Sore

I’m sore. Damn sore.

Saturday after work and yesterday after church we helped friends paint and clean their new space. I can’t go into any details yet, but we are both super excited for this next chapter in their business. Anyways, let’s just say that going up and down and straddling a ladder over and over has turned my legs into jelly. My back is so stiff it feels as though any wrong move and I might snap in half. My hands and arms feel tight from doing so much cutting in with a brush that typing hurts. Oh yes, today is going to be a joyful day at work.

Yard Work

If there is one thing I hate, and I’ll use this abhorrent word here, it’s weeding. I really hate weeding.

Yesterday, after getting home from helping a friend with some yard work, I decided to continue weeding the front yard. After a dozen bucketfuls it barely looks like I made a dent. Tuesday when I started this project I’d also pulled up a dozen buckets full of weeds. This is a five gallon bucket I’m talking about, so you can kind of get an idea on just how overgrown the yard is. And it’s a rock garden, which means it has been like this for quite some time.

Alas, it looks like this weekend will be filled with more weeding and general cleaning up. But on a much happier note, my husband painted the bathrooms yesterday so they are no longer awful shades of blue. Electric blue, royal blue, navy blue… Now they are a much happier, and brighter, shade of pale green called sliced cucumber. Makes me wish we used this color in the living room, but at least the bathrooms are painted.

Let's Finish This Already

While we mostly moved a few weeks ago, we are still living out of boxes. I’m ready to unpack now.

Yes, there are a few things at the old house we still need to get. For one thing, our lawnmower. I mean, it’s not like we’ve got a lot of lawn to mow here, but still, it’d be nice to have it here so we can mow down the patch of weeds that is referred to as a lawn in the backyard. It would also be nice to get our fish moved over and everything else we want here, like the vegetable garden stuff we are taking, herbs and strawberries, and all of the garden pots.

I’m also ready to get the ceilings painted in the office and boys’s room and finish painting the bathrooms, I just don’t want to be the one to do it. I know it has to be done and that the longer we wait the more we’ll simply be okay with how it looks. While I was reading the boys a bedtime story the other night I looked up at stared at the Hail Hitler painted on the ceiling and thought, “Well, it isn’t that noticeable.” Okay, now I know we need to paint over it soon.

I guess I am just tired of everything looking like we are ready to move again, because I don’t want to do that for a long time to come. Things like hanging pictures on the walls and books and bookcases that make a difference. The personal touches that make a house a home. After being here a few weeks now, I’m ready to leave the old house behind us and start living in this one.

Lazy

Today was going to be filled with more moving of the garden stuff at the old house to here. Somehow I think it will be pajamas until it’s time for my second cousin’s birthday party.

Of course, laziness will probably not be in the cards today or any time in the near future for us, as there is still so much to do. Coyote proofing the coop, painting the bathrooms, painting the ceiling in the office and boys’s room, unpacking, unpacking, unpacking… Okay, so maybe not that much unpacking. As much as I’d like to get a bunch of stuff done this long weekend, I think I’d rather, well, not.

Apparently I’m also being lazy when it comes to blogging this morning because I think I’m done for the day.

Painting

Yesterday my husband and I along with our friend and two of her nieces started painting. I say started because every room in the house needs to be painted.

I’m going to go ahead and admit it, I’m sore. I’m achy all over and feel like crap. And on top of that we still have an assload of painting to do this week before the big move Sunday. While the plan is to go over to the house to paint more after work, part of me really just wants to crawl back into bed.

Alas, the move is quickly approaching and we want to make sure the house is ready to receive us. Unfortunately the sheer amount of paint needed far exceeded my original estimates. So we will grudgingly continue until it is complete.

Patching, Taping and Ants

Yesterday I spent my day off patching holes, some fist-sized, and taping the molding to prepare for painting. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the ants.

 I decided first and foremost to tackle the large hole in the living room since I knew it would require a couple coats of joint compound over the aluminum mesh. Of course, I forgot how large some of the other holes in the house were, particularly the back bedroom which, quite honestly, just needs to be completely re-drywalled. Actually that back bedroom will require a lot of work. A lot.

I then moved on to taping the molding and quickly ran out of tape. Figures. So I went to the store and bought a couple more rolls to finish. Of course, I had to wipe off all the walls and molding first because of the massive amount of dust buildup, and I’m not really sure why I even bothered considering the previous tenants obviously didn’t as their paint job was quite sloppily smeared all over it.

