Ceiling done (well, one, anyway). Big stuff coming up. Shares needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

He did it! Wings got the ceiling for me today, so the base color coat in our bedroom (and hall and closet) is done. Neither of us wants gray as the primarily-visible color for our bedroom, but even so, it's really quite beautiful. He's also much faster at the overhead stuff than I am.

Not that I didn't work today:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

This is what I was doing: beginning the second color coat, which is the sponged copper. It's a huge amount of work, with constant up-and-down, and after the last four days, my joints and muscles are all on strike and screaming bloody murder. But I got the hall and the closet done, and the latter is the toughest, because it's enclosed. That meant that I had to have virtually all of the windows open despite the cold, AND have a fan going, AND have a face mask over my nose and mouth, because the metallics are, well, metallic. Literally. Out in the open rooms, it's no big deal; open two windows, and you're fine. In that closet? Yeesh. I'm glad the third color coat will be ordinary paint.

The crew returns tomorrow. I can already say with reasonable certainty that they will not be able to start the interior plaster this week. Why? Because the next storm is supposed to hit tomorrow and run through Tuesday — beginning with rain and turning to snow tomorrow night, then snowing all of the next day and night. It'll be too cold and wet. But they've got plenty to do with the windows and doors and upstairs bathroom, so no relief on the labor costs there.

And everything's piling up. We have enormous expenses in the offing with the flooring, the water heater, the finishing of the wiring and plumbing installs, the septic system . . . and always, always the labor costs underlying everything else. Having no widget has hurt us badly, too, and we need consistent shares:

• Wings's PayPal account, for donations to the house fund (out of a current $30K goal, last night upped our total raised to $2,800 since last Monday, leaving a balance of $27,200. If that link doesn't work, it's tied to his e-mail address: wingsoftaos [at] newmex [dot] com.
• His Web site, for sales (always preferable, and the base upon which the whole project hinges anyway, along with paying our day-to-day living expenses) — and just by the way, he's got some really incredible new works up now.
• Our Amazon wishlist, which contains Lowe's cards that will allow us to purchase some materials more cheaply than here in town, and also allow us to divert the extra funds to labor costs.

So much to do this week, so many expenses. I'm already overwhelmed; expect me to be completely scattered for now while I try to keep everything moving forward. Good lord, I cannot wait until I can actually soak in a bathtub again (or cook on a real stove). Many thanks and love to all of you who are helping us keep going; please keep sharing the links.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.