Merry Christmas!!

Wishing everyone a blessed and joyous Christmas.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Snow!!

I'm having a lovely day making Christmas cards and watching it snow outside. It's probably just a dusting but pretty anyway.









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So slow...

Well, even with Rebecca and Mom's help we only got the molding completed in one room but we did get all my cabinets moved back in. Forgot to take a picture of that. It does take longer when you are unpacking new tools and trying to figure out how to use them without harming yourself or your helpers. There were a couple pieces I had to do over three times to get it right. Did get one wall in the foyer done. It's a good thing I've given myself months to get all this done. Just have to get the molding done in time for Thanksgiving but I am hoping to get the stairs done for Christmas.

Caught Rebecca taking pictures of me taking pictures so this is a little blurry.






One of my new toys. Does a great job on the miter cuts.



























The quarter round was the hardest with figuring out the right angle to cut for the corners. I have templates now to keep it straight. I tell you there's nothing like clean pristine baseboards. If only they would stay that way.

Can't help but show these. Little Pixie washed old man Scooter and went to sleep hugging him.







And here is Tigger hanging off the couch just so he can be close to Puppy.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Floor saga update...

Weekend before this past one I took a break for a sisters camping trip. My sister Sherri and I loaded up the Jeep and headed up to the North Georgia forest service roads after work. Didn't make it in time to work in day light so put the tent up with light from lanterns. It was just a bit cold that night too so slept with many layers. Our camp stove was being difficult so cooked all our meals over the flame with a nifty grill table gadget. All in all it was a beautiful weekend with a touch of color on the trees. Even did a little off roading on some rugged trails and visited a lovely waterfall.















This past weekend was a long one for me since I needed to use up some vacation time. Most of it was dedicated to painting some trim and installing the flooring. Made great headway with the help of my awesome friend Rebecca and my awesome Mom.






I was hoping to get the basemold installed and furniture put back in but lost a day over drama from escaped kitties. My little furry children are indoor kitties because of neighbor dogs, busy road, and sundry wild animals who will eat them. A door blew open and two of them escaped causing two nights of worry, a few tears here and there, and chasing down leads from caring neighbors. Finally got them back and we are all calmed down now.

I have to say I'm really happy with how the floor is turning out and I love the color. I'm hoping to get the stairs done by Thanksgiving and then the view from the front door will be taken care of. I have a feeling that with the holidays and getting Christmas cards made that the kitchen and family room won't happen until January and my bedroom in February. We shall see.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Finally making headway

The first Saturday of this month I finally got to hang with the girls and have some creative time. We called it a scrap shower since we combined Scrapbooking (and other creative endeavors) and a baby shower for one of the girls. My friend Rebecca made the cutest cupcakes with paper butterflies on top.  Should have grabbed a picture but you can visit Rebecca's blog to see.

I worked on making some artwork for Mom. You know how moms can be. They think everything you do is great and mine wants to put everything on the walls. I made this and had words on it but didn't like the way they looked so peeled the pieces of paper back off. I really like the little rectangles of previous layer exposed that happened as a result.  The tree stamp is a nice big one from Donna Downey and this is a 12x12 piece of watercolor paper.  I had fun using a mixture of paper, fabric, wallpaper, postage stamps, buttons and paint.

On another note, I finally made some headway on the wood floor. Started out Satuday figuring outy first few rows and cuts and found out that the table saw I borrowed didn't have a neccessary piece to keep the boards straight for longer cross cuts so off to Lowes to get something else (after researching and ordering on the Internet of course). Ended up with this awesome one that can do rip cuts and cross cuts. It's called a hardwood floor saw and is somewhat convertible. I'll have to take a picture of it. Rebecca came over Sunday and was an immense help in keeping me on track with my cuts and with all the glueing we had to do. It's only a small start but I am on my way.











- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Scintilating Saga

Hope I spelled that right. Foyer is finally scraped as good as it's going to get. After talking to a couple of the guys at work they pointed out that just replacing the shoe mold might not be enough to cover the expansion gap needed so off came the base molding too.




While I was working I decided to watch some Dr. Oz. It got me thinking about what do I truly do for myself that falls under the good for me category. Good for my body or my soul type of good. Today it was Dr. Oz and contemplating how to get back on track with weight loss. Three years ago I had gastric bypass and lost 100 pounds over about 18 months and then maintained for another six. Then I received a promotion at work which involves longer hours lots of stress and less me time and I've gained back about a size and a half. So I'm thinking something needs to change.  Not my job because I like it and I need to make a living.

