R&R, Or How Iron Bess Survived Another Day

I am happy to report that today was a non-working day.  Yes you heard correctly, there was no ripping things apart, pulling nails, painting shit, or even mudding stuff.  It was a for real, do nothing except laundry, cooking, and walking kind of day. 

The last couple of days have been cold.  Cold enough to be forming more ice on the lake out front.  All day I could hear it talking to me.  For real.  I shit you not.  It sounds like really loud indigestion, but that is how lakes talk, most especially when freezing and thawing.  I know this because now that I live on the lake I am a "Lake Whisperer".  Yup you heard it here first.  I am the first official true blue Canadian Lake Whisperer.  Today my lake was saying, "Baby, I'm getting hard all over."  My response was.  "Son of a bitch is it ever cold out here.  The wind coming off that lake is freezing the end of my nose off."  The lake just burped at me.  It was all highly scientific.  You had to be there. 

Also, today, for the first time in forever, I actually did a little dabbling in writing, besides the blathering I do here I mean.  It wasn't good, and it wasn't long, but it was actually a tiny bit of writing.  Writing practice to be more accurate.  I did it on this blog site I found about writing...http://daily-writing.blogspot.com/ for anyone caring to have a look.  I am so grateful for sites like that, I need all the motivation I can get when it comes to my writing because usually I am so crunched for time with all the crap going on here at Kitpu Estates.  And certain family members, or more accurately member (she who lives in the north and will remain nameless) makes me keep adding pictures so she can police every movement I make, which leaves little time before the head hits the pillow.  So today I actually took the opportunity to spray some WD40 over the brain cells responsible for writing and I wrote.  It was good.  Not the outcome, but the act of writing.  I'm babbling now, I should stop. 

Oh and before I forget, I also applied for a couple more jobs.  Yikes!  I don't know if I should be more freaked about getting a job, or not getting one.  On the one hand I haven't had a job in over a year.  On the other hand I've worked my ass off harder this past year than any time in the last century of working full time.  If I get a job now the progress here at the shack will slow down (probably not too much because the hubby happens to be a machine, one of those terminator types which never stops).  But I like to think that I contribute just a bit to the work in progress here. You know the worse thing about the thought of going back to work is?  It is the thought of having to be on a schedule again.  The thought of having to be somewhere at at certain time is enough to give me the willies.  I have a hard enough time keeping bank appointments. 

Okay now I'm stopping for real.  Good night one and all.  Burble, burble, burp. 

Renovations and Cake

Well today was another rather eventful day, the final cabinet came out (well not the final one, perhaps the penultimate one).  We have to do some destruction on the basement ceiling in order to get at the remaining one for wiring and whatnot.  We need to have a place to plug the new range in otherwise we won't be doing any indoor cooking, and with the temperatures hovering in the minus 8 range all day it would have been a tad bit cold to BBQ out of doors.  Okay perhaps it was more like minus ten, but my weather station sometimes over states the temperature when the sun is shining. 

Today also saw a new chunk of drywall go up into the "ookie" spot on the ceiling.  The old mildewed, molding, mouse turd infested piece had to come down.  I know some people may have a real affinity for old mildewed, molding, mouse turdish drywall, but this chickie does not, so it had to go.  Also all the holes we found in the ceiling from where presumably some pot lights were located at one time had to be fixed.  So it was Iron Bess and her trusty carton knife slicing out pieces of drywall, and hubby with his lonnggg arms and some drywall screws to the rescue.  Then, presto-whamo, and the holes were patched and mud was slung and it looks mucho-mucho better. 

Yes I know!  The first person to mention the fact that there is a mop and bucket being used on a floor which only has days to live gets a lung removed.  Just because a person lives in a dump doesn't mean that it has to be a dirty dump! 

Then being the proper Dora Domestica that I am, I baked a final cake in the oven that will soon be living in a recycle centre near here.  Yummy. 

Renovations Continue, Or How Iron Bess Went Crazy

Hi there, how is life in the winter wonderland that is yours?  Ours is kinda shitty, a tiny bit of snow, a bit of rain, and a whole whack of wind.  Yesterday was spent pulling down more cabinetry and then pulling nails out of said cabinets, today was much the same.  So without further ado here are a few pictures of things in progress. 

It may not look like a bunch of work, but it certainly feels like it.  We managed to get almost all the tiles off the ceiling and pulled out about a thousand staples.  Then of course there was the matter of taking the reciprocating saw to some of the countertops and cabinets, a crow bar or two, a hammer or two and a bunch of grunting and groaning.  Then of course there is the whole, "how are we going to wash dishes and such when we start actually having to take the walls and window out from behind the sink?" question.  You build sawhorses to hold up the sink and then plumb it so that you can hook and unhook valves as required, of course.  That took a lot of time.  Oh the joys of it all.  As you can see from the final picture we still have some of that beautiful faux brick stuff to take off the walls.  It was glued on with tar.  Yummy.  Tomorrow...much of the same. 

And So It Begins

Yup, the "Kitchen Project" has started.  I have two emotional reactions to this, 1) Yippee, I am finally going to get a kitchen which I can get organized.  2) OMG I am completely overwhelmed.  Where to start?  Okay I know I have to start by ripping stuff out, but Oh My, it is going to be a hell of a lot of work in a short period of time.
Here is an update of the kitchen as was and now as is.  Well as is tonight because by tomorrow night there will be a lot less of it.
This picture is of the beautiful thing-a-ma-bob (I personally don't know WTF it was) or should I say Thing Which Caused Head Injuries.  The hubby built a support for it before cutting it down because it must have weighed over two hundred pounds. 

