Changes

It's been such a mild spring here in Decatur/Atlanta, that I had fooled myself into thinking the Georgia summers aren't as hot as I remembered them. Alas, I was wrong. It's Memorial Day weekend and I've soaked through two t-shirts already.

I'm still working on the ?!@#?%$ wallpaper in the little dining room. I have completed the two largest walls and have the smaller walls left to strip. When we visited Len's folks last weekend, Diane and I talked about options and she suggested textured paint to cover some of the damage the stripping has done. I think I'll go one farther and go back to my paintable textured wallpaper idea -- I really did a number on the top half of the walls (where I believe the paper had been glued on with some alien technology) and the textured paper will really cover that damage. I'll paint it the same color as the lower half, but add a little glaze to bring out the texture. One day, I will finished this blasted project.

I've given up on the idea of growing my hair long before I'm 40. When it is short, my hair looks really healthy (as healthy as dead cells protruding from a head can look) and shiny and well-kempt. But, the longer it gets, the more stringy and damaged it looks. I'd had enough this week, when the outside humidity made it impossible for me to get my hair to look nice. I have a big, giant round head, and a single pony tail looks terrible. Two ponies (Suzy's idea) were kinda cute, but since it was my ONLY cute option, I knew I had to make a change. So, I called a funky little hair salon near my house and told the nice lady who answered that I'd been trying to grow my hair, but it was time to call it quits. She told me a person canceled a 5 p.m. appointment -- and asked if I wanted it. YES! And, I left my office at 4 to give me time to get home and change before meeting the nice hair lady named Maggie who would change my look. I want to add that I felt a little odd leaving at 4 that day, until I realized I was the last person there!

I told her I wanted my hair to be cute, a little flirty, and able to withstand a helmet. Ms. Maggie delivered! My hair looks fabulous. It's much shorter -- just below my ears and mostly one length. I have many cute options and no hair on my neck to make me sweat even more!

I have other cool news as well. A woman in my weekly knitting group is opening her own store in Virginia Highlands. It's going to be a really nice shop, called Knitch (www.knitchknitting.com). She told me she was looking for part-time help and I would have to work at least one 4-hour shift per week. At last, my chance to get back into retail! Yes, I know, I'm one of those crazy women who actually LIKES dealing with people. We'll see, I may not have the time, but I'm going to try. I am really looking forward to her July 15 opening!

Len and I went to the Decatur art festival yesterday and picked up a couple small paintings from a local artist. They are pretty cool and I've hung them both in the living room. Only those of you who come to visit get to know the full story behind them. We also saw the work of another local artist who we bought a large painting from a few years ago. She had a version of the same painting we purchased on display. At first I was upset, but then realized that many artists do a series of the same object. Think about how many sunflowers Van Gogh painted. Anyway, I looked at the painting and saw that she was charging more than three times what we paid for ours a few years ago! We couldn't even buy the thing today! Since we bought ours, she has received best of shows and other accolades for her work. Whew! I never thought of our art as investments, but it is nice to see that others appreciate the same things we appreciate!

Highway Madness

We finished the building today. Len is bam, bam, bamming away at it right now since one side of his nifty little frame is a bit bowed, though. He's also following the instructions on how to align the doors nicely. He's making much progress. We saved so much money on the building (thank you Dekalb County for your crazy rules!) that I think we'll sod the whole yard. New sod and some pretty plantings here and there, and the backyard will be gorgeous! Historically, we have spent alot of time in back yards when weather permits, so adding gorgeous to the mix will be very nice, indeed.

The building is really very nice. It looks like a little cottage, with it's four-paned windows, carriage doors and clapboard siding. Not bad for plastic. It even features five skylights and two vents. A person could live in this thing.

After the building was complete, I followed behind Len (driving the Saab) on my scooter to the Lawrenceville Honda/Kawasaki dealer. It's time for it's first service and for the brakes to get checked. Unfortunately, the closest dealer is in Conyers at 16 miles away, but their service department is backed up for weeks. It took a while, but we made it the 26 miles to the Lawrenceville dealer. Only once did Len nearly lose me -- since we were on a downhill, I think he thought I could go a lot faster than I could, and another car swooped in between us. For the most part, though, the scooter's 40 mph limit was not a problem. Still, I really want a Vespa. A model that is a bit faster than mine and orange or pink or turquoise. Vespa's have such nice colors. I found a pretty spectacular pink helmet on line, too! Dare to dream, dare to dream.

Tomorrow is bath day for the hounds. We are going to Daytona next week to visit the grandparents, and the hounds will be sparkling clean for their visit! But, I may have to bathe Maggie twice. She likes to spend a lot of time in the dirt.

Master Craftsmen

Len and I are building the shed this week. It's a pretty cool building, actually. Picture a gigantic RubberMaid container. That's the material it's made of, but it has windows and gables and carriage house doors and faux architectural roof tiles. It would make a great playhouse for kids -- that is, if we didn't need the storage space and we had kids to play in the thing.

We planned to have a nice building built for us, but zoning and surveyors and codes stopped us from trying. Apparently, we have to place a storage building at least 35 feet from the back property line. At least we'd have had pretty easy access with that kind of rule -- we could walk off our deck right into the storage barn. So we are skirting the law a bit and are doing it ourselves so the officials are none the wiser.

First Len built a simple wooden frame, then we placed the frame on the most level ground in the area we want the barn, and filled it with 42 bags of pea gravel, leveled that, and then laid down the floor. So far, we've snapped in three out of four walls. Soon we can move the bikes out of the house. In fact, I think we'll have a formal dining room by Friday! Pretty exciting stuff!

Better yet, our guest room will soon be inhabitable!

I'm going to attempt wallpaper pealing again this weekend, and hopefully be able to paint the breakfast room. It's all coming along.

Macabre Sights, All 'Round

She killed another one today. This time, 'twas a mouse. Unofficial count? Scully Four, Small Furry Creatures, Zero. Pretty soon, I hope the mice and squirrels and cats and especially the chipmunks (the hardest hit) start noticing their numbers dwindle whenever they venture into this particular back yard.

Since my last post so much has happened. I saw Ben Franklin's grave. And the Liberty Bell. And Independence Hall. All in Philadelphia, where my company hosted their latest big event. I worked so hard that week -- and was so exhausted when I returned home -- that I don't really like Philadelphia. I think it's really to do with the hard labor and not the city itself. In retrospect, it seemed to be a nice enough place. I've been sleeping a lot since my return, and this just today began to feel like myself again. So what did I do? I painted the living room. Now I'm tired again.

The living room is a beautiful green now -- a color I wanted, but was a little afraid of, so I got two samples and asked Len his opinion. He picked my scary favorite and so it was decided. Whew! Len is in Seattle -- returning home tomorrow -- so he'll see the fruits of my labor tomorrow. But, I think it's safe to say it's a winner. The color is actually a darker hue than the one that had been on the walls (kind of a coppery brown) but brighter, so the room is not as drab. In fact, it's much brighter. I am so pleased.

I ordered curtain rods from Target.com that are a lot like the ones we put in the Seattle house. Also on Target.com, I found lined silk drapes in a great color. We bought the stuff for the Seattle house from Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware for something like $225 per window. A very similar look can be had from Target for $70 per window. I love Target.

Once it is complete and the room is put together, I'll post some pics...