Still sick. Exhausted. Stressed. Looking forward to Saturday night.
Category: Daily Life
Ramblings, often stream of conscious, journaling the events of my life.
From the mouths of babes
Evan, 7 years old: “Daddy, why do you have spots all over you?”
Me: “Because your grandmother knew it was time to leave the beach when your uncle and I turned red.”
The Sacred Netipot
Let me tell you…a Netipot done correctly is awesome; done wrong, Guantanamo!
Awesome is hard
It takes nearly 48 hours to make a great weekend; it takes 12 seconds to ruin a weekend.
Space, Earth and Astronauts
I would love to have this experience!
OVERVIEW from Planetary Collective on Vimeo.
Lessons learned from staining
I just gave myself an 8-24 hour delay on the bay window by applying some "touchup" stain. It was a huge risk as it could ruin the uniform look where I applied the touchup. I also have to let it dry really well now before I can begin applying the polyurethane which I could have otherwise begun today. After 2 or 3 coats of poly, I can let the family have access to the window again and there will be much rejoicing.
My biggest lesson today was that despite my cramping hands and exhaustion, my laziness in cleaning up the caulk and my over use of caulk was my biggest mistake. I now understand why the guys in the paint department looked at me like I’d been breathing fumes too long when I asked them for stainable caulk. I really should have bought caulk died the color of the stain I’m using and I should have been far more conservative in my use of caulk (white) and far more prudent in my cleanup of the caulk. Have I mentioned, I have a love/hate relationship with caulk…mostly hate.
And, building the clean room was soooo worth it!
Bay Window Progress
The 3rd and final coat of stain is on the bay window. The next step will be to apply the polyurethane.
On aging and friends
I think in our single digits we play and play hard and that is good.
In our teen years we fight angst and work through cliques and social situations.
The twenties are great. These are the years of using the knowledge learned in the teens to just have fun. We aren’t trying to game the system or social climb yet. We are comfortable with ourselves and willing to give unconditional time.
The thirties are either aggressive corporate ladder climbing where “who you know matters” so people suddenly gain “value” and therefore you must selectively choose who to spend time with based upon how much you can gain from them OR you have found a comfortably place in your life and are just doing the pattern which like the NYT times article states doesn’t include refilling your pool of friends as it shrinks.
The forties, at least for me, have a huge family first focus. While friends are important, family has to come before all as you realize your children are growing up fast.
I cannot yet comment on the fifties and above without playing off comedic stereotypes.
So masking tape shrinks
Returning to the bay window for the second coat revealed a couple of things. First, my cleaning room set up is working quite well! Second, over the course of a week, my masking tape shrank and I had to remask several areas. Now, let the staining begin!
Update: Second coat of stain applied.
Saturday is for getting high
What shall I do today? I think I’ll lock myself in a small room and breathe noxious fumes…and then when I get out of the bathroom, I’ll stain the bay window.
State of Me
If I had to give this feeling a name, I think I would call it Exhausted.
Flippant remarks meant for deletion
You know how when you have a negative thought you write it on a piece of paper then burn the paper to get rid of the thought. I do the same thing but I type it in the computer then delete it…except occasionally I screw up and push publish instead of delete. My apologies for those that read the recent mistake. That’s like having the burned paper blow away before the match hit it and having the paper land in the gossip column of the newspaper.
When does the day begin?
This day attempted to begin at midnight. Then again at 1am. And 2:30am. And 3am. And at 3:50am it begain.
Finally making progress on staining the bay window
A little less than a year ago, we had a bay window installed in the house. The contractors suggested staining or painting it soon to protect the wood. Having not stained wood since I was a teenager, and with Dad’s guidance, I hesitated…and hesitated…and the window was loved by the children…and the dogs…and the cats…and it was muddied and watercolored and scratched and marked upon. And a few Fridays ago Knoxville was iced in. So I used my sander on the window and it came clean! Thus I created "Dad’s clean room."
I’ve since sanded and removed all the scratches and stains and only in one place which I will never reveal did I almost ruin the veneer. This weekend I vacuumed and made my clean room clean. Btw, it worked really well to contain the dust as I sanded which kept the house clean and the wife migraine free. I’ve now taped the windows and am preparing to apply my first coat of stain! This is good. Hopefully by next weekend (or the end of February at the latest), we will have our window complete.
A little clarification
Dear Greater Power, when I pray for a small lottery win, I was thinking something a little greater than $2. But thanks anyway.
