Paint Fumes

I've had a fantastic weekend so far. I have a new favorite sport. Mountain Biking. I know Dad. Couldn't I pick something a little more calm like badminton or something? I'm totally hooked though. And really, those birdies could be potentially dangerous too.

St. George has a paved trail system that goes around the city. I've heard it will eventually go as far as Hurricane and sometimes I even hear it will go to Zion. How cool would that be? We'll see. Our rumor mill works over time. We finally got an Olive Garden this year. I've been hearing about it since I moved here almost 7 years ago! The bridges for the trail have all been replaced finally since the flood in 2005 so I'm excited to spend a day sometime soon and do it all again.)

Laurie and I took the trail nearest her home then weaved our way through a neighborhood and got onto a desert trail that she and Rick do a lot. She told me that she wouldn't laugh at me if I walked my bike on the harder parts but I felt pretty confident keeping up with her. She rides all the time so she is really good. We saw a horny toad and of course I had to catch it right? When I lived with her I brought home a mean lizard and named him Eddie. I let him wander around in my room like a house cat. Eddie was the meanest lizard I've ever met. He bit me at one point and left lizard teeth marks in my thumb nail. Not cool. I eventually took him to the river because we weren't getting along.

The ride back to her house was my favorite part. All down hill and we were flying. I usually have a fear of my front tire flying off my bike when I get going, but since I was on one of her nice bikes I wasn't too concerned.

So I've added a mountain bike to my short list of Needs. Not Wants. (another Dadism, and yes, it belongs in the need category. :)

Today I spent the day at a clients home working on this wall. I actually bid the job more than a year ago and so I was surprised to hear from them last week.

I think it turned out pretty cool. The room is a small one so it wasn't a lot of work.

It's an interesting process, one of my favorites actually. The texture is made with tissue paper. I can only paint the surface as big as the tissue paper so it's not the fastest process. Then because I lay the paint on thick to bond the paper to the wall, then coat it with another layer of paint it takes longer to dry.

I went rollerblading while I waited for it to dry. I think I got a couple of looks from other people on the trail since I had red paint up to my elbows. I probably looked like I was bleeding?

I went back and put the the glaze finish on and called it a day. My client loved it. She spent the last part of the day watching me. That makes me nervous! I usually tell them right off I don't like it but didn't know how to tell her that. It's her house...

I missed my mom on this one. She has been a wonderful help on a lot of projects and doing this kind of wall is one where she would have been very useful! I was up and down the ladder a thousand times and she makes the day go by faster because she is fun to have around. But I think the work she is doing now is more important don't you?