Welcome to the first Monday of December. I wish I could say we're walking in a winter wonderland like they are in Stowe but nope.
Last week we mailed out our Christmas cards which was basically me signing our last names to them and including our usual newsletter. Go ahead, roll your eyes. Yes, we're newsletter people and I send them because I like receiving them. If people don't want to hear how our year has treated us as well as get a consumer tip of the year with the good, bad and ugly on local businesses, trash it. If our newsletter didn't make people appreciate their families a little more, then there's no hope for anyone out there. I wasn't going to sit there and pretend that in 4 months I didn't lose my favorite uncle, my mom and my grandma. I got comments from three people who received them saying they weren't sure if I was sending them this year and/or the bittersweet memories I shared of those we lost. So anyone who ever was tempted to call them 'brag and gags' will think twice. Twas nothing to brag about this year.
I'm still nursing ridiculously effed up legs from hip to toes so it was a weekend of getting done what they would allow. I got downstairs and got the shelves put back into the pantries since they appeared not to smell. I sealed the Eucaboard we got for the backing to replace their cheap AF ones. I ended up having to repaint the entire outside of the pantries from the sealer where I obviously got thicker in some parts like where I was trying to seal crevices. This stuff is primer so it has a high probability of scratching so I took furniture wax and sealed the top and buffed it. I know that will take 30 days to cure but I don't need to store stuff on top of it so that part is fine. What wasn't fine was not being able to find the friggin' knobs I bought for the top section after the Mr put the pulls on the bottom. After hobbling around the house looking everywhere, I said screw it and ordered new ones that actually matched the pulls so if I find the knobs at some point before 1/24/24, I've got the ability to return them. Of course those won't be here until this weekend because why would we ever be done? That was the extend of the activity. I looked at Christmas movies on our server and nothing looked like anything I wanted to watch so we didn't.
Sunday I didn't get to sleep until 3ish am so I slept until the alarm went off at 7:45am and then took the extra 2 hours I managed to get back to sleep. The Mr brought coffee up to bed after doing a grocery pickup and we finished the usual Sunday morning skim session of a few shows while I applied stinky ointment to my calves and spent an hour digging at knots. Then downstairs for lunch of grilled cheese and soup. I asked if he had been downstairs yet because I knew he'd kept the bottom of the pantry closed overnight allowing any potential skeevies to build up if it was going to. Now keep in mind at this point I have sealed EVERYTHING that would touch the inside. The only thing I hadn't sealed was the back of the Eucaboard because there's no need, right? Plus when I smelled them on their own after painting, I couldn't smell anything. So he goes downstairs and opens the doors.
"Now it smells like Eucaboard."
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Fine. I may have just enough sealer left to seal the backs, hope for an effing miracle that apparently is not going to happen with these cursed bastard cabinets. I grab the stupid roller, strip naked because I'm not getting grubby clothes again and put on the last of the clear sealer. I know there is NO WAY that is going to be enough because that side of the Eucaboard is fibrous and porous (again, shouldn't make a difference because the other side is basically sealed and shiny BEFORE the additional 2-3 coats of actual sealer I used. I had to wait for those to dry before I could put on the second coat of sealer which will be splotchy white because I will barely have enough to coat what's there. At this point, the project is just to use up whatever is leftover I guess. As I type, I'm in the waiting to paint it white stage. The Mr brought up the two Christmas bins. It took me a week to get the Christmas tree decorated because it just sucked and frankly, I was fine with it just being that tree and nothing else. But a lot of the Christmas pieces are things that Mom bought me before I got married for my hope chest and I wanted to make sure those got put out. It's just getting the motivation that I had when I started the day back that the extra pantry related project sucked out of me. Actually, let me go to IKEA real quick and make sure they have the cabinets we need if this goes south tomorrow.
Out of stock online.
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I had the Mr check when he was down there and he said the clear coat was dry so I poured the white sealer in the tray and got to rolling. I had JUST enough to roll the back and edges of the boards and press into the crevices. I turned on the fan and asked the Mr if he wanted to walk and he said yes. It was later than usual for us but we still got our 3 miles in and now my feet are yelling at me. It's always the 4th lap. So I'll be breaking out the frozen water bottle after dinner to roll those and then when we go up to watch Yosemite Sam (Homestead Rescue) I'll be digging my calves out again for the duration of the show because standing ain't gonna happen tonight. The Mr did run downstairs and he said now he can only smell the paint right now and not the board so we'll see what today holds.
But it did round out on a very sweet note. My dear friend B, sent me some gifts.
A beautiful remembrance lantern as well as an ornament with white feathers and little plaques to hang on it. (Mom has sent white feathers in the WEIRDEST spots when she first passed like feathers flying straight at us or straight down on us with no breeze or birds around several times and we talked about that.) It was so very sweet of her, she is in the bereavement business and this woman is truly living her purpose. She turned a tragedy of losing her best friend very young into a life's work that helps so many people, especially children with grief. Thank you so much!
It was nice to round out this poopie weekend of bitter with some sweet!
What did you get into this weekend?
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Buying new furniture should not be this much of a hassle but here we are. I do hope we're done with it. That was so nice of B to send such thoughtful gifts. It ended up being the only redeeming quality of the weekend.
ReplyDeleteNo, it should NOT. I'm glad that it's basically a general new smell in there for now. Hoping the baking soda takes care of anything else. I think just loading it with non-porous stuff like no flour bags or anything is probably the best bet and the rest can be loaded back up once the knobs come in. Good grief!
DeleteThose pantries should be solid gold for how much time, money, and effort it's cost you for something that never should have been an issue had these things not been emitting such horrible gasses -- and for so long!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful lantern!!! Your friend could not have picked out something more perfect for you. That is so special and will always remind you of how much you're loved.
Weekend was very busy between work, house stuff, cancelling 3 appointments to make room for new appointments, insurance stuff, the whole nine yards. We have 11 appts between the 6th and the 21st. I did manage to hang the wreaths outside on the lights this morning and that was a simple thing, but still felt nice to do it.
You ain't just whistlin' dixie, sister! I should be able to pay for things with them given the investment in them. Yep, she's a keeper, just like you! Aww, I bet the wreaths look nice and it's always good to throw a little cheer on things on the outside!
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