Getting It Together

So, yeah.  I'm running through life and remembering to stop and smell the roses.  Things are going pretty well.  Mostly due to the fact that I decided several months ago to stop drinking.  Alcohol was not doing me any favors.  Amazingly, the anxiety went away despite life being more hectic than ever. 

My stepdad/boss had quadruple bypass surgery which leaves me to run the sign shop alone.  I'm doing ok and figuring out ways to make things work, including working the second job.  I decided after much self depreciating thinking that I have much to be grateful for.  I'm working two jobs, keeping my home and the bills are paid.  I do without a lot of extras, but honestly, life has been good to me. 

I'm still in a relationship with a man and it's been almost 4.5 years.  We still live separately.  We've been through our ups and downs and it's nice to know that someone actually loves me. 

My weight is steady, although it's higher than I'd like. I keep reminding myself that I'm still 134 pounds less than my highest weight.  (Yes, doing the math means that I've gained a lot of weight.) I'm trying to eat healthy but it's tough on such a limited income.  Who's idea was it to make junk food so cheap and real food expensive?

My goal is to keep getting it together.

Thursday Portrait

Last week I spent 6 hours on top of a scissor lift in the top of a high school gymnasium. It was hot but also fun.

This was the view I had from the top. Notice the light that is now parallel with me. See how tiny the doors look? Those are tall doors:



This is the record board in the process of having the boarders stripped
because someone wanted to have them black instead of orange. This design is a collaboration between my step dad and me:



Here we have part of the football team that visited with me for about an hour. I have no idea what the guy on the floor is doing:



This is a view of the scissor lift when it was in it's lowest position. You still have to climb a ladder to get on top. This is also a picture of the finished board. The size is 10 feet high by 16 feet wide, just to give you some idea of the hugeness of this thing:



Here I am looking all dorky on top of the lift. It's a little blurry
because my cell phone sucks:

Flash 55, Take 36

We held our breath as we snuck
into the forbidden zone.

Most people never get this close
unless they are on the force.

As I climbed onto the shiny silver platform,
I knew how lucky I was to share this moment
with my daughter.

The shutter snapped closed on the camera.
Our work was done.

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If you are interested in attempting to write a 55, you can visit here. If you do one, go tell G-Man that you did.

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Yesterday I had to go finish some detail work on the back of a fire engine tanker truck. I took #2 with me and we had some fun when no one was looking.

#2 showing her crazy side:

See all of those horrible red and yellow stripes? That was the job we had to do. It was hell cutting the angles correctly and then making sure the vinyl was tapered around the curves of the water tank.

Here I'm showing my goofy side:

Just in case you forgot the number:

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Our internet connection has been spotty at best and really, I just haven't had time to be on line. I hope to visit you all soon!

Working 4 A Living

Here are some pictures that I promised last week.

This is a sign I designed. This is the one that took 6 people to get into the air. Each one of those posts weighs about 80 pounds. It took 150 pounds of concrete to set each leg. (Yes, that is me on the scaffold, looking totally dorky.)

The church congregation loved it so much, that they placed an
advertisement for us on their reader board.

This is the 16' scaffold that I had to climb on. The board you see here is a backer board that the final sign was screwed to. Because the facade of the building is brick, this board had to be anchored.

Here we have part of the sign installed:

Again, another picture taken of an unsuspecting me in front of the final sign (it surely doesn't look like I'm that far in the air, but if you look behind the scaffold,
you will see the door and how far I am above it.
There is also a light fixture below that is on the 10' ceiling):

This is the final sign. I'm not exactly happy with the way this turned out, but because an awning will go directly below the sign, I was limited with color and size. I also tried to keep the feeling of a more traditional design to complement the area. The dimensions of the sign are 6' wide by 7' high. The left side of the sign will be filled as soon as that side of the building is rented.

So there you have a few of the projects I've been working on lately.

Flash 55, Take 34

I know he's going to ask me to do it.

My legs begin to shake at the thought.

I can't make my mind stop reeling.

As I look up, I feel sick and weak.

I didn't sign on for this.

I know I have to do something.
He can't do it alone.

Here I come!



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If you are interested in attempting to write a 55, you can visit here. If you do one, go tell G-Man that you did.

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I wrote this 55 based on my extreme fear of heights. Unfortunately, I chose a profession that requires me to be in the air part of the time.

My boss, who is also my step father of 30 years, makes a point of trying to keep me on the ground. He respects my fear, even though I feel like an idiot for being so afraid. He is quite resourceful in finding ways for me to help while staying on the ground. He builds jigs so that I can hold signs from the ground.

However, there are jobs that require both of us to be in the air. Yesterday was one of those days. I took a deep breath and climbed up to get on the scaffold. My legs were shaking the entire time, but I did it. After a while, I almost forgot that I was 16 feet in the air with little between me and the Earth.

I was so proud of myself for being able to get up there and help out the way I'm supposed to. It was a good day.

