Buh-bye, Rocks

The rocks are gone!
The couple from craigslist came around 9:45 AM today. We had two wheel barrows, three shovels, four adults, and a toddler. Two truckloads later, and we were done by noon, except for the packed in rocks around the roses. The couple left then, because they had enough rocks and enough of the project. J. and I took a break for lunch, put O. down for a nap, and finished the rest by 2:30 PM.

We lucked out on the weather too. We've had about a week of 100 oF and up heat indices, but a front came through last night, and it was only 85 oF. Light rain, too, but not enough to stop the work.

Rock-moving was also a good reason to try the local bakery doughnuts. It was O.'s first. He loved them. Ate two, and asked for more.

New Cat Species

Have I mentioned that we have a new cat in our house?

The new cat appears to be an unusual species: Felis silvestris toddlerus. Very rare, in fact. It likely descends from both domestic house cats and some humanoid ancestor, and we suspect that it has close relatives in the monkey family. It only appears after bathtime, by the way, and disappears by bedtime.


The cat is about 2 and half years old. Its back and head are orange and black in color with terry cloth-like fur, and it has a pink and fleshy (and quite ticklish) belly. This cat also exhibits an unusual dual bipedal and quadrupedal gait. Very unusual for mammalian vertebrates. In fact, its bipedal movement has been clocked to be the fastest in the genus Felis. It lacks a non-vestigial tail, much to its own dismay.

The cat's diet consists of water, raisins, bananas, and other bedtime snacks.

And "coffee" (and the cat insists that drinking this way makes it coffee).

The cat also occasionally transfigures into a Wheatthin-eating duck, but cat seems to be its preferred form.

The cat also claims that it can fly, but proof of this (fortunately) is not available.

Rocks make people happy. Who knew?

Remember the rocks? The ones in our flowerbeds, especially near the roses? The ones that aren't worth a darn in terms of reducing weeds and keeping plant roots cool and moist? After extensive discussion, we've decided we no longer want the remaining rocks in the flower beds. We want to replace the rocks with nice, soft, biodegradable mulch.

This decision led to the next logical question: how do we get rid of them? Various options were discussed.
-Burying them in the backyard (no hole that we can make would be deep enough).
-Throwing them out with the trash (what do you mean, Mr. Sanitation Worker, that our garbage bins are unusually heavy this week?)
-Donation to the Goodwill (do they take rocks?)
-Asking Lowes to buy them back from us (ha)

We even considered a plan that included surreptitious contributions to our fellow citizens' landscaping. We had locations with similar rocks staked out even, but decided we probably wouldn't be able to find someone who would agree to babysit O. for a midnight rock relocation project.

Instead, I listed the rocks on a local bulletin board, and within three days, I received eight offers to take them off our hands. Wow. By they next weekend (keep your fingers crossed), the rocks should be gone!

Post-Painting Vacation Update

Firstly, I have a public service announcement: Ladies and gentlemen, don't install wallpaper. Today's temporary pretty wall is tomorrow's home improvement project.

We are done. Well, not quite done, but we're at a stopping point. We had a setback in the form of an unexpected illness when O. came down with an ear infection and stomach flu. He was well by Thursday and returned to daycare with glee, and we returned to the project at hand.

The office is completely painted (well, walls and the trim). I'm happy with the way this looks. the wall with the bookcase was a strange brown color in a textured effect, and I hadn't realized how much I didn't like it until it was gone. Now, it's all one color ("tea stain," same as the entryway and hallway). As you can see, the passthrough is going to have to wait.

Office, as seen from the living room

Possibly our biggest accomplishment: the wallpaper on the dining room wall is gone! We had previously peeled off the first layer of wallpaper. For the bottom layer of paper, we rented a steamer. This wall is not drywall, it is paneling with some sort of surface-leveling paint on it. We felt very fortunate that the steamer and scraper didn't damage the surface much. We also learned that the wallpaper was fairly recent. We found he signature of three people who must of installed it "Steve, Pete, and Tim Decorating, 11-17-99."

We did have to patch this wall, however, and to be honest, we could have spent more time patching it. I may still go back and do that someday. We painted it "woodland snow" which is an off-white, more taupe than white.

And, J. turned the light fixture is upside down. Or rightside up, depending on your perspective. It is much easier on the eyes this way, though I still can't help but think that this is the wrong light for the room.

Dining room wall, as seen from the living room.

Lastly, the kitchen. The wallpaper here was a bear. I think it was higher quality and it didn't give up as easily as the dining room wallpaper. We painted the walls the same color as the dining room and living room.

Kitchen

I like that the wallpaper is gone, but I think the result is plain kitchen. This color ("woodland snow") looks good in the living room but blah in the kitchen. Filling in the passthrough with tile will help and maybe adding more color in general. Those are projects for the future.

As of this week, we have now painted every inch of paintable surface. Except for the trim in some rooms, the closets, ceilings, doors, and the outside shutters.

We learned more about the house's wiring, too. J. thinks the organization of the circuits is just bizarre. There is one breaker for the the closet lights, the outside light for the garage, and the dining room light. The master bedroom lights are the same as the sink light and the garbage disposal. Many of the double switch panels are installed as relays, like they were an afterthought. There are some advantages to this setup; one can, for example, work on the kitchen wiring without having to turn off all of the lights. Maybe what we see as madness is method.

Painting Vacation

This week begins our painting vacation. J. has the whole week off from work, and I have the last three days. The to-do list includes:
-removing wallpaper from the dining room and kitchen
-painting the living room, dining room and kitchen ("woodland snow")
-painting the office walls ("tea stain") and the trim ("white")
-replacing several of the outlets and covers
-flipping the dining room light so it points upward
-some touchup work in the blue bathroom
-tiling a wooden drink tray, which will serve as a test of technique for the upcoming passthrough project
-some odds and ends, like rehanging some of the blinds so that they roll up right
-J. would like to change the living room lights for recessed, although I would rather add a storm door. Most likely, we won't have time for either.

We also plan to take advantage of the already paid-for daycare and see a movie matinée. And there's discussion of trying to recreate the vanilla vodka smoothies that we had two summers ago at a super swanky DC hotel. Will report back on all accounts at the end of the week.