Alive

Barely.

It’s been a really crap week so far.

First the Hubs was sick. Then I got sick. Now we’re both slowly recovering.

No, we do not have covid. I really wish people could go back to just getting sick every now and then without the world asking if it’s covid. Sometimes, believe it or not, people get sick with other things.

I don’t normally give in to being sick, but this week I did. I have logged many hours on the couch. Today I realized I’ve been staring at this for 3 days:

I know I’m feeling better because I started making a plan to finish this wall on Friday. I could even do the fireplace wall. But any more and I’m running into draperies and drywall repair. So I’ll definitely stop after the fireplace. I could also go down the hall, but again I will run into some drywall repair, the thermostat, and some other obstacles. But if I am sufficiently motivated, I might just take it all on.

While I have been logging couch hours, I am working on my project:

I got this far in one day.

And the next 2 days saw a bit of a slowdown:

I’ve only wiped out 2 colors so far. But I’m currently working on the 3rd. I will surely knock out one more after that. Then I will be left with 2, but they are pretty big. There is a second blanket needed to finish them both. And then, I will have controlled a bit of my stash!

I think I will donate them to Project Linus when they are done.

I finally did some laundry, and just to close the loop, here is how the palate cleanser turned out:

Still can’t really see the Xs and Os, but they are there!

In case you’re following the AC saga… I have not heard a peep since Friday, so I’m gonna assume the line set was not on Friday’s truck, or today’s truck. I’m gonna wait and see if they have anything to say this week.

Sick Day

The Hubs is sick today.

I hate to admit this, but when he is sick or having a bad day, my world kinda spins out of control.

Not in a “I’m gonna commit Hari Kari” kind of way, but things just get off kilter for me.

If you know me, you know I don’t do sick. I don’t know what to do for a sick person, so I steer clear.

If you know the Hubs, you know he likes to be fawned over. At least he used to. Now he’s pretty much come to the realization he’s not getting it. So he takes to his bed and sleeps.

Which throws me off.

Which makes me feel even more useless.

Hence, the spinning.

But.

I have set up a project. To add to the 2 I have going already. But this new one is a stash reducing blanket. Not only is it mindless, it is serving the purpose of control. I am controlling my stash.

I am a control freak.

There, I said it.

Admitting it is the first step to controlling, er, defeating it.

Anyway.

I was supposed to fix my downspout problem this weekend. We got the supplies, I just don’t feel like doing it.

You see, what happened is I did not get the right angle on this:

I was thinking it’s sloped away from the house, all is well.

All is not well! It’s got such a nice slope, water is pouring out of the rocks and under the edging. My bad. I was thinking if I make it longer it will work, but now I’m thinking I might need to adjust the angle as well. So I’m doing the geometry in my head instead of on the ground. I’ll get to it this week.

I started this on Friday:

You can’t really tell, but there are Xs and Os around the border. It’s a washcloth. I finished it last night and threw it in the hamper before taking its picture. I’m hoping the wash will tighten it up and reveal the pattern. Won’t know til laundry day!

I call these palate cleansers. Whenever I finish a big project or don’t know what to do next, I make them. I used to be able to finish one in a night, but now it seems the cotton is too stiff and it hurts my hands too much to do it all in one sitting.

Getting old really sucks.

Yesterday the dirty bird did not poop on my chair. I was kinda thinking maybe he got over it. But nope. He is back at it today. Stupid bird.

Oh! I nearly forgot!

Friday I got a positively information-packed email from the AC people. It was nearly 3 sentences! Upshot was:

You guessed it!

“We hope the linesets will be on the truck today”

Downside:
“We won’t know til Monday.”

I am ever hopeful I will get a call or an email tomorrow attempting to schedule an install date.

Go ahead, laugh.

I Hate Birds

I have had this chair for 3 days. THREE. I have cleaned bird crap off it about a million times already. WTF bird?

Always the same spot. The Hubs thinks it’s hilarious. I’m just irritated about it.

How do you keep birds away from stuff? Gah, they are SO nasty!

I did the bedroom painting yesterday. Now I’m kinda into getting the rest of the room done. But I need a break because my knee is acting like it’s old and screaming when I kneel down. We all know I can’t paint without getting right down on the floor to do the baseboards!

