7 Quick Takes- Projects or Death!

...or why Tim is the most patient man alive

So first of all allow me to take a break from your regular adoption-themed programming. Sure, this blog was created for the sake of keeping friends and family up to date on our upcoming adoption (hopefully soon)... but adoption-land can get boring and if I don't blog, I won't blog. Habitus!

There are several lovely blogs which I read on a semi-regular basis (usually that means binge reading when I need to grade something that is going to be thoroughly depressing as a teacher, about once a month) and several of them do this "link up"... So here goes! that is...if my technology-deficient self can figure out how to do it.

Each week has a theme and there are 7 Quick Takes (thus the title) on the theme(s). 

I will blog. I will be a blogger. I think I can. I think I can... 

So without further adieu, 

-1-

My beloved parents and brother came to stay with us over Christmas, so naturally I got the flu and infected all who came to stay with us. That'll teach 'em.We'll see if they ever come back. One of the mornings before we all got sick, Tim and I were getting ready for the day. I had just wrapped up or started about three projects with my mother and we were scrambling to leave on time (as usual). Here's the thing that I never realized was not normal until I married an objective third party; if there are fifteen minutes before I have to leave and the kitchen is relatively clean, there is some door I can paint, or plant I can pot, or some project I can get started in that fifteen minutes. But fifteen minutes usually means twenty, and then one must clean up the mess or the dog will get into it and usually I forgot to throw in that load of laundry, so I should do that too real quick, and... I must do all the things in that fifteen minutes.

So this particular morning with my house brimming with possibilities and in-laws, Tim looked at me with very kind eyes and said, "Well now I know where you get your Projects-or-Death mentality." My mom. Bless her heart--girlfriend packs an incredible amount of crafts, cleaning and life in every minute. At least I come by it honest.

Tim discovered this Projects or Death tendency about a year after we were married with this project:

Don't mind the ugly door. 

It doesn't look so bad, it is a wreath. Easy, right? Well... I had decided that it was imperative that we have a new spring wreath, but at that time we were at the end of the month on a tight budget--so I found this coffee filter wreath on pinterest (Tutorial can be found Here) You soak the coffee filters in various acrylic paint/ water mixtures and hang them to dry. This all sounds fun and wonderful if you have space-but we were in a little apartment and coffee filters soaked in acrylic paint take a surprisingly long time to dry. So Tim came home after a long week to coffee filters strewn over clotheslines criss-crossing the living room, dining room, and part of the kitchen.

In other news, if you are considering making a coffee filter wreath, I would highly recommend that you keep it inside. Or that you really like spiders. Spiders like coffee filter wreaths. This wreath never made it past a season.

-2-

I have recently developed a love affair with spray paint. Three projects were settled for Thanksgiving Break: Spray paint some ugly (but FREE) 70s lamps-Check!; Spray paint the ugly shed that Tim claims is too practical to get rid of--Check!; Spray paint the fireplace doors--We'll give this one a half-check. 

Do you see a theme?

We were well acquainted with paint last year, when we repainted almost every room in our house. 

No, really. Every room. Mustard yellow--was not our style.

BUT, I have always been afraid of spray paint. In the past, it would seem that I either got drips or it was completely uneven. Chalk this up to impatience? I do not know. But I decided, after much discussion, deliberation, and again, Pinterest, that I would spray paint those fireplace doors. Brass is dated enough as is, but this had the additional awesome of being dented and rusting at the bottom--but $300 on fireplace doors was not in the budget--$5 worth of paint? You Betcha.

It turned out really great. Well, at least I got my spray paint confidence back. The color is a little more grey than we love, so we are living with it to see how badly we really want to take them off and try again.

No rust, Maggie's a fan.

NOTE: if you want to do this, don't bother taping. It way easier to get spray paint off with a blade than spending time with blue tape and you will probably have to do this, either way.

-3-

Half-completed projects are my zen. Not really. Usually, I prefer to marathon craft days and get them done when Tim is out of town and I can pick up the mess before he lovingly and patiently looks at me like I am crazy. But I have made peace with my half-completed projects. The next one is a sign for above our french patio doors on our freshly stained back deck. 

