Custom cabinet complete as is the MCM dresser

After a typical start to the day, it was time to get moving. S headed out with his lunch at 9 a.m. to fulfill the donation to the church fundraiser day of work. I, on the other hand, set out to conquer the cabinet. I started on the stained door hand cutting a dowel cut to fit and glued in the one pull hole. I also took the dresser hardware outside and began spraying the coats on while I worked on the cabinet. Next, I painted the glass wood holders and the back of the stained door. Once all the paint was dry, I scraped the glass pieces with a razor blade and windex cleaned them before installing them in the doors. Finally, I reinstalled the stained centre door, drilled the new pull hole, and drilled holes for the glass door knobs.

Holy cow, I finished up the cabinet! It definitely took the most challenging pieces, and it took me 13 hours to complete (not including brush washing or other tasks, strictly cabinet work only). I came in to catch up on the work spreadsheet and send the video to the client. She loved it and sent me a full payment within 10 minutes, even with a $25 tip! That made my day to have it complete and her happy with the end results.

I then moved on to creating a listing for the dresser on my FB page after putting the hardware back on and planning to put it on the market as soon as possible. I finished yesterday’s blog post and had a bowl of soup while I worked.

I rearranged my projects in the garage and chose a coffee table to work on next. I’ll post the rocking chair later as I need to cull, I don’t have time to paint all the spindles and not sure they are easy sells. I cleaned a stool and removed the seat to strip.

S was home after 2 p.m. while I was cleaning a stool to transform. S had picked Cooper up on the way home too. I had S help me move the cabinet around to get a better picture, but I still had to do touchups on areas because the doors keep sticking at the top.

I had made the horse food and, seeing it was a beautiful sunny 18-day day and I spent the entire day indoors, I went and fed them. Our coffee pod delivery was made while I was out there, yay! S had a beer, snack, and relaxed before unloading his skid steer and parking the trailer. He did bring over 2 deck chairs as it looks like spring may be here.

I moved the car and had S help me move the cabinet to stage and photograph it in front of the door. Then, we put it at the other door for pickup tomorrow. He then had a hot tub because his back is sore from unloading his ramps on the dump trailer, he says. I stripped a stool top I had taken off earlier today and scrubbed it up. It was now 4:30 p.m., and S is off to a rodeo meeting at 6 p.m., so I scooted in and made a lazy cabbage roll casserole for supper.

We ate it earlier than the suggested cooking time so S could get going to his meeting. I thought about going out to start cleaning flower beds but the wind had picked up making it ugly to do so.

I finished my wall stress cracks repair tutorial and posted it. I also down and uploaded a ton of project photos on their individual tutorials. B stopped out to grab Cooper at 7:30 and seeing I fed the horses she was off to enjoy the rest of the night and her day off tomorrow.

I then worked on a paint tutorial for the little green table that has yet to sell. I finished p my computer work and headed to bed to watch more North of North. I was finishing the last episode of the season when S arrived home at 10. He and I then watched some more Spenser Confidential but again were too tired to finish.

Hard at work

Cooper hopped into bed with us at 7:20 a.m. and dropped off by B on her way to work. I fell back asleep until just before 8 a.m. S filled the Nespresso water vessel, fed the cats, and made our coffees. We relaxed in bed as we usually do to start the day.

Once up, I quickly got to work on marketing and checked in on the coffee pod order. S made his porridge, and we continued our typical daily routine. As I looked out the window, I spotted a coyote fairly close to the yard. It seemed to take forever for S to get his gun and ammunition, but after sighting the coyote and taking a shot, it was a miss. I then headed to the garage to work. Surprisingly, the temperature had gone the other way, and it was now 23 degrees outside, making it warm enough to work in.

kiwis are a new favourite fruit

S went out and dumped more dirt in pasture swales while I tackled this challenging custom cabinet.

The cabinet had a lot of progress. A second coat of paint was applied, and this time, wood filler was used with a black colour. The longer drawer fits great, but the little drawer has issues because the cabinet isn’t square. However, it should all look good once it’s finished. I sanded the centre door down before coming in for lunch.

S was watching the news and having lunch, but he headed to town early to get his skates sharpened before 1:30 p.m. shinny, but it didn’t go well. It seems the new guy sharpened them and messed them up. Another guy had a turn, so he went off to the arena, but once he was on the ice, he fell on his butt with messed-up blades. This ended his skating in short order, and he had to go back to Home Hardware to get another person to fix them.

The dresser hardware was to be decided, originally I thought black but after seeing the trending brass I was torn so put out a poll.

I walked the dogs to the gate to retrieve a bag of new hardware that the customer had picked up and hung on the gate. It will look nice, but unfortunately, the pull was too long. I think I’ll need to get creative. The door and two wood pieces on the base were stained after wood conditioner was applied, and I had to do more paint touch-ups and salve the drawer runners and sides, and two of the long drawer pull holes were re-drilled for the new hardware.

I was mixing the horse feed when he was back so he joined me with a cold drink in the sunshine. While the horses ate I showed him other areas that could use dirt along the lane way. Once the horses were done S went to load the skid steer in the dump trailer to go do his church donation day of work for the gal pushing in rodent holes and such.

