Five- OH!

What a frickin' beautiful morning!  The air is crisp, the sun is shining and the snow is fluffy.  What a fantastic way to mark my return to the land of the project free.  The dogs were confused when I grabbed the leashes and herded them out for a walk around the sniffy block, given walks have been relegated to night time only over the last few weeks.

What is this chicanery?

Daytime walks????

The bonus was an impromptu Golden party during the walk.  A few of the Goldens of the Hood and a visiting Golden converged at the same intersection simultaneously and partying ensued. 

All in all a great way to get the creative juices flowing, hence another blog post hot on the heels of last nights post.

Book Em' Dano Year

I recently hit the milestone of the big 5-0.  Not quite middle aged yet, as the plan is to live to 113, but close enough that it made me start to contemplate what I can let go of and what I need to add to the next half of life to get me to the lofty 113 goal.  

Goal #1-  Adding Bend to my Bendy bits.

Ommm!

Since the ankle fracture resulted in the death of dance, I have noticed that my bendy bits have morphed into Tin-Man bits.  There is actual creaking, cracking and groaning coming from joints and me when I have to do full range of motion movements.  Bend to touch my toes with straight legs... a dream from the past... my knees are so bent that I am in the fetal position.   This coupled with lost balance and coordination (frickin' sprain and fracture) has led to a very unhappy body and Max.  

In an effort to correct this I started dabbling with yoga in the fall.  Yoga is something that I feel I should love but often get frustrated with and then give up.  Being  totally honest, if yoga was just lying in Savasana, I would be all over that like cows mowing down grass.  But NO!!!! They expect you to challenge yourself and hold unnatural positions and poses.  

MONSTERS! 

Well in the name of reclaiming my bendy bits I took a 30-day yoga challenge using "Yoga with Kassandra" on You Tube to help guide me.  I started with the 10-minute morning yoga and after a few days realized there was a 15-minute night time yoga option as well.  It took me longer than 30 days, but yesterday I completed both programs.  

Was it worth it?

It was.  I found that as the weeks passed my bendiness increased and now I can almost sit with my legs stretched out straight in front of me while sitting up with a straight back.  Hurrah!  Oh hamstrings the journey we have been on over the last 50 years- Scoring 0 inches in the sitting long reach in the Canadian fitness challenge in junior high, to the splits in high-school, then back to ultra-tight until discovering Highland Dance in my 20's and now back to seized.   

In fact, I loved the yoga program so much I am redoing the challenge for Jan with the plan to do both morning and evening yoga every day for the full 30.  I'll let you know how close I get to the Gumby ideal at the end of the month!

Goal #2- Creativity

I do enjoy finding humour in crap a$$ situations and composing stories about the humorous side of epic fails and knock 'em down "What the????" moments.  I often do this when walking the dogs but unfortunately they have not invented the cranial USB port that connects my brain to the computer, so these stories and humorous musing tend to be for my benefit only. 

I might live to regret this, but my goal is to produce 50 blog posts over the course of the next year.  Some might be very, very short but 50 for 50 is the ultimate challenge.  Feel free to heckle me if I start falling behind... because we know mocking and heckling are instant motivators for me to put the proverbial nose to the grind stone... just so I can say "Suck It!".

Who knows I might also live life large and find some time to continue to practice my painting skills.

I'm starting to think part of the problem is too many interests

Goal #3- Nature

Having had 50 years to get to know myself better, I know for an exact fact that being outdoors and with animals is my absolute calmness reviver.  Bad day... put on some shoes, grab a dog and go and walk in the bush or around the block.  Feeling overwhelmed??? Grab a tent and disappear into the bush for 5 days... BLISS!   

Ingrid

I recently rediscovered my love of barns and horses and must admit I am kinda addicted to both.  There is nothing more meditative than spending time with a horse.  You have to be present and focused on the here and now or you run the risk of being run over.  With this in mind I declare 2022 the year of the Horse and Hound.   

Luckily,  Golden Pride Kennels/Ranvik Fjords has generously supplied me with access to both.  If dog shows ever reopen the plan is to work toward Ferg's CKC Intermediate Rally Title and CARO Rally Novice Title.  We might even try for his Pre Novice Obedience title..... lofty goal I know!  Oaks will be working toward his CARO Rally Novice Title and if I can get both Oaks and Ferg on the same page maybe even a CARO Rally Brace title for each.  

What about Whisper?

