Sunday, Sunday...

Hola darlings!  Here it is, already 11:17 a.m. and I've barely put a dent in my list of "THINGS I MUST ACCOMPLISH TODAY OR RECEIVE 20 LASHES...."  That's eyelashes, of course.  Must EXERCISE those eyelids and try to arrest the drooping and dropping.  Exercising one's eyelids and eyelashes is - torture - pure and simple.  I'll be sure to get those THINGS I MUST ACCOMPLISH TODAY done, even if I'm up all night.

That's not to say I haven't been busy since I moseyed out of bed at 7:45 a.m. EEK!  So late!  Then I made coffee and sipped it while I munched on a soft hard roll loaded with tons of butter (YUM!) and read the Sunday paper.  My Sunday ritual ever since I have started drinking coffee, I think I was about 24 at the time...

So, in-between bouts of paper reading I was up and down the ladder with the vinyl spackle, a knife, a sponge, and a sanding block.  Still in my bathrobe and PJs, eyeglasses firmly planted on my nose so I could actually see what I was doing, I tackled the areas where the paint had been removed by removal of the wallpaper border leaving behind these "depressions."  Fortunately, there were not too many of them, but before I can prime and then touch up the paint job to erase the yellow "ring around the wall" left behind by the wallpaper border, I had to patch up those depressions.  So, I went to work.  By the time I got to the last set of little depressions, I had given up sanding and wiping down, I was just mashing spackle into the depressions with my fingers and using my palms to press things flat, LOL!  So much for all my good intentions to do the job the way it should be done.  I want to make note, however, that I did start out on the first set of depressions - as well as a long narrow crack that appeared years ago above the patio door in the dinette that's been driving me crazy all this time but I'd never done anything about -- until this morning -- using the absolutely correct procedure of sanding, wiping, applying spackle in a thin layer and scraping it down, etc. etc. etc. 

The area above the patio door.  The patches and the now covered-up crack are barely visible -- and this is before final
sanding, wipe-down, priming and painting.  Can't wait to put up my new curtain rod, too!  Ugly cheap white thing, goodbye!

That takes too frigging long.  And you know what?  Unless someone literally gets up on a ladder and inspects those patches minutely, no one will ever know I didn't do all of them "by the book!"  And once they're sanded and wiped down (I'm relaxing right now while I'm letting go by to make sure the spackle is absolutely dry), and the walls from the ceiling down to just below where the border ended are primed and then painted, it will look just fine.

Just a small area of wall to paint along the opening to the family room.
Only one little lonely piece of wall stuff to remove in order to paint.

Now, I realize because I did not have the white color-matched -- an Anonymous pointed that out in a comment after I'd already bought the paint that I could have brought in a sample and had it analyzed and then color blended to match -- I may well end up taking the new paint I purchased all the way down the walls.  Fortunately, this room doesn't have all that many full walls - just one - and it's a small one at that.  The rest of the wall area in the dinette consists of the slices of wall on either side of a  6 foot wide patio door, the area above it, and about a foot of wall that forms the other end of a huge opening into the family room.  The area above that opening is the same size as the soffit that rings the 3 walls of the kitchen.  So, really, not much painting at all, since the ceiling looks just fine. 

This is the largest wall in the dinette.  Not much wall stuff to remove
to paint it.  Wonder if I could paint the thermostat in hammered bronze
with that Rustoleum spray paint I bought yesterday...  It would cost a lot to have
it relocated to a different wall, so for 21 years I've just "ignored" it, as if it wasn't even there.
This is the wall I want to turn into a gallery wall with pics of my travels & adventures.

So if it turns out the new paint at the top of the walls is glaringly obvious, I'll do the dirty and paint the dinette walls all the way to the floor (I'm going to paint the entire soffit area in the kitchen, anyway).  Yeah, that will be a major pain in the butt unless I just wing it and don't tape anything or put down any paper or anything, just throw a couple of old sheets over my dinette table.  Fortunately I don't have a lot of stuff on the walls that needs to be removed.  Over the years I have gone from a "homey" (cluttered Home Interiors addicted with tons of stuff on the walls) look to something much more streamlined (less dusting and way less frenetic!)

Okay, it's just about time to get the ladder back in position and smooth out those patches with the block sander.  I love those things!  I got the kind you can wash out - amazing!  Now, I have been thinking about starting the process to paint the kitchen cabinet handles, but I've got a ton of laundry to do and these days it seems I can only focus on one thing at a time (senility setting in?), or I'm just damn lazy.  I may save that project for next Saturday, when I don't have a half-day shopping trip planned. I wonder if the ladies from the Investment Club would even notice the changes, unless I inadvertently point them out...

Well, it's now 12:14 p.m. -- time to get a load of laundry in and get back up on that ladder and sand sand sand!

Getting Ready to Paint Kitchen Pulls - Gulp!

Hola darlings! I have been a shopping fool today!  But first, my buddy, Ann, and I headed out for sustenance to sustain ourselves during our upcoming shopping ordeal.  We visited our favorite restaurant, Olive Garden, and had a veritable feast!  Our waitress, Gina, was WONDERFUL!  She gave us free samples of a couple of different wines and we each bought a glass of the Roscato Rosso Dolce.  It was absolutely sweet, cold and delicious for our uneducated palattes.  In fact, nearly in unison, we each exclaimed "It tastes like Kool-aid!"  LOL!

