Snow!

We had all kinds of fun playing in the snow last weekend and it's actually been cold enough all week that it hasn't all melted. Seriously, I was in winter heaven. I don't think we're getting more snow but cold and rain work as a back up for a long weekend of cooking, playing in the studio and a little football in front of a fire.

Bathroom update

As you can see, we're not the only ones who want to get their house back! This is Abby's standard procedure if I'm home and not letting her out of her confined area. It's also why we're going to have to sand and re-stain this bookcase. She is cute but a handful.

This is our progress pic as of today. Shockingly, it looks like some actual progress has been made although he did finish grouting the floor yesterday about noon and called it done for the day whereas I was thinking he could go ahead an move the light fixture, fix the drywall for the old medicine cabinet and inset the new medicine cabinets then grout and call it a day. Not so much in his planning. Apparently he's not a multi-tasking kind of thinker. More of a grout, wait, paint, wait, etc. We're now taking bets on whether he'll actually finish by next Friday. I'd like to be optimistic but there's nothing in this experience that would cause me to feel that way... seriously, I can't take another week of this mess!

Otherwise, it's a pretty good 4th with a brisket slowly baking, baked beans ready to be popped into the oven, only decision now is to make a baked good for dessert or stick to sorbet. Hope you're having a terrific holiday weekend!

Tagged

I was tagged by my soul sister in all things soldered Melissa Merrill to post the 4th photo in my 4th folder but my 4th folder doesn't have anything postable but this is the 4th photo in my photo folder. :) Such a great pic of my puppy Abby - she's incredibly cute and loves to snuggle especially when it's storming!

I love that I was tagged by Melissa with Michelle who I met at Silver Bella when the hotel valet very nicely put Michelle in my rental car which she thought was a really weird (PT Crusier) extra shuttle so while it seemed odd she hopped in. Love that amazing sense of adventure! We had a terrific time circling the airport trying to find the car rental return, I couldn't have done it without her so fate really helped me out! I'm also incredibly jealous she's going to the Art Nest gathering. Candice and Julie are two of the most incredible and wonderful women I've met and would love to hang out in the snowy cabin again playing with fun art supplies and eating all the yummy food!

Now, I'm off to bed to try and sleep away this cold that has set in. I had been persistently ignoring it but now it will not be ignored any longer and the paper towels I'm using for kleenex are extremely unpleasant!

In Progress

This is my studio work top as it stands at 1:01 am (cst) and I'm considering trying to sleep again but it's probably hopeless. I've reached the tired but not sleepy stage and these couple of projects are helping my mind to race since they clearly need something but I'm not sure what and I can't move on to all the jewelry projects I want to work on until I clear at least a little space.

I am, however, thrilled to have found a product called "bangle bling" in the $1.00 bin at Michaels. I picked up about 7 packages: gold, silver and mixed colors. They're tiny sequin like things that I think have the perfect vintagey sparkly bling quality (similar to vintage swaravoski but nowhere near as pricey) that I'm convinced all pieces need. All was not well at Michaels as I was horrified to discover that they don't carry crepe paper. This is inconceivable (yes, this word means exactly what I think it does!) to me so that's my quest for tomorrow.

My other comfort, besides bizarre craft finds, is Abby who is never very far away. She's such a sweet girl, to me anyway, and is just a giant snuggle bug - except to the UPS guy (another cutie!) who she's convinced is storming the house with every delivery and requires her to go into full attack mode. He delivered something fairly late last week and we happened to be home. Abby got away from me and made it to the porch. He smiled the biggest smile and said he'd always wondered what she looked like since she always "talked to him" when he had something to drop off. Seriously, how cute is that? She sounds like a 500 pound ferocious beast with her hackles up and the "don't mess with my house" growl and bark but he just looks at as chatting. That is clearly a sign of the holiday spirit at work people.

Tomorrow, I hope to have pics of all the german dolls Rolland and I finally got settled. We did a little bit of eBay craziness and I think I've cornered the market on vintage white german dolls. I do become slightly obsessed with the idea that if I love something I need to have hundreds of that thing just in case catastrophe strikes and they're no longer available. Yes, this is a storage problem and I'm seeking help; mostly at IKEA. :)

Last Minute

I finished up my swaps and got all the goodies in the mail. All the clothes and shoes I need to pack up are being piled up over anything that doesn't move - Abby shouldn't lie so still - and after a good night's sleep we'll be on the road heading West. This is our first seriously long road trip so I'm excited and on the verge of seriously over packing but I refuse to acknowledge that this might be the case. Although truthfully, it's slightly Best in Show with the tank tops right now. My husband is frightened that I understand why 7 kimonos could be reasonable.

... and this is Abby

I had my test on Friday and it was about what I expected. I had to get blood drawn multiple times, 6 times over 5 hours, and it doesn't sound too bad until you realize "you only have the two arms (Malcolm Reynolds in "Firefly"... my husband's right,I'm just a big geek...)" and after about the 2nd time, they get a little sore so by the time I got the 3rd draw in the left arm, even the technician freely admitted that this was going to hurt. She was right. Also, I'm getting this test because I get all wonky if I don't eat at certain periods of time or if I don't eat so the test is administered after a 10 hour fast (overnight) then you drink sugary syrup that takes like orange kool-aid made with cane syrup and don't eat for another 5 hours... not good. Go figure that they warn you that you're going to be nauseous ... they left out cranky, irritable and exhausted. I crashed hard when I got home but the very sweet husband came home to take care of me and I had the puppies laying over me as extra lovey blankets... can't beat that. I'm working on getting over being a whiny baby but my arms are still bruised and I'm thinking of developing a needle phobia... yeah, working on the whinning right now. Sorry.

I'm hoping to get back to the art work tomorrow. I've made a few collage pieces I want to add to beaded necklaces and I hope to get it done tomorrow.

I need to get past all of the test ickiness to get jazzed for Art and Soul. My first class is on Thursday with the O'Briens so it should be a great class. I'll post pics.

As for the subject line, this is my other baby who was our first puppy and she's really gorgeous. Abby is also super soft and thinks she's a 10lb lap dog. It's kind of funny to watch her try and curl up on hubby's lap.