg for any little morsel of any kind of job anyplace in the world.

I've decided. God hates me.