Our house is a very very very fine house

Ah!
Since finishing the painting I've been going outside occasionally to just grin and look at my door...so I thought I'd pop up a photo of it so you all can grin too. Gaze upon the purple :)


I have attacked the yard for the entire afternoon and I've finally just stopped for a bite to eat and some honey brown ale. There's about an hour of weeding left, but I'm creaking and quite stiff after mowing and snipping and trimming and then weeding for many many hours...so I'll leave it for tomorrow. At least now if the neighbors ignore the middle right section of the yard, overall it looks MUCH better. Like people live here and everything! Amazing what removing a garbage bag full of weeds will do...who knew the vines could hide so many weeds? Phew. They're so pretty when they're here...I miss them when the leaves go off in the fall...

And now my good peeps I believe I will amble off to find a decent book or film and creak away the evening with a beer. My J is off doing mobile video all evening, so I am free to watch whatever I please...hmmm...wonder what I'll end up with...

Brain....melting...

The only thing more dull than reading a long detailed scientific article on an obscure topic is to edit, groom and redo the figures for a new one culminating in (whoopee) redoing all the references and style in Harvard style for submission.

How ever will I live with all this excitement.

The wrong George

Sometimes I like how the world is set up - I need a part for my exercise machine - one of the front wheels that looks like a giant rollerblade wheel has come apart most spectacularly and I can't use it until we put a new wheel on it... Soooooo, I call the company that makes it, they look up the part and I arrange to have them directly mail 2 wheels to me for reasonable cost. No prob. Done. In a week I'll have a working elliptical again. There's a little voice in my head that can't help worry if they will send the wrong piece, but I doubt it. There's no other part on the machine that looks even remotely like a giant roller blade wheel, so I'm good I think :).

Then there's the opposite - 3 months ago my new gas stove came. It's lovely and black and will let me proof croissants. I have named it George. It hasn't been installed yet as our kitchen renos haven't happened yet (Dad is busy and can't help us out yet) but the side panels for the stove (it's a slide in model) have still not come yet. Nope. I have a stove with no sides. Silly I know...if I had it already installed I'd be royally pissed off by now. Being a buyer at work for stuff I know how and who to talk to nicely and how to call to get info and get parts and things that are hard to find...but in this case, because it was a very good deal through a friend of the family I can't just call people up and hassle them about parts. Annoying.
Luckily (well OK maybe not) the stove is still uninstalled, so it hasn't become a huge issue yet, but if the side panels still aren't here by the time I install the stove I will be calling people directly and raising holy hell....who sells a stove without a side on it? Seriously...

Ah well...deep breaths...on to things I *can* do something about.

Now that our house painting is done (yay), this weekend I hope to attack our yard...now that the vines have lost their leaves it looks like a sad weed collection. I'll fix that to a certain degree tomorrow :).
Then...a BBQ, and perhaps a beer, before I begin to attack my craft room and office. There is much to do, and staring at it only makes me crosseyed and avoid it. I have windows to make and need my room functional. Plus we have grand plans to set up the elliptical (once it's fixed) down by my room so it's a little workout area out of the way of the living room. Step 82 of a process we are probably at about...oh step...32 of. :)
I keep getting ideas that require the completion of other ideas. It eggs you on to finish them, but man...sure doesn't let you slack off for any length of time. Plus it makes you slightly nutty until it's done...I mean nuttier. Yes. That's it...

Our House

We're done the painting!

Oh.
Yeah!

Whew!

So close...we are nearly nearly done painting. I can hardly believe it.

*grin*

Sunday and monday were hardcore get up early and paint like a nutter days. It nearly rained sunday which would have screwed it all up, but luckily it just spit a bit and stopped, so the painting could keep going. If it weren't for a family supper last night we'd be finished.
As it is, all that is left is a second coat on the little bit of purple on the front of the house, as well as the mailbox and the metal sun that is for the front of the house. About an hour left...not too shabby. I had to laugh as we ordered in chinese on sunday and the guy couldn't find the house at first as we'd taken down the house numbers to paint...heh...oops. We realised we'll have to find some new ones pretty quick. J's brother works with aluminum so we might ask him to cut out some numbers for us at the shop this week. Then we could design them however we'd want...we're thinking big and blocky, kinda like the old space 1999 numbers.

