Today my baby sister graduated from high school. I'm so proud of her. I made her a card and got her an Old Navy gift card, and she cried.
What am I supposed to make of that?
-Laur
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
So this weekend we were able to start up the pond for the summer. Mom always says that she never feels like the backyard is truly up and running until the pond is functioning again, so I guess that's a load off for her.Auntie Brenda arrived on Friday evening for a few days. She flies out again this coming Friday morning to go to Edmonton, just 24 hours after Gramma arrives FROM Edmonton. Auntie Bren will enjoy some quiet time at the house on Falconer Court until Gramma gets back on July 4th, and everyone will accomplish what they need to.
Sarah's grade 12 drama class staged their final presentation on Monday night, and Sarah did splendidly in both her scenes, the first one entitled "Benson and Hedges" and the second one called "Blithe Spirit." Both of her characters were quirky, to say the least, and she was very funny. On June 28th she'll graduate from VSS and leave high school behind forever, and I think we're all ready for it. It hasn't been easy, but she made it through.
This morning Mom, Auntie Brenda and I made a foray into Markham to the Sandylion Sticker Factory to buy stickers for Auntie Bren's kindergarten kids, and then we went to Sheridan Nurseries to buy water plants for the pond. The nursery always has as lovely functioning designer pond set up in the front area, so I took the opportunity to get a nice picture of the two sisters enjoying their visit.
New info as it comes! Right now I'm suffering from a nasty summer cold and not really up to adventuring or writing anything seriously interesting, but once I'm well again I'll write about my upcoming weekend, which should be about as adventurous as they come.
Ciao for now!
-Laur
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
On top of things
10 days since my last post, OOPS! I've been so busy lately, I haven't had much time to do anything at the computer other than curse at York university and make telephone calls to the Faculty of Education. But that's a different story altogether...
Anyways, I've picked up a hobby. I've never had a hobby before, and I must say that I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Some of you may consider writing to be my hobby, but it isn't. Hobbies relax you, calm you down and chill you out. You do it purely for the mindlessness, not for the superior achievement. Writing I do as I breathe; it sustains me. My hobby, however, is pure pleasure. I've taken to refinishing wooden furniture, and as strange as that sounds, I'm rather good at it.
The first items I decided to refinish were the old Muskoka chairs hanging out in my backyard. We bought 2 of them almost 10 years ago and maintained them the first year we got them, and then never did again. So I took them out front to my driveway, sat down in the sun in front of them, and sanded them until it felt like my arms might fall off. First with coarse grit, then with fine grit, until you could almost see their original blond colour. They had turned a flaky, ugly grey from mold and rain damage, as well as snow and such, so getting them back to something other than yucky was a huge achievement. Then Dieter the wonder-neighbour told me he had some outdoor furniture stain I could use on them, so I painted them twice with it and now they look pretty nice. I have muscle definition in my arms now from sanding, so I think I might keep at it.
The second item I decided to refinish was my kitchen table-top. My mom bought the solid pine table at a Sears outlet 27 years ago for $60 because the surface had a few scratches in it. Shortly thereafter she met my dad and he said he would refinish it for her. 27 years later, I did it instead. I sanded down past the varnish and the stain and made the table-top smooth and clean, and then painted on 2 coats of stain in the shade "Gunstock" (I didn't choose the name!), which is a deep shade of brown-red. Then I put on 3 coats of varnish to keep the table gleaming and clean. It looks fantastic, like a whole new table. Next summer maybe I'll remove the legs and refinish them, too!
These two projects took me the better part of 5 days, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on them. Listening to Q107 from a clock radio in the sunshine is how I'd rather spend my days. And who cares if my new hobby isn't feminine! I accomplished a lot, and I'm really pleased.
Pictures of the projects to come.
-Laur
Anyways, I've picked up a hobby. I've never had a hobby before, and I must say that I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Some of you may consider writing to be my hobby, but it isn't. Hobbies relax you, calm you down and chill you out. You do it purely for the mindlessness, not for the superior achievement. Writing I do as I breathe; it sustains me. My hobby, however, is pure pleasure. I've taken to refinishing wooden furniture, and as strange as that sounds, I'm rather good at it.
The first items I decided to refinish were the old Muskoka chairs hanging out in my backyard. We bought 2 of them almost 10 years ago and maintained them the first year we got them, and then never did again. So I took them out front to my driveway, sat down in the sun in front of them, and sanded them until it felt like my arms might fall off. First with coarse grit, then with fine grit, until you could almost see their original blond colour. They had turned a flaky, ugly grey from mold and rain damage, as well as snow and such, so getting them back to something other than yucky was a huge achievement. Then Dieter the wonder-neighbour told me he had some outdoor furniture stain I could use on them, so I painted them twice with it and now they look pretty nice. I have muscle definition in my arms now from sanding, so I think I might keep at it.
The second item I decided to refinish was my kitchen table-top. My mom bought the solid pine table at a Sears outlet 27 years ago for $60 because the surface had a few scratches in it. Shortly thereafter she met my dad and he said he would refinish it for her. 27 years later, I did it instead. I sanded down past the varnish and the stain and made the table-top smooth and clean, and then painted on 2 coats of stain in the shade "Gunstock" (I didn't choose the name!), which is a deep shade of brown-red. Then I put on 3 coats of varnish to keep the table gleaming and clean. It looks fantastic, like a whole new table. Next summer maybe I'll remove the legs and refinish them, too!
These two projects took me the better part of 5 days, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on them. Listening to Q107 from a clock radio in the sunshine is how I'd rather spend my days. And who cares if my new hobby isn't feminine! I accomplished a lot, and I'm really pleased.
Pictures of the projects to come.
-Laur
Monday, June 04, 2007
The Patio Project
So we finally did it! We finally pulled up the back patio and extended it! It looks so good. We did the front walk, too, which needed to be done badly. Everything looks so great! I can't wait to have a backyard party so everyone can enjoy it. Woohoo!!!!
More pictures to come as it is completed. We were rained out yesterday so we couldn't finish it up, but it will be perfected over the course of the week. Still a lot to accomplish, but yay! At least it's been started!
Backyard partying it up,
-Laur
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