Projects can be dangerous and lots of work

Right now we’re in the middle of such a project.  We took four days off work to get part of this done.  We removed the carpet from the master bedroom and closet, something we’ve wanted to do a long time.  It’s almost impossible to keep off-white carpet looking as crisp as the day you moved in the house.  After fourteen years of cleaning up fur balls and other spills, it needed a change.  Yes, with cats fur balls can’t be avoided entirely, even with regular doses of petromalt.

 The old carpet

We’ve been wanting to switch away from carpet altogether anyway.  After all, it’s just a big rag on the floor that you can never really get fully clean.  So it was a debate between wood and tile and wood and tile.  Finally, we decided that tile would be best because it’s indestructible.  We can’t move the furniture every week to clean up fur balls.  That kind of situation won’t be as harsh on tile, if they have to sit there a while.  This sounds terrible I know but fur balls are a fact of life with cats.  It doesn’t happen every week, or even every month, but they do happen.

 Pulling up the old carpet and pad.  Raven is helping.

The last few weeks we brought home countless samples of floor coverings, but when we found the tile on sale that’s a good match for the one we had installed in the house fourteen years ago, it was a done deal.  They don’t make our large chipped edge tile anymore.  So this one is a plank tile that looks like wood with the same colors as the tile we already have. 

 Clean and ready to go

Then it was a matter of finding an installer that would actually show up to do the work.  That’s a real problem around here and always has been.  We wanted to get three bids, but as it turned out only one guy showed up and he was reasonable so we hired him for the job.  And he did a fantastic job!  Now we want to do more, although we already swore to ourselves no more big projects like this one.  But the stairs need to be done and maybe the loft too.  We’ll see if we come to our senses.  At least there’s not much furniture to move in those places.

 Some of the stuff from the bedroom and closet

Once we settled on the installer, now it was time to get to work.  This whole ordeal about killed us and we still have to put all the furniture back into the bedroom and things into the closet.  It’s a daunting task when I look around the house.  We have furniture stacked up in every room downstairs.  We’re walking around things in the house and will be doing that a bit longer.  We still have to seal the tile but have to wait three days to do that, so the grout can cure and dry well.

We expected a few mishaps and this project didn’t disappoint in that department.  It took a whole day to drain the water bed and move all the furniture out of there before we could even start pulling the carpet and pad up.  We were beat.

 

More stuff from bedroom

The next day we got the carpet and pad out.  What a mess.  I was moving stuff out of the closet while hubby was cutting the carpet into smaller pieces to make it more manageable for the dump.  Silly me, I forgot the tack strip was exposed.  Of course I stepped right on the thing carrying a load of clothes.  Hubby said to get shoes on because the room was a construction zone.  He was right.  I kept on working though, after I put my flip-flops on, and then put peroxide and band aides on my foot after I cleaned the bottom half of the closet out.

 Koki on pad we covered water bed mattress with

Raven on the dresser, which is now in the dining room

When we finished that task and tying the carpet and pad up for the dump, we were too exhausted to do anything else.  So the next day, I went into the bedroom to scrape the pad up that was left on the floor while hubby pulled the tack strip up.  This was a slow going job and quite strenuous working on your hands and knees.  They must use super strong glue for the carpet pad.

I was so blasted tired that I stood up to get the hammer to pull out a nail we missed in the slab and fell against the way causing a metal sculpture to fall off the wall.  Luckily, it missed my head and cut my right hand deep in two places.  I was gushing blood all over the concrete, so I rushed to the bathroom to get my hand over the sink.  Hubby came with paper towels, peroxide, ointment and more band aides.  Good grief!  Of course my hand hurt like the devil and it was gaping open a bit, but we got most of the bleeding stopped and the thing doctored.  That was the end of my work for the day though.  I went and sat down with an ice pack on my hand for the next two hours.  We thought we would watch it to see if I needed stitches.  So far, so good, but I’m glad I have a couple more days off work.  The thought of squeezing them into gloves right now isn’t very appealing.

 The tile in progress

Of course it would have been better to remove all the pics off the walls before we started the job, which we didn’t do.  But the Indian sculpture that hit me is down right now.

 Our installer busy cutting pieces

 Done except the grout

I feel like the walking wounded right now.  Thank goodness for pain killers that help me sleep at night.  Between my back, my hands and my foot, I’m in a heck of a mess at the moment.

And the cats are wondering what the heck is going on around here, although they’ve enjoyed crawling on all the piles of stuff stacked everywhere.  But they’re quite disturbed that they can’t go and investigate the bedroom.

