While You Were Out

After I had my blood taken at the lab on 8th Street yesterday, I popped into the Co-op next door to pick up a couple of things. I've never been to the Co-op on "game day" before! WOW!! If you haven't either, you should. Next "game day" go check it out! There is Rider stuff EVERYWHERE! All the staff wear game day t-shirts. It's very festive! It was positively cheering just to be there! And I bought Co-op Rider Ripple chips which were featured along with "Green" toilet tissue. HA!

The game was exciting!

So, on Saturday, aside from running a couple of errands in the afternoon, I stayed home. I'm reclaiming my house. I got a lot done. It feels good. Luke was away for the weekend playing lacrosse in Alberta (they won both games ... yeah!) and Kevin left on his annual fishing trip. I had the house to myself and that is absolutely the best possible time to make any headway in a project such as this.

Usually, when Kevin goes on his fishing trip, I plan a big "while you were out" project. After the shock of the first one I did, he would get very nervous about going away and would sometimes beg me not to do anything, which doesn't say much for his confidence in me, does it now? The first time I painted our bedroom ... with Don's help on that large 9 foot high ceiling. This might not sound like any big deal but when you live in a house that was built in 1915 and all the walls are plaster, the biggest part of the job was filling cracks and sanding, often from atop a ladder. The next year I thought I'd do the living room but that turned out to be a little tricky. With Mom's help, I removed the mirror from over the fireplace (no small feat) and it was a bit of a mess behind it. I think it must have been there since the house was built! And then again, high ceilings, plaster, cracks, putty, a room-wide valance to remove ... it all got a little tricky and a bit too much for me. I got it started and then Kevin came home to a disaster and had to do most of the finishing. I think he was happy with it when he was done but when he got home and saw the mess I don't think he was so thrilled. Nonetheless, it does seem to be a way to get some projects done every year. Last year there was no such project for obvious reasons. This year my only plan is to WOW him with how clean, tidy and de-cluttered our house is when he gets back. Well, that's a pretty big WOW factor, I think, though it's not nearly so exciting as redoing the bathroom or painting the up and downstair halls ... or something like that. And, if I get time, I'll try to do some garden work, too. He'd be really happy if I did that.

So, I got a good start. Our family room looks much improved. I moved the furniture around a bit. I've cleaned out drawers in cabinets in both dining rooms, stacks of papers have been sorted through and properly filed or heaved. I've tossed almost all my breast cancer information. A lot of it had accumulated. It actually felt felt very good to throw it away. BE GONE!! This feels a bit like purging my home of illness and making it a normal family home again. Well, as normal as a home with a kitchen like ours can be, that is. Our kitchen. Definitely NOT a "while you were out" project.

Today my only break from the cleaning action was dinner at Don and Sylvia's, which was delicious and a nice break. I hadn't seen them for a while. Their garden is looking fabulous with lots of new things happening. Thanks, Don and Syl.

Today my bike injuries have mostly healed. There's just a rough patch of skin on my chin, a big contusion on my shin, a couple of teeny scrapes and very minorly sprained fingers and wrist. Nothing worse than the aches and pains I already have. So that's a relief. I'm so glad it wasn't worse! Someone would have had to commit me!!

Enough purging today. Time to sit back for a moment and enjoy my tidy surroundings.