Seven Ravens?

Whew! What a day. I feel like I haven't slowed down and won't have time to for a while. When and how did this happen, I wonder to myself? One day I am bobbing along doing not much of anything, the next...

Wham! Go, go, go! 

The regular routines of getting the kids up and out to start the day with some kind of breakfast thrown their way. A detour to the vet was thrown in today (checkup - no worries). I also got to dabble in paints, as an art show is coming up that my workplace will be participating in. By trying to play catch-up, I get a few more hours which are always welcome. Tuesday and Thursdays are my regular working days {work like a dog ;) }. At this rate I am going to have to invest in a new wardrobe almost. Messy, messy me is going to trash some of the questionable clothes in my repertoire of staples in the closet. I truly am not complaining though. While getting my hands dirty sometimes causes me deep-seated angst that rears its ugly head from my childhood, I am getting over it. Enough that I even volunteered to work today. Not Wednesday though. I have a date to take my girlies to visit their new school that they will be attending in September. Ahhhh! Run screaming from the thought that my little ones are growing up!!! It will all be better after I lay my head on the yoga mat that afternoon. Ohmmm. Yes.

So, I do have to admit one quick thing, before I sign off my ramble for the evening. Normally this post would have been a book review, as tonight I met with my book club. Alas, I fail today. Our book for the month was entitled "Seven Ravens: Two summers in a life by the sea", by Lesley Choyce. I have to admit that I have not finished the book as of yet. Really, I think I will struggle to finish the book. Normally I can find something good to say about most books.  By the description on the back jacket of the book, I was really looking forward to the book as well. It described the book as one man's journey through a difficult time (an undisclosed crisis) and how he works through it. 

Alas, it was all lies. Perhaps not lies, but I imagined that the book was going to be some kind of journey where the author was going to find wonderful epiphanies about life. If he did, he did not share them with us the readers. In discussing the book with fellow members of my book club, there were many who had high hopes and envisaged perhaps something akin to  "Eat, Love, Pray", by Elizabeth Gilbert. Not by a long shot. Sorry Lesley, but your book was as dry as dirt in my humble opinion. I hate admitting that (especially as I choose this particular book), but I almost fell asleep reading it last night in a desperate attempt to finish it for this evening's festivities. My eyes refused to cooperate and were shutting of their own volition. They did not want to be assaulted by the boring text and refused to play. I never fall asleep while reading, but I gave last night. Sigh... I will try to finish the book at some point, but I think that perhaps it is just time to move on. Better luck for the next book. 

As per our discussion this evening, perhaps we will just hold out hopes that year 2 of our little book club will bring some finer literature to the table. We are going to go the route of genres next year. My genre is poetry, which I love, but fear may be painful for some in our clan. Perhaps if you have any favourite poets out there you could send me a line for me to entice my reluctant readers with. What say you?

   

Project Friday

So, I lied. There was more painting to be done.

This time I pulled out the big guns though.

I am not messing around this time. It is time to call in the professionals. They work cheap (Bear Paws and juice boxes). I will let you know how it turns out. Not sure how fast they work. If they are anything like their Mother, it may take a while...

:)

STOP THE PRESSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Put your paintbrushes down
Slowly, slowly. That's it.

It is done.

That's right. You heard me. The last coat of paint is drying on the bay window. The brushes and rollers are downstairs washed and drying. And I don't even have to go flying out the door to pick up the kids and deliver them to a wet world. AMAZING. To be fair the room has not yet been put back together, but OMG the paint cans are GONE!! I have even hung a couple of pictures. I haven't tried my hand at the electrical yet, but I thought I would share (just in case that step goes badly). AHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Exhausted fingers bang out a feeble attempt at a blog post - Day 6 in Reno Land

   I am exhausted. It is 9:05 as I write this and I think I might just go to bed when I finish my post. I have no witticisms tonight. I continued on my quest to redo my living room. The girls and I went to buy more paint this morning and also picked up two new light fixtures for the front door and hallway. We returned home for lunch and when they went down for nap, I grudgingly picked up a paint brush again. Today's task was trim. I suppose I only started around one this afternoon, but I kept at it till dinner. Even then, I only stopped long enough to eat my gourmet chicken pie and noodles and sauce, then pushed myself back to the task at hand. By just before bedtime all the crown mold and baseboard was painted, as well as all the trim around doorways. Perhaps I just work slow, but alas I did not get the doors painted (there are 7 of them). Also, I need to put a second coat of paint on the half wall at the front door and sand the bay window. Of course once the bay window is sanded, it too will need to see paint. Tonight I just don't care anymore though. I did manage to swiffer a little bit of the floor and dust the wine rack, cabinet and end table. They were put back into place. The vacuum needs to make an appearance though before too much more can be moved back into place. I cannot lift another finger though tonight. I give up. And as for tomorrow? On the seven day after creating my world, I shall rest. I promised the girls we would do something fun. They have put up with a lot while I have been busy transforming our world. Either outside play (skating, snowmen?) or a play space of some kind is in order. Monday is another day...

Getting there - Day 4

   So I figured I would inundate you with more gory details of my week's progress. I managed to get out and buy another gallon of paint this morning, as well as supplies for dinner this evening. I returned home with all my purchases, bent my head to the floor, took a deep breath and picked up the paint brush. It began. I edged everything, blotting out the peach from my world. I rolled the edger around and around, but also wielded the paint brush into corners it could not reach or precision areas around the ceiling. I just painted the ceiling yesterday and damned if I wanted to do that again! Careful, careful and around we go! Amazingly, I finally met up with the beginning. I put the paint brush down and turned to my next weapon of choice; the roller.Ah, a beautiful thing that just seems to make work go quicker. Slip roller into tray, saturate roller with paint, whisk roller to a new spot on the wall and continue. Roll, roll, roll. The radio occasionally rhymed off the hour and I half-hazardly noted the minutes disappearing in my day.

