I was going to split this all up into separate entries, but no. Nut-uh. Ok ready? Eye candies galore!!

First, the remodeling:

The tub surround is up, sealed and drying. All of the fixtures are back on permanently, shower curtain up and ready to go! To do: mud the rest of the room, sand, prime, paint, install mirror, install cabinet above the toilet, install ceiling trim.

Next, the sketches!

The first three I’ve laid out to go together. They are all 6×6 on gallery wrapped canvases, all of them are black cats.

The next two are 8×10 cats on gallery wrapped canvases:

The next one is an 8×8 on canvas panel, a remake on PossyII, this is PossyIII:

And there you have your eye candy for today! If I’m not completely beat, I’ll paint later on tonight. I’d like to get some mudding done so it can dry overnight.

I’ll let you know when I’m paintin’!

Good morning!

Sorry I missed you all yesterday! We chatted with Mark for a few hours yesterday morning, and then I dove back into the bathroom. Here I was, thinking I was definitely going to get a shower lastnight, but noooOOooOOOoo, the adhesive has to set up for 24 hours! The bathroom makeover gods do. not. like. me. one. bit.

I am, however, nearing the finish line in there. I’m going to let that set up today, and caulk inbetween sketching my next 6 commissions!!

THAT’S RIGHT! I’m going to be ARTFUL today! Can you believe it?! How long has it been?? Yes, I agree. Far too long. Here’s what you’ll be seeing in the form of eye candy later today:

1. Bathroom Progress Pic
2. 6×6 Cat Portrait Sketch: Emily
3. 6×6 Cat Portrait Sketch: Ten
4. 6×6 Cat Portrait Sketch: Tori
5. 8×10 Cat Portrait Sketch: Callie
6. 8×10 Cat Portrait Sketch: Nicki
7. 8×8 Wildlife Portrait: Possy III

YES I will get them all sketched out today! It may take til later this afternoon, but I will get them done and be ready to rock on my next several paintings!

BTW, If you’re reading this (and I know both of you are, heh!) I need images for #8 and #9!

I’ll be back!

Alright so no shower for me tonight, I’ll be submerging myself into the tub again. Bah. I need that nice hot water beating down on my shoulders about now, know what I mean? I’ll get one tomorrow, I can guarantee that! (Even if it means checking into a hotel! LOL)

Mom & Sis came down today and lent their huge helping hands! We tackled the medicine cabinet first, got that out of there and Mom wired up the new fixture, which is really super bright! YAY! Sis did some tapin’ and some muddin’, I actually used a :gasp: circular saw and cut some cross braces (studs) for the cabinet and got those up. We started in on the exhaust fan and boy was that thing naaasty. Mom ripped it out of there, and what I had purchased to put back up was so chintzy that I opted to run down to Lowe’s for a new one. Mom installed the new one while Sis and I did more tapin’ and muddin’.

We had a lil’ pizza, a lil’ birthday cake, a lil’ ice cream, and got back to work!

They had to leave a little while ago, and I just finished up cleaning in there and getting a new piccy for you to see! Now you can see the whole floor installed, and the medicine cabinet gone and drywall up on that wall. I have just a couple more pieces of drywall to put up, have to finish taping and mudding, sand it all down, prime it, then install the shower surround.

AND MARK IS BACK! YAHOOOOOOOO! That just made my day. I missed my MAN!!!

34 years ago (no I don’t care who knows), is the day my mom went through major pain to bring me into this world.

Then she went through another ummm….18 years of pain raising me, and still more pain trying to let me go and live my own life.

Sorry ’bout all that, mom. 😉

Still, today is the day I owe her a debt of gratitude. Without Mom, I wouldn’t be. Anything. I couldn’t imagine that, and it’d be a real bummer to not live the life I live. So thanks, Mom.

I’m one year older.
One year further away from my birth.
One year closer to my death.
One year less afraid of that occurance.
One year less worried about how people feel about me.
One year more worried about how I feel about myself.
One year closer to attaining my goals.
One year stronger in character and set in my ways.
One more year to look back with very few regrets.

One year closer to driving like a complete lunatic and making everyone else on the road angry.

One year closer to sitting on a bench in an art museum with my best bud Paige, across from one of my paintings, and remembering the time I painted that piece. Speaking a little loudly since we’re both in hearing aids by then. heh.

Finally, I’m one year more grateful for God’s gifts in my life, there are so many.