But I managed to do most of the wall.

Before – vanilla galore:

When I took the outlet cover off I found this:

I mean GROSS! I don’t even want to think about what slid down this wall into the outlet.

At least this is getting replaced.

PSA: If you spill something down the wall and it goes over/into the outlet, for the love of Pete, get a screwdriver, take off the cover and wipe it out.

How difficult is this?

But I digress because I’m annoyed at the world today.

My computer decided the library website is risky. I get it, public institutions are questionable these days. But really? You’re gonna lock me out and make me go talk to the librarian?

Sheesh.

And it’s Wednesday. Anyone want to take the odds of the AC line sets being on the truck?

I’m gonna go with NOPE. But at least I’m ready if they ever arrive.

Whoops, I just went on a tangent!

Anyway. Here is the painted bedroom:

A couple of things. I was pretty happy with it until the Hubs came in and said, “Wow! Commodore64 blue!” If that is true, I assure you it was accidental on my part.

But overall, I am liking this. So much so, I am no longer mad at my vanilla draperies. I never thought that would happen!

Here is the color, since my pics never look right:

Now I need a new project. Can’t paint for a while. Don’t want to work in the yard except in small bursts. Been reading a lot. Maybe it’s time to set up some knitting. My last couple attempts have ended in failure, so I’m not anxious to get that going again.

Maybe I need to pick an inspiring yarn and see where it leads.

Tomorrow is errand day. Sadly, I saved them all up and now I’ll be driving all over town to get them done. Oh, and I have to actually speak to the deaf librarian. That’ll really set the tone of the day!

On the upside, I pass a Dunkin Donuts! But my coupon expired.

It’ll be a day of opposites. My favorite.

A New Week

With renewed vigor, I’m back at the improvements. I know I was gonna wait til fall, but as I said, I was getting bored.

But first…

I have a daylily! Well, I have several, but I finally have a couple flowers!

That was a nice reward this morning. The one next to it is getting ready to bloom as well, but no one else is making the effort thus far.

I got my drawer pulls all finished and the Hubs put them back for me:

It’s a little bit of pig lipstick, but the desk is looking a little less forlorn.

On Sunday we built a chair:

I logged about an hour reading in it today and it’s very nice! We have a second one on order, hopefully it will arrive next week. I painted my little outdoor table today. First thing that happened after I finished was it rained.

Second thing was a bird perched on it and pooped.

Have I mentioned I hate birds? They are such dirty creatures.

I cleaned it up and did a little touch up. Why? So the next bird will have a clean place to poop, of course.

There’s been some painting today. It’s not much, but I wanted a clean fresh spot for when the new AC gets here.

On that… Still waiting on the line sets. Maybe Friday. Nope. Maybe Wednesday. Nope. Maybe Friday. Nope. Ever hopeful, maybe they will get here this week.

Anyway…

Here’s a little before reminder:

Some gross:

Some beige:

And when I finished for the day:

I know it seems random and weird, but we’ve opted for a mini split system and a unit is going over the bookcase area. I wanted a clean slate for it. Read: locking in all the yuk that may or may not still be on the wall. If they ever install it, I’ll just have a little touch up work to do around it. And I’ll know behind the unit is clean.

I’ll be doing the same in the bedroom tomorrow. I did paint the trim this afternoon. One piece of trim that won’t need to be done when I decide to paint the rest of the room!

For those of you keeping track, we will be having our first guest in October!

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this. While I am excited someone is actually coming to visit us, they will also be staying here. Which means I’m escalating my guest room plans. Which means I’ll have to pick a color. Or I can do the safe thing and just paint it a color I already have. Like laundry room, or… dining room? I’ll have to give this some real thought.

The room has pretty intense afternoon sun, so maybe a cool color is a better choice (sorry about the yellow, Cat). I was considering making up the room and spending a couple nights in there while I paint our bedroom.

Maybe that will inspire me.

And Me Without a Camera

Last night we went to the beach after work. I left my phone in the car because honestly how many pics of waves can I show you?

