Snow Doggie

The Table has Landed!

I picked up the new tables and they looks great! They have more surface area than I had thought, but being glass, they don't take up the visual space they would have it they were wood.

I'm going to paint it hot pink with some orange. I think its going to be very pretty. I haven't decided what to do with the second table, as I have no use for it at present and its too big to just store in a corner. It could hod the TV, but I all ready have a TV table I like and works beautifully in the role, it however, is not as easy to make hot pink and orange.

All the snow had gone away by lunch time today. Its now all come back and we are expecting a lot more.

I heart craigslist

Okay. After living with the  pink folding table for a while... it looks like folding table. Because it is a folding table. Its also a little tall and takes up more visual space than I was hoping it would.

Enter My New End  Tables!

I like them, there are two of them, $30 for the pair! They will need to get painted, but  we all know hoe much I love to paint stuff now and I can handle it, more or less. They are wrought iron and glass and they are not as tall as the folding table,which is a good thing, and because they are glass they take up less room visually and I like that a lot. I don't really need two of them, but the second one may end up living under the TV, I don't know, I have two of them to work with.

HGTV Lied to Me.

I talked about the need to spray paint furniture to get what I want and to fit into my "design vision" for the living room. And now I am. It is however, not as easy, fun or rewarding as the home improvement shows say it is. It is not easy! It is hard!  even a little job! Who knew that spraying paint in a general direction would be so taxing! and messy! and maddening and ultimately, soul crushing?  They never show the soul crushing part on HGTV. Liars.

Spray painting isn't hard! It seems easy enough, press the nozzle, point the can in the correct direction and away you go to instantly transform that ugly piece of furniture into a designer gem!  They make it look like you can just do this and have it  perfect. They lie! Its messy as hell - and I even bought a widget to prevent the messy transfer of paint to fingers and I still ended up with hot pink hands that could only be removed through repeated scrubbing with soap and boiling water and multiple applications of skin destroying turpentine -  a step they never show on TV. They show the homeowner picking up the paint can, shaking it a little and in the next scene they have a happy homeowner basking in a job well done and a work area full of glossy cabinet doors/living room furniture/bedroom set.

LIES. DO you know what they really have? Misery! feelings of failure, dripping paint, streaks, uneven coverage, splotchiness, too heavy/light sections and lungs full of spray paint. It is really not very fulfilling at all. Its actually demoralizing! How hard can this be? Its spray paint! Vandals do all kinds of  high quality work with this shit and don't go through life with green hands or uneven coverage. Am I too old to use spray paint?!

Some time after Spraypocolips, I went back to the scene of the crime to see if it was really as bad as it seemed at the time. It turns out I have an excellent memory for failure! It was just as bad as I remembered, and now with a chance to fully dry, its even more awful than it appeared before! Wheeee!

Now I know why we pay people do do this kind of work for us and why we buy new furniture when we buy furniture. Because it isn't "close enough" or ""okay" or  "Well..."!  Its new and pretty and doesn't have a "good side" yet. Its all GOOD SIDE! This is what we are paying for,  360 degrees of GOOD SIDE!

This is where we started. Pretty much 360 degrees of good side.

Right size, wrong color. Its not been of much use since I got it years ago, it was a cheapo I picked up at the flea market and has pretty much lived up to expectations. But now, I do need it and I'm calling it in from the bench. But first it needs to get into uniform.

Prior to painting it I followed the steps. I washed it down, let it dry and then gave it a light, all over sand to roughen up the finish and allow it to accept paint, I cleaned it again as per directions. To make sure this was a job well done, I bought the tools to do this project correctly

And in the right hands, they would have been the right tools but  they were in my hands so they may as well have been rocks and twigs for all the "right job" I did with them.

I liked it! I was very high!

Sure, I saw some drips - I have sponge brushes I could have corrected some of the issues with when it was still wet, but for some reason I didn't think about them as possibilities because I used spray paint and spray paint is different! Dripping paint is dripping paint! Idiot.

It would also have helped to have more light on the project, lots of bright light is key to almost any DIY project and I was working with "light".  Idiot.

I left the table to dry and started the process of rubbing the skin of my hands, removing the caked on paint with soap and water - I forgot I had turpentine until my new lobster claws were almost free of paint. Idiot.

