Where Did August Go?

That's the question I've been asking myself. It's kind of scary when a whole month just zips right on by.

And it was amazing that some of you actually missed my blog and even contacted me to see if everything was OK. Thanks. It was nice to know that I actually have fans!

Well, everything has been OK ~ just busy. And those evil cyber fairies didn't help matters either.

First of all, I started the renovation work on my studio. It's going VERY slow because I have never done anything like that before. The only kind of painting I've done was on canvas, paper, and mail boxes.

What's this having to prepare a surface for painting?

And how do you repair holes and other damage in the walls?

It's all been quite the learning experience.

Not only did I learn that primer sticks to the substrate and paint sticks to the primer, I also learned that if you're painting in a dark color your primer needs to be dark as well.

So before my back wall and the two side wall sections became a deep rich periwinkle, they were primed a battleship grey, which did not look all too bad.

There is still a lot more work to be done. But I have to content myself to doing a little bit at a time.

And I am kind of procrastinating on the next step, which is to install and paint wall shelves. Somehow, that task seems a bit daunting right now.

Home improvements aside, I also had to deal with technology issues. This is where those evil cyber fairies come in.

First of all, I had no Internet for a couple of weeks due to the cables and router being fried out from a lightning strike. While we have a lightning arrestor system on our electrical service, it doesn't apply to the broadband cable.

So we got hit with a triple whammy ~ no TV (which isn't all that bad), no phone (that's bad), and no Internet (even worse).

And because we live in an area that has very poor cell phone service, using cell phones were not an option, especially when having to deal with those lengthy voice menu mazes when calling for service or repair.

OK, we got that out of the way. And we were good to go.

But shortly after getting reconnected and back on-line, my monitor crapped the bed. But then, what could I expect? It was a dinosaur, being 6 years old.

So, I had to get a new monitor. And while I was at it, I wound up getting a new computer and printer because the old ones, too, were 6 years old and showing it. Besides, I was going to up-date my system to 2 gigs anyhow.

The evil cyber fairies have been exorcised, and we're now free and clear.

However, it already was the end of August, and I had to prepare for my up-coming trip to Arizona for a 3-day intensive CorelDRAW Boot Camp, along with 4 extra days thrown in as a much-needed vacation.

But that's a whole new blog ~ actually series of blogs ~ in itself.