Happy Saturday To All

Merry xmas eve to one and all!  Today Santa brought me a new floor.  The jerk could have installed it for me, but noooooo, he had to be all, "Do it yourself.  Ho-ho-ho."  Bastard.  Oh well. 

As you can tell from the above we laid hardwood today.  We started in the hallway as that is usually the biggest pain in the ass.  We were hoping to get into the small bedroom, but alas, time caught up with us so we stopped just at the door.  I am hoping that we can finish the small bedroom tomorrow, and if we are very lucky, maybe even start on the second one.  But I'm not holding my breath.  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the work in progress. 

Oh...did I mention that laying hardwood in the hallway is a pain in the ass, the knees, and the back.  Toodles.

Happy Winter Solstice

Yippee!  Today the sun is finally going the other direction.  Which is pretty fine with me even though I am still on sabbatical I don't like the whole concept of the day being so short.  I know one way to help solve it would be for me to go to bed earlier and get up earlier so I have more daylight during the day, but I don't want to.  I spent soooooooo many years having to get up at 4:30am for work that the thought of having to get up early now still gives me the heebie-jeebies. 

It was a pretty warm day today so I took the hound and walked out to the back forty and around and about.  The hound was beyond thrilled.  She did some serious jumping in puddles, ditches, creeks, and the lake.  I decided that I needed to cut down some stumps that my cutter-snipper couldn't get at so I fired up the chain saw and went to town on them.  I had to stop because the chain decided to come off the bar, and wouldn't you know it, once I got it back on and working again it started to rain, so I went back into the shack and baked some chocolate drop cookies.  So I am like a combination of Dora Domestica and Paul Bunyan, you can call me Dora Bunyan. 

Me, and Mr Master Of All Trades, worked on the plumbing for the washer and dryer today.  This means that I might actually be able to dry clothes during the winter and not have them smell like moldy basement and wood smoke.  And...the best thing of all...I will probably be able to wash more than just a pair of pants and a T-shirt at one time as the washing machine and dryer are like regular sized ones!  It makes me warm and tingly all over. 

Kitpu Manor, aka The Eastern Shack, is still very much a work in progress, much more progress is needed to get it to the point where it is presentable, but things are still moving.  *Knock on wood* it looks like I found a person who can actually finish my kitchen for a reasonable cost.  This is a very good thing because it means that we do not have to do the cupboards ourselves, that is one stress I wasn't looking forward to at all.  The guy said he was going to start the cupboards mid-February, which means that we will have to rip out the existing cupboards, rip out a wall or two, take down the ceiling, rip the lino off the floors, change out a window, extend the wall, add R20 insulation, put up drywall, paint, redo the ceiling, paint the ceiling, change out the lights, plumb in a place for a dishwasher, and put down the hardwood all by the end of February.  Groan.  All this while not having a kitchen to cook in.  It looks like we will be barbecuing a lot.  Hopefully there won't be too many nor'easters to make it a lot less fun. 

Lookie Lookie Another House

I spent the majority of today checking up on houses that are not mine, and will not be mine.  You see, my darling child is contemplating making the move from all the way up north, and on the other side of the country, to all the way over here.  So she is in the process of purchasing a house, and because she is all of six, or seven, thousand kilometers away we have been checking things out for her.  So we spent about two hours today following a building inspector around a house that she is planning on purchasing.  Well I should really say that the hubby spent two hours following the inspector around, and I spent two hours chatting up the present owners.  Groan!  In retrospect it probably would have been better had the hubby chatted up the owners and I followed the inspector around, he is by far the more social of the two of us.  Of course that would have meant that I would have had to speak to the inspector guy which I probably wouldn't have much liked either.  I guess either way I would have had to have been social. 

Then we took a drive over to another house and traipsed through it as well.  I've decided that wandering through houses that you have no intention of buying isn't all that fun.  In fact it is down right boring.  If it were a castle, or a haunted house, or an old jail or something it may make it more interesting.  Hopefully that part is all done and the negotiations will be wrapped up quickly, that way I can go back to being my usual antisocial, chainsaw wielding, xmas cookie baking, painter self. 

The other day I posted a picture of the fearsome Hellhoundicus, so today I thought I would attach a picture of the other fearsome creature which lurks in Kitpu Estates.  Karson the Cat (aka Satan).  

Baby Its Cold Outside

Today while painting the new closet I was listening to CBC radio and had to laugh out loud, or as I should say, LOL.  After the news they gave a quick rundown of the weather, like they do every half hour or so on CBC, and the guy said, "Tomorrow evening it is going to get very, very, very cold.  The temperatures will drop between -4 and -7."  Lucky I wasn't in the process of drinking something as I'm sure that liquid would have come out my nose.  I really want to know how -4 to -7 rates three verys when someone is describing cold?  I must admit that so far this winter we cannot really say that it has been winter the temperatures have rarely dropped below zero but honestly....very, very, very cold?  To me -40 is very, very, very cold, -20 is very cold, -10 is cold (or freakin cold if it also has a high humidity and wind but that is just me not being used to wet climes). 

Did I mention that I was painting today?  The painting stage is kind of like a double edged sword, on the one hand, when you are at the painting stage you are at the, almost done, stage.  But on the other hand you have to take a brush and paint primer on all the corners and edging, then you take a roller and do the rest of the walls/ceilings.  Then you wait for it to dry.  Then you take a brush and cut-in the edges with your colour, then you take a roller and do the rest of the walls/ceilings.  Then you take a brush and cut-in the edges with your other colour, and then you take a roller and do the rest of the walls.  Then you wait for it to dry.  Then you start all over again with your second coat of colour.  And if you happen to be a bit OCD this process may take awhile.  That is my way of saying that I have been painting for the past week or so.  Its a pain in the butt but I am liking the finished product. 

Unfortunately after all the painting is done we will be laying some hardwood flooring.  I say unfortunately because we happen to have all the flooring, but we happen to be using our cargo trailer for storage, which means that it is not in the house.  So next week sometime we will have the joy of hauling a couple of tons of hardwood flooring into the house.  Oh my aching back! oh my aching arms! Then we will get to lay all that hardwood flooring.  Oh my aching knees!  I'm sure that it will all be worth it but the thought of all that work is already making me tired. 

Speaking of being tired, I have been using my new chainsaw and it has been making the whole, cutting the new road experience, a whole heck of a lot easier.  I think I have about nine new piles of bucked up wood for next year's heating needs, and about two hundred meters of trail widened into a space which may eventually turn into a road. 

Here is a picture of a Hellhoundicus, a rare glimpse of the full grown ravenous creature in its natural state. 

And here is a picture of the painting stage of the back door. 

The Baby Jesus Killed Christmas

I don't know the conversation that took place before I arrived on the scene but what I heard between a mother and her very small child after I arrived in the aisle next to them left me feeling rage. 

Mother: "If your not good we are going to leave this store right away."

Child: "But mommy I want Elmo."

Mother: "I"m not buying you Elmo."

Child: "But mommy Jenny (Jimmy?) has one and Elmo is fun."

Mother: "How many times do I have to tell you that Elmo is not a toy we want in our house."

