There’s a bit of a scale issue between the tree and the unicorn, but I am really quite pleased with how the tree turned out. The unicorn doesn’t really stand up very well, and it looks a little bit drunk.
This is part of a play set I have been working on for almost a year in spurts. It’s almost done and I’m looking forward to giving it away.
This afternoon when I was distracted at work, so I messaged an old friend to see what was new. She had just finished a mission trip and was telling me about a multitude of interesting projects she is in the midst of working on.
It reminded me how exciting it is to be around creative, imaginative people. How enthusiasm is infectious. And how one creative project often leads into others.
So I asked what I could do to help. Hopefully I will be able to lend a hand on some interesting media projects in the next year.
Apparently there’s this thing that plants need when it’s hot and dry out called “water”. My grass is effectively in hibernation, which I’m perfectly fine with. However my other plants are looking sad. I shall try to remedy this by adding water to them.
My parents came by this weekend to go to the Art Gallery of Ontario. I made them help me with my yard. My Dad and I removed two stumps that I was really good at tripping over. With a pickaxe and a normal axe and some shovels. We also got five bags of mulch for the flower bed in the front of the house (which has two rose bushes and other things I don’t know how to identify). We fixed a couple of patio stones that weren’t level by raising them up with a few pails of gravel.
Then we killed everything in our square flower box in the back yard. I’m going to convert it into a vegetable garden next year, and since I didn’t like any of the stuff in it, we made it all go away, and then added about five bags of topsoil.
I’d share before & after pictures, but I didn’t take any because we do things on the spur of the moment, which never leads to before photos being taken.
Many thanks to my parents who came to look at Picassos but ended up watching me hoist an ugly, dug up, decorative tree over my head like it was a victim’s head in 300.
This morning I got up, packed two laundry baskets and three milk crates with stuff, and headed out to work. I dropped off that stuff at the house and then went to work to take a nap while standing. I spent the majority of the day trying to stay awake and attempting to focus. It was in vain. I was bothered by a pesky splinter that just wouldn’t get out of my finger. Finally got it out with the help of a staple.
After leaving work about half an hour early, I went back to the house. My mission for the week involves getting as much stuff in and into orderly piles out of the way of people who are bringing in furniture, and also ridding the house of dog hair. I think I’m making progress on the dog hair (and its accompanying odor) in all rooms except for the wet dog room. I expect that room will require the carpet to be removed. Vacuuming stairs is a pain in the back. I also unpacked stuff into the kitchen cupboards and made a cookbook annex for Book Mountain.
I also lined someone up to help move on Saturday who knows the alphabet so that Book Mountain can competently be dismantled.
When I was done that, I cleaned up all the leftover stuff from painting and changing the locks, and moved all the half-full garbage bags into the garage. When that way done, the entry that was a total disaster on Sunday looked a lot better.
I got back to the apartment at about 8:00. It is a disaster zone, and I’m not entirely sure what to do about it. I think I’m just going to keep putting things in boxes and taking those boxes to the new house. Or maybe I’ll just go to bed and hope the mess goes away.
Friday
The old owners had a dog. So our first trip was to Home Depot, to rent a carpet shampooer to rid the carpets of any residual dog hair and dog smell. This is my mom.
My Dad and Alan started to paint. The old owners didn’t move things that were heavy when they repainted before selling, so this space here used to be two colours. At least the old owners left the paint for us. The kitchen was also two colours, and we didn’t really care for either, so we painted it, too.
I made this for our front entry. It was a secret project.
Other Friday things:
- we made a second trip to Home Depot for new locks, kitchen paint, and a few other things
- we painted until about 11:30 pm, with my parents leaving about 5 and a work friend helping in the evening
- I had to be back for appliance delivery by 7 am. Boo.
Saturday
Very freaking early in the morning, our stuff started to arrive in my car. I made a few mountains of books. Another trip to Home Depot to return the carpet cleaner.
And then… appliances!
Apparently this is where I stopped taking pictures for the day.
Other Saturday stuff:
- we made one big trip for stuff in Alan’s co-worker’s SUV. Lots of stuff showed up. The book mountain grew and sprouted DVD foothills in other rooms
- none of the locks fit right.
- we made a third trip to HD to return the locks and get better ones. And rent a drill.
Sunday
Alan played with power tools. It was awesome. Shannon liked.
I put the kitchen back together and started putting some things in cupboards. The stuff mountain in the living room grew. Some cabinets got new handles and I made a I don’t knowth trip to Home Depot for a vacuum because the dog fur isn’t going away without a fight. I removed large piles of dog fur while Alan put on new locks and wouldn’t let me help play with the drill. We are tired. Oh and we got cupcakes from the neighbours.
So that’s where we are at the moment. For the rest of this week, I will probably load my car with stuff in the morning and drop it off on my way to work, as I work very close to the new house. I’m going to try and run the vacuum at least a couple more times before the move in the hopes of locating all this pet fur. We have a couple of painting bits left to do in the kitchen. Furniture comes in on Saturday and we promise to feed all of our friends who come to help load and unload the UHaul.
I’m going to take a nap.