Stiff and Sore Sunday

Apparently crawling around on the floor painting trim boards make me stiff and sore. I found that out this morning when I woke up and just to prove the point, I did it all over again today and now tonight I am stiff and sore once again. Ah well, its the joys of being me. My red bedroom is slowly getting to look lovely and I cannot wait to get it all back together and post the final pictures.

I cannot get on my knees, its just too painful so to do things on the ground level means either bending over at the waste and having all the blood rush to my head or I have to get flat on my belly. This method works well but then I am lifting my upper body, up off the floor with muscles that usually are allowed to lay dormant and ignored. They are not amused to be used. Really I should do more of this sort of thing, its good for me. Painful but good.

I just have the back of the door to do, and the two pieces of trim behind the door and its done. I love the grey colour. Its soft and warm, not cold and severe as grey can be at times. The white trim looks wonderfully crisp and clean. The furniture looks nice white as well. I was sad to see the cream go, I like that shade but it just did not work.

No yard work done, the quilt is still waiting to be worked on. This week will be soon enough to get at that stuff. Now the room is nearly complete, that quilt is my top priority!! Its so close to finish, I can taste it. I have two other quilts that need my attention, no wait, make that 4 quilts. I need to get stitching!!!

Right now all I want to do is watch the Bronson Pinchot Project and knit while my back  does these little twitchy things.

Toodles, Linda

When the Heck did it Turn Into Saturday

Man, I blinked and suddenly its Saturday. I intend to try and blog once a day but when the week zooms by like a demented squirrel, these things don't happen. I continue to pave the highways and byways in hell with my good intentions.

I am still painting on the spare bedroom. It was the plan to complete the trim this day but that has not happened. I did get the primer on most of the room but that was it for the trim. The headboard is completely repainted and so is the little night table. I have a second coat of red paint on the jelly cabinet but because its red, it will need at least four coats. I have lots of touch ups to do in that room.

Plain and simple, I am a-scared of heights. I do not like to climb a ladder, it turns me into a puddle of blubbering jello. So I tend to  stand on a little stool which means I am not high enough to really see what I am doing and I miss some spots. SO because I have nothing but time to redo what I should have done correctly in the first place I scratched my head and thought and considered, then I found a chair that I can stand on. This way with my little stool I can get up on to the chair and be high enough to fix my flubs whilst tricking myself into not thinking I am that high off the floor.  Problem solves so now this will be the plan for tomorrow, flub fixin' and trim paintin'. I want to get my room back together and not have to be dancing around furniture all over the upstairs.

The mess in my house is reaching critical mass and needs to be dealt with before my head blows off and I end up in little bits all over the crap explosion that used to be my home. I seem to be constantly cleaning but I think all I am really doing is moving the mess from one room to the next and back again.:-) I will learn, one day I will learn. Its so much fun trying to be all grown up and responsible.

I managed to help a friend with some sewing tonight in trade for a pizza supper. It was yummy and we got four banner made for her son's play. I was happy to be able to help. I also managed to get the curtains for her son's room cut off and hemmed for her. We had a nice visit while I bound banners and she made tassells. I thing they will make the play, I really do.

I hear my knitting calling me so I am going to go and knit while I finish the mountain of laundry I have. I have not washed clothes for a couple of weeks and it does pile up. Thank goodness for automatic machines.

Toodles,

Linda

Monday Moment with Minou

I said "you will get the quilt back when I see the tuna in my bowl!!"

DIY FYI

So I have managed to complete a couple of other projects while I am working on the red bedroom. First of all I managed to recover the cushions on my couch today,

First the before pic:

I like the size but I do not like the material, its too bold, too modern and I have never warmed to it

Now the after:

This material is not perfect, its more copper than red but I love it and now the cushions blend into the couch. They are like a sigh now not a scream for attention.

I also reframed a picture
The before:

Nice picture but sadly/badly framed. It has no presence and looks lost on the wall.

Now for the after:

Thrift store frame and the picture looks much better. You notice it now on the wall it is not lost and lonely anymore.

Toodles, Linda

Grateful for a Gloomy Day

When I went to bed last night, I had resigned myself to getting some yard work done today. I did no clean up last fall so the place is a bit of a mess. I had decided to at least get at the front yard, the one people see the most and get it looking respectable. So with that planned I went to sleep, well I did after I watched the last of season two of Downton Abbey. I am so sad I have watched it all, I want more!!! It was a lovely series, full of suprises.

I awoke this morning late as I like to on Sundays, decended to the main floor, fed Minou and then myself with a proper big Sunday morning breakfast, and then did a secret happy dance as it is rather gloomy and chilly out there this morning. I think its chilly, it looks chilly from in here and I am wont to keep my nose indoors and not bust that myth. So the yard work can wait to another day, I am staying inside today.