Child: (Big pouty lips and crossed arms)  "I'm gonna ask Santa for him."

Mother: "You know that the Baby Jesus spoke to Santa and told him that he was not allowed to bring little children Elmo."  (They move away still arguing.)

WTF?  Really?  So is Elmo like an evil toy now?  Is he corrupting all the children with his giggles and tickles?  Now don't get me wrong, personally I think that Elmo is pretty annoying, and his voice just bugs the shit out of me, but I'm not five.  I can see where a five year old might still like him.  And since when does the Baby Jesus have to intervene with Santa in the toy department?  Is it me or are people batshit crazy? 

Obviously some parents these days give no thought as to the stupid assed shit that spews out of their mouths.  I am a big proponent of telling kids "no" if you don't want them to have something.  If they are old enough you can tell them "no and why".  However I am not a big fan of telling kids "no because a fictitious deity has told a thinly disguised fictitious deity that what you want is off limits."  Do people not understand that little children are like sponges?

This kind of unthinking, crazy reasoning just opens the world up to more insanity.  The next thing you know people will be coming up with random rules around "no."

Like "no you can't wear makeup, and have a boyfriend, and if you do I have every right to drown you and your sisters and mother in a canal."  Or.

"No you are not allowed to learn to read and write because you are a woman, and if you do I have every right to beat, blind, maim, or kill you."

"No you cannot quit being an alter boy, no priest would do that to you, you are lying."

Oh just wait...

Beat The Outage

The wind she is a-blowin here today, I've already been out to the back deck three times to try and fix the barbeque cover and finally said, "Pffttt.  It can stay like that until it stops hurricaning."  Actually it is blowing so much that it blew the barbeque around in a 360 degree turn.  The chance of having a power outage soon is huge as I do happen to live in the land of power outages, so I have been doing a few things to try to prepare for darkness and coldness.  Although one good thing about today is that it is still relatively warm and I don't have to worry about the house freezing up.  Actually it's been almost four days since either of us felt the need to have heat on in the house. That is four more days extra of firewood we didn't have to burn.  So when the temperatures plummet and I feel the need for a burn I will have four more days before they find my frozen body wrapped in a duvet while wearing a winter parka.  That statement actually deserves an LOL as anyone who knows me knows that I am probably responsible for a large part of the "Global Warming" problem.  I think my body temperature can easily reach Fahrenheit 451 just through the sheer act of breathing.  If I go for a walk, well lets just say that the snow starts to melt, new growth appears on the trees, and you can actually hear the sounds of thermometers rising. 

We are heading into town today to have our final (I hope) discussion with our financial institution so we can put "the plan" into action.  Then I am going to go and pick up a few baking items because I have decided to do some xmas baking.  I haven't done xmas baking in almost 20 years, so it should be interesting.  (And when I say interesting I really mean it will be fun to start, then quickly I will become bored with the whole process, then frustrated, and then miffed.  {Can I still use the word miffed?  Or does that make me look like a dated dweeb?}) 

The wind is blowing so much that it is actually freaking the cat right out.  She has been screaming around the house in terror and trying to hide in places where she can't hear it moan.  Except she's a cat and she can hear flies walk across the ceiling, so good luck with that.  I had better post this before I crash. 

The Blues

For some reason, which makes no sense whatsoever, I feel kinda down today.  It makes no sense because, a) it was a bright sunshiney day today, b) there is no snow on the ground, c) when I took the hell hound for a walk in the back forty there was no snow there either, d) my new bed is arriving tomorrow, and being carried into the house by someone other than me, e) I actually managed to get a couple of gallons of paint in town without caving to the overwhelming craving for junk food.  So why do I feel down?  Is it because I didn't cave to my junk food craving?  Perhaps. 

Speaking of my junk food craving as of tomorrow morning I am officially modifying my present "no carb" diet.  Tomorrow is Saturday and is officially my cheat day anyway (I may actually try to use the word officially so much in this post that people will want to hit me with a two by four with nails sticking out of it.  Which is officially the board used by people, for people, who over use the word officially too many times in one paragraph.)  Anywho, as I was saying, tomorrow is officially my cheat day anyway so I can carb it up as much as I want, but I am finding that no carbs makes for a pukey feeling blogger.  Lately I've just been on the edge of ralfing every time I eat, even when its good for you type things.  This phenomena has finally reached the cognisant part of my brain where information is normally processed and actually absorbed.  My brain has decided that feeling pukey all the time is not good so I am going to reintroduce carbs into my life.  Yippee! 

Although I have lost a tad bit of weight, around six or seven pounds, I figure I could easily lose another hundred or so without endangering my health too much.  Well maybe a hundred is a bit of an exaggeration, maybe I could lose another ten and I would feel a bit better about things.  Although perhaps I should stop now as my clothes are starting to get a bit big on me and, dog forbid, I might actually have to go out and do some clothes shopping.  I hate shopping for clothes.  If I had someone to pull clothes off the rack and say that this would probably be the right size, right fit, and be in my price range, I may not hate it as much.  To me the sizes are just random numbers that someone picked by spinning a wheel and letting it stop on its own.  So I have no idea if I'm a size 10 or 110.  Plus to make is worse I am tall, taller than the average bear, so finding pants that have any kind of actual length to them is hell.  I used to be able to pick stuff up in those Big N Tall Girl shops but now every time I go into one I look around and everything looks like it is either designed for nerds or ninety year old ladies.  Plus....a pair of jeans may start at $200.00!  There is no way in hell I will pay even a quarter of that for a pair of jeans, most especially because I will probably be cutting trail in them, or painting walls, or ripping out floors, or baking something (when I can start baking again), or anything else which is not good for jeans that you pay $200 for.  As well the dress style I typically prefer is somewhere between ripped sweat pants and running Tshirts a commodity I'm afraid is pretty hard to find in most malls. 

Here is a haiku on today's subject.

Shopping is not fun
When clothes are the goal for me.
Holes are priced too high.

Morning With The MacDonald's

Leaves rustling in a light breeze woke Mar up from a deep sleep.  As usual she was unconscious one second, and fully awake the next, there was never any transition for Mar, no sleepy realization that she should slowly swim to the surface of her mind before discovering that she was fully awake.  "Zero to sixty," her mother always used to say.  That was true then, and true today all these years later. She watched as dappled sunlight spackled the wall across the room creating a movie to match the windy sounds. 

Mar snuggled further into her cocoon of fleece and down enjoying the moment of peace.  "Mommy, I'm hungry."  And there goes the peace. 

"Mommy are you ever going to get out of bed?" her youngest one asked, creases still lining her face from her pillow. 

"Go get mommy a cup of coffee, no sugar, just a little bit of cream.  And while your at it I'd like two eggs soft poached and rye bread toasted and lightly buttered."

Both children looked at her with wide eyes, their small bud lips round with surprise.  "But mommy," Adele said, uncertainty making her pause. "I fought we wasn't alloweded in the kitchen wif out you?"

Mar looked at her children and giggled, she pulled both into her arms and snuggled them under the sheets with her, their little warm bodies twining themselves around her arms and waist.  "Mommy was just kidding," she said breathing in the sweet scent of their hair. 

"Silly mommy," Niala said. "Can I watch my show?"

