Making Things Spiffy

The next couple of weekends are going to be busy. Next weekend Joe and I are going away. Every year he does this bike ride at Salisbury University in Maryland, called the Seagull Century. A century ride means 100 miles. They also have a 65 mile ride, which he has decided to do this year. He says he hasn't trained enough to do the 100. Another couple of friends come with us. While the guys ride their bikes all day, we chicks go antiquing. We all stay at a bed and breakfast in a town called Berlin. Really nice little town chock full of antique malls. We are all taking the day off Friday to go down.

The weekend after that we are having a dinner party here. Of course, I want the house looking good for that, but, as I mentioned, we will be away the previous weekend, so, when will I get this place in shape? Yesterday and today, is the answer.

Of course there is the usual de-cluttering, like matching up 150 CDs that are all stacked up on the coffee table with their cases and putting them away. Same with the DVDs that are hanging out, the spools of thread and buttons and whatever that have collected on the table next to where I do my hand work. The houseplants are inside now and have been cleaned up and placed around the house. Vacuuming, dusting, blah, blah. But also, I have been noticing things getting a little shabby. Like, the baseboard heating things in both bathrooms are rusting. So, After I dropped off Kate at work Saturday morning, I stopped at Home Depot to get some primer. The nice man in the paint department hooked me up with the right stuff, plus some trim paint, because the woodwork in parts of the house has been looking banged up, and a quart of white-ish paint for the upstairs bathroom.

First, the baseboard in the downstairs bath. I sanded it a little, wiped it down and opened up the primer. It was brown! I was taken aback a little by that, but then I realized that, well, it was to be covering rust, so, it is rust colored. So I gave it 2 coats and decided that I kind of like that color! At least in there.
Suddenly, it was time to get Kate again. I need to mention that at Home Depot that morning I had my first practice experience with what I will from here on call, TAKING IT DOWN A NOTCH. There were all these nice plants at the Depot, those cabbagey things that you plant in colder weather, and a big display of bulbs. So great! I will plant these things and the yard will look great... But then I backed off. When was I doing this? Does my yard not have enough plants? I left only with the paint I came for.

So there I was picking up Kate, and she has decided she needs new tights for her halloween costume. This is what you get with a disabled adult child. You are getting halloween costumes ready for the rest of your life. When she got out of High School (at 21 years old) I drew the line and said that I would no longer be MAKING Halloween costumes, and she can buy them. She has so many now that she has decided to start cycling through them again. She will be Tinkerbell, again. Her boyfriend has gotten himself a Captain Hook get-up, I will take pictures.

So anyway, Marshall's, do you have one where you live? How about T. J. Maxx? Same thing, almost. They always have so much cool cheap stuff there, which is part of the downfall of society, if you ask me. I gathered up a nice new tablecloth, candles, an apron. I started looking at the cutest shoes and then reason came around and I dumped it all and left the store with zero purchases. (They did not have the right tights for Kate's costume.)

So today is some more painting, maybe some bathroom cleaning, but then, I swear, I'm going to sew. I'm going to try my hand at re-constructing some clothing. I have a plain, long sleeved pajama top which I have sliced up the middle, cardigan style. I want to put eyelets in it so it becomes kind of a lace-up thing. The goal is to have something a little more interesting to wear to bed, but yet still warm.

A little update to my crazy-neighbor-with-the-crappy-house story. Since I last mentioned them, the door on the porch has been installed. She invited me over to see it. She got some reproduction old hardware and it really looks nice. This was the first time I had ever been in her house. It ain't too great in there, but I could see she had been trying out paint colors on the wall. We talked about what could be done in there, and she showed me paint chips for the outside of the house. Hallalujah! Finally, we looked at her outside cellar door, which was basically just a piece of wood leaning on the opening, but is now brand new. So, After my big, judgemental rant, things are starting to happen over there. Good for them. Good for us!