Well, it's nearly done.

Couldn't wait for all your answers so here's what I did with my painting project....
On the dark burgundy wall, I painted the switch plates and finished them with a spray lacquer. They look great. On the other walls, I left the plates white. I am so pleased to finally have color in my house. It was okay for 5 years, but I was definitely due for a change. It feels so warm now. I absolutely love it. I used Behr paint and wow, is that stuff nice..no roller splash,covers real well too. I have also put up a picture of the ugly pink wall from before. The burgundy doesn't show up real well in this pic but it's there! Off to the right and up the stairs. Gotta go and finish some painting now. See ya

PS Excuse the mess, we're still painting and things are definitely astray!
PSS If you click on the pic, you will be able to view in full screen!

Survey

I'm doing a survey....during your painting experiences, what did you do with your plug in covers, lightswitch covers, door bell cover, etc. Did you leave them white or did you paint them the wall color. Would you believe that it's something I never took notice of. In the past, I guess I have done both but was wondering what you guys did.

I'm really getting into these days off...it's nice to get up, go to the gym, sit around and then attempt to do something useful. I'm sure that will eventually wear off though. I managed to get the damn wallpaper border off the feature wall yesterday. John heard that drywall mud works well....it doesn't...maybe you have to thin it out more. Whatever, it was more of a pain that an aid. The wet sponge worked better and then I had to clean up the damn drywall mud. Live and learn, I guess. Today, I have to patch a few nail holes, do some masking and then I think I am ready to put a coat of paint on the feature walls. My arms are already feeling like mush so I can't imagine what they would feel like if I wasn't half a$$ in shape.

On another subject, I splurged on myself and bought my birthday/christmas present. I went and bought a 21 widescreen monitor. It rocks. Now I can do the photoediting without having to get on top of the screen.

Well, hope you are all having fun, I know I am...let me know about the survey.

What.......

Forgot to mention.........HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! And I forgot to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jenn too.....never enough time to read and post, it seems but I'm trying..........

Upgrades...

Hello bloggerland:

I upgraded my Internet Ex to 7 cause it told me it had more advanced features to enhance security etc. and now I see it has a new interface and it's taking some getting used to. But techy little me will work with it and eventually have it all worked out.

I am retired! Well, I guess you can't really call it retired, but I do have a separation slip as of Friday. I will be starting on Jan 2 at a new office (with my past boss though). He and another bought out an existing firm and we will be moving on. I was soooooo ready. Don't want to pull a dooce here and spill too much beans but it is definitely a move for the better.

Extra time off before Xmas, yes....I have so many things I want to do. Paint walls, clean closets and drawers, plan Christmas...do you think I will actually do it all...who knows but I will try and not procrasinate too much. That definitely can happen.

For those of you that are interested, I did upload more Mexico pics to Flickr. Check them out.

Well think it is a shopping day, want to look at a larger monitor, and who knows maybe even a widescreen, do any of you have a widescreen?

Tada

PS this pic is of Banff Springs Hotel (with editing applied) what do you think?

This is new, a google account...

and the blog is supposed to be more stable...well, we will see.

We are back, we had an absolutely great fanTANstic time. Get that...yep, I got a great tan. I have uploaded some pics to Flickr but I don't intend to upload all 500 pics! I was definitely snappy happy on holidays and got some sunsets to kill for. Interesting how some looked the same as I snapped but when viewed, they definitely had lots of different colors.

Changing jobs on Jan 1 so I am done at this office on Dec 8. Hurrah...I love having extra time off in Dec. Still going to have the same boss but he and another LLB have bought another practice so we are moving and I am definitely as happy as they are about the move.

Snow, yes, we have snow. It was a slight adjustment to come home to moderately cold and within days it went to extremely cold. Sucks to not be able to wear shorts and sandals anymore.

Just want to congratulate Jen, you will take wonderful photos, you already are and now you will get paid for them Nice videos Jess, Nolan reminds me so much of Dean at that age that I just about cried (only just about). They are so damn cute at 2-3.

Alison, get to blogging, you are nearly as bad as me (or maybe worse than me) Sometimes blogger is just frustrating, I remember a couple times I typed something and then bleep, it was gone into outer space and I didn't feel like redoing it.

Gotta buzz, stuff to do and tv to watch.

