It sounds like he was getting his revenge for seeing hyper realistic baby parts around your house over the years.
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Finally moved after 34 yrs in OK. We didn’t sell our house but paid it off. WOW! We aren’t positive of the exact location to live so we are renting a small place to get a feel for the area.. Our son& daughter are going to live and maintain our old house😳 this way we still have a home to go back to. We still have a lot of stuff we left behind (like a doll room full of supplies). Our new place is half the size. But it’s nice. It means less housework less junk and clutter. We packed only the essentials and things we absolutely wanted. Gina, I feel your pain about leaving the kids. My plan is to move them with us, in the near future, and that’s that. They have to listen to me right? I’m their mother. Allergies-i have horrible allergies life long shots etc. My allergist told me it doesn’t matter where you move to, if you have allergies. It’s like Pandora’s box. Once you get them, you will develope new ones wherever you go. Question-is you house really too small or do you have too much stuff like we did. After we moved to the smaller house with just the necessities, we are comfortable. Hard part is clearing out- a house that you don’t plan to leave. Maybe then you’ll free up enough room to stay.
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Where did you move to?
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Right outside of Pensacola-close enough to the beach but away from the tourists. It’s been a lot of back & forth, and we’re exhausted. Trying to familiarize ourselves with the area before truly settling down, so we decided to rent for now. I must admit after living in Ok for so long, leaving is not as easy as I thought. I guess we were settled and it’s too much work to uproot and go. For now, I’m not considering it a total move, more like a seasonal one. Hurricane season-Oklahoma, Tornado season-back to Florida. It might work.
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I like that idea of half and half….. not a total uprooting but rather the best of both worlds 
Hope you get settled in and rested up and can enjoy the sunny Florida weather!!!
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Starting fresh sounds dreamy. After 30 years we should have our house paid off but its an older house and we took a couple re-fi loans over the years to do things like, new floors (twice), repair the roof, put in an updated kitchen (18 years ago) new windows, doors, HVAC, updated our electric, fixed leaks, put up a sunroom 25 years ago, that had a 20 year gaurantee, back then 20 years seems like a million years and we were sure we wouldn’t still be living here. So we actually owe more on our house then we paid on it. Our first loan had a terrible rate.
We almost sold this house six times. This last time we got prequalified and had a realtor friend come through and she said, “its nice but its a bit out dated” The mister said, “we just put that kitchen in!” I had to remind him how long it had been. Since then I redid both bathrooms with the help of my cousin who flew here from Colorado. I hired someone to replace the floors (I was surprised at how expensive it was).
Little by little I am trying to make it sellable so if we find a place we are ready to go.
It wouldn’t be too small if we were not 3 adults and a kid and running three businesses out of it. The sunroom is my studio, we built a small music studio for our son, we built a tiny office for the mister. It’s a little ridiculous. We do have a lot of stuff, an attic full of 30 years worth of photos, baby memory boxes, camping, christmas, luggage, taxes, books, just life stuff, every year we think it down and fill it back up. I think it reproduces on its own. Sadly I hoard art supplies, sigh…
Our house is about 1060 sf. 3 bedrooms. We have a tiny living room. The bedrooms are small.
I went out today and rented a storage unit for my all my paintings. It feels so wasteful but it was so necessary. In the old days, in another life I had a studio and a retail store so none of this stuff was here. It was nice, very nice.
Every inch of my house has a purpose. I don’t know how the people who lived here in the 60’s with four kids managed it.
As for allergies I hear ya sister. I am allergic to everything, if I was smart I would live in a bubble but alas I must deal with dander, dust, pollen, perfume, etc… When we lived in Washington state I thought I would die, trees, mold, dust mites, new pollens, carpets.
Allergies suck.
Congrats on the new place, paying off your mortgage!!! (big deal, that is awesome).
Hope your babies are always close by.
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WOW…sounds like you have done so much and updated your house to make the most of it and to “fit” you!!! You said you redid the bathrooms…did you get rid of that lovely tub??? I remember back when you posted a pic of E when he was just tiny sitting in it and I fell in love with it…I could just picture it full of bubbles and sitting in it relaxing
It’s nice that you had help and did it yourself…saved a ton…I bet!!
We do tend to accumulate stuff…without even meaning to, I think!!
We got rid of SO much stuff and yet…I look around here and think how much more we could get rid of.
Problem is…we got rid of some stuff I WANTED…keepsakes…it got into the wrong pile is all I can think of bc it’s GONE…some mementos from when the kids were babies and some stuff that Chuck’s mom had given me…didn’t know it until Christmas last year when I was hunting for my nativity set that she made me and couldn’t find it…I was in panic mode…went all through the house and basement dumping boxes everywhere…Chuck actually went back in to look and found it…whew…but all the other stuff she made me is gone 
I know most of that stuff I don’t look at or use on a regular basis…but just KNOWING I have it is like some kind of comfort thing to me…
Are you doing paintings for future shows? Or planning on selling them at craft fairs and things like that? I wish we had stuff like that around here…
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I hope your Christmas was happy.
