Six Things From April...

Six Things from April....

What can I say?
It's been over a month since I've written.
Why?
I'm not sure.
I came back from Texas and I've been busy?
I've been living life instead of writing about it?
It's been beautiful outside and I can't stand to be in?

I think the answer lies somewhere amongst all of these excuses reasons.

What have I been up to?

1. I had put the word out at the dump that I was looking for a gate. I love my dump. Every Saturday I drive to the little dump/transfer station where I hand over my money and my trash. I had asked them to keep an eye out for some gates as Carlos needs a fence and I wanted a functional gate on the back deck. Not two weeks after putting that bug in the dump owner's ear, I pulled up to see the perfect little gate waiting for me.  For TWO dollars!!  (The mirror that matches my vanity also came from the dump. It's a treasure trove of cast offs.)

Is that a perfect fit or what? 

It took a bit of searching for the hinges but with a little help (i.e. I held the hinges in place while someone else drilled the holes and screwed them in place.) I managed to get the gate installed. The latch part took about 4 trips to the True Value and lots of brainstorming.  After 7 years of having a sideways fence piece held up with twist ties and closed with cinder blocks, I now have a functioning, opening, closing, latching gate.

A Carlos-proof latch.

Next project is the second door on the shed. Neighbor Beverly was over on Sunday and we figured out how to make the current unattached door work without using any major power tools. Yay. Stay tuned.

2. I visited some fossils and dinosaurs. Love a good museum and the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park delivered. Tons of dinosaur bones, many from the Colorado area. Their signage could use a little work and the Houston Museum of Natural Science is bigger and better in the dinosaur department, but for an afternoon of entertainment- this worked.  (Also, the difference is tiny town private museum and fourth largest city in the US and lots of funding.)
Also visited the redwood fossils near Florrisant, Co. Had no idea there used to be redwoods here...but the trunks are there to prove it. Sadly most of the  fossils and trees had been carted off as curios, but a few remain and are now closely guarded. It was a beautiful day and the one mile trail around the tree trunks was a perfect way to kill an hour.

A huge redwood stump. 

So sad that most of the forest was carted off as souvenirs.

3. For a few years now I've dreamed of an outdoor table. Nothing fancy but I KNEW I didn't want plastic or traditional outdoor stuff. My plan was to buy an inexpensive wood table at the local Caring and Sharing (or somewhere along those lines) and just stick it out in the  yard, surrounded by an odd assortment of chairs. The budget was no more than $50 for the table and no more than $10 a chair. Knowing wood will not hold up for long unprotected under the Colorado sun I fully expect the life span to be maybe two years.   I found the perfect table at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Buena Vista and it was $40.  Even better, it came with not one but TWO leaves so there can be a party! My original thought was to put it on the side yard but one day it hit me. Out front it is level and exactly where the table needs to go. So it did. I found a few chairs at the Amish thrift store in Cañon City and Beverly is donating a few too in exchange for a  "seat at the table" come summer dinners. The whole mess is  going to be painted with chalk paint and it may or may not be sealed. No matter what it is going to look darling and be the perfect spot for summer breakfast lunch and dinner.

It's a start. The table will be almost navy.

Chairs will be shades of blues and greens. 

Doesn't it look like the perfect summer dining spot?

I'll have to teach the deer not to poop in the dining room.

4. I've been to some new restaurants, mostly in Buena Vista. BV is a little town past Salida, exactly an hour from the cabin and since I work there on Wednesdays, I've had the opportunity to explore. There are some really wonderful restaurants...I'll do a review or two soon. For Labor Day Dierks Bentley is doing a country music festival (Seven Peaks Music Festival) there and I am thrilled to be so close. Hoping to wrangle some tickets like I did for the Gentlemen of the Road show a few years ago.

5. And mostly? I've been working. Love my job but it is going through a "transition period" to say the least. Doctors are changing and while the current doctor is out, no one seems to know who will be replacing him. There is no schedule beyond mid June which makes scheduling a challenge and overall there is a sense of confusion. Not a very comforting position to be in but I am confident it will all work out.