And finally I started taking off outlet and light switch covers. Working my way around the house I taped the screws to the covers and moved on from room to room. So I am in the kitchen and start unscrewing one of the outlet covers and an ant crawls out. I think nothing of it and continue until the screws are out. I pried off the cover and I swear to God it was just like a scene out of Arachnophobia only with ants, crawling out from within the confines of the box and over the walls, spilling onto the counters. Thankfully there was a can of ant and roach killer in the kitchen and I quickly sprayed down the whole thing. I’m quite surprised I didn’t electrocute myself or start a fire spraying an aerosol directly into an active electrical outlet.

So Sunday we paint. Alas, we still haven’t decided on colors for what rooms, but we’ve got it narrowed down to the colors we like for the house. More than likely we’ll end up buying the paint Sunday morning and then going straight over to the house to start painting. And hopefully there won’t be another ant incident.

Load by Load

This eventual move seems to be consuming not only my life but my blog. I’m sorry, but here’s more.

The plan was to move this upcoming weekend, but I have a feeling it’ll be just painting instead. Probably a good idea since it’s supposed to rain. Then again, when isn’t it supposed to rain here in the Northwest?

I figure that since I cleaned out the kitchen cabinets I can start moving over nonessentials and pretty much anything that will stay in the garage. Okay, so perhaps I should try to deodorize the garage first since the smell is ass nasty and seems to be getting worse every time I go over there. Ugh. I guess that means I will have to do that too.

Alas, until the move and probably well after, it’ll be a load by load affair, taking over whatever will fit into the Blazer whenever we go. I suppose that means the big move will have to wait until the following weekend.

Gross

After work yesterday I picked up the boys and went over to the new house to start patching nail holes and clean out the cabinets. I got as far as the kitchen.

I’m not sure what possesses people to put nail holes in the wall unevenly spaced about every six inches apart on average. It wasn’t all that noticeable until I looked at the walls with all the spackle. Of course, I’m not sure what possesses people to make the paint color and design choices the former tenants did either, but I attribute that to their love of Nascar and all things Dale Earnhardt.

While the walls certainly had their fair share of issues, the insides of the cabinets are white. I’m sorry, but white never looks clean to me. I used up almost half a bottle of Lysol Kitchen Cleaner cleaning and wiping down every square inch of those cabinets. Well, every square inch I could reach as two of the cabinets that should’ve been corner cabinets with corner cabinet doors instead of a large amount of wasted space since even with my long arms I was unable to reach the far end of them. Balls. That, and they had this nasty black film all over. I had to clean every part twice just to get it all. But in the process found the missing cable outlets and smoke detector!

I also found myself wanting to simply live with some of the paint choices simply because the task of all that painting is beginning to feel much more daunting than originally planned. Even the green in the living room is starting to look appealing. Hell, I could probably live with the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese walls that are the kitchen. Of course, while we don’t have to be out of this house for quite some time, we are paying rent at the new house and I’m ready to leave this chapter of our lives behind us.

The boys loved running around the empty house and playing in the backyard which still had the swing-set, for now. It’s just another thing that is up in the air as far as if it’ll stay or not. They also had fun picking up fir cones and putting them in the empty birdbath that may or may not be staying as well. While exploring the backyard with them I was trying to visualize exactly where the chicken coop and garden boxes will go and realized just how disgusting parts of this yard really are. Oh well, at least it’s small.

Then there is the garage, otherwise known as the Cigarette-Smoking-Room. Internet research doesn’t help much in this matter, but I’m going to try a fogger that supposedly will help eliminate the toxins associated with third-hand smoke. My eyes are still itching from just walking in there. Of course, the only product out there that guarantees to eliminate these odors is apparently not sold in stores and mostly to hotels and rental car companies, so we’ll see if the product I can pick up at the local hardware store will work or not.

Alas, so much work, so little time, and hopefully this Thursday we can get the carpet cleaners out to clean the carpets. I’m not expecting any miracles as far as stain removal, but I’m hoping to at least get them clean because they are most definitely the grossest part of the house. But I have to admit that the smell in the garage takes a very close second place.

Prepping the New House

Today after work I’m picking up the kiddos and I think we might just have to go to the new house to patch some holes. Not an ideal way to spend time with the boys.

We still haven’t painted. Or cleaned the floors or cabinets or anything yet. This week has been far more hectic than originally planned, starting with my sister’s water breaking on Tuesday morning and a subsequent fifty-two hour labor until she finally gave birth Thursday, my normal day off, which I had to work as well. On top of that, the play my husband was assistant directing also debuted Wednesday. Busy, busy, busy.