2nd time

I am so excited, one week left till we have our wonderful 2 weeks in the sun. We have been vacationing with our dear friends for many years now and we look forward to it so much every year. It may seem like an odd time of the year to go to Mexico but if you've never been to Mexico in November, you don't realize that it is nicer weather than in February. The evenings stay a lot warmer than Feb and it is much more like our August here.

Summer clothes are laid out, just need to make the decision on which luggage to take...(too many ball bags). We go for 1 week of R & R and then one week is organized somewhat as the next week is a slo-pitch ball tourney with teams from Can, US and Mexico playing. It is all totally a fun tourney but it is nice to have to do something after a week of R & R. It is also like a reunion cause many of the players that come have been to the tourneys many times. Oh, it's just exciting talking about it.

Congratulations again to Suz. You have a gorgeous baby girl. Sarah Marie. I like the name very much. My mother's name is Marie, my middle name is Marie and my daughter's middle name is Marie. Good choice!

Jenn, think of your little ailment as a blessing, it is helping you to get on track with your eating habits and giving you a little pain when you stray. Over the years, I have seen so many people who have lost weight and lost the health problems that they were having. Like high cholestrol, high blood pressure, aching back and an assortment of other things. Trust me, it will be a lot easier for you to lose weight at your age than it is once you hit this older age (45 plus). I have lost weight but it is definitely harder as my metabolism is slower and requires less intake and most of the fat cells are right around my mid section. But I feel better than I every did and so much stronger. I was on the path of being a whimp until mortality hit me in the face one day and I decided to take control and not grow old without a fight.

Jess, have fun on your holiday and don't hold that baby too much. I've heard that it's catching..........lol.

Well, hopefully this time, this will post, had a blog all written up last week,, went to post and viola.......gone. See ya all soon when I have some new hot pics...literally!

Sorry about the same 2 pics, meant to post another but screwed up. Anyhow, one is au natural and the other is photoshopped. I love editing, it is so much fun!

Busy, Busy

Hello, Hello


I am sure everyone who ever read this blog must think that I have a boring life or that I just am never on the computer. You are wrong...I am on the computer every day for way too long, I surf all of your blogs everyday and read all of your comments...in other words, I am so busy reading that I forget that I need to blog too.

So where to start....the picture, yes....I'm sure some of you will recognize this. It is the Calgary Tower from ground level. If you look in the sky to the right, we also captured a jet overhead. Quite talented eh?

On the Sept long weekend, Rainbowannie came for a visit and we went to the Calgary Tower, had brunch in the revolving restaurant (pricey for what they had but enjoyed the experience). Then we went to the Zoo. What a huge place and man was it hot! People....wild....I can't imagine what it would have been like in the summer. We saw some really neat animals, some ordinary animals and had a great time.

No, Fitgirl, we did not have time to phone or visit and besides, as I see, you were busy with new beau....lol.

Last weekend, we camped and hung out with the ball team at Provincials in Leduc. The team had more than enough players so I let the youngun's play and enjoyed myself as a cheerleader. I am saving my ball skills for Mexico...yep, we go to Mexico to play ball in 7 weeks. Can hardly wait...we have such a great time! 1 week of R & R and then 4 days of R & R and organized ball and events and then R & R again. It's wonderful (no cellphones, no housework, no nothing)

See ya all soon

Well, here I am with a new post. Bout time you say....well, I just enjoy reading all of yours too much and then it's time to go....Yada, yada, yada you say!

Besides all the normal humdrum daily activities, like working, I've been following an online "free" weight loss site which was put together by ...well, you need to go there and read about it and why it's free (too much info to put in here, but it's quite interesting). It is a really neat site and it has many, many areas to it, including recipes, fitness and calorie counting with a database that is the best one I have seen. I have managed to lose 4.5 lbs and I'm pretty happy about that! There is a forum area too and I have joined a group called Shutterbugs and we do a weekly photo challenge. The site is growing like mad. I just noticed it advertised on msn and checked it out one day and was so surprised. The site's url is www.sparkpeople.com and really, I wouldn't bs you....it is free and no, I do not work for them but I am totally enjoying the site. Actually, Suz, you will be pleased to know that they have a sister site which is also absolutely free called babyfit.com which has the same type of format but for pregnant mothers etc. I don't think I will join that site (ha, ha) but I'm sure it would be fun too.

