Next

Two months later? Really? I'm terrible at this. How am I going to make enough money to stay at home if I don't get this thing going on a regular basis? Good grief.

OK. I got the basement floor done. Re-organization is ongoing. (Anyone want a crapload of kids toys?) Bought the lumber for the Garage Loft last Saturday. Didn't do the project on Sunday as planned. Awesome weather for November and I got roped into indoor chores instead. Hope it's not too cold this Saturday when the father-in-law comes to give me a hand. I think I'll take before & after pics of this one. Hopefully the pics show that what I do is worthwhile and not a disaster.

When is it too soon to put up the Christmas lights? I put mine up during the great weather last week, but I haven't turned them on yet. I figure I should wait until at least December 1, right? I wasn't the only one hanging them, by the way.

Topaz monkey is making major progress in swimming lessons. Moving classes seems to have been the right choice. Mid-term progress report came home too. No issues to report.

More to report on after the weekend.

Moving forward

My dad has given up on living in a house. As the story was related to me, he went out to do some yard work. After about 45mins, he came back inside and said to my step-mom, "I'm done. I don't want to do this stuff anymore."


Within a week, they were looking at condos. Within 2weeks, they had put in an offer on a place. Now they own it. Why am I posting about this, you may ask? The death of yardwork for my dad means that he no longer needs tools. LOTS of tools. (And a bunch of other stuff too.) With that in mind, my brother and I - I hate to say "ransacked", but what else could I call it? - dad's place. Tools? I've got plenty now. Places to store them too. I got a nice rolling cabinet and another bench that I have to make room for somewhere. (The cabinet came full, BTW) Extra garden tools. Grass seed, fertilizer, tree pruner, electric roto-tiller...(3 of those things will go a LONG way toward fixing the disaster of a front boulevard I currently have)
I also came away with some rather random goods. (Pop, juice, V8, "towels"...) When my Dad cleans house, he doesn't seem to go half-way. The only reason I stopped? The mini-van was full. I have to go back at some point to get the garden tool holder, sewing machine and bedding. (And Lord knows what else they'll have lined up for us)
So this week, the drive is back on to get that basement floor painted and organized and to get in and really start on that garage project. Going to need to find a dollar or six to get that one going. Maybe I'll just have to start smaller for now, but I've got to get better use out of all that space!
I've got about a mile of hoses. Talk about wasted space. Note to other home owners and prospective home owners: Do NOT cheap out on a hose unless you really will bring it indoors in winter. They don't survive well. Then you buy new ones. Then they fail. (And if you're like me, they all pile up because you can't think of a "green" way to dispose of them...) Must clean hose. Must pick one of the new "good hoses" to live in the front. Must get a better hose reel that won't spring off the wall too. The work may never end...

Men vs Weight Gain and Relationships

Well,


There's been a ridiculous amount of coverage (and hand wringing) over a recent poll by AskMen


In it, a little more than half of the men who responded said that they'd dump their partner if she gained weight.


Now, let's first ignore the fact that no specific number was used. That's red flag number one, but it makes itself irrelevant.


This poll, and some of the media reaction to it, remind me of a scenario I found myself in. I had the opportunity to sit in on some presentations for a psychology class years ago. A few of the projects were on video. In one such video, the student had done group interviews of females and males. (Each gender was interviewed as a group. No "co-ed" groups.) At one point, the student asked the group of males the same question about weight gain. The response from one guy about "Yeah, if she put on a few pounds, I'd be upset" elicited gasps from the ladies watching the video. It shouldn't have.


Here's why:



Men and women have VASTLY different concepts of "a few pounds." A woman will freak out over a 4lb weight gain from the BBQ on the weekend. A guy won't even know she's put on 4lbs until she tells him. Honestly.

If you showed a man two pictures of the same woman at different weights, he couldn't tell. The difference in weight could probably go as high as 10, maybe 15, pounds and he wouldn't know. Men don't look for "fat ankles" or bloating, or puffy whatever. As I mentioned earlier though, a woman thinks 5lbs is a disaster. Trust me ladies. It's not. Even if you were dating Tony Little, I don't think you really need to worry about gaining weight ruining your relationship.

Remember, though. I'm talking about "a few" pounds here. If either partner adds 20+ % to their body mass, there may be troubles ahead. That kind of "letting go" could be a signal that there's less caring going on. Excluding various medical conditions, of course. Pregnancy weight, medication issues, quitting smoking...all of these can cause body fluctuations and can be hard to get rid of. (trust me. I know. quitting smoking cost me about 50lbs that I'm having a hell of a time getting rid of.)

So, when this topic comes up around the water cooler, or your local forum again, and it will since it's a kind of slow news summer, remember this. While media focuses on the "about half" of men who'd dump, that means "about half" won't. And the half that would? Most of them won't notice if you added 5lbs at that party last week.

Until next time.

Patio Done

So,

I finished the patio. Did I even mention starting it? I think I had it on "the list" there at least. Anyways, it's done. Dug it out, leveled it, added fabric screening and a thick layer of limestone screening and then levelled it again. Then laid the stones. Turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself. Next project is using the pulled up patio stones to make a path at the front of the house. (Halfway done that one.)

