Musings on a Small Life

I stopped at one of our PetValu's yesterday, for cat food on sale, and saw Daisy:     I thought she was about 6 months old, she's so small, but she's an adult. I asked about her leg and got her story (click image to enlarge):   The store clerk actually told me that Daisy and her kittens had been left in a sealed Tupperware container, so I'm not sure how shelter staff could possibly know her age with such precision. Unless she had been adopted from the shelter as a kitten? She'd have been microchipped before adoption, if that were the case. In any event, I'm crossing my fingers that she finds a fantastic forever home. She obviously needs and deserves to be doted on and spoiled for the rest of her life. Purrs from the boys and peace from me.

...but this is what pedestrians in this city have to contend with all winter. And even the sidewalks that are plowed are too icy to walk on, because the City doesn't sand/salt them. Snapped around 6:30 this morning, the sidewalk on a main thoroughfare (looking west, then east).   I was heading east (below). This is a major public transit route, btw. It's like this all over the City, and exponentially worse when you have to clamber over 3-foot snow banks as well. Impossible to do, if you're not able-bodied. I was so annoyed that I sent these pics off to customer service at City Hall. Whether I get a response, or whether the sidewalk actually gets cleared, is another matter. BTW, the south side was done, but not this north side. DUH. Reason #57 I detest winter! There. My gripe for the day.  However, I'm thrilled it's Friday, tons of stuff to get done this weekend--I feel frazzled, but I know things will come together. Mostly. Maybe.  :-P...

                          [This is it for winter, right? There's no more, right?]

So I took the curtains back to Target yesterday morning, then made the "mistake" of going downstairs to look at their Christmas section. They had all their trees on for half price, most sold out. All reasonably priced and all, IMO, lovely. Actually, they have the nicest trees, for the best prices, that I've seen anywhere around town. And I've been looking. They had a 4.5 foot Virginia pine for $32.50 and I couldn't resist. THIS is what a small tree should look like, and it was worth it to me, I feel happy looking at it.  :-)     The other little tree is now upstairs on my landing, looking cute with all its old-fashioned ornaments (pics on another camera, not yet downloaded). And that's it for my holiday decor. I had "help" from the boys putting this up.  :-)   Back to work now...I woke a few times in the night, thought it was still Sunday. Alas, the "break" is over.  :-) Wishing everyone a good day...Purrs fr...

No painting this weekend, but I was on the go from 7AM (out to catch a bus) till 4:30PM. Up at 3AM, which is usual for me these days. Ever since the time change, actually. But before I left the house, I put up the little 4.5 foot Christmas tree, the one I bought a few weeks ago.       It's not bad, really, not too scrawny for a $15 (on sale) tree. It'll be cute when I get some decorations on it (maybe tomorrow). Now, Home Depot has a gorgeous, full 5-ft tree (saw it there today), but it's about $70, more than I can justify on a small tree that I have up for only a month. So the day's been a blur of store after store, for various items, some holiday shopping, some house stuff. The afternoon was spent in a mess, putting together the 2-shelf Target bookcase I brought home, then cleaning up, vacuuming, doing laundry, sorting through things that hadn't been put away yet (from the pack-up for the reno), decluttering and doing some reorganizin...

Bless my cubicle-mate's husband--they both stopped by after work re: the basement door, and she had him put up my hall closet shelf. No door yet, but I can hang up my jackets! Yippee! When he comes back for the door he'll do my bedroom closet shelf too. BTW, we won't be replacing the basement door. He said that (a) it will be hard to get a door to fit properly (maybe the existing one is an odd size?) and (b) a solid core door won't absorb the sound. But--and I'm sure my dad said something similar some months back and I thought he was full of it--gluing foam-backed carpet onto the back of the door would absorb noise coming up from the basement. Ugly, but if it works.....He'd take the door and knob off, glue the carpet remnant on and cut out for the door knob, put the door back up.  He also did recommend that I carpet my stairs, which is something I've had on my "to do" list for quite some time now. As in about two years. But I think I...

I guess it's progress. It's certainly not fast enough for me. At least the living room is mostly back together. Some day I hope to have a new couch, ditch this old hide-a-bed. My stylist's handyman father stopped by after work yesterday and I'll have him do the trim, though he said it should be painted before it goes on--which I'll do to save costs. So I'm not sure how long that will take, as I need to buy enough trim to replace what I had taken off. I had wanted to have someone redo the entire lower area, but that's not going to happen at this time. Nicki asleep on the couch this afternoon. Apparently he doesn't want to look at the mess or contemplate the remaining work. I was home today, feeling lousy with a head cold, chest cough and a serious lack of sleep (I've not slept much for the past few weeks). Nothing serious. It was wonderful to crawl back into bed around 5AM and sleep for a few hours. I didn't let the day go to ...

I didn't touch the guest room at all today, not even the third coat of primer.  However, I got both coats on the living room, lower hall closet, upper hall (partial), and two coats in my bedroom closet as well. I actually had to paint the entire closet, because the side walls were all scuffed up. The living room is three-quarters back in order, and three-quarters cleaned. We will not mention the upstairs rooms. All told, about 15 hours of painting since Friday afternoon, plus clean up time. I hurt. LOL.I'm at the last of the rye even as I type this, but I think a Tylenol would have been more beneficial. Not as enjoyable, though.  :-) And to "answer" ManxMnews: Yes, I'm doing most of the work myself. I'm trying to get someone to come in and do the difficult-to-reach painting, do the trim, etc. Have a lead on someone, will see if that pans out. And my cubicle-mate's hubby is supposed to come by (with her) after work one day this week to ...

I seem to have found my stamina today, thank goodness. Started priming at 5:15AM today, quit at 8:15AM, cleaned up, etc., went out to the church bazaar, then up to Rona, home again, and then spent another 2+ hours priming. Three coats: Done in the living area, done in the hall closet and over the part of the stairs that I can reach, done in my bedroom closet. Two coats on the guest room wall and in that closet, one more coat to go, tomorrow. (I ran out of daylight.) Also tomorrow: I'm aiming for the first coat of paint on the living room wall and in the hall too. Anything more than that (and of course primer coat #3 in the guest room) will be a bonus. Getting started with the primer yesterday afternoon. The first pail of primer had really separated and needed a lot of stirring. I was really discouraged, priming yesterday. However, things were better today, and the second pail of primer was much, much better, was already well-mixed. Living area wall with the th...