Actually, if you look down, way down on my blog you will see the link to sparkspeople, I would be interested to hear your comments and like I said, don't forget to read the history of the company. Yes, it actually is a company.

Well, time for a walk, talk to ya all soon.

Supernova

Is anyone else addicted to Rock Star Supernova like me? I think that Dilana is absolutely awesome. I love her accent. If you haven't seen this reality show, you need to. It's got everything, a out of this world woman (Zayra) who thinks she can sing, Tommy Lee and Dave Navarro. We are really enjoying the episodes. If you have no idea what I am talking about, go to rockstar.msn.com and check out the website.

Tagged....

I've been tagged by my dear niece to tell 5 weird/strange things about myself. Well, believe it or not, it has taken me all week to discover things that may be weird/strange. Some may not apply but...it's reading material for you anyhow.

1. I think I should have been a nurse/doctor/therapist/marriage counsellor/handyman. How come you ask? Well, any time anyone has a problem be it, a boo-boo, a headache, a marital fight, a broken dishwasher, I feel the need to fix it. I dwell on the subject till I realize that "I can't fix everything". I am not a worry wart but I have the urge to fix everything...from the photocopier at work to other people's matrimonial problems. Sometimes I have to hold myself back when someone else at work is fixing the jammed photocopier...I just want to say, "let me do it"!

2. I bought $15.00 gym socks at the running store to go in my $150.00 exercise shoes and I am in love with them(the socks and the shoes too). They were very expensive but they were so worth it. I feel about those socks like I feel about baby's skin...know the feeling?

3. I will not leave the house with eye makeup on. In the lifetime, I think I have actually appeared in public without eyemakeup (of some sort) only 10 times at the most. Oh,,,wrong....I do go to the gym at 5:30 each morning without makeup. (Those people haven't got their eyes open yet either, so it's okay, they think I look like that all the time).

4.I am a fanatic about my hair in the morning before work...I always, always look at the back and put all hairs in their proper place. I have a problem with people who don't look at the back of their hair...do they think we only see their face?

Okay, I made it to 4 and I'm stumped on 5. But I think I did pretty good.

By the way, how do you like my pic. That was me in silhouette a few years ago......LOL..........don't think so......not without a lot of airbrushing!

Have a good weekend!

Sunny...............HOT

I note that awhile back I was complaining about the rain..........well, that definitely changed. This heat wave is something else. Now, I'm watering my poor plants cause they all have heat exhaustion. Rain showers have been floating around but seems like they never dump where I live (maybe the rainmaker read my blog). So, if that is the case, now I would like rain in the night and sun during the day!

Went playing ball and camping on the week at Fort Saskatchewan.....I believe someone I know originally lived there!! Didn't do much touring around the Fort but the ball diamonds were good, the camping was awesome, the heat was unbelievable and we had a great time. It's been a long time since I drank that much liquid and never went to the bathroom all day. Guess that's what happens when you exert yourself in this type of weather.

Today, I am ready to sleep at my desk. If only I had a top on my cubicle then I could just close it and have my own private bubble......hey bro....just like the "cone of silence" in Get Smart. Wishful thinking, guess I'll just have to keep moving and wait till I can escape from this torture...........kidding.....I actually like my job (most of the time).

Finally, I will write a new blog

I have posted some new pics over at Flickr. They kind of indicate what I have been doing...taking pictures of flowers etc. They are under the s2 group.

We put a fire pit in the backyard in June. That was no small feat. We inlaid flat rocks around the outside and then did the pit. It is great, before we just had a stand up fireplace and decided it was time to put in a permanent one.

Check out my red lilies. They WERE beautiful until I messed with them. They are right beside the deck and one day I noticed that they were loaded with ants, so I sprayed them with a little soap and water. No results, so I went looking for the Raid...no luck but I spotted the Off bottle. Yep, I took the Off to them. I nearly killed the babies, good thing that the rain came along cause I now what faded lilies and the older ones died. Guess you're never to old to do stupid things.

Over the long weekend, we visited our home and completely cleaned out the old farm house and yard. Hubby's nephew (who now owns the farm) wanted to rent the house so the time was right so all the family gathered and cleared and cleaned. Actually a lot of the work had already been done by the sisters that live around there so it wasn't too labour intensive.

Leave your comments over on Flickr....I'll be back....