 I finished up the three hours chalked up on the cabinet, washed the brushes, put things away, fed the dogs, and then packaged up Harley’s bone broth. I wrapped it up at 5 and came in, S, was relaxing at the island, eating chips and drinking beer. He prepared the ribs for supper, but he realized that the Instant Pot was a much better choice for tender, fall-off-the-bone meat.

S was doing Spanish in big brown, taking advantage of his week-long unlimited hearts. I had been trying to get my free week to work, but it kept freezing. Finally, after many different attempts, I logged online and did one of the required apple tests, and the app finally worked.

In the golden hour, we enjoyed a relaxing hot tub soak. Before 9 p.m., B picked up Cooper, who had been lying in bed with me while I was doing Spanish lessons. She went to yet another escape room with friends after work hence why late and had dropped Cooper off early. S was still doing Spanish in big brown, watching hockey. I then watched a couple more episodes of North of North on my iPad while S finally came in and went to bed.

Palm Sunday

I forgot cute Renn videos from yesterday so pop back and check them out :)

The sun was shining brightly when I woke up at 7 a.m. The dusting of snow was quite varied all over. I brewed a cup of coffee and delved into the latest trending ChatGPT doll creation. It’s quite unsettling who you can ask it to create something, and it finds the requests online, creating an image that it then refines based on your requests.

my attempts but odd they do not look like me

Nathan did these, Kaylin is perfect other than her waist down as she is much more slender, and this is Renn generated in 20 years!!

S was up later and made his coffee. He joined me in our sunny bed room, listening to a podcast and watching the AI creation updates. After getting dressed, he headed off to church. I shifted my focus to marketing and uploaded all the photos for Friday’s blog post. Yesterday’s post was already complete and ready to be published tonight. I then headed to the garage to work on the dresser drawer fronts, but the temperature was only 17 degrees, making it too cold to stain. I hauled the drawers inside and decided to do another coat in the house. I put a batch of soup bones in the slow cooker to warm it up in the garage.

S returned home from Palm Sunday at noon, just as I was wiping the drawer fronts. We had a bowl of soup for lunch, and then I headed out to work on the cabinet. S helped me square up and glue the warped long drawer, which was quite a challenge as it required 4 plus hands, but hopefully it’s repaired successfully. Before painting began, I had to do more sanding, wiping, and prepping.

B was out mid-afternoon. She helped Sheldon get the post up in the house paddock fence line. I took a break from painting and joined her for a ride as the sun began to peek out occasionally. S moved on to pushing the last of the hay on the winter pasture and dumping a few buckets of dirt in areas that needed it. I also guided him to flatten a few gopher holes while he was out.

I returned to painting, while B trimmed Switch & Roo, and S cooked us delicious BBQ burgers and his favourite cheesy noodles for supper. B and Cooper then headed home. S watched the Flames on TV, but we managed to go for a hot tub soak during breaks. I grabbed my pruners and snipped a few I noticed I missed while in the hot tub before coming in to shower.

first public speaking <3 <3

I finished the Million Dollar Secret season in bed, with S joining me after the Flames won. He also watched on his Spanish, as he wasn’t familiar with the show. We then started Spenser Confidential, but both of us got tired and turned it off.

These 2 jet setters are winding down their San Diego and Cabo tour soon.

Successful Renn sleepover

It was a disrupted sleep night. B picked Cooper up from work at 1 a.m., and I woke up at 3 a.m. I thought my phone might burn out with the baby monitor on all night, so I unplugged it. S woke up at 4 a.m., and Jay started compiling around 5 a.m so I turned the phone back on, and then a little voice chirped, “Nana!” at 6:40 a.m. I left her as she was quiet for the next 40 minutes. She rolled around, rested, and chattered off and on peacefully with a random Bapa in there too before I went to get her up. What a happy girl! It turned out that her parents had a crappy night of sleep too, as worrying parents. Renn however slept like a baby :)

She and I had a bite to eat, then cuddled in bed and watched her favourite Minnie Mouse. I made coffees and delivered one to Bapa before 9 a.m. She was excited to find him as he was not in his usual bed or big brown, and he joined us in bed for a bit of TV. The day was cool and blustery, so we had to divert her attention from going outside with lots of play and of course, “snacks.”

Great imagination she has.

Bapa joins us for a bit of Minnie

She insisted in sitting in the doll highchair and sure enough, she fits where she sits :)

We must cheers coins and say Happy Birthday :)

Kaylin and Nathan arrived before 11 a.m. with the pups and had brought Starbucks pancake bites for little miss. They managed to tidy up the house and make it open house ready for 10 a.m then head out. We had a visit before they headed back to the city for nap time at noon. It was a reassuring sleepover for them I think, and we hope there will be more to come.

S and I had leftover lunch, and I put the rotisserie chicken bones in the pot to make soup. It was a good day to stay in and have our 1 p.m. Zoom workshop. B was out around 2:30 p.m. She ate her fifth Tim’s pizza of the week and then headed out to trim two horses’ hooves. S and Coop were off by 4:30 p.m. as I was prepping the soup vegetables. The soup was the perfect supper for this yucky day and S’s cold.