So now you know what a low life I am, drinking kool-aid kinds of wine...  But it was gooooooood!

Salad, meal, dessert and coffee later, we were well-sustained and ready for either (1) a nap or (2) shopping.  We opted for shopping.  Off to Menard's (a Wisconsin tradition) to purchase whatever I could on my list of items.  We headed to Highway 100 north of National Avenue where there is a strip shopping center that contains a Menard's, a Kohl's (where I also wanted to stop), a Pick 'n Save supermarket, and a Home Goods/Marshall's that I have never visited - but mean to get to soon.  It's PERFECT!

Our weather was perfect today!  It's been unusually mild this winter and well below-normal snowfall too.  The last two days were mild (in the low 40's when it should be 20 degrees colder) but gloomy and foggy, too!  But today dawned sunny and bright and stayed that way all day. 

So, let me tell you about what I want to do.  I won't get it all done tomorrow but I will get a start on these projects:

(1) Repainting 31 cabinet and drawer handles from the kitchen. 
(2) Sanding and patch-painting areas around the top of the walls in the kitchen and dinette where the wallpaper border removal removed some paint.
(3) Priming and repainting entire border area around the top of the wall sin the kitchen and dinette to get rid of the "ring around the walls" syndrome that would NOT scrub off.

I purchased 23 items from Menard's for a total of - $129.68 before the addition of our 5.6% sales tax (total $136.94), and an additional 7 items from Kohl's right next store for a net of $36.92.  Many of the items I purchased were reduced 50% and I had a coupon for an extra 15% off.  My total bill would have been $63.08 but the net was, as I said, $36.92 for a savings of $29.00.  Plus, darlings, I paid for it with a GIFT CARD!  Oh Joy!

I will not bore you with all the (yawn) details of how I hemmed and hawed and had Ann looking too for just the perfect metallic finish spray paint, or how I went back and forth with the clerk about why -- when Dutch Boy Paint listed "white" as well as "ultra white" on its paint sample at the end of the shelf I could not find any plain white and had to purchase "ultra white" -- ach, as if any paint will match the white Dutch Boy semi-gloss I used in my kitchen and dinette area 21 years ago!  LOL!  But I had a fixation in my brain, what can I say...

Hello!  That's me (why do I look so sad?  Seriously, maybe I should start saving for that face-lift I vowed I would never ever do in a kazillion years) -- I was trying to take a photo of my latest hair color -- it's a gorgeous burgundy-red with dark brown undertones - and this is the 3/4 bath on the main floor that serves as a powder room and second bath (because it has a shower) for guests.  I suppose the olive green and purple color scheme is really dated but I LIKE IT.  Look at that - sponge painted accent walls above the border!  And another border at the ceiling!  Border overkill!  Eek!  Anyway - back to the point--

My haul!  Not shown is 20 pounds of premium birdseed :)  Yeah, that's a furnace filter, and five double-curtain rods that I scored for 40% off at Menards, two larger oiled bronze finish curtain rods to go over the patio door in the dinette and the large window in the adjoining family room; assorted sanding blocks and steel-wool substitute scrubbers, painters tape, a quart of "ultra white" semi-gloss Dutch Boy paint; touch-up pencil and touch-up pen for my dark furniture that always seems to acquire mysterious nicks and scratches; Old English dark finish oil furniture polish; and the bombs - Rustoleum Professional Primer (Fast Drying with High Output Tip/50% Faster Coverage) woo woo! and Rustomleum Hammered Finish in Oiled Bronze.  Oh, I also bought a little mini-roller and tray - it was so cute, I couldn't resist!  It's hiding in this photograph somewhere.

From Kohl's I purchased the "rug paid" (it works like rug tape but I have to cut it into my own strips - perfect!) -- greatly reduced I picked up 4 pads, and twelve pairs of socks.  Suddenly I noticed a day or two ago that just about every pair of socks I own has holes in them.  And not just small mini-type holes, but massive half the bottom of my foot holes.  I'm no darner but in any event I defy anyone to spend the time these days to mend those ginormous holes in my socks!  So I've been throwing my socks out, pair by pair.  And today I discovered I only had 1 pair of black, blue and grey socks left and they aren't in very good shape, either. How did this happen...  Well, whatever.  It was time to buy new socks.  Sigh.  So, that's what those sucking socks are doing in the photograph. 

Unfortunately, these photos didn't turn out so well -- a little blurry!  I was trying to do "brilliant" close-ups like the very best blogs do:

The can on the far right -- the cap shows the color my kitchen cabinet pulls will soon (I hope) be!  Maybe I should have stood this can of spray paint up on its own pedestal and photographed it from various angles to get the very best shot???

Oy!  My inspiration for attempting to paint my mostly still very bright brass kitchen cabinet handles (except the ones that have succumbed to rust and various stages of metal smut) came from DIY kinda gal (I hate you, by the way) who showed me, step by step how to paint those obnoxious 21 year old "silver" colored bathroom faucets and the shower/tub thingies (not even sure what they're called).  Being the cautious sort of femme I am, I am doing an "easy" project first.  If I have success with the cabinet handles, I will seriously think about spray painting my bathroom hardware and the bright brass 21 year old toilet-paper holders and towel racks I own...

