Perfectly Ending Weekends...

There's little more satisfying than sitting outside on a beautiful Sunday evening with a glass of sauvignon blanc and a feeling of accomplishment.

At long last, the weather has turned into the beautiful spring days expected of early June. The humidity is gone, the breeze is cool and the temperature is reading 78 degrees.

I can't argue with that. This is the weather I've been craving and now it's here, I took full advantage of it.

We did have a hot and humid day yesterday. I decided to forge ahead and lay down the vinyl tiles on the floor. It was hot work but with the help of some upbeat music such as Guns n' Roses, Bon Jovi and, of course, Green Day, coupled with some Frank Sinatra, it wasn't too bad. Of course, Sookie and Rory were of no help at all. For some reason, they decided their job was to lie and doze in the exact spot that I was intending to tile. Also, they decided it was their job to show me that they loved me by trying to climb in my lap. This was appreciated except my fingers were always a little gluey from the sticky tiles and dachshund hair is not fun to have to scrub off with the glue.

Still, I got the job done. The only minor mishap was that during a particularly enthusiastic moment with my Fat Max knife (it's real name!) in which I was cutting a tile to size, I accidentally sliced off the top of my finger. Fortunately, my nail was long and that prevented too much damage but as it stands, I now have a bit of a flat finger and rather a deep cut which went several layers deep. There was quite a lot of blood too. I'm not particularly squeamish but it was not the prettiest thing. Since I originally thought I'd actually sliced my finger off, I was, however, relieved it wasn't that dire.

By the time the room was done, so was Saturday, for the most part. I was pleased with my handiwork. Even though it's not perfect and completely flawless, I love the way the new tile looks and, even better, I did it myself.

Today, I bought some rugs for the room. I bought a 5' x 8' rug and two 2' x 3' rugs for $50. I have a great store nearby for stuff like that called Old Tyme Pottery. It's also fantastic for dinnerware. If ever I'm cooking something fancy and don't have the right plates, that's where I go.

So, with the addition of the rugs, at long last, I can say my Tuscan room is complete. The last touches will be two pieces of unfinished furniture that I want to get and stain myself in a rustic green colour. I need a chest of drawers to hide some of the 'contempory' stuff that I want to store in the room and not display such as my Playstation 2 and I'd like a free standing cupboard for all of my kitchen applicances that don't quite fit in my kitchen cupboards.

Still, even without the furniture, it's a pleasure to sit in that room now. Before I redid it, the room had 1970's dark panelled walls, orange-green shag carpet and rather frumpy flowered curtains that were lovingly made by the former owner of the house but just not my taste. Now, the panellng is a sunny yellow, the floor is mock-teracotta vinyl tiles and the curtains are simple white muslin tied backed with red raffia. I like the final effect. On each wall is a variation on a picture of Tuscany with poppies in the forefront. I love poppies. Poppies are one of those flowers that just make me smile when I see them.

Even though I woke up today stiff and sore from my tiling, I still had an odd need to be productive. Some weekends are like that- I just want to get things done. Thus, I spent the day doing the following:

1) Buying rugs
2) Exchanging the propane tank for my grill. I've become a huge fan of grilling lately. It's quick, easy and the result is pretty darn yummy.
3) Grocery shopping at Jungle Jim's/shopping for my dad's Father's Day present. I'm making him lunch as part of his gift but it isn't as complex as the five-course meal I made for Mother's Day so I got him a bottle of Santa Margherita Chianti to try. He loves the Pinot Grigio and he's a fan of Chianti so it seemed like a smart choice.
4) Mowing the lawn.
5) Weeding the front garden.
6) Making a yummy Fourme d'Ambert baguette sandwich for lunch. Fourme d'Ambert is my current favourite cheese- it's a blue, creamy cheese from France and it's heavenly. I've decided my next culinary challenge is to learn about cheeses. (side note: I need a good book about cheese- any recommendations?)
7) Planting my vegetable garden- I planted peppers, heirloom tomatoes, squash and cucumbers.
8) Cleaning my patio, finally putting my outdoor rug down and setting out the furniture.
9) Cleaning my house- mopping, vacuuming, dusting and bathroom scrubbing.
10) Walking the pups.
11) Sitting outside with a glass of wine and being happy that I've had a productive weekend.