(A million)

We were sitting on a sand ledge surrounded by really big ghost crab holes and talking about what happens next when all of a sudden I saw a ghost crab! Not a little one either, this guy looked like good eatin’!

I reached for my phone.

Dammit!

He hung out a little, looking at us like we were uninvited guests in his living room. Who knows, maybe we were! After he went back into his hole, a second one popped out a little farther away. This one was even bigger! He ventured a bit from his hole, then went back and hung out right next to the opening.

Of course he did, practically posing for Pete’s sake!

At one point some sand shifted and there was a little bit of a freak out thinking maybe a crab was digging its way up to the surface under us.

OK, time to move along!

While walking back to the car, we saw the weirdest thing… A bunch of sand dollars all piled up next to each other, still dark and furry. But they were about 5 feet from the water.

Sort of like this:

Double dammit!

I wanted to run and get my phone, it was so cool and weird. In the end, I didn’t, but we did scoop them up and put them into the water. I’m sure we probably did the exact wrong thing, but they were all little. I didn’t want them to dry out and die.

No more leaving my phone in the car! Except that is pretty much when we see really cool things!

Today it’s all sunny and beautiful out. So we did yard work.

The morning glory is finally blooming!

We gave it some twine to climb on, so at some point it should get a bit higher and and start moving over to the wall on the right. The Hubs put some twine up above the garage door as well, so it will be interesting to see if it goes that way.

One of my daylilies is just about ready to bloom!

And some of my bareroot plants are making a good showing:

Most are still just dirt. I guess if half grow I’ll call it a win.

In the back I’ve got this:

The Hubs asked if it was a weed. I really had not even considered it til that moment. Now I am wondering… is it an oxeye? Is it a weed? I just looked it up… Probably a weed.

Dammit.

But I’ll let it grow some more and see what happens. Still no hostas. I think I am about over the bareroot option. I’ll be springing for plants from now on.

I did another gutter:

The next one is near the rain barrel and requires a bit more thought and material. Then the last one is in the front and I am planning a garden near it, so that will have to wait til the fall.

Oh, the drawer pulls are ready:

I’m not in love with them, but they look much better than before. I’ll let them cure for a few more days and then put them back on the desk.

Here’s a finished one close up:

The paint is supposed to be satin, but I’m thinking I should have gone with matte because they are a little too shiny for my taste.

I have been getting a little bored. How can I tell? I’ve been looking at cats online.

Next week I think I better do a little painting to keep myself occupied!

This afternoon the Kraken reminded me that my birthday is a month away. I think next week I will begin celebrating!

Maybe when the Hubs asks what I want for my birthday I’ll show him:

What do you think he’ll say?

More Paint

For the first time in about a million days it’s not raining, threatening to rain, or grumbling.

I am taking the opportunity to paint up some hardware.

After 2 crock pot soaks, I suppose my drawer pulls are about as clean as they are going to get.

I was looking for a piece of foam to put the screws in while they get painted, but alas, the day after trash day is not a good time to look for scraps!

This is about the best I could find:

And here is how it’s working:

Not too shabby! I managed to only spray over my thumb once.

Score!

As for the pulls, they are proving to be a bit of a challenge. I don’t have a box big enough for all of them. Beans! And the actual pull part is pretty floppy. So after I do a coat and wait a little bit, I have to separate the floppy part from the backing so they don’t glue themselves together.

A bit of pain in the fanny, but it’s working out all right.

It’s gonna take a few more coats and more drying time than my patience allows, but we’re working through it.

As long as it doesn’t rain.

In other news, I finished a cowl:

I really have no clue why I made this, I hate them and never wear them. But I had the yarn leftover from a blanket and needed a simple project for TV watching – because after I was assured it wasn’t ruining anything, I started watching The Terminal List.

It’s good. It’s good in an 80’s over-the-top action bonanza way! It’s heavy and a little dark, but so clean and uncomplicated, you can’t help but love it.

Anyway, I’m blocking this now:

I’m gonna need a new project soon.

BTW, if anyone wants this (it’s cashmere, silk and merino), let me know and it’ll be yours!

Bigger Job Than Expected

Today is my favorite sister’s birthday!

She’s having a milestone birthday, but I am not being mean about it because I’m afraid she’ll have a long memory about this one thing!

