562 - numbers go on the stools

Day 562 - was biting cold wind but only 0 degrees up and down. After work at about 3 I stopped at the bank before heading to Home Hardware to chat with my paint expert. I bought a polyester brush to try with the chalk paint hoping for a smoother finish.

I had to stop and stare then take a snap of the upside down Christmas tree, it actually looks very pretty! Our Home Hardware carries the nicest decor items I have seen in a hardware store.

I also grabbed some cat food and litter before picking Britt up just after 4 from having Amanda trim her hair at Bangles and we headed home.

Mom sent me a picture of Mya on Halloween, she is the cute little pink fairy!

After a delicious supper of jumbo prawns, salad and noodles Shaina cut Sheldon's hair then he and Britt finished Prometheus on my boss's advice. I updated the blog and hand painted numbers on my stools.

the layout of my numbers, the font is Harrington which I love in 500 pt

the hand painting process using acrylic paints and below the finished numbers painted on, tomorrow I will put on finishing wax then allow to dry and buff and they are chalk project number one done!!

Shaina headed to town about 8:45 to celebrate a friends birthday and sleepover at Emily's. Along with her 4 jobs on the go, her goal is to spend time with her friends before taking off on her "down under" adventure.

561 - last carrot harvest

Day 561..started reallllly early, like 2:50 am. A coyote was right in the yard carrying on with a high squeal. Sheldon eventually woke and got his gun, even Shaina came up to find out the cause. He was just by the garden shed but when Sheldon cracked the door to go out he left. Either the slight noise or spotting Sheldon in his underwear scared him off. It was back to bed but I could not sleep so read for an hour or so.

The alarm went off  and it was up and off to school/work. Shaina babysat Asher today. I was lucky enough to still have gift card money at bangles so today at 12:30 I enjoyed a microderm abrasion facial! Fantastic feeling but not so looking :-) I skipped errands and headed home to the ranch by 2:30. Time to dig up the last harvest of carrots now that the snow melted.

it was relaxing time for all after school and work, I was planning pork chops for supper but imagine my surprise when I opened the packed to find side pork.. that changed my whole meal plan!! It was good but not as expected.

After supper Britt raced back to the TV room, since helping Kaylin move she has been obsessed with the gossip girl boxed series she borrowed from her sister. Britt gets obsessed with series :-) I jumped in the tub to relax and wash off the "oils" of my facial while Sheldon ran a bale out to the horses who eagerly awaited his arrival. He and I started to watch a few PVR shows but by 8:30 he was out. I watched and read my book. Shaina stayed in town at Jenna's after working two jobs 9 till 9.

560 - snow almost gone, plus 10 day

Day 560, note to change your bedroom clock when time changes so alarm does not go off an hour earlier :-0)! Sheldon was off to work and soon Britt was on the bus. It is now light when she gets on at 7:30, for awhile at least. The snow was continuing to melt and the horses were racing around bucking and playing. I was up by 8:30 when Britt called saying she forgot her binder and I must drive it in immediately. I suggested I will send with Auntie Manda when she drops Asher off. I then started to buff the wax on the stools.

Amanda dropped him at 9:30 and our day together began. I rubbed the wax while he played toys.

pictures I missed posting from Halloween, left is Britt and Brooke squared making candy apples and left is Asher penguin

At 1:30 Asher went down for a nap. I put another coat on the top of the stools after screwing them back together to get the solid color I was wanting. I am going to add a number to each one once they dry. Like chalk paint this is another trend, numbering everything but I do like the idea for stools.

Being plus 10 all day, by late afternoon most of the snow was gone. Diego stayed out for the day and Coco for most too. I started sorting my last order of photos from November 2011.. there were only  740 from jan-aug 2011. Not only sort but see what ones I missed and put into albums. Asher was up around 3 and he played and helped me look on the computer to organize. Britt went to the basement one home from school.

After getting home form work, Sheldon went up to check the stack on the furnace and in the attic as I hear a drip in the wall of the closet today. Everything looks OK. At 5:45 Amanda stopped to pick Asher up. Sheldon had started tacos for supper and prepared the add ins too while I continued to sort. I carried on sorting, putting in albums and ordering missing pictures until 11:30. Sheldon headed to bed to read at 9 and was soon asleep. Shaina arrived home at 11, I finally went to bed and read for awhile.

559 - time change & toilet roll

day 559 awoke to blazing sunshine! It was fabulous to see not a cloud in the sky and nothing but sunshine. Sheldon and I were up at 10:30 only to soon realize the time had changed last night and it was actually an hour earlier! Fall time change is so much easier on the body than spring.

I spent the morning updating the blog as well as moving Ruby around the house to test areas. At 11, Stouts dropped Shelby off for a visit before I ran her to work at 12:30. This forced Britt up and once in town we ran to Wal-mart quick before returning to the ranch. Shaina was now up and her and Gail went for a ride. When I asked who Gail was riding, she said "Pepper, everyone needs a horse like Pepper!" Agreed, he is a great all round horse. I started the third coat on the stools since the streaky look was driving me crazy.

Sheldon worked on creating a small insulated kitty house to put in the shed in hopes of moving them back to the cat house for the winter to stop any pee in the garage. He ran Britt to town to work for 3 then watched a movie he previously fell asleep in.

I continued to finish spare room closet and vacuum that room then peruse the internet for more information on chalk paint and my blogs I follow. Shaina headed to the city at around 5 to have her first sleepover at Kaylin's new apartment. Both are off tomorrow so doing some shopping while I babysit Asher.