Getting old isn’t all that bad.

(except for the back pain and joint aches. Jeez.)

Here’s a lil progress shot for ya, really exciting stuff huh? Aunt T got me to call Menard’s with the rest of my supply list (tub surround, adhesive, a couple more sheets of greenboard) and have it DELIVERED! So yay for not having to figure out how to shove it in the back of my car!

Yea I know this looks wierd, it’s greenboard, literally. It won’t be green when I’m done. 😛

Anyone know where my husband is? Man I need a fix. He’s been out doing his thing since last Sunday.

I’d also like to know why the DMV is closed tomorrow when everyone else is celebrating MLK day on Monday? Thankfully I remembered that I had to have my license renewed and got it done today, otherwise I would have been driving on an expired license. Oopsie!

The bathroom is coming along! I’m taking a short break from drywalling, it looks like I’m going to run out of greenboard. Two walls are finished, now I’m moving over to the walls with all the plumbing and wierd cuts. We’ll see about getting that light fixture up, I know I’ll at least get the medicine cabinet out of there today! We’ll just use a floor lamp until we’re all set with the new fixture.

I’ll post some pics of my progress a little later on. Meanwhile, you could try to track down that tall handsome man in uniform for me, k? I’d really like that! Thanks!

😉

I did it! I got productive!

First I’d like to thank Martha, for some reason she managed to motivate me today – I think it was when she said something like “you sound like you’re in pain!” Yes, I am in pain, and I realized that I’ve never let that stop me before, so what the heck am I letting it beat me down now for? I’ve got a bathroom to build! 😀

I managed to hang 5 pieces of greenboard this afternoon, starting on the easy walls. A few more sheets and the wall to the left and the back wall behind the tub will be done, and then (crossing my fingers here) someone will be over to help me with the electrical stuff so I can get the complicated wall done. A lil’ tapin’, a lil’ muddin’, and voila – she’s ready for primer!

I got a cool early birthday pressie from a very good friend today, too! I think it was about that time this afternoon that I decided those semi-sweet chocolate baking squares needed a home, so I’ve got this really smell-up-the-house-yummy pound cake baking (courtesy Taba!), and I’m going to drizzle melted chocolate on it. I told the girls that we’ll have cake for breakfast tomorrow. Heh! Why not?! Mmmm it’s almost done, I better go melt those squares. Wanna piece of cake?

The plumber was back out today and fixed the leak. And that’s the progress for today.

I’m stuck!! Not only is my back screaming at me with every step I take, but even the next piece of drywall has me scratching my head. I have to put a couple of braces in so I have something to hang the cabinet onto. The built-in cabinets were so screwy, there’s nothing under there but studs, and one stud isn’t going to be enough to hold that cabinet up.

The day is more than half over, and I’ve managed to accomplish very little unless you count loading the dishwasher and taking a nice nap with my lil’ chickiemonkey!

I’m also running out of time to give my full attention to the bathroom. I’ll be starting 8 commissions this coming Monday, and getting the Viola finished as well.

Needless to say, I’m feeling rather unproductive today. I think I’m running out of Mark juice! He’s been out doing his thing since Sunday, and I’m ready to hear that rooster crow.

There’s my totally un-motivating entry of the day. LOL ::yawn::

The rebuilding is going, slowly. The plumber was here for almost 4 hours (cha-ching), but the sink is in and working! One of the pipes he soldered in the shower is leaking, and epoxy isn’t holding it back so I have to get him back to fix it, hopefully he can do that before I work my way over to the shower walls.

We picked out the floor today and I’ve got most of it in, I’m giving up for today though. You know those backaches you get where it hurts to stand up straight? Yea, I have one of those. I’m all hunched over looking pretty pathetic, and feeling exactly how I look. LOL

Next up.. finish the floor, drywall above the toitie and around to the right wall, install the wall cabinet, take the medicine cabinet/light fixture out (after turning off the power, heh!), drywall that part above the sink & run the power through for the new light, attempt to install the new light…and hopefully continue putting up the drywall around the rest of the room. That part should be easy, there won’t be any more obstacles!

I decided to stay with white and silver for the walls and fixtures, and with this color flooring I’m going to pull the deep teal and pale gold out with towels, a new shower curtain and those nifty bathroom accessories. It’s going to be pretty simple in there, but I think that will be pretty, yea?

Alrightie then, here’s how it looks after today’s labor.