I have to say, I'm so impressed with the way it turned out. We did good! It looks really good, and we've already gotten random compliments on the purple from people walking by :). Our neighbors were out doing renos too, so we got to chat with them while working...made the time go by faster.
It's odd- we rented 15 feet of scaffolding as J figured it would make it easier for me than teetering on a ladder, but it was so huge, heavy and bulky that in the end only used one layer of it and then teetered all over on the ladders of varying heights as we would have had to take it apart and move it 3 times...WAY too much work. In the end, J was the official "hold the ladder so I don't die" person while I scampered up and down and all over the place and we got it done. I'm so proud of this - it was a lot of work, but we did it. It sure takes a lot out of you to work that hard, but it's very satisfying to look at it and think "Wow. I did that".

Last night I was so tired could have gone to bed right after supper :) Today I'm still tired and a bit stiff, but I'll live I think . I'm taking the afternoon off work to take back the scaffolding and finish the last of the purple painting while it's still nice out. I've come to realise that the weather forecast is utterly meaningless, so I'll just take what I can get and finish up the painting today while the weather holds, as I don't know when I'll get to it otherwise.

The front door is already a fine deep purple.
Yay.

Oh my giddy arms

Well...day one of house painting is over. I am pleased to say I have scraped all the trim and sanded, washed and filled gaps and cracks in the house. I even primed it all. So tomorrow I actually get to paint. The fun part...Cool.

Our house is conveniently facing east. This means I can paint the back of the house until about noon and then switch over to the front after that...avoiding direct sunlight is a good thing. Today was a beautiful day actually - sunny and about 26 degrees. I got started in the morning before it got too hot and then took a french toast break at lunch. I kept at it until supper when we ran to get a pizza and pick up the accent color of paint for the house. Then I did the priming.
I am very pleased by the colour - not only is it called Morpheus (didn't know that until I looked at the chip later) but it's something new. Our house is grey and red and we were going to keep it that way...but then J and I got talking right before we went to get the paint...and decided there was no reason it had to stay that way. So very soon it will be grey and dark purple. This is infinitely cooler than just making it exactly the same as it was before.
PURPLE!
Eccentricity here I come!

:)

I only got a pint of purple paint....at the time I was sure it was enough. Now I'm wondering what I was smoking when I decided that...I'll be pushing it to not need more. The thing is when we got to the till (we were in a rush) the lady said "did you know it is 2 for 1 paint today?" Grrr...no no one (not even the lady who mixed the paint) mentioned it but it was too late to go back. I'm sure I'd have enough paint if I had 2 pints...but now I'm not sure I will...just cuz. It's not a big deal really - more an inconvenience of having to go back, as a pint is only $15 -I'm more annoyed at the lack of mention of it. I wish we'd had time to go back and get another one...oh well. Should have just gotten a gallon. I just hate adding to my 1/3 full paint can collection in the basement...

Now? I'm done for the day (8AM-8PM.Whew!) so I'm relaxing after a nice shower with a rum & coke and all you interweb pixels. My arms ache from all the scraping so I am going to do some stretching and then I do believe I will go put on some music and read a book.
Later taters.

You have to believe in it to make it real

I am often reminded of how our current Canadian government really should not be in power. They've only been able to have minority governments the last few elections because not enough people really want them, but there's no one else they can get behind either as the other parties have gotten new leaders or are trying to build up new platforms and policies. After the headlines yesterday, I'm hoping they just tipped the scales against themselves, although I'm cynical and think a lot of people won't bother to read the news and get the whole story.

If you own a home here in Canada I'm sure you've heard a lot about the one year home reno Tax credit: Spend over $1000 (and up to $15000) on renovating your home and you'll get 10% back as a non-refundable tax credit this tax season as long as you have the receipts to prove it. For people like me who are doing stuff to their house anyways, it's a nice bonus...and we're just doing a small amount of work - there are people going all out and hoping for a nice big tax rebate. It's all part of the economic stimulus package to help fight the recession.

But here's the thing - even though we've all been told to keep our receipts (there are even envelopes at stores like Rona and Home Depot to put them in) I just learned that IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY EXIST YET. Yeah - it is just a bill that will *maybe* be passed in fall session of Parliament. And here's the other shitty thing - it's technically a budget bill, so if the opposition wants to make a vote of non-confidence in the government to call an election (which they plan to and I think should, as Harper and his government are not doing very much) they will have to vote this down to do so. There's no saying they can't pass it if/when they get elected if they beat the current government, but it's turning all of this tax credit business into a sneaky manipulative election ploy. It's taking the average Joe and making them put their homes and $$ ahead of the politics of the country and what is best for all of us. Harper is trying to make the opposition look bad in the eyes of the public and playing manipulative games and creepy politics to keep in power.