She will be busy having puppies... which means Puppy Time for Max and perma-grin for the 8 weeks that I get to spend with them.  

Whisper's Summer Litter-  My Heart!

As to the horses, the plan is to continue to learn about starting foals so I can help Ingrid progress her skills and to stay on Sola... no more impromptu dirt parties for me!!!!

Goal #4- The Dining Room

What madness has taken over me????  Yes I hope to finish off the dining room update project that I have been piddling with over the last 9 years.  I have been working on plaster repair in this room while working on the office, as I had to do something with the left over plaster on the trowel.  This means I am closer to the finish versus the start of the summer, but the dread of having to strip more woodwork and sand plaster is still too fresh to get super excited about starting this project quite yet.  But don't let me rest on my laurels.  Feel free to ask me about how this project is going and to heckle if you notice I haven't been mentioning how the dining room is progressing, as heckling is my fuel to finish.  

The next project.... I can do this!

So there you have it.  My Big Hairy Audacious Goals for 2022.  Notice that not one of the things that are important to me right now are work related.  I find it interesting, but figure I am at the point where focusing on myself and home outweighs growth at work.  Sure I will still end up growing my skills at work, but it will not be my sole focus anymore.  

Look at that!  Only forty-nine more posts to go! 

CHEERS TO 2022! 

The Suck It Project

My siblings will confirm that I am a chip off the ole' block- I start projects and then abandon the project mid-way through, only to start a brand new project.  

WHY?  

Yikes proof I started it before 2009!

I really don't know.  I love the demolition and the final bits of finishing but there is that part in the middle that seems to drag on and on and on and I loose my motivation in the monotonous tedium.  Luckily this tendency only happens when I am working on my own personal projects vs work projects.

I started working on my sunroom many, many years ago.  As usual, I started out strong stripping the layers of paint off the trim, but then I looked up to see the peeling and cracked plaster on the ceiling and I gave up.   The sunroom has remained in a state of perpetual blah ever since.  This wasn't a problem until Covid came along.

Covid introduced working from home virtually which meant people were getting glimpses into my inner sanctum.... a place that most people do not gain admission to.   Initially I was more concerned with seeing myself on the screen.... YIKES!  But three months in and what I looked like on screen was the least of my worries.   I started to notice how sleek and stylish other people's houses were and how mine could at best be described as "shabby chic" but emphasis on shabby.   

I tried to rectify the situation by moving the computer but that just showed off what I was hoping to hide.  I even took to tacking up large swathes of material to act as my background but it made it challenging to enter and leave the room.  

This summer I could handle it no more and came up with a plan.  If I just plastered and painted the far wall I would have a modern backdrop for my virtual calls.  Somehow the far wall turned into the far wall and sides... and then I looked up and went... AHHHHH!!!!  I couldn't possibly spend all this time fixing just part of the room and leave the bumpy cracked and peeling ceiling.  

Judgy McJudgerton

Not surprising, with all the add-on side projects I didn't get the room done before I had to go back to work.  This provided my brother with lots of mocking content and laughter out his ying and yang.  I was so irritated with his condescension that I blurted out... " I'll finish it by the end of 2021ish.... just wait!!!".  Every call since has started with the juggernaut of a question- "How's the plastering going????"  

Quickly followed by... 

"What yet another project abandoned???". 

 Laughter ensues.  

The gauntlet was thrown and I now had myself a big hairy audacious goal and a deadline.  The only problem... work. 

 Not only was I putting in long hours at work, but in order to maintain my sanity I needed to spend as much time as I could reenergizing at my new happy place- the barn.  Many a day I left work in full red brain, but a trip to the barn and time with the horses was the soothing balm I needed to calm down and refocus.  These visits also gave me something to look forward to during the tough moments when my gratitude practice started slipping.

Sola the Sanity Saviour

I did spend a portion of my next two vacation weeks plastering but just when I thought I was done I found more cracks that needed fixing.  Work progressed slowly from Sept to December.  As luck would have it I had most of Dec off and given Covid put a crimp in my plans to go home for the holidays I decided to make lemonade with my Covid lemons and use the time to finish the office off.  Two things that spurred my on-  my brothers haughty laugh every time I reported I hadn't progressed on the room (all lies and part of my master plan) and a painting of a Highland Coo' that a friend sent me as an early Christmas present.  

Fiona is a majestic beastie and needed to be up on a wall (Full disclosure-  Originally I was calling Fiona...Hamish but realized the horn position means he is a she... so I changed her name).       