This picture is with TWCHI gone...and good riddance. 

Here is what it looked like up until yesterday.  Buh-bye.

The first cabinet gone and already it makes a HUGE difference in the space-time continuum. 

Now the only thing left to do is to rip out all the rest of the cabinets, rip out the back wall, take down the ceiling, change the window out, rip the side wall down, take all the wall paper off the walls that we are keeping, change the plumbing for the dishwasher, replace all the electrical, fix all the walls that need fixing, put up new insulation and drywall, fix the siding outside, prime and paint the ceiling and walls, lay hardwood flooring in the kitchen, dining room, and living room, and then put the new cabinets up.  But that's all.  

Painting Party At Iron Bess's

Yup today was another painting day.  I was doing a couple of small areas in the hall today so that hopefully we can finish the hardwood in that area.  Then I was painting trim..."Yargghhhh!" I hate painting trim almost as much as I hate washing cutlery.  There is something crappy about the whole tiny little, nit picking, suck-o-mundo aspect of it. 

But I guess I can't complain too much, it was a beautiful sunny day so I had a pleasant walk with the hubby and the hound.  Hmmm, is that perhaps a better title for the magazine?  Hubby and the Hound.  With our little skiff of snow on the ground I could see all the rabbit tracks, deer tracks, squirrel tracks, and other unidentifiable tracks which the "Nose" snorked around and got excited about.  Usually I can't see the tracks, and definitely can't smell them, so to me it usually just looks like the dog is all orgasmic for no real reason. 

The hubby also put in some temporary shelving units today which means that the destruction of the kitchen is imminent.  I am pretty excited about the upcoming project as it means we are that much closer to getting a bit of a break on the back breaking work.  Also, I am really looking forward to installing the dishwasher and getting rid of a certain bank of cabinetry so I can actually see people when I am in the kitchen doing shit. 

Woot Woot!

Two rooms completed!  Picture me doing a little happy dance (two fists side by side and shaking to the left, then shaking to the right then doing the hookie-pookie, then side shuffle, side shuffle, and turning myself about).  Although today was a "no progress" kind of day on the floor, it was a "prep" day so more progress could be made at a soonish time.  Okay so that sentence makes no sense whatsoever, but it's a dingle berry's, hairy toes skipping through the tulips kind of day.  And it is COLD.  Like real winter kind of cold.  The thermometer was hovering in the minuses all day.  We had teeny, tiny little bitty type snowflakes even.  Sucky assed snowflakes, but teeny, tiny ones nonetheless. 

I had to bundle up in my parka for my walk and still felt chilly at times. That is until my furnace kicked in and I did a wee bit of sweating.  Then I got cold again cuz I was wet.  Shocking.  The dog got herself a nasty gash on her leg, and if she was a human type animal she probably would have gotten around five stitches.  She still may need them but I am letting her do the dog thing and lick it better.  She had minimal bleeding but it is right in the front of her front paw so probably no real major blood vessels there anyway.  Of course it slowed her down not even a bit. 

I am pretty stoked tonight because I got to do some of my OCD stuff with some of the completed rooms.  I arranged things in boxes in a neat and tidy fashion then put labels on the boxes.  I tell you its almost enough to make a person get all swoonie with the joy-joyness of it all.  I even pulled my label maker out of storage and got to use it.  That was almost better than sex.  Who am I kidding, it is wayyyyy better than sex.  "Oh baby use Helvetica number 12 again."  Erm...ah yeah...I believe the proper word here would be - anyway. 

It is still lacking in some personality and hominess which means that I need to invest some time into finding side tables and lamps, and then digging through boxes to see if I have any paintings which survived the move, just so it doesn't look so, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.  But for all intents and purposes the worst of it is done.  Go here http://www.webhamster.com/ to see exactly how I feel, make sure you turn the volume way up.

Here is a reminder of what we started with in this room.  The original room had a LOT of personality, but it was more like the, crazy old aunt who has sixteen cats, and the body of her fifth husband buried in the foundations of the house, type. 

Happy 2012 To All!

I hate to sound all cliche like here, but boy oh boy did this year ever fly by.  I guess that's what happens when a body is on a "modified lifestyle" and happens to be rather busy.  I spent a rather enjoyable day out in the toolies today, going for a walk with the hound dog, and then cleaning up some of the trail which I had worked on earlier this year.  I ended up with a rather large burning pile and a tiny section of bush that looks a bit more park-like.  I also ended up being somewhat muddy and in need of a bath.  The dog ended up in the lake taking a polar bear swim because she was nasty. 

Then I spent a less enjoyable few hours doing year-end and fine tuning the budget for this year.  Sigh...I may need to go out and get a paying job.  But I am holding out for that lottery winfall...come on ticket, you can do it, I have faith.   

The following is the reason why my knees are swollen up to twice their normal size. 

This is a small room right off the new entryway. 

All it needs is baseboards and this room is done like dinner!

This is the next bigger room, at one point in it's life it used to be the master.

And again, the only thing left to do with this bedroom is the baseboards and it is done.  That will mean that three whole rooms in the house are finished.  It is almost enough to make a person have a little cry. 

For those of you who could give a great, big, giant rat's ass about hardwood, I thought I would add some pictures of food.  The first is a picture of some of the xmas cookies I made this year, the second is of a cake I baked yesterday.  Happy New Year Day to me, happy New Year Day to me...!