Mar groaned.  "No show, not until its time."  She could see the protest starting to form on that little pink mouth.  "I think I see the tickle monster," she said. 

Both children shrieked with delight and the bed became a stormy sea in the midst of the calm room.  All three were still laughing when Mar led them into the bathroom where they showered together and sang the "Tug Boat" song until everyone was shampooed and squeaky clean. 

Mar was just tying up Niala's robe when, Adam, their Labrador retriever walked into the room.  "Bailey called while you were in the shower," he said.  "He'll be here by eleven to pick the girls up."

"Great," Mar muttered.  As usual, Bailey the coward, had to get the dog to do his dirty work for him. 

Cheat Day

Today is Saturday, it started out as a foggy, grey morning and turned into a sunny, blue, warm day.  I had a small fire on this morning to take the chill out of the air and decided to throw a couple more logs on to warm the place up nicely.  It was a bit of a mistake.  The sun came out, and as the front of the house is almost perfectly situated to take full advantage of the passive solar heat of a winter day, the house went from warmish to hottish.  I think it finally topped out at around 29 degrees.  It didn't help that I had the oven turned on to bake a cake, then roast a roast.  At one point I was running around in shorts and a bra. 

I am still on my new diet so today is also the day that I call my "cheat day" which means that I can eat everything, and anything that my little heart desires.  And I have to tell you, my heart is full of some serious desires!  Most especially anything which has to do with carbs.  This diet that I am following, as you may have figured out from that statement is a no-carb diet.  No pasta, no potatoes, no rice, no cereal, no bread, no fun.  Actually it hasn't been as bad as I originally thought it would be, reason being is because I am not hungry while following the rules. Never having been much of a diet girl I was expecting the worst, turns out that being allowed to eat as much as you want is a tactic that works for me.  So today for breakfast I had coffee, a piece of pumpkin pie, and oatmeal with rye toast.  Then I ate lunch, spaghetti and sauce, not because I was hungry but because I wanted the spaghetti.  Then for supper I had roast beef, mashed potatoes, turnips, and a huge piece of chocolate cake.  Then I had another piece.  Now I feel slightly nauseous and ill.  Pig out day, aka cheat day, can be hard on a person. 

We had company over for dinner, it was nice to be social for once, and it was nice having great company.  Hmmm...perhaps being social is something that I should start to reintroduce into my life of exile and neglect.  Both the dog and cat were equally as thrilled as they had a buddy to gnaw on and otherwise harass for awhile.  Someone other than each other that is.

The good news is that because of the warm weather we had all day most of that white stuff has melted away.  As far as I am concerned it can stay that way...away.  Winter bad.  Autumn good.    Well the ole eye lids are starting to only open to half so I best be wishing all a good night.  Good night all. 

Winter Has Spread Its Ugly Seed

Yes, sadly, winter has finally arrived this morning, and as far as I am concerned it can f**k right off again.  I hear from the weather witches on CBC radio that it is supposed to turn to rain over night and then clear up by tomorrow afternoon.  I hope those lying sacks of donkey droppings are right.  In the meantime we are in the middle of a "snow warning" and all the local schools are closed.  What a bunch of wuss bucket weenies.  I grew up in northern Ontario during the supposed "mini ice age" and the whole time I was going to school they only closed it once, because of a broken water line.  The rest of the time, be it -40 or snowing like the white witch was ruling the land the busses ran, the schools were open, and the small meat popsicles that we were trudged off to school.  Do I sound bitter?  I'm not, just saying. 

Today is going to be a stay at home kinda day, I will probably don some sort of winter gear later on and go for a trudge into the bush so the hellhound can go for a bit of a walk and wear off some of her pent up energy, but other than that, no trail building or wood chopping.  Oh and speaking of wood chopping, I used my new chainsaw yesterday for the first time.  I am in love.  It cuts like butter.  It is light, it actually cuts where I want it to, and the best part, I can actually start it all by my onesies.  I am hoping that when the snow f**ks off I can go out and do a bit of cleaning on the first part of my trail.  Alders begone!

Our cat went in yesterday to be spayed, I dropped her off in the morning and picked her up in the evening.  The told me to keep her quiet for the evening, so I put her in a room with a bit of food and water, her poop box and her bed, mostly to stop the hellhound from harassing the shit out of her.  She was not a happy cat.  Not even a little bit.  There was a bit of yowling going on.  You know how people say that cats don't like to be around people, its a lie.  Anyway this morning she is back being her annoying self and trying to piss me off every five minutes.  Well I must go and check out life. 

I noticed that I had a spelling type-o in the title.  Originally I laughed and was going to leave it, but the OCD side of me made me change it.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Morning

If there was some way of taking this morning and putting it into a bottle so I could enjoy it over and over I would. What, you ask, is so wonderful about this moment in time which is so worthy of bottling and becoming known under some pretentious name such as “Chateau eau November 21, 2011” a subtle blend of dark grey skies, gusting winds, and whinging dog. Well my friends it is a combination of an empty house, which at this time holds no guilt producing, Work Which Needs Doing, sitting in a corner panting goo all over the floor. There does seem to be this bright shining orb of creativity gently bouncing from one foot to the other just at the back of my brain (somewhere between Betelgeuse and my cerebral cortex) saying, “Use me I’m ready to go and I'm yours to do what you will with me!” And it is the exact perfect time of the day where my body and mind seem to function at its best. Perhaps it is because it is the day after my cheat day and my body is experiencing the euphoria of carb loading.

This feeling of solitude and bliss will not last long, the empty house, is an anomaly as the husband will soon be home from his appointed task of ‘Helping the neighbour move his shit house’. The lurking guilt producing Work will manifest itself as ‘Wood which needs piling in the back forty’, and my creativity will start to feel slighted and decide that as usual, “I suck.” Then in a huff it will stop bouncing and fold itself in half exactly seven times where a picture of a middle finger pointing skyward will be printed on the only side I will be able to see.

So I have decided with great foresight to take advantage of the situation and sit down and do a bit of writing. To be honest I am surprised that I decided to do the, blog writing, instead of the, short story writing, or the, novel writing, thing. You see I have a completed novel sitting in my head waiting for the day where I will actually sit down and start to write it. I have been dying to get at it but the circumstances of my life just keep interfering with the process. You see, for years and years, and years I’ve always had this habit where I would go for a run, or go for a long walk, or go for a swim, or go and work out in the gym, put the body on auto pilot then work on a story. I found that it made the time go by faster while I was out torturing myself, and the additional oxygen I was sucking in seemed to help my brain function better. Then when the story was ready I would sit down and type like crazy until all the words in my head were sitting on the screen looking smug and self satisfied. I’d love to tell you that I did that every time, but alas, over the years many a story has became permanently lodged in my skull and have never actually made it to the outside world. If they had I’d probably have a plethora of novels to my name by now and possibly a small villa in the Hawaiian islands somewhere. (That’s my way of saying that said novels would be of interest to other folk who would pay money for them.) But knowing that my time is limited I guess made my decision to write that which when interrupted will not make me crazy with an insane rage. And, as some of my readers have recently pointed out, (thank you so much for that by the way), writing anything at all is better than not writing at all. And blog writing can actually be considered creative so quit my whining and get on with it as I have many, many years of actual writing ahead of me. The good thing about the whole blog thing is that I don’t feel too obligated about making sure that my grammar is grammatical, or that my sentences flow, make sense, or need to be artistic or pleasing to the senses. So in essence blog writing is exactly like the way I think.  Erratic, spontaneous, in serious need of spell check, and slovenly.

