Day 50 Million

Wow...can't believe it's been 50 days and I'm still not living in my house. I never imagined it would take this long. I would love to be settled in by the time Colton starts school, but it is not looking good.

Mom and I finished the second coat of Kilz on the hallway. I am very sad to report that the pine stain bled back through in about thirty minutes. Not real bad and paint may cover it up on the top, but where I'm really worried is on the bottom where I plan on painting it white. I also tried to roll the ceiling in the hallway and it did not go well. It was very streaked and on the places where I had to use a brush to get close to the crown molding, it yellowed in minutes. GRRRR! So, my sis's BF called around and found me a place to rent a commercial paint sprayer from. My plan is to:

1) Gather all my paint in the next week;

2) Clean the walls and fireplace in the den;

3) Tape off the den;

4) Spray EVERYTHING including ceilings next weekend!

The den will be a pain because I haven't touched it and it has those wooden beams along with a popcorn ceiling. Not to mention, those bricks are filthy from the nicotine stuck to them. Mom cleaned a spot on them and it was unreal. If I can get it cleaned and taped off, I would love to Kilz it all down, also. I'm probably dreaming (again) and all I will get sprayed is the rest of the house, but I'll be happy with that, also.

I was very discouraged on the Kilz'n thing, so I after finishing the hall, I decided to spray paint some projects. I have to mention that my aunt showed up with the 'way coolest' bunch of pitchers for my dining area last Sunday (was too gripey to mention it that day). She has a good eye for decor and I claim any crafty genes that I have must have came from her. The pitchers are looking really nice - can't wait to be able to display them.

I had a very unwelcome visitor show up today that I am NOT happy about. It clawed its way onto my car and left nice little scratches. I shoo'd it off and hope it doesn't bring bad luck my way.

This tree-bush thing in the very corner of my yard is really looking pretty this week.
My blackberry bush has delivered a cupful of blackberries! Mom picked them today while a little mama bird fussed at her the whole time. We think she may have babies in this little birdhouse she was trying to protect.To soothe my ruffled feathers over my bleeding walls, think I'm going to sneak a couple of white chocolate Hershey's Bliss before I go to bed tonight.

PS - Rechecking this I see tons of grammatical errors and run-on sentences, but I'm too tired to fix them - please ignore. :-)

Day 49

No exciting drama to post - thank goodness. Just another night of Kilz'n. Mom and I finished putting the second coat on the bottom of the walls in the living room. I hope to put a second coat on the hall tomorrow and then take a look at all of the walls to see how well (or not) the Kilz is holding up against the pine stain. I did see a few spots where it had bled through - not real bad - and it may be due to it being put on too thin in those areas. We'll see....

Day 48

Tess and Karen showed up to flex their painting muscles. Karen was even thoughtful enough to bring some yummy chips and dip. Of course, this would be the evening that I run out of Kilz, so I ran over to Wal-Mart to grab some more - and yes, this time they mixed it up for me. We finished off the hall and managed to Kilz the entire top part of the living area. They were kind enough to let me roll the panels while they brushed in the grooves which takes twice as long as the rolling. I was tickled pink at how it looked - it may not require a third coat which would tickle me crazy! Thank you, gals - I so appreciate you sharing your time helping me this evening.

Colton wants to tell one of his Knock-Knock jokes:

Knock. Knock.
Who's there?
Boo!
Boo Who?
BooHoo...it's bedtime!

Day 47 - Night Off

Hey, peeps! I took the night off to go see Toy Story 3 with my boy - he loved it!

Day 46

This evening, I taped up the hallway and started Kilz'n...not very exciting, but I'm very excited to almost be at the end of having the first coat of Kilz on the walls.

The smart-aleck wall heater smirked at me as soon as I got there. It doesn't work and I'm pretty sure I've found the end of its wiring hanging out of the back of the bathroom wall. I tried to take it off, but evidently the little screw head thingies require some kind of special tool to turn them. I did turn them some with a flat head screwdriver, but I think they are really rusted up. I need some WD-40 - tried some cooking spray with no luck. I also tried a hammer to see if I could just knock it the heck off of the wall - didn't work, either. I'll have to work on it some more later. Maybe Hugh Jackman will knock it off the wall when he arrives with the paint sprayer?

TTTTTTTTired tonight....

Day 45

Tired of my griping? Well, me, too. I'll try to put a lid on it...for now. :-)

Guess what? I finished Kilz'n the living area today (except for the ceiling)! I need to get the hallway taped off and then I can start on it. Then put a second coat on both areas, but maybe by that time a paint sprayer will magically appear along with Hugh Jackman to spray it on shirtless. It's unreal how much lighter and bigger the area appears. I'm very happy and even the ugly wall heater had a smile on its face. On second thought, it kinda looks like an evil smile since it seems to know it is ruining my wall!

My friend arrived today along with her son, two sisters, nephews and a freakin' load of goodies! Some stuff I knew about and some stuff was sweet surprises! Colton now has a couple of bookshelves for his room and the other stuff is just too much to mention, but it is so way cool. I am so very VERY grateful. I also acknowledge that both she and I should probably be submitted for the show, 'Hoarders'...LOL! We seem to have a love of collecting a little bit of everything! Her family toured the grand mansion and not one of them seem to hold their breath at the old musty house smell which is now nicely combined with the smell of Kilz. Ugggh...I'm afraid to light any candles with the exposed plumbing in the bathroom (maybe the plumber will show up this week?). Thank you, LP and family, for loading me up with goodies today.

