 it's just after 11 o'clock on Sunday, December 11th, I think. I think, hold on, let me check. I have to catch up on drawings because we spent so much time Christmas shopping yesterday, literally from the time that we finished our coffee in the morning until dinner time. By the time we got home I was exhausted, so I didn't do yesterday's drawings. I've got to do today's drawings and I never posted Fridays for whatever reason. So I'm going to catch up on all of that first. Then, you see that, yeah, I've got a wrap Christmas presents today. And I have laundry and dishes going, so chores. Yeah, I'll be back. Good morning, but it's 15 minutes after 12. I don't know. It's Monday, December, I think 12, I think. I have been up for a bit and I am starting the day off by posting to Patreon, which I did, and giving them their Christmas gift a bit early. And then painting some Christmas gifts. I have one down, one to go. Then I have to do this week's social media posts and there's always chores to do. And I have to run one more set of errands this week before we do family Christmas celebrations on Saturday a little bit early. But that doesn't have to be today, but I will work on the list today. I also today want to try to finish up the lips journal. I didn't quite get that done yesterday, but maybe I can get it done today, maybe? I don't know. And then I have another watercolor journal I need to work on that I'm out. Because you know, it's the holidays and it's just crazy busy anyway. I've got the two Christmas painting pictures just done. I think I took them both downstairs. I got Lily's squirrel toy fixed. He had to have a leg amputation because she like chewed it off. I think I said yesterday was the 13th. It was actually Monday the 12th. Today is Tuesday, December 13th. It's already 1 32 p.m. I know. But after sleeping in a little bit, which I think I needed Bob and I are still coughing. We're not sick or contagious, but we just, if you all have had this, you know, the cough just does not want to go away. Like, oh my God. Anyway, I got the rest of my journal page filming commitments for the year done. Filmed and in the can. So I need to edit them, but not doesn't have to be done today. I also have taken some feathers and I have glued some twill tape to either side of the spine because I'm going to make another DIY watercolor paintbrush. I use this one for texture. I made this one before and I want to make another one or two. So I took a few feathers and some of the twill tape and it's e 6000 to the feather hairs and I'm so distracted. And it just needs to dry overnight and then we can cut it apart and make a paintbrush out of it. If you want, I'll film that. I'll put it here in the vlog. And it's 1009 a.m. December 14th and I've been trying to get out of the driveway for quite a few minutes now, but the little ones from next door keep stopping and wanting to talk. It's very cute. Anyway, 50 a.m. going to make some bone broth. Yes, my hair is still wet. So say like a lot of other people in the world right now who have this coughing cold flu thing. It's been almost three weeks. We're still coughing Bob especially. He got it a much worse than I did. And he got up a couple times last night to take medicine because he just it was that bad, which meant that means that we're both tired this morning. Anyway, which is not helping things. Obviously, the thing is off my head. Hair's mostly dry. Lunch has been consumed. All the video has been edited and is loading through the end of the year. So I don't have to do any editing until New Year's. It's done. I remembered about halfway through working on getting this done that I have a skin tones palette. And this journal is one of the reasons I made said palette. And so anyway, I started using that for how much of a joy this is to use. Some of the colors are purchased. Some of them are custom mixed by me, but I love it. Anyway, it's done. It's done. It's done. Yay. So I'm going to let it completely dry. And then it's going to go in the box with 2022 journals. And we're going to call it good and call it finished. Yay. All right, on to the next thing. Just before 10 a.m. December 16th, pretty sure. Pretty kind of got a lot done today. Some chores, wiping down things. Hazel, our robot vacuum is cleaning the floors downstairs. And I already did the bathrooms. We're having early Christmas tomorrow. So I want the house to be clean. It's just about lunchtime. And I even got the January daily sketch journals done. Didn't expect to get that done today, but I'm good with it. So I'm going to go downstairs and make lunch. I'm doing pretty good today. I still think there's something else I wanted to do, but I don't know what it is. I posted the Christmas Happy New Year gifts to the patrons. Got presents wrapped. Got the driver event. I told you all this. I got all my chores done, so I don't know what it