Next week is going to be a full one here at Kitpu Estates, starting on Monday we are off to our first financial institute to see what kind of “PLAN” they are going to come up with to make “OUR” money work for us. Yeah I know, ha-ha, it will be more like, “How can we take all their money, use it to our best advantage while leaving them with a pittance and grateful for our help.” One institute gave us three pages of items they needed in order for them to “Better Understand” what our needs were. Many of my replies ended up being, “What do you need this information for?” I mean seriously, why do they need to know how many pets we have and what their names are? Okay, so maybe it wasn’t quite that invasive, but it was getting pretty close.

Then, queue dramatic music here, Karson the Cat, is off to get spayed. And for those who know me as a, non-cat person, it will come as a surprise to note that I am a little apprehensive for the critter. I mean she is so tiny and furry and vulnerable. Don’t get me wrong, she is a cat, and as such is a major pain in the ass, sometimes a pain in the hand, or a pain in the ankle when she attacks me and wraps her claw infested legs around me, but nevertheless I kinda feel bad about being the person who makes the decision to inflict pain on her. I had no qualms about taking the hellhound in and having her baby making gear removed, why the hell should I care about a cat? I must be getting all soft and mushy on the inside. Perhaps this last birthday did something to my brain.

Speaking of birthday’s, I recently had one (which reminds me, I still haven’t received the yachts, bearer bonds, new cars, and other offerings from my readers. Fear not, there is still time and I will not think any less of you for getting my presents here late.) Anyway, my hubby, the love of my life, gave me a chain saw for my birthday. I know what you are thinking, “A chain saw? Can you use it on him?” You are thinking that it is not really a very thoughtful present, but you would be wrong, most especially if you knew the thought process which a human male of Anglo-French decent, who grew up enveloped by the chemical stench of a pulp mill intensive town, surrounded by fish, uses. Last week we were out in the bush, working on the trail which will eventually become the back part of the road on our land, he was using his big manly type chain saw and cutting down, big manly type trees, meanwhile I was using a small chain saw doing what is called “limbing & bucking”. His chain saw was cutting through bark, and pulp, and other types of tree guts, mine was like I was using a butter knife to try and saw through branches. There I was sweating up buckets, fogging up glasses, taking life and limb into my hands, but not cutting anything. It would have been faster had I used the chain saw like an ax and tried to chop the damn things off. Or better yet poured the gas out of the saw and dropped a match onto the tree and saw.  So my honey got me a new chain saw. It’s red. It matches my car. It had better work.

Well it looks like my time here is done, I just heard a vehicle pull into the drive. It’s been a slice (for me at least). So until next time when we meet again, “It was a dark and stormy morn. The Writer sat in front of her computer screen pondering the quality of dead hornets caught between the window panes…”

It's A Mushy Tale

Hmmm...not sure WTF is going on with this blogging thing but my pictures are only loading one at a time and not showing up unless I preview it. Anyway, if this turns out it should be a few pictures about various flora on the property. I was amazed to see a few new rose blooms, they must have come out a couple of days ago when it was 21 degrees here. Well here goes nothing, hope it works.

Writing, Writing Everywhere, And Not A Drop To Read

For some reason something in the air today, maybe all the rain, made me really take a long, long look at what I'm doing, or what I should be doing with my writing life, or lack thereof. I suddenly realized that the whole point of making the "big change" in my life had been so I could actually have a life. It has been quite a few years now that all I really wanted to be able to do is sit down and write. While I was working full time that just wasn’t an option, not with my schedule. So my hankering to write had always been like this intangible cobweb hovering around me, just out of reach, giving me those come hither looks while flexing illusory biceps. So last year when the hubby had decided that he had, had enough of his life in the doldrums I had been more than happy to jump onto his bandwagon and hit the “happy trails.” I was excited to be able to see if I could throw myself into a state of blissful creativity. I mean that’s pretty much all I have been yammering about for year right. But the reality has been quite different, my life still isn’t very conducive to writing. The crazy work schedule has now been replaced by the crazy life schedule, working on the house seems to be taking up way more of my free time than when I was working ten to twelve hour work days.

So I am declaring here and now that from this point forward I have resolved to take a little time every day to do some actual writing. Be it a short story, some on going work on a novel, or even just a sentence or two, I am determined to start my life as a writer. But be warned! I may even share some of it with you. (Queue dramatic score here.)

Garage-O-Rama

Finally the pictures of the work that was in progress and now is completed. (Well on the outside anyway.) Here is the newest garage residing on Kitpu Estates. I figure it is so bright when the sun shines on it now that you can probably see it from space.

The foundation in the making.

The big white mushroom, already filled to capacity, but now with siding and window so you can see the light when you have the doors closed. A thing of beauty.

Nor'easter and Tea

Today is definitely one of those days which makes a person thankful that they can build a nice warm toasty fire, pour a cup of tea and curl up with a good book. To say that it is shitty outside is a major understatement. It is a typical eastern Nor’easter. The wind is gusting, the rain is falling horizontally, and there are snow pellets beating against the window. Yes, a really great day to stay inside and avoid the unpleasantness.

And to be honest, I am not in the least feeling guilty about it. Yesterday we hauled four truck loads of wood into the basement and stacked it up in the crib. By the last load I had, had enough. But this morning when I went into the basement and saw the big chunk of work completed in the form of nicely stacked firewood it certainly made it all worthwhile. There are two and a half bunks left to fill and once done it will be the wood for the winter. The left over wood we are going to pile into the small Wookie Cave, so on the off chance that the winter is particularly long and cold we will have enough to last us through the worst of it. (Or on the chance that the kids come to visit and more heat than normal is required we should be prepared.)

Yesterday was also our first official “Cheat Day” for this new diet that I decided to embark us on. I decided that it would make sense to do our first measurements the morning of, (just in case we really, really over indulge in the cheating) so we did our weighing and measuring. So I am pleased to report that after only five days the hubby is down five pounds, and yours truly is down four. And all that was done on a diet that didn’t leave us hungry, ever. With those kinds of results I think it will be relatively easy to stick with the plan. So bring it on!

No BS for Iron Bess

Is it too early to give an update on the new health regime happening at Kitpu Estates? Perhaps, but I have to report that so far (fingers crossed) it hasn't been too bad. I've opted to follow a low carb kick start diet to try and get some of the added weight off of Dora and Darren Domestica and really the only thing that is a tad bit difficult is breakfast without bread, cereal, or other types of carbs. Today was boiled eggs, red peppers, celery, cucumber, and a piece of bacon each. We both missed the toast. But if things work out that is a small price to pay for losing some of our jiggly parts, and not being in the slightest hungry.