Sheldon cooked fish and rice for supper and made a salad and I made this scrumptious balsamic vinaigrette dressing!! The above beet pickles are from Costco and so good. We ate late at 7 then I put a layer of finishing wax on my stools at 7:30 taking only about 1/2 hour to apply. Sheldon installed our toilet paper holder finally at 8, then main floor towel holder and the half bath hook.

 

Stouts were kind enough to pickup Britt from work and bring her home around 9:30. Around 10 the warm wind picked up, it has been above temperatures all day but now it is dripping faster and they forecast a warm day tomororw.

558 - chalk paint stools

Day 558 had an early start for Sheldon. The phone rang at 5:30 am and it was the plant, off he went in the dark to resolve the issues. He returned at 9:30 just after I had got up and put "Ruby" to work. He brought with him chai teas from Tims!!! Great way to start yet another foggy day.

Ruby cleaned for just about 2 hours before docking herself to recharge. I think we will have to try again after she recharges but the estimated tine of 25 minutes per room will have to be longer when our open concept has a few rooms in one. She also had issues with the black and grey rug. I think perhaps she thinks the solid black edging looks like a drop off? But so far I would not rate highly..but think it is the size of our open main floor and being a first clean that might be an issue.

she did grab some dust on her route

While she cleaned I updated the blog and moved things up out of her way. I washed up my stools for painting today. Sheldon ate and read the papers while enjoying his tea before going to the garage to put skid steer door back on.After cleaning I set about to paint. The girls were finally rousted up to have some soup I made at 1:30 pm!! They then put towels in the new shelves before Shaina left for work at 4.

stools before

this color is called confidence and is darker than it shows in the photo

original plan was to just do tops blue and bottoms white but not feeling it

 so tried one full blue and the other 2 variations but still did not like it so painted them all full blue

At 2:30 he was called back out to work again. At 5, just as the fog started to lift, I finished the 2nd coat on the stools so started up Ruby again. For sure she will not vacuum black carpet and when I put her on the rug she just spins and stops on the grey area.. crap! So I gave her the front entry and hallway to do then my bedroom. She did not like the bedroom, the shag carpet was too much hassle, she would error the brushes needed cleaning for hair :-) So I moved her to basement low pile and she did great until we found her in Britt's room with the hair error HAHAHA. By now she was getting tired and wanted to dock so back upstairs.

Britt helped me refold towels in their bathroom and I organized the towels as well as the main floor linen since some towels came back up there. It was 7 and still no sign of Sheldon so I took a pinterest break before starting supper just after 7:30 when he text he would be leaving soon. He arrived home just after 8, we enjoyed a yum steak supper at 8:30 and by 9 we were down watching Captain America.

557 - treasure day!!!

Day 557, Britt up and off on the bus. Sheldon and I were up at 9, he showered and headed to town with garbage and recycling and had an appointment at the lawyers wanting to look into redoing our will. The fog rolled in thick at 10 am again. He was back at 11:30 when a gal stopped to pickup all Kaylin's moving boxes.

Britt's photographs on solo display at school

By 12:30 he and I were off to the city. First stop was Play Factory to get a new trampoline but it seems they needed some time to build so then it was off to Lauren Lane to pick up the long awaited chalk paint. I choose confidence and chalk as my 2 stool colors. We had to speed to our chiropractor appointments and had a bit of a time finding her new location. Marcy is a great chiropractor and highly recommend her at Motion Chiropractor.

Next stop was Home Sense to return a couple things and get others then off to Costco. It has been quite some time since we have been so it was stock up time. Vitamix was demonstrating so we grabbed a 32 oz. dry container to make fresh flour that I have been in search of.. quinoa, rice, almond etc. I am very excited to try that. Sheldon was thrilled as his seafood lady was there so he loaded up with crab and lobster for our traditional New Years seafood feast dinner!

By now it was 5 so we started out for home but not before stopping to get a Starbucks treat. I had been seeing the ads for my favorite fall pumpkin spice latte so we stopped to grab one for the drive home. Sheldon tried the creme brule, both were scrumptious.

Back at the ranch, we unloaded the truck and found the roomba had been delivered. What a great day of treasures! Shaina got home from work and helping Brandon move around 8 so we all went to watch a couple movies. We started with Prometheus but after about half and hour we shut it off, Sci-fi is not our thing. We then watched Safe which we all liked. Movie night ended at 11 with a plate of California rolls and bed. Another successful day!!

"Ruby" charging for the night

556 - Kaylin moves to Calgary

Day 556 was still foggy.. the drive in to school/work was much slower than usual. It did lift a bit later in afternoon but still there.

Shaina left for work about 3:40 but I got a call soon after saying she may have slid into the fence and broke a pole.. you think?

The Enclave pulled her out and off she went to work, soon after the bus dropped Britt off and Sheldon arrived home. A quick bite to eat and more items loaded in the trailer and we were off . First stop for gas and then a Tims tea, by now it was 5:30 and we were Calgary bound.

After a few attempts we managed to secure the loading zone in front of her place and the unpacking began. Unfortunately one of the  elevators was not working so it was a longer process since others needed to get on with each load as well but after about 6 elevator loads it was all up on floor nine. Pizza and beer were served while boxes were moved unpacked and returned to the horse trailer.

 some stuff in the lobby

 then up the elevator , Sheldon and Bill (Aaron's dad)

 Kyle and Aaron

 while Britt and Kaylin organize the kitchen unboxing

 relaxing after getting it all up

 Lexi plays

 and helps carry tools

Just before ten we headed home hitting the forecasted freezing rain halfway there. Shaina decided to stay in town as she babysits in the morning. The rest of us hit the hay soon after getting home just before 11!