I'd like to challenge myself to do one thing each day that is to my benefit be it health, creativity, or spiritual. Of course I'm already afraid of failure but I should give it a whirl any way.

What do you do for yourself? How often do you manage to focus on your own growth?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Too exciting...

or not. Spent the weekend scraping up wood glue in the foyer and I'm not even half done. I set out for Lowes after a stint of it Saturday morning because I remembered someone had at least a biodegradable adhesive remover. It wasn't Lowes and I just didn't feel like multiple hardware stores. So now I have to decide if I'm going to try some this week or not and just how clean does the concrete need to be. I'm also tempted to remove the base moulding because I like the look of that on top of the wood rather than just using shoe moulding over the gap between the wood and the base moulding. We shall see.

Here is the work so far although it doesn't look like much. Mom's helping with the clean up.









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cry Uncle...

Well, after spending hours/days trying to pry up the wood in my foyer my mom pipes up and says Joe (a contractor her boss uses) said he would do it for $100. I said seriously! Now you tell me? Below is a picture of the section I managed to do on my own. Took two days before I could move without major soreness. It took Joe's son all of four hours to do the rest.

So now it's on to scraping up the leftover glue and hopefully at least starting the installation.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ripping up wood...

Well, the wood has been ordered and will arrive sometime this week. Hopefully I will have the foyer wood removed by the end of next weekend.

It's a little harder than I anticipated but starting to get a groove. It sure is hard to find the right tools for it. Flooring guy at Lowe's said either rent a floor ripper for a couple hundred a day or a mallet and wonder bar. Got the wonder bar but it's not as good as my big wrecking bar and brute force. Oh, and if you ever think about glueing down wood, DON'T. It's very mean to the poor fool who is going to have to remove it in the future.


I think I've found the perfect work plan though of you are a single girl doing it alone. Get plenty of rest and get up late. Fix a nice breakfast along with a nice big cup of caffeine. Watch HGTV while you gather strength and absorb any additional tips and techniques you can. Finally, start hacking away and take periodic HGTV breaks to ensure good technique. The only drawback at the moment is I'm not sure I will be able to move my right arm tomorrow. Better soak in Epsom salts tonight.

Watching HGTV at the moment learning how to demo tile. Never mind that I don't have any (yet).

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Taking a walk...

Our second girlie vacation day began with a half mile walk to see a waterfall and a few flights of stairs.  Going back up the stairs was the real workout.  Then back to the house for lunch and general napping.  It was a lovely afternoon.  Nice quiet time to catch up on some blog reading that I have been sorely missing.

Girl's weekend

I'm currently sitting on a deck listening to the rain and looking at the mountain views. The girlies and I are enjoying a weekend getaway that may or may not include some creative time. Two of us did take a little walk up the hill and managed to get back just before the rain. Ah, so peaceful.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The floor saga...

Well, there is an awful lot of prep work for stripping concrete to get it ready for stain and looks like next step would be a big floor sander to get the dang glue line out of the middle.  I thought about paint but that would take a lot of work applying varied colors so it didn't look so flat.  So, now I'm looking at bamboo flooring.  After searching high and low for really good prices I've settled on iFloor.  They seem to have good customer service although the drawback is not being able to see any bigger samples.  I have a few more samples coming in the mail but I've narrowed it down to these three colors.  The first two are very close but the first one has a touch more red to it.  My dilemma now is do I go with the more brown tone (middle) that I like the best or do I go with redder one that almost matches the wood of my furniture.  Seems like that would be a bit much.  What do you think?  The third one's sample is on the way but seems like it might work better for not being so close to the color of the furniture and give me me brown tones.  We shall see.  It will arrive any day now.  I'm going to go ahead and try to do the entire first floor and hopefully the stairs and upstairs hallway.  Bedrooms will have to wait.  So more fun to look forward to of ripping up carpeting and the existing wood in the foyer.  Yay!

 

Scrapbook class...

I keep forgetting to mention that my awesome friend Rebecca is going to be teaching some scrapbooking classes at a couple local Michael's.