I have my spreadsheets finished, broken down by days, short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. I have a chart in the works, as well as a list of healthy ranges which both of us should be in. I am working on a menu for the next two weeks, and the recipes that go along with the meals. I know my BMI, my BMR, so I no longer have to BS myself.

And as on aside, the garage now has 3.5 walls done for siding. Woohoo! Although the last half will be a bit of a pain in the butt. A window, which is now housed in the Wookie Cave on the floor, still needs to be installed into that wall. Which means...cutting a big assed hole in the wall, putting in headers, prepping the wall for the window, then trying to figure out how to get the big assed window up onto the scaffold and into the hole without breaking it. (Oh and there is that tiny bit of work where the work bench, tool chest and a myriad of other crap has to be moved out of the way before any of this shit can be done.) But that's all.

Goodbye Dora Domestica

Goodbye Dora Dometica, or should I say, see you later Dora. Tomorrow will start a new chapter of life at the shack in the east, it is with some regret that I will be hanging up my spatula and apron and turning once again to the deary side of haute cuisine. Unfortunately all the apple cobbler, apple strudel, apple pie, apple crumble, and everything else pastry has finally caught up with me. Right now I am more like Porky Domestica, Dora's rounder and flabbier cousin. Granted I've never been one who could, or would turn down pastry, most especially if it was of the chocolate persuasion. Typically I would just say, "I'll just run an extra five or ten k this week and that will take care of it." But now I would have to run an extra five or six hundred k, that's if I were still running. So a new era at the ranch is dawning. My husband, lucky man that he is, will reap the benefits of the new regiment. Can you hear that? It is the sound of a grown man weeping. He was just getting complacent about the advent of Dora into his life.

My goal is to say goodbye to about twenty pounds of unwanted flab, and to say hello to some well hidden muscles, perhaps adding a few more to the family. Good thing I am a goal oriented, slightly OCD type individual otherwise this process would be really, really, really hard. I happen to be really fond of many bad kinds of carbs and I am saying fare thee well to all of them (for five whole days at least). I am busy doing up spread sheets, researching recipes, and planning out meals. So wish me luck and send me lots of supporting thoughts, but please, do not send me any cake, because I will have it and eat it too.

Random Autumn Leaves

Critters

Okay, so here is a picture of a critter which decided to take up residence underneath the scaffolding blocks. Probably not a good place if you want to live. Just saying.

The Continuing Saga

Yesterday was another sweet day in the land of the east, the sun was out, the wind was blowing, and best of all, no rain! We spent most of the day working on the siding project, ala the garage. Ninety percent of the work consisted of dicking around with all the prep work, starter strips, J-molds, strapping, leveling, screens to keep out critters, etc. Once ALL that crap was finished the actual putting siding up went pretty fast. We had company at one point, thankfully, and it gave me a chance to do a couple loads of laundry as it was a pretty good wind day for that. (We still don't have an actual dryer so I have to take advantage of any day which doesn't have 100% humidity. Okay I take that back, I do have an actual dryer, a brand spanking new one, it happens to be sitting in a box in the living room waiting for the day where it will be hooked up. But that folks, is a different story.) So I think we are about a third of the way done with the siding project for this year. The small garage, my Wookie Cave, isn't on the schedule until sometime next spring.

I will post some progress pictures when I have access to my camera and the other computer. Today I have to go to a seminar in the city and listen to someone tell me exciting things which they can do with my money. Then I am going to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday with her. All I can say is that I hope that when I turn 80 I won't be somewhere on a scaffold putting siding up on a garage.

Another Early Morning In The Rain

I woke up at 3:30 am and lay in bed trying to get back to sleep until 4:30, at which point I decided to get up and stop fighting it for awhile. I figured that after an half hour of reading I would be tired again and lay back down. Well that sure as hell didn't happen. So three cups of coffee, two egg sandwiches, a finished book, and some playing on the computer and I am still awake. It is now 7:00 am and it is still black outside. And still raining. This would be a great time to get some writing in but for some reason my brain just won't do it. I'm not sure if its because I haven't written in so long that I've forgotten how to, or if it is me just being lazy, but I sure feel like I am letting an opportunity just slip away.

On the plus side I have had almost three hours of solitude. Better than heaven.

Progress Pictures

For some reason, probably because I am trying to do a before and after show, I cannot find the original pictures of the exterior of the house. Anyway no biggie, here are some pictures of the renovation process of the exterior. The first picture shows that we have already replaced two of the windows, and are working on the new entry way. But you get the idea.

This next picture shows the new entry door in place, but the old one is still there and so is the large picture window in sun room, soon to be new master bedroom.




This picture shows out with the old, in with the new.




This is already starting to look like it looks today.

The almost finished project. Only a few touches left. Considering putting up shutters, but that won't be until next year, or until a big sale comes up for them. So all new windows, one new door in a slightly different spot than originally, and a temporary back step. Next year, when the new deck goes in, we will put the final back step into place. And there you have it...only a thousand more things to do and Bob's your uncle.

Wood, Siding, and Leaves

Today was a pretty good day in terms of finally getting things done, well done to the point where we are winterized for the coming year. We actually finished getting all the siding up and secure that we can on the house. We still have one more window to install so the siding on that side will have to wait until the window is done. That, of course, is the window for the kitchen which is still under talks. Meaning that so far all the quotes we got for it are wayyyyyy out of our price range, so the window doesn't get changed, and the siding has to be put off until that is done.

We also managed to get one and a half rows of wood stacked in the basement. Only another eight truck loads to go before we are all done for the winter. Of course the rain started again today so I am hoping that we will have another week or so of sun and non-rain type weather where we can put our backs into the project and haul the rest of the wood into the basement. Or is that another fifteen truck loads? Where is my calculator when I need one?

This is a picture of the lake this week, I'm not sure how much longer the leaves will hang in there but they sure are making things awful pretty around these parts.

Taking A Bite Out Of A Beautiful Day

Today was beautiful day number five out here on the east coast. Yesterday it was 34 degrees, sunny, warm and gorgeous. It was an odd Turkey Day to say the least. Today the temps hovered in the low twenties but it was pretty nice all the same. Unfortunately for this camper it was marred by the big trauma of going to the dentist and getting a broken tooth fixed. Fortunately this appointment was pretty smooth sailing, the only real pain I suffered was paying the bill at the end. $477.00 for spending just under an hour in the chair. Yikes! The irony is that I have been fully covered dental wise for many, many years and did not have any major issues teeth wise for years and years. Now, of course, when I have no coverage and have to pay for everything out of pocket I get zinged, and badly. I wonder if the universe is trying to tell me something?

Early Morning Thoughts

It is six o'clock in the morning and I have just started a fire to try and take the chill out of the air. It is two degrees outside and fourteen degrees inside, looks like fall has arrived. As I wait for the air to become less solid I did a bit of surfing and found some actual news on the news.

Not a surprise but sad nonetheless, Steve Jobs dies at 56. Sad. Although I don't have a Mac, and never have had one, I don't have to, to know what the man did for the world of computing. I believe the world needs more people like Jobs, not less. We cannot afford to lose those whose talents help us drag the world out of the dark ages.

