HAMILTON, THEN PAINTING???

Well... today might be the day I finally get to put paint to canvas!

We are going into Hamilton this morning so I can get the last few bits 'n' bobs that I need.

Griffin has work today, but Brylee is home, so she might end up coming with us.
I will tell you how her dinner went last night later.

If she let's me!

I try NOT to put anything on here without permission from who ever I'm mentioning.

So, all going well you might get to see my very first Paint Pour later on today!  How exciting is that?

Well... unless it's an unmitigated DISASTER of course!  And ya know what?  It could be.
I have no idea how it's gunna go.  *smiles*

I am also going to be getting a new cleaner that I heard about on Facebook...

ABOVE:  A friend tried it and reckons it's amazing, so I really want to try it on our shower doors and surrounds.

If it works I'll be thrilled, and can then use it in the homes I clean.

*Steve*:  the stuff you gave me scared the shit outta me!  It sounded far too corrosive to use on ordinary shower doors and metal ware.  In fact it had a warning about getting it on metal.  Not worth trying it, and corroding my tap ware and all the metal around the shower doors.

And.... that's me for now.  Catch ya later on in the day.  Have an awesome Easter Monday.

ONWARD...

12.07 pm:  still stuck in Hamilton... hunting down the last few things on my list!

Just stopped for some lunch.  

I've got an FBG walk at 5 PM too.... the day is too short.

Right, it's now 5.30 pm and I've FINALLY done some painting!
Got carried away and didn't end up going for a walk.  Bugger.
But... I've had fun.

ABOVE:  Today's supplies.

I did 4 paintings today:

 ABOVE:  My first ever Paint Pour painting.  I used a dip and blow method for this one.  It's not too bad as a first effort.  I feel there's a few 'muddy' areas, but it's not killed it.

ABOVE:  My 2nd try, using a different technique.  Showing the process it goes through.  It was AMAZING watching it develop!

ABOVE:  Same painting, different angle.  Just LOOK at those cells!!!   

ABOVE:  My 3rd one... this one was almost a disaster, but I managed to save it.

 ABOVE: I used a 'flip cup' technique on this one.  It was a disaster, and got wiped off immediately.  Too much MUD... colours blended wrong.  I have many lessons to learn!  lol

And that lot took me about 3 hours.  I've done the clean up now, and have three paintings drying.  They will take up to 3 weeks to be totally dried and cured, then I can varnish them.

In the meantime, I will be sewing again.

(Shish...I might sneek another one or two in ... *smiles*)

Stew is cooking dinner tonight... think we are having butter chicken.

Dinner was lovely, always so much better when you didn't have to cook it!

I did a small section of our shower 'wall' tonight, I will show you tomorrow how it came out.

Time to sign off for the day, it's been a long day... and VERY WET!  Wonderful to have some rain at last after a long, hot and dry summer.

GETTING READY TO PAINT

I'm almost at the point where I can actually start putting some paint on canvas!

I've watched a gazillion 'how to' videos, I've got 90% of the supplies I need, not much else to do/get ... and I can do it!

This morning we will be picking up the 'new to us' shelving unit, then I will have somewhere to lay wet canvas's.  

Until I can buy some long plastic sheeting, I will just put glad wrap down the front of the shelving unit to keep dust etc off the wet paint.  That should work for now.

Griffin has work today, but Brylee does not.  She's off till Tuesday.

In fact, it's a BIG day for her!  She's out tonight... meeting HIS parents.  Another first for our girl!  They are having a 'Pot Luck Dinner'... she had NO IDEA what to take.  We didn't think a tin of spaghetti would cut it!

Just so ya know, spaghetti in a can is Brylee's 'go to' meal every day!  Lunch or Dinner, if she has to feed herself, that's what she has 95% of the time!

So anyway, we suggested she take Garlic Bread, Brandy Snaps and cream.  Sorted.

Now.... yesterday I gave Steve a bag of 'Sour' lollies (sweets/candy) that I got when I was down in Palmerston North recently.

I got some that were 'behind the counter' ones... the ones they won't sell to children cos they are just TOO SOUR.

And Steve tried one yesterday :

 ABOVE:  mission accomplished!  He actually gagged, went red and I think some tears came to his eyes too!!!  

ABOVE:  I SAID 'SMILE' .... *sigh*.  He's his father's son.  Such a buffoon. 

ABOVE:  The latest freakin' sore bit of me.  Hopefully it feels better soon, I need to catch up on some walks now.

And... that's all for now.  I'll be back later.

ONWARD...

