Variety is dead, Conformity lives.

Venting time...
So we're trying to buy towel rods and shower stuff for the bathroom. We're not that fussy -A dash of style would be nice but at this point I won't fuss. In the entire city I have been to nearly all the stores and they all have the same 3 or 4 towel rods...It is at the point that I am going to have to order out of a catalog. Perhaps I have to become a metalsmith or something...I don't think I'm THAT fussy, I just figure if I'm going to have to spend money on a towel rod it might as well be one I like.
Go figure, there were 80 zillion shower curtains to choose from....
Man, sometimes I wish I lived in a bigger city. But I bet there there would just be MORE stores with the same 3 or 4 towels...

For the love of God people....read the label!!!!

So I'm repainting my bathroom....my hideous hideousbathroom.
Why you ask?
Well, it is quite a horrid room at the moment. Never liked it at all. All the fixtures and tub surround are (wait for it) pink marble. For those of you who know me you know how I HATE pink. Add in the brass accents, pink light fixture, four thousand nail holes from the previous owners and a cheesy floral trim and and you've got one spectacularly crummy bathroom. Now we'd never have gotten our house if it didn't need all the work it does, but man...pink fixtures? A bathroom is a sanctuary. Me, I like my baths. I'd love to renovate the whole place and put in new fixtures and a new tub that you can actually bathe in (currently the water comes up to maybe your bellybutton (I had a clawfoot soak tub in my old apartment...I'm going through withdrawal)) BUT since that would cost a small fortune we're painting the room and replacing the towel things and shower curtain. This sounds simple...it isn't. We have to still use the bathroom while I renovate it. AND the previous reno on the room was NOT done well at all....

Which brings me to the topic of my post (ahem): PEOPLE! When the renovating people tell you how to patch and repaint a bathroom LISTEN TO THEM! Read the labels on the damn products...better yet - FOLLOW THEM! Step out on a limb and actually get the right paint for the bathroom (it's only 3$ more) and wash the walls - take the time to do things properly. Otherwise the people like me who buy your house from you will curse you within an inch of your lives when they try and renovate a room you have wreaked your horrible magic on. This isn't Trading Spaces! You are not smarter than the people who do this for a living! You have more than one day to do it-Take the time! Actually take all the wallpaper off the walls before you paint over them. Prime the walls and USE THE RIGHT PAINT so that when you wash the walls, it doesn't just come off again (my house is notorious for this...). Then you won't ever have to do it ever again.
OK.
There.
I feel better.

I'll post a pic when I'm done the bathroom in a week or so. Having said the above things, I can see why people don't like to "do it right"...it is SO much fiddly work to get to do it properly and get to the fun part at the end where you actually put the color on the walls. I've spent two days washing, scraping and filling. Tonight I will sand and prime. Then the trim and *then* (finally) the cool color on the walls. Soon my bathroom will be much better...metropolis grey with metallic fixtures and a new shower curtain to hide the pink shower land. SO much better...AND it'll be done *properly* so that when I die and they sell my home, the new owners won't curse me!

A little riding and a lot of bones

I just got back froma cool weekend. I went out to a local holiday ranch and had a weekend of horseback riding, and hung out with a bunch of women from work. We ate a lot, drank a lot and found time between horseback riding to play pool, go on hikes, play pictionary and play a new game called Bunnock or "bones".
Bones is a fascinating game that is simple to play, but challenging and fun for everyone. (Man, listen to me-I sound like the back of a game box...)The game involves a set of 52 bones divided between 2 teams of 4 people. Each team has 8 red bones (2 per person for throwing) and 2 blue marker bones and 16 white bones. You set up all the white bones in a row and plac ethe two blue marker bones 16 inches from either end of the row of white bones. The teams then stand 30 feet away and toss the red bones at the lines of bones to knock them down. The catch is, the blue ones have to be knocked down before any other ones and if you accidentally hit a white one first, it gets stood up again right next to the blue ones. You continue playing and throwing (each team takes turns with their bones set up at their opponent's feet) until the first team to knock down their bones wins.....


