Life with Dee

Creating a beautiful life...

Domestic Dee-Va: Exercise Room

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Before I tell you about this week’s Domestic Dee-Va project I want to show you the results of last week’s. If you haven’t seen the before pics, here is the link. It wasn’t easy but I managed to clear out two sections of the bookshelves for the stereo components and the albums. It was quite a job removing all the books and decorative items from each shelf, dusting everything and then putting them back in some semblance of order which probably only makes sense to me. I also catalogued the books on each shelf.

The bookshelves have all been thoroughly dusted, sorted and catalogued. David built the shelf insert for the stereo components. The top shelf where the turntable sits has drawer slides so we can pull it, open the lid and place the album.

I have a small pile of books to get rid off but mostly I just reorganized and really filled up the bottom cabinets.

This section contains books by Clive Cussler, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Steve Ambrose, etc.
Full but organized. There is another section to the right, too. Yes, I have lots of books. And many more in other parts of the house.

That tall object between the hanging guitar and the piano is one of the speakers. You can’t tell very well from the photo but the speaker housing is a really lovely cherry wood. And the sound is exquisite.

The tall item between piano and hanging guitar is one of our new speakers.
Here is a close up of the stereo components taken while playing an album. David built the shelf insert and the top section pulls out so you can open the dust cover on the turntable. He did an amazing job designing and building it. 
We will be adding a CD player in the space between the turntable and receiver as soon as we decide which one we want. And just let me say, this stereo thing is one of the best ideas we’ve had. The music sounds absolutely amazing. I had forgotten just how rich and warm music sounds on an album played on a good system. It literally brought me to tears the first night we sat and listened. Now we will be seriously collecting vinyl. 
Now playing: The Best of the Grateful Dead #vinyl #GratefulDead

Okay, so that was last week’s project. This week I’m going to tackle the exercise room. It used to be our son’s room but now it houses our treadmill, exercise bicycle and weight machine. Unfortunately it tends to be a place to dump things we don’t know where to put.

That big box in this next photo has some sort of music equipment David bought for our business. I think it’s a subwoofer but I’m not sure. I asked him tonight if he’ll find another place for it and he said he will take it to the rehearsal studio for one of our bands (they have several pieces of sound equipment we’ve purchased there). Whatever. Just so it’s out of this room! Most of that other stuff you see are things we use at our Happyland Music Festival each May. I had it neatly stowed away beneath the drafting table but things keep getting pulled out to use for gigs. I’m going to ask David to pick up several large plastic storage containers for all this stuff and then take them over to the spare bedroom in our guest house where our son lives. That big lamp belongs to my parents. They let us use it in our family room years ago but we’ve since replaced the lamps in there and it got shifted to the exercise room. I’m going to ask if they want it back. If not, it’s being given away. You can’t see it in this photo but there is also an old television we don’t need which is also being offered up to anyone who wants it. My plan is to move my craft supplies in here and keep the drafting table free for projects.

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I’m also rethinking the need for this bed. A couple of times a year it might be used for a guest but our daughter’s old room has a double bed and is really a much nicer place for people to stay. It’s pretty rare that we need two guest rooms. I’m thinking that we could always rent a roll-away if we needed it. Well, that’s still to be decided. That huge black suitcase holds all our pirate gear. I’m going to clear a space for it in our big storage closet (another project for another week). And the box behind it has filters for our central heat and air system. David stuck them in here a few weeks ago but they really belong in our laundry room. 
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See all that stuff piled on the weight bench? It’s all washed and neatly folded but these are things people left behind last Happyland Music Fest. I’ll pack it all away in those storage boxes David is going to buy and then perhaps I will be motivated to actually use the weight bench again. 
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So that’s my project for the week. At some point I’d like to repaint the room, get wood blinds for the windows, some artwork for the walls, etc. But this week I just want to make it a functional workout room. 

