 It's Sunday August 11th I think, yeah August 11th, 10 33 a.m. We're all upstairs surfing and stuff. I'm getting ready to take some more headphones apart and edit last week's vlog I think. I'm just having sort of a lazy lay-in. I need to do laundry but it'll still be there tomorrow maybe. I need to strip the two beds up here and wash the sheets and also the towels in the bathroom so that's a thing. Anyway that's all I'm up to today. What are you all up to today? All right I'll be back so excited. So since I moved in I've had this window above the sewing table that hasn't had a screen on it so I can't open the window because then bugs will come in and we're next to the forest and I don't know if you all remember if you watched the moving diaries but we had Steve my friendly neighborhood hobo spider who used to live outside this window. I don't know where he went to but he's not there anymore. Anyways so I couldn't open the window. Hobo spiders are kind of poisonous just FYI I'm allergic to Iraq named venom, fun fact. Anyways I'm so excited. Hubby got the screen on. He's the man today so now I can open the window I can get the fresh air in and a breeze. I have all three windows open right now. It's a nice temperature outside. There's a little bit of a breeze. Yay I love it. Made my day. All right I'll be back. Good morning everyone. It's Monday morning August 12. Look at this. I have no clue. Around 9 o'clock 9 30 somewhere in there. I'm getting a little bit of a later start getting upstairs this morning mostly because there's just nothing like being woken up a couple times between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. by smoke alarms beeping because they're running out of battery and not being able to figure out which one it is. Just you think you got it and then you go back to sleep just as soon as you get to sleep it beeps again and you realize it was the wrong one. So yeah that was our night last night. I know I mentioned I think I mentioned the smoke detectors in that earlier clip didn't I? The fact that we had one going off last night at the wee hours of the morning and it took us it going off three times before we figured out which one it was and replaced the batteries in the correct one and we got we got only got up twice but it went off three times. Anyway the other thing that happened last night as if that wasn't enough was we do live next to the woods. There's a county owned wooded area between us and the elementary school next to us I don't know 25 50 feet of woods it's pretty substantial. Anyway there's lots of wildlife in the woods deer snakes squirrels skunks coyotes so the skunks were an issue last night and I didn't see one in the backyard but I definitely smelled it somewhere close by because I had the window open had to close the window that was bad so yeah I didn't get much sleep last night. We're gonna head out. Good morning everybody it is Tuesday. I know it's 9 51 a.m because I can see the clock. I think it's August 13th. Anyway we're headed out to go run a couple of errands a couple hours later than I wanted to do this but I should say the other reason I got a late start this morning besides the all the phone calls was I was wrapped up in watching a couple episodes of Star Trek Enterprise with Scott Bakula from 2001. We have direct TV and we lost CBS I don't know a couple months ago now and we're not getting it back anytime soon from what I understand. Anyway so I got CBS all access because there are some shows I when I watch TV I either watch General Hospital which is on UBC or I watch a couple of CBS shows it's not common but then I found out CBS all access had a whole bunch of Star Trek series including the old original and I'm a huge Star Trek fan what is your favorite original series Star Trek episode for me is the classic Trouble with Troubles anyway all right that's it for the moment let's go get our errands. Hey guys it's still Tuesday I'm in the office I now know it actually is August 13th for sure oh yeah yeah anyway I put a little makeup on why because I just felt like it it's just been a strange day I don't know what to tell you sitting here up here in the office I'm writing today's thoughts way later than normal because it's almost one o'clock while I'm doing that I'm watching Star Trek Enterprise from 2001 I think 2001 where Scott Bakula is the captain of the enterprise the original enterprise before Captain Pike anyway I'm a big Star Trek fan I already said that already didn't I I'm going to be taking another electronic thing apart and I'll film some of it for you guys on the vlog here but I have an old flip phone is it a Motorola uh no it's an LG an old LG flip cell phone this was my mother-in-law's phone we got her a cell phone years back and she had this old flip phone until not long ago my brother-in-law got her a more modern phone and so she gave us this one back and I'm going to take it apart which I've taken cell phones apart before so I'm going to do that I don't know that I've taken a flip phone apart before so that'll be different but there's some fun things in there and if you can get the screen out whole the screen I have another one from another phone I haven't made any art with it yet but I mean it's just like a little mirror right so anyway it's a fun piece of glass it'll be fun on a piece of art someday and I'll add it to my drawer of technology parts anyway I'm going to finish today's thoughts I still have to write creative wanderings I haven't made a paper clip yet but it's just you know I'm having a lazy slow take my time day nothing wrong with that right all right I'll be back I need to write the check to the recipient for the charity auction I did finally find my checkbook only to discover that the checks have two different old addresses on them and also one old bank so back when the economy went bust when was that 2008 maybe anyway my little bank got bought out by went bust and got bought out by us bank and us bank said just keep using those old checks until you run out my promise I never ran out I still have some of them and then I later on got some checks with from us bank printed with my current more current stuff on them and then those have the old address so yeah there's a bunch of stuff here in the checkbook I don't even know what's all in here there's we have our envelope going out to the family in need