is. Okay. DIY plane air easel setup. So this is just a very cheap, less than $20 tripod from Best Buy. It would be more stable. I'm sure if you had a heavier duty tripod, but this is fine. I took one of my large drawing boards and I attached these brackets. I don't remember what these are called. They are for using with tripods, but I'll put the name like right here and the link. I got them on Amazon and then these bars, which go with it. You have to buy them separately. So I attached two to the back of the clipboard for stability. The person I originally saw do this, which might have been James Gurney, but I don't remember, used only one. I put two. I did put some pieces of wood back here to just give it a little bit extra strength and thickness. And then this one that's in the middle has the quick release mount for the tripod attached to it. And you just put this one here, art journal, one end under the clipboard part, one end under the rubber band. There are screw heads on the front side of the clipboard, but I always use a journal, so the screw heads aren't going to bother me at all because they're under the cover. Okay. And then my pen holder pouch, the color chart that goes with the watercolor box. I just put it right there or something. I do have an extra clip. I might put it up here. This has my brushes and stuff in it, but it also has these in it. Okay. So I'm going to take this up here and I'm going to take, if I was really outside painting, I would put all my leftovers in my bag. I'm going to use the S hook into the bottom of the tripod and hang the bag from the hook and probably clip it just for security. And then, yeah, I like that. And it's decently stable and that's enough for me to sketch and paint on and way less expensive than a proper plain air easel because they are really pricey. Anyway, what do you think? I'll give you a close-up look. It's Saturday morning, December 17th, 1041 a.m. We are going to be having Christmas, dinner, Christmas celebrations and dinner here with all of the kids before they go off to their respective in-laws and other houses. My dad's also coming down, yay. So I think we're ready for that. I almost forgot to water the plants, which I remembered as I was turning on the camera. And I should probably put some makeup on or something, do something with this. Okay, you guys. My hair's a disaster. My makeup's a little bit smeared. I'm totally stuffed. And I think every single dish in the house is dirty, but we had a great Christmas with the family. All the kids were here. We exchanged gifts. We ate way too much probably. I sent everybody home with leftovers. And yeah, it was really good. Now we just need to clean up the mess, but we can do that. I'll be back. 1030 a.m. on Sunday, December 18th. And we need to go to the hardware store to check up on Bob's flooring for his office, but the kids' mailbox got run into. And so we need to go help with the mailbox. So they're going to meet us at the hardware store. And it sounds like they need a new post and new mailbox and all of that stuff. So we're going to try to help them with that today. Yeah. And it's of course raining. And so yeah, it's going to be a fun day. Anyway. Get one of those big mailboxes. It has like a bunch of spots in it. Morning. It is 222 p.m. Monday, December 19th. We've been doing chores all morning and cleaning up from the Christmas celebration with the kids on Saturday, putting stuff away. I got mood boards for the next like four months or six months. I don't know how many we all got done today to force. I think six months between myself, Bea and Mike. So those are all done and shared. I got two more presents for Bob wrapped that actually came in more coming. He has to, where's my chair? He has to get his wrapped for me. And on that note, he is out trying to find me some stocking stuffers, which he hasn't done yet. So yeah. It's so funny. I have two little gifts I wrapped for him quite a while ago and they've been under the tree. I don't remember what's in them. Good morning, everybody. It is Tuesday morning, December 20th. Yes. Wow. Okay. So we are starting off the morning after having coffee and breakfast with a walk. Mr. Bob is off of work for two weeks. So it's a little bit damp and drizzly, but that's okay. We're going to go get some steps in before we do anything else today. What else are we doing today? I have no idea, but we'll find out. I'll be back. I just dropped off a bunch of Amazon returns at the UPS store. Things that they either keep sending me that are wrong. Party decorations that didn't come in time for the Christmas celebration of the kids. So I don't need to hang on to them till next year. They need to go back. Anyway, it is raining. Bouncy rain. It's bouncing off the hood of the car. That's interesting. Anyway, it's 46 degrees outside. So it's not super cold, but it feels a lot colder than that. We're supposed to have some sort of Arctic storm front thing coming in. City of Tigard not only has Christmas tree downtown. We also have our menorah, which got lit this last weekend. Very cool. I should. Focus. There we go. Happy Hanukkah. