Slowly, Ever Slowly

Well I am back to work after having a productive week off. Last Monday was my birthday and I had a lovely day. All sorts of good things happened. I don't know what I ever did to have so many caring people in my life but I am so very glad I did it!!. My favourite "Bug" family gifted me with a lovely bunch of flower,

They were and still are beautiful, I love the colours and the Tiger Lilies are a personal favourite. I was taken out for supper, I got phone calls and texts and Facebook wishes all day long. Not bad for an old broad.

So it was back to work and back to the routine again. I prefer to be home but work was not so bad. Its month end so its crazy but it is what it is and you get through it, One step at a time.

The Banker popped in on Monday and in no time at all we had the bigger pieces of furniture into place once again. After that I started to strip the top of the night tables. They are currently a cream colour and need to be white for the newly decorated room. I like that wood top, painted base look so that is what I am going for.

The base still needs to be painted but I am liking the way the top turned out. I had hope for a dark walnut finish but the wood has a mind of its own. We are going with this. The other furniture in the room has a red tinge to it so it will work quite nicely. I am hoping to get the painting done this week. Once this one is finished and back up stairs I will start the other one. This way I have a spot for the lamp and the clock.

I also took this opportunity to sort through the incredible amount of books I own and thin out the ones that I will not read again. Its taken a couple of days because Busy is not here to cart the keepers back onto the bedroom for me. I improvised so I could move a decent amount of books in one trip without doing myself a mischief. I used a laundry basket with a cord for a pull and sat it on a towel. Once the basket was full I pulled it into my room and loaded the books onto the book shelves. It worked a treat!! Save my back and myself a million trips back and forth.

The donate pile may not look impressive but there are over a hundred books there to go on to new homes.

Now I have some room to add the new books that I know I will buy eventually. I still have some more books to sort through but I need to get a night table finished and back into place so I can know exactly where the small bookcase needs to sit. My room, like my house is a jigsaw puzzle and every piece has to be in just the right spot or the whole thing does not work.So the bedroom is not back to normal, but its getting there. Slow and steady.

I finally bought some petunias to put in the washtub out front. Red and white ones which will look lovely for July 1st.  I have not planted them yet but they are purchased and ready to go. I worked on the puppets this weekend as I did not work on them at all this last week, or if I did, it was very little. I have four more porcupines to add to the stock pile.

My  leg is still hooped so my mobility is still not as good as it could be. I manage. Not everything I want to nor as fast as I want to but it will get done. One thing at a time. I do know now the pain pills the doctor gave me had no effect on the pain as it feels the same now as it did then I have run out of the pills. I though it was helping but I think it was just wishful thinking on my part. I am very ready for it to stop this nonsense and let me get back to the old normal.

Toodles,
Linda

Yes I am Feeling Blue

I had this week off from work because some time ago The Banker said she would help me paint my bedroom and June was a good month to get it done. I made the plans and then sciatica settled into my leg but we forged on. She does excellent work and is so neat and tidy. I love to paint but I am not as good at it as her.

Busy helped me to get the room ready for Monday and basically The Banker got going and got the whole room primed. All the trim and all the walls. While I mostly watched.

She also pulled up the last of the carpet and hauled that out to the shed for me. I was not sorry to see that ugly filthy stuff gone.

Tuesday she had a commitment so I thought I would do my bit and put the wall paper back up, It started out looking promising.

I got three pieces up and then it did this on me

Which made me say a lot of swear words. A cousin suggested using wall paper size on the walls so on Wednesday The Banker painted on the size and I managed to get the wall paper up and onto the two end walls and make it stay while The Banker painted the white trim. 

On Thursday the colour went onto the two side walls and I was in love!! I am so happy that I chose the darker blue instead of the very pale stuff I originally chose.

I love a blue bedroom and I have not had one for the last 11 years. Blue and white is classic and with the wide trim boards in this old house, I love the look.

All work was closely monitored by the most particular supervisor.

