Renovation, Risk Assessment, Building Stuff and Testing My Ability to Cope with Stress

 Many days later ... Still not a lot to talk about. Just been doing things. 

Got rid of this, finally, and moved the chairs behind it out to the other part of the house until we can get rid of them. 

Whilst we were waiting on the people to pick up the desk, I shoved everything into one corner of this massive, what used-to-be-a-two-car-garage, room, and proceeded to start mopping. That was fun. My beloved helped profusely, and did over half the room. After that was done, I proceeded to lay out the new rug, as seen below, which was MUCH lighter than I originally anticipated, but I still kind of like it. Don't know how long it will last with level of dirt that seems to exude from the pets, our feets, and just the house in general, but for now, it looks good. 

I forgot to take pictures of the event, but I constructed my new L-shaped desk, which is in much the same finish as the top of what you see below, which is a double-wide storage cabinet with drawers and shelves. I constructed said file cabinet, as well. Never have we ever appreciated the joys of a cordless drill more than in the two days of constructions. 

After all the constructions were complete, of course, the rug had to be tested for quality assurance by these twos. Approved. 

After all that, and having a completely clean and shiny new tile floor, we realized that we had created an exponentially high potential of death because not one, but both of us nearly crashed and burned when trying to walk from laundry room, down on to the step in stocking feet. Yeah, no. I am far too old to be falling down at this point in life, especially on tile flooring with a solid subflooring of concrete garage floor. Nopity nope. Therefore, I decided that maybe it's time to explore carpeting. 

I bought theses - peel-and-stick carpet tiles. They will arrive Monday. Once those are installed (*by me) we will once again be save from the slow and painful death by falling on hard stuffs. Hence, I am also holding off on taking pictures until the room is complete because I got some other brilliant ideas that have yet to be completed either. 

I did get intelligent enough to order some knee pads to help assist me in being down on the floor for long periods of time. First, I have to add CAULKing around the base boards, because, as this was once a garage, with access to the crawlspace, it also seems to be a highly trafficked area for assorted bugs, including wolf spiders and such. NOPE. 

I also decided that the internal side of the French doors needs a makeover, so I have purchased some also peel-and-stick wallpaper with which to cover them, and will also need to purchase some black paint and some sponge brushes with which to paint the plastic trim. That should be interesting. Now that I pause to consider my choices, I'm thinking perhaps BLACK on the door is NOT going to look that great with the black carpeting. I may have to reassess and try something different on the door. Stencils maybe? O.O 

I interrupt this programming to say, if you know anyone who wants a FULL set of China in this pattern, let me know. 

And because all that is not enough, we are turning the majority of the front half of this room into our home gym. That being said, I felt the need to purchase a new treadmill, which also will be arriving on Monday. So, yeah. Lots of changes taking place at the Waltenburg Estate. 

In other news, we are fast approaching the one-year anniversary of Dio's departure from the planet. We miss him tremendously and probably always will. He was the most excellent gentleman ever. 

That being said, my beloved who is now the Assistant Dog Warden of our county, has decided to test my capacity for stress and wants to add THIS one to the mix. 

It is at least a few weeks off, but damn ... I don't know how to do it. I am not sure how to juggle new dog things, getting new dog acquainted with old dog, on top of work, etc. I do not have a clue why no one has made him a permanent part of their home - but he's about to get a trial run here. If it works out with Nettie, then he'll be a permanent part of our home. Plus, he gets the added bonus of going to work every day with his "dad" whilst we all get acquainted and acclimated. 

I think that's all for now. 

Hope you have a good weekend! 

xo 

Drawing from Experience

 I haven't had any words, so I'll start with pictures. 

I started this at the beginning of the month ...

Mastering Tangled Cobwebs and Puppy Love

How is it September already? In another two months, I will have been at my current job for two years already. In It's been eight-ish months since my dad exited stage left. The work we had done outside was done in June, yet it still seems so very brand new. I have zero concept of time and where it goes. If I think about it too much, I will spin into a frenzy of depression, confusion, and lack of direction, so this is about all I have to say about time. 