Monday night I returned to the scene of the crime and it is a crime against furniture.It looked better when I did  it and it didn't look great then. I sanded down the rough spots and made an attempt to even out the base coat for the next coat.

When I do the repainting, I'm going try to do it outside in the sunshine. I may have to wait until spring, but at least if I can see what I'm doing, I might be able to see my way to a better outcome and the next time I have to paint something, I'm using real paint and real brushes. Damn it.

Oscar Results 2015

8:35ish

Opening Number Hell

8:48 Best Supporting Actor -  J.K. Simmons Wiplash

Filler
Filler
Filler

9:03 Best Costume Design - The Grand Budapest Motel

9:06 Best Make Up and Hair Styling - The Grand Budapest Motel

9:16 Best Foreign Language Film - Poland, Would not be played off damn it.

Filler
Filler
Did kind of like seeing Lonely Island.

9:31 Best Live Action Short Film - The Phone Call

9:34 Best Documentary Short - Crises Hotline, Veterans press 1

9:52 Best Sound Mixing - Whiplash

 and Editing -  American Sniper

9:59 Best Actress in a Supporting Roll - Patrica Arquette , Boyhood

10:09 Best Visual Effects -  Interstellar

10:12  Best Animated Short Film - Feast

10:14 Best Animated Film - Big Hero 6

10:22 Best Production Design - The Grand Budapest Motel

10:25 -  Best Cinematography , Birdman

In Memorial

10:44  Best Film Editing - Whiplash

10:51 Best Documentary Feature - Citizenfour 

11:06  Best Original Song -Selma,  "Glory"

Filler
Love The Sound of Music, but for real?!
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11:24 Best Original Score - The Grand Budapest Motel

11:31  Best Original Screen Play - Birdman

11:35 Best Adapted Screenplay The Imitation Game

11:43  Best Director - Birdman

11:52    Best Actor - Eddie Redmyond, The Theory of Everything

11:58  Best Actress - Julianne Moore, Still Alice

12:05 Best Picture -  Birdman

Friday Cat Blogging

Boom.

Boom.   I didn't even know they came in hot pink! and with bonus gray - It is a little bigger than I saw in my minds eye, but I think is just fine. I will not have one on the other side, but instead will keep the tiny table that is there now and just cover it with some sexy pink and orange sari fabric, because you know there is pink and orange sari fabric out there and it is very, very rock star and will look brilliant!

I also had the thought that I will get some very fringy fringe and hot glue it around the bottom of the ottoman, to both bring in some COLOR and make it look like a single piece .FRINGE.

Other than that.

Its cold. very, very cold and I did not move here to be this cold. I don't like it, I'm not built for it and if I wanted to be this cold I would live somewhere where there are winter sports. I could be a skier and own a snow mobile.   This cold here is just out of line. A high of 20 degrees.

Living room Epiphany

I had an epiphany.  I've spent the better part of two days  wasting time at work researching on my own time,  the thousands of end table and coffee table options available to me.

I have learned I have very expensive tastes and that my tastes are not exactly main stream. I have also learned that my "color story" is not hugly popular in the design community at present. They clearly lack vision! and I have to deal with this on my own, without their supervision  I had an idea of what I was going to do and I was pretty happy with it, but then, then I started to try to shop that idea and it was a little more challenging than I had anticipated : Furniture, even used furniture, is expensive.

I had to adjust my vision. I had planned on fairly heavy wooden furniture, traditional end tables with drawers and a traditional wooden coffee table. They were going to be re-painted in hot pink and orange. The colors have not changed, but the vehicles for these colors have.

My research taught me that I was not interested in chunky, space eating furniture pieces that take up a lot of visual and literal space. I also have been living with an ottoman as my coffee table and I've gotten used to it. I don't use the coffee table as a"table", it mostly is somewhere for me to stack magazines and prop my feet. My last coffee table was huge and had very generous storage space, which I gladly took advantage of - I "stored" things like a demented chipmunk! I do not need this kind of enabling. So, nothing with drawers need apply and I must be able to use it as a foot rest.

I found the word "cocktail ottoman" . This means a table masquerading as an ottoman, which is exactly what I wanted but not what I wanted to pay. Example #296 of my expensive tastes rearing their ugly heads.

