Joyland: Stephen King pits Pulp against Pixels

Another Canadian Labour Day Weekend has rolled around and as usual I'm in denial about the summer coming to a close.  My summer 2013 reading (now read) list turned out to be as eclectic as always and I've just finished reading Joyland by Stephen King which means that it just squeezed in under the wire for inclusion on that list.

There's a bit of a story concerning Joyland's late addition.  In May I heard early whispers about the book and knew that it was going to be published by Hard Case Crime same as The Colorado Kid (waves hello to fellow Haven fans) so I was eagerly anticipating an e-book download in June.  Then came the news, trumpeted by the Wall Street Journal no less, Stephen King Says No to E-Book, to Scare Up Business.

Seems that Joyland wasn't destined to reside companionably beside The Colorado Kid on my e-reader after all!

Pinning My Garden Together

My husband often teases me about the photos that I take of my garden.  I like to think of them as lovely little vignettes but truth-be-told the tight focus hides many of my gardening sins, like all those weeds that have managed to make themselves right at home alongside their more distinguished cousins.

I thoroughly enjoy my little garden though it pales in comparison to the photo fantasies of Beautiful Blooms or Potagers & Parterres over which I swoon.  Of course I'm well aware that these dream gardens result from a level of expertise and effort that I will never attain and I'm more than okay with that.  There's no way I'm going to be crawling "commando style" through my garden beds to get all the last little imperfections out (as I read one avid 80 year old gardener did right before her magazine photo shoot) but I am open to any practical ideas that would help to improve my little plots.

And that's where Pinterest came in.

Ho Hey: Dancing into the Weekend

Thinking this is the perfect way to dance into a summer weekend.

Thinking Friday is the perfect day to start that dance.

Ho Hey by The Lumineers

Definitely not to be confused with Heigh-Ho by the seven dwarfs ;)

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Find Tatiana Dokuchic on Google+

In Other Related News

I've never been a prodigious poster.  Perhaps it's because I really like to ponder over my posts before I actually write them.  Perhaps it's because there are just so many hours in the day and I'm not the quickest scribe in the west.  Whatever the reasons, I knew that having two blogs was apt to complicate my life and make my blogging frequency appear even more sporadic than it actually was.  I went ahead and created them both anyway.

Tatiana's Tea Room, the first of my blogging endeavours, grew out of my adventures in Second Life® including the small business that I run there.  I often describe Renaissance Daze, TTR's younger sister, as my "real life" blog which is kind of an inside joke since both blogs deal equally with real life and fantasy.

Reluctant Renovator: Spring?!

Spring Cleaning has taken on a whole new meaning this year!

Scrubbing, washing, vacuuming, dusting.

I've actually caught myself muttering "Wax on, wax off" while cursing Mr. Miagi under my breath.

Talking to other renovation veterans, I've learned that this is a common condition and it makes me wonder why I never considered hiring professional cleaners as part of the overall renovation budget.  Truth be told, I just cannot wrap my mind around paying someone to do something that I'm fully capabale of and the money really would be much better spent on getting the air ducts cleaned.  I keep imagining them wheezing through decades of accumulated dust with a new layer of construction dirt sprinkled liberally on top.

Reluctant Renovator: Striptease

We're two weeks into the renovation and I'm daring to hope that the worst is over!

Almost everything that had to go has been stripped away and a bit of newness has begun creeping in.

It took about a week for the tile floor to make its exit and I'm still cursing the original installers that did such a poor job that the floor failed and had to be replaced.  Considering that there was 650 sq. ft. of tile it was a big job and you can just imagine the dust generated from all the cement & grout.  Have I mentioned recently that I'm allergic to dust?  Where's the Benadryl!

Reluctant Renovator: I Fall to Pieces

It's too late to turn back now!!

As you can see from the photo above, we've gone past the point of no return with the renovation.  The initial plans & design are done, the material is ordered and the tile, which covers most of the first floor, is a thing of the past.

We spent the weekend throwing things out and packing up the rest.  I found the undecorating (removing photos, art, knick-knacks etc.) to be a tad traumatic, sentimental fool that I am, and it probably didn't help that Patsy Cline's tune "I Fall to Pieces" kept running through my head.

As an antidote, I revisited one of my favourite George Carlin riffs where he talks about "Stuff".  Thanks for the much needed perspective, George!

I've been pretty quiet, blog wise, since my initial renovation post And So It Begins back in November.  Planning & design are labour intensive but apparently not very blog worthy.  I do hope to make up for it now that things are really rolling along.  For those of you that are interested in a bit of a sneak peek, you can check out My Reno Pinterest Board to get a bit of an idea of where we are, hopefully, heading.  Dining, Kitchen and Interiors provided some of the inspiration.

Comments are most welcome, including your preference: Patsy or George?
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Find Tatiana Dokuchic on Google+