Author: greatwallstudios

Back at home, just in time to sort things out for the week ahead. School is back on, so are extra curriculars, and work responsibilities; like after school staff meetings. Going to be atleast two weeks of transitioning with my kindergartener if history is any indication of what is to come. Crying and histrionics in the mornings, and falling asleep before the bedtime story is half way through at night, for two weeks until the new schedule settles in. I hold out hope that it won’t be that way, but deep down I know that it will. I just need to remain calm, and try not to escalate because I’m tired, or hot, or out of sorts myself. If I’m clear headed enough I can catch myself before i make things worse. It’s a process.

Best guess is today is Sunday. At least I hope it is. I can’t recall if I wrote anything yesterday or not so perhaps my streak heading to 400 days is over, and I don’t know it yet. Oh well. Back to the drawing board if so. If not, Party-On!

My next model kit project has arrived in the mail. It is the correct model, but the incorrect build up, if that makes any sense. It has only just dawned on me that the best build up version of the Valkyrie was purchased directly from Japan via HLJ. It had the multi colour injection moulded parts. Whereas the kit I just bought is all white. I’m going to paint it, but I thought I was getting one kit, and got another. No matter. Not going to swap them out now. First thing to do is open the sprues, and wash the parts in soapy water. Remove the mould release so that the paint & primer adheres without cracks and ripples. Also, this time around I’m going to build, and paint in smaller sections before I fully assemble. The markings on the cockpit are far easier to add when it’s not attached the rest of the fuselage. I have a set of all new USAF colours, mainly greys, for this build, so I hope to make it look a bit more custom than the last two of these I have made. One straight out of the box, the second I attempted to paint, and then weathered it to fix my many errors.

This next one I hope to remove mould and seam lines, and to make it look as clean as possible before I add some lived in weathering details. Not as much as before, but enough to make it look like a working military machine. Could be cool. I need to write out my plan of action first, otherwise I will definitely miss something vital. Like the cockpit interior panels, or lights on the wing tips. Tiny little parts that are easy to overlook until you review it at the end and go whoops! Missed those minor details. Damn.

So… a new year ahead. The weather is a tad strange. There must be some more snow and cold on the way. I can’t imagine going all winter with green grass showing through every where. It got down to minus fifteen last night, so winter is still very much here. Just not the snow – as of yet. At least if the temperatures are below or at zero the snow hills can produce snow for the slopes. I’d like to venture out myself to hit the slopes for a refresher. It has to be at least twenty four years since I’ve gone downhill skiing. Luckily around here, we’re dealing with hills, and not mountains. So I can bone up on my skills without too much going wrong, I hope. But don’t mind me. I wanted to hit the links, or even the driving range while my kids were at school, and wound up being too busy to do either. So skiing may be a far off dream as well. At least while I have a warm office to putter around in, and an unfinished model kit at my disposal. No sun/wind burns to contend with, or expensive rentals and lift tickets to purchase. We will have to see how things play out.

Fifteen times the charm I suppose. Oh I hate to see what a mess the next two years are going to be with the US Congress. What a mess. Why hold out for fourteen votes just to go ahead on the fifteenth, five days later. Looks like showboating, and attention seeking. But I’m no scholar in American politics, so that’s just my opinion from the outside looking in. No different than any other fundraising politician anywhere. Being a household name by any means necessary is good for raising money. Not sure why, but it seems to work. Oh well. Now we can see the dysfunction spill over into every other aspect of Congress being run. I expect committee members to be dropped (Democrats that is) and the one man vote to remove the speaker going ahead on the daily, as revenge. What a mess.

Only a few days left of this wandering fog called a winter break and reality will come rapidly back into sharp relief. That and all of our usual responsibilities, like knowing what time of day it is, what day of the week it is, and where we are in the month. That and driving, shopping, school runs, lunches and every day regular life. Oh, oh and waking up at a reasonable hour and going to bed well before midnight. That is something I look forward to. Regular sleep patterns and my own bed. Amazing what passes for good news as you get older. Ha.