So I kept searching. I have been thinking about what other colors I want going on in my room. I know that my picture frames are all going to be mirrored, and that I really want to mirror the  back of my shelves - to make the room look larger and help light to move around the room - so Silver, a close sibling or gray is going to be used. I found this

It doesn't look silver, but it is, very. Its like a big rectangular disco ball. I became very excited! It is reflective, and awesome and I was in love!, it is also only $37 from Wallyworld online. I looked at the measurements and its slightly smaller than the not-large-enough ottolan I am useing now. I will need two. I felt flushed. I kept looking around the site, as to not look too interested, and I found its fraternal twin

Its black. I wanted to avoid another dark, dark, dark thing in my dark, dark, dark room - but, I also was starting to fear that the room was going to look very tween girl and I hate tween girls. I am also all ready going to have hot pink and orange end tables, damn it and I don't want to over power the room.I am going to attach the two pieces together with velcro (tm) . I am also thinking about attaching some little feet onto them to raise them up and change the look a little. If it is  even possible to attach feet to the bottom of them. Its a thought.

I also started thinking about what was going to happen after, because there will come an after. What am I going to do with all this wildly painted furniture? Sell it? Even I am not truly excited about repainting what I am finding on craigslist -  black is not wild and is much easier to transition into after.

On to the end tables. I want something that is smallish and doesn't take up a lot of visual space, but can hold up whatever I put there. Here is my new idea

Pik top and orange legs or orange top and pink legs? I all ready have one of these. I looked at a lot of tables and I saw one design pop up frequently and I kind of liked it,  and it looked familiar. Its $14 at Wallyworld! Well within budget. I can spray it, well, I can spray the new ones I go pick up at Wally and they will be just about perfect.I'm going to paint an additional inheirited wooden side table  with lots of storage ( not pictured, too ugly), its old and on trend and I do not feel bad about painting it or disposing of it or repainting it "after".

And? I don't have to feel bad about their after! There is no real investment and I won't feel like I'm "ruining" a piece by painting it . Yay!

Now lets talk lighting. The room is dark, dark, dark. In my travels I found something called an Arc Light. I recognized it as what my parents had in the living room through out my childhood. My parents had very good taste. I need one.

They are very expensive! Shockingly so, even on craigslist! Enter Ikea

This is a very large lamp. It would live behind the couch and act as really an over head light. It is $49! And now, darn it, a trip to Ikea!

What do ya'll think?

Dog Boots II

Rocket didn't get a walk yesterday - which is kind of tragic, because he needs a walk every day or he gets really wound up. He is already wound pretty tight so I try not to make it worse.

After spending a couple of days rehearsing with the boots, it was finally show time. It was icy and snowy and there was a lot of salt and anti-freeze available to hurt his paws and it was a perfect chance to put the boots to work.

After much drama, we set out. Rocket does not like having his feet touched and putting shoes on him is a lot of foot touching. I persevered and he finally submitted, and we were able to leave for our walk.

He looked good

And after a little bit of practice, he felt good too. He seemed to enjoy the extra sound they made as they tapped across the ice. He likes making noise when he walks. He on purpose walks through leaves when available and he seeks out snow so he can crunch through it. The shoes let him make noise where he normally would not have that opportunity.

So we walked. It was cold and I got tired, I blame the cold air and my heavy snow boots. But I kep on, Rocket was happy and we kept going. Everyone who saw him in his boots thought he was adorable, which was nice because I thought I was going to get laughed at for putting shoes on my dog.

The boots stayed on well, except for one that had broken almost as soon as I touched it the first time. I didn't think the rubber band thing was all that important until our walk disclosed that the rubber band thingy is what keeps the boots on the dog for real. Its a struggle without the rubber band thing but they do stay on without it.

We walked on. We finally got home and he demanded that he race around the back yard for a few minutes. I let him, he earned it.

Once we got inside I was able to looks at the boots more closely. Yes, three of the four stayed on but four of the four had holes in the soles after just one walk!

These were nice dog boots! They were lined with fleece and had what looked like heavy plastic bottoms. Clearly, not as heavy as they needed to be and they came off his feet when he was running in the yard. Its nice that they stayed on while he was sedatly walking through town, but it would have been nicer if hey had stayed on his feet under more active circumstances.

True, these were on sale at Tuesday Morning, but they started off their lives as expensive items. This tells me that when I replace these - because I am going to replace them, that I need to look for shoes with much heavier soles and that are better secured to the dogs' feet.

Dog Boots

Its finally winter here. It took a while but we finally are joining the rest of the  East Coast with their trendy snow.

