9 - Success, Success ...

It was a grueling 5 days but I did everything that I had planned ... YAY for me. I don't think I would have been able to accomplish all of the painting if I didn't have a plan that I pretty well stuck to, but I did and did it all.

Summarizing from last post, On Saturday I scraped (and scraped and scraped) old paint from the window trim and door and I sanded what I had scraped. On Sunday I taped windows and had to tape using the rocks and mortar for the outside of the trim. Sandy mortar is not the easiest thing to get tape to stick to. I also applied window putty where it was required.

On Monday I did the prime coat and just as I was finishing up it started to rain. Fortunately the prime dries fast and it pretty well stood up to the rain. The forecast called for nice on Tuesday and rain for Wednesday. My plan was to apply the first cost on Tuesday and the second Wednesday. the front door and 2 large windows are inside a sun porch so I decided to apply 2 coats on Tuesday and do the painting in the sun porch on Wednesday when the rain wouldn't bother me.

Tuesday was absolutely gorgeous and I did what was laid out in the altered plan and even managed to get a bit of a sunburn. Then on Wednesday it was grey and ugly in the morning but still hot and now it was humid as well. I had to run a quick errand before I started so the dogs got in the car with me and I got what I had to get. When all the dogs are in the car, I open all the windows so they car get some breeze. When I got home I parked in the driveway rather than the garage and went to work on the paint job.

It took a long time but I got it all done. In the middle of the afternoon it started raining and didn't let up for a few hours. Meanwhile I had forgotten all about the car windows being wide open. Later that night when I went outside and saw the car I remembered. The seats were soaked so I parked the car in the garage and left the windows open all the time hoping the seats would be dry the following morning as I was back to work on Thursday.

They were dried enough to not wet my pants.

So, all in all, a successful week (even the 2 days at work weren't so bad) and to celebrate I bought myself a large bag of potato chips today ... sour cream and dill. I am such a pig.

The dogs and I took a walk to the arts festival happening in the downtown core today. It's only a 20 minute walk so we hoofed it over and was rather disappointed. There were lots, and I mean LOTS, of vendors selling art, photographs, carvings, hand made jewelery, pottery, etc. Some was OK but most was uninspiring. There was a 6 piece rock band playing while I was there and they weren't bad. There were a couple of food stall vendors plying their wares at very inflated prices. The big disappointment was the crowds, or lack thereof. In previous years there were more displays of folklore art, readings and other things that weren't there today. Last year the area used by the festival was roughly 2/3 what it was last year.

It is not my place to try and understand why the size of the festival and crowds were smaller because I really don't care.

Have a weekend

2 - Holding Me Together

Here we are at post #2 in this blog/journal.

It is Sunday night and I think that I had a decent weekend. I gave myself a list of tasks that I wanted to accomplish that was way too long. A few years ago I would look at a long list and get depressed just looking at it. I would feel overwhelmed by the number of things that I had to do and I would end up not doing any.

The way I conquered that was to make very shorts lists, perhaps only 1 small thing but when I accomplished that 1 thing I felt good. Successful!!! I no longer look at long lists of tasks as something to get me down and run to hind under the covers of my bed.

Here are the contents of my weekend list ...
- get oil changed in car
- mow the lawn in the backyard
- buy a book
- buy some blank DVDs
- vacuum the house
- move the couch to the other side of the living room
- try and repair the hole that Welsby chewed in the couch
- was the kitchen floor
- clean the bathroom
- dust
- get 3 illegal software applications
- write a post in Blogger
- download and install Thunderbird 3
- find a video joiner program
- do the paperwork that the CRA wants for my tax audit
- glue a small piece of wood on a window frame that Welsby accidentally pulled off
- join 2 videos together

I managed to get the following done
- mowed the lawn
- bought the DVDs
- vacuumed some of the house
- moved the couch
- cleaned the bathroom
- did some dusting
- am writing this post
- downloaded the illegal software
- found a video joiner
- downloaded Thunderbird 3
- tried to join the 2 videos together and it crashed my computer

Do I feel bad for not getting it all done? Nope. Do I care? Nope

But I also did my grocery shopping, laundry and ironing, went out and watched part of a friend's soccer game, make a fabulous dinner tonight for my son and I (Dill Salmon with Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup ... from scratch. I am a damn fine cook if I do say so.

I had wanted to have my soccer friend come to dinner but her game started an hour late and I had to leave well before the end of the game. I spoke with her when she went home and told her that I had wanted to have her over but never had the opportunity to ask. She said that she would have probably come for dinner and more than likely would next time.

I'll say it right here and now, I have picked Montreal and San Jose to win the conference finals in hockey. This afternoon, San Jose lost the first game and Montreal is in the process of having their asses wiped by Philadelphia.

Woody is laying on the floor behind my chair snoring like a banshee, whatever that sounds like. The other dogs don't snore but Woody more than makes up for their silence.

At some point I will get this blog straightened out with some links but for now this is what it is.

Have a great night