Monday, February 18, 2008

One of the wip -- and this little guy should be with the rest of his friends in just a little while. I got some of them together and they say it's time to have a jolly party, so we'll see if they can all behave themselves and not make too much noise out in the studio. YEE GADS -- The Husband sez that he thinks this has a Peter Max feel to it, but I think he's just makin' noise like he does sometimes. I truly wish I could do some major work like Mr. Max, but that kind of thing just isn't quite there yet. Maybe in a while.

The youngest is out in the rain today -- Not because he wanted to, but because the last job he had wasn't workin' out, so he's out and about thru the rain puddles, goin' to track down his W-2 form from an ex=employer, who has been avoiding his phone calls to round up his paper work for filing taxes. This particular company was reslly shaky from the start -- even made the employees PAY for the company van to take them to work...and then when my son tried 3 weeks ago to get his W-2 they said they didn't have anything for him...needless to say it's been an ongoing battle for the guy, so today he got something more of an answer from these people, and he was off to get to the bus stop and ride over to the office...then it's over to another place to get more paperwork from them, and make sure that all that information for his W-2 is correct...seems like too much crap to go thru just to file for the Tax Man...but everybody knows that if there is just ONE piece of paper missing, those slobs will be flyin' off the handle and smotherin' ya within 5 minutes.

I started a canvas the other afternoon. I took a gamble and decided to get some of the first coat of paint on it while waiting for some people to come and look at the house - yooowhooo -- got the canvas started, and the people did come and look over the house. The first realtor that showed the house had their client in and out of here in less than 10 minutes, so I don't think that was much of a serious look -- more like a look-ee-loo than anything. The second realtor came with her client and they really took their time, looked in closets and around floors, so they may be a little more serious...my stars -- I'm getting to where I feel like I can't get away from my mop and vacuum cleaner...have to keep the floors reeeaaallllyyy clean JUST IN CAST SOMEBODY SHOWS UP...makes me more tired than I like to consider.

Am going to go see what all those little fishies are up to out in the studio...they seemed to be getting restless earlier in the morning, an' now that it's close to lunchtime who knows what kind of trouble they've gotten themselves into....sheesh

Lady of The Tulips -- who almost got it figured out as to why her keyboard is being a mess as of last...but then The Youngest sez it's not worth all the bother...so what's a mother to do...

Friday, February 15, 2008

my little friend who hasn't quite gotten all of his friends with him, but they say their on their way over to play with him and have some lemonade. I got frustrated the other day while waiting for 3 things to get done at the same time -- so while waiting I got out my little pencils markers and watercolor pencils and worked out my seething anger at people who don't call back when they say they will. Especially when you have to wait...wait...grrr...

today I realized that it's the day AFTER valentines day...please pardon me for not wishing everyone a happy valentines day -- I nearly forgot to get cards for the husband and the youngest.so I made one for each of them. The husband didn't seem too impressed, but the youngest kept his right by the computer screen, so I think that means he likes it. And for the first time since I can't remember when, The Husband actually bought me something for Valentines Day -- ever know what it's like to stand and look at someone and realize you're mouth is hanging open..No No -- what he got me wasn't bad, it was quite spiffy. It was just the fact that I literally can't remember the last time he bought me something. And the little box was full of little chocolate turtles...OH YUMMM... I ate far too many of them, and if the doctor discovers I ate all those he'll probably have a coniption fit...oh well, he'll get over it. SO -- I do hope everybody had a wonderful Day, and that there were not too many chocolate overloads..hee hee...

There hasn't been any word from the realtor and I'm beginning to get perturbed again -- guess it's time to make another phone call to the guy and find out what the story is ..well... if he actually talks to me for longer than 3 minutes...this guy is always far too bizzy to have a real conversation with me, so I can't find out what the things are that we need to fix to get the house sold. We'd put an offer on a sweet little house just over the border, but that got sold last week. It took me 3 days to get over that loss...And our realtor hasn't spoken to us for squat...and I'm too leary to go and hunt down another company...grrr...what to do, what to do..

I found some of my watercolour pencils that were covered up by some other regular pencils in a little jar I bought on sale last fall. I think I'm gonna go play with those tonight after I go pick up The Husband and have some dinner. The other neat find is that there are some spiffy papers that didn't make it into storage where 80 per cent of our things are...so I'm gonna play around and post some little things I've come up with...they just need to get some color in 'em an' then they'll look better.