Or for us, its untrendy ice and sleet. We are so serious about the ice and sleetness of it all, that the public school kids were dismissed at lunch and the state employees were sent home at 3pm! At the order of the Governor - We had previously been under a New Weather Policy that said that said that we were responsible for being at work no matter what under all circumstances because The State of NC Does Not Shut Down.

Until it does. And it is. Shut down.

Also, many of us received an email letting us know that we are "unessential" and that we should just leave ASAP. As much as I liked going home early, I did not love being called "unessential". So I went home and turned my focus from state business to annoying my dog. We went on a short walk when I came home, it was cold and something solid was falling from the sky so we cut it short and went home to watch TV under a blanket and eat dinner.

But. Time passes and so does dinner and young dog needed to go outside. Enter his winter boots!

He was not hugely cooperative in the boot-putting-on-process. He does not like his feet being touched period, and putting dog boots on involves a lot of foot touching. So he did a lot of trying to get away, whining, crying and nipping ( got disciplined for that)  Little does he know, the real snow will fall over night and he will wake up to a different world but the same boots. Hopefully he will see the logic of the dog boots when he plays in the snow and his feet feel so much better than they did last year when it snowed. He loves playing in the snow and seems to find the noise it makes to be very fun. It looks like fun, but I worry about his tender little paws. I'm not sure how he is going to feel about wearing his boots out in public for walks. I think that he doesn't know actually know shame and he can not be embarrassed.

Not a happy face.

If you don't hear from me tomorrow, its because he killed me in my sleep because I made him wear boots.

Sunday

I did actually get all my things done!

I made tortilla pizza, twice! Its so good! Where has this been all my life? Sadly, I have frozen pizza out the ass in my downstairs freezer. Sometimes you are in the mood for  carbs, sometimes you are not.

I made my cookies, but I'm going to have to make some more as I needed to test them out a bit. I needed to make a second batch anyway because I thought the single batch was a little light to bring to work for all day.

I made meat loaf! It turned out very well and now I have a lot of baby loafs to get me through for a while and that's always good. I don't think meat loaf was even on my to-do list, so I'm a curve buster too.

For Valentines Day I took young dog to the Dog Bar and we had a very good time with almost a dozen Great Danes! Small Dog felt indeed, very small. I had planned to get a fancy meal from Lowes but has it turned out that the fancy meal had to be cooked by me and that did not feel very loving to me at all. I had really wanted lobster tail too! But for $29.00 was more than I wanted to pay to practice ruining lobster tail and a really thick cut of steak.

Instead I didn't ruin a steak! And this was not some $2.50 cut of meat either, this was $6! Real money! This was maybe hubris on my part! I've now cooked, you know, two steaks my whole life and I do this was Valentines? I could have really let myself down.

But I didn't! It was good! I had some more of my mac and cheese and it was good, again! To prove it was good

It was much pinker in real life, but not too pink because I don't care for that.

I also had a nice think slice of  cheese cake, amazingly low carb for a desert item. It was a lovely day.

I didn't take pictures of my tortilla pizzas because they just looked like pizza, and you know what pizza looks like. I also didn't take a picture of the cookies because, well, you know what cookies look like.

I also did my laundry and put gas in the car ahead of whatever badness is allegedly coming our  way. I was kept up last night by the sounds of the wind peeling my neighbors alluminum siding off their house and then banging it into the side of their house. Lovely.  They couldn't do anything about it today, but its much less windy so I may at least get to sleep through the night. They however may get snow in their attic and that is not lovely.Huge ten foot slash on the side of their house, leaving it open to the elements. They won't be sleeping through the night.

Friday Cat Blogging

The Nose Knows

Friday

This was how my morning started.

I got up, I got dressed, I took the dog for a walk, I fed the dog. I got my breakfast prepared. I smashed my favorite mug, painted the table with my yogurt and soaked my toast. And my clothes and shoes and kitchen floor.

I had been awake for forty minutes.

Fortunately, the rest of the day did not follow suite. Until I looked outside at about a quarter to three and wondered where the sun went and why it was now dark. I went home at lunch and it was warmish and sunny and dog and I took a nice walk and it was lovely and you know, daylight. I came home after work and had to cut our walk very short because it was suddenly much colder and even darker and there was something obnoxious falling from the ski.