By the way, if I do attempt the bathroom fixture paint job, I will not be removing the sink faucets! I know I'd probably give myself a concussion with a plyers if I even thought about it...  Nope, I will be taping, baby, taping, and taping, and taping, and hanging paper all over the second story, and taping some more...

This Is Not A Decorating Blog -- But...

I know, I know!  Perhaps this is jut premature Cabin Fever, even though I just got back from beautiful and "warm" Madrid.

Whatever it is, the Christmas Tree is still in the process of being deconstructed and I spent most of today puttering around writing lists about all the things I want to do around the house (not including replacing the roof, carpeting and flooring!)  I want new faucets for the bathroom sinks and showers/tub in an "oiled bronze" finish.  New shower rods are a must!  I am shopping for a stand-alone towel rack for the upstairs bath - what is with all this chrome?  Who uses chrome anymore? 

Today I finally hung the three vintage Eiffel Tower prints in the upstairs bath and they look beautiful!  But the bath still lacks - something.  Finishing touches are definitely needed.

I decided perhaps candle sconces on either side of the mirror, and perhaps some metal scroll work to hang above the framed prints as a finishing touch. I have always wanted a lamp in the bath, and so I moved one up there not long ago, but while it looks wonderful the cord is a real problem!  There is nowhere to hide it.  I've only one outlet in the bath, to compound issues.

Practically speaking, to have a second outlet wired (on the far side of the vanity) just to satisfy my fancy for a lamp - well, ridiculous, even if it could be done.  Given the configuration of wiring and water pipes, I'm not sure it could be done where I'd want it, but if it could be done it would probably cost a small fortune.  "Small fortunes" are not in this year's budget! 

Lo and behold, tonight while I was shopping around for new shower rods, towel racks and a coordinating magnifying mirror so I can finally honorably retire my 40 year old Plastic Wonder that is now held together by tape and a prayer, and wondering what (if anything) I could/would do about the lamp I've got up there now, I had a brain storms and did a google search for battery-operated lamps.  That led to Lamp Lust (I'm not kidding, darlings) and "wireless" wall sconces!  I found the absolutely perfect wall sconces for the upstairs bathroom and I ordered a pair tonight.  I'm so happy! 

They are battery-operated LED lamps that I'll be able to hang on picture hangers!  Can't wait for them to arrive!  These are gorgeous...

They will coordinate perfectly with the color scheme in the upstairs bath and the shades will hide the cold white glare of the LEDs. 

Not exactly the "French" look I was after - I had been thinking black metgal shades over "candle" lamps - but very mod/Art Deco and the color is PERFECT! 

This is the shower rod I'm thinking of buying (from J.C. Penney).  It will replace the chrome tension rod that was installed when the house was built 21 years ago.  About time I replaced the thing, don't ya think!

It will go perfectly with the dark bronze finish on the "new" light fixture I had installed a little over two years ago to replace a really cheap and chintzy looking "box" fixture that, while still working perfectly since originally installed when the house was built, would soon be impossible to find the right size light bulbs for!  The "beading" will echo beading on the interior of the frame around the "new" mirror I put up at the same time as the light fixture; it replaced a gigantic plate-glass mirror that was perfectly serviceable but just plain - plain.  I had checked into having a custom frame made for it -- ridiculously expensive!  I opted to Craig's List the mirror after it was taken down and moved outside and purchased the current framed "portrait" style mirror that I bought at Menard's on sale for about $40. 

Ohmygoddess, sounds like I'm obsessing.  I think I am, I am.  What's wrong with me?  This is ridiculous! 

Tomorrow I'm going to shop for faucets and replacement shower fixtures...

Deconstructing Christmas

Hola!  It's nice and bright here today, and a balmy 13 17 degrees F - much warmer than yesterday!  There's a snow cover now.  In addition to the recent snow yesterday I'd say I got another 3-4 inches.  Good thing I had just got the driveway shoveled out the night before...

My footprints from last evening and critter prints in driveway this morning.

Seriously, this stuff is the fine gritty kind of snow and I'll go out and sweep/shovel it away later on.  Tomorrow we're due for a high of 36 degrees F and it will feel downright tropical!  Unfortunately, freezing rain and fog are promised along with the warm temperatures.  Blechy!  So, I will make the trek to the Pick 'n Save later on, around noonish, and rub elbows with all the other crazed shoppers, and pray I don't get run over in the parking lot, but if I do, mark my words, I will leave a VERY BIG DENT in your machine of death.

Today I am continuing deconstructing Christmas around the place.  The family room and dinette are now stripped bare of holiday decor - except for the flameless pillar candles, I'm keeping them out permanently, not just relegating them to Christmas use.  Today the more traditional look battery-operated candles that have been gracing the front window and the windows above the sink will be put away.  I am tempted to leave them out - I love the look of "candles in the windows." We'll see...

Look, nearly stripped bare of Christmas!  Just a few more tear drop ornaments to remove
from the barberry branches and those boxes on the mantle will be whisked away...

The room with the mostest is the living room.  I've got the mantle cleared of ribbon, candles, stockings hung with care, ornaments, and the Christmas-decorated topiaries that held down either side of the firebox are now wrapped in plastic and stored.  I'm taking the crystal and tear-drop ornaments off the barberry branches I've got inside a tall hurricane glass.  The branches will remain.  They look vaguely oriental, to go with my vaguely oriental accessorized room.  Christmas accessories from around the room are nearly removed.  It looks bare, naked and cold.  Would a 5 foot long t.v. across the mantle make me happier, I sometimes wonder...