I put that old tub in my garden, it’s full of tulip bulbs and Dahlias. It looks odd out there but I couldn’t part with it, it had a long journey to get here and it’s a special tub.
I am glad you found the nativity. I know that was important to you on several levels.
I understand the comfort of objects. When I was a kid my Aunt gave me an olive green velvet frog made by a woman she knew who sold them at Christmas time. It was full of some kind of beans, it was the size of newborn baby, a big soft bean bag. I had that thing when I moved in with the mister at 18, at some point he decided I no longer needed childish things and I was too embarrassed to fight about it. We had a tiny apartment and a baby on the way.
It’s just an object but I was strongly attached to it. All these years later and I still remember it. My youngest son and I were talking about favorite toys and I mentioned that frog. He held on to that story and searched the internet for one to buy me. The closest he could get was a green velvet frog in olive green, made into a funny little purse by an Etsy artists. He asked his sister to order it for me. No one understood why, I did.
Objects…
I am painting for a show I am invited to in the spring. I had a show this summer and I will be listing unsold paintings on Saatchi, I have been meaning to get them up but its been a little busy ‘round here, I think I will get them listed after the new year.
I never got the new Babies on my workbench painted before Christmas, but I think I will do them for spring.
I am suppose to teach a glass workshop in the spring also.
Kinda looking forward to the new year.
Hope yours brings you all kinds of new memories you treasure.
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I bet that tub looks awesome as a flower planter!! People do stuff like that around here…I even thought about it when we redid our bathroom in the early 20’s…for a millisecond…except…that bathtub was pepto bismol pink 
I did take a wheelbarrow with a broken handle and tip it on it’s side, pile dirt in it and “spilled” dirt in front of it and used it as a planter for a long time.
I’ve seen old kids wagons in yards and a few actual whoppin’ big farm wagons
The comfort of objects is not really the object itself, I think, it’s the love represented in that gift…a little piece of “real” of that person that stays with us…like when we save our babies cute outfits…they represent a special time/feeling. I still have a cheap stuffed bull dog that my uncle sent to me when I was 12 for Christmas…it lived on my bed until I got married. I still have him…but he lives in a tote now. BUT…I know he’s there!!
What a kind and sweet son you are raising to go through such a search to find something similar…so now…you have a DOUBLE treasure!!! 
You are a busy lady…painting…teaching…and new babies to work on!!
Please share here as we ALL love seeing your work and what you are into!!!
Oh gosh I remember those frogs! We used to have a little local fall festival in the small community I grew up in and everyone would sell their little homemade crafts, baked goods etc. Our little country church had a table and we sold fundraiser products like flavorings, hand choppers, steel wool scrubbers, and knives. Usually there were some baked goods and a craft as well made by the ladies group. I remember seeing the bean bag frogs being sold at this festival. They had black button eyes and were usually made from very colorful fabrics.
Something like this pattern.
Oh my goodness this totally looks like it!
I loved craft fairs when I was a kid I thought they were magical. My Greatgrandmother use to take us to church and then over to the IES for the Portuguese Fiesta. The cloistered nuns use to make really beautiful things, and ladies from St. Joes use to make pot holders, aprons, baby booties, tea cozies. little dolls with crochet skirts to put over your toilet paper roll.
My favorite were always rag dolls, I have a soft spot for them. Raggedy Ann is creepy to me but I there was an older lady who use to make baby dolls out of fabric and she would have a little diaper with one big safety pin and a little lovey blanket, they sometimes had yarn hair. They only had eyes that were sewn far apart. That dolly still lives in my heart.
Handmade things are the best things I have always wanted a handmade kitchen knife but the guy at our farmers market is way too pricey, I am sure its hard work and its worth it but at my house the kid will take it outside to “carve stuff” and leave it in the rain.
Thanks for sharing the link, I feel like making one on this cold rainy day, just for fun, maybe the mouse and I will do it together.
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Oh I would love to see if you make one! Funny you mentioned pot holders! I have a friend who has gotten into making them and she gifted a set for the dirty Santa swap we did. After I saw hers (and lost them in the game) I decided I wanted to make them. So hubby got me a loom for Christmas. I have been sitting round looming potholders for the last 2 weeks while medicated and nauseated from the UTI I have had. Here is what I have done.
The first photo are the home spun looking ones made from a 1 lb grab bag of loops. 2nd photo is ones made with nice 100% cotton loops samples that came with the loom. I have ordered some more of the cotton loops to do some in Christmas colors for coasters next holiday. They cost more but definitely produce a better outcome.
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Chuck’s cousin (who lives close to Gainesville) makes these too!!! They are the BEST potholders ever!!! She does the cotton ones like in your 2nd photo!
I have several pair and they are all I use!! They aren’t huge but they are thick and bendy so you can wrap
Them around a hot handle on cast iron !!!
Yours are so pretty!!! Love the patterns you created!!!
Thank you!
I look forward to making more with the cotton loops I have on order.
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