Since I all of a sudden had so much free time, I decided to go forward with my home made mac and cheese. It was good! It was not as good as the boxed stuff - the holy grail of mac and cheese, if you ask me, but it wasn't "bad". It could have done with more seasoning  and orange but you live and learn.

After dinner. Totally sated after my  dinner of over cooked chicken, mac and cheese and cauliflower -  I decided to really party. I cleaned out my refrigerator! ( wow I have so many more plastic containers than I thought I did!)  Emptied my dishwasher! Filled my dishwasher! and then... I took my garbage to the curb! You would think it was Friday night with all the wild going on's!

That's right,  Friday night, its looking like laundry and I might, clean the upstairs bathroom... I'm getting out of control. I need to pace myself.  Its sad, really.

Checking my List.

And what did you get accomplished today?

I went to Big Lotts, Lowe's Foods and Wallyworld! I had a list and I more or less stuck to it. Go me. DO you know how hard it is to stick to a list a Big Lotts? I can't say those window clings were on my list but if I had known in advance that they were there? They would have been. Same with the on sale cat food and fat free Pringles I found at Wallyworld.

You have to be elastic,  its wrong to cut yourself off from opportunity!  I mean, at Lowe's I was a machine! Eyes on the prize there!  I got my two for one Cheetos and two for one strawberries and didn't really even look for things I didn't need. I picked up some elbow macaroni but just because were both there at the same time and it was on The List anyway, I could have bought it at Wally but I hate buying things from Wally. I needed dog food  and I wanted to stick to the program. I would have sucked it up and bought dog food at Lowe's as well but they didn't have the grain free version and dog does better with grain free. Those beautiful floppy years hide a lot of sin and its important to do what you can to keep as much goodness around as possible. Less grain means less yeast and we hate yeast.

I bought some whole wheat tortillas at Wally and I am going to make pizza with them. I still have some sauce and cheese and pepperoni left and I want to use them. I think I'm going to use my remaining cauliflower as rice. The cheese sauce is going to make mac and cheese with my elbow lowish carb macaroni. When that stuff is all out of the fridge I'm going to clean it out. Its getting crowded and gross and I don't know why. I'm sure I am not going to enjoy learning why but I'm a big girl and I can handle it. Also trash day is Friday and whatever I find at least won't be sticking around to be disgusting for long.

So this weekend I am going to be my own cooking show :  Home made Mac and cheese, tortilla pizza and finally, peanut butter cookies for my office Fat Tuesday  party on Tuesday.

Tuesday.

What I did today

My new phone arrived! But... I didn't get with the program and plug it in until too late and since the battery was completely depleted its going to take too long for it to charge so I will be without a phone all day tomorrow too. This is sad making.

I was more successful with my cauliflower rice project.  I have really missed cheesy rice in a big way. When you run it through a processor, cauliflower is very rice like and it filled the position admirably. However, the next time I'm going to do what I saw suggested online and fry it a bit before serving, to make it a little more ricey.  I started out with blanched, frozen veggies so I was a little ahead of the game and it was all ready very coked -  but I think if I went from raw to al dente , it would be better. Great mouth feel though, kudos to Mr. Cauliflower. It is not a really ideal pizza crust substitute, but it does make fake rice that is very close to the real thing. Yay internet!

Along with the pretend rice, I made some very nice real cheese sauce ( with soy flower and heavy cream) and now I'm going to have to make a trip to Wallyworld to pick up some Dreamfields elbow macaroni and make myself some low carb  mac and cheese - something I have also really missed. I have eaten it, but in really small portions and with guilt! mac and cheese is not guilty food or something that should be eaten in small portions. Portion control is for other foods, mac and cheese, you really need to all but bath in it.

I also polished dog with his curry comb and now he is very shiny.

Little House on the beltway

The good news is that I am finally getting a replacement phone! Six visits to various Verizon stores and two protracted phone call to customer service and I finally talked them into reading their own policys and honor my damned insurance and the phones own warranty. Bastards.

I did have to wait until the phone died, and not one minute sooner. The first four visits the phone was only unwell - it functioned, not well and it was rapidly decompensating as time went on, but it worked-ish. If I had dropped it in a puddle or ran over it with my car it would have been a single visit  "Oopsy! Your phone has a boo-boo! Lets get you a new one!- If I had done something to it they would have charged me a token and given me a new phone immediately. The phone had an organic problem and they didn't want to replace it! They treated me as though I was just looking for a new phone, that my phone really did work and I was just trying to play them. Why would anyone want a low end, years out of date POS like mine? I mean, really. I don't even want it any more.