Happyland Music Fest 2013

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How do I begin to tell the story of the best party of the year? I’ve decided that Happyland Music Fest (HMF) just has to be experienced in order to understand it. But since that’s not possible for all my readers I’m going to try to at least share a taste of it.
I think this first picture sums up Happyland beautifully:

I snapped this Friday evening as everyone was arriving and getting set up for the weekend. These guys are two of the musicians. Aaron, in the hat, plays in Rowdy Folk, an “alt-country, rock-n-roll, bluegrass, folk” band, while Casey, with the tattoos, plays in Our Mother’s Martyr, a heavy metal band. If you went strictly by appearances you might think they have little in common but you’d be wrong. I think the thing I love best about HMF is the genuine love and respect everyone has for one another. Not in spite of differences but in celebration of them. Peace, love and music, y’all!

A lot of work goes into pulling off an event like HMF. Thursday after work, David and Chris constructed a frame around and over our back patio. The purpose was two-fold. One, it gave us an easy way to string up lights and attach light bars and fog machines. But the primary purpose was to make it easy to cover the patio/band area if it rained.

And it did. Fortunately it only rained lightly a couple of times but it required some quick teamwork to cover the patio with plastic (I knew those rolls I bought back during the Anthrax scare would come in handy):
 and bring the band equipment indoors. 

Fortunately those brief showers didn’t interfere with the fun: 

There was camping – and thanks to Joy’s great suggestion, many made flags for their tents:

The recent rains have our pond full so the paddleboat saw some action:

My mom made a big pot of stew for the group and I made two pots of jambalaya. And there was this:
That’s right. Not only do we rent a port-o-potty but this year we also had a food truck. I think that makes us an honest-to-goodness music festival, right? Cane’s offered to cater HMF Friday night. And get this…they did it for free! We took donations, though, and will be sending them to Oklahoma tornado victims. 
Oh, and I also made these:
David made the ice luge this year. One of our bartender friends, Angela, took the first shift and then Matt took over:

There were games of Frisbee, hacky sack, and beer pong. But music is the main event:
We had five bands on Friday night culminating in a performance of Kashmir by Our Mother’s Martyr which melted our faces off:
We also had our first HMF mosh pit which David even joined briefly. He handed me Shiloh’s leash and said,  “Watch this.” Yes, that’s my guy. 
On Saturday the music began at 2 p.m. and lasted late into the night. We had fourteen bands and D.J.s. And dancing. Lots of dancing:
We have some very talented Happyland friends. For the second year in a row, Cas made the official HMF poster:
And Blake painted this amazing piece of art on canvas:

Shiloh adored all the attention:

We skipped the big bonfire this year but a couple of the campers brought a fire pit:

And there was fire spinning:

And morning circle time with coffee and sausage biscuits:

One of the drummers left this miniature campsite which totally charmed me:

And about 20 of us dragged our exhausted bodies to La Fiesta for the traditional post-HMF Mexican food lunch:

As I sat in my backyard listening to incredible music with about 100 of the best people I know, I was simply overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude for this life I’m privileged to live. Over the course of the weekend and in the days since HMF I’ve heard over and over again how appreciative the attendees are that we host this party every year. We have a HMF event page and “survivors club” page on Facebook and some of the attendees left notes for us:

Oh my god. What a party. Thanks to the Piercy family for letting this happen. I had a blast!!! See u next year.

It’s shows like HMF that keep me doing what I do. One of the coolest crowds we’ve played for, for sure. Thanks for the opportunity.

David and Deanna Piercy are quickly becoming two of my favorite people in regards to hospitality and genuine goodness. 6 years in a row is nothing short of a milestone for Happyland and it’s awesome to be a part of what it’s become. 

We love the Piercy family 4-evz!! xoxox

Thank you David and Deanna for the most amazing weekend. Your kindness and generosity is legendary. I have never been a part of a more amazing, loving and talented group of people. I truly feel like HMF is our solace and sanctuary for the year. From the bottom of my heart thank you.

It’s so nice to be appreciated but the truth of the matter is that we enjoy HMF every bit as much ourselves. We had no idea that first year of HMF that it would become an annual event and much anticipated by everyone who has ever attended. We are more than happy to host it each year and are grateful for everyone who participates. David and I often say to one another:

“We have the best life!”

