Our House Is A Very Very Very Fine House

Its been a busy week. I've meant to blog for several days now and the time keeps getting away from me.

The short version is I've been taking care of some orphaned kittens and I redid my living room.

But a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

 So I took down most of the stuff on Tuesday night while we were watching America's Got Talent, which is why there are no curtains on the window. That's kitten sneaking out the door to her lovely new job. See that coffee in her hand? I brewed it!

That the wall that never had much on it,

That's the archway into the Library (read: used to be the dining room)

There's the captain's chair (yep, Star Trek reference) and Cookie chilling out, waiting for me to move it. Behind her, the door to the bedroom.

The bookshelves used to be over here. The wall was in need of serious repair. I patched it during AGT. I didn't mind it too much...except I looked up during the last act and realized that Howard Stern was looking extra nice on that episode. Of course I missed it. I keep reminding myself there's a whole season...

So I got back to the corner and to work.

This might, maybe, be the books from the living room, sitting on a table in the dining room. They might also be so heavy I was worried about breaking the table they were on. I haven't actually counted them, but I'm thinking there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 books there. Minimum.


The dust I kicked up moving them...nope.

This might be the window in the library, where I had to stack more books because I ran out of space on the table.

This is the walls, nice and primed.

I think we did an okay job of it, really.

There's the back of Bobcat as she removes my sconces so she can paint them. 'Cause she's awesome like that.

There's the new green wall. In this light it looks way brighter than I think it looks normally. But its fine either way, because its much cleaner looking. Speaking of clean, you wouldn't notice but I shampooed the carpets too.

There's Kitten, Bobcat and Oscelot watching the AGT results show. I'm pretty sure Bobcat is holding a kitten. She's sitting on that nice leather couch I got. Isn't it pretty?

There's the entry to the library now I like that we relocated the television. I think it makes the space look much cleaner.

Also, having moved those bookshelves, I'm pretty sure I have room for two more, if I play my cards right.

There's the new corner. I love that purple color.  If you look to the left you can see my blue and pink polka-dot bedroom. Super girly, just like my new living room.

There's the new entry. The key holder is actually a little garden fence. We just bent the scrollwork in. Nice, right? Also, way more room for all the keys.

The captain's chair looks much more official from that corner.

I might have saved the pillows off the old couch so that I can recover them and reuse them.




So...that's what I've been up to.

I've also spent my time not cleaning and kitten minding reading the first book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series with Swisslet. That's pretty much all of my time.

So...what have you lot been improving?
AGxx

I Just Want To Bang On The Drum All Day

Yesterday was an interesting day for me.

I worked, of course, and that's not terribly interesting aside from the fact that we were busy. We had a group of 25 call about an hour before we opened to let us know they were coming in. It was nice for them to give us a head's up, we called Shorty (bless her heart it was her only day off!) and she came in to help us out, which was very nice of her.

At the end of the afternoon Kitten and Oscelot came in because we ride home together. They filled out their new hire packets. It was a new experience for me. Despite the fact that I have worked with Oscleot before, this is the first time that I've had someone in my family hired on at a job I was working at, while I was a senior staff member. I think things will be fine, I really do. I took Kitten around the store after she finished and gave her a very brief training session where I showed her how to find things, taught her the table numbers, ect. I know I'm biaed, but froma training standpoint I'm not...I was pleased to see that she understood and remembered things quickly, and she asked intelligent questions. I'll look forward to working with her next Saturday.

After work we went home and I went to go get things for dinner. Hedgewitch, Shyguy and Shorty all came over and I made Indian food. It was an epic fail. I didn't care for it, I'm pretty sure Shorty didn't and I know Kitten didn't. Well...live and learn. You can't figure out you're bad at making reigonal cuisine unless you try right?

While Kitten was in class I did take the time to go over some of our plans for while she is away with Oscleot. I liked having Hedgewitch and Shyguy there too, because they're going to help us out when they can. I picked up some fabric swatches yesterday morning and brought them home for us to look at. I think we narrowed it down to two or three fabrics we like, which is nice. WE can get an approximation on the price to cover the couch and get moving on that. We worked out a timeframe for repainting the living room and the library. I know the library will take longer, only because there's more stuff to move in there. I mean, thousands of books don't just pick up and move on their own. I'll have to move the computer desk too...so there'll be some technology wrestling too. I think we can manage. I've pretty well decided I'm going to get rid ofthe curtains in the library and get new ones. The ones we have now are old, they came with the house, and they don't match anything.

I am still thinking very carefully about replacing the flooring in the living room and the library. I'm terrified I'll screw it up. But I'm going to make it work. Hell, Guitar Hero managed to lay flooring in ourback room all by herself. If she can do it so can I! Speasking of, Oscelot is supposed to be pumping her for information about where she got the hardwoods she put in the back room, because I know she got them for cheap...and we like that because they're really pretty too. Its bamboo flooring, which is such a nice color.

Today starts my long weekend. I open at work today and I bartend tonight, tomorrow I open the bar and I close books as a manager. I open again on Sunday morning, and that's a lot of days in a row where I'm working all day and I'll be away from the girls. I'm going to miss them. I was going to see if I could talk Oscelot into weeding some of the flower beds while Iw as away this weekend, so we could get a jump start on the flowers, but wouldn't you know, yesterday it hailed and sleeted in the afternoon and its cold as all get out this morning. Its not going to be too warm this weekend. Our weather is so erratic it hurts. We were in the high sixties two days ago.

I've got some ideas for improving my garden this year. I want to line my driveway with Irises, which I need to get into the ground soon. I also want to plant a shade/porch garden on the porch when we refinish it. I was thinking about window boxes too...but that might have to wait. I'm not sure yet on those. I have to finish painting the outside of the house before that can happen. Our rock pathway is charming with its old stone planters, and I'm thinking about putting an old english cottage blend of flowers in a line down it, circled around our pathway lights. I think it could be cute. We'll see.

Of course, I need to buy some new rose bushes to replace the one my awful neighbor ran over last year, and I have space for a couple more before it gets rediculous. Of course, I also need to find something to do with the one shady spot of our yard, just to the east of our porch. I'm thinking ferns, because they like ddamp, and we've got a little tree with a face planter I might put over there with them, just because he's cute and it will look curte when they finish blooming. I know it sounds silly, but I've had a hankering for some big stone lions to sit at the base of our porch steps, so I am keeping my eyes peeled for some. I think we've got our bird bath picked out too. I'm looknig forward to posting pictures once the yard is blooming full tilt. Its going to be lovely.

Of course, the fun part about all of this work is that it will be a nice suprise for Kitten every time she comes home from her internship on the weekend. I'm going to work in three day surts, which means I have plenty of time for projects. I can do this. I can do this with the help of Oscelot and my awesome friends. I can.

That's me for the last two and next three days. I hope you all have a good weekend. I don't know if I'll make it back on before Sunday or not. I'm going to be mighty tired.

Are stone lions tacky? I don't know...its not gnomes or flamingos right?

AGxx