Saturday, April 26, 2008

still no pictures

i have to get someone to figure out the picture thing for me cause i have many to share. we just finished a boat for the soundshow in vegas, and are finishing a big fountain for the guy who owns yardhouse resturants. still no days off yet, but i am leaving here now to go to a bridal shower for rachel (my soon to be sister in law). robin drove into town with aaron so it will be nice to see them and i will paint ians wall tonight since the texture is done now. it was cut open a few months ago to repair the pipes for plumbing the bathroom, and we are just now getting it taken care of. i have to look into hotels for next month for texas, it is on my to do list. we will be going before we know it and i need to tie up all loose ends. mikes parents will be there so i will hang out with his mom which i am looking foward to. the boys are all doing great and are crazy!

Monday, April 21, 2008

help me michael!

yes, i know this is boring without photos. michael is working tomorrow and i will have him figure out why i can't get the computer to read my card. i am trying to finish a boat for the weekend that is a huge undertaking. the guy owns the 'yardhouse' resturants and has a 38' fountain i am reupholstering and i have so much to do. i have decided to piss off everyone else and focus on this job, but i hate to have to piss off anybody. the guy with the boat for the sound show in vegas is thrilled so far and we are moving right along on that job. mike and i worked yesterday to get pretty far down the road on it. i took the boys (and fabian and audencia) to the park this evening then came back to work. i am headed home soon. balancing kids and work is so hard. i had to finish underbracing a cover i altered for bob prigmore. he is a drag boat racer and such a nice guy. i do cater to him, but he is always very respectful and polite and such a cool guy. he is apprecitive of the work done for him. he has a race to go to on thursday so i am trying to be respectful of that. we just have so many projects and i don't know how we are going to handle the whole season if we don't get into a routine of progress soon. it is so hard to find anyone capable of the work we produce much less being able to teach people how( which is where we are now). i think most of this comes naturallly or doesn't, but so much is accumulated time doing the same thing. i have been sewing for my entire life, and i didn't get where i am overnight. it is hard to expect anyone else to.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

not smarter than the computer

so i am trying to post pictures, but i cannot get the card to read with the computer and i don't have any idea what to do. so , you don't get pictures. this has been a hard week. the kids are all looking foward to the end of school. ian has started mma (mixed martial arts) which he is doing really well with so far and loves it. the teacher says he is impressed with how well he is doing so soon. so, i am proud of ian for doing so well. jule and owen miss me even though they get to see me every day. they want some special time so are looking foward to pismo this august. we still have yet to have a day off, the amount of work we have is overwhelming and frustrating and wonderful. so many things going on. rachel took jule to be fitted for his tux for her and douglas' wedding last week. jule is the ring bearer. the shop explained to jule about his responsibilites and rachel asked if he knew why she was the last one down the isle and everyone was going to be waiting to see her. he said her job is so important (being the bride) because she is the one that makes the babies. couldn't be prouder of my boys. he he. owen got suspended from parks and rec after school because he was too aggressive playing tag with his friends. he wanted to get chased. so, i am keeping my mind open, mouth closed (yeah right...) and just going with the flow. boys are so different than girls. i am doing well this week with my diet. i have eaten mostly salad all week and not too much snacking. i do hope to be better looking by july. somthing i am struggling with this week is respect. we made plane arrangements for graduation in texas for one date and the day after we bought them, jimee said that it was the day before we planned on. we had been asking for months and at the last minute finally got another awnser. i am so angry that our children seem to not have any respect for anyones schedules other than their own. i have to say that at least ian does call me every day to remind me of mma. i told him i can't keep up with it all and he needs to remind me ahead of time. so far, that is going well. anyway, i hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend and i will be more available here after labor day. the upholstery world slows down then.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

sucessful projects

this is what mike did saturday and i did sunday this week. mike bends all of the poles for the biminis and i cover them. this boat turned out really nice.
this is a 3 season enclosure. it took me 50 hours to make. no one can help me on these projects. there are 14 panels, all individually fitted and custom made to fit the boat. i made the biminis as well to start as there was already a frame on the boat. this enclosure has roll-up straps and privacy flaps with straps to use when camping. the customers were really excited to get it today.
side view
this is from the inside.
fabian and audencia sleeping on the dog bed under my table. they took a nap yesterday. they are a year apart and really close. i just thought this was cute. i made audencias scarf on her head. she loves it because it has big flowers on it.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

yes, still more-

Audencia very pretty in her work hat and shirt. she loves to wear business attire to advertise for us.
this is terry, my landlord (dicks) brother who hangs out with us daily. he is really cool and loves to come see what we are up to every day.
jule showing off his missing 2 teeth. these are his first two lost (within a week of eachother). the tooth fairy made it for the second, but he was so excited to lose the first he lost it under the baseboards in the hallway running to show mike that it came out. he understood that the tooth fairy can't leave money if she can't find the tooth, so he was very careful with the second. he made me give him a tin to put it in under his pillow.
we replace bunkees on trailers, good money but very time consuming. we did this one yesterday.
audencia and jule hard at work. actually i made them take a nap because they both got in trouble today (they are both growing right now) and were really tired. they woke up later, said they loved me and went on about their evening happy. they are sleeping on the dog bed under my table. it is really cozy down there!

more pics

this is the cover to the big ass boat from the last post. 35 yards of canvas!
i zipper the middle and put in a flap to cover the zipper to alleviate the weight of the canvas. it is much easier to manuver this way.
mark (my newest employee) and his fiance sarah. they eat lunch together every day. she is due next month. they are the cutest couple you have ever seen. mark comes to us from las angelas with hopes of building his own custom cars one day. he wants to learn all car aspects. good kid. he is 23.
this is fran, the guy i have written about before. we love him and he is a great asset to our company. 53 years upholstery experience (own business in santa barbara) and is 73 years old. freaking amazing how fun he is.
terry doing her job (for once). just kidding. we have a fun shop. busy, but fun.

more boats

this is a total custom reupholster job. it was the original job before, lots of welts, colors and stripes and tuck and rolls, we cleaned it up and updated it and it turned out really nice. my stripes are tuck and rolled so they look clean. the bottoms are not attached yet in this picture, so not the perfect picture, but you get the idea..
the whole boat
engine hatch close up-
big ass boat bimini. this boat is out of newport beach, we did the poles, canvas and cover all custom. good job.
this is the boat from the front.