Visitng Some Old Friends

After I completed my little Olympic piece, there were still a few days left to the Olympic celebration, so I pulled out this old friend, 4th of July 2011 by Aury TM. It's a complimentary design on her website, one of 4 patriotic designs she's done in this style.

I had originally begun this last year when all my husband's health problems began. I discovered I was off one thread after completing many hours on it. I gave up in disgust and put it away. Several months ago, I pulled it out again and frogged all that I'd stitched and started again. So far, so good!

With the end of summer upon us and football preseason on TV, I decided to pull out Sunflower Garden Sampler by Prairie Schooler. Last night while watching the 2nd half of the Cowboys game, I did the bird after the V & W and finished the pole for the birdhouse. Now, I just hope everything lines up when I get to the bottom of the alphabet!

Our bathroom project is on hold because we have to wait for the plaster to dry. If you think watching and waiting for pain to dry, try being patient while the quick-drying plaster dries!! Of course, having 200% humidity for the past 2 weeks doesn't help matters any. Now, with Isaac heading closer to us than originally predicted, no telling what the weather will be like for the next week. (I'm several hundred miles north and west of the predicted landfall, but our weather pattern will be affected.)

I know I've talked a lot about little Daisy Doodlebug on my blog, but I am amazed at how she is *still* settling into our home. She has finally gotten comfortable coming down into our bedroom. She now spends an enormous amount of time in the window on my side of the bed in the afternoon, much to Mr. Tumbles' dislike. That's *HIS* spot, thank you very much! Daisy also comes down and jumps up on the foot of the bed, walks up Mark's side of the bed, walks onto his nightstand, and then sits on the windowsill every morning before we get out of bed. If we stay in bed longer than she thinks we should, she walks across his chest and up onto either my chest or side where she plops herself down and kneads and purrs. This afternoon, I had just woke up from my nap and she settled herself behind my knees. That's a first for snuggling!! Woohoo!! She has also started to engage Hannah in play, which Hannah doesn't want to partake. LOL Additionally, Daisy will often interfere on Hannah's part when Tumbles starts to get too aggressive and starts to bully Hannah. Hannah is comfortable with Daisy, but they are not friends by any stretch of the imagination. Most of the time everyone lives harmoniously, but there are times when it gets a bit dicey.

I will leave you with some pics from my garden over the past week or so. The cooler temps have brought out lots of blooms!

An Olympic Finish & Progress on the Bathroom Project

Flag City, USA
Designer: La-D-Da
Fabric: 32 ct. Autumn Fields linen
Fibers: GAST
Hooray for the Olympics and Team USA!! I have been enjoying the Olympic games and the stitching time it's afforded me. I put the final stitches in this little complimentary project a few nights ago. What a fun stitch!

The bathroom project continues. It's clear to me that it will not be finished before I return to work next week. That means that I will have to continue doing my contortionist act in the shower in the master bath. The hubby got all the plaster in the damaged areas scraped off, the places of sheetrock and cabinetry that were cut filled up, and is now ready to apply the plaster and paper to the ceiling. Ever wondered what it looks like underneath the plaster? That brown stuff is paper. Not sure why it's there, but something about it building the layers of the plaster.

After 2 coats of VERY smelly sealer, this is what it now looks like. It's ready for the plaster and taping.

It's been slow going because these sealers have to dry for 24 hours before you can do anything else with them. Hubby decided to take today off, so the plaster will be applied tomorrow. Maybe we'll be able to start painting on Sunday??

Hannah is wondering why there's plastic and a ladder in her bathtub!

The Great Bathroom Re-Do

I just LOVE home improvement projects, don't you?? (NOT!!) My husband is a very handy guy, but getting him motivated is a whole different story. We won't talk about unfinished projects.... I call them his WIPs. He doesn't like that. LOL It gives me ammo when I start working on a new stitching project, though.

A month or so ago, I told the hubby that I wanted to paint the den. We've lived in this house since 2005 and every room is painted the same color of drab purpley-gray. It was probably on sale and the previous owners were hoping to cover a multitude of sins with it. I'm kinda tired of the paint color and the half-wall wood paneling in the den. He thought about it and suggested we start small, so since the front bathroom ("my bathroom") had pieces of paint peeling off the ceiling, that's where we're starting.

Our home was built in the mid-1950s, so over the years, it's had some termite damage. However, the previous owners didn't repair it correctly, so that's why the chunks of paint were falling off. Also, due to poor workmanship and/or shifting of our home, the seams of the sheetrock on the long wall can be seen, so those will need to be repaired. We also have a retro wall mounted light, which hasn't worked since we moved in that I know of, and a wall of mirrors along the side of the bathroom opposite the bathtub. I think the smaller of the 2 mirrors will stay up, but we're doing something different over the sink. I'm hoping for an oval shaped mirror to put there. The rest of the wall above the toilet will just be painted, so pictures or something can be hung there.

See that thing under the light? Yeah, I thought it was a speaker at first, but today hubby told me it was a vent.

As you can see, the tile is ever so lovely. (NOT!!) I wish we had the funds at the time to totally get rid of the peachy-orangey-sandy colored tile, the peachy-orangey-sandy colored sink, and the peachy-orangey-sandy colored bathtub, not to mention the icky colored floor, but that's not the case. For now, we're focusing on the wall color and getting rid of the hideous mirrors and that God-awful light fixture!

Mark took down one of the mirrors and found this lovely piece of work behind it. He followed the wire and found that they went through the wall of the cabinet in the master bathroom then across the space between the walls and over to install the plug in the bathroom. The plug was in the side of the cabinet, so now not only do we have to fix this lovely cut in the sheetrock, we have to fix the hole in the side of the bathroom cabinet! Why not just run the wire down from the ceiling?? We also have a hole in the cabinet in the master bathroom to repair now as well. Obviously, a previous owner thought they were the DIY know it all! I don't think we'll get to painting this week.

Some Olympic Stitching and Events

Unless you've been in outer space or under a rock, you know that the Summer Olympics are in full swing. While I'm not really a "fan" of any particular Olympic sport, I do enjoy rooting for my country's athletes during the Olympic games. The bad thing about Olympic season is that I lose a lot of sleep staying up late watching the events. The good thing about Olympic time is that I get a lot of stitching time in! I decided to pick up the little patriotic piece I'd started oh so many months ago, Flag City 2005 (although mine will be Flag City 2012). Here's my Olympic progress.

In other Olympic news, the felines had a bit of competition last night. Daisy performed her floor exercise routine, or maybe it was rhythmic gymnastics with a ribbon toy routine. There were many jumps making her routine filled with high difficulties. However, she petered out early and didn't finish her routine. I think the paper bag was too big a draw for her. The floor routine was followed up by the team pursuit event. Hannah and Tumbles teamed up to pursue a clicky bug! They brought home the gold and successfully brought the bug to its knees. The hubby swooped in for the capture and disposal of the bug. It was truly a team effort! Tonight's events include boxing, wrestling, and the track events. :)