Sunday, September 25, 2005

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

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

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

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

Monday, September 19, 2005

A little riding and a lot of bones


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


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

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

What I'm up to at this very moment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Current refreshment: Cold coffee

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

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

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

Sunday, September 04, 2005

NEWS FLASH! Wasp commando nearly breaks her toe

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



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

Oh yes I was ready.

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

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

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

Wish me luck.

Cunning Plans

 Life is wierd ya know. It seems a lot of things have been hitting me hard lately. Been distant from people, including my partner who is dea...