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09:36 - Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006 Stage One - Last July 2005, I hired a contractor to finish the "attic" - The attic had a 20 inch access hole (which could only be accessed with a 6 foot step ladder. The first thing completed was installation of a built in staircase. Since there was no floor, and the electric wires and airconditioning ducting was layed out accross the floor, that all had to rerouted prior to installing the floor. To top it off, the portion of the fiberglass insulation, which was only partially completed, was exposed on the floors, walls, and ceiling. The rest of the insulation was completed with drywall and flooring installation - While my contractor did the texture on the walls and ceiling - he was not able to paint - therefore, that was left to me. Stage Two - Paint the newly remodeled studio annex - I did not realize how hard it is to paint ceilings with a bad neck and back - and once I did (finished 1/3 of the ceiling and 1 wall and could not move for almost a week) - postphoning the painting was pretty easy - a month turned into a year and a half. This week, I accomplished painting two more walls, and finished a little over one half of the ceiling - I cleared the three painted wall spaces and moved it into the build in box storage and on the far remaining wall (left to be painted - Yes, it will all have to be moved to the center when I finally get around to painting the remainder left. Then it will all be reorganized into shelving units with doors that are to be build my my S/O - shhh, it's a secret - I am asking for that as my Christmas project. Instead of giving me a gift - he willingly gives me projects; It is wonderful I sorta tell him my vision - and he schedules his schedule to work on it when I am gone cause I hate that part - and when I come home, I get 10 times better than what I imagined. His last project was remodeling my master bath while I was on working holiday, much to my surprise, cause this one was a "Just because". Stage Three - That meant all the storage bins which had been purchased and filled with fabrics by category (crammed into the studio) could be move up to the studio annex - and it has been accomplished. I had to lug 50 boxes (56 quart size) of fabrics up the fold down type stairs - I ctarted to count how many flights I went up until I hit 50 (After three hours, and a well deserved diet coke - I looked around to see that I hadn't even made a dent in the numbers, so I quit counting and about six hours later collapsed - grin). With the majority of my studio storage now up in the studio annex, that emptied my "studio" floor space and for about two hours I was estatic - I organized the room so it was more user friendly - the wall storage (ie closet with built in book spaces) was sorted and organized within the sections. There is now a home for all my sewing machines when not in use, and a computer station created, with two sections of files for art groups and genealogy paperwork. Then, I started lugging all the dining room table (used as a cutting/sewing/design workstation) stuff, into the studio. In about two hours, the studio was once again a storage zone - but, now there is hope. The only fabrics left in the studio, are the batiks and hand-dyeds, and they have permanent homes! What spurred this boost of activity after so much procrastination - About three months ago, I was teased into hosting my first Friday of the month friendship group at my home in the month of October - so they could see the "new studio" - And I had such high hopes of finishing the studio - If I had two or three more full days, I would have made it - But, there was no way to cancel - so I forged forward. I had my dinner party and it was successful - my first guest (thank god she is a Taurus like me) help me finish cleaning off the table. At first, we were just carrying stuff and placing it with order, as the time crunch came, we literally took brown paper shopping bags with handles and put like things in them and carried them into the neat studio and dumped them in neatish stacks on top of each other. Once that was done, she vacummed the last carpet area under the table, while I cleaned up the cooking mess. YES - I can cook, even though I can literally count how many time in the last six years I used anything in the kitchen other than the micro wave and frig!!! I made homemade German style soup, a scratch salad, hot rolls, and two types of desserts. When the second guest arrived - the one who called several times during the week to assure me that life would go on if my house was less than perfect - grabbed the cleaner and wiped all the surfaces - when my guests arrived - it was to an almost clean home (minus the kitchen dishes) - I was amazed at what could happen in 15 minutes with an extra set of hands!!!! My girlfriend poured me a nice glass of wine - and the evening was quite fun and enjoyable. Stage Four - Although I was exhausted after the dinner - and spent an hour washing the dishes and putting them away - it was worth it - I got a sort of nice homey feeling, washing the dishes in my kitchen, looking into the livingroom. My home is now "back to normal". The two cats however had distinctly different attitudes - My older cat loves the open space and loving stretched out where the former boxes once had a home. The younger cat ran to her favorite sleeping spot but her chair was gone - it was in it's home at the end of the dining room table. She was so sad, I moved it for her - and she promptly jumped up and sniffed the whole thing before settling in to wash her fur and take a much needed nap - I did notice though she has a new favorite spot - so perhaps I can move it back to the table eventually... But, I am sorta back a square one with the studio (grin) - However, my determination to unclutter the studio phase has already started - that means, bringing out a small amount of "diningroom bag stuff" - sorting it into go to the Studio Annex - or find home in Studio -The priority was to find and sort through the stuff that is needed immediately to complete commission quilts - and make sure all important paperwork (ie quilt deadlines, etc) which was laying on the table was found and put into the desk folders where it should have gone. I am sure as the sun will come up tomorrow that there will be more stages (and stories) to the continuing saga of finishing the art studio - One of which will be finishing the cat bathroom into the studio paint and dye room - I have the storage already organized - but it still needs a coat of paint - and some wall art to complete the look.... More on this later...
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