You are WOMAN! Way to go Anj, good job. Not sure I would have known what to do. Luckily I have a couple of neighbors I can call if I have any problems when DH is not here. And my son doesn't live very far away either, but he travels allot.

Like you, I try to keep flashlights available. Have to watch little GD as she will play with them and leave them turned on. I keep one on DH's nightstand and another one in the kitchen. Those I try to put back in the same place all the time. Then there are a few others scattered about the house, but probably couldn't find them if I needed them! LOL

I painted two more of the Freedom Blooms garden signs like I posted the pic of before. I've been looking at a Christmas sign I want to do--might get it painted this month for a Christmas in July project.

I went over to a neighbors yard sale this morning. She was selling her little GD's clothing--most were just like new. I bought a few nice outfits to take for my great niece's baby. I've already mailed her a couple outfits, and have two more new ones I planned to take to her when we are on vacation. These were so nice and very inexpensive so I got six outfits. Neighbor didn't want to take anything, then when I insisted on paying,she said $2.00 for all--so I gave her $4.00 and told her she deserved at least that much for doing all the work of getting the yard sale ready.

Dh and I just got back from the movies. He wanted to see the new Transformers movie so I reluctantly agreed to it. I actually enjoyed it--had a decent plot and was VERY action packed! LOL My DH and my DS still play the games online and love all the special effects/action movies. There was a little guy about five sitting next to me with his Dad. I was concerned that it might be scary for him, but he seemed very fascinated by it all. I got a kick out of hearing his comments and watching his reactions. ;o)

Well, better check a couple things and get ready for bed.

When will your DH be back from his trip? Soon I hope--and you shouldn't be climbing on ladders on stairs when he is not around--what if you fell? I'm sure it looks really nice, but you are just too brave gal!

Luvs

Can you see what time it is?? It's 4am and I'm wide awake. Had to watch just one chick flick while DH was gone and it just ended. Watched The Holiday. Pretty good. He returns tomorrow at noon. Gotta pick him up from the airport.
I have heard that Transformers was really good. We'll probably try to take the kids while we are on our little mini vaca next weekend. Or may try to go sooner sometime this week since my DB has been wanting to go with us to see it. Kids today see so much stuff on tv that they are usually desensitized to all the things that we think should bother them. I have gone back and forth on whether I've done right or not with my kids. They have watched some pretty scary IMO things from the time they were little, but have never been scared because we've explained that it's actors in costumes. In some ways I've thought it was good that they know the difference between real and unreal, but then I wonder if it's bad that I have desensitized them in a way.

My parents were here so I wasn't totally alone while I was painting. I was using one of those specialty ladders made for use on stairs, but still makes me nervous. I'm happy with the way it looks and also that I can cross one more project off my to-do list.
My Dad and Mom were out with friends last night, my brother was out of town too so I had nobody to depend on but myself with the water problem. Just glad I was able to figure it out. I have a few flashlights, but there is never one around when I need one since the kids always sneak them. The one that wasn't plugged in only lasted about a minute and died so I ended up with one of those that you shake, but I didn't take the time to shake it for a full minute so it kept going dimmer and dimmer on me.

Who are you doing your other signs for? Whoever the happy receiver is they will love it. Good bargain on the clothes. I always love a deal.

Well, apparantly typing is going to finally do the trick and put me to sleep so I'm off to bed. I'm sure the kids will be up at the crack of dawn since I'll want to sleep in most likely. Ain't that the way it always works for some reason? ha Type ya later. ~Anj

Oh Anj, we watched The Holiday on dvd Friday night. I really enjoyed it--did you? I like those chick flicks, and DH has gotten much better about watching them with me. He's even chosen a few to go see at the movies once in awhile.