Not a surprise but sad nonetheless, Palin confirms that she won't try for the leadership of the G.O.P. It really is too bad, I was kinda looking forward to the comedic relief she would have provided for the year. Now instead of being a laughing stock of the world she may actually be an evil influence on the sidelines. Although, in my humble opinion, I'm pretty sure that Palin is only into politics for one thing...show me the money! So if you see her throwing her support over to a specific candidate you can bet you booties it will have been for a goodly chunk of change.

Oh and a bunch of shit happened in soccer, but that isn't news now is it.

Apples and More Apples

Although I still haven't got my computer back from the computer hospital today it wasn't a complete bust. My property, and most of the bush around it, is bursting at the seams with apples. So I went out and picked some big assed apples, and made Apple Kuchen from them. For those of you who do not know what Apple Kuchen is, join the club, I hadn't heard of it myself until this morning when I was perusing the recipe book for something to do with apples. Turns out that Apple Kuchen is yummy. Most especially if you use the tart kind of apples, which I did. You make this kinda muffin consistency type of dough, but out of yeast for the rising, stick it in the fridge for a couple hours, pour it onto the bottom of the cake pan, slice up the apples and then pour melted butter, sugar and cinnamon over top and then bake. Like I said, yummy. Probably a billion calories, but yummy nonetheless. I also made some danish dough and stuck it in the fridge for its overnight cooling needs so I can take some fresh baked danishes over to a neighbour who tried them once and raved about them ever since. Just call me Susie Homebaker.

All this I was doing while waiting for a phone call to come and pick up my computer. Normally I would be okay with waiting for a day or two but I found this job on line which may just be up my alley. You need to be OCD for this position, it isn't a management position, and you need steel toed boots. Check, check, and check. All things that I want out of a job. Well actually I'm not a big fan of steel toed boots, but I have some, and I also want to be creative and to be left alone as well. What does this have to do with my computer you ask? See my real computer has my resume already prettified on it and it only needs things like address changes, etc. Without it I would be reduced to coming up with a new resume and "using my brain" for something other than an instrument used to figure out how to get apples out of a tree without actually, a) climbing it, or b) dragging a ladder out of the garage all the way across the field. And frankly I'm not sure if I'm that desperate for a job at this point. Ha-ha, who am I kidding, I know I'm not that desperate for a job, thus the Apple Kuchen and danish pastry.

Oh and completely off topic, but near and dear to most Canadians hearts, the Weather Report. Holy snapping arse holes Batman but is it ever windy here. First it rained like hamsters all night long, now the wind has been acting like a hurricane, which is strange as the hurricane that blew by here a couple of days ago didn't throw any of that wind stuff around. Go figure. The white caps on the lake has white caps, and those have little white cap hats. The worse part of it is that the trees which are all pretty with reds, oranges, and yellows are losing a lot of those leaves. Of course because I haven't taken any pictures yet.

And on another completely unrelated tangent, cats are assholes.

Changing My Settings

It seems as if the Settings Fairy came to visit my Blog and decided to randomly change some of the settings. I have gone in and set them back (I hope) to the way they were. Just another fun thing I do during a rainy fall day.

Things Are Looking Up

Alright so things which I have done to try and fix my computer have not worked, I tried booting it up in Safe Mode so I could isolate the virus.  It would not boot up in Safe Mode, nor go to Safe Mode.  I tried to use Kaspersky Virus Remover, it just laughed in my face.  I tried to change the virus protector I had to a different name and run it that way, trying to make it seem that it wasn't really a virus doctor, it stuck its tongue out and wiggled its ears at me.  I contemplated wiping the whole thing out and running the recovery discs in it but was reluctant to lose all my information.  So I took a deep breath and made a couple of calls to people who know how to do stuff to these magic boxes, fearing the worst, and was surprised to learn that if I took my computer in to have diagnostics run on it they would charge me a flat fee of $59.00 to shoot some antibiotics into it.  I was expecting mucho denaros and actually contemplated buying a new one instead.  $59.00 I can actually live with.  So my real computer is in the hospital and I am writing this on my lap top, which I swore I would never connect to the net.  I guess the lesson here is that you shouldn't take my word for things because obviously you can't trust me swearing to things. 

But even though it looked bleak for my computer the guy at the shop seemed to feel he could help me and fix it while still managing to retain all my files.  Happy days.  :) That totally deserves a smiley face. 

So today turned out to be a good day, the weather went from rain forest like deluge to sunny, warm and beautiful.  I actually got out into the back forty and spent a few hours working on my trails.  That is the first time in forever that I was able to do that.  It really has been quite a busy few months and I have been seriously missing it.  I also went to the recycle place and unloaded all the bottles, glass, plastic, etc which we have  been hoarding for the past year and walked away with $24.00.  Not bad.  But the next time will be better because we found out that there are a few more items we can return, which we have been sending out with our regular recycling, which are redeemable for money.  I also got a hair cut.  Boy oh boy did I ever need it.  I dropped some baby stuff off at the Salvation Army place.  The hubby and I tried out about twenty of so beds, I definitely want to go with the plush mattress, so now all I have to do is wait until they go on sale.  I am sooooooo looking forward to getting back into a king sized bed.  We also planted our butts on some couches and found one which is very, very, very comfortable, now if only it didn't come in size XXXXXXXL.  Not that our front room is tiny or anything, but this behemoth would make it a wall to wall couch.  So I guess this means we have to continue to get friendly with store furniture for awhile yet until we find something we can live with. 

When I got home from town me and the trusty dog unit went out into the bush and picked me some apples.  They were huge.  So this evening I checked the internet for a recipe and baked an apple crisp.  I'm pretty sure the recipe was missing some key ingredients, it looks more like crusty apple soup. I am hoping that it will taste better than it looks. 

Sigh!

My computer, you know the one I can actually see, not this one, the one which has a screen size slightly larger than my cell phone, has gotten sick.  It has somehow contracted a virus and is not working, so all the plans I actually had for updating my blog have gone the way of the Dodo.  So being slightly less technologically able than a Neanderthal I must see if someone can fix it for me.  If they can't I will be very sad and do a lot of moaning and crying because I will have lost a whole crapload of stuff that I kinda have grown accustomed to having around, for example, all my spreadsheets, my resume, some of my writing, etc. 

I really am quite sick about it and have spent the last few days actually losing sleep over it.  My hope now is that somehow I will be able to find a person who enjoys creating viruses so I can repeatedly stomp on his typing fingers. 

Beware The Visitor Bearing A Bible

Recently I have been introduced to an internet site which is filled with the creepiest, scariest, most bigoted individuals ever to be able to walk and pick their noses at the same time.  You probably guessed it, it is a religious site with discussion forum.  The range of discussion topics is like a trip through Crazy Land.  Teaching children about other points of view besides our own is dangerous.  It doesn’t matter what you do in life what matters is only if you believe in Jesus.  So you can be a mass murderer and believe in Jesus and go to heaven, or you can be a Nobel Prize winning doctor who saves millions of people that does not believe in Jesus but you are regulated to hell.  Should people who do not believe in god (you know the correct god, our god) be given credit for giving to charities?  Apparently the answer is no, because, and I quote, “people who give money to charity who do not believe in god have stolen the money because everyone knows that god is the only one who can give you money so the money donated by atheists, or people who do not believe in Jesus, is contaminated.”  See what I mean?  Batshit crazy.  The worst is that this site is where someone who is related to me…blood related…hangs out! 