They treated me like a phone thief until  I showed up at the their store before it even opened and buttoned holed the first clip board toting guy I saw - Forty-Five minutes on the phone with customer service late, my phone was shipped.

Today however, I spent the day without a phone! If I wanted to check my email I had to use my desk top computer! OMG!  and if I wanted to make a call, I had to use the corded one on my desk! It was like living on Little House on The Prairie.

My free reconditioned phone will be arriving hopefully, Tuesday morning at my office.

Make lemonade

I got work done this weekend! But first I went to Kohls and bought myself a dress I really didn't need but it was cute and on sale and I said no to a couple of of others. I should have been looking for side tables but Kohls doesn't really sell end tables.  I had to do it. I paid the workd back for my shopping trip by being a good girl and doing housework.
'
I gave myself a list of chores to do and I, shockingly, did them. I needed me to hang up the coats I've worn since approximately, Thanksgiving, and never put away and I finally did it. I also wanted me to tidy up the
 bedroom and hang up more clothes,  and again, I did it. I also vacuumed the hallway. That wasn't even on my list, it was an extra.

I truly deserved a cookie for my hard work. Instead I made pizza made with cauliflower crust! It was messy, labor intensive and a failure. It had great mouth feel but it was a soggy mess, and to add insult to injury, it made a lot and so my Sunday dinner was also a soggy pizza. I think I will stick to whole wheat pizza crusts from the store should I decide I need to make home made pizza again.I have plenty of frozen to choose from but they aren't as low carb friendly as I would like them to be. I really like pizza and I really do not like having to eat tiny, unsatisfying portions of it.

Cauliflower crust just sounded like such a good idea! So low carb! So healthy! So little portion control required. Sadly, it was not a solution. There has to be a better way. I did learn that cauliflower tastes like absolutely nothing at all and so it would be a good substrate for potatoes where they might be called for. I a had to buy a ricer for the crust recipe and so there might be cheesy caulirice in my future and I would like that very much as I miss cheesy rice to no end.

Sunday, I had more tasks I wanted me to get done. I vacuumed the attic stairs and the floor upstairs. I moved the dogs crate into a less in the way location and tidied a little bit. I did not clean the bathroom, I should have but it was so pretty and dog and I needed a nice long walk.

So we walked for two hours through downtown and the warehouse district and we felt very good about it. I didn't even care the pizza was soggy, again.

Friday Cat Blogging

Kitty's  first selfy!

50 Shades of Charging

What did I accomplish today? My phone destroyed the only charge in the world that worked with it and made the charger fall apart in three tiny pieces.  I had to go back to the store. The last time went badly.

I went in calmly, I waited quietly to be seen and I explained my problem without cursing or raising my voice. They took my phone away and diagnosed my problem. The charging port is "lose". I did not respond with sarcasm. It was explained to me that this often happens when me, the user, "accidentally" plugs in the charger in upside down. I did not respond violently.

When they took my phone away they plugged it in with a new charger that they absolutely swore charged the phone. I did not tear down the nearest display. I explained that I had also done this and it did not work - the charger is not a fault, its the phone! The phone is broken!  It was explained that my mistake with every other charger in the world was that I failed to adequately wiggle them during the initial mating. Apparently, my phone likes it rough.  I bought their prodigal charger, and I just need to "wiggle it around and not touch it while its charging". Until May.

HGTV has given me brain damage and I'm thrilled!

The old couch and coffee table are gone and the new couch has moved into their old space. I didn't even say goodbye to them when they left. New couch looks very nice in its new home and I have gained many extra feet of  living room space.

Now that they are gone, its time to think about how to replace them, or a at least the monster coffee table. I'm also going to new end tables. I have already decided that a piece that has been upstairs is going to move downstairs , so that solves one problem.

Another problem is that the space is going to be dark. The curtains are dark, the furniture is dark, the walls are not going to be light. The room will have the power to become the black hole of Calcutta if I don't step in and do something about it.

Of course there is always the "Turn on the light" option or the "Open the curtains" idea, both good and both will be utilized but, I think I'm going to have to find other solutions as well.