I've got some other tablets of drawing paper that also were buried and it was such a relief to find those...and one of the tablets hasn't even been used yet...I'd thot that all the paper I had was gone, and since most of our cash these dayz is going to paint and fix-ups around the house, it was another relief that I found the tablet...I can't get a tablet of paper, 'cause we gotta get some more fixtures for the master bathroom..we just got some new lights 2 weeks ago, and got new shower curtains and rods..now it's a new faucet and probably get a new track for the bi-fold door to our son's room. they aren't really expensive things by themselves, but once all of them get added up, it suddenly comes to over sixty dollars...ouch and ouch again...the last trip to home depot came to 97 buck-a-roos and I nearly fell over at the check out counter. I'm serious when I say me legs were actually shaking...it suprised me so bad. But all of the stuff is what we need to get, so there's no two ways around it..so finding the little tablet of paper was a relief, let me tell ya.

Got to run and clean up a couple things, then get in traffic and hope to my stars that I can make it down the highway to pick up The Husband at the truck terminal. He's sez there isn't any overtime this weekend, so guess where we'll be tomorrow...one more trip to the hardware store. Maybe I should just set up a tent in the parking lot so I won't have to use the gas in the car...ughhh

Lady of The Tulips -- who still can't figure out why half the keys on this keyboard are absoloutely refusing to work...one more strange thing in the house, I guess --

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Does anyone else have this problem -- start to use one color of a pen or marker, then start to use another color, and promptly forget what the name of the color pen or marker was -- I'm finding that it is the ickiest thing for me to remember what the shade color is..I guess cause too many of the colors are very similiar in shade, so if I don't write the name of the color right away, then I don't remember...I actually just love the names some of the companies have come up with for their marker and pen collections...very clever. How come I can't find those kind of jobs...

ANYWAY -- some of my shift keys this afternoon are playing bad and not acting the right way -- they have decided to not type right...and I just took a look at the keyboard and it really scares me, so I WONT be doing that again. This old 'puter is really on it's last legs, so I'm just hoping it makes it thru the winter and spring.

There has been no more news on the showing we had the other day on the house...I'm so tired from doing all the 93,405 things we've gotten accomplished, and then to have nobody make an offer just it REALLY getting on my nerve..yup, I think I'm down to my last one...but I have been doin' some sketches and playin' some more with my markers and dug out some watercolour pencils ---am gonna post some scribblings I worked out the other day while waiting for a phone call..which naturally never came..blast and double blast..

must run and see what The Dog is doing outside...she has decided to lay on the stoop by the studio door. that's all well and good, but right now it's sopping wet from a little snow shower this morning, and the melted snow has left sloppy puddles, which have attracted the dog...Why do they lay in the mud and slop...sigh..

Lady of The Tulips -- who just finished baking another loaf of bread and it came out good..yesterday's loaf just sat in the bottom of the pan...think I didn't put in enuf yeast..sheesh...

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

this is another wip == guess all the stress of working on the house has made some of the colors of my pens come popping out into some color and different fishies.

speaking of fishies -- one of our youngest's friends stopped by not long ago and gave us some fresh fish that he had caught a couple days before..super good striper, and found some of my favorite seasonings to coat it all with. 'm tellin' ya it was the best fish that 've had in a looong time -- we used to go fishing a lot when we lived down further south, but the cost for fishing licenses here is out of sight..and since we have a series of lakes around where we live, naturally each lake needs to have a seperate license. or...just extra money for the city. miss going fishing 'cause it was one of my nice times..quiet out where we would go and usually caught maybe 1 for the entire day...but the peacefulness of the river or pond was wonderful. usually threw back whatever caught.

'm having nothing but problems with my 'puter this afternoon...it keeps wanting to freeze up on me, and some of the letters on the keyboard are not working...

lady of the tulips --- who has just discovered she has grown 23.490 new grey hairs fighting with this old computer this afternoon....

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

WIP ~~ This is something I worked out the other afternoon when I got a chance to sit in the studio, after driving over to my oldest's apt. an' picking up his vacuum cleaner. The afternoon was sunny an' it just gave me a good feeling to put something on paper.

The weather here is cold an' the clouds are lurking over the area. I took out some laundry and pinned it up on the clothes line. My fear is that the clouds will decide to haul off and rain all over the just - washed laundry. That's not going to sit well with The Husband as he would have to come home from work, gather up the wet laundry and drive over to the laundromat to get it all dried. And after a full day of driving all over creation (or at least around the Tidewater area...) the last thing he likes to do is drive somewhere ELSE, when all he wants to do is lay down on the couch and watch old cartoons. Today he may just have to bite the bullet and go to the landromat anyway..

