I Needed A Project

Being out of work for a few months is not something that agrees with me at all.  I start to get stir crazy and eventually I find a project to tackle.  Something small, that won’t cost a lot and can be done in a few days.  The last time I was unemployed I organized the pantry and I’m still enjoying it.

This time I set my sights on a project that was bigger and would require me to do something that I really hate doing – painting.  I decided to change up the playroom.  I was tired of looking at this all the time.

I really wanted to get rid of the shelves that we’ve been using to hold all kinds of stuff for the girls.  So off we went to Ikea.  I had an idea of what I wanted and actually thought I knew exactly what I’d buy.  But then I found something even better than what I had envisioned.  And to sweeten the deal, it was on clearance so we got it for a great price!  I have to give a big thanks here to my 16 year old neighbor Molly who came over to help me with the final steps in building it.

Next on the list was deciding on a new color for the walls. For two girls, that blue had to go! I wasn’t really sure what I wanted and of course the girls requested PINK!!!  However, Bill was having no discussions about pink paint in there.  He had a valid point, we’d just have to paint it again in few years and well….see above for how I feel about that!

After Bill did some tooling around with colors we finally decided on ‘Restful’ from Sherwin Williams.  We felt it complimented the Down Home color on the other walls in the common area of the house.

The girls love telling everyone who will listen about their ‘new’ playroom.  Here is the finished product.

 

 

An artist….who knew?

My parents have been friends with and fans of a local artist for many years.  His name is Andy Smith.  You can see his works here.

Last year my mother gave my father four lessons with Andy as a gift.  My dad dove into these lessons the same way he approaches everything in life, with full gusto!

Turns out my dad really has some talent.  We’ve all been impressed by the watercolors he’s created.

Last weekend Andy had an open house for his students.  We went to support my dad and it turns out he was placed next to his best friend who has also been taking classes.  It was a fun time and I was really impressed by works from all of Andy’s students.

I was especially proud of my dad and his beautiful watercolors.

You can see the students’ works here.  Just click on “my students’ paintings” on the right hand side.  Then scroll down a bit until you see Jim Tanner.  These are my dad’s works.

I told him that I’d really love one of his works for my birthday this year.  I wonder which one he’ll pick out for me?