   "Must keep rolling", I advised myself. "I will feed you when we are done.(if there is any edible food in the fridge)."

   What a slave driver! I reached the end of the room and the end of the can of paint at miraculously the same time. Oh joy, oh bliss the can covered it! Even better, I could eat! No rest yet though. I had 45 minutes to eat, make dinner, clean the bathroom and somewhat mop the floors. I slapped together a mediocre sandwich of cheese, pickles and lettuce (home-made pickles don't you know!) and ate it while I dumped beef into a pot. Chili was on the menu for the adults and the children were to dine on gourmet hot dogs. Yum. When the onions and tomatoes sizzled and simmered I retreated to the bathroom. I cannot stand a dirty bathroom and the dust was killing me! So, while occasionally popping out to stir the chili pot and through in a spice or two, I whicked away the offending drywall dust that had accumulated everywhere. With the bathroom more sparkly, I tasted the chili, added more chili powder and pulled out my swiffer wet jet. I feel silly for even owning one of these new fangled fad-things, but it did the trick in the hallway. I only managed to unearth the original wood in the hallway and add more spices to the chili pot before it was time to go. The kid's daycare was closing early, so It would all just have to do. Here is what you have been missing.

So far I have one coat of paint throughout, but another coat is yet to be done. If I could finish there I would be thrilled, but alas, there is much trim to paint. Baseboard, crown mold and a bay window need freshening up before I can call this little project near to done. What else could I possibly have to do, you ask? Just the last ugly task that will probably just about kill me. Yes, to clean. Lord, I wish I was a better house wife, but I hate to clean. Bathrooms are an exception, but the rest of my house challenges me. At present there is a nice fat coating of dust on just about everything. The floor is the easy part. I tried to be smart and move plants to safer climes, but there are a few that I could write my initials on at present. If I can keep my momentum going, it will be a wonderful, deliriously happy day that I will be able to celebrate, but I also know me too well. I seem to have a knack of not quite finishing projects (note: my basement renovations from last year were immaculate and done, but for the runner on the stairs, that never got purchased, let alone installed ...sigh) Please let this project wind up smoothly and completely done. Please, please and soon! I know that my will will fade before I can blink and I dread another unfinished mess. so to paint again I go... tomorrow!

Step 1: Ugly wallpaper gone

Oh my GOD! What have I done? This is going to be SOOooooo much work! Ackk.

What pray tell am I talking about? This...

And this...

And even down here...

   Renovations begin again. The wallpaper is gone thanks to help for my good friend Nancy, but the work is just beginning. The wallpaper peeled off a good chunk of paint with it, thankfully taking the backing with it, but jeez! Now I have to sand the walls! The mirror that had been at the end of the wall was about fifty million pounds (give or take), therefore absolutely monstrous plugs were used to hold it up. They came out easy enough, but I am going to be playing in mud for a while before I can even think about paint. A little TSP has been suggested as well, as I should clean the walls (step 4 in case you were counting- Oh you're not? Well I am!). Finally I will get a chance to wield a paint brush and roller, when the ceiling gets slathered. Then, finally then, the walls will see some colour (I bought paint that has primer in it, so at least that is one step I get to skip - I'll let you know how it turns out if you are interested.). Hopefully the colour I have chosen works out or else I will be back to the paint store to stare at the wall of paint chips for another hour. The colour I chose was Sand Fossil. Sounds exciting doesn't it? Yeah, it's beige. Whipdee, but I think it will work with what else is going on in the room. I won't see it for a while yet though, so we will see. So, home stretch, but not quite done at that point. Oh no, I have trim to tackle as well. I am sure there are many of you out there that are experts and have no problem with precision, but this is where it gets niggly in my books. There is crown mold and baseboard and a bay window with a nice window nook. All need to get painted. To top it all off, I have this...

That I do not want to deal with at all. This wall is at my front door and all it serves to do is block out valuable sunlight. I would love to tear it down, but still want something there. Just not this. For the interim, it will probably see paint as well though. Perhaps in the spring I will have it reconstructed, but today I shake my head at the tasks in front of me. I bemoaned that this would take me months to complete to Nancy and David as I left them this afternoon.

   "It has to be done by Thursday when we come for dinner!" Nancy stated with a smirk.

Groan! I think I have to go now. I have some mud that is calling my name...

November begins

Oops, I missed yesterday. I have noticed that my blog entries had been more numerous, so aspired that perhaps I would write every day in the month of November. Oh well. Maybe almost every day. Perhaps the month of December I will be that much better at this, so therefore will be writing something meaningful every day.

Or maybe not.

So far not inspired tonight. Perhaps it is because I am battling a cold. Perhaps because I am distracted by a friend on FB. Perhaps because I worked today and am tired. Yes, you heard me correct, I worked today. Just a short-term thing, but right up my alley. I am back to the land of messy messy painting and solving all the problems of the universe over a cup of joe and a paint brush. Art therapy began today and will last for 3-4 weeks, maybe longer if I am lucky. I don't get paid well, but I do get paid to help create nifty, crafty, colouful pieces. Yeah for me. Especially as it is only 2 days a week. Perfect!