Mad Scientist Musings ..

OK in my last blog, I talked about getting the foyer walls primed and ready for paint. Well, I completed the prep and was all ready to slap on some muted green paint, but then a big problem arose: namely, the ''muted green paint''.

Why so hard to find, MGP? I want a fairly pastel hue with maybe a touch of grey to make it just the tiniest bit sage. Is this too much to ask? Apparently so. Thus far, I've picked up dozens of paint sample cards and actually purchased two cans: one a sample so light that Mr. Hubby had a hard time even finding where I had tested it -- and the second an actual quart (I was just convinced that it would be the right color, plus I wanted to move this project forward toot-quick).

But alas, the second color looked like a candy apple jolly rancher projectile vomited on the wall. So off to a different paint store? Not a chance for this penny-saving optimist. I thought I could just CREATE the color I wanted by mixing paints until the elusive "muted green'' color would be attained.

So I went into the garage and began mixing the candy apple explosion with white ceiling paint (I don't want any sheen to the wall; better to cover up the imperfections, my dear). First, it was a 2:1 ratio (two jolly ranchers to one ceiling). There wasn't much of a discernible difference.

Not one to give up so easily, I next tried a 1:1 batch -- better, but nothing to paint home about.

My third experiment was a 2:1 reverse ratio: two ceilings to one JR. This time, I got a variation on the original vomit hue, only this time the jolly ranchers ate their own poo before throwing up. The color is this weird brownish green, not fit for a baby's diaper, much less an entryway wall.

So I'm back to square one. I'm going to try a new paint store that I'm sure will have colors never even imagined by the first two stores.

If anyone has a nice, soft green paint color they've used with success, please Facebook or email me the cutesy name. PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU!!

The mad scientist color wheel (start at the bottom and moving clockwise): pukey brown-green 2:1 reverse ratio; two 1:1 ratio swatches, still a little intense for such a small space; the full-throttle candy apple color with the ''TOO MUCH!" factor; and the oh-so-pale original with two coats (don't feel bad if you can't see it; only LevelHead, Jr. with her youthful eyes can).

Decision Made

Oh, gentle readers, I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am for not posting in eons. As I've previously whined, I just cannot make enough time during the week to actually accomplish a task that's blog-worthy.

But after much consideration, I have decided to leave my part-time job at the school system, including its mid-day hours that seem to paralyze me into a total lack of house renovation productivity. My last day will be October 11th.

However, I know myself well enough to realize that I need outside social contact to maintain my elusive sanity. So I am in the process of applying for a substitute teaching position. In a perfect world, I will work a day or two per week in my present school and have three days to get projects done around the house.

And the amazing part is that if I work two days, I'll make more money than I currently do. It's a win-win, as those business types like to say. My only fear is that I'm miffing off the school by leaving my regular job and that they'll never call me to sub. Only time will tell.

I have tons of projects that will keep me busy around the house, at least to the point that all my solitude makes the voices in my head grow too loud.

On a more homey note, I did have time over the weekend to prime the entryway -- or foyer, for you true HGTV addicts. It's hard to tell just how much wallpaper removal damage is going to show, so we're going to paint and then do the remaining skim coat touch-ups to make it presentable to you and the rest of the world.

So that's where I am. I'm a little uneasy because this will be the first time I haven't worked regularly, except in time of sickness and surgery recovery. But we bought this house so we could renovate it and get that market value moving in a positive direction. And unless we want to be on the 50-year plan, something's got to change.

I hope you will give me a second chance to become the best blogger I can be -- with regular posts and everything!!

A fashion idea that I hope will soon become a craze: wear socks while you paint; then take them off before moving to a different room. No more painted footprints! (Photo courtesy of LevelHead, Jr.)

Organization Nation!!

I'm sure I've lost all loyal readers by this time with my total lack of posts, but please know it's me, not you. I would love nothing more than to try and bring a smile to your cyber faces with witticisms or at least your expressions of ''I'm so glad I wasn't stupid enough to buy that house."

But, alas, my weekdays since school started have not been a study in efficiency, as I've previously whined. But I'm not one to give up that easily, so today I'm going to start accomplishing a few tasks in the afternoons -- which, yes, means giving up my previous quiet time. I'm going to write down at least two things I want to get done by the time I pick up LevelHead, Jr. from school. For those of you who secretly think Martha Stewart is kind of a slob, this may not seem so impressive, but for me, it's a step in the right direction.

I will continue with this schedule while I'm deciding if I should quit my job. Maybe I'll find that I can get just enough accomplished each day so that I don't feel like such a slug. Or I may come to the conclusion that I can earn more in house equity than I could ever earn with my pitiful school salary.

We did have some time to work this weekend. My dad had his 81st birthday party on Saturday, which involved some driving and took away from task time (Happy Birthday, LevelHead Dad!), but I was able to get a few things done: I finished scraping the paint from the windows in LHJ's room, and I skim-coated the foyer walls in preparation for paint.