So here's my little rant to you Stephen Harper - Stop screwing around and playing schoolyard games to stay in power. You're the leader of our country. Lead it. How about you look after the country? If you were even slightly good at this we wouldn't be itching to get you out of power and let someone else have a go at it so they could actually DO something.

Boo to you I say. You and your little dog too.

Blowing Smoke...

A friend sent this to me. I find it amusing that right after this, I read the Bag Lady's blog where she wondered where the phrase "under the weather" came from. Inquiring minds want to know :)
Bizarre. I find it amusing to know that there always has been, and likely will be, quacks and odd ideas as well as bizarre treatments thought up by people trying to feel better. After having a lingering cold for 2 weeks, if someone I respected told me that this smoke puffer would help me I do believe I'd almost try it...hell I'm almost considering trying a neti pot, so you know I'm reaching!

I love the origins of old sayings. My brother told me about the origin of "cold enough to freeze the brass balls off a monkey" a while ago. Sometimes the truth is even really logical...and much weirder than what you can imagine :)

Poh Tay Toes

My Mom used to make riced potatoes when I was little - they're my Dad's favourite. They are a bit of a fuss as her wrists are weak, but she would make them as a treat. She wouldn't add any milk or butter to mash them...just as is with a bit of butter.
Oh.
Yum.
I tend to wax on about how I love riced potatoes more often than I thought, apparently, as when my brother was away last weekend he saw a potato ricer in a store and picked me up one.
What a guy. I'm so excited...
You can guess what I'm making for supper tomorrow :)

Soon...meh

I'm psyching myself up for "paint the house weekend". Weather looks nice...I haven't been able to get as much prep as I'd like, but after the Franz Ferdinand concert tomorrow it will be friday PM to prep and then 3 days of painting. I need to rent some scaffolding, but so be it. Hopefully I won't fall off...
But even tho I'd rather be up at the lake with my parents this weekend I want this DONE. Sooooo I will do it. Nothing else for it.
With any luck it will all get finished...then my neighbors will only hate us for the state of our yard and not the state of our house!

Whenever I embark on reno stuff on this level I'm really beginning to appreciate just HOW much my Dad did when I was little. J is not a reno sort of guy - he's the king organiser & electronics whiz. Me? I'm the painty, power tools sort. I love to do this stuff, but for me the planning is the worst...once I begin I usually leap in with both feet and finish it off well. I'm just a bit nervous about being out in the sunshine...the scaffolding for rent has no rails...so no beer for me :). I've tried to do the Tom Sawyer thing, but I'm not willing to guilt anyone into helping me with this...everyone nearby can't paint well, so I'd just end up being frustrated(Me? Perfectionist? *whistle*). I'd love to pay someone to do it...but hahahahahahaaaaa I laugh. You do what ya gotta do.

As a plus though, the ugly "spanish tile" house numbers I loathe so much conveniently broke (he heh oops >:D )when I took them down to scrape and prime.
I'm trying to think of how to do new house numbers...any ideas for new ones?

This one time, at Ubercamp...

I just had a nice weekend away near Slave Lake - last camping trip of the summer.
The weather was great and the friends were wonderful (as always). I got to visit and catch up with people I haven't seen in ages, and we all had a great time camping together at Ubercamp. I wish it had been longer.
Slave lake is such a massive lake that it is always very humid near there. While it got up to the high 20s during the day it cooled off to ~6 degrees at night. This made for the most amazing layer of foggy mist for about 3m high in all directions...yet you could still see the starry sky and milky way above you...beautiful! We remembered LED rechargable christmas lights this year, so we strung them around so we could find our campsite, even in the mist! It was like wandering about in a zombie film...only without the zombies. I definitely prefer the lack of zombies on a camping trip.

We took monday off to relax and settle back in. That was nice idea...
As an added bonus, today is J's birthday, and the lighting gear I ordered for him arrived in time (muahahah) so he is spending his birthday today playing with his new kit. He took his birthday off so he can stay at home and relax. I'm jealous! I got up and made him breakfast on my way out the door today - blueberry lemon scones... Mmm...

Happy Birthday J. Love you.