I mean, I figure that if I can at least take out the massive amount of nails on the kitchen cabinets, for which I haven’t the slightest idea why they were there, and patch up the smaller holes, we’ll be ready to start painting possibly Sunday. Of course, we still need to choose a paint color. After reading a Better Homes & Gardens about paint colors and their suggestions for neutrals, I realized that the word neutral doesn’t just mean beige anymore. They had yellows, blues, grays, greens and tans in their mix. But they were all subtle colors that looked like they would go with anything. It makes me have hope that we can still have color without being overpowering. That, and I’m partial to greens and yellows. However, part of me thinks it’d be fun to do a pale steely blue in the office and boys’s room. Oh, the choices!

As much fun as I think the boys would have putting pink putty on the walls to fill in the holes, perhaps I should bring along some toys for them to play with as well. And with a big open house with nothing in it, I’m sure they’ll have fun running around being kids.

Paint

We’ve really got to move into the new house, but first we have to paint. I don’t think there is a single wall that doesn’t need it in the entire house.

I suppose the task of painting wouldn’t seem so daunting if that was all we had to do, but alas, there is an assload of prep-work that needs to be done first. Holes patched, some the size of a fist curiously, and texture reapplied to the walls that won’t be covered by, say, a bookcase, picture or art. I can’t imagine this part to be too difficult, but coming from a house where there is so much paint on the walls the texture is practically nonexistent I don’t have much experience in the matter.

Initially we were thinking of getting various paints and painting each room differently, but now we’re thinking a 5-gallon bucket of a neutral color will make it easiest. Hell, I’d live with the colors that are up on the walls now if I could, but trust me when I take pictures and show ya’ll it will be plainly obvious why pea green, baby-shit orange and battleship grey do not complement each other. I’m sure the previous tenants thought that peas and carrots would go together, but I find it difficult to trust their judgment when there was a wall of Dale Earnhardt memorabilia (okay, so ripped and taped pages from magazines and newspapers) in the living room covering up the vaulted wall of the green, and the impractical ability to walk into the kitchen without nearly impaling yourself because it was so jam-packed (and not at all packed for moving) with crap that the nasty orange was only visible in patches. This is saying a lot about the orange because I love orange. My phone is orange, my stainless steel water bottle is orange, my favorite market bag our friend Sarah made me is orange, our office is orange (burnt mandarin), and a lot of my fabric stash has orange in it. I don’t love the orange kitchen, which is sad because it would require minimal touch ups only if we were to keep it. They did, after all, leave the extra paint in the garage.

We could even use up some of the paint we have from painting here, but there isn’t enough to paint an entire room. That and we bought bolder, darker colors that would work for this house because it has so much natural light but would be unusable in the new house because of its lack of light. As much as I despise white walls, I’d rather have that than the cave of navy blue that is the master bathroom. At the same time, the only color I do like, even though it makes the hallway look dark, is that battleship grey, so perhaps bold doesn’t need to be shied away from, just carefully planned. Ugh, I just really want this move to be over with already!

Empty

With all this packing, parts of the house are beginning to feel empty. I say parts, because that is all we’ve got packed so far.

There is an echo in the office and a nakedness in the living room. Bookshelves normally lined with an array of books, DVDs and knick knacks lie empty. Well, empty except for the books we’re planning on getting rid of. A few of the newest listings we’ve posted on Amazon to sell have sold quite quickly, so I’m anxious to see if some of these coffee table books I’ve had since high school are worth anything or if they should just be saved for a garage sale. I am not, however, anxious to start packing up my bookcase and shelving unit in the craft room. With so many rubber stamps and scrapbooking supplies in the shelving unit I might get distracted and (gasp!) actually start scrapbooking! Okay, so I don’t really see that happening.

Looking at empty bookshelves and bare walls can be quite refreshing, too. It’s as if the clutter known as life has taken a step back to catch its breath before filling back up again in a new place. While painting this weekend, after the wedding cake and wedding of course, seems like a daunting task to attend to, creating that blank slate will be an exciting adventure to tackle before the exhale.

Lady Gaga Themed Cake

One of my coworkers is obsessed with Lady Gaga. Let’s just say that I am not.

As I told one of my other coworkers I was having a difficult time coming up with a plan for the cake because I couldn’t get the Push, Olivia, PUSH! cake out of my head (Google it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you), so my coworker, who is really good friends with the other coworker who’s having the birthday, said to make that cake but with her giving birth to a cat. I decided her love of Lady Gaga would make it more appropriate for her to give birth to a cat holding a telephone (it was the only song I could think of that I’d heard… again, not a fan.) Anyway, the other day, somehow, I walked in on a conversation about pickles between the two of them and asked if I needed to incorporate pickles into the cake. And so it was decided.

