Okay...now the damage

The plumber came to our house the other day to assess our water heater problems. I was hoping that it was just the elements that needed replacing but nope...the entire thing is shot! I now have to get a new one which won't go in until Monday at the very earliest. That means we have been without hot water for nearly a week now, I am really beginning to miss turning on the faucet and out comes steaming, hot water. The other day, I wanted so badly to take a bath that I heated up pot after pot on the stove and dumped them into the tub. It took nearly a hour before my bath was ready but ohhh was it so worth it! I sunk down into the foamy water as far as I could tolerate without getting my trach wet and just basked in the warm, lavender scented suds until I turned into a prune. It was heavenly! Today I skipped all of the arduous work of bringing bucket after bucket to fill the bathtub and went to my sister's for a long, hot shower. I needed one too, I had been painting all day and had the entire rainbow of acrylic paints on every part of me. How I managed to get violet paint over my eyebrow is beyond me!

With the mystery of the water heater solved, I then turned to my van. My uncle came over with a brand new battery, figuring that perhaps mine was simply too old to hold a charge. He put it in and started it up. Within moments, the sucker was revving up to a ridiculous RPM, I thought that the engine was going to explode! The gas pedal was stuck, he fixed that but it still was acting up...my first thought was that it was possessed by Satan himself as there was no rhyme nor reason as to why this should be happening. My uncle is a very seasoned mechanic and had never seen anything like this happen, but then again, he doesn't usually deal with handicap rigged vans with all of the electrical systems that usually comes with them. He removed the dashboard to see if he could even try to identify the faulty wire but instead found a zillion intertwining wires leading to every which way. He graciously bowed out and declared that he could do no more and that I had to take the van to a place where they specialize in the wiring of these accessories. Fair enough...he has already done so much for us lately regarding our vehicles.

He then turned to my mom's mini van to see what was going on with hers. Apparently her problem was much easier to identify than mine. The gasket on the water pump is shot and needs replacing. That explained why every drop of fluid in her raidiator as well as what was in her reservoir, promptly spewed onto the ground. So, now that has to go to the garage to be fixed...My mother and I also pointed out that the thing still bucks, if it were a living being, it would be considered spasing out. My uncle played with the carboratuer, disconnecting this and that hose, seeing if that would help but alas, no such luck. I hope he figures out what is causing the mysterious bucking.

With all that has happened the last few days, I have been painting to "escape" this world temporarily. No matter what happens in my day, painting seems to make it better. I usually set up shop in the back yard on my picnic table. I bring all of my paints, brushes, boards etc...along with my vent and of course, my dog Haley. She gets very upset if I leave her behind and will cry until I bring her out with me so that she can enjoy the day as well. I bring her favorite red blanket, her food and water so that she has all of the comforts of the indoors at the tabel. She is small enough to sleep on the table and that is just what she does!

On a final note, my kids have been enjoying school so far. My daughter absolutely loves her chemistry class as well as her math. She loves using both math and science together, I told her that she would absolutely love Physics when she takes that next semester for that reason. She will definitely apply the two of them in that class. My son is still getting his feet wet as far as his coursework goes. He is a freshman this year with many new changes. I pray that the transition goes well for him and that everything clicks.

I guess that's it for me my friends...here are a few new pics that I painted that I will share: The first one is a seascape that I haven't finished yet...there are a few things that I have to fix on it but it is getting there! I will post the finished piece when I finish it.



This one was done right after I got my stash of paints in the mail. I just wanted to try them out. I love them, I used Liquitex medium body as well as heavy body and love the way the paint flows. One thing that is true with acrylics, they dry fast so you have to be very creative when working with them. There are ways to slow down the drying so that you can blend them. The palate has to be kept moist...there is a neat way to do this, I will show you next time, so that the paints don't dry up on you too quickly.







This one is mostly watercolors with some acrylic higlights. As you probably guessed, I love landscapes!

I also touched up others that I had done, the one of my dog for one, it has more color in it now. I promise to share more when I have finished them. Until next time my friends,peace and hugs...Jenn :)