Beware people because evil lives in today’s world, and it is disguised by those glassy-eyed vacuous creatures who call themselves god fearing.  

Life, The Universe, And Death

The other day I just happened to be in the same room with a guy who took that particular time to die.  I was visiting my mom in the hospital and the fellow in the bed across from her was sounding decided bad when I walked in.  I had only been there for a few minutes when his groaning and heavy breathing ceased and a nurse came in to check on him.  She left in a hurry and returned with another nurse, they called his name several times and then quickly called a Code Blue.  Now having been part of this very same type of scene several times in my paramedic days I could pretty much guess what was going on behind curtain number one.  Soon a raft of people appeared with crash cart in tow and commenced to work on him.  Through out it all my mother continued chattering away about the latest breaking stories from 1949 completely oblivious to the life and death struggle going on only eight feet from her bed. 

I could hear someone doing CPR, another person, presumably a doctor, giving orders for meds, then shortly after I heard the AED announce that "no shock was indicated", in emergency terms that either means that the person has a pulse, or they don't have one which can be helped by shocking.  Then they called the time and slowly the raft of people dwindled away.  Throughout this battle I could see the patient in the bed right next to him, he and his wife, who was visiting, sat silent and wearing that deer in the headlights look on their faces.  I am certain that it will be a story told and retold in their household for some time to come.  After all how many times in a person's life are they inches away from a drama such as this?  On the other hand when I told my mother that the guy across from her just died she was surprised that she had been so unaware of what was happening then said that she had told his son just a half hour before that they shouldn't let people go on living in that condition, and then continued on with whatever story it was that she had been telling. 

At the time I was just thinking that this incident just confirmed my theory about older folks reverting more and more to childlike behavior.  Case in point, when a person is two the world is there for them and them alone, nothing really matters except what they want, think, feel, etc. Well the same thing seems to go for seniors as well, nothing matters except what they want, think, feel, etc.  Oh I know that is a pretty broad statement, and there are many older folks who are involved, articulate, active, and vital, but there are a lot of people who just give up on the outside world and become self absorbed and oblivious.  I'm pretty sure that the reason is, is because they no longer do anything but sit around getting bored, all the interesting things which will ever happen to, or around them, have already happened so now all they have is their memories of better times, or in my mother's case, worse times.  But today as I sat thinking about this anonymous death, I realized that other than the poor traumatized couple next to this guy, no one really seemed to be all that affected, or even interested.  Death, the big equalizer of men, had visited and had been dismissed by almost everyone, even those professionals whose job it was to try and cheat him of his next victim. 

I have a theory, don't I always? I don't think that people are so hardened and calloused that they are completely unaffected by a death that occurs in such close proximity to them, I believe that it is the ultimate in denial.  We all know that eventually this ignominious death awaits us all. Most of us fear the big D more than we fear anything else, so when it slaps us where we sit a self protective mental barrier goes up so we can deal with what is happening.  Without this ability to deny and ignore I don't believe it would be possible for people to continue to function normally in our day to day lives.  Or instead of working on every day mundane jobs I think the human race would be training their best and brightest to the study of life extension. 

Certainly as a species over the years we have developed coping mechanisms to help with this problem of being sentient, religion and the promise of "happy ever after" immediately comes to mind.  Desensitization is another, how many people have you seen get killed in the movies and TV in your life?  Our lives when we finally understand that Death is waiting for us, go through the stages of denial like, "it will never happen to me," as kids, to, "I have X amount of time left before it will happen to me," as adults, "but that is a long way away."  

So whoever you were I hope you had a good life and that your legacy is that you left the world a better place in the short time you were here.  I wish that we were like Klingons so that instead of putting up our shields we could have acknowledged your passing with at least a mourning wail of tribute.  So here's to you Unknown Guy, AAAAAAArrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhh!  That is my Pastafarian pirate wail of passing for you.

Matter can never be destroyed, just altered, so now you have been reincarnated, your atoms will be dispersed back into the universe.  Say hi to Carl Sagan for me. 

Confessions of a Un-girlie Woman

Okay so the other day I was listening to CBC, well okay not actually listening per se, more like I had it on as background noise and occasionally tuned in when they weren't going on about the eminent destruction of the world as we know it.  Anyway I just happened to hear part of an interview where the woman said, "As like every single other little girl in the world I daydreamed about my wedding day, what my wedding dress would be like, and could hardly wait until I could be princess for a day."  Then I tuned out and went onto the next task of my day, it wasn't until a little bit later on that I actually started to think about what this woman had said.  Not that she had actually said anything I hadn't heard, or read several times in the course of my life and ignored, but for some reason this time I actually considered what she said and realized the significance of it.  I realized that I wasn't like every single other little girl in the world.  I do not ever remember once thinking about my wedding day when I was a little girl.  I do remember desperately wanting to be able to be like Tarzan and swing through the trees with the greatest of ease.  I do remember wanting a pair of jeans because I felt I was one of the only people on the planet who was denied this joy.  I also remember wanting to be able to live at the library because I thought it was the coolest place on the planet.  But I can never, not once in my entire young life ever remember even giving the slightest thought to my wedding day.  In fact I barely considered my wedding day while I was actually getting married. 

Perhaps it is because I was raised in a testosterone intensive household, perhaps it could be because I was born without a wedding gene.  The truth be told is that I was also born without the tulle gene, the frill gene, the lace gene, or the ever important hairdo gene.  When it comes to girlie I just ain't got it.  Interestingly enough this is a trait that my husband really, really appreciates in me.  In fact over the years he has mentioned several times how grateful he is that I don't feel the need to prim, frou-frou, change outfits ten times, worry whether or not my shoes match my handbag, or have a burning desire to reaffirm our wedding vows.  Blech!  Reaffirm our wedding vows, I barely made it through the first time without requiring heavy medication in the form of lots and lots of booze.

My idea of girlie is having to wear work gloves when I go cut trail or chop wood because I get blisters if I don't.  I'm also not a big fan of those persistent chin hairs that make me look like the wicked witch of the east, so I feel all girlie when I pluck those puppies out. 

I can't say that I've never experimented with girlie stuff, in fact at one point I remember applying makeup with a trowel when I hit puberty, I was 14.  But the novelty of that soon wore off and by the time I hit my twenties I was sans makeup. 

Interestingly enough this un-girlieness did not deter me from finding a great husband who loves me for who I am, having a great kid who is probably the coolest most well adjusted person I know, or having some pretty great jobs where I never felt the slightest bit of pressure to "dress for success". 

So for all of those other non makeup wearing, non high heel sporting, non wedding dress enthusiasts out there I say good on ya.  Not every little girl dreams of being a princess for the day, some actually dream of being Spock.  So live long and prosper eh.

A Quick Note

Okay I figured that even though I am using a computer the size of a small book, notebook that is, and it is as annoying as all get out because the words are tiny-er, and making them bigger just makes it more of a pain in the arse to navigate around, and....oh never mind, you know what I mean.  Sigh, I miss my big screen. 