One last leg of our drive and we’ll be officially home, and then I can begin to resettle for school and work obligations. I’m sure I have a mountain of laundry to process. The dishwasher will have sat idle for the week, so those dishes will be stinky, and may need a second run through if we had any really sealed in goo on the bowls. Gotta sort out the presents to locate school back packs, books and such. It’s going to be a whole thing this weekend getting prepared to return to regular days. I have a pile of masks to wash, and N95’s to find out of storage. The new extra curricular schedule to put in my phone, and attempt to remember to use a 3 and not a 2 on any dates I write down.

I intend to undertake a good broken toy / garbage purge in the coming week(s). Depending on how long it takes to make the interior look livable, and less cluttered. I foresee a lot of sorting this time around, and not as much throwing things away. Finding all of the LOL Doll accessories and putting them in an accessible, but tidy spot to be played with, without winding up all over the family room floor. Sorting out Trolls, and Peppa Pig from Harry Potter, from all of the LOL Doll figures and accessories is going to take a very long time. My main goal is to remove as much cardboard/kleenex/napkin shards that accumulate around the house while the kids modify their toys and build cloaks, coats, sleeping bags, and back packs for their various toys. I don’t mind the crafting and modifications, but I detest them leaving the aftermath scattered over the floor. Paint streaks on the hardwood floors, globs of glue on the edge of the coffee table, pieces of paper confetti against every available surface. Ugh.

Don’t get me started on the actual crafts, fancy paper and glitter bombs I find behind the couches, or hidden corners of the house. Bits of decorative string, cord, or frayed rope lengths just lying every where. Sand and glitter all over the table cloth in the dining room. Buttons, jewels and baubles that get thrown about the room, ready to pinch your foot should you step on them. Maddening! Madness! Mayhem I say. So I need to re-sort all that stuff, and probably get rid of things that never get used, like colouring books, and dried out markers, and smashed crayon bits, and dried up glue sticks. That’s at least a full weeks worth of home house keeping to undertake. I do have some down time coming, so I’ll definitely find the time. Wee!

Come Monday we are all back to regular life. It may not be normal as of yet (Thanks COVID-19 : XBB15 point something or other). Maybe in another year or two if we miraculously decide to try something other than mostly nothing. Maybe this new year will bring us all some clearer insights and inspiration. Who knows! Ciao Bella

Had to put off some travel due to inclement weather yesterday. But now the road, it calls to us. Beckoning us to drive in all the grey coloured clouds. The salters have been out and about for hours already, and in a few more the sun should peek through, and we’ll have an ever so slightly safer trek. Pays to wait out most of the bad weather.

Vacation week with the kids is drawing to a close, as we now need to get prepped for a return to school & work. I have some lined up all ready, with more to come. Will check back in later. Ciao Bella.

Not much to report other than the impending freezing rain storm coming our way. Otherwise a week of rest and relaxation is off to a great start, or mid week hump. I think it’s Wednesday today. Hard to know at this point. Early days of 2023 are rolling along. Had my father’s 74th birthday just the other day. Operated via facetime. And great grandma just turned 95! Pop bottles and pour some out for the homies we’ve lost along the way.

This weather is weird. Almost feel like breaking out my bike or my longboard and going for a spin. Roads are ice free. Rain could put a damper on things though. No matter. Vacation week is off to a slow start.

At least this morning in the wee hours the temperatures were down below zero, so I hope that they managed to add an appropriate amount of snow back onto the hill. The last four days of heat and rain has played havoc with our accumulated snow. I fear the hills will be open patches of grass and puddles of muddy slush. I forsee more tears at pick up time. I will however sit in the viewing area for a bit to watch a few runs down the hills. I didn’t get to see her at the first lessons last year, and I felt like she didn’t want me to stick around on Friday either.

Back to Monday. Taking this week as a vacation as well, while everyone else is out of school/work. I used my time yesterday to take down all of our decorations, tree and wreath on the front door. I even took down a couple of exterior lighting elements. I didn’t break out the ladder to do the roof line, but I don’t know if I feel like going completely dark right away. The winter is so bleak, so a pop of colour at night is kinda nice.

