Friday, December 22, 2006

Beige, beige, alvays with ze beige.




I've been painting a ton of beige and taupe rooms lately. Unfailingly tasteful and nice, but hard for me to take "oooh" photos of.
The 80lb pitbull's name is Pal. He was utterly charming and sweet.
The 6lb cat is Tigger. He was a little shit and hissed and clawed at me every time I walked too close. I was a bit nervous of him, haha.

So, two more beige jobs coming up. And Christmas. Yay! I love Christmas, just for the getting together with friends and giving gifts and eating too much and talking about everything under the sun and watching schmaltzy movies.
So, if I don't get back here until after the holidays, I'll be doing all of the above! And, I hope everyone has a lovely whatever-you-celebrate and get to hug people you like~! :)

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Pedro goes to a dog show in Ohio.

Pedro came with us to an agility trial in Ohio last weekend.

He's so well behaved, he didn't even have to be crated, I just kept him onleash.



Except, of course, when he was running a course. Here he is doing the A-frame, he hit all his contacts.



He had to call home so here he is on the phone.



All that talking made him thirsty, so he shared Erica's coffee.



Last run of the day, he did beautiful weaves!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Ch-ch-ch-changes.







I keep forgetting to bring my camera to work, but here's pics of a few things I've done recently. Nothing terribly fancy! I have been really busy between dog stuff and work. Also painted: Really pretty pink bedroom. Pale yellow foyer and bathroom. Yellow and white laundry room, some other beige rooms....off to start a basement remodel today.
Looks like I'm booked to the hilt through January, yippee. I get a bit nervous about work slowdowns after the holidays - this is such a seasonal business - but I usually manage to stay busy.
I have more Pedro adventures! He came to a dog show in Dayton OH last weekend and got in on the action. I have pictures to prove it. The friends I was with were coming up with all sorts of silly adventures for him. For a small white rock, he is having a pretty good time. Just a blip in his existence, really, considering he probably watched life emerge from the primordial ooze, dinosaurs battle, proto-humans grunt and hunt, mountains form, oceans freeze and thaw and civilizations dawn.
I think I need to lay off the coffee.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

50 minute bathroom.






10:15 am.
Thaw out rollers which were in the truck all night and froze together.
Thaw out caulking (sinkful of hot water!).
Caulk around countertops, shower and tub enclosure.
Remove switchplate covers, towel & TP holder hardware, shower curtain and general bathroom detritus.
Tape baseboards - the only thing I tape if I'm not painting them. It's really hard to get a clean line along the top of the base
and it protects them from sprinkles.
Paint first coat.
OK, that took 50 minutes. Go paint baseboards in the kitchen, touch up living room where old window covering hardware was removed. Catch up on phone calls, play with their old dog, label all the paint I forgot to label when I painted the rest of the house in June, smoke a cigarette, eat some of their red and green M&Ms (my favourite flavors), smoke another cigarette, twiddling my thumbs waiting for bathroom paint to dry. Repaint bathroom, clean up.
1:20 pm.
Collect money, stop on the way home to get oil and coolant change in truck. Stop at paint store to get paint for next job.
Roads are geting WAY icy. Avoid broadsiding a school bus at a stop sign. Oopsie.
Go home, bring everything freezable into the house because it's in the teens.
Get a call, agility class cancelled because nobody wants to drive out there on the very icy roads.
6 pm.
Hey, I have the night off!
Pay bills.
Address a bunch of Christmas cards.
Decide it's too damn cold to walk dogs. Eat dinner. Chat on phone with friend and discuss Christmas dinner. (Roast leg of lamb, mint sauce, roasted potatoes with rosemary and a bunch of other, mostly fattening stuff.)
Fart around online a while.
Read Barack Obama's first book. It's excellent.
Fall asleep.
Man, what an interesting day!

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Merry Christmas. Or Die.



I took many photos of Cooper wearing a Santa hat and collar against different backgrounds. I tried getting him to hold a roller or paintbrush in his mouth but he is a pragmatic dog and simply didn't see the point in that. It did take quite a few dog cookies to get him sitting still and not losing the hat.
This is one of his "Merry Christmas Or Die" photos and is clearly not merry-making material.



This is the card that will go out to painting clients. Walgreens does them - $9.99 for 20 cards plus envelopes. Just do it online, then pick them up within a few hours at the Walgreens of your choice.
Woof!