Demo....days one and two (sort of)

A post or two ago, I showed you a photo of our Christmas present....the house:

Here are more before pics...as promised earlier...

Bob surveying his new kingdom....
the side yard...can't wait to fill the bird bath...I will be able to see it from my studio :)

the back of the house...

This ugly shed will go, and be replaced by one we already have, and the tree to the right will come down, as it has alot of storm damage.

It essentially has two bedrooms,












(small   8x8)



















(large)
a laundry room which is 1/3rd filled with a water heater,

 one bath,

(Where the closet is, we will be putting a large shower...will leave the tub/shower combo, and be putting in a new larger toilet, and in a small alcove behind the tub a urinal for Bubba.  We will be moving the vanity back into another closet to open the bathroom up a bit.)

a kitchen, which is getting a complete overhaul...new cabinets, cooktop, wall oven, more counter space, an island where the doorway is, because the wall will be gone and the old bedroom will be our dining room,

a dining room, which will be Bubba's room

a family room/den

a living room with 3 single windows, and one double...perfect for a studio :)

with a 5 1/2' x 9' foyer

When we get done, it will still have two bedrooms...one (Bubba's)will change to where the dining room used to be...one bath (and maybe a 1/2 bath), a combo office/studio for me with storage in the old formal living room, a laundry room without a hot water heater (going to go tankless), a kitchen/dining area combo by losing the old bedroom, and a combo office (Bob's) and family room, and a foyer with a door into my office (decorated of course with my artwork).

While my son-in-law was visiting, and crawling around under and over and inside the new house to check out it's condition, he and Bob took over some plastic bags to put some loose wallpaper in. Bob accidentally slammed the door when he left that afternoon, when they came back to the trailer to discuss renovations.. When they went back the next day, the slamming door must have loosened the ceiling tiles, because all of the ones that were asbestos tile, had fallen into the garbage bags.  What a miracle for Bob and I, because it was one less thing to do, after the signing.

look, mom....no more asbestos

His heart attack has kept us from any serious work, for a week or so, tho' he did mow the lawn the other day, and I cleared away some vines choking "my" trees, and trimmed the limbs that were too close to the house and windows.  We had dealt with the broken sheet-rock in the kitchen, and put the rest in bags.

Yesterday and today, we worked on what will be a combo office (Bob's) and family room, and took down all the molding and paneling so we could get to the next level to do the rewiring of the house.  I carried out all the bags of tile, and the removed wood and paneling to stack in the carport.  Later we will load it in the trailer and take it to the dump.

Bob untangling heavy extension cords for the temporary service while we renovate....

the start of the pile...all the asbestos first....

some of the kitchen bags

and we found some of the cabinets easy to move...

under the paneling was particle board, which Bob will use a dremel  on, to cut chanels for the wiring...after we

pull all the old wiring, and hopefully sell the copper in it for some money....there should be quite a bit of it.

Tomorrow we rest, and then back at it on Tuesday!  Will try for more pics then.  Night all!

Pollyanna Died today or Hanoi Jane speaks again....

Things have been hectic here...and I have been busy packing and sorting thru' things, and Bob and I have been spending more time together.  I know I mostly talk about art, and my life, and usually avoid politics & religion for obvious reasons...but today I felt compelled to speak.

I may get a lot of flack for this...but I after reading a number of political arguments today, on FB and blogs, and listening to the talking heads on the news...I was sooooooooo reminded of my college days, when we all sat around and spouted our pseudo-intellectual crap about politics, history, and Viet Nam...and advocated all sorts of mayhem on politicians, parents and authority figures...because we were so much smarter than they were.  I recall the advice that everyone over 30 should be shot (that birthday was the most traumatic of any I ever had!)

I don't claim to be politically aware anymore, and I avoid listening to the news when I can, because my own life seems so overwhelming lately.  I hold myself in as much blame as others, and my apathy is no more justifiable because I lead a tough life at times...we all do.  Yet when I do listen to politicians criticize each other,  most of the mudslinging and such reminds me more of 5 yr. olds calling each other doo-doo heads, etc...or threatening to take their toys and go home than it does the product of constructive thinking.  It seems to me that it does not take being an intellectual or a pundit to make good decisions whether in our own lives or in government; it does take common sense and logic, and as my mom used to tell me...any good relationship has to be based on compromise. Don't see much of that today.

