Thursday, April 30, 2020

First World Mourning and Projects

The week is flying by.  I'm not going to lie, it's been a rough mental week as we should be packed and ready to leave for our anniversary trip tomorrow but obviously, that ain't happenin'.  We have made beautiful travel memories every year for our anniversary since 1999 so this is hitting me particularly hard.  Yes, I know it's a first-world problem given what we're all dealing with and people are going through much worse but it doesn't make me mourn it any less.  It's our tradition and we've been through a lot this year before this corona crap cake hit the fan and really needed that mental break.  This time last year we were making our way toward Montana for our epic Yellowstone/Grand Teton road trip and I am so thankful we did.  I have a feeling if we'd waited for this year, not only would it have been canceled but we would've said the universe was trying to tell us something and probably would've talked ourselves out of ever doing it.  It was truly a once in a lifetime adventure and it'll have to hold us over, I guess.  Next week is going to be a hard one so not sure how much I'll be around depending on my mood.

Saturday and Sunday, we did some stripping of the patio fence paint.  Do you ever start a project you really, really regret starting?


I was out there so long, I crippled my left leg to the point to I couldn't bear weight on it and only got 2 hours sleep that night because the pain kept me up.  I tried a paint scraper, stripper and the next heinous step on the pickets will be rough grit sandpaper when the wood is dry which at this rate will be Fall.


If anyone knows of a REALLY good exterior paint, let me know in the comments.  We used a PPG deck paint and it didn't even last one season so I'll never use that again.  I keep reading on Behr, Olympic and Valspar.  I just want something that is going to stick because I'm not doing this again in 3 years like we're having to do this time.  So irritating.

I did finally get my shelf hung and arranged temporarily.


I love that pic but the frame is a little darker than I wanted.  I'll have to research and see if super fine grain can take the tippy top layer off to my liking to be closer to the shelf below it.  I'll have more summery stuff in a week or two.

I got my raised paddle summer art piece from this place called Laurel Grove who beat all other places by $30.  Since we love to kayak and stand up paddle, it seemed fitting.  Then in the fall/winter, I can store it behind the Mr's dresser in the bedroom.


This is a pie safe that I got on an impulse buy and it was too bulky to put most places.  I had the Mr hack off the legs and put felt pads on the bottom so it would fit on our armoire.


That vintage marmalade crock is the last piece I bought BC (before Corona) and I wish I'd only known how much I should appreciate that antiquing trip.  I got the French biscuit tin by the teapot in at Calistoga Country Antiques (out of business) in Calistoga CA along with a French bonbon tin in wine country.  I always love being reminded of little antiquing trips here and there, especially on our travels.

On a side note, 26 years ago, the Mr asked me to marry him.  I so wish we could revisit that night and I wish I was smart enough to bring a camera.  At least I still have the ribbon from the dozen roses he gave me.  That'll have to be enough.

What have you been up to this week?

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9 comments:

  1. You have every right to feel the way you feel about the trip being cancelled. We could have still gone but we were responsible and put ourselves in the position of people who probably do not want to see a bunch of tourists coming into their towns right now and we did the right thing. We can be proud of that but this is a case where doing the right thing sucks at the same time - especially when your consolation prize is chipping paint off of a fence. I am soo glad we went to Yellowstone last year though. That really was the trip of a lifetime and especially just driving cross country, meeting a good friend along the way too. Good memories we have that we can reminisce on for now at least. This is why anyone out there who doesn't like to take time off work or doesn't see the point in vacations should rethink that strategy because I don't know what we would do right now if we didn't have all the travel memories we have.

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    1. Yes, I'm very glad we have those memories to get us through until the next time we can get away. Yellowstone was the best. I'm so glad we did that!!

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  2. I love your pie safe! I use dutchboy dura weather maxbond no prep no prime formula for outdoor jobs. It boasts you could literally paint over dirt lol. I just wipe down the surface and paint. Happy Anniversary! I'm sorry you are missing your trip, we all are missing so many events this year. I don't know if you have discovered the fb group called view from my window, it's people all over the world posting snaps of their view from home. The photos are stunning and made me realize for the first time I can recall that all people worldwide have a commonality today with this. I feel like I am on a worldwide tour with all the glimpses into other people's lives.
    I have been working from home for 7 weeks and it has rained for almost 4 days straight. Beyond work, I haven't been so productive this week. Started a new puzzle and have been watching Dolly Parton's Heartstrings series.
    Have a good day!

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    1. Thank you! I will check out that paint and I'll have peruse group, sounds like a good way to connect! Gotta love Dolly!

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  3. I've never liked comments that people make of, "if you think you have it bad..." I find that to be very ignorant and in a way it's emotional bullying because you're being told you don't have the right to feel a certain way because someone else has it so much worse. I don't think I've ever heard a person say, "I have it worse than every single other person on the planet so everyone should feel bad for me." But we sure as heck shouldn't be made to feel bad to being upset about something that is going on in OUR world. Society has a way of trying to call the shots on what's deemed proper enough to grieve over, be mad about, or be fearful of. Screw that. There is nothing wrong with being super sad (or angry and irritated) for missing this very special vacation. The very core of you is steeped in tradition and those experiences are very important to you. So you go ahead and feel anything you want to feel, and yes, you can even shut out the world next week and not have to explain yourself. You wouldn't have been online anyway during your vacation, so if you want a break, take it. It's a total bummer that you guys can't have this trip now, but God willing, you can next year and it's going to be spectacular!! You can switch up things because you'll have some time to look around and maybe make some adjustments (such as with that douche who wouldn't give refunds during a pandemic...jerk). For this year though, it just plain stinks to be stuck at home.

    My week has been about adjusting to my new overnight schedule and it has not been easy. My body doesn't want to give me more than 3 hours of sleep, with maybe another 1-2 later in the day, so I'm in a constant fog. I had all the wrong dates on my time sheet, and had no clue what day of the week it was a couple of times. But today is my one true day off and I'm happy to be home with the dogs, and need to go through the massive pile of crap that is now on my table for stuff I haven't looked at all week, such as mail, packages, my morning meditation books that I didn't crack open once. Oh yeah, and Thursdays will be my new laundry day. LOL

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    1. I know, I hate that too but online people like to get all judgy like there aren't humans behind the words. When will people learn to just be nice?

      I'm sorry you're having a hard time adjusting to the new sleep schedule. Here's hoping next week is much better!

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  4. My opinion - do not lighten the color of the frame. It would be too matchy-matchy, especially if you have that same (light) color in other places in the room. Maybe pick the darker color up with two small things on the shelf so it is a set of 3.

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  5. Thanks for the thought but I don't like the current color and I'm a matchy matchy kinda gal. ;-)

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  6. I've been using a Benjamin Moore water based exterior paint and separate oil based primer on the vertical sections of my enclosed deck and it has been working very well. I normally wouldn't have gone for the separate oil based primer but I was convinced by the guy in the paint department of my local, independent building supply store. It wasn't cheap, but so far it has performed very well through Canada's winters.

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