Applying the drywall compound is the easy part; the difficulty comes when sanding it off. It's an amazing workout for the arms, plus it creates more dust than a hoarder's coffee table

Mr. Hubby helped prepare the room by hanging up plastic sheeting in a feeble attempt to keep the dust from escaping the entryway. Then, as with most tasks I take on myself, he was called in to rescue me -- this time with the sanding. It's hard, hard work, people. I was huffing and puffing after just part of one wall, and I wasn't even getting it all off. So The Hubster to the rescue -- his anatomical guns were put to good use as he took over and got the job done.

There was only one sliver of wall that I completely missed with the joint compound. So that's one of the two items on my to-do list today: skim coat that final part of the wall and see if there are any other parts that need a second coat.

I also plan to search high and low for family photos that have been missing since the move. I have no idea where they are -- probably in the bottom of a box covered with my sexy lingerie (Mr. Hubby will laugh hysterically when he reads that).

So my day is set. I hope to post more often this week with exciting updates (aren't you thrilled?).

Here's to an efficient day, gentle reader,  full of utter organization for both of us!

Paint Shavings on a Window Sill -- photographic art.

 

 

Me, mid-huff-and-puff

 

This house has cost us so much money, Mr. Hubby can't even afford a Colts jersey

 with a current player.

Whine of the Day

 Sorry I've been absent from my own blog for so long. For someone who is organizationally challenged, juggling work, a daughter, husband and a very needy house pretty much overwhelms me to the point of accomplishing nothing.

A lot of you know that I'm only working at LevelHead Jr'.'s school for three hours per day, but that time is right in the middle: 10:30-1:30. How can I possibly be expected to get anything done before my school time? I'm not one who switches gears easily. I have a hard time painting for two hours and then switching my overalls for a skirt and instantly becoming Teacher's Aide Extraordinaire. It just ain't gonna happen.

Then after work, due to my neurological issues, I usually have to have a little down time after I eat so I'm not completely exhausted by the time I walk to pick up LHJ.

So that's why I haven't been posting much: I just haven't been doing much when it comes to house improvement. Now, if you'd like to hear me go into great detail about setting a doctor's appointment for LJH's rash or how I used up a lot of leftovers in last night's dinner, I'm your gal. But I somehow doubt readers want to hear about the great deal I got on paper towels on double coupon day at the grocery store.

That's my dilemma right now. What to do? What do to? The amount of money I make is so infinitesimal it probably costs the school corporation more in administrative costs to electronically deposit my check than I actually earn.

So should I quit my job and just concentrate on the house right now? If I do, will I slowly become a hermit who never leaves the comfort of her four unpainted walls and orders paint and groceries on-line?

Well, it's time once again to begin the metamorphosis from blogger to educator. Sometimes I'm afraid I'm going to start teaching the kids about miter cuts and drywall compound. Then I'll come home and educate the baseboards about telling the difference between writing "b"s and ''d''s.

And that's wrong -- on so many LevelHeads ...

Labor Day, Literally

One of the downsides of renovating a house is that you always think you should be working on a project. When you get four days off for a holiday weekend, instead of looking forward to cookouts and inappropriate drinking, you start contemplating all the tasks you'd like to complete by weekend's end.

You've previously complained so much about all the crap you have to get done that no one dares interrupt your forward movement with a party invitation (at least that's the way we're interpreting no invitations). And since you have so many projects uncompleted or not even started, you don't have the self-esteem to invite anyone over.

So that's where we found ourselves last Friday. So I decided to attack a project I've been wanting to get started forever: removing the wallpaper from the foyer. Based on our experience in the master bedroom, I was expecting to be done steaming all the paper from the walls within a couple of hours.

Ha! How long is it going to take me to learn that nothing is easy in this house?? First, I learned that no two wallpapers are alike. They're more like snowflakes -- really ugly, adhesive-backed, sticky snowflakes -- but each an individual.

The wall coverings in the dining room, laundry, bedroom and foyer have been VERY different. So using a removal technique from a previous room is like using last night's meatloaf recipe to make tonight's cheesecake.

But not knowing this, I proceeded removing the paper the same way we had in the bedroom. The plan was to quickly steam the top paper; then I'd apply more heat to the adhesive below. But after trying this technique on one wall, I realized that the big chunks of drywall being ripped off the walls was due to too much moisture from all that steam.

Even though I changed my game plan for the remaining walls (I started pulling off the top layer with brute force and used the steam just for the adhesive), pieces of those walls still chipped off.

So a project that was supposed to cost me a couple of hours cost me the whole weekend and is spilling over into this week. When I went to add a thin layer of drywall compound to the walls (my favorite, skim coating), the parts where the drywall had been pulled off down to the cardboard were bubbling up like champagne at a wedding toast.

Luckily, after the compound dried, Mr. Hubby was able to use his muscle to sand those parts down. But even after those repairs, I have four walls that have to be skim coated. I'm going to try and do one each day. That way, MAYBE, we can paint this weekend -- IF the drywall compound saves our walls from looking like a pockmarked teenager who has never had the benefit of Proactive.

The good news is that we only have one more room of wallpaper on the main floor! The bad news is that I'm too scared to remove it ...

Have you ever seen what's behind the top layer of drywall??

Tiny bubbles in the wall ...

Just call me "Skim Coat" LevelHead ...