No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

So mother is here for the weekend and Denise called us at 8:30 this morning and asked us to come to her place and help her move. I'm sure that Denise and JoLyn will describe the incompetence of the movers that they hired. My job was to take Denise's old mattress to the dump.

We tied the mattress down with bungee cords and Denise told me how to get to the Bountiful city dump. JoLyn came with me and we followed Denise's directions only to end up at a dead end where the road had been closed because it intersected with the new Legacy Highway. We back tracked all the way back to 5th South and Redwood where the detour took us over the new highway overpass and we got to the dump. Once there we were told that since neither of us had a Bountiful drivers license or a Bountiful utility bill we would not be able to use the dump. I took JoLyn back to Denise's apartment and then I went back out to take the mattress to the DI. I was on 5th South just west of Denise's barn when suddenly the bungee cords broke and the king sized mattress went flying out of the back of the truck and struck the windshield of an oncoming car. Luckily nobody was killed or injured in the accident, and the only damage done was a shattered windshield. The police were nice enough not to give me a ticket, and the lady agreed to let me give her a check for the damages right there so we didn't have to go through the insurance company. I wish that I would have thought to take pictures of the mattress, the police car, and the lady's broken windshield for the blog, but I didn't think to do that and it probably would have been in poor taste to have done so.

Suffice it to say that it was not a fun experience, and don't any of you ask me to help you move ever again because I am not going to do it!

Guest Room

I was going to wait until the windows had been replaced in this room before I posted pictures, but I have been sitting around with nothing to do all day so I figured I could post twice. The first picture is my guest room before I painted, the next two show it after.

I am really not good at choosing colors based on those little cards. I thought that I had chosen a beige, but it turned out to be a really pretty orangish yellow. I may be ambivalent about my living room color, but I absolutely love this one. I wish that I had chosen it for the entire house.

Two things that I have learned from this experience thus far are that:

A:) Painting is a nightmare when you decide to paint half of your house in one day, but it is actually kind of fun when you do it one room at a time.

B:) Quality paint makes all the difference in the world. I used Olympic for my living room and hall, and it needed two coats plus touch up. I used Valspar in the guest room and it didn't require any touch up with just one coat. I have a can of Behr for my den so I will have to see how it stacks up.

They have replaced the picture window in my front room. Look at how much difference it made just to get rid of those ugly grids!

Living Room

I have finished painting my living room, entry, and hall. It only took me 12 full hours yesterday to prime and put on two coats of paint. I was a little nervous about the color last night, but I'm feeling better about it today. Even if I hadn't liked the color it is too late to go back now. I don't want to do this again! It is definitely not a neutral, so it's a good thing that I don't plan to sell any time soon. You can refer to my ceiling fan posting if you want to see what the room looked like before.

The window guys were scheduled to come on Friday, but they called me at 2:00 and said that they were going to send a couple of guys over to get started on it. I was not thrilled about that since I was in the middle of priming, but I told them to come on over. They installed the two side windows in my front room and then they told me that they had some sort of "emergency" and they would be back on Friday. What constitutes a glass emergency? I think they just wanted to take off early.

I primed my guest room this morning and I will paint it this afternoon. I should have pictures to post tomorrow.

On a completely different subject, some of you know how hard I worked last year to try to get Jackie into kindergarten. Her mother e-mailed me yesterday and told me that although she did test far below average and the school did accept her for full day kindergarten, it's just not going to work for them to take her there, so I will have Jackie for another year. It makes me want to cry!

Ceiling Fan

I was going to wait to post a picture of the ceiling fan until I had finished painting, but I have been chastized and told that people need to see the "process". So, here it is.

I have also posted a picture of my living room before I started working on it. You can't see it well in this picture, but the metal part of the ceiling fan was spray painted black. The fan blades were painted using the same paint that was on the walls, then they were splattered with black and grey paint. They bulb shades were a mosaic of pink flowers and green leaves on a white background.

I Can Install A Ceiling Fan!

I have sucessfully installed my first ceiling fan! This is not an easy feat to do by yourself. I had to stack one of my chairs on top of the table and the box on top of the chair to rest the motor casing on while I connected the wires. There was a lot of cussing and sweating involved in getting the dang thing mounted to the ceiling, but it is done. Hopefully it won't come crashing down on me! I will spend the rest of the day taping and prepping in order to paint the walls tomorrow.

Painting Purgatory

Well, you will all be happy to know that I have finally started my painting project. Never having given birth, I wouldn't know how it compares, but it is definitely not a fun process. I started with the ceilings today, and I will move on to the walls tomorrow. I began my project at 9:30 this morning and I finally finished at 7:30 this evening. After putting a coat on the kitchen and spare room ceilings I realized that I had accidentally purchased flat paint, which I hate. I ran back to Lowe's to exchange my other two gallons for satin, and then I got back to work. The kitchen ceiling was green, and it took three coats of paint to cover it all. Having a white ceiling in there has already made a HUGE difference. The den took two coats, but I think that I have been able to get away with one coat on the rest of it.

I also finally junked that horrible ceiling fan in my breakfast nook, and I have purchased a much classier looking one. Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to get it installed without calling an electrician!

My new windows will be installed on Friday, and now I just need Aaron to redo my roof.

I will post pictures tomorrow when I have finished the living room.

I Have A Shed

My shed arrived this morning and I spent 4 hours putting it together. I was a little nervous when I first read the instructions because they said that the assembly would require at least two people and most of a weekend. Apparently the instructions were written for those who engage in spastic construction. As a bonus, my shed also doubles as a sauna. I don't think that I have ever sweat as much as I did during the construction today. I wish that it were a little bigger but a:) I didn't want to spend more than I did on it and b:) I didn't really have room for anything bigger. At least it is big enough to hold my lawn mower and the scroll saw that Grandma gave to me. If any of you need to use a scroll saw you are welcome to come over to my house and use it. She gave me a bunch of paint as well, so if you are feeling crafty come on over.