For all of my readers, warriors, thumpers, groups…everyone who thinks about prayer but maybe never has before. As many of you know, things are heating back up over in Iraq.

If you would, for those of you that will, please take a moment (or two or three!) to pray for our guys over there, they are needing God’s hand to guide them, protect them and give them strength and endurance through this one.

On behalf of all of our Soldiers, and all of their families, thank you for thinking of them and holding them up through prayer.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

p.s. That is a Demdaco Willow Tree Angel, the Angel of Miracles.

It’s complete!  Remember that nice photo I took from the anniversary bouquet that Mark sent?  Yep, the painting is done.  I love it, it turned out so beautiful I had to close my eyes and type out the listing!  Here it is, available on eBay. 

Thank you for the beauty-full flowers, Mark!   :)*

Good morning!  I have a few “progress photos” to share today.  I didn’t take pics of all of my band-aids, and I’ll just leave it at that.  😉  This view above here is for all of you who have never visited the Mississippi River before, yep, it’s the Mighty Mississippi.  You know how folks say “it’s only a hop-skip & a jump away”?  Well the MM is literally just a hop from here!  Skipping and jumping is optional upon arrival.  They have a beautiful parkway (when it isn’t submerged) with a bike path, I took the girls down there this week when I had a bug fogger going off in the house.  (iew, bugs.  bitey bugs.)  It was a gorgeous day, obviously a few other folks were enjoying it as well.  🙂

I finished drywalling the family room, taped most of it, need to mud it and get the cabinets in there.  I also put a floor down in that space, and will cut the carpet back further for a few more tiles in a fun half-circle design.  Here are a few shots of what it looked like the other day…

Drywall Completed

this is what’s going on that wall…except for one piece I found space for after I drew this out!

The Entertainment Wall

The old living room carpet is gone, bye-bye old yicky carpet!  Guess what was underneath?!  Yes, tile, but really old tile, and the kind that needs to be treated before you go walking on it barefoot or anything.  So I treated that on Thursday night and yesterday morning.  Blechy fooey on uncovering more problems with every project!  Dagnabbit!!  (I can whine just a little bit can’t I?  I mean it’s just me doing all of this, and I’ve been really good about not cussing like a regular construction guy would be..lol)

Now I do need to get the baseboards painted in the living room but I HAVE to take a day (or two) off from this.  It is making my mind warp in ways that just plain hurt.  I took it easy yesterday, believe it or not, and only painted the part of the baseboard around the entry way so I could get the new floor down in that area, well then I thought heck, I may as well paint the door too, so I did that.  (Someone smack me!)  Here’s a teenie little preview of what I did yesterday and what it’s going to look like with the new carpet:

I do believe I’ve caught you all up with the past few days at my house, sans the really pitiful me that sat and moped and got weepy over missing my hubby so much…not to do the work, but just for me to rest my head on after I finished.  He knows how much I dig these projects and what a tomboy kinda gal I am, the only thing I ever say “I can’t do that” about is getting up on a ladder – and now I’m doing that too.  I miss my man.  9 months to go.

BTW, I haven’t updated my weight loss progress in a while.  I’ve lost 42 pounds now.  I have 21 pounds to go to meet my goal, and 9 months to do it.   Hm…that’s about 2.5 pounds a month, and I’ve been averaging 8.4.  Not too shabby, I’m actually quite pleased with myself since I’m down 3 sizes (6 if you count by 1’s, lol), fitting into things I haven’t worn since 1997-98.  Even found my favorite jeans, Levi Silver Tabs that I loved so much and have been looking for for years – in a bag of my “don’t fit into these anymore” clothes – pulled them out and they fit really nice, and they’re a Junior’s size!  I love it when that happens.

Ok better get moving for the day.  I hope you all have a beautiful, calm, sunny weekend!!

xoxoxoxoxo

Most of my Print Auctions are ending today if you haven’t seen them yet. I added my Purple Tulip to my available prints, it looks lovely!! (I am partial to purple!)

Mark has been asking me to make a stencil of Wile E. Coyote for the guys over there to use on a few things. That’s not the stencil of course, this is my test spray of it with hand embellishments that Mark can hang on his wall of photos. 😀 I sent it off yesterday, along with a few spare stencils they can trace onto something else. I know how guys are, they like to rip and tear stuff up if it doesn’t go how they want it to go! Goofy guys! Ok that’ll be $150 bucks guys, for chiropractic treatment on my hand and wrist from holding that daggone x-acto so tight & pressing through many layers of cardboard! (Just kidding! about the bill, not the pain..lol)

Did I tell you my Stargazers outside of my front window are blooming? OOOOOH yes they are! Yummy!! (I smell more paintings of them coming!)

What else…ooohhh yea…the room. Well I think I’m going to have to take a progress picture of the mess I made yesterday. oops. The ceiling, well ok the FIRST ceiling (yes there are two, just like the walls), appeared to have some water damage on top of damage I made removing the closets – on top of just being old and stinky. 😛

I ripped them out.