Obviously, the last one is where I am now. I'm smelling both the scent of fresh-cut grass coupled with Pine Sol. It's a good smell. I find that some weekends are best for relaxing but others, like this one, are best spent getting things done. I have to say, I like being productive. It's a wonderful feeling.

Even though it's back to work tomorrow, I can live with that because even though the weekend is waning away, it's waning away as I continue to sit outside, with my laptop, a glass of wine and a dachshund on my lap. It's another one of those moments that's as close to perfect as life gets.

And you just can't beat that, even when a Monday is looming.

Happy Monday!

A Tile-Filled Weekend...

This was a very productive weekend for me.

Well, I suppose I should say that if you consider spending a total of 15 hours on your hands and knees pulling up vinyl tile productive.

It's a weird form of productivity. I think it's all about goals. In the grand scheme of things, peeling up old vinyl tile piece by tiny piece does not seem like it's really that significant. However, there were 384 tiles altogether.

You might wonder how I know that but, well, I did some math and I don't think I'm far off. Also, the room is 384 square feet. The tiles were one foot square each. The maths isn't THAT hard.

However, after I spent my entire day on Saturday peeling up tiles, the last couple of hours on a Sunday where I could actually count the last few remaining pieces of evilness seemed like a triumph. By the time I got to that very last tile, I had found a new definition of the word "overjoyed."

My tools were the following: A tile scraper, my Wonderbar, knee pads and gloves.

I have to admit, last weekend was WAY more fun. I'd much rather have been eating at Babbo that eating the microwave Lean Gourmet pizza for dinner that I had on Saturday night.

Still, I triumphed. The evil old vinyl tile is gone and I have a clean, even concrete floor upon which I can lay my new tiles. As I said, in the grand scheme of things it may not seem like much but, well, to me, I may as well have conquered Mt. Everest.

As a result of my tile prying, I have a grand total of 9 blisters on my hands. I have bruised knees and an aching back. I also feel slightly awesome because, well, I set my mind to do it and I did it.

I feel a little bad for the dogs though. Many times, Sookie tried to climb into my lap because she wanted a cuddle and since I was just sitting on the floor, why shouldn't she climb into my lap? It was nice to have a cuddle but, unfortunately, it wasn't condusive to tile prying.

It's sad, really. Last weekend, I spent a wonderful three days wandering around Manhattan with my good friend, eating good food and enjoying nice weather. This weekend, I enjoyed 93 degree heat and quick food while spending almost the entire weekend in my Tuscan room.

On the bright side, I do feel quite pleased that I did it by myself. I also learned a lot about vinyl tiles. I also feel that now that I've stripped that room down to its bare bones, it's really my room and it's really my project.

On the downside, I didn't do very much else this weekend. Next weekend will be dedicated to putting down new vinyl tiles. I'm hoping that if I ever move and the person who buys this house doesn't like my tiles, they won't have quite so hard of a time pulling them up as I did.

Being a homeowner definitely leads you to do some interesting things, that I will say. Nevertheless, with a weekend like last to fuel me, I really am not complaining. A project like that leads to plenty of meditative thinking because there's not much else to do while prying tiles. I learned that a) I'm a little obsessed with HBO's "Game of Thrones," b) I can't wait for "True Blood" to come back and c) I really should edit some of my earlier novels and think about self-publishing them...

There was a lot of other thoughts too but most of them were about food which, really, isn't a surprise, is it?

Now, on Sunday evening, my aching back and tired bones are ready to relax for a couple of hours before its back to work tomorrow. In a way, it actually feels nice to know I worked hard today.

If only I didn't have to work hard tomorrow too...ah well, you can't have everything! :)

Thanks, as always, for reading and Happy Monday!