Burlap & Satin

So let's figure out if this blog will work, shall we? If so, then it may just be where I write while I'm waiting to hire the help I need to fix my other place. *sigh* Woe is me.

Some new discoveries that I'm loving:

-- Found (which was created by the author and reporter of one of my favorite episodes of This American Life - weird!)
-- Eva Cassidy (how did I not find this woman before now?)
-- Tada List - yeah I may have mentioned this site before when I was planning the wedding, but it helps me eliminate so much freakin' paper! (holy hell, why do i have so many scraps of paper? and notebooks? my god, the notebooks!)
-- IKEA (good god, when will we finally get our damned IKEA??!! Pleeeeease hurry people! I have shit to store here!)
-- Freecycle - I've already arranged to pick up a bundle of 48 paperbacks (to which J. laughed, paused and then exclaimed, "You're serious?! We don't have room for the books we have!" Do you see this, IKEA? Do you see how your slow store-opening process is ruining my marriage?! I need bookshelves or I will sue for damages!)
-- Did I mention Freecycle? Because I'm planning to get rid of so much needless crap we've had for YEARS (including 2 years worth of bridal magazines, a memory foam pillow I bought while traveling and never used, and endless other things I'll find when we empty our damned storage facility soon). Plus I just have to sit it all on my porch in a box, no work, no postage! Rock on, baby!
-- Flickr. Yeah, it's not a new discovery, but I've been seriously looking for inspiration when it comes to organizing stuff in an old small house. It's amazing what some people can come up with. We've already decided to move the office upstairs so that I can have a library instead of an all purpose (but seriously overcrowded) cove off the living room. A real office! With storage and organization and privacy! Hee hee for me!

It's so nice and warm outside today that I have the windows open. So, so weird, but very, very welcome. The dogs are at grandma's until this evening and I essentially have the house to myself (well, me and the cats anyway). I'd forgotten how nice it was to listen to a dog bark at the other end of the street and not have to tense up and keep Bogey from going ballistic in response.

Still, I wouldn't trade my baby boy for nothin'. I really miss him when he's gone. Even his funny I'm-Fighting-Sleep Pout Sessions.

In other news, we've been reorganizing and trying desperately to de-clutter the house for the past few days. It had just gotten to a point where we couldn't get a screwdriver or a hammer without having to navigate a maze of still-packed boxes and assorted basic shit. And to think, we actually have a damned storage facility full of more crap! Good grief. We're planning to have a massive garage sale this spring so we're trying to unload all our years of excess crap before then.

Deciding to move the office upstairs has really been wonderful in terms of helping us figure out a real gameplan for this house. The layout is just so odd (because of the previous owners' decision to just bust everything out) that we constantly have to re-think spaces and try to figure out what "this room" or "that room" was originally intended for. Our current office is really nothing more than a cove off the living room. So trying to make it both a library and a computer area was getting to be way too crowded and difficult. Instead, we're just going to turn that little cove (that looks out over the deck) into a sitting/reading/library area. I've already picked out the furniture for it and it's going to look so neat when it's all pulled together. Or at least, I hope it will.

Of course, that all comes after the new floor, the new door, the new kitchen, the new bathroom, the new dining room, the new basement, etc etc etc. The lists, they go on and on my friends. Which reminds me, I need to finally finish the damned arch already. Time to find the sander!

I find myself really yearning for some new (real live local) friends. Thing is, I don't make friends easily. I've started to realize that I was too busy being ignored and shunned as a child to really learn any social skills. There's not much I can do about that now obviously, but I still feel that it stunts me. I know that I come on too strong sometimes or that people think I'm loud and bossy (which I sometimes am) or that I'm just too different and weird (which I also sometimes am), but I honestly don't feel those are detriments and I don't act that way all the time. I just know that it takes a certain kind of person for me to connect to on a deeper-than-acquaintance level. Not to mention that once I do connect with someone, I really really suck at keeping in touch and initiating any sort of lunch date, phone call, etc etc. (Again, that complete lack of social skills kicks in here.)
Turns out that losing your best friend (even though she was a complete drain and no longer really a friend at all) still leaves a small void in your life. I don't miss the screwed up dynamic I had with her, but I do miss having a history with someone, memories, laughs, connection. I guess I'm just wishing it didn't have to be this way. But I also believe that some things really do happen for a reason, and I know that I'm happier without the extra drama in my life. I only wish I could create something else to fulfill me and replace what was.

