I just bought this great double-strong two-sided tape you can use to hang stuff on the wall named “No More Nails” and I thought Great, I hate nails. Too hard to work with and sometimes they get arrogant and really who needs mouthy hardware?

But then I thought about the name of the tape and thought that’s a pretty bald insult to the nail community as a whole. I mean how would I feel if a new occupation started calling themselves “No More Chemists?” I’d probably be pissed. Then I felt bad for nails being targeted like that and thought that maybe the tape could have come up with a less controversial, moe supportive name like, “Nails Are Great, But You Can Use Us Too,” but then I thought that’s a lame name for tape, though it isn’t that much worse than “No More Nails,” so maybe it might fly. Then I found out that even though this double sided tape replaces nails and you don’t have to put a hole in your wall, it rips off a giant strip of paint when you remove it, which pissed me off and so now I am feeling much more sympathetic to nails on the whole and their random persecution by this paint-peeling intruder. Screw you, No More Nails, I like my hardware just fine.

Anyone want a giant roll of double sided tape?

Sorry, the pictures are kind of crappy and don’t really do it justice…

If you missed it, the “before” is here…

And you’re next, strange-little-cupboard that I found ….

My much-loved but un-inspiring studio table…

If you know what to look for, it’s not hard to spot us. Something like that leaves it’s mark, the ghost of a part of our lives when we knew that what we were doing mattered. The confidence of a soul that has been a pillar for someone, the strong one, the one that was there for them, cared for them, helped and guided them, and sadly, sometimes had to save them. I was a camp counselor for troubled kids.

It was the summers during my university degree that were filled with camp chants and group games. The 7 of us were the tightest set of co-workers I had ever been a part of (or have been since) and we were all in it because we wanted to be there. It had little to do with the paycheck; if it had we would all have been working somewhere else as almost every job at the time paid better than what we got. It wasn’t a summer job, it was who we were. We lived together, drank together, and dedicated every spare minute to making that camp spectacular for those kids because for many, we were the only ones who cared.

We all realized that a counselor has a unique role in a child’s life, and therefore a unique resposibility. We were not parents, not teachers. We were someone they have fun with and so more likely to be someone they would confess feelings, fears and issues to. We were also more than a peer, an adult who had the power to help them with these fears and issues. Because of this counselors are often the first one a child will finally tell when they need help or are in trouble and can’t go to anyone at home. It is rewarding, but sometimes it is horrifying. The first time I ever had to call child services I cried all night. My co-counselors cried with me.

With summer around the corner I have been thinking about camp a lot. I am happy as a Chemist, but I do miss the fun, the outdoors, the giant rubber water-balloon sligshot and, of course, the kids. Here is a little list for all of you counselors who do it because you care and you know that it is so much more important than “just a job.”

How To Tell If You Are a True Camp Counselor:

1. You would never, ever pack peanut butter in a bag lunch
2. You know how to stab an epi-pen
3. You know 7 different versions of the rules for Flags and which versions should be used when.
4. You have a bathing suit tan or a flip-flop tan in December
5. You unconsciously count the people you are with every 5 minutes as if you were making sure you had all of your campers. Your friends have stopped asking why you do this.
6. If you were a water instructor, it really bugs you to see people switching sides when they paddle a canoe
7. You can make up a game in under 1 minute using a bobby pin, three used coffee cups and a pen.
8. You have come home with paint in your ear at least once.
9. You have proudly worn a plastic lacing bracelet (or gimp, for the old schoolers) made by a camper out on a fancy dinner because you couldn’t untie it, but wouldn’t think of cutting it off.
10. You have played at least one camp game in a bar with friends.

There are oh, so many more. Feel free to add yours in the comments. And long live camp.

We just finished painting a large part of the house – a light brown on the first floor and our bedroom and blue in the kitchen. It was a learning experience, and here are some of the truths we have discovered..

1. Painter’s tape is for woosies.
2. Chuki sucks at painting trim.
3. Sour Cream and Onion Chips splattered with Rona Blue #227 taste just as bad as you’d think they would.
4. Our room painting limit is exactly 2 and 1/4 rooms per weekend. The limit is determined not by time, but by our threshold for aggravation.
5. Cats have a strange affinity for freshly painted surfaces.
6. No matter how cleanly I can paint a trim, I cannot paint a room without getting paint in my hair.
7. Wash your baseboards before you start unless you want blue-painted dust-bunnies (which are not as cute as they sound). If you are one of those immaculately clean people who clean all their baseboards every week then stop reading this blog and go away because I hate you. Emily, you don’t count.
8. You know how cats like to sit on anything on the floor that isn’t usually there? Apparently that counts for upturned paint can lids.
9. Chuki looks good in blue and brown.
10. Don’t sneeze when edging a baseboard unless you want brown baseboards.
11. It takes exactly the same amount of time to paint the first floor as it does to watch the special features on the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy (minus the second disc of the third movie, which we couldn’t find because I forgot to take it out of the DVD player upstairs last time).

I am in love with these crazy dust masterpieces created by Artist Scott Wade on the windows and panels of dirty cars. I get really inspired when someone gives me a good excuse not to clean something.
(more…)

I have been tagged by Hojpoj quite a while ago, but I am just getting some time to reply now. Here’s how this one works…

Ten little known facts/habits about me:

1. I hate washing paint off my hands and I’d leave it there forever, if that didn’t mean leaving microbes on them too. Paint swipes and drips on my fingers make me feel creative.
2. I haven’t been able to drink Tequila since Westlemania XIV.
3. I have played the guitar since grade 10, but I won’t be opening for Pearl Jam any time soon.
4. I’ve never smoked anything. Not even to try. No real reason, just never got around to experimenting and then I just got too old to be curious.
5. My favorite performer is Chris Cornell.
6. I went to Arts School.
7. I have a BSc. Hons. In Chemistry.
8. The first time I kissed a boy was in Grade 8, and he tasted like tin. No idea why.
9. Church kind of freaks me out, but I wish I had faith in something divine. It seems like such a comfort for those who do believe. I believe there is something beyond us (God, Energy, A whole new ecosystem) but I am not comfortable with modern religion and the precepts they enforce. But, despite that…(see next item)…
10. I once shook hands with the Pope.

I am tagging the following people:
Adam Finley – Adam Finley Photography
Colin Wallace – End of the Dock
Tia Tremblay – Jinglebell
Carol – String me Along
Dre – Willowcat Studio