Rain, rain go away

Okay, I am now officially sick of the rain, please go away and let us get on with summer. I feel like I am living in Vancouver (not that I ever did but I heard it rains a lot there). (Is this true Island and Suz?) Although perhaps your climate is somewhat different than Van!

My flowers now have enough rain, in fact they are sopping wet and need some sun to dry them out. How can I take pictures of beautiful flowers when they are wilty and dying from all the rain? Although........hmm, if it is still raining tonight, perhaps I will take a few rainy flower pictures and look for the beauty in it! I am such a positive geek aren't I?

As you will note, I have been using my investigative skills again and have now discovered how to put flickr on my page. Pretty talented for an old crow, don't you think?

And.....hey bro.........how bout those Oilers? I think all of Alberta must've jumped and screamed last night...it was awesome! Who knows where this will lead! Never say never!!!!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Well, I didn't post any pics of trains (although they do go through our town about 6 times a day) or automobiles but here is what we did on a Sun. morning.

The town has a fly in show where pilots and planes from different air flying groups fly to different locations on a Sunday morning for a pancake breakfast (yes, they were yummy). People come and view and can have rides (for a price). The local airport is very close to where we live so once I realized what was happening, we walked over, camera and money in hand and had breakfast and I snapped around 50 pics. It was great Sunday morning fun.

Yesterday, we went for a round of golf and stopped at a local lake and had some good old grease and just enjoyed a well deserved DO NOTHING PRODUCTIVE afternoon.

As you can see, I was fascinated by the mini copter. 2 seater baby model. Apparently a well respected surgeon (woman, of course) is the owner and pilot of the little guy. It was so cute, I wanted to fly it! NOT!

Morning has now advanced into afternoon, so perhaps I should do something productive this afternoon. We bought some wonderful polish (house, auto, plane (of course) so I'm off to make things shine. I'll let you know how amazing it is (it should be for the price of it)!

On my way to work today............

On my way to work today, I felt like I was trapped in a black and white movie.

I travel 20 km to work and I cannot tell you how many black and white vehicles I saw in that distance. At one point, I had two white vehicles following me and all the vehicles that I could see ahead of me were either black or white. Heck, I even saw several white semi trucks. Once I hit city limits, I saw a few red vehicles which then made me feel like I was in one of those black and white photos with one item painted red. It was so weird, except that the scenery was all nice and sunny shiny and lush green. What do you think this means? Duh, perhaps the best selling colours are black and white, maybe? Or was it black and white day? lol

I forgot to mention........I drive a black vehicle and guess what else.......I just realized that I am wearing black and white today.........This all must mean sometime, do you think?

Have a great day........and check out the black and white vehicles!

The noise of the Oilers fans

John had a wonderful time at the Oiler game and his comment about the noise made me laugh: (you must remember that he is a carpenter).

"The noise level was as if there was a running skill saw on each side of your head!"

My Oiler story

I just managed to loose two paragraphs to cyberspace so I am not going to retype it but let's just say that John was at the Oiler game in Edmonton tonight. Game was good and decent but definitely not as exciting as some were. The best thing is "we won". Now, we can watch some more playoff hockey and not have to root for just any old team.

Canada rules especially after the little booing episode in San Jose. We outclassed them by cheering through their anthem and singing loud and clear for our anthem. Awesome!

John nearly didn't get to go as I took all the keys for the vehicle to work with me this morning so this afternoon I had to enlist my boss's aid to bring me home to give him a key. Do I have an awesome boss or not? It's a long story but the ending was pretty sweet, all in all.

Go Oilers Go

How bout those Oilers? Great performance last night ( I actually couldn't keep my eyes open for the 2 overtime) but I knew they could do it. That darn opposing goalie just about was unbeatable but I knew that Smyth was fired up (especially after spitting chicolets) and that they would do it. Now I can hardly wait for tomorrow. Let's tie up the series and see what happens then!

Everybody have a great day!

PS

After I posted, I thought...why didn't I touch up the pic a bit, a little zoom a little crop....So, what do you think now? I like it better, amazing what a little fiddling will do!

Nice Weather

Finally, some decent weather for a weekend! But you know what that means, it means cleaning up the winter's dregs. I've got my flowers ready to excel with some new dirt and give them some fertilizer too. Can't wait, I love flower pictures. I did do some experimenting on the flowering crab though. It is beautiful all in bloom. Makes you want to crawl right inside the beauty, doesn't it?