Still out for lunch

I've been taking advantage of our somewhat-summery weather to continue exploring the lunch places near my job.

Last week, I went to Stella Luna. I had a sandwich and some bottled ice tea. They were fine, but not my favourite.

And then on Friday, I went to Thyme and Again. I had a tuna sandwich, coleslaw, and a pickle. They were somewhat bland but OK none the less.

The basement reno is almost done, so I have been busy moving stuff from point a to point b, then from point b to point c. This week everything will hopefully go back to point a.

In the meantime, I have been building furniture. I helped Wanda build herself a bookshelf bed and headboard, and this weekend I built 3 nesting beds. We will use the tallest one as a couch except when the nieces are in town.

I didn't have a plan for this, but I'd seen a picture and thought I could figure it out. It is essentially three rectangles of varying sizes, with legs on two of them. I googled the size of the mattress I wanted to use, and built the first box to fit.

The rest of this post is talking about building the bed, so feel free to skip it - I am writing it down so I remember.

The mattress was 38.5 x 74.5", so I cut a 2x6 (for the front) and 2x4 (for the back) to 77.5" (so that the inside of the box is 74.5"), and then cut the side pieces to 38.5". I drilled pocket holes with my Kreg jig on both ends of the short pieces and attached them so that I had a rectangle. Then I cut 2 2x2s to 74.5" and attached them at the bottom of the front and back (as a resting place for the slats). The front is a 2x6, so it is a little taller than the 2x4 on the back - this is to hide the mattress when the beds are nested.

I then screwed wheels into the corners of the box, and cut slats to 38".

Bed #1 was done.

For Bed #2, I repeated the process, except that the front, back, and 2x2s were all 6 inches longer, When I was done, I cut 7.5" legs for each corner and attached them with pocket holes and then added the wheels.

Bed #3 was 6 inches longer again. I put the 2x2s higher on this one (because I didn't want the 2x6 to hit my legs when I am using it as a couch). This time, the legs could go on the outside since it doesn't nest inside anything else. I cut 4 pieces of 2x4 at 30 inches each, put a mark on each board 16 inches from the bottom and added pocket holes at the top. I then attached a 38" 2x3 (because I ran out of 2x4s) across the top of 2 of the legs to make an upside down U. I lined up the mark on each board with the bottom of the rectangle and screwed the legs on.

And here is the final product. All that's left is staining it.

The saga continues

Now that I have a new bed, my old nightstand was too low. Naturally, the solution was to make new ones.

The advantage of having two is that I don't have to dive across the bed to turn on the reading light - I can have a light on each side. It's awesome.

And, of course, then it's time to re-evaluate the dressers. One of them could be replaced by the drawers in the bed, so I just had to build one more.

I finished on Wednesday and transferred everything from the old dresser to the new one. That caused a minor issue, because I had to get rid of the old furniture, and I have company arriving tonight. Luckily, Wanda helped me load the furniture in the car, and yesterday morning I dropped it off at a thrift store. Problem solved.

Zzzzz

Back in January, I came across these plans. I had three thoughts:
1) Cool!
2) I am in no way qualified to do this.
3) I'll have to wait until it warms up outside, because I don't have room to do this inside.

It's warm outside, so two weeks ago I started. I didn't want to use plywood for the head and foot boards, so I used the techniques described here (but the measurements from the first plan). I started by buying the wood for the headboard and footboard, with the exception of the posts.

(See point #2 above - I didn't want to commit to buying all of the wood if I failed miserably on step #1).

To my surprise, it was pretty easy, so I went and bought the posts, cut them, and attached them. The first wood I bought was knotty pine, but of course I couldn't get untreated pine 4x4s, so I bought cedar and thought "rats, I'm going to have to paint this", but once I got the posts attached, I liked the mixed-wood look.

So far, so good.

Then it rained for three days. I waited impatiently for it to stop, then went and bought two sheets of plywood to start on the drawer cabinets.

I finished the cabinets and decided to go with a tung oil finish. I did one coat, then waited a day and did the second coat. While that was drying, I started on the drawer boxes. I cut the drawer fronts and oiled them.