31 Days of Autumn Nesting: Day 14 – The Exercise Room

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I finally tackled a long-postponed task today. Our exercise room has been a dumping ground ever since our Happyland Music Festival back in May. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I *did* have it sort of straightened up at one time – at least enough that I could get in there to use the exercise equipment. But over time we’ve riffled through stuff trying to find certain things that had been left behind, the kids and friends have slept in there, stuff I would ordinarily put away in the closet has been left out (because I couldn’t easily open the closet doors with all the junk!), and, well, one thing led to another. This is what greeted me today behind the closed door:

Happyland mess
And this:
More mess
Until folks claim their stuff the best I could do was box it up and stack it out of the way. But at least I can get in there to exercise and it’s not such a wreck that I can’t stand to be in there. See that nice treadmill there? We are going to get reacquainted. 
Tolerable
I’d like to think those boxes will get sorted out to their rightful owners but the truth is, we will probably still have all of it here when the next Happyland Music Fest rolls around.  I was thinking today that if I decide for sure that I am not going to get chickens again, I might turn their coop (which was originally a metal storage building) into storage for Happyland stuff. Chances are that won’t happen anytime soon but if I do some major clearing out and organizing of our huge storage closet, I can move all this stuff in there. Ultimately I want to put all my crafting stuff in here and use that drafting table for my projects. 
Hopefully people will come get their stuff but at least it's boxed up and somewhat out of the way.
And maybe the weight machine will see some action now:
At least I can get to the weight machine.
The stool and speaker are high on my list of items for whom I’d like to find the owners:
We still have no idea whose speaker that is.
So that was my autumn project of the day. As the days grow shorter I tend to struggle a bit with a less than cheery mood sometimes. It’s nothing as serious as depression but I’d say it’s at least a mild from of Seasonal Affective Disorder. My plan to combat it this winter is to buy a special light made for people with SAD and use it while on the treadmill. The combination of light and exercise are supposed to be really helpful. 
Do you have any special clean up projects going on around your house? 

HMF is going to the dogs

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Not only do people enjoy Happyland Music Fest (HMF) but the dogs have a great time, too.
 This is Herman and this was his second year at HMF.
(I wish I had taken one with a human next to him for size comparison. He is HUGE!)

 Calla is a veteran. She’s attended all five HMFs.
 This was Panches’ second HMF.
 Huck was a first-timer but after a bit he was runnin’ with the big dogs.
(I should have edited this to include a modesty patch. But I didn’t.)
And Shiloh LOVED all the attention! 

Herman’s owner also brought Lola (I think that is her name) for the first time but she was shy and overwhelmed by it all and he had to keep her away from all the commotion. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of her. I had been concerned about how our tiny kittens on the front porch would do but they were fine. The dogs left them alone and nearly every time I went in the front door someone (or often a circle of several) would be sitting there playing with them. Needless to say, by the end of the weekend we had some extremely well-socialized kittens. 

Happyland Music Fest – Part I

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We are still trying to recover from Happyland Music Fest last weekend. I did get my kitchen clean and I moved all the stuff left in my family room to the exercise room and closed the door…which is my latest excuse for not getting on the treadmill. The house is basically back to livable standards. On Wednesday David had to make a trip to the city so he took a truck load of glass to the recycling center up there (we still don’t have glass recycling here in town). Yes, I said a truck load. The incredible thing is that there is still more that wouldn’t fit in his pickup. Most of the trash has been picked up and disposed of although I’m still picking up bits of streamers, bottle caps and cigarette butts each time I go outside. And the back patio is still a bit of a disaster zone. But all in all, we emerged from our annual crazy fest unscathed. Nothing was broken and no one died or even had to go to the E.R. so I consider that a win. 
Chris had asked me to try to take a lot of pictures during the weekend and I did. So many, in fact, that I’m still trying to get them sorted. I’ll be sharing some of them over the next few days, a few at a time so as not to overwhelm those (like me) with slow internet service. So here we go:
 Cas Simmons, one of our attendees, designed this gorgeous poster. Click on it to see the list of musicians and bands which played during the weekend. These posters (and t-shirts) will be available for purchase soon. 
 Casey Howard, Anne Capshaw and David Winchester
Shiloh had a blast! So many people to love on him.

