I have my G2 driver's test tomorrow. Yes, I'm 27 and I still don't have my license. I got my G1 when I was 18, but I lived in the city, didn't have a car and I was scared to take the driving test. So I let it expire. Stupid of me really.
I've been trying not to think of it all week, but it kept creeping into my mind. K is going for surgery June 9th, he will be unable to drive for 2 weeks while he's recovering, so really getting my license wasn't an option. You'd think that at 27 (28 next week gulp!) I'd be more self assured, but nope! When you're a teen you're cocky, you think you know everything and nothing can touch you. 10 years later, that's not the case anymore.
So I spent an hour in the shower tonight.
Shaving.
Everything.
I heard somewhere that if you feel good in your underwear you'll have more confidence in yourself.
Who am I kidding! I shaved in case I needed to have a quickie in the back seat with the instructor. Anything to avoid parallel parking! If I get a woman I may be screwed. Then again, I am pretty adventurous.
I've also planned to wear a cute summer dress. Nothing overtly sexy. It just shows off my breast...er best assets. I am so screwed if I get a woman. She will know right away what I was up to. Oh God let it be a horny man!
Really me,
Apprentice Driver
Nik
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The Patio Project
This weekend I embarked on the small task (or at least that's what I thought at the time) of making our patio a bit bigger. With our budget being what it is, we've been waiting to get a good deal on patio stones. Well that chance came along when my grandfather B was remodeling his front walk up. He had about 16 2x2 patio stones that he no longer needed. In fact he wanted to get rid of them ASAP. Free fit right into our budget so thank you very much grandma and grandpa B.
I started on Saturday around 9am. Since my hubby hurt his knee a little while ago, it was pretty much me and my grandpa L doing the work. I started with 6 patio stones at the bottom of our deck stairs. It was functional enough, but not very pretty.
I started by taking up the stones that were already there, and measured from the 3 existing stones to the fence to make sure that we had enough room for the 2x2 stones since we didn't have a stone cutter. I had to move two of the stones back to make sure the rest would fit. That was quite the task itself. Then we had to dig up the sod and some dirt in the area that the patio was going. My grandpa B had some left over sand from putting his steps down so we went over there to pick up some of that. Can you say heavy! Although the correct way to do the patio would be to dig down about a foot of dirt and replace it with the sand and crushed rock... since it was so heavy, we cheated a bit and only put down about an inch. Shhhh don't tell.
We got the area as level as possible then K came in and helped with the pounding down of the sand and crushed stone. We used a 4 foot level taking measurements on the horizontal, vertical and diagonal to make sure that the stones would sit level and to make sure that we were grading away from the house. (which essentially means the patio slopes slightly away from the house so no water should sit against the foundation) Not every stone went down without a hitch. Yes there was some cussing, especially when my fingers got squished under a stone. But we managed to make a pretty decent patio if I do say so myself. I also have some extra dirt for my garden extension. (that's next week's project) We finished up around 5pm, and let me tell you I can feel every shovel full! I could barely pick up Demi today.
Without further ado, here is our new absolutely free patio. Another big thank you to nanna and grandpa L for their help. A thank you to grandma and grandpa B for the supplies and to my hubby for helping me to keep the cussing to a minimum.
Really me,
The paver
Nik
I started on Saturday around 9am. Since my hubby hurt his knee a little while ago, it was pretty much me and my grandpa L doing the work. I started with 6 patio stones at the bottom of our deck stairs. It was functional enough, but not very pretty.
I started by taking up the stones that were already there, and measured from the 3 existing stones to the fence to make sure that we had enough room for the 2x2 stones since we didn't have a stone cutter. I had to move two of the stones back to make sure the rest would fit. That was quite the task itself. Then we had to dig up the sod and some dirt in the area that the patio was going. My grandpa B had some left over sand from putting his steps down so we went over there to pick up some of that. Can you say heavy! Although the correct way to do the patio would be to dig down about a foot of dirt and replace it with the sand and crushed rock... since it was so heavy, we cheated a bit and only put down about an inch. Shhhh don't tell.
We got the area as level as possible then K came in and helped with the pounding down of the sand and crushed stone. We used a 4 foot level taking measurements on the horizontal, vertical and diagonal to make sure that the stones would sit level and to make sure that we were grading away from the house. (which essentially means the patio slopes slightly away from the house so no water should sit against the foundation) Not every stone went down without a hitch. Yes there was some cussing, especially when my fingers got squished under a stone. But we managed to make a pretty decent patio if I do say so myself. I also have some extra dirt for my garden extension. (that's next week's project) We finished up around 5pm, and let me tell you I can feel every shovel full! I could barely pick up Demi today.