The torment of an artist’s soul

I read an article in our small paper Monday morning.  It was about the importance of journaling.  I used to be much better at doing that, putting thoughts, drawings, and scribbles down on paper.  It got me to thinking about the artist that lives within me.  I’ve always considered myself an artist and have been so all my life.  I’ve dabbled in about everything art related through the years.  My problem is never having enough time to pursue everything I want to do in any given day.  I don’t think I’ll live long enough to accomplish all that’s in my head

I wondered how I’ll ever manage the Nano (National Novel Writing Month) this year when I can’t even keep up with my blogging.  I’m working too much, trying to do some rewrites on my mystery book, keep up with the house chores and my blogs.  It’s tough to do.  I came to the realization that Nano may be out of the question for me this year.  It pains me to say that unless I use it for notes, or my daily journaling, if I can get into that habit again.  I’ve always wanted to write a book about my experiences as a food demonstration person, but of course I don’t want to post much about that because I’m still working doing that job.  I don’t think my remarks would go over very well if anyone from work read it. 

These birds are having the greatest time.

So I spent some time enjoying the birds today.  They flocked to the birdbath and crowded in there shoulder-to-shoulder.  I love watching them frolicking in the water.  They always tend to do this when the weather is cooler.  Today it’s only 65 here with a cool breeze blowing.  It’s chilly if I’m not standing in the sun.  I do dread the thought of winter coming, but it’ll be here before long now.  Last night we had some very strong wind that sent patio chairs and plant pots sailing around.  I do hate it when it gets like that, but the wind blows hard here in the desert and quite frequently.

More next time.  I must weed out some email now with the thirty minutes I have left before hubby gets home.

Living in a whirlwind

That’s what my life has been like lately.  I have no time for anything, which is sad to say, or even think about.  I haven’t been on this computer for about two weeks now.  I haven’t had time to write anything to post, although there’s plenty going on that I could write about.  My problem is that I’m working way too much.  I hate to think that the holidays haven’t even started yet!  Yikes!  There are times when I feel I’m too old for this much work.  There’s no energy left over for other things.

Plus, we have a lot of home projects in the fire at the moment.  There are several of those to tell you about, as well as my trips to the mechanic with my car again.  I spent four hours there on my only day off last week.  I know I’ll have to wrap my head around getting another vehicle soon.  That will be a sad day indeed.

Hubby has cataract surgery tomorrow.  I’m off work to drive him about and be there for support.  I sure hope all this goes well.  But, as some of you know, men aren’t always the greatest patients in the world.  One can only hope for a mellow day. 

Bear with me.  I’ll be posting again soon.

Big Mama Pronounced Dead

Big Mama leaning over

Big Mama getting worse

 

As sad as this is to say, Big Mama decided to give up this year and throw in the towel.  I’ve suspected she was ailing all summer when the new growth was limited.  Nevertheless, I watered her faithfully, talked to her, and told her to get with it, etc.  All of my peppiness was to no avail.  She fell over in her pot a week ago.

Poor Big Mama - RIP

Now maybe these Sego palms have a life span like most living things.  After all, she isn’t a redwood tree, so how long do these palms live.  This one is about sixty years old.  I guess she was tired.  Or maybe dreading another awful winter here.  Poor thing.  I can’t blame her for that, even if I did wrap her up in extra warm bedding every year.  I never look forward to winter myself.  I’d rather go around naked, I guess, instead of bundled up in all those clothes that never warm me up anyway.

 Interesting to see how they grow - full of fibers

 

So here’s another plant we lost since we’ve been here now, bringing the total of special plants to about five.  This isn’t southern California.  Anything will grow there.  So really, what do I expect when living in the desert?

 Here's another shot of the fibrous inside

 And a side view -  I wonder if the Indians used this mateial for thread.

 

Looking on the bright side of things, now I won’t have to get the dolly out to move her around on the patio.  She must weigh three hundred pounds in that huge pot with all that dirt.  I’m wondering how I can keep a piece of her for a future artwork project.  My wheels are still turning on that one.  Maybe I’ll find some way she can live on in my studio.

OMG! What day is it?

clipart

I swear I live a life of turmoil.  Probably a lot of it is my own making because I get too many irons in the fire all the time.  “When will I ever learn?” is a question I continue to ask myself, more so at this time of year than usual.