S had turned off the garage heat a week or so ago, so it was too cold to apply another stain coat to the drawer fronts or work on the cabinet. Guess it’s my workday off. He installed the new router, which required a bit of technical help from our ISP, but soon we had all the devices swapped to it. It started to rain at 6:30, which soon turned to sleet and snow, but all the moisture is welcome.

S was watching hockey and researching GIC's on his laptop while I finished writing yesterday’s blog post. I uploaded almost 60 photos, mostly of Renn and wrote today’s blog in bed while watching the season finale of Surface. I was watching the new Million Dollar Secret episodes when S gave up on hockey and came to bed. The snow stopped at 9:30 and started to melt as still PLUS 2. We started a new documentary series about kid influencers and their awful parents. However, S soon fell asleep, and after the first episode, I think I understand why it’s usually a bad idea. Greed takes over.

Renn's first sleepover away from her Mom and Dad - warning -photo overload

Coffee and a bit of sanding on the cabinet started my day. After starting apple tree trimming at 9:30 a.m., S headed to town to meet Craig for breakfast at the new pancake place. I finished trimming before 11 a.m. and came back in for a bowl of yogurt, missing my “eat when up” rule. As I finished yesterday’s blog post, the winds picked up dramatically.

Nathan arrived at 11:30 a.m. to drop Renn off for her first sleepover. I had packed a box of wall repair, paint, and orange cleaner for them to use during their open house this weekend. He then headed back to the city to work. Renn and I put on our hats and headed outside, first closing the yard gate. We went for a walk around with the dogs and found the naughty rascal, Roo, had gotten her muzzle off in the field.

This is where S left off with the other post repair yesterday

It was back to tree trimming with my helper, who wasn’t much into helping. She preferred to climb up and down the stairs and go for quad rides to the next trees. Auntie B was out before 12:30 p.m. to feed the horses, which Renn was completely enthralled with. I pruned the pear tree a lot and decided we need to get another one if we ever want to have any pears. 

B bid farewell to Renn and Cooper and headed to work while we had lunch. I had a chicken sandwich, and Renn opted for grated cheese, refusing “cooken” (chicken) it after chewing and spitting it out. She then went down for a nap, and I worked on tutorials. S had called earlier, and I was right to bring his hockey equipment along. They chatted for two hours, and hockey was at 1:30 today.

I then headed to the garage and worked on the custom cabinet long drawer and more wood filling, including the hardware holes. I decided to stain the dresser drawer fronts natural after testing a few colours on the edge. This layered plywood tends to absorb even darker colours, so I’ll stick with the trending light natural wood.

Renn had a great nap, sleeping over 2 1/2 hours. Kaylin suggested I wake her up, so after tidying up my supplies, I went in and woke her just after 3. She woke up happy and excited. She was changed, had a snack, and was back in full-on play mode. S returned home from town at 4 with groceries after breakfast with Craig and hockey. He joined in on Renn’s entertainment show.

When I took her diaper out of the bag, I left it open. Not long after, she looked there and saw her Minnie Mouse pyjamas, which became a scarf to pacify her as she refused to put them back in the bag until later. :) But soon she wanted them actually ON!

Harley has patience but not quite as much as Beans, and is much bigger to ride :)

We had tacos for supper, but Renny opted for yogurt and blueberries, which she dipped her string cheese in. She doesn’t eat much at once, but she eats all day long—many “snacks.” She saw the Clamato juice jugs I had bought and carried them over, insisting she wanted some juice. I gave her a little bit in a glass, and she was so excited that she clapped until she tasted it. She immediately spit it out and down Minnie Mouse. I took them off and threw in the laundry as I didn’t want them to stain.

After supper, the wind had finally let up considerably, so we decided to take her for a walk and burn off some energy. There wasn’t an extra set of pyjamas, so we went back to her day-old outfit for the diaper-only baby. The dogs were surprised at how much slower she was walking. Being almost two, she wants to walk on her own, but at times, she still wants to be carried. She was enamoured to see Jay coming towards us as we neared the house. I took her for two loops around the house on the quad before we came in.

It was 8 p.m., and time for the big Flames game. Nathan had packed her Flames jersey, and she was thrilled to wear it. She even refused to take it off for bedtime, probably hoping it would be a bedtime detouring ploy, as she’s quite the clever one. She happily clapped at the first Flames goal.

of course there are snacks at a hockey game :)

Busy girl, on the bed, off the bed, circling the back of her hand (?? must be some reference) and of course needing some "lip" and applying herself.

first goal!

I finally got her jersey off, and we headed downstairs at 8:45 p.m. to sing songs. We had read books in bed during the game, and she currently requests Wheels on the Bus followed by a long extended back rub and pat. After 9 p.m., I said my goodnight, and she quickly fell asleep, after a very short Nana no go protest.

Meanwhile, S cheered on the Flames in this big game as I did some Spanish and crosswords puzzles and revisited Scrabble. The game was late again, and once it was over, it was nighttime. S headed back to his spare room to keep his germs contained.