My bathroom is mostly done. The the tub is in, the new tile is up and grouted, the painting is finally done (6 coats later) and the new shower curtain is up. We still need to change the vanity faucet, paint the door, hang the trim and hang whatever pictures we want. It is so nice to finally have a nice looking bathroom. I'm enjoing it every moment I'm in there. Thats kinda unusual for a bathroom dont ya think? Oh well find pleasure wherever you can.

My DH is done traveling for at least a few weeks to. See the beautiful roses he sent?

I love the orange pink one. They were definetly a great joy to receive. Its so nice to have him back home. Beyond that my walking partner is healing up enough that we've resumed our walks (although we're taking tomorrow off due to the icy cold we're supposed to have). Life is back on track and I'm feeling much happier.

I'm off to work on my One World One heart giveaway now. I have a pretty good idea of what it'll be, I just need to get to work. Peace and love to everyone.

Well, DH has been away all last week, home for about 36 hours and won't be home til late on Fri. I've been shoved off my normal schedule and its effecting everything. Add to that my walking partner is very sick so I haven't even been doing that. (We've encountered a situation that makes us both very wary of walking alone, and skitish even when we're out together. Better to be safe than sorry.)

I'm very schedule oriented in my life and go into a funk whenever it gets to disrupted. Its a character flaw that I try to overcome, but haven't mastered. Today, I'm hoping to decide what I want to do for the One heart, one world giveaway that Lisa has organized. What fun will be in store for all of us!

I finally did some sketching and I finished this one yesterday. I love the faces of SuzyBlu so I tried to emulate the eyes and face. It was fun to try a new style. I had to add the doggie cuz my little beagle was helping me draw the night I did her.

Love and peace to all.

A fishy girls night

Girls night on Saturday was lots of fun. We had a very nice meal together and then started crafting. I think all the fish turned out well and everyones is a bit different which is always fun. It was a nice way to loosen up and have our hands busy while we caught up with each other.

Sunday I went with our church youth group on their laser tage outing. We played 3 games and had a blast. Its a little hard being one of the adults for that trip as all the kids think its great fun to continually target you. I was just happy to not end up last in any of the games. I finished in the middle everytime. Its really nice to go out with that group of young adults. They are so well behaved and really are fun to be around. Its neat to see how much energy they have and how they spread that enthusiasm to each other.

Before laser tag I joined a large family for their Sunday lunch. My family never did the Sunday lunch thing. The family I joined had about 30 people for lunch. They do this every Sunday (not all of them are there every week, but its always a big group). It was very nice to be invited to this dinner again. I feel very comfortable with them and am in between the ages of the adults and the youngsters so I can be with any of them and have some similar interests. They are a very welcoming bunch. The first time I attended lunch I noticed a wall hanging that said something about never turning anyone away, there's always an extra chair. They truly live that sentiment by not only inviting others to join them, but spreading such a family, welcoming atmosphere. What a lovely family.



I hope that the "fit in, comfortable feeling" is experienced when people come to my house.

This is my hubby and me on Christmas morning. Excuse the bad angle. It was one of the self portrait, hold out the camera and try to take a pic. of yourself kind of thing.

My new friend Miss Kool Aid tagged me and I have to tell you 7 weird things about me. Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you

2. Post 7 random/weird facts about yourself on your blog

3. Tag 7 people at the end and link to their blog

4. Leave comments on each blog that you tag so that they know!

1. I have never lived outside of the state of Michigan. Even when I moved 500 miles away for college I was still in Michigan.

2. I can play the organ using both hands and both feet, but I am so clumsy I often walk into walls.

3. I've been know to teach entire piano lessons while wearing a tiara.

4. I'd love to be reincarnated as a dog. Specifically my beagle who has napping down to an artform.

5. I've lost 50+ pounds and kept them off for 2 years now.

6. I walk or run 4 miles every morning except Sunday with very few exceptions. The world is a different place from 6-7 a.m. and its pretty peaceful to be outdoors.

