I’m alive!!

What a week! After finishing Toronto Swampy, my father-in-law came over and helped me pack the giant frog. The rest of the day Monday was just keeping busy stripping wallpaper in my living room until the trucking company arrived. I sent him on his way in the middle of the afternoon….in a giant truck! (Thanks, Roadway!!)

My niece came over Monday morning with my father-in-law, she’s been staying with us all week and it’s been a lot of fun! The girls helped strip the wallpaper, and once that whole thing got going it just catapulted me into redecorating mode. We used to have this nice nautically themed living room, but now, ooh-la-la, it is very nice! In fact, Here’s a glimpse, Mark’s portrait now hanging on the wall, and this is a sample of our new carpet that will be installed on the 15th of this month!

See, when I start a project, I can’t stop until it’s done!!

I picked up a couple of bargains, a new navy swag for the front window, a couple of new end tables that were a total steal and matched my mission style couch table thing.

Between stripping wallpaper, removing wallpaper adhesive, cleaning the walls, painting them, and keeping the girls entertained in the pool etc… it has been a crazy week! I think I’ve been on my computer less this week than ..um…I ever have been!

I did finish up the two kitty portraits, I was waiting for final approval to sign them so they are still a little tacky and I’ll ship them on Monday…er…Tuesday since the Post office will probably be closed Monday! Dagnabbit, I forgot about that. Dom will also be shipped with them, so I have some paperwork to do to get them ready.

I’m working on another website design too, which has been keeping my brain active and spinning. I ordered a bunch of canvas to go with my 42 new tubes of oil paints, and I am going to be painting new pieces like crazy! I am on a mission, I have a goal, so be prepared to come back often to see what I’m doing! I am going to launch with adding a couple of prints to what is currently available, and listing them on ebay – a couple of them will be limited edition.

To end the week, I lounged in the pool for 10 minutes! Woohoo for sitting still! ;D

Then I got out of the pool and took some fabulous pics I wanted to share with you! Ready? Here we go! I’m going to leave these full size for you, it’s just not the same shrunk down to nothin’.

Full Moon
Yellow Rose
Remember Me Rose
Jayden
White gerber daisy
Bug on my truck
The girls
Empty nest
Squirrely Eating

One more addition…the girls (Caitlin & Stacie) performed for you all…
this is a long movie, please keep that in mind on dial-up connections 🙂
Caitlin & Stacie as The Chin Twins

Aah it feels good to get all of those off my chest! I hope you enjoy them, I am having so much fun with my new camera!

I hope you all have a fun fun 4th of July fireworky type of day! Don’t forget to put your pups where they can’t hurt themselves, those fireworks really make them freak out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

xoxoxo

I received this beautiful bouquet of flowers & balloon’s from my absolutely amazing hubby in Iraq. Now how sweet is this, to get flowers from a man in a war zone 6000 miles away. He is the best hubby EVER!!! (Today is the 3rd Anniversary of our second marriage after a 2 year break and 7 year marriage prior to that with 2 years of dating..haha, figure that one out!)

Been painting on Toronto Swampy today, I have his eyes done and I have about 10 minutes worth of daylight left – I may set up a lamp or something in a few minutes so I can get the grasses done. Either that or I’ll get up at the crack of dawn in the morning to continue painting on him. Hm. Dawn is sounding like a better plan.

I have more fabulous photos to share. (they’re big!) If any artists are reading this and want to paint them please do, and let me see it when you’re done wouldjya? Two of them are very dramatic photos of the Sweetheart Roses in my Anniversary Bouquet. (Know what I got him? A fancy schmancy print that I formatted of a section of our vows that were/are absolutely perfect for our second marriage to eachother..what else do you get a guy who only has wall space and tacks?)