So what have I been up to recently, well there's the whole renovating bit that seems to be going on, that is a constant in my life, kinda like 1/137, if you know what I mean.  Anyway Mr Renovator has been working his buns off and consequently the room which will hereafter be known as the master bedroom has drywall up. 

Things to celebrate - 1) good grades.  2) your team making the playoffs.  3) the Republicans losing any election.  4) winning the lottery.  5) HAVING DRYWALL UP IN THE NEW MASTER BEDROOM!

Now besides the drywall thing we have what you would call the rain thing happening, yes folks it has been raining non-stop since the last ice age.  It is wetter around here than when the big magic juju in the sky decided to kill everyone in the world by drowning them because he loved them so much.  The humidity levels haven't dropped below soaking for so long now that all four of us are starting to grow fins and gills.  And believe me the cat just isn't a big fan of the H2O.  The dog on the other hand is pretty much a seal anyway so she doesn't seem to mind. 

I did manage to spend more money in the last two weeks than the US deficit. I ordered the new hardwood flooring (in my opinion they should call it gold floor considering the cost), I had to pay for insurance on the vehicles, I also had to pay for a new fireplace insert, etc, etc, aaarrrrrgggggghhhhhh!  That is my I haven't got a job and my money is finite and with the stock market crashing I am afraid, scream.  So perhaps I will have to sing that old crappy song, how does it go?  I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go.  Sob. 

Oh and we finally made it to the last Harry Potter show, here is my review of it.  It was sorta okay I guess.  Should have waited for the DVD. 

Anyway I must go because I can no longer see, but I am holding onto the fact that soon I can use an actual computer again and perhaps even load some pictures.  Yippee. 

I Am Alive, Just Out Of Touch

Just thought I would put a quick little note here so that people will know that I am still here and haven't fallen off the face of the planet.  We are in the middle of renovating the room which holds the desk and the computer.  So that means that the computer has been moved because I'm pretty sure that it could not stand up to the extreme environment of drywall dust, sawdust, grunge dust, etc.  I have hooked up a small wireless which only seems to be working on my little notebook and not my main computer, which means I have a tiny bit of access, but only when things are not so extreme. 

So the good news is that all the windows and new sliding door has been installed in the room, the ceiling has been replaced with new drywall, some of the inside walls have been erected in the rooms, and a few other items are in the process of being changed.  I'm not sure how much longer it will take, but I suspect it will be awhile.  The cash flow is coming to an end right smartly and I am hoping that it will coincide with the completion of the project, but do not hold out much hope for that miracle to happen.  The best we can hope for at this stage is for the majority of the work to be done when the money runs out.  Sigh. 

Well I must go because I suspect that I will have to disconnect the wireless in ten minutes.  Once the main computer is back on line I will add some pictures, until then, say la vee!

Tomorrow Will Suck

As the title suggests, I am not looking forward to tomorrow.  Why?  Well lets start with the fact that I have ordered a large refuse bin to be parked beside my house.  This bin, if I know us at all, will be filled to bursting with the interior of what was once the favourite room of the previous owner by the end of the day.  (Fingers crossed.)  So if all goes well we should be well into replacing windows and doors by the middle of next week.  By the end of next week we should be well into drywalling and all the fun that goes along with that.  So really I should just stop whining right now seeing as my new master bedroom is potentially within spitting distance (well time wise anyway).

I'm not too sure how Karson the cat will react to the destruction of this room, ever since we cleaned it out she has been having wayyyyyy too much fun racing around in it like it was the Indianapolis 500.  Cats are crazy at this age, it makes them a hoot to watch.

So today started out to be cool and cloudy but ended up to be warmer and sunny.  The back forty was spectacularly awesome, dappled shading, cool and inviting, and best of all, no bugs!  I took the hell hound for a walk and then decided to trim some apple trees and pack some wood to the new staging area.  It would have been perfect had the dog not rolled in something disgusting.  I had to throw the stick into the water at least fifty times to try and get some of the stink off.  Ah, German Shepherds, they certainly broke the mold when they were created.

Just Another Day In The Sticks, Oh And In The Lake Too!

So another day, another dollar spent in the land of renovations.  Today, when not out playing in the water and working on my beach, I was doing a little bit of odds and sods in the living room, painting trim, putting another coat on the window sill, and of course staining the mantel for the fireplace.  Mr Renovator was also into the odds and sods business, as well as the fishing business.  Apparently much fun was had out on the lake, he claims to have caught around fifteen but threw them all back in because they were too small.  It sounds like a "fish story" to me.

So now the next step is to rip out the old sun-room and morph it into a new bedroom, bathroom and walk in closet.  Here are the before pictures hopefully they will soon be followed by the "in-progress" pics.  We will actually be renting a big assed garbage bin as everything is coming out, even the ceiling.

This is the sun-room sans junk, avec wayyyyyyyy the hell too much knotty pine and pine flooring.  To me it looks like Paul Bunyan came in and threw up wood all over the place.  Although if some of it is salvageable (I'm hoping a lot of the flooring) it will end up in the Wookie Cave.  And just in case you are thinking that this is an anomaly, it isn't, the Bluenosers are big into knotty pine.

Looking lake ward. This window will soon go the way of the dodo and will morph into a sliding glass door out onto a deck which isn't actually there right now, perhaps next year.  But only if I can sell the cargo trailer which we moved here with. 

Looking out toward the side of the shack.  This area here will be the start of the new master bedroom and a slightly larger window will replace the existing one.  

Looking toward the back yard.  This used to be the main entryway into the shack.  Where the door is now is destined to be the new ensuite, and where the window is now will be a small walk in closet.  Door and window will be replaced by two small windows.  That weird sort of inside window thingy will soon be gone. 

Rainy Day Projects

Today was a rather nice rainy day, in fact it was a great rainy day.  Some rainy days are just like that I guess.  Today Mr Renovator got up early and tootled off to town so I took some serious advantage of that by brewing a pot of tea, opening up my Kindle and reading the rest of my book.  Once I finished then I got up and went to work on a few projects.  The tiles in front of the fireplace were all finished so I grouted them puppies, then I baked a batch of raisin oatmeal cookies (oh I also threw in some chocolate chips and peanuts, so I guess they were more than just oatmeal and raisins.)  Then Mr Renovator returned and finished sanding the walls, which allowed me the opportunity to prime the ceiling and walls.  I only did a little bit of sweating when the sun peeked out for a half hour or so.  All in all it was a nice day.

Always start with a good breakfast.  

And make sure your pussy is warm and fuzz free. 

If you end up one tile short make sure that you send your Renovator all the way back into the city to pick one up after a entire day of renovating.  Its way more fun that way. 

Once all the tiles are in place you have to grout them puppies. 

I love the juxtaposition of the new look with the ubiquitous 1980's furniture.  I will have to post a picture of the completed process with our furniture in all its "Golden Girls" era glory.  Meanwhile this is as far as we have come with the fireplace.  Presently the mantle is a piece of 2x6 which I may just end up sanding and staining as I kinda like the look.

Oh and here are a couple of shots of the almost completed bedroom.  Next step is hardwood flooring.