On Sunday, I took apart the old bed. I installed all of the drawers (which took a long time) and got Wanda to help me carry everything inside. The bed is heavy - I can barely lift the headboard.

I installed felt pads on the legs and Wanda helped me attach the drawer cabinets to  the headboard and footboard.

Then I measured the length of the slats, cut those, and installed them. While I was doing that, Wanda brought the drawers inside and installed them (minus the fronts and handles). After the slats were done, I had to call Wanda back upstairs to help me lift the mattress over the footboard.

Yesterday, I installed the drawer fronts and today I added the handles. They're not perfect - some of the drawers stick, and none of them are flush with the edge of the cabinet - but I love the bed anyway.

This is my last free weekend until June 21.  The next three weekends are booked solid for Pathfinders.

It starts on Friday. We're getting on a bus and heading to Toronto for a province-wide rally all day Saturday. ("All day" means we leave the camp at 7 am and get back at 11 pm - it will be exhausting).

The next weekend is canoe training - 9-5 both Saturday and Sunday.

The weekend after that is canoe camp.

All of these are going to be good events, and I definitely want to  go to all of them, but man I wish there was a free weekend in there.

At one point, my manager was talking about us going to India on June 16 - i.e. the day after canoe camp - and I almost lost my mind. Luckily, that was moved to August.

I spent my last relaxing weekend finishing up the various house projects that I started before Easter. I hung blinds in the second bedroom, made another Roman blind, and put an empty bin downstairs. I even started getting organized for next weekend (although I'm not done by any means).

I also took apart a desk I made in high school.

I like it, but it takes up a lot of space. Wanda wanted the desk part, and it (finally) occurred to me that if I removed the sides, they could be used as separate book shelves.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. Each of the two sides had 2 casters, not four, so they wouldn't stand up without the middle section.  Thirty seconds after I realized that, I was on my way to Rona to buy 4 more casters.

Except, of course, I made the desk 25 years ago, and I suspect the casters were scavenged from somewhere by my dad, so they were even older. Rona had nothing the same size, so I removed 2 casters from one side and put 4 new casters on that side, then moved the 2 from that side onto the other side. Simple to do, and now most of the desk is downstairs (and one side remains upstairs).

It wasn't a super busy day, but I got a lot done.

Going back to work for a rest

I was off work all last week.  It was a fantastic week, and I got a lot done.  Here's what I did:

• went to see Brave
• made popsicles for when my niece arrives (1 can frozen orange juice, one big container plain yogurt)
• got the oil changed in the car
• made 3 dresses - 2 for my niece, one for Wanda
• added hooks in the back porch
• moved a picture (with hooks) from the back porch to the bedroom
• cleaned out the fridge (It's so clean, it makes me happy every time I look inside)
• updated LinkedIn
• replaced a board in the back step
• painted the back step and boards around the lawn / flower garden
• with Wanda, trimmed some of the trees and hedges in the front
• visited with some old friends 
• ate grape tomatoes fresh from the garden
• weeded the vegetable garden
• washed all of the old clothes that are no longer wearable and cut them up for rags
• washed the kitchen floor
• organized the Halloween costume
• went to Prescott for the day 
• went through my old cassette tape and recycled them
• read at least 10 books (none of which are the ones I've borrowed - I need to get on that)
• saved Princess Peach
• made 3 pendants
• painted my rain boots

Aren't they awesome? Sesame Street / Muppet craft books are the best.

There are still a few things on my to-do list, but I'm happy with everything I accomplished.

The best birthday present ever

Today is my 40th birthday.

I didn't really have any plans. People kept asking me what I wanted to do, and I mostly shrugged. I wanted to get my raised gardens built, and that was taking my focus.

The before picture

The bricks were delivered Saturday morning. I totally would have taken pictures of the forklift delivering them, but I had left my camera in the house.  After that, I had a hair appointment, then I was meeting a friend for lunch, then we were going to move a piece of furniture she was giving me.

I wouldn't be able to really get started with the bricks until Sunday, but I was reluctantly willing to wait.

After we finally got the furniture loaded (it fit in my friend's Yaris better than in my Protege), my friend ran inside to get an ice cream cake because she had somewhere else to go that night, and we went to my place.