Maggie gets to be in as many pictures as she wants. Look at that face

The jigsawed Texas was a combined effort of my mom and Tim. We are trying to figure out how to affix this to our house without succumbing to the dangers of too much wood on wood (rot). Suggestions are welcome.

-4-

So here's the thing about my husband-symmetry is everything. Everything. We have two windows opposite of the fireplace--and out on the deck we have two potted plants, trimmed to be even, of course, under each window--and a little wood plaque that says "On earth as it is in Texas" over one of the windows. This asymmetry was unacceptable to husband. 

Tim can be in as many pictures as he wants, too.

So, he came up with a little craft for his crafty wife. Win-win, if I ever get to it. It is hard to see in this picture, but there is a neat design from a defunct Texas winery that has a wine bottle, a Lonestar and the phrase "Come and Drink it" modeled after the famous Gonzales Flag:

So, he wants me to paint such a thing on a wood plaque to match the other... Maggie's thrilled.

Left: Complete. Right: Blank Slate. Maggie: still following me around.

-5-

The big, honkin' project for the past several months has been to clean up and organize the garage. They had astroturf from the early 80s taped to the floor and a musty cabinet around the washer and dryer. It was once someone's man cave... now it was nasty.

Before

Before. Check out that astroturf EVERYWHERE.

Tim was excited to get in there and break some stuff, but after that the garage took a backseat to the rest of the house. We spent some good time chipping away at the carpet glue this summer, but were able to get to work in earnest around Thanksgiving. I had paint on my hands for weeks.

Laundry--the always half-done project.

I scavenged the Lowes paint mistakes and got this lovely tan color for $5, Tim calls it Butternut. Something about being a Southerner. I filled in some holes, painted the walls, painted the peg board with some extra blue paint just for fun and put up some old pictures and things.

On the other side we decided to mount a piece of plywood to the wall so that we could organize and reorganize the wall shelving and baskets (still to come) without having to find studs.

I stained the plywood in "Gunstock" because it looks like a gunstock and after all this is Tim's playroom. And we liked it so much that we also attached some plywood to the remaining cabinet sans astroturf.

Bye, Bye Astroturf.

Oh, and I have a new found love for Chalkboard paint:

Who doesn't want a little love note in chalk when one goes into the garage? Hopefully my husband does, because he is going to get them. All. The. Time. 

One thing I learned about Chalkboard paint is that you must "prime" the wall or door or whatever once it is dry, before you start using it. Take a piece of chalk and run it all over the wall and then wipe off and erase. Otherwise the first thing you write will be there for eternity (or until you paint over it again <-- This is what I did. Do not be like me.)

So we'll call the garage half done. We still have a lot of organizing and carpet glue scraping before it will be up to snuff. 

-6-

My next big project is this room:

paint samples give you a hint?

I'll give you three guesses about what this former sewing room/2nd guestroom is about to become, and the first two don't count.

-7-

By far, our new favorite project is when Tim and I put together our puzzle each evening. It is the perfect project because it lives happily on our kitchen table, and we chip away at it together each night.

I bought the print from a Christian couple who are graphic designers on Etsy, who when I told them what it was for, made it for our specifications for no extra charge (I love humanity). Then I ordered the puzzle through a portrait-to-puzzle company. 

When it came in our dear friend Meris came over to sprawl out on the floor and number the back of the pieces with a pencil. 

This is a 1000-piece puzzle.

For some reason, I could not count. It was before Christmas. It was a Friday. We are both teachers. I blame those reasons.

Then I separated them into 10 bags with 100 pieces each. 

Tim and I sit together each night and struggle with my inability to write legible numbers and put together our puzzle. We write the names of the people who have given to us, or their well-wishes, while we talk about our day, how we know our benefactors, and how grateful we are. It is fun--but not because I am a puzzle person, I am decidedly not, ain't nobody got time for that--but it is wonderful because we see everyday how much closer we are to being parents and how many people are rooting for us.

It is lovely.

Notice the other partially finished projects behind me. Actually, please forget I brought it up.

--

So... after re-reading this little blog I think "Quick" is a bit of a misnomer. Quick is not my style. Whatevs. I'll work on that for next time. Thanks for making it to the end! 

Cheers and happy long weekend! 

What projects do you have planned?

<3 Jessi