Letters on Friday

It's Friday's Letters, where I get to ramble a little. No pictures, no projects, just some random thoughts going through my head on a Friday. Enjoy!

Dear Home Depot, 

How I love shopping with you at 7:00 in the morning and this is from a non-morning person. It's so lovely to walk down the aisles and not be jostled by other shoppers, and not have to dodge all the humongous lumber carts. It's especially nice to be able to find an employee whenever needed. Thank you for opening early.

Dear Computer, 

I may have to spend less time with you. When I spend less time in virtual life, more things get done in real life. Please don't be upset with me but sh*t needs to get done.

Dear New House, 

I promise to bring you into this century, but you must be patient with me. There's only one of me and you have 40+ years of fuuuuugly to repair. Plus like Computer, there is more to my life than your demands on my time...or there should be. 

Dear Me, 

You do not have to fix everything right. this. second. As mentioned to New House, it took over 40 years to get in this predicament, and being overwhelmed by the sheer number of projects is not going to get anything done sooner. Plus, you will enjoy the process much more if you take one project at a time.

Dear Trail Marker,


On a 5 mile run, on the second to last mile, would you be so kind as to not provide a helpful mile marker stating, "Mill Road 1 Mile" and then at the next mile marker state, "Mill Road 1 Mile" Huh? Was I running parallel to the road?? Dang, that's just cruel.

Dear Joints,

(I'm talking to you, Knees and Left Ankle so listen up)

I promise to stop running just as soon as you get me through the half marathon in May. You have been very good to me for the past 48 years, and will be rewarded by a switch to only walking/hiking, and cycling, if you can just hold out a little longer. Would you mind if I added a little strength training in the mix too? kthx.

Linking up here:

The Cupboards are Bare(ish)

Do you mind if I stall a bit? Not quite ready to do a full reveal as there are about a gazillion things left to do before it's finished, but I can show you one thing that's done.

I had just finished putting the second coat of paint on the walls, and had thrown away everything, cleaned up, and put everything away. Then opened my pantry door and BAM! forgot about painting/fixing this:

Yuk, right? I was thrilled to have a real pantry in the new house, but the shelves were too shallow, and covered in contact paper. We wiped everything down before we moved in, but um...

 ...don't judge. We moved from one state, sold that house, and bought and moved into a new one all within 30 days. I guess I overlooked how gross the pantry really was. I don't even want to acknowledge the smeary brown sludge on the bottom there. *shudder*

Buh, bye shelves. You will be fine in the garage...under oil cans...and loaded up with paint cans.

The shelf supports are wide enough and the pantry is deep enough to handle a 14" shelf. Could I find a 14" shelf? Nooooo, but I did find 7 3/8" shelves which did just fine after doubling them up. After a complete scrub with TSP, and a coat of white, here is my 'new' non-gross pantry:

Yes, I've cropped these photos down to avoid showing you any more than necessary :)

It's amazing how much more room there is with a deeper shelf! Better get to the grocery store to fill up the cupboards again. All healthy, organic food of course :)

No More Birch Trees...Inside Anyway

Ok, I was punking you with my last post; I felt like being a little silly and thought I'd give you a progress update while letting on that it was the finished look.

Almost no one fell for it; except maybe one person who shall remain anonymous, but the comments were hilarious :) I don't think I'll be starting any trends or receiving any calls from Cutting Edge anytime soon.

This was the second round of priming, as the first round was with Kilz, but not the uber-smelly stain-fighting kind and it ended up brownish. Since when did Kilz branch out and make a paint that isn't what Kilz stands for - stain/smell blocking?? Shame on me for not reading the label, but dang isn't that what that brand is all about? Moving on...

I did not want that brown bleeding through the final color, so off to the paint store for the industrial strength stuff. My house still smells of it, but with this topcoat, it's definitely better.

Here's a peek at what's to come...can't show you all of it as there is a ton left to do.

At this moment, I've got three outlets that mysteriously quit working. There are curtains, shoe cubbies, and other assorted projects to be done, so I may have to leave you hanging on the reveal for awhile.

Wish me luck; and pray to the electricity gods that I figure out those plugs!