Thursday was paint the wall paper walls day. It looks lovely!! The paper looks great plain but even better painted.

Hard to see in the pictures but trust me its gorgeous!! I washed, ironed and hung the curtains in Friday night,and they look perfect.

On Saturday the flooring got installed. We did it together, finally something I could really help with.

I lay down on the job but I get'er done!!

It looks so lovely!! I could not be more pleased if I tried.

Now all that needs to be done is to move the furniture back into the room and I will have done the entire house from top to bottom. Every room has been redone and the pink and baby blue decor has been banished along with all the ugly shiny wallpaper that came with the house. 

Toodles

Linda

So Much Is Happening!!

Busy and the Carpenter came this weekend and Holy Smoke things were rockin' and rollin'. I am speechless with gratitude. Those two are workers and they got a lot done is a short space of time.

The Carpenter replaced and put in some new teleposts in my basement. My old house has a hump in the middle of the floor that he is hoping to get rid of over time. No more wooden porch posts holding up my house. I am so glad about that. I know the basement is not pretty but I have some lovely new posts!!

Then he moved on to putting in a new hand rail on the back step. I needed one. This one had a pretty good swing to it if you leaned on it, even with the brace.

Now its all pretty and solid and there is a nice solid new step to match. The old step had given way and was a hoot to step up on.

Busy helped as well,  You can see the step in this picture

Now it looks like this. Isn't it lovely????

After  he did that he replaced the ceiling fan in my bedroom. I never liked this cheap looking one but I use the fan all the time. Pay no attention to the humongous

 dust bunnies on the blades

Its all gone now and this lovely new one has taken its place.

I love this. Its a great improvement over the other one. 

While the Carpenter was busy doing all these jobs Busy was waging war on the dust bunnies in my house. She vacuumed from top to bottom and then she washed all of my floors. I have not done anywhere near what I should have for a long time now and with my leg being so stupid I can't do a lot but that is not the whole excuse, I am the biggest reason my house was not in good shape. She worked like a trooper and got me in a very good place. I am going to do my best to keep it up. I need to snap out of whatever funk I have been in, get over it and get on with it!!

Sunday found the Carpenter replacing the landscaping ties in my front yard. We went from this:

With a little bit of this:

It turned into this:

While he was out front working on this Busy and I went upstairs and started to empty my bedroom The Banker was coming on Monday to start to paint. Busy suggested and I agreed  that the more we could do that day was the less the Banker and I would have to do on Monday. Have I ever mentioned that sister-in-law of mine is a worker?? We got everything moved out that needed to be done. That includes three big book cases stuffed with books. I pulled them out and she hauled them into the spare room. No small job in its self.

I have always said I am blessed with so many good and generous and willing people in my life. The amount of work that happened here would have taken me forever not to mention some of it may never have happened. Its so wonderful to have it all done.  I still have a list of things for that brother of mine to do next time he visits but don't tell him that!!

Today the Banker came, We went shopping and I bought paint for the bedroom, Completely changed the colour I thought I would do with originally, Its no longer a very pale blue!! The room was all ready for her to get going. Busy is a good organizer and great at getting things done. I need a kick start now and then.

She got it primed today and pulled all the carpet out that was left in the room after I had stopped 

I did about half then got stalled. Its all gone now. So this week she will paint the trim, I will get the wall paper put on the end walls and then the colour can go on the whole thing. 

I am also going to go looking at flooring. I have been offered a loan to get the flooring and I snapped it up. This way the floor will be done and the furniture will not have to be moved yet again. I told you I was very blessed with some very good people in my life. Not sure what I did to deserve it all but I am eternally grateful.

Toodles

Linda

Definite Progress

I am not going to go on and on about my leg. Even though I am a really big baby and I love to make mountains out of mole hills. I can complain here non stop because I cannot get interrupted but I won't. I am tired of thinking about it let alone talking about it.  Its coming along. Its a slow process but its coming along. There that is all I am going to say about "the leg, formerly known as the good leg".

