Musings on a Small Life

I actually started this post on Sunday, as it was the 9th anniversary of Chumley's death, but I never did finish it. (I posted a collage for Chum on FB, as many of you saw.) Anyway. Late afternoon sky on the 19th. No regrets at all about the carpet! The installer came back early Saturday morning to install a new closet door track, which was the final thing to do. I did buy a couple of little bound pieces of carpet, to see if Nicki will scratch on those instead of the new stuff. Yes and no -- he's using the little pieces but still scratching anywhere he pleases, of course. One note: While I can no longer smell (thanks to the cat allergy, I'm sure), the new carpet must have given off quite a chemical odour. I woke up last Thursday morning feeling quite ill in my head (no jokes, please). Not nauseous, but just terrible. At a friend's suggestion, I "slept" in the spare room Thursday night, which, while didn't afford much actual sleep...

The installer, D., showed up around 8:45 AM. He had lots of tools to bring in, and I'm glad I had the foresight to put a tarp down in the entryway. Getting the carpet in was another matter! That sucker was heavy! I helped as best as I could, and he definitely needed a second pair of hands, but someone stronger would made things a bit easier. I left after he had everything upstairs and was starting, because (a) I had errands and (b) I didn't want to be there to face a potential terrible problem with the subfloor. Ha. I got back about 2.5 hours later and he had already done the repair and had half the underlay put down.   I grossly underestimated the mess this process would make, what with all the bits of carpet (from trimming it off) and all the dust and dirt being tracked in.   I used his shop-vac while he finished taking his gear out to his truck and while he measured my other rooms, plus stairs, for carpet at some future point. He'd have done the...

It's just one of those crazy, somewhat frustrating and slightly overwhelming work days. I've made a conscious choice not to get fussed about anything, because gees, it's not life and death and bottom line, who cares . However, I admit to feeling cranky about being here today anyway, which hasn't helped. So while the morning flew by in a blink, now I'm watching the clock and waiting for four o'clock so I can get my butt out of here! Not a lot new at my end, you're all up-to-date on the floor situation. The carpet guy is supposed to stop by tomorrow evening to measure the piece of sub-floor that needs repair. Then Wednesday he'll do the repair and new carpet installation. Yesterday I finished pulling up the remaining carpet and underlay, got most of the staples too, left just a few around the perimeter that are tacking down the vapour barrier. I'll be up bright and early on Wednesday, of course, and so will take out the bed and night ...

I'm writing this on Thursday, but scheduling for early Friday morning, because no one needs a second post in one day. The repair company guy, J., came out to take a look at both my window and the sub-floor. The upshot: Yes, the entire window will be replaced, he said all three panes are gone, not just the one. It'll be a month or so, as I've said here already. With regard to the water-stained sub-floor: He said that after Sunday's rain (and it was absolutely torrential, off and on all day) there's no way the floor would be completely dry (as it is) if it were a current leak. He thinks it's old damage and while we were talking I did recall that the original window had been replaced 13 - 14 years ago with this one, because of water leakage . I remember the then-property manager (who lived next door to me) coming up to take a look, because I was having a problem with the drywall right under the window. And I do remember that at the time the window ...

This morning I stopped at the 24-hour downtown grocery store that's on my way to work, then went to McDonald's for a sugar-free vanilla skim milk latté. Caught the bus that comes downtown, goes to the hospital and then up through campus and onward. I sat at the front in the only available area, and though I could hear someone at the back being disruptive, I didn't turn around to look. I presumed it was a developmentally challenged person travelling with at least one other person. Well, that wasn't the case at all. It was a middle-aged woman, extremely disturbed, either quite mentally ill or on drugs or possibly both, standing up at the back of the bus, possibly shedding clothes or only clothed in a light top and pants, and acting out whatever was in her mind. The driver had put a call through to dispatch and when we got to the downtown transfer point, we all exited the bus as an ambulance arrived to remove her. I took another bus heading close to my office, other ...

I'm going ahead with the carpet installation, it's set for next Wednesday. Took an hour's dithering because they had very little selection at the size I needed (12x17). It's not called "End of the Roll" for nothing. Tons of carpet and flooring, plenty that I liked, just not in the size or density or whathaveyou. So my two choices came to these (the middle or left and the far right): I took three pics but none quite hits the right colours. I ended up going for the one in the middle/left, partly because it's a bit denser and therefore softer, and partly because I thought the light cream one would be just a bit too light. I hope I've not made a poor choice and that it's not yellow when it gets installed.  Between the cost of it and the underlay (and I opted for the top-of-the-line underlay), it was $200 - $300 more than I wanted to spend. But there just wasn't a comparison between this one and the other less expensive ones. So when ...