So far I have started to paint the furniture for the red room. I have the first coat on the night table, the head board, and the jelly cupboard. They are looking rather nice with their new white and red coats against the grey of the walls. I have also found some primer in my paint stash so I can get going on the base boards, but I may do that next weekend. I am not feeling like crawling around the room on my belly today.

I got some material yesterday to recover the throw cushions on my couch, its not quite right but I love it so much more than what is on there, So I am going to recover the cushions today.  Doing laundry and bagging up the garbage to take out tomorrow morning are all that are on my list to get done today. I will fill in the rest of the day with knitting and tv watching. I may even work a nap in there sometime. Tonight I am going to see the Artist with some friends.

Its back to work tomorrow and I am trying not to make a big sad deal out of it. Its not the end of the world, I do like my job and the people I work with, I just love my free time. Oh well, my cushions are calling me and I want to get at them. I will post pictures later.

Toodles
Linda

Rainy Friday Thoughts

Its a dull, dreary, rainy Friday and its one of those types of days that I do not mind. Its a curl up on the couch with a book and a cup of tea and read away the afternoon. I could do that today but I think I may knit for awhile and watch some tv.

I was up early this morning and cooking. How the heck did that happen??? Well we were having a farewell pot luck lunch today for one of my co-workers so I was up and making Faux tatoes, or Twice Cooked Cauliflower. Its super easy, super good and does well in the crock pot. So I was up early after a crappy nights sleep and had that in the crock pot by 9:30 this morning. The I lazed about, drinking tea, eating breakfast and having a shower. Next thing I knew it was time to hit out for the lunch.

We have some fabulous cooks on our floor and our pot lucks are delicious. Loads of food, lots of fun and laughs. Its great. I am glad I went. I was tempted to stay home because I can be a bit of a hermit if I don't give myself a push now and then. I am glad I pushed myself. Once I was fed and watered, I treated myself to a trip to two thrift stores. I think I got a picture frame for a picture in my living room that sadly needs a bigger frame.  A few knitting needles and a basket and I am home again. I forgot to get lottery tickets. Crap.

Now I have No Cook Friday to look foreward to. The Banker and I are headed to the big city tomorrow for material shopping and a Costco run. Then Sunday and my holidays are done and its back to work.

I have decided that the furniture in the Red room will be painted white. So I have to check my paint supply and see if I have any oil based primer left over and any white paint. Then maybe I can get going on the furniture and trim for that room. Its gonna look so good when its done. The little basket I bought today is going to get painted red and it will be a storage basket for that room. The blue and white jelly cupboard that is in there is going to get a slap of red paint over the blue so it will fit in better. Then get the new quilt made and I can move onto planning up my bedroom.

So much to do!!!

I love it

Toodles, Linda

progress update

Right now I am killing time waiting for the hours to pass so I can put the final coat of colour on the red bedroom. Its gone from mottled mauve/grey shiny wallpaper to a soft gray paint. It needs 6 hours to dry so I am puttering until I can slap that last coat on and the walls will be done. I am an impatient soul so I will give you a sneak peek

This is the before, whoever put up this wallpaper did not match the blotches so you can see every strip of paper in person. I had high hopes that the cream trim would be ok to go with the new paint because I do not like to paint trim. The writing was on the wall when I started to move the furniture out of there, it needed to be painted. It was badly chipped in several places. I ignored it and carried on singing lalalalala with my fingers in my ears so I could not hear it yelling at me that it needed painting as well.

Well I can't ignore it any more. Here is the room with just one coat of paint and it looks blotchy but that is because its not totally dry. The soft cream trim now looks a horrid peach colour and I see trim painting in my future. A nice crisp white will look fabulous!! I have run out of primer so the project will be delayed until pay day comes around and I can get some primer. Unless I can find some left overs but I really think I have used it all.

Now I have to figure out what to paint the headboard, night table and wardrobe. All of which are a pale cream and may look funny with the gray. White maybe, a very pale pale version of the wall colour. I have no idea. I know I won't use black or red because that may just be too much. Maybe the night table could be black, no, I don't like that idea. ARRRGH!!!! I need to call in some other opinions, I cannot make this one come together in my mind.

Moving on. I managed to get the center portion of the kingsized quilt finished. I quilted inbetween coats of paint yesterday. No I just have to add the sections onto it to make it king sized. I am going to be so glad to get this done.

I have managed to get the kitchen tidied up and right now I am in mid tidy of the craft room. I took a wee break to blog. The biggest problem in my craft room is my amazing ability to not put things away when I am done with them. I have had this talent since childhood, if my Mom was alive she could tell you all about it. So things stack and pile until there is two square inches of work space left, then I have at it an clear the stuff away. I am also astounded at how quickly the magazines can pile up in this house. I have a zillion of them and I thought I was on top of them. I need to get looking at them and then move them on.

Well I really should get back at it. I have one more counter to clean off and then I can declare this room tidied. Once that is done I can sit and knit until its time to paint again. Oh yes and I can reward myself with a nice cup of tea. I really do like being at home.

Toodles, Linda