I always feel so overloaded with projects and “to do’s.”  To top that off, my laptop got hit with a hack and a virus.  That’s just what I needed.  I’m so thankful I take the time to back up all my files to an external drive.  If you don’t currently do this, you should start immediately.  Don’t turn your computer off before backing up everything for the day.  My laptop was working fine on Saturday with no sign there was any problem.  Sunday morning it wouldn’t let me log on.  This kind of situation just shows you bad shit happens in a flash.

courtesy of justhourglasses.com

It took me two days to get the tech out here to get the virus off the laptop.  He’s very busy with everyone wanting their computers fixed yesterday.  So he was here until 7 PM tonight.  Thank goodness he didn’t have to wipe the whole hard drive again.

Meanwhile, I had my desktop to fall back on, which he told me not to get on until he works on it because it could lock me out at any time.  I decided to brave it because I had two calendars to work on and finish that I have to mail.  So I plugged my external drive in and booted the computer up and got to work from the calendar files saved on the external drive.  I’m happy to say that everything was fine and I was able to accomplish some of the job.  I don’t know how I lucked out on that one.  When you’re stressed and short on time, everything that can go wrong usually does.  Are the sharks circling yet?

from classroom clipart

See this post from two years ago.  This sums it all up nicely because things haven’t really changed since then.

http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/2012/12/up-to-your-ass-in-alligators.html

Something Someone told me that I’ll Never Forget

That is today’s prompt. It is supposed to be something positive or negative about me. Naturally, I can remember something from each category, but because I like to keep everything on the positive side, my focus will be there for this post.

Here is a purse I made - Sunni's Photo's

Whenever I see my friends, they will always tell me, “Oh you should make that and sell it,” referring to something I may have on, or perhaps a purse, or a pair of earrings that I made. I make a lot of my clothes and accessories because I want something different. But I also make drapes, chair cushions, etc. You name it and I’ve probably made it at least once in my life. I am crafty and have always been artistic since I was a child. I try to make use of my other talents once in awhile, other than writing, when I have the time. My imagination is always in overdrive anyway, so there is never a lack of projects. My biggest issue has always been time.

Here is a chair cushion I made - Sunni's Photo's

Anyway, back to the “you should make those to sell.” My friends aren’t like me and have no idea what it takes to put things together. One of my projects takes hours usually because I have to get complicated a lot of the time and can’t just do something simple. By the time I’ve used materials and my time, I could never sell the item for enough to make it worthwhile. However, this seems to be hard to explain. This is one of those things that you have to have done it before you really know what all is involved.

This happens to me all the time, so I’ll never forget, no matter how many times I’ve told them it’s impossible to do; they always tell me the same thing. I am flattered. It’s nice to hear that what I created looks so nice.

If you want to participate in this challenge, click here:
Story of My Life: Blog every day in May: a challenge

I'm Always Running a Race

Royalty Free Clipart


I have to ask myself “why is that?” I guess part of it is getting involved in too many projects at one time. I’m forever doing this even though I know better. I can be like a bee hopping from one flower to the next.


There are always things I have to do on a daily basis, such as cooking and cleaning, but then there are things I really want to do, which usually consist of some creative endeavor, usually writing, but not always. After all life is more than cleaning, cooking, and homey chores isn’t it. At least I don’t feel fulfilled unless I have some creativity in there somewhere.

I can be working on several writing projects at one time and then all of a sudden see something that sparks a new interest – a new writing contest, or something of that nature usually. Sometimes I’m googling around to find out how to do something, only to find something else I want to try in the process. This happens all the time and then of course there is never enough time for all this stuff.

I am the worst offender about emailing myself links to explore further when I get the time at some future date – whenever that is. Invariably life always gets in the way of all these artistic things. I know the rest of you will find this pretty silly, but not only can I email myself two dozen times a day, but also can stay up to the wee hours looking into something I want to know more about that I found earlier in the day. This of course leads to sleep deprivation, which is so normal in my life now that it is odd to sleep more than about four or five hours a night.

The problem is, if something is really on my mind I’ll lay wake thinking about it anyway, so may as well be up looking into it, or writing on my latest “masterpiece.” I’ve stayed up three full days with no sleep at all, but that is about my limit. Of course, I can’t do that if the husband is home. That only causes problems for my peace-loving nature.

The creative spirit is a curse at times. I’ll be the first to admit that. I get involved in many creative things, not just writing. My friends think I can make about anything and are always telling me “you should make those and sell them.” “Yeah, right,” I say. They have no idea how much time all this takes and the fact is you can never make enough money to make it a worthwhile endeavor.

I’ve been this way all of my life and don’t see that ever changing. I’m sure my husband cringes every time he thinks about how to get rid of all my “junk,” if I should meet my demise before him. He struggles enough with his dad’s garage full of “trinkets.”

Someday I’ll have to write about all the stuff I’ve been into in my life. It astounds even me when I think about everything on that list.