The monster project is - THE TREE.  I keep looking at it and sighing.  Where to start, where to start?

I'm just procrastinating, darlings!  Right now I'm taking a break, deciding how I'm going to tackle the tree deconstruction.  I think I will start with the faux presents piled up around the base, and then remove the new tree skirt and give that a good shake-out before carefully tucking it up with tissue paper to avoid accessive wrinkling over the next 11 months.  Sigh.

It's probably more than a little silly to be feeling "blue" about having to do this.  One year I let everything up until the end of February!  But since I have a cleaning lady now, I don't want to seem er, excessively eccentric.  She's coming on Thursday and I want the house looking back to normal by then.  Dirty, but normal.

So, I've got boxes piled up on the coffee table and sofa, tissue paper all over the place, the vacuum is out and has already sucked up a quarter ton of glitter (it breeds in the carpets if you don't get it all, I tell you).  At least I'll be able to play around with the furniture again, shoving it this way and that to see if I can hit upon some combination, some angles, I haven't tried before.  I've lived here for 21 years so that's pretty tough to do.  The room isn't exactly small, but it's not exactly large either, and I must leave space clear for a path from the front door, it's my main path into the house since I don't drive and therefore don't pull into the garage and use the service door into the family room!  Maybe that's why I want new furniture.  Mind you, the "old" furniture is in near-perfect shape.  I (now my cleaning lady) vacuum it regularly, I have it professionally cleaned once a year, and I have faithfully flipped the cushions and fluffed up the Lawson-style attached backs at least once a month.  Stinky feet are allowed, but not dirt-encrusted shoes.

Looking back over the past 3-4 months, I realize just what a FRENZY I was in, geez!  I don't know what got into me, but whatever it was, the house has never looked better.  I realize, too, that all of that frenetic activity got me through a bleak, nasty time of year, despite the above-average temperatures.  This year, for some reason, winter really got to me.  WHAM! 

Unfortunately, I spent Thursday and last night (and okay, time this morning too) looking at those decorating blogs - I should NOT do that!  Damn!  They make me feel all itchy restless.  I think part of the problem is that after Christmas, I just want to get out and start working in the gardens!  LOL!  Hmmmm, guess I answered my own question - it was those decorating blogs that got into me.  Not envious of other people's beautifully large and well-put-together homes (this house is more than large enough for me, and quite comfortable for me, Mr. Don, Georgia and Michelle when they visit).  Maybe envious of having all that fricking TIME to work at making House Beautiful.

House Beautiful is important.  Yeah yeah, not in the greater scheme of things blah blah, but you know what, there's nothing quite like coming home to a well-appointed, beautifully-kept home after a damn long hard stress-filled day at the office.  A glass of wine, the fireplace on (in winter or rainy damp days), or stretched out with my feet up on the deck (weather permitting, any other time of year -- hell, Mr. Don and I were sitting out there enjoying wine coolers on January 11th!) .  All that nasty stress and b.s. that one has to deal with out-in-the-real-world just falls away like dragon's scales and disappears.  It's a form of magic, I think.

And there are still lots of things to do around here to get it looking the way I want it -- pictures to hang, I still have the issue of the towel rod in the bathroom that is now hiding in a closet so I don't have to look at it and feel guilty about not getting it back up on the wall; not after the fisaco of trying to do so and having to deal with the holes I created, eek!  Yeah, I patched them and painted them but they shout out to me every time I visit the loo...  Not to mention I'm sick and tired of the decor in the family room, but the furniture is still perfectly good even though it's not the red leather sectional I really want.  I will settle for wallpaper stripped off, the horrid stencil job I did around the ceiling banished forever, the oh-so-1980's sponged wall treatement and wallpaper border around the middle of the room gone!  I just can't figure out what color(s) I want the walls to be.  Where did all this indecisiveness come from...

Well, I think it's time for a glass of wine, a sandwich and back into the living room to tackle the Christmas tree.

Updated about an hour later:

About 11:45 I stepped outside, bundled up with shovel in hand, and attacked the driveway.  A scant 55 minutes later, and I didn't even have to take cold breaks to come inside and warm up - it's done!  Ta da!  The sun is WARM, people, WARM!  It felt so good.  I ended up working in my sweatshirt near the finish, huffing and puffing away and it felt so good.  Now the drive is already starting to melt, but the sun is now moving around near the back of the house.  The deck will start to melt now.  It's a mess.  I swept some of it off this morning but the rest of it - eh - I'm just going to leave it and take a nap.

Nothing makes me feel more decadent than snuggling down under an afghan on the recliner and taking a nice 2 or 3 hour nap, when I've just got loads of other things I should be doing.  Tee hee hee!

How I Spend My Christmas Eve

Hola darlings!

It's not over yet.  Right now I'm at 5:41 p.m. Daylight Savings Time for the Midwest, whatever that means.

I've got a Shepherd's pie in the oven and it's got about 12 more minutes to go.  I decided to make a suitably humble meal for myself this evening (and left-overs tomorrow), in keeping with one of the traditional Christmas stories from the Bible, about how the shepherds were in the field when the glorious angel(s) appeared to make the announcement about the birth of the Messiah.  I'll save the filet mignon for New Year's Eve when Mr. Don is here and he, Mr. Firemaker, can grill them outside on the deck (unless there's a blizzard raging, in which case we'll put the grill in the garage with the garage door open for ventilation). 

