winter returns on leap year day

Today we awoke to a full cover of snow and -10!, last night after Sheldon came in from his partial oil change (seems the filter he had was wrong) the wind began to howl and the fog rolled in making for a miserable night. But come morning the wind was gone leaving a cover of white fluffy snow.

This changed today's plan to pay the stall matting. Instead I did marketing while Sheldon put the scope on his new gun and organized his "collection".

I had a customer confirm and send an EMT for the jumbo chalkboard, now just to meet up with him.

After I made him a couple gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches he was off to town to swap out the renters.I got techy and added a Creative Moments Instagram account, and updated the blog icons, FB icons, Pinterest account details and IG accounts with this and other info with hopes to improve exposure. It seems many fellow painters are feeling the recession pinch and tough go of staying visible to customers.

He was back not long later and picked up a new end table too, thanks! He then ventured out after a celebration beer to sight in his new gun while I went out and sanded & primed the 2 windows and marked the ruler for painting. He rolled out another oat bale too. The sun finally popped out to start melting the snow and actually reached plus 2. (sorry the Hat was only -8 snowbirds)

After supper, Sheldon was off to watch hockey in the TV room taking a break to layout the bison hide and salt again while I continued to repost Kijiji ads and market photos via Instagram.

first new polocrosse club practice

Last night I made a collage of ALL the projects I did with just one quart of the parchment colored paint, crazy when I started adding up how many. There is even one ruler painted in it but not finished or shown. How crazy is that? I even wrote a blog post on it ;)

empty can =

Sunday was a bit cooler then I hoped but at least we awoke to sun. Sheldon and I were originally to be off early to cross iron to pick up stall mats but the dude called last night with truck trouble. This allowed a nice sleep in till 9:45, yeay! The wagon blog went live this am.

horses still on guard of the bison hide on the hitching post

Big new club day as first indoor practice so preparations are underway. Shaina arrived before 11 so she could help get her oil changed before said practice. This is a big feat for this gal, proud she made it. Once all were finished their coffee we headed out, 2 to change oil and 2 to prep for practice.

In the end, it is confirmed Kaylin's escape has an easy peasy oil change and the jeep.. not so much!

The quad has its usual over winter low battery which frustrated B, she even tried hauling the harrows herself but that was short lived. Once it was good to go she got the arena harrowed and hosed. After a bite to eat we girls groomed and tacked up horses B caught for us, THANKS B!! <3

Connie and Shelby arrived and once they tacked up it was drills on, Sheldon made the venture to grab the new mats and stock up at Costco ;)

 I had to change out my mount due to a wee bit of lameness but Switch did well, inside

outside was a bit of a bouncier ride ;)

sure wished we had the +17 of Friday instead of 5 but we did get a brief jaunt outside before all untacked and we came in for hot chocolate and a club jersey chat. Shaina headed back to the city when Connie and Shelby left. Britt ate, loaded up and was off to college at 5:30 too.

Sheldon arrived home after 6:30 with the mats, Costco goodies and a chai tea. Finally after 8 tries I won... a free coffee.. but it is a win! Oh and a new GUN!! On a oil changing roll, he headed to the shop to change the boat's oil just before 8 as I blogged up while listening to the Oscars.

map goes up

Dreary overcast Saturday, up fairly early again but so was Britt. She was off to work her 10 am shift with a pile of snacks and coffee adders ;) I finished up the blog post on how to prep a chalkboard while savoring my coffee. I have a feeling in this tight economy I will be doing more blog post and marketing then ever but that is ok. I can still save many pieces from their dump demise and keep educating folks on how I do it.

 like this big change

Time to haul in the frame and get it all put together .. wahoo

 deciding on hanger choices, I went with D ring

 at 11 Prince arose from his slumber and assembled the frame with his jig holes

then the map was stapled to the frame and after an hour (half measuring and triple checking on the wall), we had a new wall art finally in place!

A quick bite to eat and Sheldon headed out in the plus 8 to hose down hose hide while I cleaned inside ;(  The horses were quite alert to the buffalo smell in combo with the crazy weather.

hide photo by Sheldon ;)

A drop in temperature and a mist of rain sent Sheldon inside, by 3 the weather was just plain crappy ;/ time for beer and natchos. By 4 the sun finally peeked out as Sheldon headed off into a nap.

Proud of Kaylin who today is volunteering for Believe in the Gold charity, she and a couple other Sephora makeup artists will be making kids with cancer have a night of pampering and special treatments, well done lovey!! XOXOXO

Britt ran a few errands for me after work, thanks B! She made it home around 5 as Sheldon awoke to join me for an episode of Vikings. I had started the chili but while viewing a module for school Britt attended to it and added all the goodies. She continued homework after we ate, while Sheldon headed back to TV room to keep watching 2 hockey games and I wrote a couple more blog posts; how to build a map frame & tomorrow the tropical wagon goes live on both my blog and Country Chic.

map frame & oil change

I do think it is the extended sun filled hours in our days as I was awake again at 7 am. I made coffee and served the Prince at 8, hoping he would be able to get up and turn around the night train. I was out in the garage working on projects early too. I finished off the can of FAT parchment painting a ruler that had been custom ordered. Sheldon ran to the shop to cut the wood he bought for the giant map then took the dogs for a needed walk.

Once back he worked on adding the jig sets as I removed glass and hardware from my next project. He was off to the shop to move his hide while I stained the map frame. During our lunch break, I heard bees.. it seems we had a whole pile coming down the chimney. I caught the escaping into the house ones and released them while Sheldon lit a quick fire to smudge the rest out.

Today was an amazing sun shiny PLUS 17 day as predicted by the weather man!! I scrubbed window frames outside in only a hoody and even found myself sweaty. (the bees continued to annoyingly hover around me) We both got busy and scooped all the lawn of dog doodoo, Sheldon is just a t-shirt! Jessie stopped dropping of Valentine's goodies from Mom just after 3. THANK you, you know the way to our hearts ;)

Time for a cold beer, he organized oil change supplies with Kaylin while I gave the map boards a barn board treatment with variety of dry brushing paint colors and sealer. Sheldon got a cast iron pan ready to re-season and threw in the oven and hit the couch with his tablet.

Britt made it home just before 5, making at stop at Irvine's tack on the way home to purchase some new horse goodies. After finishing up I threw a chicken in for supper and peeled up potatoes. While it cooked the frame got a coat of wax as finishing touch.

Kaylin arrived around 6:30 with her oil changing supplies, however the Canadian tire gave her an air filter instead of an oil filter!! Sheldon ran it back to town to get the right one while we ate. He ate once back and then we all headed out to the shop; S & K to change the oil on her escape, Britt to ride and me to wrangle dogs and snap some pictures.

 the oil change crew

 the supervisor made lots of spot checks

 and was always watching the progress

 supervisor claimed the pad for his own in the end ;)

Back in the house a quick clean up and wash pots and pans before Kaylin was off just after 8:30. Sheldon and I caught up on a couple new Viking Episodes season 4!