What I did on my winter vacation
I had all sorts of grand plans for my holiday break from school (along with the days of work I get off every year this time). And mostly, I've done pretty well, considering.
The main thing I really really really wanted to get done was to paint the living room. I've had the dining room done for months, and it just sort of transitioned into the bland, institutional-looking decor that used to be througout the house in the living room. It's not a small job, I still had to nail/caulk in all the trim and prep the walls, and the color scheme is complicated - a band of dark brown (to mimic wood) crown molding with some dark paint above that in the transition zone between wall and the white ceiling (which also had to be painted, the former "decorators" used the same paint for walls and ceiling), and pale walls and white trim. As of this morning, everything is done but the white trim, which should take me just a couple hours after the sun comes up, and then after it dries, I can take all the furniture out of my dining room and put it back where it belongs (YAAAAY).
Not that there weren't some hiccups along the way. The day after Christmas, I came down with a nasty stomach bug. Spent the night puking, and the next day and a half feeling like a zombie. Ugh.
As I was patching holes in the walls, I hear a noise, look back, and Jodah is carefully, delicately licking the spackle paste out of each and every hole.
But this will be really satisfying, oh yes.
Other things I've gotten done: I took Jodah to the closest "self serve" dog wash for a bath and blow-out. It was a bit expensive for what it was, not that much cheaper than the gromer around the corner charged, but I'm still glad I did it. Their "shed package" took the edge off the cost, too, with some special shampoo forumlation (which they diltue down and put in shake-bottles for you, which is a nice touch that I didn't expect to like) and time at the blow-driers. Given it was 15 degrees that day, I was for sure going to blow him dry, but it was a bit rough on the poor guy. He's already noise sensitive, so I expected that, but he really hated the instinctive back-and-forth motion of the air blast, so I kept that to a minimum, and he also hated the loose hair flying around, he kept expecting attacks. And yes, he's so much better now, shedding down to a dull roar, and that layer of dense greasy undercoat is gone. I guess Jodah's a bit less wash-and-wear than I want him to be, haa.
I haven't done quite as much cooking as I wanted to, but still enough so that my freezer is stocked with single-serve meals for lunches and quick dinners. And I still have ingredients for black-eyed peas and greens to make, I'm probably looking at sunday, but I may take out the ham hocks and simmer them for stock today while I finish the living room.
Overall, this break has been very good. While getting sick sucked, at least it didn't happen on a day where I'd have had to miss work or school (or worse, attempt to drag myself there before I was well again). And it was so nice to get some uninterrupted time to work on the house, I haven't had that since mid-summer sometime.
The main thing I really really really wanted to get done was to paint the living room. I've had the dining room done for months, and it just sort of transitioned into the bland, institutional-looking decor that used to be througout the house in the living room. It's not a small job, I still had to nail/caulk in all the trim and prep the walls, and the color scheme is complicated - a band of dark brown (to mimic wood) crown molding with some dark paint above that in the transition zone between wall and the white ceiling (which also had to be painted, the former "decorators" used the same paint for walls and ceiling), and pale walls and white trim. As of this morning, everything is done but the white trim, which should take me just a couple hours after the sun comes up, and then after it dries, I can take all the furniture out of my dining room and put it back where it belongs (YAAAAY).
Not that there weren't some hiccups along the way. The day after Christmas, I came down with a nasty stomach bug. Spent the night puking, and the next day and a half feeling like a zombie. Ugh.
As I was patching holes in the walls, I hear a noise, look back, and Jodah is carefully, delicately licking the spackle paste out of each and every hole.
But this will be really satisfying, oh yes.
Other things I've gotten done: I took Jodah to the closest "self serve" dog wash for a bath and blow-out. It was a bit expensive for what it was, not that much cheaper than the gromer around the corner charged, but I'm still glad I did it. Their "shed package" took the edge off the cost, too, with some special shampoo forumlation (which they diltue down and put in shake-bottles for you, which is a nice touch that I didn't expect to like) and time at the blow-driers. Given it was 15 degrees that day, I was for sure going to blow him dry, but it was a bit rough on the poor guy. He's already noise sensitive, so I expected that, but he really hated the instinctive back-and-forth motion of the air blast, so I kept that to a minimum, and he also hated the loose hair flying around, he kept expecting attacks. And yes, he's so much better now, shedding down to a dull roar, and that layer of dense greasy undercoat is gone. I guess Jodah's a bit less wash-and-wear than I want him to be, haa.
I haven't done quite as much cooking as I wanted to, but still enough so that my freezer is stocked with single-serve meals for lunches and quick dinners. And I still have ingredients for black-eyed peas and greens to make, I'm probably looking at sunday, but I may take out the ham hocks and simmer them for stock today while I finish the living room.
Overall, this break has been very good. While getting sick sucked, at least it didn't happen on a day where I'd have had to miss work or school (or worse, attempt to drag myself there before I was well again). And it was so nice to get some uninterrupted time to work on the house, I haven't had that since mid-summer sometime.