My end tables are going to be bright pink! Gasp! Be shocked.  I think it will look really neat. High gloss, hot pink, preferably  with drawers for storage. I will try my damnedest to not end up in Barbies Dream House territory.

Maybe not boiling pink, but you get the picture I like the lines. And there is bright pink in the drapery and I want to pull it out, otherwise I'm afraid the fabric will just read BLACK and I don't want that.

Here are many examples of hot pink end tables, most of them are not awful :In the Right Hands, it can be a great pop of color!

I am also thinking about the coffee table. I need one, it has to hold my magazines and clutter as well as act as a foot rest. It can't be dainty. It is going to be orange!

I know you hate it. I don't care The room will be dark as hell and I need to lighten it up as well as keep it feminine.

I think this is going to work.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR AUSTIN!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!

Tuesday

What I got done Tuesday!!

I took the couch apart! Now its all ready to go out the door! I feel oddly conflicted about this now. I bought with my first check from my first real job in 1997, I bought the couch before I moved into my first apartment, this was part of my first home and then it moved cross country with me. And now I am throwing it aside. I'm glad couches are sentient because it could make me feel really bad about this.

The coffee table is newer, I  bought it after I moved into this house, its only thirteen years with me. I bought it at a yard sale / art sale in the historic district.

I cleaned the entry way so it would be easier to move the furniture out. This was a lot of work. Its a tiny space but I made sure it was as messy as a room twice its size.

Putting the cart before the horse.

What I accomplished today:

1. I spoke with an interior painter and started the process of  getting estimates from others. I want to do my due diligence and get multiple estimates, but the one guy who called me back almost immediately,  and seems like a good bet for the job  because he talked about primer and calking and not allowing drips and using drapes on the furniture and on purpose doing a good job.  The longer we spoke the more I pretty much decided I'm not going to call anyone else. Other painters are going to have to call me. I put a request in with my old precinct chair who is a contractor in real life, when he isn't being a gad fly, but he hasn't gotten back with me and that makes me a little peeved, he is kind of a jerk.

2. I scheduled Habitat to come pick up old couch and coffee table to come Wednesday late afternoon.They asked if there had been any animals on the couch and I was like "it comes from a non-smoking household" and "Febreeze! I used febreeze!" I did cop to a stain on the underside of one of the cushions, so I was at the very least honest about something.

I really don't have to hurry too much for the painter even though I really, really want to! Because I'm going to use my tax refund to pay for the work  and the taxes are not even done yet. So, I may be getting ahead of myself. A lot. I did find out that the possible painter uses very expensive paint, twice what my paint runs, but he would buy my paint if that was what I want. I do not want $60 a gallon paint on my walls, so I am going to be a diva and demand he buy my cheaper paint because God Damn! $60 a gallon for paint! No! not if I am paying for it.

 I might be able to accept a pricey paint for the woodwork because that is a job that gets done right at, um, once, so it might be better if it is a high quality paint. I'll re-do the walls occasionally, but the baseboards are not going to get redone unless they suffer a catastrophic accident.

Doing a quick census, there is a lot of wood work! The baseboards alone are everywhere, there are four doors! Two of them are French doors. Wait, the entry way! There are five doors and one of them in the front door!. Maybe springing for the really pricey paint may not be the best idea as I'm going to be having to buy a lot of it. The room is surrounded by seven inch baseboards and five inch window sills and the whole fireplace and the door ways! Shite. Maybe he can just use white out.

Redecoration Project

Couch - Craigslist $100!

Curtains - Deep discount, on close out!

Paint - Dreamscape Gray   This is not going to be on sale. I wanted to put a swatch here but they wouldn't let me do that. Behr Paint is not very user friendly.


Thigs are progressing faster than I would have thought! The old couch and coffee table are still here - I was certain that thift stores were just waiting for me to call up and ask them to come get my old furniture and would be here immediatly to come fetch them... Oddly, not so much.  They are still here and will be here until either Habitat comes and gets them or Cause For Paws comes and gets them. I'm going to call both again tomorrow and see who wants them worse/can pick them up the fastest.

In the mean time, I'm going to start looking for bright pink and bright orange thingies to decorate he room with. I think these will help make it a little more girly as well as keeping it bright and colorful instead of dark and kind of muddy - as it easily could slid into.

The painting won't happen for a couple of months and neither will the curtains, so I kind of hurried up so I could wait. But, the more things off the list are more things off the list.