I got up early - before 5:30 a.m., and spent luxury time sipping coffee at the dinette table while looking at old "Traditional Home" decorating magazines.  I didn't see anything that rang my chimes so no pages were torn out; those magazines will now be trashed.  I have some more to go through --

After breakfast, I took a nice nap, aaaahhhhhh!  I got up shortly after 9 a.m. and puttered around until about 10 a.m. when I made the weekend trek to the Pick 'n Save supermarket.  If I was expecting it to be quiet and empty, I was quite mistaken.  I thought that most of the mobs would have descended last night after working; I was very very wrong!

IT WAS A FRICKING MADHOUSE!  OHMYGODDESS!

Fortunately, everyone (including yours truly), was in a suitably pleasant frame of mind.  The Salvation Army Bell Ringer in the lobby was making money hand-over-fist, and I am glad for it becaue as of a few days ago per WTMJ radio the S.A. was behind on its fundraising goal for the year.  I made sure to tuck in another dollar on my way out, and several people around me (some coming in, some going out) did the same.  Goody!

It was so crazy at that supermarket that while I got my essentials, I forgot one particular item - a can of tomato soup.  I use it to make my Shepherd's Pie.  More about that later --

So, I get back home. Oy, those bags were HEAVY.  I am generally pretty good at judging how much I can carry dangling in a cloth bag from each hand, but today both were equally heavy, and I couldn't gain any relief by switching off.  Such is life, sometimes.

 It was a beautiful day today.  The sky was blue - it never did cloud over like forecast - very few clouds at all and the sun was warm despite it being December 24th.  When I left the house around 10 a.m., it was still outside, but when I made the trek home, about 45 minutes later, a wind (as forecast), had sprung up and it was chilly when it hit me; but it was intermittent and not a screaming wind, more of a breeze.  For this time of year, it's positively balmy (consistently getting up to 40 degrees F or above!!!) and I'm growing increasingly suspicious as to just what Mother Nature has in store for us later on.  I sure hope she doesn't decide to dump on the 29th of December when Mr. Don is due in, nor on January 3rd when we're due to fly to Chicago and from there directly to Madrid.  I will be mightly pissed off at Her if she decides to do a number on us!  A pissed off Jan is something no one (not even Mother Nature) wants to deal with, let me tell you...

So, I got back home with stretched out arms and unpacked all of my goodies, including some Pepperidge Farm cookies for tomorrow morning to munch on with my coffee, yum, as I enjoy reading nearly each and every page of the Sunday paper :)  One of the joys of my life!  There's nothing quite like sitting with a good cup of coffee, equally good cookies (lots of melting chocolate in them), and enjoying both while reading the sales flyers and shaking my fist and yelling in due course at the Editorial Pages!

I picked up more hazelnuts for my uber-fat squirrels and I worry about what they will do while I'm gone.  Then again, after watching them and laughing at their antics for about 15 minutes earlier today, I see they're burying TONS of hazelnuts and so they will be just fine, provided the ground isn't covered with a foot of snow. 

And then, I decided to finish up the project I started yesterday -- putting up the large towel holder in the upstairs bath.  I took it down in November 2009 when Kevin the Handyman painted the room for me and put new flooring down; it had not been put up since.  I have been flipping the bath towel over the shower rod ever since, but decided to finally get things in order in that bathroom, including installing my Paris-centric prints in spiffy black frames! 

Oh Goddess, it was a disaster.  I spent at least 3 hours yesterday measuring this and measuring that, and and making pencil marks!  That was the easy part, despite half the wall being filled with pencil marks.  Then I started the job.  Turns out I didn't have the right kind of drywall anchors and the ones I had and tried to use didn't work.  ONE BIG HOLE IN WALL.  I called it quits for the night, last night.

So today I made a point while at the Pick and Save of buying and paying $1.99 EACH FOR FOUR DAMN DRYWALL SCREWS AND ANCHORS - times TWO!  I bought two because each package contained two "medium" size anchors and two absolutely GIGANTIC drywall anchors, and I figured I only needed the "medium size" drywall anchors to install my towel rod.  I mean, it's not that heavy.  Each side only takes two screws.  It didn't occur to me until today that the damn screws I'm using are just too fricking long!  DUH!  Anyway, my formerly pristine bathroom is now a mess, and I've got TWO holes in my wall too!

Look at those monsters!  I've started to fill them in with spackle - and what a tale that is! 

After I realized that this job is obviously beyond my skill-set, I dug out the plastic container of spackle from Junk/Miscellaneous Cabinet No. 3, where day before yesterday I found a dead mouse (another story entirely, darlings), pried the lid off with a screwdriver and found it to be - DRY. 

Oh crap.  I poked and prodded first with a fork, then with another screwdriver to search for any pockets of still-usable spackle.  NONE TO BE HAD.

Rather than giving up at this point, however, I took the dried-out spackle upstairs and added some water.  Mixed and mixed.  Not wet enough.  Added more water.  Mixed and mixed.  Too much water.

Damn.

Soupy as it was, I used it anyway because I was that frustrated and just wanted to be done with it!  The holes are drying out right now, as is the uber-wet spackle. 

