Mural - Apr/May

This past April/May, I was given the opportunity to paint a mural for the Barrington Youth & Family Services (BYFS).  It was more of a dedication to one of their major sponsors.

This is the wall that I will be working with.  There was actually a larger wall but the client did not need the mural to be too large:

Who knew "black" is really no longer just black?  I did end up picking the other black called "Limousine Leather".  Such a fancy name!

Here are the colors - talk about some bright ones!  

Took me some time to figure out the grid in order to get all the words centered:  

Glad the free-hand with the different fonts worked out:

As you can see from the reflection with the light, the eraser caused quite a bit of stress - showing almost like a stain of some sort on the wall:

This was presented to the client based on our initial sketch:

But we eventually added just a little bit more color to frame out the heart:

Glad we have another happy client, with work by Plants & Paint :-)

Graduation! (May 2025)

It's crazy to think that Graham has finally graduated 8th Grade and is moving up to high school!  

These 2 boys, I tell you. Never a dull moment!

One more family we-fie :-)

Tomorrow is actually the first day of school for both boys.  Summer school holidays is finally over! Seemed like it would never end - especially with all the kids' camps I had at work.  I lost about 8lbs this summer just being on my feet throughout the entire day!

I've obviously been lagging behind with a lot of blog postings. So hopefully I'll have a bit more time to play catch up. And there's so much to catch up on!!

Random photos in May

Occasionally, I'll find some random treats on my work desk when I come home:

Bobby said that it was Graham's idea to buy me this massive bag of gummy bears. I wonder what that kid is up to!??

A couple weeks later... LOL!

What's up with these birds? First the kitchen window and now, my car!  I did start parking the car under a few more trees recently. It's definitely warming up now:

Finally had a chance to repot a couple of plants. I really like how this willow looks in this pot:

This fella has grown quite a bit too! We always love those Mexican planters too:

I finally decided to organize the trunk of my car.  These plastic containers were a bit different from what I was hoping for, but I'm going to try and make it work!

Before... yeah, too messy when I have to deal with all the extra layers of clothes. Even in May, it's been so cold still!

Much better! :-)  Somehow I feel I could use an even bigger car. Ha!

I just saw this at the store. They are selling it for a lot cheaper than I am with the Kokedama that I make.  How it that possible?!

Hanging out at school for Graham's last orchestra recital.  The guy in the background totally photo-bombed our photo!

And Charlie has his first ever marching band experience:

I think he enjoyed it - although the band had to keep playing the same song over and over again:

This kid has some crazy hair these days.  Ha ha!

Boys still has the occasionally dog-sitting duty. We were so happy to have Sammy back recently for a night:

The other dog is the neighbor's dog that Graham and Charlie walk every day.

Last but not least, I was getting my phone fixed and noticed this sticker in the same store:

It's too funny. I feel just like that sometimes.  LOL!!

New washing machine

We finally decided to buy a new washing machine:

Technically, there's nothing wrong with this one. Although, every time someone leaves tissues in their pockets by accident, this machine completely tears it up and makes a mess in the wash!  I'm hoping the front loaders will be more forgiving.

Tada!!

We went with a fancy 2-in-1 washer/dryer combo.  So far so good!  

The guys managed to angle it in a way so we can actually open up the soap dispenser.  We totally forgot to think about that when we bought it.  Oops!

So glad that worked out.  Phew!

And everything can run on AI (Artificial Intelligence) now.  Graham downloaded the App and asked what we should name the machine, and I said, "Expensive!".  And looks like the name stuck. LOL!!

So far so good with the machine.  Something the clothes do not feel like they are completely dry (it's a ventless dryer). But nonetheless, it definitely saves telling the boys to go transfer their clothes to the dryer all the time!

Bobby's Birthday (end of May)

Another birthday, another year wiser! Or is it older??! ;-P

I had quite a busy day at work but wanted to at least get Bobby a dessert of some sort. I was thinking of those bundt cakes, but the store was already closed when I was on my way home!  So instead, it was a big cookie - one for Bobby and the other one for us, of course. Ha!

I think he appreciated the little surprise.  We love you!!

And at least there was still some sunlight on my way home:

In the meantime, my new driver arrived. Woo hoo!!

I had been using the demo driver these last few weeks or so, still hoping to gain those extra few yards.  Hopefully this is it! I guess this is my early birthday present :-D

Happy 15th Birthday, Graham!

Can you believe this kid is now 15 years old?!  Where has the time gone!

On this birthday, we decided to drive into city for the Member's Night at the Griffin Museum (of Science and Industry).  Unbeknownst to me, it would take over 1 hour and 50 minutes to get to the museum!!

Thankfully we made it on time to the Flight Simulator:

Some quick training and the boys are strapped in!

It's a 2-person flight and we had 4 tickets, so the boys swapped seats between pilot and gunner:

It was funny listening to the boys inside the pod, especially when Graham was piloting. You can hear Charlie screaming and they ended up doing a 360 degree turn. Too bad I turned the video off just before that!

Okay, time to head over to the Spiderman exhibit:

Charlie and his crazy eyes. Let's do this again. There, much better - sort of.  Ha!

This Spiderman exhibit is so cool!!

Graham used to be such a Spiderman fan:

Although, he wasn't as enthusiastic as Charlie to pretend with the web-shooters :-)

It was really neat how the Museum portrayed these comics.  The technology was really cool!

That was fun, and now back into the museum for the bigger things - like this big airplane overhead!

And we love this section here:

We finally had a chance to try this wind tunnel.  It was quite chilly in it!

In another section of the museum, a tractor with big wheels:

I didn't take a photo - but did you know what cows don't have upper front teeth?? I'm not sure how that will be helpful to know.  LOL!!

Okay, time for a dessert birthday:

We actually sang Graham a song but I totally messed up with my video recording:

After dessert, we are back in the car.  And it's time to open up presents.  First off, new underwear for this now bigger kid:

Another copper bracelet, as his other one is cracked:

It took almost 1.5 hours to get home, with all the construction along the way.  Urgh!

Now that we are home, more presents to open up.  Almost all of these were on Graham's "birthday list" - which was an extension of his Christmas list.  This kid, I tell you!

Protective covers for his VR (virtual reality) headset and handles:

Although, this book was obviously not on his list.  At some point, I hope he reads it.  He said he would do it "later".  Pha!

He was happier with this one - a remote control for flying drones (on his computer):

Can you believe this kid was this kid 14 years ago??

Ha, what a cutie pie!

Well, hope this summer goes well for Graham.  We are having him take one summer course, which will count for high school credits.  He still continues to harp on buying a new drone - which would have been bought by now if his grades were better. Hope Graham learns get his priorities right soon!