with the check inside a set of the charity stencils as a gift and of course a note and so that'll be going out tomorrow I got another CD from the library that I was listening to and trying out which I like so I'm gonna return that one tomorrow pick up something else I have on hold and then I have this so I painted a scrap piece of cheap watercolor paper with some acrylic paints and then over the top of it I put black paint mixed with three different kinds of waxes or wax mediums so I have deco arts cream wax and clear mixed with black paint doorlands wax medium and power text power wax now deco art cream wax is supposed to be something that you use as a finish coat over chalk paint doorlands wax medium is intended for use in an caustic applications and with oil paint power text is supposed to be something similar to doorlands doorlands wax medium or an oil paints wax medium only with power text supposedly you can use it with acrylic paint so I've mixed all of them with some black paint I've smeared them on the paper put some texture into them to see which one will hold which one will give me a kind of a finish that I'm going to like which one's hopefully not going to crack how long they're going to take to dry I want to try using some wax medium with some paint in a canvas that I have a sting on the easel that I want to get back to work on and but first I need to do some test patches because I need to know what I'm getting myself into so we're gonna just let that dry today is Wednesday the 14th and so I'm going to make a notation of the day and date and time and then I'm going to just sit it on the shelf and we'll let it dry and we'll see how long it takes how many days it takes to dry I don't know all right I'll be back watching this clip you saw the clip where I started painting on that canvas again and I do like where it's going I finally was inspired to get some painting done on it but I'm talking to my husband about dinner while I'm chatting with y'all okay he's good with my plan for dinner while I was cleaning up I broke one of my square glass water containers damn it so I have two on the easel table the painting table and I only have one on the work table I do have two sets I know I'm spoiled a little bit but I'm looking to see if I have something else I can use so cross your face try a plastic milk carton yeah let's try some these they're not recyclable and it's a paint in the butt to go get the glass ones because they only sell them at one store around here and it's like teeny tiny so I have to buy like three of them just to make it through how much coffee we drink it's just I know I know anyways uh if this fits in its square it'll fit inside there and I'd rather it's probably better if I make do with this even though it's not as cute um rather than buy something new that I don't really need to spend the money on so that I can't but just because you can doesn't mean you should and I have a lot of these all right let's see perfect fit I just need to cut the top off so you know what milk cartons and they're not breakable I love that since my middle name is not grace like it was meant to be in there you know what is with me today I walked by the table and knocked a whole bunch of pencils over now holy cow I went to go pick them up to put them back and knocked them over again it made a bigger mess because you know I think it's time to quit up here now for today but I better empty the garbage cans before I go downstairs permanently and start working on dinner because all of them are full and one of them's full glass so that's a thing all right I'll be back is Thursday morning August 15 maybe I think it's the 15th it's 8 59 a.m according to the car clock if that's accurate um we are headed out to mail the charity check um to the family in need and because I'll be right across the street from it I'm going to pop in a safe way really quick I doubt they're going to have another one of those square vases that I broke yesterday but we'll see in the meantime I got plenty of milk cartons as I said already so they'll work just fine in fact and so here I am talking to the phone again and you know camera's not on so we're going to go over to safe way now the check is on the way this the um social media obligation for said check is done I did it while I was here in the parking lot um they should have the check the family in need should have the check on Monday so so um one of my fears maybe unreasonable one is that they'll be insulted by the check and I hope that's not the case because that wasn't that definitely not our intention and we just want to help even if it's to get them a nice dinner out or whatever it's not I don't think it's enough to put a dent in any medical bills but you never know I guess get excited hello you should know better by now I've been up in the art room all day painting which is why I didn't vlog I've been working on the painting that's behind me there you can see it I didn't think I'd actually get it done today but I think it's finished and I'm pretty pleased with it so I'm gonna leave it I'm pretty pleased with it my husband said where are you gonna hang it I said I don't know I might keep it it might be for sale I don't know if you're right if you're interested message me anyway I am pretty pleased with it and this is a big house there's plenty of wall space but anyway I'm gonna leave it sit there to dry for a little bit I um follow a bunch of different people on Facebook and social media and one of my friends and art teacher Pauline Agnew um was um talking about a book um on oil painting and oil painting mediums which I actually ordered not that I paint in oil I don't want to paint in acrylic but I thought the information on it might be interesting and might um it seems like a lot of it would at least in theory transfer the techniques would transfer to acrylic you're gonna have to I gotta I gotta do this you're gonna have to um switch up um your processes a little bit because acrylic is not oil paint but anyway there's some good techniques in the book I'll put the link for the book in the description below anyway one of them big focuses of the book is working with cold wax which you generally can't use with um acrylic it adds a lot of texture and transparency to the pigments and um a certain sheen but there is one kind of cold wax that you can add to acrylic