On to the photos:
Dramatic Anniversary 1
Dramatic Anniversary 2
First Prize Rose Closeup

‘Til tomorrow!
xoxoxo

Before painting commences, I wanted to share these lovelies with you:

Double Delight Blooms
New Orange Gerber Daisy
Mama & Youngin’ having breakfast
Jay with her hair down

Ah yes, the last one is not a flower. 😉

My new digital camera is scheduled to arrive on Monday, so I’ll be getting MUCH better macro shots of my flowers in just a couple of days! Yahoo!!

Going to work on Dom now.. my Mom is enroute – believe it or not!!! She’ll be here helping me out for the weekend. I just love it when family offers a hand when you’re buried up to your eyeballs. There was a huge sigh of relief on my part, since there is SO much to do to finish up these paintings and prepare for a weeklong adventure in Enamel Froggieland. No easy task when you have two little ones hanging around and a household to maintain. Don’t get me wrong, they are SUPER and SO understanding about my painting schedule, but the Frog will be under the carport, so they will be outside with me all week. Next weekend the girls will be going to stay with Gramma & Grampa W. so I can put all the final touches on Toronto and get him ready to go.

Off to paint!

Have a great weekend all, don’t forget to stop back & see my finished paintings!
xoxoxo

Here are the two cat portraits I’m working on now. I hope to have these finished by Monday! The kitty on the left is Rocky, and Simba is on the right. I’ve got them sketched out with an angled ground which will probably be woodgrain.

In other news, I got some better pics of the Stargazer this morning and will prepare that auction and start it tonight. I’ll put a linkie up to the auction when it’s ready!

Have a great Saturday everyone!
xoxoxo

oh, yea, PS!
I just calculated INCHES on my weight loss. Those commercials are misleading to me when they say “so and so lost xx inches!” ok so now I know they’re adding up the total. hehe! So far I’ve lost a total of 23 inches. 5-Bust, 8-Waist, 6-Hips and 2-Each Thigh. 😀

There’s one of the two canvases that are JUST about dry enough for me to start two cat commissions! Both canvases look the same at this point, tomorrow I will begin painting the kitties!

For today, I have had 2 canvases prepped for a couple of weeks and it’s raining out, so I’m going to paint something else while I’m waiting for the other two to finish drying. 🙂 I am waiting for two packages with more pics, I will be painting a Smooth Fox Terrier (pet portrait contest winner), and another commission (a Yorkie!) in inks.

Yardwork update: the pool is up! See? I dug up the yard under the pool, threw down 16 bags of sand, then dug up a smidge more to add 5 more 18″ square patio blocks, then 8 more bags of sand to have a little mini “beachfront” so we don’t get dirt & grass in the pool.

The roses are doing really well, all 5 plants have new growth. I’ve clipped the blooms, brought them inside and have a very pretty Bouquet sitting on my desk now smelling all nice!

Then I have the front flower planter thing all full now and it looks LOVELY! Here’s an updated pic (I’m taking this out in the rain now..LOL), you can see I’ve added quite a few more things and it’s really taking off and is quite colorful! See the flowerbed here!

Ok now I should be tired from all of this, right? No. LOL

Lastnight I shampooed the carpets and cleaned the floors until midnight with this new cleaner. This stuff is AMAZING! Here’s a link if you want to buy some: Super Duper Cleaner! Not kidding, this door to door salesman hit our house the other night. He came in, showed me how well it worked cleaning up stains in the carpet that have been there for YEARS, and of course I was skeptical. I always am! I really dislike door-to-door salespeople. Ug don’t invade my home!! Anyway I told him that if he could clean anything up in my studio that had dried oil paints on it then I’d buy a bottle. Welp, I had splattered some on my curtains and he cleaned it right up! So I bought some. After my painting session the other night I had splattered it all over my clothes, I was a mess. So I used the stuff, cleaned it right out of my clothes! Lastnight I decided to put it into my Kirby shampooer and WOW the carpet is CLEAN!!! Very very cool stuff. Highly recommend it!!