Sounds easy, I know, but the bones are of different weights and because thay are bones they are uneven and often bounce off in wierd ways, making it all that much harder. The set is actually made of real hardened and treated horse ankle bones. You can apparently get "fake" ones, but a set of real bones is a real prize to be had here in prairie land - there is actually an annual bones tournament in Macklin, SK. I hadn't heard of it until I moved to Saskatoon, but I think I'm hooked. It's a great game that can be played by everyone...challenging but fun. The way we played where you get a drink every time you knock down a bone *definitely* added to the challenge of the game!!
I had a fantastic time riding horses..it's been years since I've rode a horse. We got to ride twice for about 2 hours and spent lots of time on the farm playing with their 8 zillion cats, pigs, chickens, roosters, geese and ducks. There was even a donkey named Larry. I was excited to find that they have sled rides and rides all year - even at Christmas time...I'll definitely be back with friends or family. Everything was simple but fantastic. I feel recharged and ready to face the world....after a nap.

What I'm up to at this very moment

After reading Betty Ragan's blog, I came across one of her intriguing entries...a bit of a "what am I up to right now" view of her little world.
Seeing as I love the "what are you up to" surveys, I Ihought I'd give it a whirl and fill in the blanks...here goes:
_______________

Current attire: Blue jeans. Blue scoop neck t-shirt and burgandy zip up hoodie, blue socks and my superstars. My silver frame specs. A dazed expression.

Current mood: Bored and tired. Not a lot to do right now and I had apple crisp right before going to bed last night (mmm...) so I couldn't sleep til about 2 am because of the sugar.

Current music: Theivery Corporation on the lab PC...

Current annoyance: Foreign spice packages with no english instructions (the tandoori chicken I'm marinating and plan on having for supper may be very good or very bad....)

Current thing: Talking about all the things I'm going to paint and fix up around the house and not actually getting the paint to do it...paint chips or taping paint chips in the rooms to help pick colors doesn't count!

Current desktop picture: A photo of Jay on the dock at the cabin at Little Bear Lake at sunset

Current song in head: The last song on the new Dandy Warhols album (can't rember the name)

Current book: Just finished the newest Harry Potter Book last week. Thought it was nifty. Haven't had the time to get into the next book yet.

Current video in player: The tape I used to tape the rest of the "Some Kind of Monster" documentary that was on late last night and had to go to sleep before it was over...have to finish watching it tonight. I was surprised at how good it was. It was just something to kill the sugar based insomnia at first...

Current DVD in player: Last disc of the 1st season of Arrested Development. That show is turning out to be a favorite of mine...it's great seeing it for the first time with no commercials.

Current refreshment: Cold coffee

Current worry: How I'm ever gonna paint my living room??

Current thought: How do I win a vacation off this planet??
__________

And so I ask - what are YOU all up to??
Me? Not so much...well breaks over...back to the lab.

Just one word...

Cuteness

NEWS FLASH! Wasp commando nearly breaks her toe

...So we noticed we have a few wasps moving into our yard...in between the railway ties that edge the stairs going up to our front door to be exact. As usual, my best defence was "ingore them and they'll go away".
Well after a few weeks of ignorance they didn't take the hint so my husband pestered me into doing something about it, as I was not that inclined to get off my but without a nudge. I found some wasp killer spray (*not* easy to do on a sunday evening in Saskatchewan as everything is closed...but that is a rant for another day), waited for evening when the little buggers are less active and then donned my garb to become...



Wasp Commando!
A balaclava, snowboard goggles, workboots, old jeans tucked into socks over tights and a bunnyhug. To top it off (and make me feel a bit braver) I donned my old German army coat that I got in Ireland (long story).

Oh yes I was ready.

I went out and used a flashlight to see the hole they were flying out of and sprayed nearly a whole can of the insecticide stuff in there. A few flew out and writhed around but I hav to admit it was less dramatic than I'd thought it would be...

The irritating thing about it all is that after a week or so I can see some wasps flying in and out of the hole again, so I didn't get them all. Next step is trying to drown the little guys in traps I guess. I don't want people like the mailman getting accosted when they come to our door. I suppose wasp commando may have to go on another mission before all is said and done. (hee hee...I hear the million dollar man music in my head ... "we can rebuild him")

Further complicating my mission plans, I stubbed my toe last night so hard that after all my dancing and screaming I think I may have not broken it. It's bruising and although I can still move it it feels stiff and hurts to move. I probably just sprained it really badly, but I'm in a bad mood as I have to go and weed the front yard right now and the prementioned wasps hopefully won't take revenge and chase after me as I can't run away right now. I could hobble off, but they'd catch me pretty quick. Plus it's too hot a day for my balaclava right now...

Wish me luck.

Happy Love Day!

Yup..it's my anniversary. Our 5th to be exact. I've been doing some web research and apparently it's our wooden anniversary. I'm not sure what to do with that information actually (I *also* found out our third was leather...sorry I missed that one...) It's Fringe time so we'll likely go and see some plays, maybe check out the new ethiopian restaurant in town next week.

