Day 150

Left work a little early so I could get a good 45 minutes in grading the driveway some more.

Let's see, need about 60 cubic yards of 3/4" Trap Rock (too start...I could use more up around the garage, too). Probably around $35/cu. yd...that's $2100.

Went and fixed Ed's printer, then a run for dinner -- got some extra fixings from Big Y, and some salad from the bar at Sweet Peas.

I like dong this sometimes, I can get two or three meals out of what I got from Sweat Peas which are the "perishables" and I can have stuff like mandarin oranges, cranberries, croutons, etc. which keep here at home to augment it.



(And one of my punch list items is taking a razor and cleaning up the caulking for the backsplash, then I can edge in paint to the backsplash).

Days 146, 147, and 149

Was a lovely Saturday morning drive, including a stop at Beach Pond...
If only work didn't call which took up most of my morning. :/

After which I was able to at least knock down the ruts:

Eric inspecting the work.

Sunday it was back to painting. I have yet to figure out how I did this...at least it cleaned up easily.

Yeah, I whimped out on cutting in the paint close to the mantle...



Tuesday started off with Mac playing Cube Gopher at work o_O

But then more painting in the evening.


Yes, we'll even do behind the fridge...


At least I'm ready to start moving stuff back into that half of the kitchen tomorrow, once the paint has dried.

Pretty darn good summary of anxiety...

With I'm sure some natural variation from this list.

The author actually writes a lot on pyschological topics: https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=5wKSWr6eK4W0_AbfjpvYDQ&q=brianna+wiest+anxiety&oq=brianna+wiest+anxiety&gs_l=psy-ab.3...340.4699.0.5037.21.19.0.1.1.0.158.1595.15j4.19.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..1.19.1505...0j0i131k1j0i10k1j0i22i30k1j33i21k1.0.2f0wHzi1SU8

The Artelier
October 7, 2016 ·
1. They don’t hide their anxiety, they hide their symptoms. To have concealed anxiety isn’t to deny having it – only to do everything in your power to ensure other people don’t see you struggle.

2. They have the most anxiety about having anxiety. Because they are not comfortable letting people see them in the throes of an irrational panic, the most anxiety-inducing idea is… whether or not they’ll have anxiety at any given moment in time.

3. They come across as a paradoxical mix of outgoing but introverted, very social but rarely out. It is not that they are anti-social, just that they can only take being around others incrementally (which is mostly normal). Yet, on the surface, this may come across as confusing.

4. They make situations worse by trying to suppress their feelings about them. They are extremely uncomfortable with other people seeing them in pain, and they don’t want to feel pitied or as though they are compromising anyone’s time. Yet, they make things worse for themselves by suppressing, as it actually funnels a ton of energy into making the problem larger and more present than it already was.

5. They are often hyper-aware and highly intuitive. Anxiousness is an evolutionary function that essentially keeps us alive by making us aware of our surroundings and other people’s motives. It’s only uncomfortable when we don’t know how to manage it effectively – the positive side is that it makes you hyper-conscious of what’s going on around you.

6. Their deepest triggers are usually social situations. It’s not that they feel anxious in an airplane, it’s that they feel anxious in an airplane and are stuck around 50 other people. It’s not that they will fail a test, but that they will fail a test and everyone in school will find out and think they are incompetent and their parents will be disappointed. It’s not that they will lose love, but that they will lose love and nobody will ever love them again.

7. It is not always just a “panicked feeling” they have to hide. It can also be a tendency to worry, catastrophizing, etc. The battle is often (always?) between competing thoughts in their minds.

8. They are deep thinkers, and great problem-solvers. One of the benefits of anxiety is that it leads you to considering every worst case scenario, and then subsequently, how to handle or respond to each.

9. They are almost always “self-regulating” their thoughts. They’re talking themselves in, out, around, up or down from something or another very often, and increasingly so in public places.

10. They don’t trust easily, but they will convince you that they do. They want to make the people around them feel loved and accepted as it eases their anxiety in a way.

11. They tend to desire control in other areas of their lives. They’re over-workers or are manically particular about how they dress or can’t really seem to let go of relationships if it wasn’t their idea to end them.

12. They have all-or-nothing personalities, which is what creates the anxiety. Despite being so extreme, they are highly indecisive. They try to “figure out” whether or not something is right before they actually try to do it.

13. They assume they are disliked. While this is often stressful, it often keeps them humble and grounded at the same time.

14. They are very driven (they care about the outcome of things). They are in equal proportions as in control of their lives as they feel out of control of their lives – this is because they so frequently try to compensate for fear of the unknown.

15. They are very smart, but doubt it. A high intelligence is linked to increased anxiety (and being doubtful of one’s mental capacity are linked to both).

By Brianna West

Aerial Photos...

1934:

1965:

Day 142...a little more painting...

And this finished off the first can of Guilford Green.

Figured it was a good break point -- tomorrow I can push the fridge back, so I have room to pull the stove out then do behind/above the stove, and finish roughing in around the sink.

Then I'll have another night to pull out the washer and dryer to paint behind them...lordy.

THEN we get to start on cutting in all the edges!

President's Day 141

Huh...usually I see the side over the vaulted ceiling melt first. With the warm weather, the side over the attic melted faster than the side that has insulation in between the rafters!

Any rate, my arms were so sore after painting yesterday I managed to clean up the kitchen in prep of painting it. Hopefully tomorrow after work I can at least get the roller painting done and we can start cutting in the edges later in the week.

