Oppressive Pines vs Whispering Pines

So I painted over 'Puke Green' with 'Oppressive Pine.' I cannot seem to pick the right color for this tiny little bathroom. I put on the primer hoping in vain that the paint itself would look better. Um-no.

The walls need one more coat of paint, but I was waiting for Kevin's opinion. I personally HATED it. I held myself back and waited. He likes it. He says it feels like he's going to the bathroom in the forest. Just the right thing to say. Maybe this color really is 'Whispering Pines.'

Mr. Handyman

Mr. Handyman was here yesterday. Actually his name is Neil and he works for Mr. Handyman, a general repair business. They fix everything, he even handed me a sheet of the dozens and dozens of things they will repair, replace and install. I guess he doesn't know about my Dad who is my own personal Mr. Handyman for inside the house.

Anyway, Neil was here to fix the rotting wood outside of our house. A lot of the trim on the house was starting to rot where the joints meet. I went outside to check everything out at 6:45 am and there was Neil surveying away, 15 minutes early. He is a character. I talked to him for about 30 minutes and we fleshed out all of the issues and rotted wood. Then his coworker, Mark, came over - he happens to be our neighbor and lives about 3 minutes away. Convenient.

Together Neil and Mark took down the gutters and then Neil worked away all day by himself. He had 20, 32, and 40 foot ladders all over the back of the house. I would see him scale one, only to see him coming down another one a few minutes later. He had no fear and he was good. He did amazing work. He replaced the rotted wood with PVC and (this is a direct quote from me to him) "You do some damn fine work." Needless to say he was pleased.

I already asked if we could request him the next time we need work done and he lit up like a lightbulb. I think we have ourselves a fearless handyman for the dangerously high outside work. Hooray!

Historic Tours of Brittany Court

So I gave one of my first official tour of the place yesterday. Now if you're clamoring for a tour, you'll have to wait. My friend Erin was in town who I haven't seen since March and she's not going to be back until December, so this was her one chance to see the place. She's such a nice person that she never pointed out the uneven lines between the ceiling and the wall or any of the spackling patches I haven't painted over or the ugly appliances, or anything. She just commented on the lovely view, the beautiful new carpet and the great green in my office.

I couldn't have asked for anyone better for my first tour, but I felt myself running around explaining that there WILL be a shelf here and this stack of boxes contains cubes that WILL go here and this is a piece of furniture I just bought this morning and haven't assembled. I think the hoop jumping to justify to myself (yes to myself) why everything isn't done is enough to explain why Erin is the only person who has gotten a tour.

One of these days soon everything will be done and then, you, yes you, can have a tour too.

Italian Olive

The 'Italian Olive paint swatch has floated around the first floor for quite some time. Originally I was going to paint all of the cabinets in the kitchen this color. After a million people (it felt like a million) told me this was a bad idea, I decided to only paint the island cabinets 'Italian Olive.' But what to paint the walls? Everything seemed to blend in, so for about 30 seconds I considered 'Italian Olive' for our whole kitchen and dining room.

Then I got a really dumb idea. Why not put 'Italian Olive' in the first floor 1/2 bath? Wouldn't that be perfect? It would tie the whole first floor together. Um, no. As you can see from the results it just makes it look like someone threw up all over the walls of the bathroom.

So down to the basement 'Italian Olive' goes to hang out with 'Opulent', 'Sweet Corn' and their other friend 'Gobi Desert'. All of which had a brief swatchlike appearance on the wall only to be covered over by something more aesthetically pleasing.

Our Refrigerator - Size 21.6

I don't know why I expected it to be easy, I guess I was just being positive and hopeful (I won't let that happen again). But let me start at the beginning.

A few weeks ago I started canvassing for new kitchen appliances (dishwasher, refrigerator and range), and this meant harassing salespeople at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. The Home Depot man sold me on LG appliances. We already have their cell phone and a combination microwave/toaster and we love them both. When he showed me the features of the LG dishwasher and refrigerator with their energy efficiency, quietness and brilliant design I was sold, sold, sold.

In yesterday's Sunday circular, Home Depot is running a deal on appliances. Our kitchen is our next phase, so I thought I'd start getting the measuring and such ready. That's when I opened the refrigerator door to discover that we have a 21.6 c.f. refrigerator. "What the heck?" (or something along those lines) started to go through my head. I ran over to my computer and sure enough this is an ancient size. They don't make refrigerators at this size anymore. Sigh.

Then I discovered that the cubic feet have nothing to do with the dimensions. But, the dimensions of the new refrigerator might fit...barely. I mean like we might have a millimeter too much or too little. This isn't good. So the debate goes on...

Question: Is anything on a house ever easy?