7. I'm currently addicted to Guitar Hero.

I'm going to pass on tagging anyone as all the glitter sisters seem to have been tagged already, and I really dont know very many other bloggers. (Hope passing is ok.) Thanks Sophie for the tag, it was harder than I thought to come up with 7 off hand things. I'm in preperation stage for tomorrow night so I dont have much else to say. Have a great Friday evening.

Today was productive. I primered most of the bathroom. I still need to do a little more priming, but the dry wall wasnt ready yet. I washed up what I wasnt going to prime so hopefully my painting will go smooth.

I worked on this ornament/decoration. It was inspired by Violette's http://www.violettesfolkart.com/blog.html craft night she held back in December and the crow she had the gals work on. The process was the same, but I had sketched a bunny a while back in my art journal who was wearing a flower on her head and I wanted her to come to life. I know she's kinda cutsey, but I still like her. I also made a fish which I'll show in a later post.

I spent the entire day home by myself and it was wonderful. I will pay for it tomorrow as I run around to do what I put off today. Hmmm...did I read a bunch about procrastination this week? I guess I caught the bug.

I'm having a girls night on Saturday and I cant wait. If they want to, they'll make a fish. If they dont want to we'll still have lots of fun hanging out. Maybe playing Cranium or whatever else we feel like. My hubby is going to Germany and then Pennsylvania for the next 2 weeks, so I'm filling in girl time. Friends this Saturday, and a family girl night next Friday. My family does a yearly girls overnight (later this spring) so we'll probably plan some of that while we're together, but basically its a special time for all of the generations to come together in a very relaxed and fun atmosphere. I'm very blessed to have such wonderful, strong, inspiring women in my family.

Thats about all for tonight. Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are well.

This mermaid didn't want to come out. I'm still not thrilled with the results, but I'm learning so hopefully the next one will not have the same things that bother me. I might use her in some kind of collage and maybe I'll find a better use for her that way.

All my students have returned to lessons this week. They are doing much better than right before Christmas. They are all much calmer and have better focus right now. The older ones are studying for exams so they're all very serious.

I've been busy, but not doing anything super cool. I picked out the paint for the bathroom and went and purchased it. I just about died from that experience. I didn't check the price and had them mix up a gallon of the base layer and the special topcoat (I'm using a mettalic finish paint). I went to pay and swiped my Visa before she was done tallying. I just bought the 2 gallons of paint, 3 disposable paint tray liners and the specialized paint roller. It was over $90. I freaked out (not on the lady, just mentally) I just had no idea it could ever be so expensive. My sis laughed at how much it shocked me. Oh well, I'll be painting as soon as the drywall is ready and it will all be worth it to have a nice finished bathroom.

Well, I'm just a bit behind the times with "happy new year." I havent had much to post about and no finished work to show. But, that changed today. The mermaid is one I made in hopes of decorating our bathroom. We're almost done with the tile surround and should be getting the fixtures permanently in place soon. I'm trying to decide on a paint color and decorating motif at the moment. I think we're going to paint with a coppery metallic paint. I was going to go get the paint today to put some up and see what I thought, but its really cold out and I got distracted with the mermaid. She really is a chatty girl. She is also a tremendous listener. She knows all my secrets now. She hasnt told me her name yet either (she's a better listener than a talker.) I have sketched a few of her friends, but they arent in living color yet. Maybe tonight one of them will come out and join her.

I'm a bit nervous about having her top half au naturale, but I really like her. I think I may add some glitter to the sea around her. I used lots of metallic acrylics in her hair and fin so shes a fine sparkly gal.

I did not make any resolutions for the year. I just want to be healthy the whole year-no string of dr.s appts. every week like I spent the whole first part of last year. My 1 year milestone of the mini-stroke is tomorrow. I'm very blessed to be here with no signs of having had it. I will be saying even more prayers of thanksgiving tomorrow. With the 1 year is also a decrease in the statistical probability of recurrance. I'm going to have a celebration just for me.

I do want to be more productive on an artistic level, but I dont want to make any grandiose number commitment that will only seem like a burden to me. I want to enjoy the process and not just make something for the sake of meeting a self-imposed guideline. I work better without pressure. Actually my body just tries to shut down when I have to much stress. So I try my best to not self-sabotage.

I hope your new year is off to a fantastic start. Thanks for stopping by.