New Year's Wishes and Resolutions

It is my wish for everyone to have a wonderful journey into 2011! May it be wonderfully filled with success, love, happiness, good health, wealth and positive things.

It's also time to fill in our resolutions for the new year. I had to sit and ponder awhile on what I wanted to accomplish so here is my list of out with the old and in with the new! My theme for this year is FEARLESS!

1. Fearless in tackling projects to be better organized! A Place for everything and everything in it's place!

2. Fearless to take charge in letting go. Time to get rid of things I have hoarded that have no purpose in my life. A big yard sale and donations are in for this year!

3. Fearless to taking charge of my own health. Exercise regularily. AT LEAST 3 TIMES a week! Either walking, on my bike or swimming and eating more fruits and veggies than processed foods.

4. Fearless in finishing. Taking time to finish that quilt for hubby that was started 3 years ago!

5. Fearless in procrastination. To hem all of my pants that have been in my closet for quite some time.

6. Fearless in learning something new. To learn how to use my camera and video camera effectively. To dig out that felting machine that has been sitting in the box collecting dust.

7. Fearless in social situations. To have a sew in with friends and to teach new things at least 4 times this year.

8. Fearless in shameless self promotion. To find a job or to develop more product and business.


I am sure there will be more to add, but these are the main ones that I want to tackle. How about you? What's on your list for the new year?

Deja Vu!

Our living room finally got put back together with a bit of rearranging. I love the new corner where the cat play area is. The upper portion their "penthouse" while the lower portion is a closet with access on the other side. This isn't due to any water damage, as this part was an elective thing that I wanted done while we had a contractor here anyway.

The other side of the living room, we had to tear a whole in the wall behind the TV to get to the water that was pouring into the bathroom. No real damage since we had gotten to it right away, but the wall had to be repaired and we had an access panel place in the lower portion in case we ever have to get to the shut off ever again.

I was also excited to finally see the end of being able to put things all together in this household. With many things being piled up in my studio, we weren't sure if there was any damage to my flooring in there, so it was move cabinets to check! With a strip of carpeting laying over the vinyl it appeared there wasn't anything wrong. Having that pulled away, reveals a different story! Talk about Deja Vu! So here we go again! More work!!!!


Now where to put everything from this room???? What an utterly total nightmare!

I would say that I was going to work on a New Year's resolution of finishing some art pieces, but looks like it will take back seat again as we work on another chapter in our house in the New Year. At some point, I hope that this will eventually end! I wonder if some of this has to do with that mirror that I broke?

As for everyone else, I offer you cheer and hoping that you all have a better end and beginning to a New Year!

MEOWY CATMOUSE!

From: The bearded Santa Paws!

All I want for Christmas.....

..... and more!

I wasn't going to set up a tree this year for Christmas, but I had this small tree that was in the closet that was all decorated, so Christmas did arrive! It was perfect for my bedroom dresser, so hubby and I spent Christmas eve opening gifts in the bedroom. The dresser insidently was made by my grandfather. He was a carpenter by trade. Sadly, he passed away in the early 60's. I remember when I would crawl on his lap and he would either have Juicy Fruit, Spearmint or Double Mint gum in his breast pocket, that he would let me reach in to retrieve. I loved him so very much and am glad to have such great memories and reminders of him.

As you can see, My Christmas gift from hubby, was actually in the bedroom! See my big sliding closet doors! Wow, I just so love them! Now I will have to paint them, but at least they are finished. Swiffer is enjoying the view too!

Yep, my bathroom is finished too! Well for the most part anyway, I have a couple more shelves and some pictures to hang up but it looks great! I am so thrilled with my new vanity top. It was the one that I originally wanted, but it wasn't big enough for the cabinet, so I had an idea that perhaps I could have it extended with tile. I wasn't sure if it were possible, but I asked Don, our contractor and he said yep, he could do it! Then there was the decision on the tiles for colors and styles. I went to two places for designs and ended up coming up with a blended color with the floor and picked up the pewter in the granite and some bronze. What the heck, they are all neutrals, I was just hoping that they would all work out. It's always hard to envision it until it's put together. Sort of like designing when I quilt. The real difference is that I can audition colors and such with fabric, but once you have everything grouted in, I had best like it as it isn't as easy of a fix to get out and start over.

We ended up repainting the cabinets as I didn't like the stark white, so we got an off white putty color to blend in more with the flooring. Honey cat is enjoying the warm fuzzy rug and seems to approve of the change.

Ah yes, we DO have a much larger tree up, if you count the cat tree! lol Don't worry, the lights didn't stay up for long as Boa likes to chew on things. Didn't want to totally light up the cat but it would be sort of fun! LOL The rest of the cats were else where, perhaps they sensed I was sort of naughty in my thoughts. lol As you can see at the very top that I had a pent house built for the cats, so it is their Christmas present this year from us. The other side is a small closet built in where a short hallway once was to my bedroom.


Santa Paws came and Boa found cat nip in his stocking! Yummy! Not that he is always a good boy though. Lucky for him that he didn't find reindeer poop. lol



"MY STASH"!

In spite of the cat gifts, some prefer to sleep other places. For instance, my project pile.

Or where I was working.


As you can see, I also did a little arranging with my studio area to make things fit better. I like the openness much better.





For Christmas my mom sent us a cat rug.


little does she know that it is inter changeable! lol

For Hubby, I got him a Keurig coffee maker.

