A Breath of Fresh Air

Angela, after seeing a photograph much like this one,

proclaimed that the paint should be called, "A Breath of Fresh Air" and I tend to agree with her. I am in heaven around here, in spite of the long days of work!

We left off when Bruce was making the wine cabinet which in truth is a box with the lattice work fastened to the inside. I told you he would be doing moldings and such, but first he had to paint it. I suggested spraying, however, he opted for a brush, and I'm glad I was not the one doing it, that's for sure.

While he was working on it, I moved back into the finished cabinets. During the emptying process I did just a wee bit of purging. What is it about mugs that make them so hard to do away with? We had way more than we needed, however, lots of them are gifts, and it pains me to give them away. Do you have the same problem?

Some I could not bear to part with, including the adorable Santa mug on the top shelf, a remnant of Bruce's childhood. Hot chocolate anyone?

You know it is taking you a long time to do a project when even the girl at Goodwill asks, "are you done with the kitchen yet?" Why, no we are not, thank you very much.

We are, however, making great progress.

The tubs in the forefront look way better after I sorted things out. One is for baking stuff, while the other is filled with all types of pasta. Running up to Ross, I was hoping to find more of the same to get the rest of the cabinet looking neat and tidy, however, I had to content myself with some other types. My sister Nancy will be so proud, as she loves an organized cabinet.

To better understand why it is taking so long, here's a close up of the banding that Bruce is adding to each and every door. See the lighter colored wood along the edges? Glued, stapled, spackled and sanded before it comes to me for the de-glossing, two coats of primer, followed by two coats of paint.

Finally I had the pantry doors primed and one coat of paint;  then began the laborious process of hanging them again with four sets of hinges each. The final coat to be done while they are hanging.

While Bruce worked on that, I DUSTED!! Every surface in our living area, not to mention my neglected bedroom was covered in dust. Won't last long, but it feels better for now!

Tuesday afternoon I finally got my hair cut after a six month hiatus. Figuring if anyone could tell about my hair loss, it would be Monica, and indeed it is the sad truth. Running her hands through my conditioned hair she came away with a hand full. I've finally got an appointment with Bruce's doctor, having waited for return calls from my former doctors for nearly a week. Bah humbug on them!

With the dusting and the door hanging out of the way, it was finally time for some fun. Steve and Kirsten Vaughan are the greatest hosts in the world.

The food is always scrumptious and the company? Fantastic!  The occasion? Steve's 60th birthday!

A large deck out back basically hangs over Dickson Azalea Garden, a city owned park. Good for them that when a gigantic, and I'm not using that term lightly, part of their neighbor's tree fell on their beautiful deck, they were not hom,e as they spend lots of time out there. I could not get a good photograph of it, well because it is slightly dangerous, however, Kirsten and Steve were giving tours of what is going on right now.

Do you see what is going on? Incredibly, after the half-tree fell, Kirsten noticed an inordinate amount of bees flying around, so, after finding a bee guy on Craigslist, they went about trying to figure it out, which required cutting a chunk out of the tree. Discovering thousands of bees inside, the bee guy really wanted the queen who as it turns out is up in the part of the tree still standing. The towel is stuffed into the hive area to keep the bees from returning and an artificial hive is what that white box is all about. Here's the nearby bait.

Honey bees were flying around like mad, but apparently, unless severely provoked they will not sting. Good news for me as I'm no good with any sort of insect bite, swelling up like a little balloon at the bite site.

Back inside it was so good not to be painting, AND, for Bruce to hear from folks how much they miss him at Darden. One of the guys told me he always called Bruce the Admiral. :)

Not only do they have that super sized island, but a big square table as well. Nice!

So, it's a good thing that we tackled this project now because in the last week or so, four, if not five different folks have called with job offers for Bruce. I'm afraid I will soon have to be sharing his talents with others once again.

This afternoon, when he returns from errands, he will put the knobs on the pantry doors, and then we are taking a much needed break to go to the beach tomorrow!! At the moment we are debating about the paint color for the brick wall. Should we go with the green of the living room, or the yellow of the kitchen? I'm inclined to go with the green, however, the paint is not purchased yet so weigh in if you have an opinion!

Not counting the wall paint we are getting there as you can see. Only twelve doors and two drawers left to go! That is what is known as positive thinking my friends, which is easy to come by when you are living with a breath of fresh air. :)

p.s. B's finger is not hurting and after a day or so the tetanus shot site is feeling fine once again.