Rainy day play

We've had 4 days of rain, with very heavy stuff today.  We needed it desperately but it would be nice if we didn't get it all at once like this.  Being stuck indoors is a good excuse to do some fun things and  some things that needed doing but I hadn't gotten around to.

We had Windsor butchered in August and I asked the butcher to save the suet for me.  As a friend said to me, "You loved Windsor and now he's loving you back".  He sure is.  We filled a whole freezer with his meat and we're loving it.  I suspect he was still nursing because he had more fat on him than I would expect from a grass fed animal.

See all the fat in the doorway.  That's not even all of it.  Some is in another freezer.  The good stuff - the suet or tallow, is what comes from around the kidneys.  It's very clean and wax-like.  The past 2 days I've been cutting it up and rendering it for use in soap.  Most all my goat milk soap is made with beef tallow these days.  It makes for a very hard soap and has great moisturizing qualities.  This is what it looks like after I render it and let it harden.  It looks like white chocolate and feels like it too.

I still have more to do but 2 days in a row was enough and my ADHDism led me to other projects that seemed more interesting.  I have no idea how I ended up in our garage attic but I did and discovered I had ideas for an old art deco style chaise lounge that was waiting for someone to love it again.  It used to be in Adam's bedroom and had some damage to the veneer from him and his friends draping wet swimsuits or towels over it.

I was able to chisel off the remaining veneer, sanded it and have put one coat of stain on it so far.

If I don't like the way it looks stained I may paint the wood instead.  I don't want to spend the money having it reupholstered since I don't know what we're going to do with it.  Last night I discovered a spray paint (Spray It New) for upholstery.  I ordered some and will give that a try and if it comes out ok I'll post a picture.

We also have some Victorian chairs that no one seems to want these days.  I've tried selling them on Craigslist at a pretty low price with no luck.  So what should I do with them?  I wasted lots of time on Pinterest getting ideas.  I have lots of creative crafty friends -what do you think?

This is just a tiny portion of pieces of furniture we should probably find homes for.  Do other people accumulate stuff like this?

Another thing taking up space is a few hundred vinyl albums and 45's.  I Googled "uses for vinyl records" and saw lots of fun things.  Much of it is stuff beyond my capabilities or tacky stuff.  I didn't find anything to do with them yet but I had to try melting them in the oven like so many other people have done.  It only takes 2 minutes to make a bowl for chips out of a 12 inch album in a 350 degree oven.

Here are some cool things people did with records.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/melismashable/20-amazing-pieces-of-vinyl-record-art#.wj5mnd78x3
I also put a 45 on a custard bowl and this is what happened.

 I have no idea what you'd do with something like this but I guess you could paint it and make it into a Christmas tree ornament.  And what to do with album covers?

More rain to come this week.  Outside projects will have to wait.