Also, I've been sweating over demolishing the bathroom ceiling, when LP's sis told me to just put sheetrock over it. Well, duh...how logical is that? I felt really silly for not thinking of that myself, but sometimes it takes a second set of eyes to spot the obvious. My heartfelt thanks goes out to her - gonna save me some time (and moolah). :-)

At the auction Saturday, I almost bought a horse to go with my yard cows; however, I came to my senses. Actually, I'm lying - someone outbid me. Good heavens, I have no idea what I was thinking! Anyway, I did come home with one yard ornament. It's really not something I would have ever thought about, but when I saw it, it just somehow seemed to go with my old house and flowers. She's currently leaning up against the barn studio-garage until I find a nice spot for her.

Lastly, I decided to enter the valley of doom. Okay, I'm exaggerating, it's the three storage sheds behind the garage (they just creep me out). Of course, this sissy-baby made my Mama go with me. On the last shed, we could see a squirrel tail poking out of a basket. It wasn't moving, so Mom was brave enough to pick up the basket. It was dead, of course, and evidently had been for a long time. About that time, we heard a weird noise coming from the driveway and here is a picture of what I saw going about ninety miles an hour! If there is a rope or chain in sight, Colton will tie it to his Big Wheel and "tow" something. It's usually his wagon or other riding toy. This wheel barrel is so rickety that I was expecting it to fly to pieces at any second, but it actually made it safe and sound back into the garage. There's actually a funny story about how this wheel barrel came to be at my house...tehe - another time, maybe.

Good night!

Day 44

You know the rule 'if you can't say nothing good, don't say anything at all'? I'm applying that to today. My allergies have been terrible for the last couple of weeks. Taking allergy medicine makes me feel like crap, so it's darned if I do and darned if I don't. When I got up this morning, my chest was so tight I couldn't hardly breathe and then I started that annoying coughing. If I sound like a cranky old lady complaining of my ailments, you're absolutely right!

rrrrrr.....hissssssss....rrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr!

Day 43

I'm over my sulky spell from yesterday. I decided I needed to just 'suck it up' because I should have known better than to expect a contractor to show up on a holiday weekend. Holiday plus fireworks plus beer plus contractor = no workie workie. Silly me...

I got up early this morning to run some errands. I lucked up on a cute five bucks chair for the back porch from Pier One. Okay, I'm lying - I was going to pretend like it was from Pier One until my friends Cathy and Jim busted me stuffing it into the back of my tiny Civic at GoodWill. I really got up early to go to their monthly-the-whole-store-is-half-off sale. I had scoped out some cute pitchers there yesterday and picking up the chair today was a nice bonus. Mom and I also hit a couple of yardsales and I brought home a "time-out" chair, also. The guest bedroom closet is a single door small closet and to boot, the return air duct is in it - so it's tiny. As Becky, Tess and I were painting it the other night, we were talking about how you could only hang clothes in it when I teased Colton I would use it as the time-out closet. I guess he believed me because he asked me later on that night how long he would have to stay in it...LOL! Bless his heart. I reassured him I was just teasing. Anyway, I would love to post pictures of my finds, but my camera batteries are dead.

I put a third coat of Kilz on the trim in the three bedrooms so I am officially declaring them READY TO PAINT!!! Then, I painted Kilz in the middle section of the house that I'm going to use for Colton's TV and play area. I used the roller on the planks and the brush to get into the grooves. I've wore a darn blister on my hand from that brush and it was so tender. Mom came in from gardening and finished with the paint brush while I finished with the roller. That part of the living area has its first coat - YAY!

I went to an auction tonight to see if I could score a bathroom vanity or a dresser to use for the vanity, but no luck. I did buy some stuff though. I can get really carried away at those things - it's like once I'm brave enough to raise my bidding card once, then I just raise it like a crazy fool! Thank goodness, I'm cheapcost conscious and get outbidded!

The pizza just delivered and raising that bidding card worked up quite an appetite, so I'm leaving ya for now. :-)

Day 42 - Gloomy Friday

I woke up at 4:15 this morning and mentally started reviewing my list of questions for the plumber; however, the plumber did not make it today. I'll just leave it at that, but I am not happy. Now if he looked like the actor that plays the plumber, Mike Delfino, on Desperate Housewives, I could forgive him of anything. Sigh....a girl can dream.

I worked half a day today and then took off to go vanity searching. I'm now on a kick of looking for a dresser to turn into a vanity. It appears to be a pretty simple project (stop laughing). I've just got to find one the right size. Maybe everyone will do remodeling projects over the holiday weekend and I can find something next week.

This evening, I dropped Colton off with his dad for the weekend, so that made me extra gloomy. I so missed him terribly tonight at my aunt's annual firework/cookout/get-together-with-my-sometimes-crazy-family gathering. He is the jelly to my peanut butter. :-)

Signed,
Miss Gloomy Pants

Day 41 - Night Off

I'm taking Thursday night off for movie night with Colton before he goes to his dad's for the weekend. We skipped it two weeks ago, so it is so on. I have to admit that I like the cartoon series 'Avatar - The Last Airbender' as much as he does so we are both excited to go see it - should be loads of fun!

The plumber is supposed to be on site at 8:00 sharp Friday morning - YAY!!!

Since I'm setting up this auto-post tonight (Wednesday), in lieu of my exciting dramatic remodeling stories, I'm sharing a couple of pictures for Thursday night.

Look super close - this is one of the three hawks that stay in our front yard - it looks big enough to carry Colton off!

This shows how the pine tongue and groove paneling looks with the Kilz - better already!

About two weeks ago, I had about fifty huge mushrooms in my yard - each about eight inches in diameter. I thought I had taken pictures of them, but must not have - they were everywhere! They died down and these peach mushrooms showed up. The tree they are growing beside is huge, so you can see that they are also very large. They remind me of sea coral.