Rereading my post on Monday regarding things that need to be done, I realize that I was in one of those 'Wah' moods where I didn't want to do anything, yet felt restless and bad for not accomplishing anything but making whine.
I actually ended up cleaning the car. Windex, paper towels, a vacuum, 2 cloths, Amour-all, Leather cleaner and conditioner, and a lint (dog hair) remover. It's done.
I also took the dog for a Fairly Big Walk. Because of Billy I've discovered a good walk to be had without getting in the car and driving... A little less than a kilometre away is a dirt road that connects our pretty busy road to the very busy by-pass, (oh and it's completely desolate service road which runs parallel). The road runs for just about 1.5 kms. Because this is the only dirt road that comes off the bypass, and it is flanked on each side by paved roads, it's deserted and I can let the pooch go. Very nice.
I cleaned out the AreoGarden. That was a very simple, quick job. I'll use it again in the fall when the fresh herb supply in the garden is dwindling (I've never spelled that word in my life..)
Yesterday I took poochy for a a little walk, played with my mom's dogs, as she is gone stateside again, did laundry, dishes, and made a metric tonne of mac and cheese. You can decide how healthy this dish is, when making it (it has to be worth my time) it takes 2 pounds of uncooked pasta, almost a pound of butter, 1 litre of milk, and 3, yes, 3 pounds of cheese. I can hear my arteries clogging and my cellulite growing exponentially...
Billy cut the grass for the first time this year last night, and it looks great!
Last night was the first night of the golf league and there was only 4 of us! Geez! It was a beautiful night, and thankfully I golfed okay... The Other Kim (TOK) brought this card game and it was so much fun! Mean! Vicious! And I got a free beer out of the deal.
So today? I'm just hanging out... Still a little too cool to a) fix the minor leak in the pond, b) plant the garden or c) plant the greenhouse. Life's good...
Will the rising cost of gasoline change your summer travel plans?
I don't think it will change our travel plans, and we do have plans to go camping a couple of times as well as down to Tennessee. It will and has actually changed the way I view day to day errands. It sounds pathetic, but I try to combine as many errands as possible so that I'm only going into the city no more than once a week, and many times Billy can do my bidding... (insert evil laughter). Pretty much right now, my only concern gas price wise is traveling to and from the golf course a few days a week (often I'll combine that with a run to MomG's or the grocery store...). I considered club storage at the course (for $100) and thought I could ride my bike (bicycle that is...) back and forth then I started laughing so hard I nearly choked.
I find myself with very little to do today. It's too chilly outside to play out there, and a little too early to plant the garden regardless. I have a massive cramp in my hip (how old am I?) so taking Halia for a Big Walk so that is out of the question. Laundry is done. The garage is pretty cleaned out. The house was cleaned on the week-end, and we didn't do much to mess it up.
Here is a list of things I could do... but don't necessarily want to do...
- Empty and clean out the AreoGarden. It's out of control and due to poor design it leaks water, and probably used enough electricity to power a small country. I'll bust it out again in the fall, sans light bulbs and see how it does...
- Vacuum the car. It's a hot mess, especially in the back where Halia rides. I hate vacuuming the car when it's cold outside...
- Wash windows. I'm not a big fan of that chore, moreso when it's 47* outside with light rain expected. No thanks...
- Cut the grass. Although I have never cut the grass since we moved from Cottam, I'm not completely unwilling to do so... but I'm fairly sure that the push mower may need some servicing before I attempt to get it started... I don't know how to drive the John Deere, but I'm sure I could figure it out... but it's cold!
It seems that all the things, (except the AreoGarden) that need to be done depend on the weather co-operating, which it isn't expected to this week... Since we've had temperatures in the 70's I've acclimated myself to freeze my ass off if it is below 65*... So here I am... I might go read a book...
Yesterday was a gorgeous day, and although we did not go golfing, and I did clean the house, I was able to get outside some and enjoy the day.
Here is the newly stained lower deck.
Here is some of our asparagus. In the background you can see on the left chives and on the right 2 rhubarb plants, and of course the greenhouse (completely empty... next week...)
