I am FINALLY able to access my blog, sign in, and create again!

     It has been a LONG time, several months in fact, since I was able to readily access my blog!  YEY!  I'm back in!  I don't know what was going on with google, not allowing me to sign in, etc. but I am SO very happy to be able to work here again.
    I just found out about an opportunity to apply for a DESIGN TEAM, TWEET, TWEET, TWEET!  I hope I can quality, even if not during this first 6 month round, but sometime in the near future! 
    I am currently doing major pre-Christmas cleaning, not only to prepare for our own Christmas enjoyment, but also for hosting the Gleason family (MY family) Christmas here as well. I , as well as several others, hope to meet one of my two nieces for the first time, and she will be 17 months old at the time. 
     Okay, I need to get back to a little more cleaning, then I hope to be able to post some photos of what has been going on here over the past 3 months.

Studio floor progress

     I was finally able to begin painting my studio floor Wednesday night.  I had to wait for Michael to add more nails to the joints of the 2x4' pieces, as some joints were pulling apart.  Any further divisions will just have to be lived with.  So it was 8:30 pm before I actually started painting/white washing my floor with water-based gray paint.  Rather than using a white over the top of this gray, the second layer will be a much lighter gray.  If I still think I want it to be even lighter, then there will be a 3rd coat of white washing.  It is taking me 2 - 2 1/2 hrs to do each row of panels.... wow.  I knew it would be time consuming, but not THIS time consuming.  I had guessed that it would take me 2-4 days to paint my floors, plus dry time for the total floor before being able to walk or move furniture in.  The paint I am using is porch/floor paint, and the can says I shouldn't put furniture on it for an entire week!!!!!!!!
     OK, Dale, remember.... it will all be worth it.  You are saving $600- 2400 by doing this rather than installing laminate or vinyl plank flooring on top..... PATIENCE IS A VIRTUAL (which I lack lol).

Studio updates, which I forgot last time, lol... & a different surprise in the morning.

When I got up the other day, Wesley said "Mom, there's a bat in here".  I asked him if it was dead or alive...

 ..... apparently Squirrel caught a bat (again)?  Wesley told me that he remembers being out in the front yard w/ Dad one night and Squirrel had jumped up at a bat that had flown down near our birch tree.  We had broke her of the bad habit of bringing her 'kills' indoors to show them to us w/ pride... now she's back to doing it again.

Wesley, our diyer in training, has a special talent..... fitting into small places!  We utilized that talent to have him mark the cutout for the new egress window.

In action.....

     After he had completed the task, Michael wanted to double-check his accuracy, so I crawled in.  My post-child hips are too wide to turn sideways in the window, so we opened it and I marked the side and bottom from outside lol.  Wesley had done a great job after all!

     YEY!  I now have drywall on all my walls again!!!!!!  And a large window to boot!  Now the tedious work of 'mudding' the drywall ...argh!  I will keep telling myself "It's worth all the time and work!"

July 4th celebrations at home, and studio progress

 Michael taught Wesley how to use a sledge hammer & split firewood before Wesley & I camped in the backyard for the first time this summer... watch the action!

Dakota was so well-behaved, sitting right behind the Hershey's chocolate, marshmallows (which Wesley FINALLY likes! and Dakota has always LOVED!), and the Graham crackers... yum!       Now for some fireworks fun!

Framing walls & swim class, level 3, graduated

Wesley passed his Level 3 swim tests yesterday, so we were at Family Day in the pool this afternoon.  Monday he will start Level 4......

Last night we started framing the walls of my studio.... we finished the first of 2 shorter walls, and are half way done with the first long wall.

Since Wesley was marking the "plumb lines", Michael thought he'd try to get some "Plumber's crack" photos for me.... Actually, I saw a lot more as Wesley climbed out of the pool these past 2 weeks lol.

I have a WINDOW!!!

I am now the proud owner of an egress window!  More later....

Progress on the egress window stairwell....

 The egress window stairwell is framed in & we began backfilling with dirt. The outside cut through the foundation blocks was done with a diamond tip skillsaw blade.  Michael needs to do the same cuts on the inside, and then we need to chip the remaining block depth by hand.  Today Wesley & I finished with the backfilling of the stairs after I put in the bottom stair and added more stones.  Hopefully by the Sunday night I will have an egress window installed!!!

Foundation blocks had to be cut with a diamond tipped skillsaw blade.

Wesley is a hair shy of being tall enough to reach out of the hole with a shovel full of dirt.

Yes, those are screws in my mouth... don't you love the fashion statement that I am making while working both inside and outside of my studio lol!

YEY!  All but the bottom step is framed in in this photo.

 Today's early afternoon photo, showing the soil that Wesley & I backfilled this afternoon, along with more stone added.  I am going to create a garden in the terraced stairwell, with miniature roses and other English garden plants, as well as any that reflect the purple, white & pink in my studio.