What else… oh yes, weight loss! Well, I have been holding steady at a loss of 37 pounds. Only thing is, I’m losing INCHES now and gaining muscle mass from all this outdoorsy hard manual labor stuff I’ve been doing! So, as of yesterday, I’ve gone down 4 sizes (and I’m counting by two’s since that’s how our stuff is sized), and am wearing clothes from like 7 years ago! YAHOO!

Alrightie then, I think I’ve rambled on enough to get you all caught up, now I need to get ready to paint! Show ya later! 😉

xoxoxoxo

This is a Mandevilla bloom, isn’t it beautiful? You can click for a larger view of it. I love the sunburst look down in the center, it is so pretty! I have about 15 buds on the trellis now and I am so excited! Last year I planted clematis there that did not do well. 🙁

More flowers! I took a few photos this morning and decided that I’m going to invest in a better digital camera with macro mode. (Thank you Erikie for pointing out that it exists!) Then I will be able to have MUCH larger and sharper closeups of pretties for you!

Ok here are s’more for ya. (and if anyone wants to paint them, be my guest!) An Orange Gerber Daisy, Peach Rose (just opened this morning!)and this Yellow rosebud (will probably open in the next day or two.

That’s it for now! We’re heading down to Wallyworld for some stuff, pool filter, chemicals, pistachios for Mark..yadda yadda…

Have a great Saturday!!

p.s. if you aren’t grossed out easily, here are a few of my bruises. I told you I look like I’ve been in a wreck! Will heat packs work to get the bruising to go away faster? These are awful!

Sorry guys, I didn’t hear back about it today so I can’t tell you yet!

I spent the day outdoors shoveling, my legs look like I’ve been in a car wreck. Daggone shovel. Bruises from my thigh all the way down to my ankle now! But the good news is, the pool is filling as I type. YAY for summer swim fun!

Mark gets to see Ted Nugent and Toby Keith tonight (Saturday his time). Have fun at the concert & meet/greet! Take your camera!

Wishing you all a great weekend…

Welcome to my mudpile. LOL!

I spent all day yesterday cleaning gutters, and getting this huge pile of dirt broken down enough to move easily into a landscaped type mound that will follow the corner fenceline and be covered in hostas and nice partial shade plantings. Of course we got the torrential downpour as scheduled this morning, and now I won’t be able to get back to it until it dries out a bit. So far so good though, I think it will look nice when it’s finished! Not that you can tell much from this photo, but the dirt was taller than I am, about 6 foot tall I’d say, and now I’ve got it down to about 4 feet.

Ok on to business!!! For those of you who are interested in a print of Squirrely III, he’s been added to my print gallery, and my print gallery has changed a bit! It is super cool, so even if you don’t plan to purchase anything right now, have a look anyway! I spent quite a few hours figuring out the coding for this, in preparation for an overhaul on another one of my client’s sites, so I tested it out on my site first! 😀 Click here to go directly to the new prints page!

I plan on beginning the backgrounds for my two cat portraits (in oils) later today.

Also, the pet portrait giveaway contest ends tomorrow! Have you entered? Ya gotta play if you wanna win! 😉

Have a wonderful Sunday and Happy Memorial Day everyone!!!

xoxoxoxo

Happy Graduation Day, Caitlin!

Yes, my little weed is growing so fast. She’ll be in 3rd grade this fall! She received a “Positive Attitude Award” this morning, and her final report card was super, putting her 2 levels ahead of her grade in reading, and at a 5-6 grade writing level. 😀

I had to run to the doc this morning for some wierd thing I was just curious about that he ended up wanting to see me about. So it turns out I’ve got an infection brewing, and my goofy thing that I was curious about is the beginning stage where your immune system is trying to fight it off. He said if I hadn’t gone in, by Monday I’d have been feeling pretty crappy. So I guess it was a good thing that I got in there! Now I have to go get antibiotics though. Foo. :P~

It’s kinda nice out, the prelude to a rainy blechy weekend, I hate it when the weather teases me like this. LOL Now I am going to try to get outside this afternoon and start working on the landscaping, and then paint this weekend while it rains.

Happy Friday everyone!!!
xoxoxo