Mostly I am thinking about the birthday we guiltlessly ate 5 pounds of steamers. That was a great birthday!

I hope she’s having these today!

This morning I got an email from the county – “Residents Encouraged to Monitor Localized Flooding”

Welcome to

Oh boy. What have we done?

Anyway…

Yesterday I took a second look at the drawer pulls.

Yep, still gross.

I took them all off, there are 10 in total. I gave them a little pre-scrub:

The top one is scrubbed, the bottom not. Big difference right?

Nope.

I got them all ready last night, and this morning I tossed them into the crock with some soap and baking soda.

After about 6 hours, this is a sample:

Um.

Well, other than my counter looking like 10 miles of rough road, the soak does not seem to have affected the pull at all.

It’s looking a lot like I’m gonna have to paint these after all.

In the meantime I took some cleaner to the desk. Much more effort than anticipated. It took off a lot of the grime, but the desk still looks rough.

Let’s be real, the years have been unkind to this piece of furniture. If it were mine, I might paint it. If I were alone, I’d leave it by the roadside! But I don’t currently have an alternative, so it’s now clean, and soon the pulls will be clean-er than they were. I might clean it again and see if I get more grime off it.

But right this second, I’m wondering what to do with this:

This was my go-to rag. Now, I think it’s a candidate for trash day. No way am I putting that in the laundry to see if it’ll come clean!

Faux Joy

Nothing expensive, gross, or heartbreaking is happening at this particular moment in time, so I’m gonna feel some joy.

Don’t worry, it won’t last.

Over the weekend we repacked all the crap and reloaded it into the attic. We replaced all the boxes with plastic bins, and as expected, I simply threw all the Christmas stuff that was in cardboard into bins. I’ll deal with it in November.

We were very careful to organize the placement. We had a plan.

It came out like this:

Behold the organization. Every box is labeled, but most of the boxes are facing sideways!

Still some floor space left!

Looking left

Looking right

This morning I went out to the garage to clear up the debris from the packing. And found 3 things we forgot. So I hauled them up and actually went INTO the attic to place them in specific spots. I’m absolutely sure nothing crawled on me while I was up there.

I broke down all the boxes and rearranged shelves. And lo! We actually got the car into the garage!

See? JOY!

We got wind of a new place and went Saturday to check it out. I have to say, it was not what I was expecting and it’s my new favorite place! (Auntie, think the salvage place in New Bedford.) They had everything you could imagine for the home and yard. It was fabulous!

I had a lady price out my kitchen. And that was the only crappy thing about the place. It was just as expensive as the local people.

So that sucked. But we wandered and found butcher block countertops, and sinks, and vanities, and art and decoration, and this:

Which Cat thinks I should definitely buy.

And I thought about it. I really did. How cool would a gator be in my yard? I mean, as long as it didn’t ever move.

But alas, we gave it a pass. But the place gets a likely revisit. It was just fun.

In other news… I have finally picked a paint for the main part of the house. I bought a gallon (have we sang this song before?), and today I slapped some up on the wall.

And fell in love! It’s perfect. I now cannot wait to paint this place!

It doesn’t look like much in the can, but it complements my art, it makes my blah furniture and draperies look good and I’m finally happy.

Even more JOY!

But I’m not gonna paint right away. I have a couple of things ahead of this project. One is to deal with the 3 boxes of paperwork I have accumulated. Another is taking the hardware off my desk and giving it a new life. I was just gonna get new (as I go through my knob box), but the configuration is odd. This desk is so old the standard has changed probably 50 times. I can’t find hardware that matches the existing holes. Into the crock they go! Once I see what they actually look like sans 100 years of grime I’ll decide how I want them to look.

I’ll admit, my initial thought was something loud and obnoxious. But the Hubs mentioned bronze. So now I’m thinking: Brown leather on brown wood on brown hardware.

And maybe I’ll just paint my living room.

Attics and Frogs

It’s a high and low day here. So we’ll start with the frog.

While the attic was getting improved, I decided to do some knitting. I was one stitch off last night, so I started by unknitting 2 rows. Then I counted. Satisfied I was back on target, I knit a row. All 171 stitches of it. Only to discover now I was off 4 stitches.

