Studio Saga

This week I:
painted the studio
added molding to studio
moved back into studio
turned down marriage proposal
spent a day with cousins in Philadelphia
watched history in the making
bought a new printer
planned a bbq

This week I did not:
finish my syllabus.

This week has been very busy. I gave myself a deadline that all major house work projects would need to be finished by Sept. 1st, or they would have to be tabled until after my show. The doorway will be tabled. The painting of the studio, adding molding, and hanging a tack board needed to happen now.
Once again, I was amazed at how much a simple coat of bright white glossy paint cleans things up. The windows were really quite gross, but I slapped some paint on and it cleaned everything up. Jacques was very unhappy at being kicked out of the painting area, but I didn't need him to jump up on the ledges, and sit on the wet paint. He would have looked like a reverse skunk. And the molding. So much easier in a completely empty room. It did a lovely job of hiding all of my drips from painting the baseboards. :)In my studio, I need something to tack things to - such as a bulletin board. I went to Home Depot on Saturday and ordered some hemasote (homosote? - sound proofing board) board and had them delivered, along with a lot of topsoil for the garden. The nice man, Wayne, who was delivering all of it, kindly hauled all of the dirt to the back of the yard for me. :) When he brought the hemosote into he house, he looked around and asked,
"You doing all of this yourself?" indicating my stellar demolition of the doorway.
I said, "Yeah!".
He said, "You want to get married?"
I said, "No."
He said, "Why not? I could use a woman like you!"
I thought, Hmm, great, what's in this for me? and stuck with my "no" answer. On Thursday morning I was wide awake at 4am, so I finished up the studio/guestroom. Blow up mattresses really are the way to go, I tell ya. I'm also thrilled with my giant Ikea lantern. :)

My cousins came to visit from all over the country on Thursday and it was really great to see them and hang out with them. First I took them to the Mutter Museum. This place is always worth a look. The Museum has the worlds largest colon, the soap lady, the mask of a woman with a horn growing out of her forehead - any medical anomally - they've got it. Right now they have some books bound in human skin on display. Eew. After a thorough grossing out there we went to my place of employment. Our library director very kindly pulled a few of our treasures out. Here we are looking at the hand written draft of the constitution:
Rosanna is teaching the Declaration of Independence to her students this year and she was very excited to see that as well. We also saw the Emancipation Proclamation and Rosanna said that I am somehow a decendent of Lincoln! Dad? Do you know about this?
I feel fortunate that they came because I also got to experience something I wouldn't have done on my own. Joy was hell-bent on seeing Obama's acceptance speech. Rosanna's friend Holly found out that it would be on a screen at the Visitors Center, right next to the Liberty Bell. So that evening we went out there and with another 1000 people (?) watched the speech. I don't care where you stand politically - it is a momentous occasion. I am proud to be part of a generation of people where this could happen. Thanks Joy - for being here and needing to see the speech - I'm glad I was there.

The family left on Friday, sadly. Carol and her husband live just outside of DC. I hope they will be visiting soon.

Friday evening was an adventure. Christopher and Yann moved my guillotine from my storage unit into my studio.
It looks so little and innocent. Nope. I can't believe they got it in. It is so darn heavy. Let's hope I like it there because I bet it's not moving. Ever. They also helped me hang the hemosote. It's really great to have such a big blank wall for pinning stuff to. I spent most of Saturday moving boxes back into the studio from the kitchen, the bathroom and the hallway. Setting up studio begins this week. :) I'm really excited now to get in there and do some work.

And finally: a better picture of Fred perking along: I tell ya, those people who send images into whatsthatbug.com must have FANTASTIC cameras because I'm have a dickens of a time getting a good shot. Humph.