Meanwhile, it's now 6:42 p.m., the Shepherd's Pie is finished and I'm chowing down.  I must say, it turned out deliciously, except it's just a wee bit wetter than I like, probably due to using the Prego spaghetti sauce mix and ketchup rather than the can of tomato soup (undiluted) I ususally throw into the meat and veggies mix.  However, the Italian flavors in the spaghetti sauce are delicious and since I had some left-over shredded cheddar cheese I added the remainder to the mashed-potato topping on the pie prior to popping it into the oven.  Delish!  At least something has gone right today!  Next time I make this particular variation of my basic recipe, I'll make up a roux and add the sauce to it over heat before adding it to the veggies, that will thicken it up. 

And, I have to say, I do like the two Paris prints that I have already added above the smaller towel rack (above the toilet):

The photo turned out a little "bent" looking, wow!  Probably because I was too close.  Honestly, my wall is not curved.

So -- "The Nun's Story" starring Audrey Hepburn is coming on now on PBS and it's such a good movie, I'm passing up "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Sound of Music" both to watch it.  Time to bid you adieu.

Happy Holidays --

Worn Out!

Hola! I continue to work to exhaustion preparing the house for sale. Hopefully the last of Kevin the Handyman's tasks will be finished on Monday (we'll see). He added another coat of drywall mud to the various drywall repairs and patches he did and on Monday, hopefully, he'll be able to sand what needs to be sanded and prime with "sand" texture primer. Mr. Don doesn't know it yet, but when he arrives for Christmas I'll be putting him to work painting! Kevin also has to finish the fence repair work. He has straightened out and stablized all of the leaning posts with metal reinforcing bars and has stripped off the broken and/or worn pickets. Now he has to put on the new pickets and also replace several post tops that have seen better days. He has to rehang a repaired corner door on one of my kitchen cabinets and then, the only thing left is to install a new range hood. Alas, I haven't purchased the replacement yet. But I will get to it soon - After Kevin left on Friday, about 2:30 in the afternoon I succumbed to temporary insanity and decided to put my bedroom from the north bedroom back to the much larger and freshly painted south bedroom, which was my original room that had been painted pink for 19 plus years until Kevin came to my rescue and did the job for me that I never got around to doing, with paint that I had purchased more than a year ago! The plan was to moved my mirrored six-drawer dresser from the north bedroom and the bed from the middle bedroom (which had been serving as the guest room) back to the south bedroom, where those pieces would join the orphaned night stand and chest of drawers; all would be en suite once again! Part 2 of the plan was to move the "new" dresser from the middle bedroom into the north bedroom, which would become the guest room (which it used to be before I switched everything around in preparation for painting that I never got around to doing). A swap-out of art work on the walls, window treatments and rugs would take place. Part 3 was to move the computer and three overflowing bookcases from the south bedroom back to their original home, the middle bedroom, and work on getting the wireless connection on my PC going again. I was happily huffing and puffing along, taking my time and getting a good work-out. I'd managed to wrestle the mattresses off the beds and the box springs too. I'd got the bedframe and headboard for my bed moved into the south bedroom. My dresser had been emptied of its drawers and had been shoved all the way from the north bedroom into the hall, turned and shoved into the south bedroom and then shoved into place along the wall. And then the phone rang. It was my broker. Could they do a showing on Saturday between 12 and 1 p.m.? I should have screamed NO - NO MORE SHOWINGS UNTIL AFTER JANUARY 1. But I was temporarily insane and so I said sure, I'll the rooms swapped out and ready by then. And so, what had begun as a leisurely way to get a good workout turned into a frantic rush to get the rooms switched around and presentable before noon the next day. I worked in 15 minute bursts with 2-3 minute rest periods in-between and got all major furniture pieces moved. There were important exceptions. First, I decided to pack up several of my old paperback books and clear shelf space for future purchases of research tomes. I packed three medium-size boxes and hauled them down to the garage. The rest of the stuff residing on those bookcases were stacked in piles on the bedroom floor and then I heaved each of the three bookcases into the middle bedroom. Second, although I emptied the new dresser of its drawers, I could not move it without removing the mirror (that had almost killed me when I'd moved it the last time as its weight came crashing down on me after I'd removed the last of four bolts fastening it to the back of the dresser) - given my prior experience I was not about to attempt that feat again, even while temporarily insane! But Kevin was coming the next day (Saturday), and I was going to draft him for assistance. I collapsed into my newly-located bed about 11:00 p.m. I awoke about 3:30 a.m. experiencing symptoms of what I can only describe as an anxiety attack. NOT pleasant. I took a blood pressure pill about 3 hours early and stretched out in the recliner in the family room (a favorite relaxing spot) and engaged in various mental exercises to calm my poor body down. It worked - sort of. I fell asleep with heartbeat still above normal but not frantically racing as it had been. I awoke about 7:15 a.m. - EEK! I was late! I'd meant to get up at 6 a.m. - but my clock radio alarm didn't reach my ears downstairs. I hit the ground running and didn't stop until my friend Ann picked me up shortly before noon, right after Kevin left the house (he arrived shortly after 10:00 a.m.) The rearranging of bedrooms and den/library was mostly finished! Kevin made short work of taking the mirror off of the new dresser, manhandling it into the north bedroom along the south wall and reattaching the mirror with a nifty little ratchet wrench (I've got to get me a set of those). I made up the bed, hung curtains, scoured out toilets and sinks, swept and vacuumed the ever-present drywall dust. I had time to change my shirt, brush my hair and slap some foundation on in a fruitless attempt to tone down my beet-red face, and then Ann and I were off to check out several hours I had on my list of prospects. Fortunately, the rest of the day was much more relaxing and fun. It is a blessing to have good friends. So - two viewings and no offers. I have received zero feedback from my broker. I don't care. I'm sure in this buyer's market there is a long list of what "potential" buyers don't like about Maison Newton (yard too big, too many trees too close to the house, mechanicals too old, appliances ready for the junk heap, roof too old, kitchen/dinette flooring too old, carpeting too old), etc. etc. I have no intention of buying new appliances, installing new flooring (other than the upstairs bathroom, which was all of 46 square feet, and replacement was planned before the house went on the market), new carpeting, new roof, and a new furnace and AC unit. I do not have to sell, and if this place doesn't go on my terms, I will happily go back to Plan A. And THEN, I will get new appliances, new flooring, new carpeting, top-notch rather than cut-rate and efficient "new" mechanicals and a new 25-year architectral style shingled roof! And I'll get quotes from Kevin the Handyman about doing crown moldings in some of the rooms and built-in shelving/bookcases! I'll post pics tomorrow. I took several of the new bathroom, only to discover that I did not have the memory card installed, and I'm too tired to re-take them tonight.