Some of the decorations (those white wire things are lights)

Blowing bubbles

 Everybody is happy at Happyland.

 Nice wig, Aaron.
“Bonesaw” returns!

Yes, that’s my boy. 


Okay, enough for now. In a future post I’ll share some of the great comments being left on our Facebook group page, “Happyland Survivors Club”. It does my heart good to know that everyone had such a good time and that new friendships were formed as a result of this event.

AND…I’ve been reading something which has given me a great idea for a blog post series so stay tuned for that. 

Happyland Music Fest aftermath or “How to clean a messy kitchen”

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The 5th annual Happyland Music Fest was a smashing success. Somewhere around 100 people danced, frolicked, listened to music, camped and ate here over the weekend. We all had a fantastic time. And then I took a look at my kitchen. Oh, my. Pictures really don’t capture the enormity of the situation but take a look:

Click on the next few so you can really see how bad it was:

Sunday evening after everyone was gone David and I decided to grill a couple of burgers for ourselves. There truly was not enough open counter space to make the patties. I had to move several items in order to make space for a plate.

We were both utterly exhausted but we pulled ourselves together for a little while. There was a slight chance of rain so while David made sure there was nothing outdoors which shouldn’t get wet, I loaded the dishwasher and cleared one counter. And that’s my cup of tea there at the end which I then took out to the front porch for a few minutes before collapsing in bed. 

Happyland Music Fest began as just one afternoon and night of fun but either the second or third year everyone begged us to make it two nights. After last year everyone had such a great time they asked if we could make it three nights. Absolutely, positively NOT. Part of the reason we host it on Memorial Day weekend is so we have Monday to clean up and recover. At least partially.
Here are pictures from my Monday efforts in the kitchen:
David and I didn’t want to spend our entire Memorial Day working, though. We also took time for a nap, a movie and a nightcap at the local dive bar where we ended up talking about cars with a guy we had met there a couple of other times. 
Tuesday morning David headed back to work and I was determined to get my kitchen completely back to normal. I finished the last of the dishes, scrubbed the counters and sink, and mopped the filthy floor. Here is my bright, shiny kitchen:

The red striped dish towel to the left of the sink is covering the LAST of the dishes as they dry:

Have you ever faced such a mess that you had no idea where to start? I briefly experienced that overwhelming feeling when I first looked at the disaster site which had formerly been my kitchen. But then I made myself focus. Here are the steps I took:
Sunday night:
1. Gather all trash and throw away.
2. Collect all items which don’t belong in the kitchen. The family room wasn’t much better so I simply moved the non-kitchen items in there. 
3. Fill the dishwasher and start it.
4. Remove everything from the sink, do a quick scrub and fill one side with hot, soapy water. 
5. Put some dishes in to soak.
6. Move all dishes to the counter nearest the sink. 
7. Wash one sink full of dishes.
8. Wipe down the counter that was cleared when moving the dishes.
9. Make cup of hot tea and call it a night.

Monday:
1. Empty dishwasher.
2. Put away hand washed dishes which dried overnight.
3. Load dishwasher again and start.
4. Fill sink with hot soapy water and begin washing again.
5. Wash dishes for over an hour and decide that is enough for a holiday.
6. Take a nap then go see a movie.
Tuesday:
1. Empty dishwasher and put away hand-washed dishes from dish drainer.
2. Fill sink with hot soapy water and finish the rest of the dishes.
3. When all the dishes are FINALLY washed, wipe the rest of the counters, stove, refrigerator.
4. Scrub the sink.
5. Take a break or in this case, work on the rest of the house while the dishes dry.
6. Put away dry dishes.
7. Vacuum the floor.
8. Mop the floor.
And then indulge in a deep sigh of relief, knowing that it will be a year before your kitchen is that much of a mess again. 
Seriously though, even the worst mess can be dealt with if you break it down into small steps, stay focused and take breaks. 