We had such strong winds on Sundays, that while I was playin' with the little fishie up on the top of the page..the 40 plus mph winds got something goin' just across the street...a big fire!! Somebody had been over in the community park, and with a thick layer of dried leaves, downed branches and no rain on the ground, it took just a zip of wind and a dropped cigarette and by the time I realized the sirens were coming down the street in the direction of our house, I got up and looked out the window. I was not EVEN prepared to see thick black smoke billowing from the park and getting worse by the minute. I got into the house and looked out the kitchen door, and could see s0me pretty good sized flames getting bigger and bigger. Fortunately the fire dept. had gotten their hoses out and were getting the flames knocked down. Some of the neighborhood kids came running down the street to see what all the noise and smoke was about. I just decided to go back into the studio and play with my pens and pray that the wind didn't shift direction and come toward our house. Fortuntely the fire dept. did a bang up job and got the fire knocked down, but it took them nearly 2 hours to get all the hot spots soaked down before they could leave the scene and get back to the fire house. Shwooo... I'm tellin' ya, it was pretty nerve racking. A second fire truck parked in front of our house, and while it rattled and rumbled with it's diesel engine roarin' away, The Husband was tryin' to get some sleep before he had to get up at midnite to make a freight delievery over to Roanoke...needless to say his sleep was somewhat interupted!!

Finally this morning we had a showing on the house!! A woman was taking a walk past our home last week, and noticed the For Sale sign out front, and talked to our youngest while he was setting out the weeks' trash for pickup the next morning. They talked about the price, and she said she wanted her parents to move a little closer to her so she could keep an eye on them..so they got ahold of a realtor and this morning the father in law came to look the place over. He was pretty happy at the work we've gotten done...now if he just makes an Offer!!!

I'm off to work on some tile in the master bathroom. It literally fell off the wall and suprised me to no end..only 5 sq.'s so it's not like a Huge project, but it's a pain in the #%"$#}&^ to figure out how to make it STAY PUT and look good. New project for me, so this should be interesting...

Lady of The Tulips -- smelling her bread baking out in the kitchen..an' realizes that the lousy bowl of Zippy Squares or whatever it was that got eaten this morning has worn WAY off an' now my stomach is starting to growl...

Monday, February 11, 2008

As a lady I knew used to mutter..."Well..well...WELL!!!" -- her point was that something had been amiss, and in the same manner, I've been rather amiss lately, now, haven't I??

Let me say one thing first...there are wayz to paint a bathroom ceiling, and there are other ways that seem like a good idea at the time..however!! For anyone out there thinking that it doesn't really matter how damp a roller cover may or may not be before applying fresh paint..let me TELL YOU!! -- Do Not leave a significant amount on said roller cover, because once the paint is rolled on, both paint and water have a veryyyy clever way of dripping all over YOU and making you the same color. I only say this warning 'cause it may or may not have happened to somebody we all know and that particular person is just not talking about it anymore...so shut up and don't ask any more questions about THAT...

I've been working on our house for the last FOREVER and now have literally sat down today for the 1st time since the last post. I've repainted everyroom in the house, (not the dining room cause it & living room were done jus' a couple years ago an' the real estate guy sayz "fine") -- taken down wallpaper in the kitchen and master bathroom...put more coats of paint in the front bathroom, made and hung up new curtains in one bathroom and 3 bedrooms..The Husband set up new lights in kitchen and master bathroom..the youngest took down (with lotz of NOISE) old shower doors from both bathrooms...I fixed and patched spots all over the house...an after 15 showing haven't gotten an offer yet. I wont go into how agrivated I am w/our realtor, but will suffice to say he's almost written us off after only having the house listed for one month...

I've not been up on what's going on in the art world..just been making far too many trips to the home improvement stores -- I think the paint dept. people in Home Depot now know me by sight...Lowes too. -- I've gotten to where I climb up a ladder an then think about if it's really a good idea for me to be up there...We've also taken down our old above ground pool...Said realtor will not have it in his sale...hump...so the Youngest and The Husband have been hauling the left over sand and rocks from the base to the dunp every weekend...the weekly trash pick up won;t carry sand and gravel...The youngest also used a sledge hammer to break up the concrete that held the support beams for the deck that went to the pool...those too had to be taken off to the dump...we couldn't find a company to haul "that small amount" cause they only wanted 1 ton or more to haul...no, my last good nerve left me a LONG time ago..don't even ask what I almost said about that last phone call to yet another "Help Person" for construction help...

I've got some sketches done in the last day...naturally while waiting for paint to dry..I can't do anymore in the house till the realtor comes by and then tellz me what more we need to do. I've discovered muscles I never knew I had...maybe it's a good thing, but I'm not too sure. I've also lost some weight...lost 3 sizes to be exact...from a 14/16 to a 10/12..my oldest got me a pair of jeans at Christmas and now they fitbaggy....man o man...

Well..The Dog is doing something in the sunroom so I Need to go check on her...

I Will Not Be Gone from Here for this LLLLOOONNNGGGG amount of time EVAH again..or until the realtor tells me what ELSE FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!! i need to do...

Lady of The Tulips -- who had her middle son over today an' we jus' had the BEST time...he even fixed me up with the puter an' got all kindz of junk cleaned outta this old contraption...wow!!