1 pm:  And for the 2nd time, what was 'advertised' on Pay It Forward was not QUITE what ya got.
Like the standard lamp which didn't go, this is the shelving unit we got:

ABOVE: It is literally falling to bits!
BUT... we can still use it, Stew just needs to do some 'doctoring'.
And alter it a bit to make it fit for purpose.

While he's doing that, I've done a bit of sewing.  Made a couple more larger soup bowl cosy's.
With the girls keeping me company on their new platform.  They seem to be enjoying the different view of the neighbours from there too.  *smiles*

ABOVE:  Got this photo of the sun streaming through clouds yesterday.  Aside from the pesky lamp post, it's cool.

Now... back to me sewing.

DOGSTARS:  Sorry Chick... I'm not quite 'there' yet!  I'm one of those people who have to get everything 'JUST RIGHT' before I start something.

So, until I've got everything I need, and the set up right, I can't do any painting.

I'm not far off though, hang in there!

I'm about to sort out how to video my first ever attempt too!

Today has been about getting a shelving unit set up for canvas's to dry on.  And we now have that sorted.

ABOVE: After Stew tried doctoring the wooden shelving unit, we realised it wasn't going to work as the shelves were not level and bowed. So, instead of buying another one ... we decided to take a good one from the garage and replace it with the wooden one.

That meant another little shuffle around of stuff, but all good.  Killed more spiders.  Been doing that a lot lately!  *smiles*

Now the good, solid metal shelving unit is in my sewing room (in a dead corner) and I'm almost ready to go.

Maybe by tomorrow afternoon?  I still have about 4 things to get from various shops tomorrow... but, it's getting exciting!

OLD MOO:  What on earth are you doing reading a post that is 8 years old? I will talk to you about it at some point.

8.20 pm:  Time to call it a day.  I'm making myself crazy watching yet more You Tube videos on painting!  There's got to be at least a dozen different ways to do acrylic pour painting!
No idea where I am going to start!

So, time to just STOP watching paint videos, and relax doing some harmless TV watching.

THAT PROJECT

So yesterday I said you would show you what we did with the 'rampy' thing eh?

Well... Stew worked for a few hours till late yesterday ... doing what I suggested.

It was something I'd thought of ages ago!

And here it is:

 ABOVE:  in progress...

 ABOVE:  And there it is!  A dog ramp, so the girls can sit and visit with me when I'm in the sewing room!  

They used it yesterday NO PROBLEM AT ALL!

And we have storage under it too.

 ABOVE:  Girls visiting me!  It's so cute.

Before you ask, the dogs are not allowed down into the 'bedroom end' of the house because Coco shreds the bedding, and some little girls like socks, undies, shoes and so on!

So, now they can be with me when I'm down there, but not actually be in the room.

Now ... something else 'interesting':

ABOVE:  Lacy and Amanda having a girly, fun time.  

And back to 'present time'... we are heading off to Auckland to pick up Griffin from Steve and Bex's.
We will make it an all day trip... cos why not?

It should be a nice day trip.

Catch ya sometime during the day... if I decide to update.

ONWARD...

Well it's  nearly 11 am and we are just leaving home! Stew literally  snored till 9.30 this morning!

KIWIKID: Sorry babe... I managed to delete your comment by mistake. Blame me fat fingers on a teeny phone keyboard. 

When I get home I'll  copy and paste it.

Traveling now....

ABOVE: It's a stunning day. Just stopped at the supermarket in Huntly for some food.

Well... we got here safely. Traffic wasn't too heavy going in our direction. 
We had lunch at Manukau Mall then continued on to the kids.

A lovely relaxed afternoon ensued.

I was looking on Pay It Forward just now and saw a simple shelving unit offered... so managed to get it for free! Will be using it to store canvas's on while they dry. Its going to save me lots of time not having to build one. Yaaaa.

I will need to get some plastic to drape over it... to keep dust and  insects off wet paint 'n' polish though.

We are staying here for dinner... sausages 'n' chips. Nice.

8 pm and we are safely home again. Sounds like Griffin had a nice visit, and got to catch up with some friends of his there too.

 ABOVE:  Playing with snails in the 'snail house'.  Ikkkk.

ABOVE: a few nice photos of the kids ... I'll have just a few more tomorrow too. 

And that's me done for the day.  Catch ya tomorrow.

EASTER WEEKEND

HAPPY EASTER

Enjoy being with Family and Friends

Drive Safely

Be Kind and Considerate on our roads

Stew has the next 10 days off.  We have no plans to go away (cos I'm a working girl now!), plus well... going away ain't in the budget.

