The Hall of Shame Updated!

Since I wrote my last blog “The Hall of Shame” on Sunday, I vowed to focus my energies on my current project, hoping to have it completed by Easter Sunday. Soooo, that hasn’t happened. While working on this project was my top priority, I also had to work, take Daisy to the vet,

walk the lake, make repeated trips to the paint store, Home Depot, the bank, HomeGoods, blah, blah blah. So here it is Wednesday, and although the progress is intermittent and the pace is slow, things are coming along. Of my to-do list that I posted, the accomplishments thus far are:

1. “Make a Menu” Done. Menu created for Easter dinner, shopping list made, email invites sent. Casual attire, bunny ears optional.

2. “Re-paint and wallpaper something” I began the wallpaper stripping, the puttying, the sanding and general prep work to complete the transformation successfully. Can I tell you how much I hate prep work!?! The walls below the chair rail were covered in wallpaper- 3 layers deep, my doing, that I decided to remove to start with a clean slate. Using my handy Wagner 905 Power Steamer made this job a bit easier. It’s an all-purpose steamer that I use everywhere in my house to clean and sterilize without any chemicals! Along with a spray bottle filled with Vinegar, Dove dish soap and hot water, the stripping took approximately 4 exhausting hours. Puttyed and sanded all the holes, dings and scrapes. I typically use these sanding sponges because they fit into small corners and cracks, and you can rinse and re-use them. And this is the putty-Drydex. It is creamy pink before you apply it and turns white when dry. And I love pink!

And then came the bannister and railing. Curvy and dark, very beautiful, with 150 year old varnish that is virtually impossible to remove. The remaining progress has come to a screeching halt as I work my way slowly up the railing. I may hand everyone a sanding sponge on Sunday- do you think they will work for Peeps?

3. “Clean out and mulch the garden” (No, this isn’t my garden, it’s Monet’s in Giverny, France. A girl can dream, can’t she?

Ok, well I hired someone to do the front part. He only did half and hasn’t come back to finish. Not gonna name names, yet. During the great stretch of weather we had a couple of weeks ago, I started raking down in the “back 40”. Kept looking at the white picket fence and thought that it needed a nice new coat of paint. So I started painting that, and then I ran out of paint. Where’s Tom Sawyer when you need him? So I haven’t finished raking. Or mulching. Or painting.

4. “Wash all the windows” Haven’t finished yet, but I did make a great head start using this crazy “As Seen On TV” “Streak-Less Microfiber Cloth” that someone just gave me! You wet it and wipe the windows-no cleaners required and guaranteed not to streak! Guess what?!? It works!!! It only takes seconds to wipe each window, even the one’s with Daisy’s nose prints all over them. When the cloth gets dirty you wash it and keep using it. Crazy stuff. Too bad it won’t remove varnish from the railings…