The Painting Fool

First of all, I have got poison ivy...bad.  Somehow I got in a fight with it and didn't even know it.  I do believe it was while I was mowing the lawn last week.  It is all over my left leg and on the left side of my face.  I am telling you because my family is OVER it and I still need sympathy.  See...

Thank you in advance for your kind words.

*****

I have somehow unleashed an addiction.

It all started innocently enough.  I was sitting in my bed when I realized I didn't like my bedroom anymore.  I wanted a bit of a change.  I reassured Hunter that he would not be replaced but I wanted to bring in my favorite color.

"Brown?"

"No, blue."

"Why are you nesting again?  Emily isn't even gone yet."

This is not going well for him.

I have a brown bed, brown leather chair, brown desk, brown lamps, beige walls, beige carpet and this:

Hmmm.  Wouldn't it be pretty if it looked kinda like this:

But that is quite a risk. Maybe I just need new accessories.

I bought these lamps from Pottery Barn

And this throw

A bit more blue with these from Pier One

Images

They are more blue than green

These Mirrors from Wisteria

They are beautiful.  Wisteria is always having some kind of promotion.

I want these accent pillows for my bed but they are on backorder until mid October.  WTF?

Nope, still want to paint it.

We shall experiment first.  Much research later I discovered Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint.  

I made Emily go three times to store with me.

We shall test on smaller objects first.  I painted two pots, and a Ball canning jar.  

Then I painted the chair in front of the little desk in my bedroom.

I first did the chair on the right but our store did not have the Annie Sloan Wax in stock so 

I got another kind from another store.  It came out better than expected but I didn't want THAT chair to be blue.  So...hey, I'm a women, I am allowed to change my mind...I wanted it black and the other one blue.

Louis Blue

The blue painter's tape I think I have had for over ten years.  

It was a bitch just to get eight pieces off the roll.  

Almost caused me to give up but I'm no quitter.

One coat...needs another

Just a tip for those that may not know...If you are going to use your brush or roller that same day or the next place it in plastic and stick in the fridge instead of cleaning.

Two coats of paint.  Each coat takes roughly 20 minutes to dry.  One coat of soft clear wax.  Dark wax administered artfully.

Yeah, I know, my back door looks really rough.

And there it is!

This is the other chair with one coat of paint.

Finished with two coats of paint and one coat of dark wax.  If you use the clear wax it's not as black.

Charcoal

FINE.  I will NOT paint the piece in my bedroom.

I'm gonna paint this instead..

I shall be using Duck Egg Blue mixed 1:1 with Pure White.  Can't wait!

Did I mention, this is an expensive habit. 

The paint is not cheap but I am very happy with the results.  

I may also do my dining chairs, Emily's dresser.  OMG!!!!

I am now known as the painting fool.

Just Do it!

My daughter sent me this "pin".

I sent her this one:

Birdie, Birdie in the Sky

 I have finally reached that age.

I have put out several bird feeders over the past few years so that I may watch the squirrels, chipmunks, doves, and various other birds from either my office window or my breakfast bay.

From my office, I usually get doves, crows, or squirrels.  If I am lucky, I get a woodpecker.

I would never make it as a birder.  I either have a heavy foot or just breathe loud because I can never get a picture.  My doves come morning and night but when I want to shoot them...they know.

From my breakfast bay, I get a variety of birds and small animals.  But mostly...mostly...I get these...

 Look closer....

 Is that not one ugly ass bird?!  I used to think they were just molting juveniles but I get them all the time...all year!  Now we do live just a few miles from Oak Ridge, TN which basically was established as a production site for The Manhattan Project.  Hmm, maybe that has something to do with it.

I am Now Resting Comfortably at Home

Well...We Did It!!!

Emily and I ran a 5K last night.

I spent most of the day wondering if the rain was ever going to let up.  Emily spent most of the day making sure she had all the poop out of her before the big race.

It rained and rained and rained and rained some more.  In fact, it is still raining.

We seriously contemplated going to the mall and telling everyone we ran.

Here we are before:

I am really getting my dad's chipmunk smile.

I guess we were a bit eager beaver because we were preregistration number two and three.  Who the hell beat us?!

I must admit I did not run the whole way...but I ran most.  The course was flat and fast.  Half was in a beautiful greenway, a quarter was in a residential area, and the rest was on a busy road.  I sucked wind on the road...it was towards the end.  A woman in front of me, with a tattoo of a sun on one shoulder and a moon on the other,  would stop and walk in front of me.  Just when I was about to pass her she would take off on me and run, then stop and walk.  I just knew she was fucking with me.  After about the fourth time I said "Screw it!"  and walked for about three minutes.  Then I did my jog walk the rest of the way back.  

Yay Emily!  

She says she only had to wait around 15 minutes for me to finish.

Yay me!

I was NOT last.

For some reason my shoulders and arms hurt today.  Was I flailing them around while I ran?!  

Oh well, another check for my 101 things to do in 1001 days.

Spoon

This is Spoon.  

She sits on command, shakes hands, and wags her ever so cute tail.  She also was dining beside Hunter, Emily, and I today at lunch.

Yes, I felt a wee bit of guilt ordering the Fried Egg BLT.  Fortunately, she was finished and had left by the time my meal arrived.