Blown cotton insulation fell like rain – ok no more like a monsoon or something – all over everything. Last night’s trip to Lowe’s brought home a 12 gallon shop vac (everyone should have one of these, and they’re ON SALE!), 2 rolls of insulation to replace that other gook, and a FACE MASK. Good gravy! I couldn’t have had enough bandana’s on my head to prevent that stuff from getting up my nose. :P~

Here’s the mess!

Today I have to clean up my mess. Then I have to get all the wood I tore down out of the house!! There are a few pieces “in tact” from the closets – framing, thick pine paneling, etc. and I told Caitlin I would see what I could save to build them a mini-house in the backyard. Wouldn’t that be cool? They may be getting their own little pine cabin. Fun!! I always wanted one of those!

Ok I’m procrastinating now… I’m going to go outside with my coffee and camera and do my morning wake-up and smell nature thing! 🙂

Have a Happy Tuesday & thanks for stopping by!!
xoxoxo

Hiya folks!

Hm I am absent far too much lately. I had some chaotic days Friday and Saturday, and after the chaos continued the home improvement projects.

First, it looked like this.

A little while ago, it looked like this!

Now, it looks like this!

Back to work!

Hope you are all having a GREAT weekend!!!!!

xoxoxo

p.s. Erikie dared me to post this pic for you to see! Ok, I have a fetish, and it is belly buttons. I know I know, wierd. But they are symbolic to me, very cool and cute. I look at my girls’ buttons and think about how much I love that they were connected to me for 9 months through that cute little “scar”. So mom, this one is for you, too! (Humming the tune “Memories” for you)

So anyhoo, it’s not obscene or anything, and I will probably paint it! Just as soon as I get this daggone room done! LOL!

I have to be nuts!

First I have to show you this, This is the closest you’ve probably ever thought you’d see a bug like this. hehe, I had to do it. Don’t be scared, we think they’re really cool, and I bet Mark will give it a big old “cooooool” too!

I started out the morning with the intention of painting this, prepped the canvas and everything (12×16 in case you’re wondering). Somehow things changed though, when I returned the call to Carpetland and they said they’d be here on the 15th to tear out my old carpet in the living room. Installation then is scheduled for the 19th. Well I got to thinkin’, umm… I have to move all the furniture out of the room, and keep it out of the room for 4 days. Ummmmm….. ok.

I sat down with Caitlin and asked her what she thought the best plan would be for us for the day. Me to paint in the studio all day, or both of us clearing out their playroom (wall to wall TOYS, TOYS and more TOYS!). She opted for clearing out the room! Eek!

Next step, call the cable company and get another cable outlet hooked up on the back wall where the TV will go. I planned on turning the playroom back into the family room/toy storage/play area anyway, this just pushed things along, as usual! The cable guy will be out tomorrow between 2-5. Ummm…..ok. He couldn’t even REACH where I wanted the new cable to go, so then it was really one of those “I have no choice” programs. Now this wall of closet space will become a wall of base cabinets with countertop, and the TV will sit on the counter there. My brother-in-law is going to come out to tell me if the interior closet walls can be torn down ok (don’t want that ceiling caving in on me while I stand there with a sledgehammer saying “oops”!), meanwhile we have nearly the entire contents of the playroom in the garage.

I did start the wall treatment today too, and will finish that up tomorrow. No rush, right? LOL!

And I have to show you this, my beloved piano, because Erikie asked to see it. Yes I can play! I’m no expert pianist though! I will have to show you my viola some day too.

So who wants to help me move my piano tomorrow?

Oh yes, a shameless self-promoting plug if there ever was one… I am FULLY STOCKED WITH CANVAS! Many many assorted sizes, down to itty bitty totally cute 4×4’s!! I am going to be painting up a storm, so if you ever wanted one of my paintings, I’ll have a great assortment of sizes, which means a great assortment of prices. If there’s something in particular you wanted to have please please please now (right here, click the little linkie that says to ‘leave feedback’ or ‘chat with me’, or you can just e-mail me), ’cause once I get going you might not see your request for a couple of months.

YAHOO! Got all that out. Now OFF TO WORK I GO! Again! I love being busy!

😀

many xoxoxoxoxoxo’s to you all!

p.s. danke’ Erikie for the cool “me”! :)*

Hey there!

Our fireworks were incredible. I am in the middle of cleaning my studio right now, rearranging things so that I can work more efficiently and stuff, but wanted to pop in and drop this off for you all….

Grab a half hour, some popcorn, a sodee pop and a speedy connection!

Watch my fireworks with me & the girls! The grand finale brought tears to my eyes. It’s the highest quality video I could muster up, great sound too!

I will be back later to share pics of what we did yesterday.

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July, remembering what the day really stands for while you ate some funnel cakes and/or hot dogs!

xoxoxo