Anj, I know what you mean about the kids. I can remember when my son was little, like maybe kindergarten or first grade and was crazy about the Godzilla type things. In fact, a lady fussed at me once when we were in line for a matinee. Told me he would have nightmares. I told her I appreciated her concern, but that he was crazy about Scifi things and knew they were "just pretend" and that so far he had not had any nightmares. His favorite tv shows were Johhny Socko and his Giant Robot and The Six Million Dollar Man. To this day, he loves everything Scifi, from books to movies to video games. His Dad and I grew up reading the comic books about Superman, Batman, The Shadow, etc. so guess he got his interest in Scifi from us. I think it is fine as long as they understand the difference between reality and what they see in the movies. I would imagine a few episodes of some of the daytime soap operas would do more harm! LOL

Thought I would just paint up a few more signs to take along on our trip with me. One of my nephews is in Nat'l Guard, so thought my niece might like one too. I'm probably going to take some of my rose painted stash along too in case anyone wants something. They all think I am such a good painter--really good for my ego, but of course, I KNOW better. LOL

Hope you got to sleep in a bit this morning. Isn't it fun to just stay up late once in ahwile just because you want to? DH and I seem to be heading in the direction of staying up later/sleeping in later. Sort of making up for all those years of having to be up at 5:30 every day! LOL

Well, I enjoyed chatting with you. Will go check the other forums quickly, then get cleaned up. Little GD will be here today, haven't seen her since last Sunday, so can't wait to get my hugs and kisses.

Luvs

I did like The Holiday. I watched it again yesterday while DH napped. He'll watch chick flicks, but he makes stupid comments all thru them so I'd just as soon watch them by myself.

Good idea to bring along a few extra things in case people want them which I'm sure they will. They are right, you are an excellent painter. You are your own worst critic. :) When are you leaving? We changed our plans up a little and will be leaving on Thursday for our long weekend getaway. The kids are pretty excited for the swimming mostly.

I got a cow painted!, but need to cut off one little part that I don't like with the saw. Then I can sand it, touch it up and seal it. I combined one of your patterns with a sheep that Sal had done on crafts that I liked. I like the way it turned out. Have two little garden angels I need to finish up. Had some rusty metal hearts I was going to use for the wings on one and now I don't know what I did with them. Have to look thru my stash to see if I can find those and finish her up today. Have a big long shelf I need to give another coat of paint and seal so I can put it up on my newly painted wall and get the pictures and things hung back up. Have a shelf and a knob hanger I need to put a coat of sealer on so I can put those up in the girls room. DD may want something painted on the one, but she hasn't decided what yet. Those are my finish up projects.

My starter projects are to paint a small gun rack to hold my g-grandpas canes instead of guns, paint a picture frame so I can hang up an oil painting that DH did when he was in high school of a swamp scene and another shelf to paint for my bedroom, but those are just black. As DH says I've been on a black kick for the past year or so. ha Found a graphic online that I want to try to duplicate on some burner covers for my stove.
Don't know if it was in any of the TS find pics, but I found another little block wagon that I need to find a pattern for, but that's a Christmas project. I guess it's about time to start planning some fall projects too. I have quite a few things stashed. Turkeys, scarecrows, pilgrims, and various small leaves and pies for hangers I've been saving up to paint. Need to start a little earlier this year so it doesn't sneak up on me like usual and I end up not adding to that seasons decorations.

Since I got the silicone and it worked so well I've been trying to find some pieces for my own little totem. Yea, I'm the last one on the wagon. ha Our bouncy horse finally bit the dust and I convinced DH to save the horse for me to put on a pole. Don't know if I want to paint it pretty colors or just spray it with the stone spraypaint. I'm kind of leaning toward the stone look. Waiting for him to have time to drill the holes in it and affix it to a pole. Sorry for the long litany of projects, but I was kind of typing out loud. ha Are you thinking ahead yet to any future projects?

Hi Anj, So you get to head off on vacation this Thursday? Hope you have a great time. I know the kids will.

DH and I have started "THE LIST", so I know mine is getting close! LOL The list helps us to make sure we don't forget anything. I've been trying to keep up with the yard work, and housework--like to leave everything neat and tidy when we go so I don't come home to a mess. Need to hire someone to mow while we are gone this time since we will be gone three weeks. Lots of details to think about--and we still usually forget something! LOL

I just finished cleaning the back bathroom, now need to go vacuum my bedroom and clean the other bathroom. Think that will be about it for today other than the usual wipe down of the kitchen and sweeping the family room floor--that's a daily given with two hairy dogs!