Hi. We've been busy. After nearly three weeks of compounding, sanding, compounding, sanding, sanding and sanding again, today it was finally time to prime the damned arch. Can I even explain you how awesome this is?

No. No, I don't think I can. This project (although now wonderful to behold) has consumed our lives for the past three months. To see it finally getting prepped and heading down the home stretch is both incredibly exciting and incredibly exhaustive. I really can't believe that we just came up with this idea and that it has now finally
turned into this.

Truly, truly amazing. Plus, one of the best parts? Only two more walls to go before I rid this house of every single hunter green atrocity. Can I get a hell yeah?!

Okay, my poor arthritic neck is screaming at me for painting upside down all day (really, who knew?). It's off to bed for me then, for tomorrow we paint. Sweet dreams. :-D

Hi again. Sorry I left you hanging there. Apparently painting the arch the same Really Nice Brown that we loved on the front wall wasn't a great idea. Actually it was a rather horrible idea, as the Really Nice Brown - when placed on the arch - resembled more of a Medieval Dungeon Brown. So, uh... we had to try again. Luckily, it wasn't too bad. We just went a shade lighter and damned if it didn't make a huge difference! (Garrr, I have a degree in psychology! How are my eyes still tricked so damned easily?)

Wanna see? Sure!

Hee hee! It's done, baby! I realize it may seem like a lot of brown right now, but you need to remember that the built-in bookshelves will be white, as well as the trim. Plus, we'll be installing a new very pale "golden oak" hardwood floor that will brighten things up substantially. I'm learning that despite all those Before and After home improvement shows we watch, no fixer upper house looks good after doing one or two things. It's more about the combination and visualization of everything when it comes together. Plus, none of that shit comes together in a weekend or a half hour. (And seriously, why not? Because finishing the living room in 30 minutes would be totally awesome, people. Come on.)

Let me know what you think, I'd really love your feedback! I've worked my butt off on this thing for three months, people. I need accolades! (Okay, okay. Honest opinions will work nicely too.) ;-)

And with that, we are off to grab some dinner before we start moving furniture and taping off yet another wall for painting. Oh yay!

Edited to add: I have a public Flickr site where I'm always posting more photos of our home projects (you don't have to be a member to see them). I just prefer to keep track of who's viewing those photos. So if you like, just leave a comment or send me an email and I'll pass the link on to you.

Good God, people! It's freakin' COLD outside. What the hell?

Oh wait. It's January. I forgot.

Living in Cincinnati is truly insane sometimes. It's in the 50s, it's in the 20s, it's in the 60s, it's below freezing! Come on everybody, ride the coaster of meteorology!

Me, however? I'm always freezing. This having a faulty thermostat + hypothyroidism really really sucks sometimes. J. is literally building bookshelves with no socks and no shirt while sweating, yet I am wrapped in blankets and wishing I could actually type with gloves on. Welcome to house of Kentucky Girl and Michigan Boy. Please dress in layers.

In other news, I believe I've had my first no-show Freecycler. This woman had posted that she was a mural painter that could use anyone's extra indoor paint. Well, I damn near jumped for joy when I saw that because seriously? We have way too much "test paint" and I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. A few emails later and she was incredibly grateful, asking for my address and telling me exact times when she would come and get the paint. Three days later and I haven't heard from her at all, much less seen a sudden decrease in paint cans on my porch. It doesn't help that it's 9 degrees outside and we have to keep bringing 12 cans of paint in and out of the house because of a) the freezing weather and b) still no sign of Mural Lady.

So what is the courtesy wait on a no-show Freecycler that doesn't return emails? Should I just post the paint to the first taker or should I wait and see if this lady actually gives a damn? *sigh* This crazy modern age social etiquette. It's like being given a steak when you just learned how to use the salad fork.

** From the ever-wonderful MST3K slaying of "A Date With Your Family." Go. Watch. Laugh. Please.

The Absentee Freecycler promises me she will come by today and get the extra paint. I'm not holding my breath, but still I'd really like to be rid of the extra 11 gallons of paint on our front porch. And I'd really like to stop bringing it in and out constantly because of this damn cold weather. Did you know paint could freeze? Because it can. I've seen it. I'm sure our neighbors think we're nuts, leaving out used cans of Behr for the Paint Fairy every day. If the Freecycler does come to pick it up tonight, I should run outside immediately after and shout, "Oooh, she left me a dollar!" just to see the looks on their faces.

