We're starting to enter silly season in Iqaluit when it comes to daylight. Sunrise this morning was 3:53 am and sunset was was 9:08 pm. When you toss in about an hour on either side of that for civil twilight, we're now down to less than four hours of darkness in town. That, coupled with the warm weather we're having - it's forecast to be +3C with rain most of this weekend - also means the crazies are coming out of hibernation. We live in a relatively quiet part of town now, so I don't think we'll get it too bad. However, as we've only been here five months, I guess we'll see.
There is one thing we're learning about this house, though. And that's the guys who built it and designed it had a mean streak in them. That's the reason, I assume, they put the master bedroom on the side of the house facing east. So bright and early in the morning, the sun is blasting through the windows. We have two sets of blinds on that window, but they are not very good. I'm managing to sleep through the worst of it, however I'm waking up in the morning and noticing Cathy either has sheets or a pillow covering her head. So she's not managing quite so well.
Which probably explains her course of action last night. We'd been talking about buying new blinds during our resupply run in Ottawa this summer. However, Cathy had a small brainstorm. Her parents are coming for a visit in June. They are going to have space in their suitcases to bring things up for us. The original plan was paint, but that got killed because you can't fly with paint (apparently the pressure change causes things to pop, making for a very messy cargo hold). So Cathy got the idea of blinds. She'd buy them via Sears and then have her parents pick them up and transport them up here for us.
This lead to several days of asking what I think about different kinds of blinds. This was on top of several weeks now of asking what I think about different shades of paint for different rooms in the house. There are those little paint samples stuck to every room in the house so that we can "see what the colours look like depending on the time of the day."
You know, I never thought I was a typical guy. You know, beers and sports and hating home decorating. And while I haven't acquired a taste for beer, I probably watch my fair share of sports. And, apparently, I could not care less about paint colours. Or, in this case, blind colours.
I don't. I tried, but I honestly can't determine which blind is the best for whatever room. Can't do it. I do not know if a solid colour blind, or one with red stripes, or blue stripes or black stripes look best. I can't really make the mental leap to make that judgment. Or even to really care. I realize leaving that much control in Cathy's hands is potentially a mistake. But I have no sense or, more importantly, taste on these things.
Anyway, after abandoning all attempts at getting me to make a decision, Cathy ordered them. We'll have new blinds around June 10th or so. I'm sure they'll be lovely. And hopefully keep things dark in the bedroom. Now there's just the paint to get later this summer. God help me...
Last Five
1. A slight discomfort - The Hold Steady
2. I wanna be around - Tony Bennett and Bono
3. Tournament of hearts - The Weakerthans*
4. Broken down - Ian Foster Band
5. Dirt in the ground (live) - Tom Waits
5 comments:
Dude, go to Frobuild. They have lots of paint. Like anything else here, it will be diffcult and challenging, but you will be able to get the paint that C. needs, in town.
$40.00 per gallon is not crazy. You will pay that much even at Rona or HD for quality product. They have all colours...
Window treatments...
Every time I walk into the blinds/curtains section of a department store my brain nearly seizes shut. It's like information overload or something. Why should it be so frakkin' hard to find covers for your windows?
"I realize leaving that much control in Cathy's hands is potentially a mistake."
Seriously, dude. It's blinds. Not exactly earth shattering.
Pretty, yes.
Functional, also yes.
But to be concerned regarding control? Nah.
There are some battles that you could honesetly not care less about. I have no opinion regarding 95% of what happens in my garage.
Now, if you happen to not care for the blinds cathy has ordered, simply shut your mouth (you *were* given an opportunity to have input, which you apparently declined. No last minute opinions) and tell her that you think they look nice.
Who cares about the colour. (actually for looks I love wooden ones not 'faux'), but the crucial thing is to make sure they are 'black out blinds'. These seem much more of a UK thing than canadian, but a couple of googles suggest that there are a couple of on-line companies that do them - one even says 'free shipping' ...couldn't find any fine print about nunavut, but from what you've said before it may well be there... nope, looked again and this seems pretty clear "As a Canadian owned and operated company with our head offices in Canada, SelectBlindsCanada.ca offers door to door delivery everywhere in Canada" anyway, good luck. we have same problem, except that we have nice internal wooden shutters that ought to block everything, only the folks who put in new windows did it so that the shutters can't open...one of these days we'll get it fixed. in the meantime, try the little masks they give you on planes (or buy some good quality ones). makes all the difference once you get used to them.
if the blind doesnt work, go to baffin electronics, they have "black out lining" (oddly white in colour, but perfect) for $13.98/meter. if your windows are medium in size, you can get curtain hanging rod for $10 at Ventures and hang the lining over them, works very well. if your house has curtain rods, you can easily hang them over the rods, no sewing needed.
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