I was going to try to do a Christmas in July project, but not sure I'll get it done. Just too many other things going on. Honestly, I think I painted more things when I was working full time! Think I need to just start setting one day a week aside for painting something. Now I try to squeeze painting time in between other stuff, and the other stuff is taking up too much time! LOL

All your projects sound so cute. I love the little block wagons. Don't you hate it when you put things away so well that even you can't find it? We do that around here all the time! It's frustrating. How great that you have your grandpa's canes and great idea to display them that way.

Your horse would look great with the stone paint. Just like concrete sculpture. Have you seen the ones on GJ? A couple of people have done them. Be careful, the totems can be addictive! Even smaller ones add so much color and "bling" to the flower beds. Are you going to do the ones on the poles or the stand alone ones? One little tip if I may--unless the pieces are pretty lightweight, I found it best to only glue a couple of pieces at at time. The glue holds great after it dries, but pieces can slip while drying. I often do my base and the next piece, then maybe the next two pieces to each other--but don't connect to the base pieces until the next day. Some people say they use tape to help hold pieces in place. I just sit mine in a corner of my kitchen counter where it will not be disturbed. So far, only one was slightly crooked. It is fun to play with the pieces and see how they fit together in a pleasing way.

Better get moving here. I'll talk with you later. Luvs

I have my "list" too Luvs. ha We must have the same personality type. ha

I found the angel wings and I hope I finally got them to stay on. Been fighting with them for a few hours. I've got the sealer on them and they are drying right now so I'll post pics when they are done.

I saw one lady's painted horse a long time ago on GJ, and then not long ago I saw one in progress. I'm going to go over now and do a search to see if I can look at some more. Thanks for the reminder on that.

And thanks for the tip on the totems. ha I'd have been having a terrible time if I hadn't known that! I want things done and finished so quickly I probably wouldn't have waited otherwise. I have some copper poles so was thinking of doing the ones on those, but then DH said he was going to make a big windchime with the copper so I'm rethinking how it's going to be. May be a while before I find all the pieces I need anyway. I really like the fairly lacey looking ones. What did you use for toppers on yours?? And I wanted to do one that's a little different if I can find the parts.

Well, right now I'm off on the bathing suit hunt. Wish me luck! ha ~Anj

Good morning Anj. Glad you found your angel wings. Do you know about www.thistothat.com? It's a site that helps with what glue to use for different surfaces. I tend to just grab whatever I have handy and sometimes it works--sometimes not so well. LOL

I got so much done yesterday but guess I was really tired. Slept in until 8 o'clock this morning (and actually feel like I could go back to sleep). Had to get up to let the two dogs outside. I'm sipping my coffee while I'm on here, so maybe that will get me going. ;o)

Anj, the copper pipes look really nice, but copper is pretty pricey right now. I just used rebar for mine. Even with the rebar, one of my glass bud vases barely slipped over it! Guess that vase was meant for a single rose stem--sure was narrow. I try to position them behind a flower or bush, so mostly the pretty part shows. You can get different lengths of rebar, or even drive one further into the ground than another for different heights. I cut strips of a scrubbing sponge and wrap that around the rebar and slip the vase down over it. That keeps it from tipping.

For that type of totem, I use a larger vase and sit the bud vase upside down inside it. I then stuff paper towels or plastic bags around the bud vase to hold it securely. Then I glue my next piece onto the bottom of the bud vase and work up from there. That holds it securely while you work on it and while it sits somewhere to dry. Otherwise, it is hard to balance the totem on the upside down bud vase while you work on it and while it dries. LOL (Learned that the hard way!) ;o) Sorry for all the unsolicited advice--just hoped to help you avoid some of the difficult parts--the rest is so much fun. And remember, there is no right or wrong, just however it is pleasing to your eye.

Did you see the totems with the canning jars and terra cota on GJ forum? I think I want to make a couple like those this fall. Much more rustic looking.

Know you will be busy today getting everything packed for your trip. Hope you had good luck finding a bathing suit yesterday. If I don't talk to you before, have a good time and try to relax and enjoy yourself.

Luvs