Particularly when I keep buying craft shit!  Whoops.  But seriously, I need to be doing something 'ARTY FARTY/CRAFTY' all the time!

I get bored doing the same stuff ALL.  THE.  TIME.  So doing some painting in between my sewing is going to be fun.

I'm hoping Stew will assemble that little craft trolley for me today.  I think he wants to get the lawns mown today too, as the weather is looking a bit iffy by Sunday.

Tomorrow we might be going to Auckland to pick up Griffin, so the lawns can't be put off.

I'm going to do some housework first thing this morning, before sorting out WHERE I'm going to be doing my painting.   I suppose the garage is gunna have to be the place?

I also need to make a frame and cover it with plastic, to put over paintings as they dry.  I don't want to have insects or dust land on wet paint.... these paintings can take DAYS to dry properly!

So, there's actually quite a bit of prep' work ahead before I actually even open a pot of paint!

ABOVE:  Archer, Dante and Keera at the Botanic Gardens the other day.  I miss walking around the Gardens!  It's such a pretty park.  And watching the eels in the little lakes was always fun.  I wonder if the kids saw any while feeding the ducks?  The eels always used to come up and chase away the ducks and eat the bread too!

Right, I better go...lots to be doing, getting on with.  Catch you later.

If you are travelling ... PLEASE be careful!  There's been far too many road deaths on our roads lately.

ONWARD...

So Stew said " Let's go cruise the industrial area, see if we can find a pallet to put all the stuff we want to take to the dump on."

BECAUSE:

We have now embarked on a big clean up of the garage/sheds/attic space.  Over time we will gather up all the stuff we don't use and either sell it, gift it or take it to the dump.

So off we went in his car.

 ABOVE:  And OMG!  We found a huge pile of pallets and wood and stuff!  So Stewy had to go home and get the trailer, while I sat on our find and guarded it so others wouldn't take it!

ABOVE:  There was this really long 'ramp' type thing too... made of wood.  I JUST HAD TO HAVE IT too!

I have something very specific in mind for it.  More on that once it's 'in place'.

 ABOVE:  I've just grabbed some food, and now... back to the garage.  This is the cupboard I want to empty and fill with my painting stuff.

ABOVE:  I kinda dropped this pile of logs on me toe!  Said a few very bad words, then took some painkillers.  I could have chosen any toe that would NOT have hurt as much as this one!

It's the one I had surgery on years ago cos it was a 'Hammer Locked toe'.  It now does not bend at all... so to drop a pile of logs on it???  PAINFUL as f#*k.

 ABOVE: This is the long rampy thing... I can't wait to show you what we are doing with it!  You will NEVER guess!  ha ha ha!

ABOVE: And that job is done, and the garage has had a good tidy up in the process.
Plenty more to do... but as Stew is home for over a week, not going to bust a gut getting it all done today.

Might put me sore toe up for a little while?

Got a visit from my dear friend Sue T this afternoon... she went on a walk I was supposed to do.  Another one I had to cancel.  Grrrr.

The toe isn't feeling too bad now... quite a bit of bruising coming out though.

Should be fine in a day or two.

Silly bugger dinner tonight. Then TV.  Watched more You Tube videos, think I'm starting to get over them!  Too many ideas!

Time to sign off for the day.  I'm off to bed.

HI HO, HI HO...

It's off to work I go... again.

A different house today, one that is not too onerous.

Lots less scrubbing, and virtually no spiders!  Thank god.

I got a really lovely text message from 'MH' yesterday, her's is the home I did last Friday.  The HUGE home.

She just wanted me to know she was very happy with how well I did her home!  Awww, nice to know.

After I've done today's house, I will come home, clean myself up and then go into Hamilton for some paint and stuff.

I hope to get at least one or two canvas's done over the long weekend.

I did get a few odds 'n' ends yesterday here in Cambridge from the 1 2 3 $ shop.  Plastic cups.  Wooden stirring sticks. A couple of cheap canvas's... I don't want to use expensive ones while I'm learning how to do this new technique.

I can't stop watching You Tube videos!  There are so many different ways to do paint 'pouring'! You are never too old to try something new.

Well... if you are arty farty that is!  Clearly, I'm arty farty.  *sigh*

ABOVE: Last night's dinner.  OMLord, their Butter Chicken is to die for!  I swear, I've never tasted a better dish!  I don't have rice with it, just some Garlic Naan Bread.  And a large glass of wine.  It's probably the only time I have any alcohol now days.  Stew had a hot Chicken dish of some sort.  He liked it too.