This is our kitchen island with our new paint colour. It's a hard colour to describe, but it does look kinda dark camo green here... but really it's more brown-ish, whatever it is, we love it!
This picture was taken from the kitchen looking out to the back yard. I love that chair and that plant... there's pretty much nothing in our house that I don't love...
Life's good, what can I say?
Here's damned cute pic I stole from BMW's blog. I call it Boy and Dog and Goldfish Crackers....
Ah... I've just been wanting to use that line for a few days now...
Pretty uneventful week-end planned... thankfully... tonight we are going to watch about 6 shows that we have DVR'd (2 Big Brothers, Survivor, Earl, Big Break) and eat HOME GROWN ASPARAGUS (I should take a picture before I cut them down...) and pork loin. The hot tub is probably still off limits due to recently completely stained deck (can I get a Woot woot?).
Tomorrow I have league registration (whereby I sit behind a table and attempt to appear helpful), then a little golf. Billy is going to cut the grass for the first time tomorrow (wow!). Might golf Sunday, not quite sure, and hopefully 'burgs and salads at MomG's on Sunday night.
Yep, hold onto your socks kids - it's crazy! Life's good
Today was quite productive, and now I'm beat, although no lazing on the couch for me, (at least not my couch...) as TOL is having a few girls over tonight...
Let's see, today I...
- Cleaned out the barbecue... seeing as it is in the garage while the deck is stained, it was a perfect opportunity. It looks great, and took a couple of hours...
- Power washed everything I could, (no not the barbecue, Billy said it wasn't a good idea) the tools, the wheelbarrow, the outdoor furniture, a stool... I was seriously looking around for other things to power wash... fun...
- Drilled a few holes in the garage to properly hang tools. They are not level, and it doesn't look too great, but it works, and it is only a garage...
- Moved things around in the garage like pots, hoses, more pots and more hoses...
- Stained 1 section of the deck lattice, (not ugly lattice, more like a Japanese slat type BTW). It took 1 1/2 hours to do that 1 section, only 1 more section to go, then the lower floor, which I think Billy is going to try to finish tomorrow night... So far we have spent 10 1/2 hours staining the deck, and 10 cleaning it...
- Took my mom's dogs out, (nothing new there, I do that about everyday) and Halia decided to check out the concession behind us. I was really far back and she was still just a speck. Once she noticed that she was alone, she came a'running.
Because my mom is out of town, and my brother is who knows where, I have to take the dogs out again, then get ready, do some errands in the metropolis of Essex and head to TOL's.
And that is the exciting day in my exciting life... ;)
On Sunday night I watched HGTV's new show called something like... 20 ways your home could save the planet... It was fairly ridicules...
There were a few decent ideas if and only if you were building a new house... it seems that the creators of this program completely ignored the aspect of reuse in the whole reduce, reuse and recycle idea.
When recommending new cupboards, they suggested A) something locally grown (good idea) b)something farmed (yes, another novel choice) and c) something renewable (as much as wood can be renewed...) Brilliant right? Fine if you're building new (isn't it more responsible to use an existing home and modify it?) but if you are simply replacing your cupboards due to aesthetics, then that is not responsible at all now is it?
I especially frowned at the part in the show where the host commented that she is saving the environment because she just went out and purchased an new bamboo lounger... hmm... what did you do with the old one? Why couldn't you buy a used one... oh, I know why... our lives are so disposable aren't they?
I realize that HGTV exists as all forms of fashion do, to entice the consumer to purchase what is new what is hot, what is now. If nobody was interested in redoing their homes, or building new, HGTV wouldn't exist in the same form, so of course they have to do what they do.... (Last Christmas when we purchased a TV for our bedroom, all the TV frames were black, and I remembered feeling that our big one that we bought in '04 was outdated looking as it has a silver grayish frame... hmm... once I realized the scam I was okay with how it looks...) I guess my point is that HGTV with this particular show was misleading... here are some questions I had at the end of the program...