After that, I really need to get in and finish painting that basement floor! Followed by choices:

Garage storage loft? Framing said basement for future renos? I'm leaning towards the garage since it's an "outdoor" project and hammering in the winter with frozen fingers probably isn't a great idea.

Oh. And I did get those caps put on finally too. Ended up having to do it all on my own, though. The Mrs picked up a circular saw for me for Father's Day. (Now I don't ever have to borrow my father-in-law's again!) I used that to cut the posts down to size before capping them.

The backyard is almost an oasis of peace and quiet. (I say almost because the garden is empty and there's a monster sized play set. We do have young children after all.)

It's all come together quite nicely though.

More Work around the House

Last year, I built the fences for my backyard. I never did get around to putting the fence caps on though. The plan since spring sprung was to get out and do it. We had almost 4 weeks of un-interupted rain. (You can look it up. We actually set a record for least amount of sunshine in the period) Finally got a couple of nice days, but my neighbour wasn't around to help. Finally, he left the tool with his Mrs for me to borrow and just do the job alone. It's basically a "saws-all" type thing. I must not have all my tool rules up to date though, because the damned blade kept coming undone. After the 6th time, when it flew off into another neighbour's yard, I surrendered. I returned the tool before I ended up breaking it. (Or hurting someone with flying blades) Hopefully, he's around some time this week so we can get it done. I'm also trying to get some benches made from the barn-wood I have lying around. I did get a new hose-reel put up in the back yard, though. I also installed a rain-barrel under one of the downspouts. (That's me, going green)
I picked up a tool bench from someone online. They had posted it for $50 and I responded. He later got back to me and said I was first to ask for it, but he hadn't heard from me and someone else was interested. Did I still want it? I was in the process of sending him a PM that was going to say, "If you've got a cash offer now, take it. I haven't made room and I need to clean..." blah-blah-blah...As I was typing though, I realized that one reason I hadn't cleaned was that I didn't have a proper place to put tools. If I had the bench, I'd have a place. If I have a place, I might actually get the tools away. So I sucked it up and bought the bench. Wouldn't you know it? I cleared a spot in the basement, painted another corner of floor, re-assembled the bench and Voila! I put some tools away. Making the basement slightly more organized. Amazing. (The basement would be even more organized if not for the aforementioned rain. I had to cancel a yard sale...Grr)
So, I still have work to do in the basement. I haven't started the garage loft yet. (Unless looking up plans online counts) My Dad has offered me some shelves from his office. Those will go a long way to helping organize. We're talking those old steel shelves that last forever. Not the cheap ones you buy now. He's also offered some tools that he doesn't really use anymore. I can get the new garden roto-tilled before planting now.
Oh, and to add to my To-Do list? A patio. I'll need to start digging out the area ASAP. (After I get the post caps put on. Before I do the benches, maybe.)
Gonna be a hot, sweaty summer I think.

Some work I've done in the yard today. I know it's not the puppet theatre of the last post. The theatre kind of "morphed" into a bunch of things before I could get a shot of it. It's a barn board garden box for the Mrs and the Blue Monkey to play in. (OK. Gardening isn't "playing", but you know what I mean.)

Spring Sprung.

So I'm sitting here with the laptop on my lap (Duh) while my eldest makes a puppet theatre. Suddenly, I have something to write about! After how many months?

Anyways...

Spring is here. My birthday has come and past. (I'm not 40, yet. That's all I'll say about that!) The weather looks like it might stay in the "pleasant" range for good. (Well, at least until the Summer grossness kick in.) Time to start the serious business of spring cleaning. I've been working on the basement in bits and pieces for a few months now. (Long story-short: I started, I got sick, the kids got sick, the Mrs got sick, shift work.) Today was a "serious" work day, though. While the oldest was at school, the youngest went off to daycare so I was home alone (read: not distracted and uninterrupted.) So I got the patio furniture out to the backyard, moved some bookshelves over, swept up and then painted another good chunk of floor. Then, I ran out of paint. I knew this was likely to happen and I should have gone out this morning to buy more. The plan was to buy more today, but by the time I ran out, it was too late to go get more before I had to pick up from school. (The theatre is starting to look pretty good, by the way. I'll try to get a pic up for you when it's all done and the glue is dry.) So painting had to stop for today. I'll take the littlest monkey out tomorrow morning and try to get some more done while she's napping. Speaking of, we should pack up and go get her soon. Then it'll be time to cook dinner for the brood....
Back to spring stuff though...
Also on the major to-do list is the garage. I'm hoping to build a loft in there to get some (lots) of stuff off the floor and out of the basement. Also, it would be nice to have a proper place to store other "seasonal" stuff. (Packing the lawnmower, kids bike, lawn chairs and more into the outside playhouse for Winter really shouldn't cut it, you know?) We'll have to see how that goes. My very nice neighbour has offered to help me out. (He built his own, so he's not clueless!)
I'll let you know how all that goes.

J

Cheap Plug time again

Sorry folks! But a good friend has started up an at home business in an effort to spend more time at home with her little ones.
http://www.interavon.ca/melanie.groves/
This plug is to get her site on the search engine radar.

Back to normal posting soon. (I think I've said that before)