It's funny...I've never been one for the convention of having to celebrate events or things on specific days, but our anniversary always makes me smile. It's not like I love Jay any more or less today than any other day...it's just kind of nice to have a day to remind ourselves that we've been together for so long...over ten years...that we both still can't believe we found someone so wonderful to share our lives with.



I know I'm being sappy, but I can't help it. Love *is* grand.

hee hee...:)

A lighter shade of grey

I noticed that lately the weather has been reflecting my mood...today was grey and coudy and drizzly (made for a damp bike home) and on the weekend and evenings I've been at the fringe festival the weather has been warm and breezy to compliment my day.
I'm usually a happy go lucky person so I am never sure what to do when I get blue...or in the case of today grey.

Think I'll go sit in my dayglo yellow mad scientist closet (aka craft room) and try to shake this funk. Nothing like an obscene amount of color to jog the senses.....wish me luck

do be do be do

I have discovered the addiction that is the iPod.....It is the one thing I've wanted since I first put my shiny little hazel eyes on it and have thought and thought about how I could take ALL my music with me ANYWHERE. Working in a shielded lab with no radio and not great internet speed I crave music and sometimes you just need to hear a song and it 's nowhere around....so, when the campus store was sellingn off their old inventory of 4oG iPods to make way for the new spiffy ones with the color screens and photo capability I bit my tongue and plunked down money I didnt really hav eto finally own my dream. My husband was sweet enough to say OK, as he knew how badly I wanted it. (Sweet man...)

Having had a while to fiddle with it I have to say my little dose of Serenity is very pleasing indeed. Despite the fact that you can name it (a bonus to all women everywhere...) we now have every single song around on it...over 10 days of constant music according to the display. Joy....we went on a few car trips to Edmonton and my parent's cottage and it's great to have an endless random play. Some of the song sequences are enough to laugh out loud....Beck, then Moby then Bach...I am waiting for the Cantina theme from the Star Wars sountrack to come up....haven't heard that one on random yet.

All my music...all in one place.

Joy.

Now I have to fight the addiction of the iTunes store.....

Weather with a capital W

Oh the Storms and Floods and the like. Usually here in Saskatchewan we don't see much of those. Lately the river is over it's banks, the weir in the river is not visible, a huge wind and rainstorm whipped through the city last week and took out a huge tree in our back yard...Now 70 cm of rain overnight...ah the sweet trickle of water in the basement! Weather at it's most extravigant.
Crazy I tell ya.
I've been reminded vividly of late of the true powers of nature. My grandfather told stories when I was little of when he moved out here to clear his homestead and lived in a tarpaper windowed shack for a few years and now I am beginning to be in awe of him and the others who came out here and braved this kind of weather to make a home for themselves. During the last big storm it was actually scary to sit and watch the storm outside...I kept backing away as the winds would whip things around and the rain came down in whirling sheets...some of the trees are still bent over on top. I can't imagine a full out tornado... I do not know if I would have had the fortitude to just be out in that kind of weather in a small shack or house, soaked to the skin and clinging to the furniture (or just anything heavy for that matter) until the storm had quenched.
Even moreso I can't imagine a Saskatchewan winter spent like that...
Nature is truly a force to be reckoned with.

reafracting sunlight

I do believe I'm truly going to take a while to get into the regular blogging. I never seem to have the time to sit down long enough to type out my thoughts...and then what do I say?

I've been a busy little gnome lately and have finished building a stained glass window for my uncle. Considering it's only the second piece I've ever made, I'm damn proud of it. I went and promised him I'd build it for the new cottage he's building and then went on holidays for a week or so and then procrastinated as always...so the past week and a half have been consumed with building this thing in my spare time, as it needs to have a window built for it to be mounted in the wall and delivered to him in the next few weeks. I managed to only mortally stab one of my fingers and just merely mangle all the others, but I stayed up late last night to finish mudding it and well...it's better than I'd hoped. i'd had these serious dreading daydreams of presenting Uncle George with the macaroni picture of all windows and am glad to know it worked out. Not perfect, but considering it's my second big project, it's great! If I can manage it, I'll put in a photo of it when I post.

(Aug. 12 addition: hope this pic works!)

Just saw Batman Begins last night. I loved Batman as a kid and the Batman of the comic books appears to have come to visit me out here in Saskatoon....amazing. I enjoyed it. So much better than the previous cheese tat was batman.

Gotta go. My jungle awaits.