 My little desk with no counter space. 

We have been BUSY!

And some of my favorite patients:

 Bailey (L) belongs to a doctor as does Wynn on the right. 

They stay down in oncology most of the day. 

 Tucker (above) and Ringo (below) 

are therapy dogs. 

6. And last but not least, look what I got! 

A fishing license!

The waders are on order. I'm going to learn how to fly fish for real. No. 58 is going to be completed!

So maybe for the summer posts will be once a month. Maybe there will be a hiatus. Maybe I will get back to weekly.
Who knows?
In the meantime...get out and live your life. Get off the computer and the phone. That's what I have been trying to do.

Monday at 8:29pm

Monday, 8:29pm

Well, the plan was to do a post on finding my voice, on learning to speak up for myself, on making myself heard. And I can hear the moans from my mother, among others...."O Lord, that girl does NOT need to find her voice."  But. But. I guess I really could not find my voice. Or find the right way to get the words on paper so they made sense and made a point.

Because it is something I am working on. I've been told more than once recently that I am "too nice". I've caught myself smiling and nodding when my brain is thinking "Hell, no! You did NOT just say what I think you did."   Part of that is being at work where I am paid (meagerly, but paid none the less) to be the smiling face at the door that greets people. Part of that is my nature. And I have realized recently that a lot of it is how I was raised. Not to say I was raised meek, but more raised in the ways of the times.

Me. On my birthday.

Smiling and greeting all the patients. 

And being agreeable. 

Even to the jerks.

Of course I also believe I am extremely independent and a decent writer and very capable and also very tall.   Some of the above facts are not actually true. They are "alternative facts."   That's ok. Apparently alternative facts are just as good as real ones these days.

So...instead of writing about how I haven't found my voice but am trying to, I will update you on my most recent project: Painting the vanity and mirror.

It was going to be a charcoal gray to complement the light gray bed. Then Neighbor Sue mentioned how much she liked the original color and how well it went with the gray. And Neighbor Sue is the Queen of Color. Mostly PINK!  That got me to thinking. The teal is really pretty and one of my favorite colors. It plays nicely with the gray and would be happy with some pink and navy thrown in.

The starting point which is going to be pretty similar to the ending point. 

Only better. 

An almost identical teal was found at Lowe's. The mirror has been painted and the first coat of wax applied. The top layer of wax will be darker to bring out the grooves of the wood.
The plan is to paint the wall behind the bed navy. Friend Liddy's suggestion. (This is decorating by sorority. A sorority with no dues. Ha! As if.)   That should make the light gray bed pop.

Imagine the wall behind the bed is navy. 

Pretty, yes? 

Hey! The whole room might get painted navy. It's a big space with maybe enough light to pull it off.
Anyway, I'm painting away IN  THE BEDROOM because the basement is just too chilly. Drop cloths have been strategically placed over the carpet and running up one wall. Paint is applied with care.

Then.

I learned a lesson.

If you are going hold the paint can, make sure you have a really good grip on it.

Otherwise, this happens:

 Yep. 

That's a stripe of teal paint on the wall, the wall heater, the drop cloth.

And a puddle of paint on top of the vanity. 

 But not on the carpet.

The paint can slipped from my hand, dropping straight down about 10" to  the top of the vanity. And splashed. All the way over to the wall.  The vanity top now has a fairly heavy coat of paint on it. And the wall will definitely be painted navy sooner rather than later. Miraculously the carpet is still beige.

In spite of my carelessness, the painting is coming along nicely.

Soooo, even though that was a big mishap and now there's a great big line down the wall, it got me to thinking.   Can't find my voice, but I can give some solid advice:
Hold on tight.
Take that as you wish.