Friday Night Miscellany

Hola! I'm to the point in this redecorating process where I now have a punchlist - only 9 items long but it will probably take weeks to accomplish! One of the items on the punchlist is - clean-up and reorganize all piles of books, research and documents scattered about the entire house... Darlings, I'm far too tired tonight to attempt to assemble the second buffet lamp (reported on in last night's sole post), that will have to wait until after work tomorrow. Yes, that's right, work tomorrow. I hooked up with a ride and so will be in the office at my regular start time of 8:30 a.m. I plan to leave at 1:30 p.m. and head for home well before sun down. The temperature is dropping off a cliff even as I type this, and the winds will be sustained tomorrow causing windchills of down to 25 below zero F. Not exactly good weather to hike 3/4 of a mile from the bus stop home, but a hell of a lot better than doing it twice in the same day! I DID do a little bit of decorating tonight and I may do a bit more (framing up some more of those wonderful New York pics dondelion took during our first visit in 2005). My posters arrived in the mail today and I could not resist - this evening I put up Vitruvian Man in the hallway on a wall that is sort of kitty-corner from the bathroom, and I can see him peeking at me in the bathroom mirror above the sink: he's gorgeous - and naked :) The very large New York black and whites (one a Central Park shot and one of Times Square) are laid out on the family room carpet, slowly relaxing from a wicked curl. The curl wasn't an issue with Vitruvian Man since he was ensconsed inside a 1/4 inch thick plastic poster frame I've had for at least 20 years sitting in a closet - and just exactly the right size (24 x 36) - and I was not going to be defeated in my goal by some stubbornly curling corners. For the large posters, I need to shop for some of those cool poster holder thingys that my wonderful former boss, Don Schoenfeld, used in his office years ago - I believe he purchased them at the Met Gift Shop. Hmmm, I'm a Met member, I'll go shopping at their website and use my discount :) I also installed the Defective Lamp on my dresser. It does look very nice there, all the more outrageous because I paid so little for it - but Goddess, it sure was a pain in the butt putting the thing together. I put in a low wattage bulb and made sure it's plugged into the socket that has the power turned off unless I hit the switch at the doorway, and then I must actually turn the lamp switch on manually. I'm hoping to prevent a fire hazard that way (see prior post about putting the lamp together ). It's twin brother (which as far as I can tell is not defective) will reside in the New York (guest) room. Horrid, absolutely horrible news tonight - the firm I used to work at has let go 12 people today (no attorneys - but then, they don't "do" attorneys the same way they do the peons known as "staff"). Some of these people I worked with during my nearly 13 years there. One of these people worked there for 45 years (started right out of high school) and is 63 years old. What are the odds that she'll get a job that will provide her with health insurance until she can qualify for Medicare? Anyone want to name those odds and place a bet? Did the powers that be think about THAT when they were sitting at the conference room table with their red pencils - curse their monstrous cold-hearted hides. Another person on the hit list worked there for over 30 years, has a severely disabled husband who is not able to work and she is the sole support of their family. She recently suffered through her own severe illness and was working part-time. She's been "let go" at age 50. See what the fricking suits call it - "let go" - as if she and her family will simply float away without a sound into poverty and destitution, and not a hair stirs on the carefully coiffed heads of the suits as this faithful employee and those dependent upon her are left with no means of support. What is the matter with these people? A pox on those who made such cold-hearted decisions without weighing the consequences (or, even worse, if they did know the consequences and said "screw you" anyway). A pox on their families too. Let the sins of the fathers be visited upon the sons and daughters of those suits, let them experience the fine twists of Fate. Sometimes this world really really sucks.

Do Not Attempt To Do This Alone...