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Whenever you celebrate, have a happy one. All right, we're going to go now. I spent way too much money on watercolor books. We'll talk about that when we were at Goodwill. There was evidently somebody who I'd like to think just cleared out his art library and his art room, but I have a feeling he probably passed away and his kids donated all of his stuff that they didn't want to keep because there were stretcher bars and paint palettes and a whole library of watercolor books. And I bought six of them, I think. Five or six. I lost track. Five or six. Probably too many books. I have enough watercolor reading material now for the next year probably. Probably like five bucks a book. Yeah, I did. Bob made a side comment slash joke that, you know, he was just glad I didn't buy the entire library because, you know, it's watercolor books and it's somebody's collection and oh, they should be loved and I should take them all home, but no, I shouldn't. First of all, I've read, I had already read a lot of them, but there were a few that were subjects that I think I could be interested in and or that could help me. So I bought those. I'll share the titles with you all later. But anyway, Bob found a couple of things. Also, now we're going to head home and have dinner. Here's our little Goodwill Hell. So Mr. Bob found some brand new cylinder package thermals on some thermal socks. He is freezing cold all the time. So those were much needed. They were a great price. I found this box for $3.99, this wooden box. It happens to open flat. Right now I'm into making sort of plain air kits and travel watercolor kits. This might make a cute one to figure out exactly what I'm going to do with it, but the fact that it opens flat and it's wood is a good starting point to suck my eye. These are the books I found. First impressions, sketching nature in watercolor. The watercolorist guide to painting trees. The watercolor handbook. Fill your watercolors with light and color. And not and. I did get six. The watercolor painter's problem book and painting with light. I could have bought so many more, but these were the ones that spoke to me. So anyway. Hey guys, I would say good morning, but it's 222 p.m. I don't know. It is Thursday, December 22nd. Despite the temperature, the birds are out eating. Mr. Bob left them some food. And or they're looking for someplace warm, I think. It is all of 23 degrees outside and it's not going to get much warmer than that today. We have that chance of snow this afternoon and tonight. So we'll see what happens. Mr. Bob's upstairs wrapping Christmas presents. I have been working on my DIY push-out box. And what I can say is that this isn't buying a couple pieces of hardware. I am really glad that I saved little scraps of wood and bits of wood because I keep finding parts that I want to improve, alter, strengthen. Thinking I need to go buy wood. I don't need to go buy wood. I just look at my drawers in my small bits bank. I got what I need. I might need wood screws, but there's a lot of birds outside. Anyway, it's like we've got the whole flock here. Anyway, I'll be back. Good morning everybody. So it is Friday morning, December 23rd. It's about 10 a.m. I don't know exactly what time it is. I woke up to this. Yeah, I know my eyes are dry and like scratchy. We also woke up to this what you can see behind us. I know, right? So we've strapped on our cleats and we're going to go walking. I've got to get the mail. Yeah, we're not driving anywhere today. Good morning everybody. It is Saturday morning, December 24th Christmas Eve. I kept hearing that noise. I was like, what is that? Mr. Bob is out there scraping the snow off of the driveway. It is supposed to get warm enough today to melt, but I guess he can't wait. Anyway, moving the shoes out of the sink because they were wet. These are winter shoes with their cleats. And I need to water the house plants, working on laundry, you know, normal non-fighting stuff that we have to do on the daily. Hey guys, it's just after 5.30 in the evening on Saturday Christmas Eve, December 24th. We're actually going to go do the old people thing and go get dinner out because it's just the two of us. It's finally not icy. It's slushy and wet and still like kind of looking like that. But it's not icy. We haven't been able to leave the house in two days because the roads were way too icy and slippery. Now it's just slushy and wet and a mess. But we're going to go do the old people thing and go get some food out. Try a new restaurant actually. Tomorrow we're trying a new recipe because you