I need to get ready to drive out to the ski hills. Have a great Monday Jan 2, 2023. Oh – oh. It is also great grandma’s 95th birthday today. Celebration to be held out front of the LTC where she currently resides. Had COVID-19 in August which put her in the hospital for 4 weeks, followed by 7weeks at rehab, then a care home, and now an LTC. Not the best five months for Grandma P! Still alive and kicking though. That’s a plus.

That is going to take a little getting used to. I foresee a number of two’s converted into threes in my near future! Ha. A slightly cloudy and cool Sunday morning today. Ever so slightly above zero degrees Celcius. Maybe we’ll have some snow on the slopes tomorrow? A man can dream can’t he? Not sure what the plan is for my kids snowboard lessons & camp day at Lakeridge. Do they keep them inside the whole time if they have no snow? I honestly don’t know. It’s all prepaid, so it’s not like we aren’t going to go. Tomorrow’s problem to solve I suppose.

Today we focus on things we have control over. Starting with a Zoo visit, then taking down the Christmas decorations. Some exterior lighting elements, wreath, big bow, and the tree. Followed by a smart clean up and vacuuming of lost tree needles. Finding all the secreted bits of cardboard, and garbage, people have stuffed in hidden corners of the house. I would absolutely love to clear all of the mess out this week, but I can tell I’ll be holding on to some until much later on this month. Ugh.

I won’t bother with strip mining the house until after everyone goes back to their regularly scheduled activities. I prefer to clean in peace. And not fight over every single broken toy piece. But that’s a week away from now. Time to focus on the family, and our day ahead.

Welcome to 2023!

That 2022 was definitely a year. Some good, some bad, some great, and some terrible. COVID-19 played a direct part in much of this. For better, or for much much worse, it is here to stay. Waiting in the deepest cells of our bodies, waging a war only some can feel outwardly. Attacking immune systems, causing dysregulation. Clearing a path for other bacterial or viral infections to dig in and gain a foot hold. Truly frightening stuff. But I digress. On the other hand events made a come back in 2022, and companies as a whole increased their marketing spend, investing in packaging, branding and all manner of things. So on the work front it was clearly a better year than 2020 & 2021. I’ll have to see if it was one for the history books, but it was certainly better than the last two years that is for sure. Freelancing during COVID-19 was, is, a difficult tightrope to tread.

I managed to write a whole second book of interconnected short stories. I made even more wood working projects than ever before. Including a few small furniture pieces. I was rather proud of myself for those items. Mostly small end tables. My dream of a live edge coffee table will have to wait as my slabs had suffered some catastrophic failures requiring an all new plan to utilize the most wood I could. Turned out ok, I think.

I was able to sculpt seven items, with an eighth started but nowhere near completed. I also painted six of my sculpts, and got some much needed practice with my old airbrush unit. I painted some board game pieces, my sculpts, and a model kit.

So I’d like to maintain the momentum if I can into the new year. Also this year (2022), while clearing off old lingering projects I did the panel lining, and decal work on my 1/100 ZZ Gundam model from 2019/2020. And a blank VF-1 Macross Gerwalk model kit that I had built and then left unfinished for more than a year. I was aiming towards starting my G-Systems Best mech resin model, but I have opted to try one more model kit build up before I get into the really pricey resin model. I want a chance to improve on steps I mucked up prior to trying the highest quality item I have. Cautious optimism! And a revised plan of attack. I am writing out my steps to approach the new model once it shows up next week. That way I can be meticulous, and know that I’m not skipping over, or forgoing anything vital for the sake of speed. A good plan, I think.

I didn’t do as much home DIY this year, as 2021 was the year for that. That was the first year both kids were in school, and I took the opportunity to work unencumbered! It was a blessing, as those Covid rules kept the kids home for spits and spurts all school year long. Glad I used my time wisely in the beginning, because all that isolation, and restricted movement played havoc with my plans. This year, it was more cleaning, and building furniture for around the house. Lots of storage items for kids toys.

I don’t think I built any miniature war gaming terrain this year. But I did buy a bunch of D&D miniatures from Kickstarter. Going to be a long while before I see those delivered. And even longer before I get them painted for a game!

I’m rambling now. All the best for New year’s eve! Enjoy the new year! Ciao Bella!