Hola! I'm still home from work - going stir crazy! Milwaukee is in the deep, deep freeze for the second day in a row and Milwaukee Public Schools were once again shut down because of dangerous windchills. The forecast promises the beginning of moderating temperatures later this evening, and I understand that the windchills outside right now are in the low teens below zero instead of 35 below zero as they were this morning. It is so deceptive looking outside. The sun is shining brightly (it was yesterday, too) and the winds are not as strong today as yesterday, but the air temperature is colder today than yesterday so the net result is the same. My house has been snapping, crackling, popping and groaning all week as the temperatures plunged - I'm amazed it's still standing! During the day the sun is strong enough to evaporate away all the frost built up inside the windows (it comes back, as if by magic, overnight). So, enough about the weather. I'll be going into the office tomorrow to start to make up for lost time and so I've been working like a maniac yesterday and today trying to get my new room and the guest room in order. The Christmas tree and all Christmas decorations are still standing... Changes since my last redecorating recap:

• My favorite old still life print came down from my room - I just could not reconcile the reddish orange and orange flowers in the bouquet with the red in my new comforter. But I am not banishing the print back to the closet - I think it will look great in the guest room.
• Following P's advise about using the back-up new stuff in the guest room, the black and cream paisley print comforter and pillow shams that have been piled in one of the closets for over two years now reside in the guest bedroom, along with one set of the striped curtains that formerly graced my new bedroom. I made up the bed last night; hung the new curtains this morning.
• I also moved the black/white gingham check sheet set to the guest room, minus the pillow cases, which remain in my room for needed geometric contrast with the red/black/white plaid comforter and the traditional black/cream toile curtains. I substituted plain white pillow cases on the guest room pillows. I also removed the white piquet bed skirt from my bed to the guest room where the 14" drop fits just right on that bed, the bottom hovering just above the carpet.
• My room is temporarily without a bedskirt, but not for long! I just checked the mail and a new black 18" drop bedskirt arrived via priority mail, over which I will install the 14" drop black and cream striped bedskirt pilfered from the paisley print "bed-in-a-bag" set. Once ironed and wrestled into place (anyone who has ever put a bedskirt on a bed with mattress already on it will know what I mean), they will complete the look of my bed emsemble to perfection!

At present, the three bookcases and filing cabinet from the former den have been emptied and dragged/pushed/carried into my former room, which is a gigantic mess, albeit a roomy mess without the bed, and soon it will seem even bigger when the triple dresser is moved into my new room. (Photo: Some contents of the bookcases temporarily stashed on the floor in my new room). While cleaning out the bookcases, I discovered old bank statements some dating all the way back to 1984 - six years before I moved into this house! (Photo: Rearranging one's house means drinking lots of cheap boxed wine and keeping a constantly replenished glass of same close to hand - here are some of the ancient bank statements stashed in shoe boxes and laying lose on the counter in the kitchen). I suspect, although I can't prove - that they illicitly bred and multiplied like rabbits some time during 1996... There are bags of my old Regency romances, adventure and mystery paperbacks stashed all over, including the upstairs bathroom. I will sort through them, keeping only my absolute favorites, freeing up valuable shelf space for my ever-growing collection of chess books and tomes on ancient civilizations and history. (Photo: In my former bedroom with its pink walls, where the desktop computer and digital t.v. now sit, some of the paper bags filled with paperbacks, historical and topical research in manila folders, a collection of archaeology magazines, and various tomes and papers on ancient history and chess). Feeling frisky today (as I said, stir crazy), I decided I would attempt to move the triple dresser from my new room into the guest room all by myself, despite its size, and also move the triple dresser from my former room into my new room. I figured, how heavy can a dresser be with all the drawers removed? Well, the dresser in the guest room wasn't too heavy once I got my hips into it, except I ran into a slight problem. As I was shoving it along toward the door suddenly it stopped - the top of the mirror hit the top of the door frame! The mirror is taller than the door frame! Eek! After fortifying myself with a big glass of wine and a couple of microwaved White Castle cheeseburgers, I tackled the impediment. I was able to easily enough loosen the bolts holding the mirror on to the dresser, but I was not prepared for how HEAVY the mirror was! I mean, darlings, I knew it would be heavy but I swear this thing weighs 100 pounds, maybe 200 pounds (well, all right, 100 pounds). Thankfully, my back was hard up against a wall when I pulled out the last bolt and gingerly worked the mirror off the top of the dresser toward me. I expected weight, but not a TON! Amazingly, I did not drop the mirror and therefore all my toes are still on my feet. There is not even a dent in the wall where I rammed back with the weight of the mirror. I don't know exactly how, but I did manage to get the mirror safely to the floor. Whew! No longer a joke, I guess I must have arms like Popeye, or am strong like bull. Not to worry - before I attempt to move the dresser from this room (the new den/computer room/library), I will measure how tall the combined dresser with mirror is against the height of the doors - just eyeballing it I think I will make it with half a foot to spare - piece of cake! More heaving, shoving, tugging and pulling is on the agenda - but I'm nearly finished with the hard stuff in the bedrooms, yippee! I've been doing fun stuff in-between times while resting (lots of heavy breathing and aerobic workout of the heart muscle is involved when moving furniture by one's self, and that entails lots of rest breaks) -- shopping on the internet for new accessories and art work! It seems not a single thing I have had hanging in this house for nearly 20 years will go with the new color schemes in the bedrooms (other than the lovely old still life - see above). What I am going to do with all the old, accumulated stuff? I dread the thought of a rummage sale. Maybe I'll just hang it all on the walls in the den/library/computer room wherever I can fit it in (I have lots of maps I constantly consult that will go up on the walls first) and be damned with color and style coordination -- after dondelion finishes repainting the room when he visits in May.