WTF?

So I unknit more rows. Counted again. Knit again.

Still off. Repeat process.

Down 3 stitches.

In a matter of minutes the project went from this:

To this:

That’ll show that stupid shawl! I bagged it all up and will make an (I think 4th) attempt another time. And began work on another project. Which I promptly screwed up and had to unknit a row. So I called a halt to the knitting for today.

Meanwhile, there was industry in the garage. We have a new handy guy, I’m not sure yet if he’s Carlos or Martin caliber, but he’s got potential.

This is where we began this journey:

He insulated and put a floor in above the garage:

Now all I gotta do is haul all this shit:

After I repack some of it. Doesn’t look like much, I think there must be more hiding behind something.

Up these fine steps:

And make it all neat and tidy so I can forget about it all until we move.

Now, instead of a dark hole from which hot as hell air flowed, is this:

Someday I’ll paint it, the trim, the ceiling, the walls, the floor.

Sure I will.

He suggested an attic fan. Maybe we will.

He also came in and took a look at the kitchen and answered some questions for me. Gave me a lead on a cabinet place. He doesn’t seem fazed by the bridge to nowhere:

Even though we just discovered it’s like 5″ removed from the wall that goes to the peak. He said, “It’ll look fine when I’m done, just a little ledge.”

So I guess we’re doing this. Not sure when or how, but no one else seems concerned.

Clearing the Decks

Today is a little bit of this and that in preparation for the next big thing. More on that in a minute.

This weekend we did a little of this and a little of that. The Hubs mowed between raindrops. We unloaded the attic. We added more knobs.

Check these out:

Laundry Cabinet

Hall Bath Cabinet

How stinkin’ cute are these knobs?? And yep! Still got some left! But I am running out of places to put them. And no, your eyes do not deceive, those doors are not level, but the knobs are! This particular cabinet is slated for demo, so we’re letting it slide.

As you know, Independence Day calls for fireworks. Lots of them if at all possible. And my new ‘hood did not disappoint! There were commercial-level displays in backyards all over here, next door included. It was a tiny slice of home for me!

Here’s what we woke up to afterwards:

I made the pile after walking the yard looking for this junk. The Hubs was kind enough to check around the bamboo monster for me. We’re pretty sure there’s a lot more stuck up in there, but it will have to vomit them out before either of us will pick them up! I’ll collect these on trash day and say goodbye to the celebrations for the year.

Wait, what? Why did you unload the attic?

Tomorrow we got a guy coming. He’s going to put a floor and a set of stairs into the attic.

Here’s a little before action:

This was taken after some stuff came down. A floor up here will make storing our crap so much less precarious. And having stairs will make it easier for me to retrieve stuff without having to wait on the Hubs. Or at least that is what I am telling myself. In reality, there is probably no way I will ever go up there alone. I don’t care how well lit, clean, or organized it is!

My plan is to pack all this stuff into plastic bins to make it less attractive to the local fauna. I’m sure it’s delusional on my part, but that’s what I am doing. An added bonus, I opened a crushed box marked “Christmas 8/21” on Sunday and found a host of things I have been missing in my kitchen! Only a few items were shattered in that box, so it was a banner day!

Anyhow. We are especially excited because since we have been here it seems we have been laying out cash for work. Only the floors have actually been done so far. It’s super maddening.

Oh, I got an email from the AC guy on Friday. All the equipment is in town. Score! Can I get an install date? “I’m waiting for the copper lines.”

Then all the equipment is NOT in town, is it?! Trying to get info out of this guy is more difficult than herding cats. WTF dude. So I will email him AGAIN on Friday and see if he’s in a mood to share.

And last but not least, Auntie got KITTENS!

Annie (white) Josie (tuxedo)

I’m beyond jealous. Not only because she got a white one, but because I was with her when she adopted Alice:

Alice 2014

And that makes Alice part mine! I’m sad I wasn’t involved. But how adorable are these little bugs? Auntie has a knack for picking out the most wonderful animals!

Alice all grown up

How lucky are these guys to have radiators and marble? Especially in New England! Winters are warm and snuggly at Auntie’s!