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 ...

Where's My Present??

It's my birthday today. Remember when the anniversary of coming into this world was the most important day of the year? We were so excited to be another year older and one year closer to ... what exactly?

We had our meals prepared and presented to us three times a day; we didn't have to work, but rather got to spend the day learning about this world AND got to play outside. We didn't have to do laundry, pay bills or fight with our spouse. Is it really worth all that to be able to set our own sleeping hours? Heck, now we'd kill for someone to put us down for a nap every afternoon.

So here I am contemplating being another year older. After my cancer scare last year, of course I'm extremely grateful that I'm here at all. But one can't help but ponder about life goals and the legacy that will be left behind one day. I haven't cured any horrible diseases, invented any life-changing products or even had a major impact on my local community.

But I have the most wonderful husband and daughter, whose love lifts me up every day. And I try to give that love back as much as I can. I also try to be a good person when I'm out in the world -- doing the right thing and being honest and caring.

I make lots of mistakes, for sure, but my intentions are almost always pure (I may have wished ill will on a contractor or two during this reno, but not very often).

So today, I want to appreciate being on this earth for another year and taking time to smell those flowers that the neighborhood deer haven't decimated.

To paraphrase one of my favorite quotes: life isn't a dress rehearsal. Here's to hoping I'm just getting started in the second act of my play ...

Next post: how I may need to toss all this life-affirming crap and kill the dog for what she's doing to our new living room rug.

A Lethagic Litany

Had a fantabulous time roaming around HomeGoods this weekend in the big city -- I had this goofy smile on my face that must have appeared as complete insanity to my fellow shoppers.

But my excursion also made me face a Carrie Bradshaw-type revelation: how can I be so perky and energized while shopping but so easily distracted and tired when there are not-so-glamorous jobs to do at home? Like when I should be painting trim in our bedroom, I become obsessed with Facebook and cannot get my butt to move an inch off the couch.

There's only one plausible explanation: I'm lazy -- really, really lazy. I've always known that I had a tendency toward the comatose side of the energy spectrum. But when I was diagnosed with neurological problems several years ago, of which fatigue can be a symptom, I thought, "Aha, that's why I crave naps instead of exercise classes and the reason I'd much rather watch a cooking show on TV than get out the roasting pan myself.

But now I'm questioning that diagnosis -- not the medical one; rather, the excuse it gives me to sit on my bony underside way too much. If I can be so energetic doing something I like, then it's clearly not a question of feeling tired all the time. Instead, I'm self-diagnosing myself with Selective Fatigue.

Like right now, I should be emptying the dishwasher before work. But, no, I've convinced myself that this blog entry, including the ability to keep my arse right where it is, is way more important than household chores.

What can I do to change my sedentary ways when it comes to the mundane parts of renovation? I always think of that arthritis medicine commercial (I see a lot of ads during my TV marathons) that talks about a body in motion tending to stay in motion. That's so true. It's just that initial push to start the movement that I have a problem with.

Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. But who else is there to blame? I guess instead of sitting here, self-analyzing, which by the way doesn't involve actually doing anything, I should get over to that dishwasher.

I have a friend who says that she keeps herself going throughout the day because she knows once she sits down, it's all over. I need to adopt that attitude myself. I could also try Dr. Phil's "Fake It 'Til You Feel It" advice: in my case, if I get going as if I have energy with boring tasks, I eventually will.

So wish me luck today. I'm hoping to go to work, clean part of the house and lift weights, as well as making a renovation to-do list for the week. You know, that to-do list will allow me to keep sitting on this couch, so maybe I should start with that ...