••••••••••••••

I also spent the morning/ day trying to get tickets to see Hamilton in Denver. I followed all of the rules, logging in at 9:00am to get in line in the virtual waiting room. At 10:00am I was given the number in line of 71,415. Googling the number of seats in the theater, multiplying that by the number of days the show would be running and well....there would be no tickets for me. Determined to hang in there, I switched from the big computer to the iPad and somehow lowered my number in line to 27,271. That sounded possible. Maybe some people would give up. Or miss their spot, as once your number came up, there was a 15 minute window to order tickets.  But no.
Instead I got this:

It's definitely been a Monday.  Maybe I should just call it a day and go on to bed. 

Redemption ...

Redemption in the Form of Chalk Paint.


Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard of chalk paint. It's the magical paint that goes over anything and covers everything. No sanding required, no priming. Supposedly.  Once the paint is on, you can wax over it to finish it (easier than it sounds) or even use polyurethane. I wish there was chalk paint make up.

Annie Sloan introduced chalk paint but other companies have come up with their own version. Supposedly you can even make it yourself with latex paint and plaster of Paris but I'm not that adventurous. Yet. Since there are no Annie Sloan "stockists" around here, I settled for some Rustoleum chalked paint from Home Depot to refinish a little project that I had inherited.

Last summer neighbor Heather posted a headboard and footboard on the local Swap Facebook page (kind of a tiny local Craig's List) that she had been given to sell. No one wanted it. I'm pretty sure it had been stored in a barn for a while. A long while. She offered to give it away. Still no takers.  I finally said "Stick it in my shed if you can't find a home for it. Maybe I can do something with it."

My bed has been in need of a headboard. I saw possibility.

Once I arrived back here in Colorado and peeked into my shed...eek!
That possibility was looking more like a catastrophe.

Here's what I started with:

 Both pieces were a lot rougher than I expected.

Notice the center of the headboard- a finial or something was broken off. 

 The foot board also had a broken piece. Half of a ball missing. 

Necessity is the mother of invention.

I didn't want a ball here- that sounded uncomfortable.

I found a piece of wood in the basement and had it cut to fit. 

Works for me. 

Both pieces got dragged into the basement- I highly recommend having a heated basement- and I DID sand. And used a lot of filler. And sanded some more. That chalk paint can only do so much.

While the center of the headboard got that little block of wood, the footboard ball was left as is. I figured we were both starting new lives a little worn and chipped.  Some kindness and magic and a little elbow grease go a long way towards making things - if not new-at least good again. Useable. Functional. And yes, even beautiful. 

Heres' what I ended up with:

 I love the light gray. So soft.

 That little wood block at least finishes off the center, even if it isn't perfect. 

 The broken ball has character. 

I know it is there yet I had to look for it when I was taking pics. 

Isn't it cozy looking? 

Fortunately you can't see the dirty paw prints on the comforter.

Carlos has been trying to dig up gophers. He comes in a total mess. 

I was so happy with the bed that I decided to tackle a vanity that has been up in the guest room. I bought it used and in only slightly better shape than it is now. 

Isn't it a fun little deco piece? 

 Love these fan pulls. 

I hope they polish up nicely. 

The mirror has the same ribbed design. 

I think they belong together and have just been separated.

This side is going to need some filler. 

Spackle.

Work. 

It will require a lot of filling and some sanding before it can be painted but I think it will be worth it. The vanity was purchased at a resale store in town eight years ago, the mirror came from the dump (!)  just a few years back, but it looks to me like they were made for each other.   I have a nice dark charcoal gray chalked paint to cover the war wounds. 

So, even the broken and worn stuff can be salvaged. And maybe, just maybe, these things turn out even better than new with their scars and character.   Or at least more interesting.

Substance over flash. 

•••••••••

A funny. 

I had an 8"x2" piece of wood for that center piece that I needed cut to about 5" long. 

I sent neighbor Sue a text asking if her house had a saw that could cut a piece of wood for me.

Her son showed up a bit later with a chainsaw.

Sometimes you need to be more specific.