Other things are progressing nicely here at my little house. Today I ordered landscaping ties for the front yard and they delivered them this afternoon . The Carpenter and Busy are due next weekend so I have a wee list of things for him. Replacing the landscape ties along the front sidewalk is one of them. Footings for the basement teleposts, a new handrail at the back step and a new ceiling fan in my room is the rest of the list. Oh yes and to stop the front door from sticking at the bottom. Love having a brother who is a handyman.

While I waited for the delivery man, I began to weed. My neighbour to the south of me mowed my lawn earlier in the day. He has been doing this lately since I am a tad out of commission. I think I could do it now but he got it done while I was out getting the ties. So happy. I started to weed. I am not as good at it as The Banker but I get the majority of the stuff out.

I found the hostas in the front yard. I actually thought the middle one had not come back after last year but who knew if you remove enough weeds you find the plant!!

I also washed down the stuff on the veranda. Swept away the leaves and generally made it fit to sit out there and enjoy the beautiful weather. I have no before picture because no but needed to see that disaster!! Just picture everything all gray and fuzzy and covered with dead leaves. HOWEVER  I do have an after.......

KitKat stopped by because she found me some nice new sheets for the spare room on sale. I mentioned last night I was in the market for some and she spotted these:

 New sheets!! The Carpenter and Busy will not know what hit them when they test drive these babies this weekend. That sounded a bit risque but you can take it however you want to.

We spent the majority of the afternoon sitting on the veranda, drinking cold drinks and working on the weeding.

The picture is a little hard to see but that is KitKat working away on my over grown weeds, with the new landscape ties at her feet.  I am so happy with what we got done. We called it a day and went for supper. Then she headed home and I decided I was done. Teddy Bear stopped by and brought back a table she borrowed for a yard sale. We sat on the veranda for a bit and chatted.

The sad part of my day was the Canada tulips that I made three trips to Home Hardware to get last fall. I planted them and was thrilled when they came up. I could not wait to see them bloom in all their red and white glory.

They turned out to be a bit of a fizzle. Yep they turned out to be yellow and pink. I could not be more disappointed if I tried.  I checked the web site and apparently this happened with some of the tulips. Some came out orange and some were yellow like mine. Most were white and red. I just was one of the lucky ones!! Yippee.  Its too late to change this. These yellow ones are really lovely but they are not what my heart was set on. Canada is only 150 once and this is the whole reason I wanted them.
I even sent a comment to Home Hardware even though there is not much they can do to fix it at this late date. Oh well, I just need to get over it and move on.

Tomorrow I hope to get some wood chips from the City as they offer them for free. Finish up a thing or two in the yard and then dedicate my self to cleaning the inside of the house. I am so glad to finally see progress and to finally feel like doing something.I am still restricted as to how much I do and for how long but its getting better and I am getting there. I do things slower and maybe in a more inventive way than I normally would but I do it. I have wonderful friends who are so willing to help me. and I have family coming to do some things that need doing. Its a good thing you don't have to pay for the good people in your live because there is no way I could afford the ones I have.

I will be sharing pictures as things go along.

Toodles
Linda

Progress??

Things are moving foreward. I think my leg is getting better. The times when it feels ok are lasting a little longer so I have hope that this is moving in the right direction. I am not a big fan of this not being able to move and do as I used to be able to. Never thought I would be happy just to be dealing with the osteoarthritis only. That seems very weird to me but I would be very happy to just go back to dealing with that.

I have made some headway this weekend. I got groceries, I used the "order it on the internet and pick it up at the store" method but it worked wonderfully well. I will definitely do it again. Plus I did not have to try and walk around the store or stand in a checkout line. Wonderful. My neighbour mowed my lawn for me, so nice of him, no payment required even. I have nearly finished the laundry which is good because nearly every item of clothing was needing to be washed.