A Whole New Look

Paint! It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? My breakfast room is paneled and I've transformed it with you guessed it - paint!

Ugh. But the good thing is that I like the look of painted paneling, if not the actual process of it. As I was doing the prep work, I stepped back and decided it was actually kind of like a log cabin but vertical. We have a historical log cabin on my trail run, and it really has that look.

The more I looked at it, the more I liked it! It's not everyone's cup of tea, but as bloggers we need to keep coming up with new and different things, right? Well, here is the first look at my 'log-cabin-chic' style:

More photos in the next few days. With this new look, the light which was awful before now makes sense. Plus the black and white floor adds a certain eccentricity.

What do you think? Think I might start a trend??

Sharing at NellieBellie's Stinky Linky party

Finally, Motivation and Inspiration!

Ok, I know my little blog has been neglected lately but it was either neglect my Junky Vagabond life or neglect my new life in my new home.  Well, you know what happened...if you're still checking to see if there have been any updates in the last millenium that is.

So now that things like drivers licenses have been updated, addresses have been changed, utilities are on - I can focus on decorating the house. Right? Turns out that's not exactly the case...

If you've seen my videos showing you what a project this house is, you'll understand how overwhelming this is. At least it is for me - the decisions! So I went to Chicago to help my sister make some home deco decisions instead :)

Working with someone else's home deco (and $) just seems to work for my motivation; we figured out a new couch, new paint for her living/dining room, new carpet, and narrowed down her kitchen cabinet color...in one day!

Coming home, I was motivated to do something and after a morning shopping, here's what I found:

Isn't this curtain panel gorgeous? (Rhetorical) It almost didn't come home with me, but I figured it could always be returned. The inspiration fabric has the aqua and green colors that I was looking for, but also bits of yellow, which I wasn't. It may require me to change the dining room color up a bit...but that's another post for another day... I tacked it up on my wall and fell in love. The fabric lights up the living room, and makes it interesting. I'm so glad I took the chance on it!

I just love the retro fabric and the colors work so well with my green leather chairs:

There's even paint on the walls...even if it's only samples. I think the lighter one is going to be the one, but I need to see it in night light as well as day time. The darker one is a bit too blue and isn't as sophisticated...and if Ah cain't be so-fis-ti-kated in real life, my walls sure can be.

Curtains are always the hardest decision for me and now that these are perfect, I can move forward...unless my husband hates them...oh heck. I'll keep you posted.

Christmas in April!

Who doesn't love getting presents? Well, when my good bloggy friend (and soon to be IRL friend!) Gwen of The Bold Abode fame said she was giving me a present...well it was just about the nicest thing ever.

Gwen and I have been chatting about our blogs, our lives, the challenges of balancing both, and all the good things that have come since we've started blogging. She got involved in a pay-it-forward gift giving party, and chose little ole me to receive her gift!

Well, I'm knee-deep in rehabbing our recently moved-into house so I wasn't up to sleeping on the porch while waiting for her package...which she did when waiting for her package. She's kinda nutty that way.

I waited while she assured me she was working on it...and working on it...

Finally! The day arrived and my new gift was in my hot little hands!!

random glove added for privacy reasons :)

Unwrapping the gift and what do I see but complete awesomeness! Gwen knew I was working on a paisley project and thoughtfully wrapped my present in pretty paper.

Not only did I get a thank you note, a cute Bold Abode orange daisy clip, music mixes direct from Gwen and Cassie at Primitive and Proper, but a completely amazing bedazzled measuring tape...which will get used in my woodworking shop corner of the garage.

Sooo cute!!

But that's not all! The main gift is a beautiful wooden box, painted out in a lovely shade of teal, bordered with glitter, and stenciled with lyrics from a song.

The sentiment describes what we, and a lot of bloggers out there, are trying to accomplish as women, mothers, and wives...

..."Remind me that I'm older...to be brave, smart, sweet, and BOLDER...and don't give up on what we're trying to do..."

For now, this sits on my tv stand, right where I can see it. 

Thank you so much Gwen for giving me this amazing present when I least expected it! It truly was like my birthday or Christmas :) Now, I have to go work on something worthy of this exercise...who will I give a special Junky Vagabond gift to? Who knows dear readers, it just might be you!