know, anyway. That's how we roll. That's how we roll, yep. Merry Christmas everybody. It is Sunday morning, December 25th, just after 11 o'clock. We are going to go for a walk because we need the exercise and we plan on doing a lot of eating today. Eating, drinking. Yeah, those things. Not you, me. Yeah, I don't drink, but yeah. So we're going to go get some steps first because yeah. And as you can see behind me, there's still a little bit of ice around. Most of it's melted, but most of it's less. Yeah, so that means it's slippery though. So I'm going to be careful. But yeah, we're going to go see what we can see. Enjoy the crisp morning air. It has been a really great start so far to Christmas day. And yeah, let's go see what we can see. I'll be back. Hey guys, it is 11 o'clock on December 26th. Oh yeah, day after Christmas. And we woke up to some messages from some of the kids. Well, all the kids Becca and Polly is our birth daughter. They were in California visiting his family. They're on their way back today. Jenny and Brian adopted daughter and her husband are sick. So we're making a grocery store run and bringing them some medications of COVID tests. We don't know what it is that they have. Could be the coughing cold flu thing that we all had. But we'll see. And then we need to run a few errands. So, Merry Christmas. All right, we'll be back. It is 1145 a.m. Tuesday, December 27th. And laundry going as you can hear. I rearranged some things in the game room slash library here. I think we have a lot of puzzles. Yeah, anyway. Okay, you guys, we just picked up from the PO box. I'm a little bit more than a little bit startled. We got a huge box from the marker people. And they contacted me before Christmas and said they wanted to send me some things to try on my channel. I said, sure, I can do that. I had a good experience in the last marker people. And I went to their channel and gave them some recommendations on what some things of theirs I'd like to play with. Did they send me that or something else? I have no idea. So I guess when we get home, we're doing an unboxing because, yeah, it's a big box, you guys. All right, we've got errands to run. So we'll be back. Okay, you guys, I'm going to prop you up right there. So this is the ginormous box from Ohuhu. That we got. They contacted me a while ago and wanted it up. They could send me some stuff. And I said, sure. They said if I didn't, you know, give them some preferences from the website that they would just send me some alcohol markers. And I said, well, I don't use alcohol markers too much. But these are the other things from your site that I'd be interested in trying. I expected them to pick one. I didn't expect a box. It's big. I don't know what's in here. Let's see. Whatever is in here, you can look forward to some videos online, channel, playing with said items. They are pretty good company making markers and things. Markers, skin tones. I think they sent me their entire collection of markers. Art markers, basic tones. You guys, art markers, illustration tones. You didn't think that was it, did you? Art markers, landscape tones. Holy, God. Yeah, Bob is just off camera. He's avoiding the phone right now. Holy moly. So much cardboard. And I think these came from China. I don't know. Yep, that's exactly what they did. Wow. And these are double-ended. Oh, my goodness. In a fancy case. I think this is a blender pen. All right, let's get them all open and see what they look like. Okay, so Mr. Bob is going to play cameraman, but this is a lot of markers, you guys. Point it down just a little. There we go. So each one came with a blending pen. Yeah, they are alcohol markers, so if you're not sure, sniff it. It just smells like rubbing alcohol. So each set came with its own blending pen with a swatch sheet and instruction book. And I think my favorite thing isn't the pen. It came with this, which is very foldable or rollable. I can see me using this a lot. So if you art journal or draw on thin paper, and you are like me and you stick something in there so that your pens don't bleed through because the paper bleeds through, that's what this is for. It's for putting in, I love that. Usually I use a piece of hard plastic. That's cool. I have four of them now. So look for some videos coming up where we swatch all the different sets and we, I guess I'm going to start using alcohol markers because now I've got all these. So yeah, anyway, thank you. I'll start playing as soon as possible. We'll be back. Hey guys, it is 427 p.m. on Wednesday, December 28th. I haven't vlogged until just now because it's been a wild, crazy day. We have a little bit of an issue with a window that was put in last year. A little bit of a water leak. Uh-oh. Anyway, a contractor's aware of it. He came by very early this morning and he's going to make some phone calls. It looks like a defect in the window