Fiona

I made it through the plastering and the dreaded sanding but then came the bane of my existence... stripping the woodwork.  7 hours of refinishing hell wearing a P95 canister mask, in front of chilly open windows, listening to the dogs barking and howling as they had to be locked away from the smell and possible contact.  Good times... good times!

Not a bad case of dandruff!

I'm Sexy and I Know It- Round 1

Hell- Part Deux

Once the woodwork was back to it's natural state and the holes and gouges were filled with putty, it was back to sanding.   Staining was another process that required the dogs to be locked away.  Needless to say no one has been happy in my house for the last week.  I forgot how much stain stinks.  Thankfully the smell stayed on the main level so the dogs and I had a stink free place to retreat to.  To be on the safe side I ended up sleeping with both bedroom windows wide open. Which seemed like a good idea until it reached -12 degrees celsius at night.  All four of us were huddled together on the bed trying to keep each other warm.   

I didn't get a lot of sleep the night after staining but used my time to research air purifiers and was able to find the model that I wanted on line at Home Depot.  I strongly recommend an air purifier if you plan on doing any staining.  It has really made the main floor habitable and I haven't had to have the windows open to "air" out the house since running it full tilt.  

Side story-  My parents have mahogany cupboards and baseboards in their house.  My mother

Acajou Rouge

was lamenting that she couldn't find her preferred stain any more and had baseboards that needed to be refinished before she could put them back (20+ years after being removed... Rome was not built in day, because my ancestors were the ones doing the building).  I was telling her about the stain that I found and how the colour was very similar to her cupboards.  She asked me what the stain colour was and looking at the container I told her it was "Acajou Rouge".  She went to the store armed with the name of the stain and the brand but was told there was no "Acajou Rouge"stain made by that manufacture.  There was a Red Mahogany though which would work.  I was perplexed why no Acajou Rouge??? I picked up the container but this time it was turned to the other side and low and behold the other side said "Red Mahogany".  To this day we call the stain colour Acajou Rouge.

Upgrade from stain to paint

As of yesterday I was busy painting.  Coat one would go on and 2 hours later on the dot, Coat 2 went on.  The original plan was to have the two end walls a dark gray and the two side walls and ceiling a lighter grey.   I stuck with the plan even though I was starting to question the outcome.... the room looked short and wide.  While I was busy painting in the office Oakley decided that he wanted to try his hand at painting.  Unbeknownst to me he grabbed the brushes that I was storing in a Ziploc bag, off the top of the crate ... a good 2 foot reach.  I heard him chewing on something but assumed it was Whisper's food bowl... a fav after dinner apperitif of his.  It wasn't until I walked out of the room that noticed the shreds of plastic bag and wondered what he got in.  I followed the trail of plastic bits until I saw the brushes.

MOTHER TRUCKER!!!!!

He not only destroyed the Ziploc but he took the plastic wrap off all the brushes and then moved them around on the carpet, creating his own Jackson Pollack.  Thankfully the paint hadn't set and I was able to scrub it out of the carpet.  Grrr!

As soon as I came downstairs this morning I knew one of the dark walls needed to be repainted the light colour.  Back to the brushes for me.  

Eee Curtains!  The end is near

As the paint dried, I head to Fabricland to find drapes and to Staples to buy a brand new cushy office chair... as the 1960's wooden office chair, that has been on loan to me from my parents for the last 30 years, was starting to become less and less comfortable to sit in.  

As soon as the second coat was on the walls, I started assembling the chair and the curtain rods.  It has been a second Christmas at my house today.  Excitement levels increased with every piece of furniture that was moved back into the office.  The added bonus is my living room now feels extra spacious, as I reclaimed where I have been working from and that the dog crate is out of the room.  

Welcome to your new home desk

As soon as it was finished I sent a picture of the finished product to my brother.  I had to call to follow-up, as he didn't respond to the picture. He commented that he hadn't responded as he was busy doing a reverse Google the image search to see where I got the picture off the internet.  

Suck It!

I'm still giddy with joy and I can't wait to return to work knowing that my "background" is stylish and adorable.... you gotta love Highland Coo's. 

I am also happy to report that the dogs are enjoying the new office as much as I am and are sleeping around the desk as I type this.  

My Blog Supervisors- Ferg & Whisper


Happy New Year's Eve!!!!
May 2022 bring you as much joy as finishing this project has brought me.