- So should I go out and buy all new energy saving and less carbon emitting light bulbs (with all their packaging... which of course I would recycle, but however...) replace the ones that work perfectly well but are not environmentally friendly, and toss them into the garbage although they still work? Wha? Huh?
- Should I replace all our flooring that is perfectly fine, but wasn't made with the environment in mind? If you seen this show, it made me feel guilty for not having cork or bamboo floors...
- What about sheets? Should I purchase new ones although mine are okay?
- Should we tear down our deck and replace it with something more environmentally friendly? It is better or worse to use cleaning chemicals on it, as well as earth killing stain and take care of it, so we don't have to replace it?
People, use what you have, take care of the things that you own. Take care of your lawn furniture and barbecues so you don't have to buy new ones and trash the old. Don't worry if your possessions aren't with the cutting edge of fashion....Yes, buy responsibly, but don't get caught up in what the Jones' have.
Yes, last year we did buy new family room furniture, but we gave our old stuff to my brother (it was way worn, but he doesn't care...) All I'm saying is do what you can, you'll save money and the environment, right? Ugh, I don't know...
This week-end was a little odd and definitely productive.
Odd because Billy took Friday off, and because we golfed on Thursday night, it seemed like a Friday, and because he had Friday off, it seemed like a Saturday, you know what I mean...
The Saturday morning meeting, was, well, seeing as I don't have much to complain about, I'll say that it was very annoying... apparently these same women have been essentially running the league for about 6 years, and still it took almost 4 HOURS to get everything in order... honest to God, with the exception of developing a theme and flyer for the 9 hole invitational it would have taken 1 person about 1 hour to do all that was needed, if said person was able to actually make decisions. As I said before, as simply a score-keeper, my presence was absolutely unnecessary, and in fact, the ladies couldn't remember who was nominated to be co-captain this year, so she wasn't even there... I guess there was a purpose to my attending, as I was the one who remembered... oh well, at least all aspects of the league are set (except some fine tuning for the invitational...) until September 19th or sometime like that...
Probably due to my agitated state at these meeting I felt like crap for the rest of the day, which is too bad because it was gorgeous outside, so instead of doing anything productive, I was on the couch... ugh.
On Sunday Billy finished cleaning and power washing the deck, which took about 10 hours total to do. It still has to be stained, but the timing of that fun job is dependant upon the weather. I spent about 5 hours doing the pond. Do you realize that our pond is a little bigger than a toilet? I couldn't imagine the work involved if it was larger... Well after discovering a couple of leaks, and moving just about every rock, the pond is running very well, and looks great if I do say so myself.
It's great to have those 2 big jobs done, and the lawn was rolled on the week-end as well ($120!), so everything is coming together nicely. I'm acclimating my indoor garden, preparing it for the move to the greenhouse (or garden tent as William calls it).
God, I love spring! Especially my first spring without being a Realtor! I can't believe the amount of stress I endured over the years... I know, I know, it's a part of life, but let me tell you, I appreciate my freedom from it!
Life's good... now to the chiropractor, then to visit a friend... Later I have a rant, and hopefully some pics...
It seems regardless of what time I actually fall asleep at, my internal alarm starts squawking at 6:45am. So here I am, at the 'pute.
This morning I have an exciting meeting about the ladies' nine hole league. Seeing as I'm simply a scorekeeper, and my job is easily defined, I don't understand why my presence is necessary at all. Maybe it's because, aside from the women that ran it last year, I may be the only one that knows my job, and there is security in numbers, or something, I don't know.... what I do know is that by having the meeting at 9am, then breakfast (or vise versa), we are still a ways away from 11 am, the time I can tee off after.... so obviously no golf... sometimespeoplemakenosense.
Billy is golfing this morning, but he being a primary member, and me a spouse, I can't join him, so that's cool. We're trying to get stuff done around here to make for an enjoyable spring and easy summer. Doing the deck ain't easy. He spent almost 4 hours on it power washing it, and he isn't done yet... then it has to be re stained.... I still have to do the pond, which I'll attempt after this silly meeting.
So it should be a mellow week-end, featuring left over spaghetti, no friends over, and MomG's for dinner on Sunday. Sometimes that's nice...
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