Without further ado, here is our new absolutely free patio. Another big thank you to nanna and grandpa L for their help. A thank you to grandma and grandpa B for the supplies and to my hubby for helping me to keep the cussing to a minimum.
Really me,
The paver
Nik
Monday, May 3, 2010
Descendents of Amazons
We have some very strong women in my family. My nanna, my mother, my aunt J, and myself. We can fix things, make things pretty, sniff out the deals, and put a project together. I guess you could call us tom boys, but I much perfer AMAZONS! lol I’m the one who owns the power tools and knows how to use them. On my mother’s side my nanna rules the roost. And I like the ‘strong woman’ role and think it will be great for Demi as she grows up.
All the boys on my dad’s side, and his father for that matter are involved with plumbing, carpentry, electricity, metal working, etc. There’s lots of useful knowledge flowing. My nanna was a farm girl, when life really was tough. I was never really a girly girl, so I would go with my grandfather to watch him work on busted pipes. I’d ‘assist’ whenever I could with any kind of home renovation. I learned to be intuitive, and I learned how to pass them a tool in the correct way so they didn’t have to fumble. I learned to garden, and how to fix things with nothing but a shoe string, and to make things out of nothing.
Now as an adult I do a lot of my home renovations myself. What I don’t know, I look up. I’ve wired a new circuit into the main circuit breaker, framed, drywalled and mudded a playroom for Demi, made and installed a diaper sprayer in the bathroom, and I can clean house too when I’m so inclined. But there are still things I don’t know how to do.
This weekend, for example, my dad came over to fix my outside tap. As he was soldering I thought to myself. I’m going to have to do this for Demi one day. One day K and I are going to be the ‘all knowing’ parents helping our kids with their new house. They’re going to have to know how to do things like change a tire (which I also recently learned how to do), change a light switch or outlet, how to cook, how to clean, when to plant in the spring etc. etc. etc.
That means that K and I better pay close attention to our elders so we can pass these traits down because empowering our children is vitally important in our eyes.
Some things we’d like our kids to know:
How to crochet
How to make preserves
How to cook a meal from scratch
How to change a tire
How to change a light switch / outlet
How to bargain
The value of measuring twice and cutting once
How to repair a hole in drywall
Now for some audience participation… I know there are some lurkers out there, and I’m just saying there may *wink wink* be a giveaway coming up and you have to be a follower to enter. So join now and tell me what family traits/values/life lessons do you want to pass down to your children?
Really me,
Nik of all trades
All the boys on my dad’s side, and his father for that matter are involved with plumbing, carpentry, electricity, metal working, etc. There’s lots of useful knowledge flowing. My nanna was a farm girl, when life really was tough. I was never really a girly girl, so I would go with my grandfather to watch him work on busted pipes. I’d ‘assist’ whenever I could with any kind of home renovation. I learned to be intuitive, and I learned how to pass them a tool in the correct way so they didn’t have to fumble. I learned to garden, and how to fix things with nothing but a shoe string, and to make things out of nothing.
Now as an adult I do a lot of my home renovations myself. What I don’t know, I look up. I’ve wired a new circuit into the main circuit breaker, framed, drywalled and mudded a playroom for Demi, made and installed a diaper sprayer in the bathroom, and I can clean house too when I’m so inclined. But there are still things I don’t know how to do.
This weekend, for example, my dad came over to fix my outside tap. As he was soldering I thought to myself. I’m going to have to do this for Demi one day. One day K and I are going to be the ‘all knowing’ parents helping our kids with their new house. They’re going to have to know how to do things like change a tire (which I also recently learned how to do), change a light switch or outlet, how to cook, how to clean, when to plant in the spring etc. etc. etc.
That means that K and I better pay close attention to our elders so we can pass these traits down because empowering our children is vitally important in our eyes.
Some things we’d like our kids to know:
How to crochet
How to make preserves
How to cook a meal from scratch
How to change a tire
How to change a light switch / outlet
How to bargain
The value of measuring twice and cutting once
How to repair a hole in drywall
Now for some audience participation… I know there are some lurkers out there, and I’m just saying there may *wink wink* be a giveaway coming up and you have to be a follower to enter. So join now and tell me what family traits/values/life lessons do you want to pass down to your children?
Really me,
Nik of all trades
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