We all survived…I think

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The fifth annual Happyland Music Fest was a rousing success. There will be pictures and stories to come but we still have a LOT of cleanup to do today. And there will most definitely be a nap on the agenda. We slept about 6 hours total on Friday and Saturday nights. We *might* be just a little too old for that. On second thought…nah. Party on!

Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day weekend at Happyland

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Happyland Music Fest ’11
In just a few short hours the 5th annual Happyland Music Fest will kick off in our backyard. Tents will be erected, burgers will be grilled and music will fill the air. (I am just hoping all our neighbors have decided to go to the lake for the weekend.) What started as one evening of music with about 30 people has expanded to a full weekend, two nights of music, and probably somewhere around 100 people. This year there will even be an independent film premier after the music tonight. 
A lot of planning and hard work goes into putting on a music festival and we still have some setting up to finish this afternoon. But at 7 p.m. the first musician will start and for the rest of the weekend we will all bask in the glory that is Happyland. 
There will be pictures to share later…after we have recovered a bit. But I wouldn’t plan on that until at least next Tuesday. I hope everyone has a wonderful, fun and safe Memorial Day weekend!

I missed it again…

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I had meant to post something about my blogoversary this year but as usual, I let the day slip by unnoticed. And I even have one of those “Blogoversary in ___ days” widgets on my blog. Oh, well. May 5th marked the 6th anniversary for Tea With Dee. In those 6 years I’ve written 887 posts here. I’ve shared some personal things, posted lots of pictures, and to a certain extent have journalled our family’s life. Sometimes I get in the groove and post a lot, putting a lot of effort into it. Other times life and circumstances take over and quality posting wanes. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood to share my thoughts or I’m still processing things before I decide how to say what’s going on in my head. 
That’s sort of where I’ve been lately but I feel a writing surge coming on. It will have to wait until after next weekend, though. We will be hosting our 5th annual Happyland Music Festival and are expecting around 100 people hanging out, camping, dancing, grilling and enjoying the music here all weekend. Please say a little prayer for our poor neighbors. Like, maybe, that they will all decide to spend the holiday weekend at the lake?

This is going to be a busy week for us as we prepare for the weekend so it’s likely that my posting will be sparse. And along those lines, I’ll finish this quick post with a couple of pictures.

Friday as I was walking Shiloh, I spotted something orange. It seems that a rather nondescript tree I’d never paid any attention to is an apricot tree and it decided to bring forth fruit for the first time. There were already a couple of dozen apricots on the ground and the one’s clinging to the branches were dead ripe. I picked a couple to try although I didn’t have high hopes for them. I like a really good apricot but I haven’t had a really good one in years. It seems they are usually mealy and tasteless. But I cut a piece off one and tasted it. Wow. It was the most delicious apricot I’d ever had. It was so juicy and sweet that it almost tasted like a peach. David helped me pick them and now I have to make time to do something with them tomorrow. Yes, right in the midst of preparations for the music festival, I am going to be making jam or something. But I can’t let these tasty fruits go to waste:
Delicious apricots from our tree
And on a totally random and unrelated note, here is a picture of my new ice cube tray. The ice maker in our relatively new refrigerator isn’t working. Fortunately it’s still under warranty but we are waiting until after next weekend to have a repairman out to fix it. In the meantime, I’m making ice the old fashioned way. I had a cheap plastic tray which I sometimes use to freeze leftover lemon juice or wine and I used it for several days. However, I don’t really like the idea of plastic touching my food or ice. So I ordered this beautifully made stainless steel version:
New stainless steel ice cube tray
Yes, I just ordered one. It was $29.95! But it should last forever. I may order another at some point but in the meantime I’m making ice cubes and transferring them to the ice maker a few times a day. It’s not a huge deal but it sure does make me appreciate an ice cube maker. 
And that is all I have time for today. We have someone coming to give us an estimate on replacing our air conditioner and he should be here any minute! (And please ignore any mistakes as I don’t have time to proofread.)