(I thought nothing of it, because I am very gullible.)

We got to my place, I went inside, and ... there was my mom, 2 of my sisters from Regina, my cousin from Woodstock, his wife, and their daughter and granddaughter from Ottawa.

I was a little surprised.

And then I went outside to finish moving the furniture. 

Sunday, we started on the raised garden beds, and my family started wishing they had told me they were coming. (If I'd known, I wouldn't have planned to do the gardens, but since that's what I was doing, I guilted them into helping.)

There was digging.

My sister, who is much better at leveling than I am.

 And leveling.

Bed #2. Not yet totally exhausted.

And digging.

My sister, wishing she had made other vacation plans.

And leveling.
It took 4 of us 7 hours and two trips to the hardware store, but we got it done.

And then I realized they look like wishing wells.

This would be when I realized they look like wishing wells.

There's still more to do - I need more dirt, I have leftover bricks to return and I'll probably put stepping stones between them - but it made a huge difference to have three more people helping. 

Biting off more than I can chew

Every year, I think, "I should really change my vegetable garden", and every year I procrastinate long enough that it's too late to do anything about it.

This year, I decided to make a change.

First of all, I get vacation, plus I still work stat holidays on occasion, which means I have to take those off as well.  I'm also getting an income tax refund that will pay for the cost of the work.

(I know if you're all about the math that it makes more sense to adjust your income tax so that you don't get a refund.  However, life is more than math, and I'm OK with getting a refund.)

The plan started as an easy project, which then morphed into a more difficult/expensive project of building 4 raised beds using landscaping stones. I've been doing some shopping online for the stones I'll need, but I needed to see them in person before I could make a final decision as to which way to go.  On Wednesday, I checked out a couple of places.

Did you know that garden centers opened this weekend?

In other words, most garden centers weren't open on Wednesday.  Still, I got some ideas. On Friday, I went out again and checked another couple of places.

Yesterday, I got up, determined to stake out the areas for the beds.

Naturally, it was raining.

I waited (im)patiently for the rain to stop, then went outside and measured and staked the area.  Once I had the dimensions, I went back to the store and placed my order.

It arrives on Saturday, and I have the next week off.

Wish me luck.

Feeling foolish

Do you remember how my cordless drill didn't work? Do you also remember how everyone asked me if I had charged the battery?

Do you remember how I said that I'm not an idiot and of course I charged the battery? And how I had even tried another battery?

Funny story.

Today I decided to work on building a new composter. The old one had been moved a couple of times and was falling apart. A few weeks ago, I painted some boards that I had sitting around the house.

Then it rained for two weeks. Today, however, it was nice out.

I knew the drill wasn't working, but I decided to plug in the battery just to be sure.

I then went outside, screwed the composter together by hand, then came inside to get screening (for the parts that won't be covered by wood).

(Last year, I bought more screening for the back door because I couldn't find the stuff I originally had. Today I found the original box of screening ... underneath the second box. I'm forgetful and blind but consistent.)

Anyway, I took the partially charged battery, put it in the drill, and ... the drill works.

Oops.

I also tidied parts of the workbench in an attempt to find the staples for my staple gun.

It turns out they were on a chair. (Believe me, cleaning and organizing that room is on the list of things I need to do.)

In other news, I went to the doctor about my foot today. It's a rest/ice/anti-inflamatory thing. I'll have to skip the gym (and boxing) this week and next week, but hopefully it will recover soon.

The work continues

In fact, theyre almost done.

They dug the third hole, installed all of the window wells, and filled them in. They've got some clean-up left, but they are mostly done.

The windows from yesterday's pictures:

And the window that hadn't been started yesterday:

High & dry

A while ago, I mentioned that my basement was leaking. It hasn't gotten any worse - it only leaked twice when we had heavy rain coupled with melting snow - but twice was two too many times.

I got a couple of estimates a while ago, and today the work started.

The work consists of digging down by three windows, filling any cracks, making sure the weeping tile is doing its job, putting a waterproof membrane on the outside, filling in gravel & sand (for drainage), and installing window wells. There is probably more to it, but that's the bits I remember.

Step 1 (today) consisted of digging holes by two of the three windows. Here are some pictures.