Today I made a big pot of soup, roasted a pork tenderloin and made a pot of porridge. Now I have stuff for lunches next week. I hate making lunches and I struggle with knowing what to make and having stuff in the house to use for lunch. This week I will have avoided that problem. Hallelujah!!!

I worked on the puppets, I tried, again, to get the kitchen cleaned up. I don't know what it is with this room and me but we have a battle royal going on every week. Well I do know what it is, I can't stand as long as I need to to get the job done. Can you tell this situation is getting me frustrated??

I had to let The Nurse know today that I will not be able to attend Cirque de Soel with them in June. I was so looking foreward to going but the more I think about it the more I can't see it happening. I could not walk a long way from the parking lot, I could not stand and wait in line for a long time. I can't stand long enough to pay for something if there are three people ahead of me.  If there are stairs to walk up without handrails I am hooped. So rather than end up in a situation that I can't deal with, I decided to pass. Doesn't mean I am not miffed about it. I really really really wanted to go.

So my mood today is as gray and dull as the weather today. Feeling just a little sorry for myself today. I will get over it but right now its a pity party, table for one!! Things are getting better its just going too slow for me.


Toodles,
Linda

Things is Gettin' Better

So I think that things are getting better in as much as things have not got worse for the moment.The car is all fixed and paid for. Savings and credit cards have taken a beating but at least things are paid for.

It was wonderful to not wake up to the alarm clock this morning. Three day weekends are fabulous. I slept in late and when I did manage to get downstairs I promptly got a ticking off by a certain someone who really really wanted his breakfast!!

Got the three of us fed and watered then the two furry ones went to find comfy places to sleep the day away and I watched a bit of tv before I got going on the housework.\

My week last week went from only having one night with something on, to having a full, busy week.
One very good plus this week is I was quilting again!! that brace did its job and I can once again hold a needle and do my happy thing.

Was helping the Banker finish a quilt for her sister-in-law. The sister-in-law's mom passed away before she could finish it and The Banker volunteered to do it so it could still be given as a wedding gift to the grandson as intended. I was more than happy to help and over the moon to find out I could quilt again. SO HAPPY. Now I am looking to the list of quilts that I have planned to make with mouth watering anticipation!

The Banker, bless her heart, is a bit of an energizer bunny. Once she gets going she has a hard time to stop. She very kindly dug up my flower bed for me. I had asked that she only do a portion of it because the other part was my hosta bed which had matured very nicely. I even sent her a text with pictures of where to start and where to stop. Once she got going......

She did the whole thing. Hosta la Vista baby. I was stunned but its worked out for the best. I had intended to add more hostas so now I can re arrange them. The Banker came back and we dug some of the old hostas out of the green bin and replanted them. They are showing signs of life so its not all lost. She did a lovely job of it but my poor hosta bed!! It will be fine in time, She felt so bad. I was a tad upset myself at first but now I am looking at it as a fresh start.

I have been trying to get some housework done around here but it just seems I am spinning my wheels. I work and work and don't seem to make much headway. I did get a few things done, but not at all what I had hoped to.no yard work at all but I managed to make a double batch of laundry soap.

I got going on a mosaic star for one of my work mates. I turned this:

Into this over the last two days:

It has to dry completely and get its back painted then its good to go to its new home. I hope to deliver it tomorrow. I rather like it. If I had more red tiles I would be tempted to make one for myself for the shed. I like the red, grey, white combo.

I also had a Pinterest moment in my kitchen on Saturday. here is the before:

During the Great Shed Purge of 2017 I found an old rake with a broken handle. Gave it a good clean and now we have the after:

I am tickled with the result. It looks good in the kitchen. Now if I could get that damn room clean again.

I finally got the oars given away. I was hoping to use them myself. I have always wanted a cabin but I am thinking that dream is just going to remain a dream.  I passed them onto a friend who actually has a cabin  and can use them as a decor item. One more thing out of the house.