The kittlins got him mugs of themselves!
We have missed not having family around, missed the kids and the grandkids. It all seems so different when they are so spread out all over the U.S. now. I am blessed that we have phones to be able to keep in touch with everyone. Tomorrow we will have dinner with my daughter and her husband so it will be great to see them. All in all, we have had a wonderful Christmas! I am so grateful that the house is coming back together with some normalcy so I feel truly blessed! May everyone get all that they want with the magical spirit of Christmas. Happy Birthday Jesus! You have been the most blessed gift of all! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS YOU EVERY ONE!

Are we there yet?

It's been a long haul, but the bathroom and laundry room are almost there! The wainescoating and trim are all on. Notice that the toilet is no longer sitting in the shower! I have the shower all scrubbed and shiny:)

We now have our washer and dryer back in operation! Yippie! I am no longer nakey! lol Even the cats are happy!



"o.k. you wash and I will "fluff" dry."



Here are the supplies for the next project that we are working on. I can hardly wait to show it to you... be patient..... check back in the next day or two to see what we have done!

"V"inally!

Hey! It's "v"inally here! I have been waiting for today for the past 4 months! I am now walking on new vinyl and yes, I don't care that my shoes are messy and dusty as I can mop the floor now and feel good about it! This is the vinyl that I picked out for the bathroom floor. It has texture and sort of a warm putty color.



Besides preparing the floor, the past few days I have been working on the paint and trim in the bathroom and utility room. This patch of wall shows the transitions that it has gone through. The stripe was the original on the wall and when it was painted the first time was the darker color. I still like the color, but was darker than anticipated, so now was the time to make my change and I am much happier with it.


I also spent a couple of days painting bathroom cabinets and doors. They are now waiting to be put back together.

Note: I used a brush while Boa used his tail!



A final skim coat went on just before the flooring was adhered to the luan.




The laundry room was painted neutral with a paint called Weathered Wood. I absolutely love it and also the stone looking vinyl flooring!

I mean, how many people would have chosen a color to match one of their pets! Me thinks that the vinyl should be renamed "Bisky" Stone. It reminds me of the joke where this dead dog is laying in front of the door, and this guy asked what his dog's name was and he says, Mat! Get it? O.K. lame joke.lol


In between all of this, I also FINALLY got these 3 vintage quilts finished and ready to ship to my customer in Texas. I had them for over a year! They were originally a quilt but poorly hand quilted, very dirty and dingy and she wanted me to take them apart, repair the worn pieces and re quilt them. It even had to have embroidery redone on one of them. It was quite an undertaking and promised I would get them done in time for her to give them to her family as Christmas gifts. They were done by her MIL many years ago. Sadly I didn't open them up for full view shots for you to see, as It was too snowy out and also fear of getting dirt and dust on them with the construction process. Anyway, I was tickled to get them done and needed to get them into town to ship via Fed Ex and also pick up another gallon of paint before the store closed. I had millions of things going on in my mind and as I rounded the curve where the high school is, I had just passed a highway patrolman. Well, wouldn't you know it, he pulled right around and followed me, turned his lights on to pull me over. I really didn't think about it, school was over, so it wasn't a 20MPH zone at that time, but he told me I was doing 55 when I was suppose to be doing 45. All I could think of when he was approaching the car, was that I was a virgin, and to be gentle on me. lol He asked me if I had any convictions and I said no. I mean, with this innocent grandma looking face, he didn't believe me and took my license back to his vehicle to call it in. I was going to tell him that I was racing to Fed Ex since I had these 3 quilts that I have had for over a year and they had to get out in the mail ASAP! Wouldn't you think that was an emergency? I mean if he was a quilter, he would understand! Wouldn't he? Well of course not, he didn't quilt, that excuse just wasn't gonna fly. Even the thought of having to hurry to get to the paint store before they closed as I didn't have a drop left and the house has been in construction mode since August. I mean, if he had his house torn all apart, would he have understood? No, I expect not, well, no excuse, I was guilty of not paying attention. As it turned out, I got off easy without a ticket. A nice present at that! Merry Christmas officer! Maybe I should have invited him over to see my nice vinyl! Naw! Anyway for any of you who ever come to visit, I just want you to know that OHIO stands for "O"h "HI" "O"fficer! LOL

Prime Time Viewing

It's been time to prime the walls, the cabinets and to find a happy mix with my paint. I have had different paint buckets around here, so am doing a bit of mixing. Soon you will see what I have concocted! At least you will know it is in the blue and green family. LOL

I am also tickled to get the door way in from the kitchen to the bedroom.YES!!!! It will be so much easier than going around the kitchen and living room to get to the bedroom or have to go the other way around from the kitchen, the studio, the utility room, the bathroom and finally to the bedroom! Who ever designed this house was certainly not a woman. LOL

I also got the closet opening enlarged! As you could see in the last photo, there was two small doors into the closet. WOW! I am going to love all of this much easier access! As you can see, the pile on my bed got a lot higher. Zack is on top now, holding it all in place. With walls and floors being closed up, he has decided not to be any part of it. He has seen what has happened to Jack and Swiffer LOL


Now with decision making, I must decide on sliding doors or bifold doors! Would love your opinions! So tell me your thoughts! What kinds of closet doors do you have?

In the mean time, I will be painting so have a bit of time to decide, so back to work and more photos next week!