EASTER coming up, and Stew has next week off work.  That's going to be lovely.

ONWARD...

3.00 pm:  Well this morning went well.  I got my job done bang on time, then came home, got changed and went into Hamilton as planned.

Don't ya just love it when everything goes to plan?

My first stop was Spotlight, where I got some paint supplies, then Bunnings, then Rebel Sport.
Yep, the only place I could find that sells Liquid Silicone was at Rebel Sport.  It's for Treadmills of all things!

Then I went to Burger Fuel and had an amazing burger for a very late lunch (2 pm!), and then I came home.

ABOVE:  Took a few photos of the trip home from Hamilton.  I was stuck behind a concrete mixer truck, along with about a dozen other motorists.  He was going damn slow.

 ABOVE:  Hee hee... I bought some shit.  
Always make me smile when I go shopping.

ABOVE:  I just love the view I get when I pull into our driveway.  So pretty.  Give it a couple of months, all the leaves will be gone.  *sad*

 ABOVE: So, ummmm yeah.   Sorry Darling, ya got a little job to do when ya get home.  Thanks so much *smiles*.

 ABOVE:  And there ya have it.  I think I've got everything I need to make a start on Acrylic Paint Pouring!

Bring on tomorrow.  (or Saturday)

Well... it's the end of the day, and I'm ready for bed.  Been watching more You Tube videos of painting techniques.  Starting to get very befuddled!  Time to stop and just think for a while.

I might not even try to paint anything tomorrow... might just do some relaxing sewing.

ANOTHER DAY CHASING SPIDERS

I have work again this morning... and that involves spiders.  Lots of spiders.
But I am winning the war!

ABOVE:  Griffin and Jordan last night, both sporting the same 'hairstyle'... BOTH looked like twits!

Nice they got on though.

 ABOVE:  A cute photo of B & J... not taken by me.

After work today, I really am going to knuckle down and do some sewing.

Later on (this afternoon),  I am taking Griffin to the Doctor for some more medication to keep his acne under control, but NOT the medication he's been on for the past 6 months.  I have changed our family Doctor, hoping this new one listens to me.

Then I am putting Griffin on a bus for Auckland.  He's going to spend a few days with Steve, Bex and the kids (it's school holidays).

I've got an FBG walk tonight too... so it's going to be a busy day! 

ONWARD...

KIWIONHOLIDAYS:  Sue W's blog:  https://jsmwebber.blogspot.com/   and Sue PC's blog:  http://youcancallmesue.blogspot.com

Neither has blogged so much lately.

9.20 am:  Killing time till I leave for work.

Kelly sent me the latest update on her eyebrows:

ABOVE:  The hair grew back (so lucky), and now she's just had them shaped.  I hope she never ever does the threading/dyeing shit again!

A friend of mine,(Sue W),  gave me the name of an artist here in New Zealand who does Acrylic Paint Pourings, and I contacted her last night. Claudia Riley Art ... we have had a lovely conversation and I've been given a few tips for my first efforts.  I'm really excited to give it a go.  Maybe tomorrow I will get time to go into Hamilton for some supplies?

But for today... I'm too busy!

12.30 pm:  Home from work.

MRS SWAN:  OMG!  Your comment made me laugh because, originally when I typed that up I DID use the word 'TWATS'... then thought better of it!  I've been told I'm far too potty mouthed, so sometimes I try and 'sanitise' my posts!

I'm now taking a break, having my lunch then doing a couple of hours sewing before I take Griffin out.

6 pm:  Well I'm very happy with how the visit to the Doctor went for Griffin.  The new doctor listened, and prescribed a much milder acne medication. One that won't have such horrible side effects for Griffin.

Then I got Griffin on the bus for Auckland, which was running 15 minutes late, and came  home.

I've run out of time to go on the FBG walk now ... so am going to suggest Stew and I go to the Indian Place for dinner.   Brylee is at work, so let's call it  A DATE!  LOL

Awww our 'date' was lovely.  Too cute, he was thinking of us going out to dinner too!  We OFTEN think of the same things at the same time!  We just do a 'high five' to one another when that happens.

Home now, and while I really WANT to do some sewing, I just can't be arsed!  I'm tired.  And I had a glass of wine with dinner and am now just too chilled out.  Might just spend the next few hours being a lazy tart.  *smiles*

***  I am so glad I didn't go walking, I feel so dozy!  And OMG,  why does even ONE glass of wine affect me so much? ***

Can hardly keep me eyes open, so am off to bed early for a change.   Catch ya tomorrow.