In other news, we're kind of in a lull on the home renovations. J. has the built-in bookshelves well, built for the most part. It just seems we kind of ran out of money and can't do much more until his payday this Friday. Oops. We've started calling this place the Payday House. It seems that we sink nearly every dime we have into this place, without much left for ourselves or fun stuff. That was what my job was for - the extras, the fun stuff. But when my job became incredibly stressful and anxiety-inducing, it really wasn't worth it anymore. Truth be told, we spend less now that I don't need gas every day and I'm not eating out for lunch, but we also spend a lot more on the house because I now have the time to do more work on it. It's a Catch 22 in that regard. More money = more can be done to the house. Job to create the money = less time to actually work on the house. *sigh* Adult life. Why did I want to grow up so badly again? Because I thought I could do whatever I wanted? Who knew that all I would want to do is go buy and install a new hardwood floor? Stick with childhood, kids. Grown-ups are really, really boring.

Speaking of boring, I've been trying for the past two months to get through Margaret Atwood's Blind Assassin and it's killing me. I know that people regard this novel as an amazing literary achievement, that person after person tells me "wait until the ending! the ending is great!," but I'm sorry. I just don't think I can bear it much longer. Every night, I am bored to tears with this story and I can't stand the way she writes. I tried - with the same success - to read the Handmaid's Tale as well. Again, I get bored easily. If someone spends three pages describing the architecture of a Victorian home and nothing else, I'm immediately rolling my eyes and wishing we could just "get on with it" already. Nothing against those of you that love this novel, but I'm a very plot-driven girl and I can't stand to dilly dally around describing shit all day. It's just not in me.

Now I know some of you are giving me a look and saying "But you love Stephen King! He describes shit for pages!" Yes that's true, but here's my philosophy on that. When King describes something, it's usually in a suspenseful or anecdotal way and it almost always ties into the plot. When he describes a Victorian mansion, he makes it sound like the mansion has its own personality, that it's a scary place full of secrets. He does not make it sound like a damn documentary on Victorian architecture. Does that make sense? I know I'm probably offending some people here. People have told me for years, "You don't like Margaret Atwood? She's one of the biggest feminist voices in our era!" Yes, well. Anne Rice has also gained popularity for female writers in our era, but she still needs a damn editor. Yeah, I said it. Notice that I said it without describing it for five pages too. See there? It can be done.

With that, I'm off to finish up a little sewing project that's been sitting on my dining room table for much too long. With any luck, I'll post photos of that one later as it's quite fun. Toodles. :-)

I see so many people posting Before & After photos on home improvement websites and I'm jealous. This house needs so much damn work and since we're the only two people doing all this work (with a very limited budget and an insanely hyper puppy underfoot, mind you) we still do not actually have one single room completely finished. I could try and explain all the work we're doing and how it's going to look eventually, but in the end, nothing is as powerful as a simple series of Before & After Shots. So, for that reason, I'm giving myself a little ego boost here (along with some motivation to keep going) and posting some shots anyway. They're definitely not Before & Afters, but more like Before & Durings. How's that work for ya?

Read on and enjoy.

Just a little question to some of you gals out there:

Has birth control ever made you more anxious? I mean that in a strictly side effect way. I'm just curious because we have yet to find a birth control Rx that I'm truly happy with. Yaz made my periods light as hell, sure, but it was also filled with so much PMDD-preventing hormone cycling madness that I basically just felt stupidly numb all the damn time and had no sex drive. (uh, kind of defeats the point, eh doc?) Now I'm on something different - something that's supposed to have slightly higher levels of hormones - and I swear that my brain starts running laps and my body starts tightening 30 minutes after I take it. Now, I'm incredibly sensitive to side effects so I realize this could be an isolated thing, but I'd still just like to know if other women have noticed this themselves. Remember, I've never taken birth control before now (age 30) and I'm completely clueless as to what in the hell I'm supposed to feel like when I'm on this stuff. I don't like taking it, but I don't like the idea of an accidental pregnancy even more, so I'm kind of stuck. Do you take anything? What works for you? Either way, I'd love some feedback if you've got it.