Starting July 27th, she's going to be teaching the core classes of "Scrapbook Design & You" at two local Michael's stores. Here's a little blurb from her blog about the classes:

SDU is a four week curriculum designed to teach the basics of scrapbooking including tools, photo organization, color theory, line, shape, writing techniques, and page enhancements.

Go check out her post about the classes and, if you're local... SIGN UP! You won't regret it!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

We have a winner!

My lovely assistant, Dwayne, pulled NatashaMay's name from the pile. Check out her lovely artwork on her blog.  NatashaMay, I'll mail it as soon as I have your address.














Honorable mentions go to the other lovely ladies who replied:

Rebecca
Rachel
Kimberly

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Giveaway...

I've gone and purchased a magazine twice (not the first time this has happened) and didn't make it back to the store in time to return it. Guess I'll just have to give it away. It's the spring issue of Somerset Memories. Just leave a comment that you'd like it and Friday, July 23rd I'll draw a name and mail it out.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The floor saga

I must be the slowest renovator ever! That being said it does take a while when you have this huge table that has to be rolled back and forth and you have to wait for one side of the room to dry so you can roll it out of the way. I have the floors looking pretty good now except for this annoying glue squiggle going down the middle.

Yesterday I pulled out my little sander and determined I didn't have the right grit for the Jon so this morning hit it again. Working better but so slow. I may have to resort to renting a floor sander. Something to research this week. Anyone have experience sanding concrete?

Here are some pics of the progress.

This is called girlie sanding. My arm was getting sore and found I could more easily use the weight of my leg. And yes, I do my best work in my pajamas. ;-)








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bare bones

Well, I thougt I'd have some pictures already from the classes I took at Donna Downey's Inspired getaway but I've been working on packing up my craft room, clearing out all the furniture and ripping out the carpeting. Let me tell you I was a wee bit sore from all that bit in a good way.

Now I'm just trying to figure out how to prep the concrete for stain. There's a bit of paint to get off around the perimeter. Tried some paint remover but looks like I'm going to have to get more aggressive. Word of advice though, wear gloves. Gave the palms of my hands a nice little chemical peel just from washing the brush out. My brother in law advised a good scrubbing as the next stage to see what else comes up. My ultimate goal is to get a variegated or marble look with an Eco friendly stain for easy cleanup. Worse case I'll hate it and will resort to laying a bamboo floor.

Any advice and lessons learned are welcome!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Confessions...

Well, it's been a while since I posted and I have to admit I've lost my creative mojo. And I hate to post without having something to show even if it's just a photo I took (my camera is sitting somewhere in the house collecting dust at the moment). With my new position at work I've been putting in long days and by the weekend I've been useless. Unfortunately I'm a not so secret workaholic and trying to get back on the road to recovery. My paints are calling out to me and I still have ideas swirling in my head. It's the actual sitting down and getting to it that is the problem.

I think I am starting to get the itch again but I'm also in the process of packing up all my supplies so I can rip out the carpeting. My house is 12 years old now and sadly in need of a flooring makeover. I don't have the money right now but just can't take it any longer so testing the option of utilizing the concrete floor at least on the first level. I actually like the look which is more contemporary so trying to figure out if I need to use stain or paint and what color to go with. I have found a couple places that carry eco friendly materials so going that route as soon as I get the color thing figured out. It also has the advantage of being easy to clean up if I spill paint. My grand plan is to put down bamboo flooring one day throughout the house. Well, I digress.

I do want to say thank you to those who keep checking in on me to be sure I'm still alive. Your persistence is a great encouragement to me.

Next week one of my best friends, Rebecca, and I are going to Inspired Artist Workshops so hopefully I will post things from the fun classes we take. I have to say I'm really excited to get away and spend several days devoted to fun and creativity.

Again, thanks for not giving up on me. ;-)

OWOH Winner...

We have a winner! Gina Luna is lucky number 47.

One World One Heart

I almost missed it this year. It is time for the One World One Heart giveaway. It's a wonderful event that encourages you to visit new blogs and make new friends. This year I am giving away an unframed 8x8 mixed media piece I call 'Eye Of The Beholder'. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog and how I can contact you. You have until midnight on February 14th to post and on the morning of February 15th I will select a random winner using one of those randomizer sites. Don't forget to click on the picture above to see a list of other blogs with giveaways. Happy hunting.