(I have more pictures, with me on the scaffold, that I hope to post when I get to work. The pics are on the work camera.)

SignGurl Makes A Sign

We are working on a large sign for a church. It is 5 feet high and 10 feet wide. Most of the signs we make are 4' x 8', so this one is kind of a monster.

When working with vinyl, the artwork must be clean and not have pixilated edges, otherwise the plotter that cuts the design would cut jagged edges instead of smooth ones. Every color must be laid on separately. This logo has three colors. We have a chemical that we spray on the back of the vinyl that renders the adhesive stickless (I know that's not a word :P ) so that the colors can be floated into position before sticking. If you would like to know more about how a sign is made, you can read it here.

The finished product:

Work HNT

I've been so busy at work that I had to take my HNT there. This is in front of the wall o' vinyl. There are over 100 colors. (Yes I'm an anal bitch and had to put the rolls into color families).

Happy Half Nekkid Thursday!!

Go see the King.

Burrrr...

I survived yesterday working outside without too many problems. Today will be a different story. The wind chill is -1 right now and I'm headed out to the great white tundra.

I have hand warmers in my wool socks, long underwear, 4 shirts and hand warmers for my gloves which we don't wear much since we are putting nuts and bolts on signs.

Today should be interesting. At least we are working at the hospital if we need medical attention.

Flash 55, Take 21

The cold leaped out and bit her flesh as she jumped out of the work truck. It was another day of working in the bitter cold.

She knew when she signed up for this job that it would be tough, but she hadn't considered frigid Northern temperatures.

The only consolation was all the construction workers.


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If you are interested in attempting to write a 55, you can visit here. If you do one, go tell Susie that you did.

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I'm working outside again today for the 3rd day in a row. The wind chill is 1 degree right now and not supposed to get much better. The wind is howling 25-30 mph. Burrr.... We are working at a hospital and they are moving the emergency room for the 3rd and final time. Our job is to make sure that the public can find help easily.

I swear that I saw Paul Bunyan yesterday. He was built like a shit brick house. He wasn't too burly, just big. I have to admit to being slightly turned on by his physical prowess. So, today won't be all bad.

Surviving?

I'm still here trying to live through 3 holiday concerts, annual cookie baking blitz, Christmas shopping and family bull. The holidays are wearing me out and they aren't even here yet.

I've spent the last two days working outside. On Monday, we had to reset a sign that I repainted and repaired. A few weeks ago, the wind broke the sign legs in half so we had to remove the old before we could put in the new. Usually this is not a problem, unless your boss used 40 pounds of concrete to set each leg and the sign owners had added 2 feet of topsoil on top of the 36" deep the concrete is in the ground. So, we spent 3.5 hours chipping away at the old cement. This is hard work. Think pick ax chipping through a mountain hard work. The holes were big enough to bury a body in once we dug them out enough to get to the cement.

The sign itself is a beautiful sandblasted Redwood that I hand painted. It looks beautiful. The next problem being that a Redwood sign weighs a lot. Add two treated wood posts and that thing weighed close to 200 pounds.

So, we get it set in the holes, knowing we would have to pull it back out to cut the legs off to get it level. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to lift the sign up out of the 36" holes, plus up over a mound of dirt that was over 24" high. I just couldn't do it. I felt like such a weak girl.

I suggested that we go to the City Department of Public Works and see if we could round up a couple of guys to help. Keep in mind that this is a very small city of 3500 people, so everyone knows everyone. The two guys we found were guys I had graduated from high school with.

The guys were easily able to help us lift that sign up and out and then back in again with no trouble. The best part was that they didn't even make fun of me for being a weakling. I hate that I've lost muscle mass along with fat. My upper body strength is just not what it used to be since losing almost 180 pounds.

Yesterday was spent in the snow and freezing rain trying to put up tobacco free signs at a hospital, all while hospital workers sneered, "NO TOBACCO PRODUCTS, ANYWHERE!"

I was soaked to the bone and still had to drag myself back out last night to yet another concert. Is it Spring yet?

This Post Is Brought To You By The Letter S

I fear that you all are getting sick of my weight loss posts. I feel like a weight loss spammer on my own blog. It's so hard to believe how different life was a year ago. I promise to stop after this week for a while, but I go to the doctor for my one year check on Thursday and want to update here.

We've been working on a project that I just had to show you. We are putting up 30" formed letters on a car dealership. These things are comical because of their size.

I'm a little worried about installing them since it's up in the air over 20'. When my boss starts talking about ladder jacks, I start to sweat like a hooker in church. I'm much more afraid of heights now that I've lost weight. Go figure! It has to do with my fear of being blown off the ladder or something stupid like that. Also, when I'm doing a job where I'm in control of whether or not I'm going to get hurt, I freak out. I don't trust myself. Ridiculous, I know!

Wish me luck in doing my job this week.