Winter arrived with a vengeance today, with 15 cms of snow, blowing snow and white-out conditions. I bundled up and trudged out at lunch time anyway, because I just had to get out of the office even if only for 20 minutes. We had white-out conditions later in the afternoon, but about 10 minutes after I left the office for the day it was over, the sky clearing a bit. I snapped these pics at various point on the way home.  It's a winter wonderland now.     This was as I had turned into our complex, looking west over the roofs across the street. Happily, the wind blew most of the snow into my back space, and there was very little (for once!) to shovel in my driveway. Bonus! That might not be the case tomorrow, as we're expecting another 5 cms overnight, but that's okay. I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow to check out flooring options at my leisure, as I'm busy on Saturday, so I also can shovel at my leisure, if necessary. Take care, everyone. If you...

I have a bedroom flooring dilemma, never mind how it came to light, it's too long to get into.  However, I had a flooring guy come out at supper time today to take a look and give me an estimate on repair. You can see that part of the floor (in my bedroom) was cut out in between the joists, and badly fixed. It needs to be taken care of because it sags substantially when walked on and I'll have the guy back to do the repair ASAP. He said no worries about falling through the joists, though -- a good thing! My dilemma is whether to take the opportunity to have him redo the flooring, whether that be laminate or carpet. There are pluses and minuses to each, but I'd be looking at about $400 - $500 labour for him to do either option, including the fix of the floor which has to be done regardless. The fix itself would probably be only $100 - $200.   Practicality aside, allergies and feline asthma aside, my preference would be to have a decent, mid-grade carpet...

Value Village was having 50% off for card members today, in advance of their main 50% off sale tomorrow. I can't even remember the last time I went there, it's been so long. I had to talk myself into it all the same, as it was pouring rain (and has been, off and on, all day). Still, I braved the weather and went, looking for a "new" comforter and/or a couple of specific kitchen items. Nada for those, but I found some clothes for work: Click for full size The two sweater/blazers were Sears and are for work. Rather "mature ladyish" I suppose, but appropriate for the office. The cutesy cardigan was a Northern Reflections one and I can wear that to work too. The pullover sweater also came from Sears, originally. It's just acrylic, which I hate (because acrylic doesn't wear well), but it'll be great for the weekend, something quick to pull on without having to think about it. Plus it's not that heavy--I'm finding that I'm not weari...

So the Ikea area rug was delivered to my office late yesterday afternoon and I decided to call a taxi to take it home rather than wait for the air purifier delivery coming tomorrow, figuring two bulky items would be too much to take at one time. Mistake #1. I called them at 3:50 PM, told them I had a 4x6 area rug with me but that it should fit into the back seat. Mistake #2. So I hauled it out front and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited . A co-worker was late leaving and kindly walked by the taxis (different company) parked about a block or so away, asked one to come and pick me up. I could see the red taxi turn around and come my way...then turn right at the light instead of keeping straight. Turns out he didn't know which building, even though my co-worker told him, no, not the business school, our building name. Twit. How can he drive on campus when he doesn't even know our building, which is in sight of the taxi stand? So I called the secon...

I saw the sunrise sky while on the way to work !   Already I've noticed that's not dark when I'm coming home around 5PM, and it feels so good to see the daylight increasing. *Happy dance*! As for returning to work itself, well, Sunday morning I wanted to stick pins in my eyes just thinking about it, but that's not terribly productive. (And would be exceptionally painful...shudder.) It's been okay...Let's just say that I'm open to and motivated to explore possibilities this year. I'll leave you with some inspiration for the day, snagged from my FB feed.     Peace--and Blessings--to all.

I had popped into Michaels (crafts) this morning, looking for something specific, but saw that they still had a few of these left, now at 80% off: Cute, fuzzy reindeer! I couldn't help myself, for $10 I gave in to silly temptation. Actually, I had seen them on Boxing Day, for 70% off, but didn't want to pay $15 then. I saw them again a few days later, same price. Apparently $10 was my threshold. So not worth the original price of $50 CDN (or $40 USD). Probably cost 50 cents to make in some terrible sweatshop overseas. But for $10 he was mine.  :-) BTW, Michaels has all their lovely spring floral stems and bunches in stock now. Pricey, but they're probably the best artificial flowers around. It was cheery to see them all, especially since we've barely had a glimmer of sunshine since Christmas Eve -- it feels like it's been grey and dreary for 99 consecutive days, not 9. This was our glimpse of sun, early this morning: That was it. ...