actually. So I'm going to see what we can do to get that taken care of. In the meantime, we're doing what we can to mitigate any more water leaking through the window. Thankfully we have tile floors. So yeah. Anyway, then our friend and housekeeper, Letty came by today. She's got the house all clean and spick and span. It'll probably only take us five minutes to mess it up. But you know, it's all clean. I got some more paintings done for my future grandson's bedroom. Hopefully the daughter and son-in-law like them. But those are ready to go. I had a nice long conversation with my friend Leslie McGrath. She's finally feeling better. She hasn't been feeling good. So yay, that was great. And I got some recipe stuff reorganized in the kitchen because my old recipe binder was literally falling apart. So that's done too. Now we're going to go get some steps in. And then probably at some point today we should take a shower. I know that's TMI, but yeah. Anyway. All right, let's go get some steps in. It looks like it's going to pour rainy again. So we're going to do all we can and I'll be back. Hey everybody. So it's 10, 20, Thursday, December 29th. And it's already been interesting. So the internet was out for a bit. It seems to be back on again, but there's some issue there. I don't know if I said or not, but we have a manufacturer issue with our new sliding glass door and transom window, which went in last year. There's a leak up here between the window and the door. And it's not an install issue. It's a manufacturer issue. So the contractor was by yesterday. He'll be in contact with Millgaard in the meantime. We have our awning out just enough to keep it dry. It seems to be working and it'll stay there unless the winds get really high. It's on a sensor, so it'll roll itself up if we get high winds, which means we'll have to get out there with some tape and plastic or something. Anyway, I'm going to go run some errands, which is why I've got my coat on. Bob, I think, is going to stay here and keep working on his office. And, yes, that squeak is my robotics. Anyway, otherwise, I think it's going to be a little bit of a quieter day than yesterday, which I can't say I'm not looking forward to. But anyway, all right, let's go get it. It's about 1.30 on Friday, December 30th, tomorrow's New Year's Eve. And to that end, I've been gathering 2022 paperwork so I can close the art business and YouTube channel out for the year after New Year's next week and clearing out most physical merchandise from the Etsy shop and donating it to a local art therapist. Because that's just not where I'm headed for the next year. I don't believe it's not worth my time or effort. It's not paying off the way I would like it to, and so I'm done. I'm going to focus more on art phonies and Patreon and creating custom artwork for people, of which I do still have some for sale, so hit me up. Anyway, Bob's been painting his accent while on his office and moving more things around, getting ready for the flooring, which is the week from today. Yeah, it's just been busy. Tomorrow morning I've got to donate all the art supplies I took inventory of this morning and get that done. And I don't think we're doing anything else for the day. It is New Year's Eve, but all the kids have gone their separate ways and are spending it with their partners, which is cool. Of course, one set of kids is doing that because they're both sick, but you know... Oh well. Morning, everybody. It is 10.21 a.m. Saturday, December 31st, New Year's Eve. We are out and about letting go of the old and hopefully bringing in the new. Anyway, we donated some art supplies to a local art therapist, gave a few things to the little ones next door, just donated a few things to the local thrift shop. We have to stop at the hardware store. It is kind of funny. I just was thinking to myself, Bob was off for two weeks and we've spent the entire two weeks running errands. Doing chores. I don't know what that says. There's always something to do with it. Yeah, anyway. Hey guys, fun fact. It's January 1st, 2023. Oops. Anyway, it's been a great year in some respects. It's been a wild ride and adventure, but it's been a good one. We're still here standing and creating, so it's all good. Anyway, I hope you've had a good New Year's Eve. I have a lot of editing to do now, but that's for next week's vlog. Don't forget to check out the video description for relevant links, ways to support the free content on my channel, get free downloads and stuff from me, and have regular conversations with me on the daily by becoming a patron over on Patreon. That's the husband trying to sneak around you all. Anyway, leave any questions, comments, or concerns down below. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. And above all, go do something nice for yourself because you deserve it. I'll see you next week. Bye, guys.