Weekend Bliss and Le Tour

What a great weekend (well ... to be honest, Sunday). After allowing myself a long sleep, we began working. On the agenda was working on the pantry. We had picked up the paint on Saturday evening and were ready to start painting the pantry and staining the shelving DH has been making for that room. So first thing was washing the walls to get the dust from sanding the plaster repairs up before painting.

I had to wash all of the walls, including the ceiling,
before we could begin painting. 

After breakfast we started taping and protecting the flooring and the carpeting. It wouldn't do to have a sparkling newly painted pantry but have marks on the new floor or carpet. After gathering supplies from the little house, we got to work on the painting. DH was a bit heavy-handed, insisting on doing it himself, but that was OK. I got to be a little cooler since I was close to the fan while loading the paint roller and double-checking that everything was properly coated.

After painting the corners and edges, we started
working with a roller for the rest of the surfaces.
DH is picky about his painting, but it turned out
looking really nice. 

After the pantry was complete and drying, we moved to the garage and the stain with varnish. I'm not fond of the product, but it does save time. It's a pain to put on without drips, though. We painted the two shelves we have done so far, but there's still more work on these before they are completed. We'll need to steel wool the first coat and apply a second one, and there were surfaces that didn't get coated yet. We'll be working on these for the next few nights.

The shelving was a lot harder than painting the pantry. The
stain is much stickier, and we were dealing with a lot of
surfaces and angles. Icky and still not completed. 

Le Tour de France had a great hard-fought finish on Sunday with Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) pulling out his third stage win for this year's competition. Today we head into the foothills of the Alps with a 201km ride from Bourg-de-Peage to Gap. Only a couple of Cat 2 peaks today, but the entire route is a steady uphill climb. Tomorrow is a well-needed rest day before four days in the Alps. I can't wait!

Just look at those peaks. The first is the Col de Cabre - 9.1 km at a 4.6% grade,
but the second, well, that's the Col de Manse, a bit shorter at 8.9km, but
also steeper with a 5.6% grade. We're heading into the Alps. I can't wait! 

So I'm off to swim, and wish all of you a wonderful Monday. Chickie is off this week, so I'll be frazzled until next week *sigh*.