I belatedly realized that the reason for this sense of 'deja vu' was simple...many of the talking heads, the debaters of right versus left, the spouter's of rhetoric that sounds so familiar are baby boomers, and so they ARE the 'kids' from my college days.  It was me and many of them at Kent State and other places...disrespecting the whole world.  Many may have changed some of their targets, but there are so many similarities.

One of the eye-openers was when Hanoi Jane had the audacity to open her mouth again.  Like she has, or ever had the right to criticize....sheesh! Maybe she should go and live in Viet Nam since she liked it so well there, and is always so dissatisfied with America.  I remember marching for this and that, here and there, flirting on the edges of danger...flying in the face of all I had been taught....then I did something odd...it took awhile, but I grew up.  There is a passage in a 'book' we are politically not to mention in connection with politics, where it talks about growing up, and putting away childish things...seems to me that would be childish actions as well.

It took the deaths of over 3500  people(actually about 3 short of that total, depending on the sources) on 9/11 to bring the country together, we cried together, spoke on the streets to total strangers....stood together to honor the heroes.  And HOW LONG did that last??  Until "they" decided we were too weak and not able to handle the truth...our "big brother" shrinks and governing bodies decided we should not see any more images from 9/11, in case they made us sad or angry (they SHOULD make us sad and angry) and to avoid mass panic, they soothed us back into the ruts we had been in before with the same old pacifiers. And now it is even worse...we have hardened, and gotten cold.

People, citizens and soldiers, get killed by madmen, suicide bombers, serial killers and we worry about political positions, and who to throw the blame on....too bad we cannot take the time to mourn their loss! A few may try, but it is so difficult, and much easier to argue with each other...or so it seems.

What a marvel it would be if the politicians actually meant what I heard two of them say today...that the right and left may disagree about the WAY to help America/the world, but that both sides are serious about doing so.  I wish that I could believe that even the ones saying it meant what they said...but I think that, for me, today not only did 15+ people die in Arizona, but Pollyanna died too.  Maybe there is a grown up version of her somewhere, who can believe in the ultimate good in people...but I am less sure today.

The proceeding is just my opinion....if it made you think...even in disagreement....then maybe it was worth saying.

The Return...

Bob is home, and tho' things are far from peaceful, they are better.  Bubba has a hard time dealing with stress, so he acts out when there is a lot of it around; I would say Bob's stay in the hospital would rank fairly high on the stress level.

It is hard getting used to Bob being home now, and then for him to be gone...it was not the same as him being on  the road.  I had a hard time sleeping and just sort of feel numb.  He slept on and off on the way home, and I hope he sleeps good tonight.

I have not done much artwork in awhile, but I have dabbled a bit, and sketched as well.  I hope to do more soon,  I thought I would share just a few.

This is one I did just for fun...learning more about textures....I tried to make it look as tho' the oranges were bursting from the box. It was fun to experiment with glass beads, and modeling paste...

This is the brother of a good friend....still need to work on a few things, but I could not resist the pout!

During doctor visits and tests, anytime I end up sitting and waiting on someone...I sketch....I 'always' have my sketchbook and a pencil and use pics that I bring, magazines, or objects/people in the waiting rooms, as subject matter.  There are many more, and some of these are not really finished....some I go back and work on, and some not.

This one I did after my first session on a dear friend....I did not like how the painting was going, so I sketched to see if that would help me with positioning, etc....

He was just too cute to resist!

This is the elephant, from a photo of my son riding one many years ago; I hope to paint it one day....

This is part of a photograph of my grandmother and her father....from the family archives, so to speak.  I am hoping to paint it one day...and so I have been working on sketches of them....

My great grandpa Waller (from just a few minutes sketching in the ER)


















My dad's mom, grandma Ackley....

Photo from a magazine....

From another magazine...Paul McCartney sings...

a ram....

One of my fav people... Sarah Palin

Well, I fell asleep at my desk for most of the evening, and did not get this posted....but, here it is now.  Hopefully, I will get my brain back in gear soon, and make more sense....lol

DeJa Vu?

Well, I am wondering...is it just that we anticipate a better life? or are we destined never to find it?

Bob is in the hospital and they are not sure if he had another heart attack or just angina...which is new.  We are hoping he can come home today...but then we hoped that yesterday too.

Hard to get coherent thoughts together...will post more later.  All prayers and good thoughts are welcome!!