Now I have laundry soap again I have a lot of laundry to catch up on. I still want to get the kitchen done and then tackle the living room. My sciatica is still giving me grief, The pain killers are slow acting and they are living up to their reputation. Standing and walking are not something I can do for long periods of time. I have to sit to wash a sink full of dishes. Its so frustrating but not much I can do to change it. I can not stand long enough to get around the grocery store so I may have to hire one of my friends to do a grocery run for me one of these days. The corner store only carries so much.

This too shall pass and I will be able to hobble about as I did before. Right now I am going to sneak in a quick nap, then finish kitchen, keep the laundry going and get the living room done before the day is done.

Toodles,
Linda

One Step Foreward and Several Backward..........Such is My Life

Some days I just feel like the universe is not overly fond of me. I realize that things go well and things go whackadoodle in everyone's life. Worse things and better things. But once in a while things go whackadoodle in my life and I think.......REALLY........what is this suppose to teach me. When one rides as close to the ragged edge as I do, some lessons are not very clear. At least not to me, so I then think, give up trying to teach me, I am JUST NOT GETTING IT!!! GIVE UP.

My fridge is on its last legs and I need to get the tires changed out on my car. The winter ones need to come off and the summer ones need to be put on. Was counting on my income tax refund to help out with this. Did not happen, whole lot of mistakes made on my part and I ended up paying and then asking for a reassessment. This year, because I dipped into my investments, I ended up in a higher tax bracket and looks like I would need to pay again.This does not fix the fact that the fridge and tires need to be dealt with. (We are not talking about the shingles, the windows and the carpet in my room those are a problem for another day)

So out comes the credit card that I have been working at paying off, was so proud of making progress on it, and I made an appointment to get the tires switched out. Now I have two sets of tires and this will not be an expense I need to deal with for awhile. Right now its not one I needed but its done and over. My credit card is not a great as it once was but to quote my Mom "At least I could pay for it"
Even better while I was at the garage they mentioned some work that REALLY NEEDS to be done, the cost of which caused me to faint. Not literally but in my head I passed out, threw up and burst into tears, all at one time. Lets just say I hope the fridge has a lot more miles on it yet.

I should have known, my cars have always done this at income tax time. Apparently no one told this car that Canada Revenue is not handing out refunds to me much this year.

I did get a notice from the nice tax people that I am getting some money back, I don't have to pay anymore, THANK HEAVEN. I am trying hard to be very grateful that this mess is cleaned up and its going to be help with the new car repairs but the refund is not even half of what I need, therein lies the struggle with being grateful. ARRGH ..............cars, they are a blessing and a curse.

So today I went to a walk-in because my good leg is making me nuts and I want the pain to stop. Let me say I do not like to go to the Doctor, I have a long history of dealing with them and being treated like I am wasting their time. I finally caved in today and went because I just want these nonsense to stop. Well. the one Doctor that I have completely no use for was the dude on duty this morning. SERIOUSLY??? This is the Doctor that I saw at the start of my cellulitis extravaganza. He did not even want to give me three days off because it was only a slight infection. What was I fussing about. He grabbed my leg and squeezed it and I regret now that I did not kick him. He gave me amoxicillin which works as good as skittles.  My slight infection ended up with me being in hospital for 44 days and off work totally for 7 months. Oh yeah, I was going to deal with him again with my leg pain. NOT, I got back in my car and went to work. So what was the lesson in that?? Did nothing to make me feel better about going to the Doctor, not even a little bit.

So have we had enough of this little pity party? I have. Lets look at some positive things. I got the crib sheet made for Teddy Bear's granddaughter this weekend

Making this I found out that my sewing machine will zigzag again!! It must have just needed a rest. I am not going to try and figure out I am just thrilled its working again.

The Banker is going to dig my flower bed for me, as I can't right now. I am going to plant hostas all across the flower bed. They grow nicely and seem to thrive in the bed. I want the yard to look the nicest with the minimal amount of work required.  

I am going to go and pout for a bit.

Toodles,
Linda