paint so I've been playing with that and I'm playing with it on the canvas I gotta tell you I think I might be hooked I did do my experiment which you saw with the Dorland's um and DecoArt and then the one that I found um by um PowerTex they're actually still not dry yet I did the experiment on the four teeth and the flat parts are dry but they're really high textured parts they're still wet um on both the Dorland's and the PowerTex so it takes a long time to dry which I kind of expected so I'm gonna keep you all posted in the vlog and let you know how long exactly it did take to dry and or social media but I'm having a lot of fun um playing with paint and getting back to doing some painting so yay all right that's it for the moment we have a Friday quiet Friday evening um the kids aren't coming over until Sunday I think we're gonna go out for an early dinner and go stop and check the PO box since I forgot to do it yesterday I was there mailing sending off mail and anyway um and there is some boxes coming into that address so yeah that's a thing all right that's it for the moment I am going to clean up and I still have to make my paper clip so I'm gonna do that and I'll be back so I reset the easel with another blank canvas on it so I'm ready to go there I moved the one that's drying back here into different lighting let's see if we can get a good look there we go at soup there we go at some point when I'm painting I put the reference photo away and I add what I think it needs the composition needs because I'm not trying to copy the photograph I'm just inspired by the photograph so you know this is a inspirational photo uh painting of that photo so yep I added some purple some red some yellow and that yeah I really did a lot of good things for the painting plus I don't know if you can see on camera how textured the painting is because I added that wax to the acrylic paint Pauline that's all your fault I'm a big fan now holy cow anyway so I can't wait to do it again but this one's gotta dry and then I need to sign it um sometimes I sign the front sometimes I sign the back um and it's not because I'm ashamed to sign the front I just feel like sometimes my signature interferes with the composition of the painting so there you go so on this one I might sign the back um I don't know if still if I'm gonna hang it up or if it's gonna be for sale I don't know but if you're interested message me um we are gonna go out to dinner and go check the PO box and yeah I'll be back all right so that was Casa Colima Colima C-O-L Colima Colima um cute little mom and pop Mexican restaurant every time we drive by they're parking lots full now that we've eaten there I know why really good food good service and holy cow if you're coming here it's in Tualatin in Oregon there's also one in Portland and one in Vancouver I'll put their website below if you're going for god's sake order the deep fried cheesecake I know it sounds weird but holy cow just trust me crunch on the outside yeah crunchy on the outside cold in the middle with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar wow we need to go walking tonight now all right I'll be back afternoon it's Saturday August 17th anyway I'm just getting out of the library we've been to the grocery store we've been to Costco we're gonna go home and unload and then we have to go to the hardware store so fun times all right I'll be back I'm gonna go back out again after lunch we've got to go to the hardware store I was sort of hoping he'd go without me but I'm going with him it's Saturday evening what time is it I don't even know 5 53 p.m. dinner time we got to cook dinner it has been a crazy insane Saturday holy cow so I just now got a paper clip done and I got start of a new canvas done I'll insert some pictures here of the new canvas I'm working on that I started really like where it's going already I'm already looking at it going how many more marks do I want to put on that because I kind of like where it is right now but I'm sure I'll do more a pile of dirty things I need now I need to clean up but yeah it's been an insane day we spent the afternoon doing some electrical around the house putting up a new security camera and I should be able to get some footage of the deer and other creatures that are coming we did get some footage last night of two raccoons climbing over the fence by my front door which is pretty funny pretty sure they're raccoons anyway two raccoons evidently that's what's been digging at my front and probably the backyard so yeah all right uh yeah chatting with neighbors running errands it's just it's been crazy a crazy day but we got it all done I think and tomorrow we can just sit and relax I wasn't sure if I was going to get the paper clip done today or the canvas started today but I did I do have an Etsy order that just came in so I'm going to have to at least pull that and print the packing slip before I go downstairs and shut everything off up here and clean up it's been a nutty week and next week's not shaping up to be any calmer so uh yeah anyway I hope you've had a great week I have it's been a fun week I got a canvas done whereas it's behind me there it is you see a peek of it over my shoulder um and I started a new one that's always a good week right uh next week is going to be great I think it's going to be busy but good and I hope it is for you too um I will leave any relevant links in the in the description below if you have any questions comments or concerns please leave them here on the video if you check out the video description um relevant links will be there my happy mail address is down there there's a link that says link tree and then my name if you click on it you're going to get all the different places a list of all the different places on the internet you can find me my website my amazon affiliate store um my Etsy shop the places to follow me on social media all that stuff is all on there um if you can and you would I would appreciate you supporting the free content here on youtube by checking out some of those affiliate links maybe join patreon go shop in my Etsy store whatever works in your budget um that's it for this week I hope you all have had a good one don't forget to go out and have a great day like share and subscribe and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it I'll see you later bye guys