Crazy Past Two weeks

I got tired of my kitchen table looking like this:
Underneath it are power drills, saws, hammers, nails,...you name it. I wanted my kitchen back.
The solution?
Put the last shelf up in the bathroom so that I can put towels on them.
Before:After:
Yeah, well, if only it were that easy!
I was going to use the extra shelf I bought accidentally for the living room bookshelves. But I used it to make a mistake (ahem - not on purpose), and so I'd patched the holes, stained and sanded them and they still looked like crap. Not to mention that I would have had to saw the darn shelf down! So my brilliant idea was to go to Home Depot and have them cut the shelf to size.
I swear I measured. I KNOW I measured the distance as 3 1/4" and I KNOW I told the Home Depot guy (at the third store because apparently all the guys who could use the store saw were watching the Phillies game) the right size. But somehow the new shelf doesn't quite fit. :(
Oh well. I can still get it up there, I stained it and polyurethaned it, and it looks gorgeous and is functional. That's all I want. Now I can actually keep towels in my beautiful bathroom.

I'm still unpacking. I don't know if it will ever end. I ended up going to Lowe's to get rubber tubs so I could put stuff in the basement. Only to read while I was prepping for a conservation workshop that this is actually the worst thing you can do because you make a little microchamber environment of humidity. Now I've got to go in there and prop all of the bins open somehow so that they can "breath". But I did get enough unpacked that I can get to my board shear:
And my studio table. This is a good thing because I have tons to do before I leave for the big trip next week!Yep! Goin' to Australia next week. I can't tell you how excited I am. Three weeks. I'm jurying a book arts award, having a show, doing a collaboration and getting to know a country I had no idea I wanted to know. I met two people in Korea last year from Australia and I'm soOo excited I get to see them both again so soon! It's incredible! I got two email this morning about possible things to do with them. I was so excited I couldn't read them. I will have to do that tomorrow morning with a cup a coffee.
Suffice it to say: I'm really excited to go. But I have a ton of stuff to do:
Here's the weekend agenda:
1. finish wedding album for Rachael and Ben
2. Finish two books for show in Australia at Julie's gallery. www.juliebarrattgallery.com.au
3. read guide books
4. clean
5. host Stitch 'n Bitch Philadelphia (we are making socks! - the perfect airplane project)
6. Countless other things such as clean some more, pick up farm share, make sure I have "mitbringsel" gifts for people in Australia, and generally realize that I did actually manage to get things done at HSP before I left! Woohoo!
7. Console Jacques. He know something is up. Claire and Lisa - two of my fabulous students will be staying at my house. And he was very lovey-dovey after they came and left. He knows... they always do. Wait 'till I pull out the suitcase - he will crawl right into it and park himself there. sigh. If only he was a good traveler. But alas.