Before beginning work on the cake I needed to check out a few things. Using the power of the Google I typed in “lady gaga giving birth” into the search bar just in case she’d already done this. Apparently she had… in her latest music video for the song “Born This Way.” It was disturbing, but I decided some elements could be used for the cake. Now all I had to do was decide on sculpting or painting, to which I decided to go with painting. Part of me wishes I had gone with a combination of both, but again, my procrastination led to me only be able to do one or the other and, well, I was in the mood to paint.

So after pulling out the vodka from the freezer and filling the reservoirs in the paint palette I use for cake decorating, I began mixing in a variety of food coloring to get the range of colors I wanted for the cake. An hour later I had a painted masterpiece that people will devour in a mere matter of minutes. Okay, so it isn’t much of a masterpiece since, let’s be honest, I’m not a realistic artist but more of a cartoonist illustrator, so there are some exaggerated features. Still, it looks fun and hopefully my coworker will appreciate it.

Paint

So the possibility of going to the hardware store and buying paint to finally paint the bedroom happened again last night. Of course, then the morning comes and that idea goes out the window.

When we moved into our house a little over 12 years ago, we painted all the walls white because they had obviously been exposed to a chainsmoker, as tar literally oozed and crept down the walls. Gross? Yes. Did we wash off the tar stains before painting? That’d be a big no. I’m not sure what we were thinking other than maybe the fact that I was 20 and my partner was 21, so the prospect of a thought process more than likely didn’t occur.

Now, after multiple rooms have been painted, and some need another color because while Burnt Mandarin looks good on the paint chip, an entire room of orange can be a little much for some people. I love it, but my partner hates it. So this room needs another color, the bathroom is in desperate need of a new paint job, preferably after we scrape off all the paint chipping away from the ceiling, which is really the only place it needs paint, the half bath should probably get painted before we install the slate tile floors (yes, this still has not progressed any further than my original post on the matter), and our bedroom, which is in need of a coat or two of Kilz. The kitchen and laundry room can wait until we redo the floors in there.

As I am writing this, I notice some paint chips from Lowe’s sitting next to me, and it got me thinking. We haven’t decided on a color. We can’t agree on practically anything except a color scheme of green, burgundy and gold, which I made a bedspread with those colors years ago, and am really wishing I would have made it a little less, uh, interesting. I really like the two different fabrics, one of which is solid stripes of gold, green and burgundy that is on either side of the spread, and the other is a baroque floral print with the same colors that makes up the part that lays on top of the bed, but part of me wishes I would have done one or the other. And the solid jacquard burgundy taking the position of the floral print on the reverse side didn’t look so good actually on the bed as it did in my head. I’m sure the lighting plays a factor into that, as well as those stark white walls, against which, everything looks a little off. Perhaps a duvet should be next on my “to sew” list. I’m not a stickler for exact matching paint to fabrics in a room, but a color that is close or in the same family is high on my priority. My partner just wants the room to feel warm… and wants to install mirrored closet doors. At this point, having lived without closet doors for three years now, I’m beginning to agree.

When I painted the craft room, I had picked out a fabric to make a huge bed spread for the futon that would look more like a sofa while in that position, and from that, decided I wanted a golden tan color for the walls to pick up and complement the print, as well as the new black-brown cabinet and side table and stainless steel desk I had just picked up from IKEA. This room probably would still be a drab mess if my partner’s sister wasn’t going to be staying with us for a week that year. And really, that was just an excuse to spend a bunch of money to give the craft room a makeover. In reality, it only cost about $300 for the wall cabinet, side table, desk, file cabinet, fabric and batting to make the comforter, as well as a desk and floor lamp and new light fixture to replace the old ceiling fan, and of course, paint for the walls and trim. And all of that really makes me want to paint the bedroom.

Perhaps after I make some homemade biscuits and gravy, we’ll head over to the hardware store… maybe even Restoration Hardware on 23rd in Portland… and check out paint. Then again, if we do get paint, it’ll probably just be Valspar from Lowe’s or evil Behr from Home Depot. I say evil because it seriously should not take two coats of tinted primer and five top coats to paint a room that still looks like it could use a couple more coats. Then again, this is that Burnt Mandarin color in the office my partner so wants to paint over before the color of insanity drives him to that point.