Day 140 -- Snow & Painting

5" today, 70° Wednesday...as if my driveway wasn't a big enough of a muddy rutted mess.




The "Bronzed Biege" goes nicely with the blue...is it really too much to have a three color scheme? LOL.

I have no idea where either the Bronze or the Biege in the name comes from,


I guess I'll have to take down the perimeter bookshelf soon, then use joint compound to patch the numerous holes in the walls, paint, and then put a re-built shelf. I think I have a plan of how to make it so it's "boxed" in on the bottom and no brackets will be visible.



Browning up the mushrooms to get the Mallard Reaction going. Browning the meat isn't a bad idea either but I'm often too lazy to do so :D. Plus I still haven't found the big sauté pan where I could've done the meat, 'shrooms, and onions together.

The crock pot doesn't get hot enough to brown up the stuff so it does affect the taste a bit.

Walls are Guilford Green




My arms want to fall off.

Tomorrow is a company holiday so hopefully I can cut in the green walls I did today, and make a lot of progress in the rest of the kitchen.

Between moving appliances, tables, and knick-knacks, the kitchen probably needs at least two maybe three more sessions to finish.

Day 139...cleaning and prepping

Couple tailgate loads of stuff moving back to garage...


Walls washed, exercise bike picked up (hopefully will be good low-stress exercise for my knee), tomorrow we paint!
Only got about six hours of sleep, and despite a half-caf ice coffee this morning I didn't have the pep to start painting today.

Black Panther

I thought Wonder Woman was a very good movie.

I spent the first half hour of Black Panther thinking that DC can thank their lucky stars WW came out first.

Black Panther took many similar beats -- hidden, ancient, technologically advanced society with non-traditional heroes -- and showed just how to make a great movie. Wonderwoman's setting back in World War I can't hold a candle to the setting of Oakland. More relatable, and more sensical.

Marvel had done a tremendous job over 18 films building a rich universe. I loved Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant Man for just being fun movies. Doctor Strange introduced wonderous concepts.

Civil War brought up concepts of just who the super heroes work for; Spiderman Homecoming had a villain who had a believable and sympathetic story line who you could see advising Spiderman in the future. Killmonger is the best villain yet -- a character created by past actions of super heroes, completely and well formed and with credible goals even if you didn't agree with either his goals or methods.

Where Black Panther really shined was not building upon past movies, which is something Marvel has already excelled at, but at making clear the differences between characters.

Iron Man is the orphaned playboy Tony Stark, yeah saving the world when he's not self-absorbed in his own greatness.

Captain America fights for the American Way -- his innate sense of fairness, and his friends. Mostly his friends. Cue Band of Brothers references.

Black Panther though not only has the burdens of being King on his shoulders, but takes on the leadership of his entire race. He's the one on whose thrown Truman's old "The Buck Stops Here" sign hangs.

Thor? Compared to Black Panther he is Thor the Unready -- and he not only manages to see his home world blown up, but never understands the dignity of the Crown like T'Challa does.

Did I mention how impressed I am with Black Panther as a movie, and how it seems to have become the keystone to the entire cinematic universe. That is something I never saw coming.

Days 137 & 138...plugging away

As the weather keeps swinging between cold and warm (50 today, 22 tonight, 8" of snow predicted Saturday night, 48 degrees and rain on Sunday, 65 degrees predicted next Wednesday)...the yard is a muddy mess.

I have a bunch of stuff to move back to the garage tomorrow morning when it's cold -- first less mud to back my truck up to the front door to move boxes in, and second when it's cold I don't get condensation when opening drawers, etc. to put stuff away like it does when cold overnight and warm during the day.

I am not an "Internet of Things" guy but I like this D-link gadget that will alert me if I do get water in my basement. Just hope they don't shut down their servers before this gadget's lifetime is up.


Empty containers. Need to finish painting, and by the point hopefully the ground will be dry enough to move furniture back in.

My tool and stuff-to-use cache in the house is getting smaller by the day!

Need to paint the A/V wall before I build out the shelves that will be in front of it.

And might as well start on the ceiling while I'm at it.

Days 134, 135, 136...

Working from home this week, taking an online class -- which means lots of time for little projects around the house when we have 10 minute breaks, time left over from labs, lunch, etc.

We'll include the new Keurig even though I christened it on Saturday. Even if I am re-using Baker's cups to make the ice coffee in :)

Monday Wes & Bob came for a few hours to grout the stone work:

Meanwhile during breaks in class I'm doing things like organizing my Plumbing tool box...which I thought I was going to need a second until I actually straightened this one out o_O


Tuesday Wes & Bob where back to finish up a bit inside and put up the chimney outside. Much colder day, so the mud outside froze solid -- it would have been a mess putting up the chimney yesterday.






Putting some grout around the thimble:





Once the grout sets, the metal piece will be screwed back in place. I also have to sand blast / wire brush the decorative cover and repaint it. So 135 days after they started, we've concluded the contractors portion of this project.

Wednesday, in addition to a lot of laundry (including all by non-quilted bedding) and other stuff here is one little project done. Drill doesn't want to center, spring loaded center punch doesn't want to center, screw it the door is pretty thick I'm sure the little screws won't split it. I also didn't install the latch backwards.

Felt like a tuna grinder for lunch. That would have involved putting on pants. So an open-faced tuna pepperoni melt it is :)