The best layed plans of mice and men.

Or tell God what you are planning and hear him laugh.  Those are the thoughts I am having today as my home updating is moving along oh so slowly causing  my travel plans to be altered  because of the delays. 
     Here is my list of things I wanted done and where I am as of today.
1.  Add more storage to the studio... done.  I feel so much more productive in the room when the flat surfaces are free of everything except what I am currently working on or with.  Ahh
2.  Hardwood flooring for two small bedrooms.  Done.  The install took the two days the floor guy said.  Just cost more than I planned.  Had to buy an extra box because the area was underestimated by the salesman.
3.  The range, refrigerator and microwave are installed, but not the dishwasher.  I need a plumber to do that and there was no sense in having the plumber come now when he/she would have to return in  (who knows at this time) to install the sink, garbage disposal and faucets once the counter top is installed.
4.  Speaking of the countertop I don't know when it will get installed because I am waiting for the person who makes the template to come  so the stone can be cut, but
5.  I have yet to get a call from the company (handyman)  that is cutting down the knee wall behind my sink and finishing that so the template can be made and of course
6.  The tile back splash can't be installed until the countertop has been installed.  So I am waiting.
7.  Had a new heating and air system installed on Wednesday, at least that is what I woke up on Wednesday morning thinking.  At the end of a very long day there was a problem. So began my first night with no air conditioning.   Second day they replaced a valve but that didn't help, then they replaced the coil unit in the attic, but at the end of day two, still no cool air, Second night passed and here I am today with them running new copper tubing from the second new out side unit. Here it is past noon on Friday.   I pray I am not spending a third night without and thanking the almighty that it is not July or August here in Florida at the same time.  Temperatures with relatively low humidity has been in the upper 70's this week with rain.
8.  Painting is going real slow, since it is hard to paint when you are melting from no air conditioning , Josh, my oldest grandson says, so only one room so far has been started.  It will be my favorite color "yellow".  Because the wall is my condo still have the original contractor paint on every wall,  the walls are sucking up the paint at an alarming rate, Josh is on his third gallon for a 11' x 12' room with closet.  The paint store estimated one gallon of high grade paint with primer was all that I needed, ha!  I am waiting on Josh  to
9.  Change out the ceiling fans in the two small bedrooms as well as mine too.  My garage is getting full of projects for Josh to do including putting together the new bike I brought.  I need to get back into some from of exercise.  I decided on the bike before I saw my heart doctor on Wednesday.  He told me I was doing very well and he'd see me in six months and hopefully see less of me at that time.  My excuse that I don't over eat, I just under exercise will be no longer be valid once my bike is put together.

WOW had no idea there was sot much space above my head.

 

10.  Yesterday the Solar tube guy came and installed a 14" tube in my kitchen.  I can't believe how much I love having natural light in there.  It was such a dark hole because it has no windows.  Every time I  went in the kitchen I had to turn on the lights, either the under counter ones or the pot lights in the ceiling.  Because I am energy minded, I have the twisty kind that take a few minutes to come up to full brightness. Most of the trips to the kitchen were short and I was out of there before that did.   All day yesterday as I left the kitchen I had to stop myself from wanting to turn off the lights as I left the room.  All is not perfect however. Because of the rafters the tube is a little off center, but I don't care.  I am so in love with the light.
11. I was stuck in my bedroom for 4 hours on Tuesday because I had  the tile flooring  professionally cleaned and the grout sealed.  What a difference it made.  The tile and grout hadn't been this clean I'd bet since the day it was installed 10 years ago and it is much lighter than I thought.
As I am relating to you all that I have in the works, I am wondering what possessed me. 
And oh yeah I am waiting for a Murphy bed for the smallest bedroom.  I have three weeks before it comes.  I am waiting for the roofer to give me a bid on installing a vent in the kitchen to exhaust the cooking fumes through the microwave over the range and I am waiting for someone, maybe Josh to drill the holes and install handles on the kitchen cabinets  that have never had them.  I did my part.  I picked them out, paid for them and brought them home.  They and I are waiting.

In the studio, which is why I think most of you read my blog,  I finished quilting and facing this piece.   I hope to start on another painting soon, but I have to get some  kits ready for a class I am teaching in NY next month. That means spending some time in the garage dyeing fabric. 

Watercolor pigments on silk  32" w x 42" l

Yesterday an island of messiness remained

Today, ta-dah!
     The studio is in order.  The Spring cleaning bug has left me with wanting to do other spaces in the condo.  First up on my list is ripping out the carpet in the other two bedroom and replacing it with wood flooring.  Then comes the painting of the walls in both rooms and the center hallway.  I'm having a solar tube installed in my center of the house kitchen that gets no daylight.

      Next week the wood floors get installed.   I would have done the two room when I did my bedroom a year ago except the boys didn't want to make their rooms ready for the installers but  now that John the youngest grandson is leaving tomorrow and his room will be emptied of all of his stuff   the time to strike was at hand.  John will be on his way to St. Louis to look for an apartment and enroll in college where he plans to study "Nursing" His room will become my painting studio with a Murphy bed just in case someone drops in from out of town.  That room gets the best light. 
      If and when the oldest grandson leaves I see his room as a sitting/reading/TV watching room.  
      Kitchens, no matter how well appointed, are not my favorite places to hang out.  When I moved here I always had in the back of my mind to change the counter top, ( black Formica) to something far different.  I spent several hours at Home Depot yesterday looking around and finally buying handles for the cabinets and drawers that never had them  and selecting a new sink to go with the Silestone countertop I am having installed. 
     After the longest time, I am almost finished quilting this piece that I started maybe 3-4 months ago.  I have less than two square feet of quilting left to go. 
     Not sure how much studio time I'll get in the next couple of weeks with workmen coming and going.

Well the spring cleaning bug has bitten

Last week I cleaned my bedroom closet. Way past time.  One large yard waste black bag was stuffed with stuff that had seen better days but was oh so comfortable but way too embarrassing to be seen in outside the house; that all went to the curb in time for the trash collector.  The rest of the "why am I holding on to this stuff when someone could use it"  filled one large laundry bag  and two over flowing laundry baskets, had me making the short trip to the Goodwill. 
     Starting Monday I began to make plans to do something with my studio space.  This was put in motion mainly because one,  I am in a creative dry spell and two our little condo community is having a yard sale this Saturday so I thought that this would be a good opportunity for me to get rid of some things that were not working for me in the studio and maybe make a little money to help defray some of the cost of me bringing home three  new  cabinets with drawers from IKEA yesterday for the purpose of me hiding from view all the stuff helped  create the cluttered look of my studio.  It seems the older I get the more clutter bothers me.
      So you can imagine how I am feeling right now with the studio space all a jumble.

 

 

Not sure what the new layout will look like yet, because some things have to stay put, like the design wall and the computer.

Will give you a look see when I am done.
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