Just staying busy

Over the past couple weeks, I've been tending to my lists.
I've been keeping myself busy with things that do not remind me of our lost family member...to fill that extra space in my life.
I got on Steemit, basically, because I had 3 blogs going at one point and thought this was a great way to get all my random thoughts into one place: crafting, home improvement, the car restoration project, vacation photos and even the boring little details of daily life that I think I might someday want to remember.
Unfortunately, I use blogging as a way to get all the emotions out, and lately I have only really had one emotion: sadness.

So I had to take a little break from thinking about it all and keep busy with other things...
Like finishing up some house projects!
I have been talking about painting our baby blue shutters and doors for ages, now. I've had the new color picked out for months, but never seemed to want to take the plunge and actually get the paint.

Well, in the spirit of keeping myself busy and trying to bring myself a little happiness (without spending a fortune and/or going on vacation, since we now have a massive vet bill to pay off), I finally did it.

But first, since our house is ...well, let's just say there's not a matching screw in the whole house. The shutters are not screwed on at the tops, so that would make things easier...if any of the other screws would budge, a task made easier if they were also screwed in straight, rather than at an angle.
Oh well, no trouble, I'll just tape and paint while they are up.
Again...a task made easier if...

...I hadn't discovered a wasp/hornet nest being built right behind the shutter!
The little buggers didn't bother me when I was taping, but as soon as I started scrubbing and MOVING the shutter, they made their presence known. By swarming and stinging.
It felt like there were a dozen of them and I jump down off the ladder, waving my wet towel around my head and face.
I got a single sting on my forearm and immediately felt the burn.
I googled 'how to treat a wasp sting' and promptly washed the spot and put an ice pack on it...while also texting Hubs that I was about to find out if I was allergic.

I'm not.

It was basically as if they had not stung me at all, once the ice made the pain go away. Except about 48 hours later, it began to itch. I will investigate this weekend to see if, perhaps, there is a stinger still in there. (though I suspect it would've washed out by now)

In the end, I finally finished the whole house: 2 doors and 6 shutters.
Here's a comparison shot of the two colors.

Here is a better view of the new color: Intellectual, by Behr

I've also been working on getting that fuel tank installed on the Barracuda. The tank is strapped in, but I forgot I have to actually attache the pipe that gets the gas into the tank!
That is presently a struggle causing much bruising along my arms and cursing my very existence.
More on that in a separate post.

I've decided to try learning the guitar again.

I've been doing some sample stitches with my embroidery, thinking it might be fun to just open up my book of stitches and just learn them all...like reading the dictionary to expand one's vocabulary.

Yes, I am hoping to get back on to keep up with everyone else's life struggles and celebrations, but for now, I just needed to get back into the habit of turning the computer on.

I am looking forward to hanging out here, again.