Meanwhile, in the giant oak, I saw this the other morning. There's something fascinating about how the dew outlines the intricate design of a web, even one that's starting to fall apart. Patterns. There are at the very least five natural patterns in this one picture, and probably more, but my lack of education prevents me from locating all of them. Kinda like my brain. 

So, I finished this ... 

FINISHED is probably a very strong word, but for the moment, it's finished. At least the base. My beloved says it does not need color, but I think it needs some finesse, and some shading. I need to locate my charcoal pencils, but I'll come back to it. 

Meanwhile, I started another page. It's going to be a cross between neurographic drawing and the whole tangling of zens. I don't have a vision yet, but ... 

I started. I made the connections at all the cross points, and then turned focus on the lines. I spent probably a good 15-20 minutes on this small section. It's a very "zen," very meditative process. It'll be done when it's done because it's not being done for any other reason than for me to learn more about the art and more about me. For instance, I have learned that I cannot tolerate scratchy, broken lines, and therefore the idea to solidify all these curves came about. We shall see where it takes me. 

I finally have been bitten by the MasterClass bug. The whole world of the Tube of Yous gets old. Time to feed the brain something more than the flotsams and jetsams of "content creators." I think I said this recently about something else, but it rings true of ALL the socials, not just YouTube: 

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

So, when I came across an ad, I went for it. I spent a considerable amount of time in this class (all of it, actually): 

I have grown up with her. From Freaky Friday to Silence of the Lambs to Nell, etc., she's just been a constant. I'm not a fan girl, she's just been a part of my experience on Earth. It was an excellent beginning. I've got quite a few classes saved already, and I look forward to listening to something different than the normal idle chatter of which I usually partake. 

As part of signing up, I get to hand out three trials, so if you want to see what MasterClass has to offer, I invite you to hit up this link and see what there is to see: https://www.masterclass.com/s/69934d7e 

It's available til 9/11. You get free 14-day access to all 180+ instructors (or so they say on the page).

Yesterday, my beloved and I went on a walk ... I am confused, and therefore will no longer announce the distances I think I have traveled on my excursions unless and until I get some sort of working pedometer. I thought I had one, but it's not in the mood to be found at the moment. Anywhoooooo, we went further/farther than I did the first time. Still not EVEN close to the next roads back. Today, I think I'll be going to the cemetery just to change things up, plus getting a late start, so there will be more shade, rather than fricasseeing as I walk down the open, unshaded trail here. 

We went to the shelter yesterday to tend to the residents. One came back, Jasper (front, below), and Rufus (back, below) was healing up nicely from what WE believe was abuse. The swelling in his eye has gone down considerably, and he's energetic, and happy. Later yesterday, a family adopted him. I hope all will go well. They shared pictures with the warden, and he looked at home, and happy. 

Some volunteers feel that Rosie, back there with my beloved, does not like men. We beg to differ. She is a sweet, sweet, sweet girl. So sweet! 

I love this guy ... I don't know what his name would be, but it is not Jasper. He was very shy and timid the first time we met, before he went for his less-than-week field trip. Seeing him yesterday, he's starting to warm up to me. I was sitting on the sidewalk with him. He was just content. He's a very intelligent boy who knows what he wants. There's a door back there behind him that he can stand up and open if it's not secured from the inside. He's not pushy. He's good on a leash. He's just an excellent gentleman. I hope he, and his sister, Rosie, will find a good home together, or two good homes apart. 

 We're going back this evening, and there has already been a new resident moved in to replace Rufus. Sad truth. Sucks. She's a lovely lady. I wonder how she will be? 

I listed a few things on Marketplace. I don't have high hopes, but they're getting views. 

In the health department, we got an adjustable weight bench which will be helpful in doing at-home workouts - arm day, specifically - for me. We've got the elliptical machine that we'll be moving back in here, and the rowing machine, and a few other things that we can use. All in all, looking forward to getting more movement, and rebuilding some lost musckles! 

I think that's it for today. Hope you have a lovely holiday. I'm actually doing very little to no work today. I just don't feel like it at the moment. 

Happy Monday!