Happy Birthday Dear Work Pants...

There was SO much work getting did around the house this weekend that the work pants have been declared dead. Yes my friends, get ready. The Big Reveal is upon us.

My husband really IS the best. I mean it. He was promised a birthday weekend of fun and last hurrahs, and instead he worked his butt off to get that nursery finished. Which is why I am glad I have better presents for him than new work pants.

A pretty nice little Saturday, actually

We hit up Home Depot for the closet system for the nursery. Ran out of time for Bed Bath & Beyond, though.

Ah, I can't go to Home Depot on a weekend without thinking about Old School and feeling a little bit lame, like some prior version of myself is laughing somewhere. The one with the hangover and the inexplicably inside-out pants.

Then again, I've also found myself with Dogwood envy. What I mean by that (in case you yourself are cool and have no idea what I could possibly be talking about) is that I have a rather sickly Dogwood tree in my front yard, and when I see someone else with a beautiful vivacious one in their yard I am jealous. So maybe a trip to Home Depot is the least of my worries.

These are the sorts of interests (errands, botany) that I attributed to middle age a decade ago. So was I just ignorant back then, or have I settled into a middle age groove without realizing it? Don't answer that.

When I'm overwhelmed, I stay in my pajamas all day

I think I need to move my (very important) Blog Reading Time to the afternoon. Reading blogs with my morning coffee tends to turn into reading blogs at noon in my pajamas and still not having eaten.

I've noticed that when I put off my blog time until the afternoon, I'm much more discriminating. I'm skimming, I'm avoiding long link-following tangents. I read what I care about reading and I move on. Not sure why it's different, but it seems like it is.

And, if I read my blogs in the afternoon, I would avoid seeing things like this until after I had actually accomplished something with my day. As it stands, I read this particular post mid-morning and it stopped me dead in my tracks. At first I was inspired - the author of this post designed her nursery after a favorite tank top. I picked my color palette from a favorite pair of pajama pants. But inspiration was quickly overtaken by panic and stress. The woman bought balsa wood and painted it in a coordinating color and drilled holes in it all to MAKE BACKGROUNDS FOR THE LABELS SHE WAS PUTTING ON THE BASKETS TO HOLD DIAPERS. At this point, I am totally sweaty and on the verge of tears. How am I ever going to get any of this done? I've never even drilled holes in ANYTHING.

So basically I have total deer-in-the-headlights-itis. I had big plans to get the 1982 bathroom all repainted. When I needed a break from that, I was planning a trip to the baby furniture store to price out gliders. Maybe see if they have any mattresses or covers that will work with my bassinet. Instead I'm sitting here in my pajamas, eating M&Ms.

I know I'm overthinking this one. I have put together many a decent looking room totally by accident, and on a rational level I'm sure this nursery will be no different. But on an irrational level, however well I do or do not put together the nursery reflects how much I love the kid, or how good a mother I will be. I know that's asinine, but it's a feeling that's there somewhere. Maybe now that I've acknowledged it out in the open I can move on. Just buy some damn paint and get on with it.

No Soup

This is as far as my split pea soup project went this weekend. That is not to say, however, that I was not productive. I just changed projects midstream.


We decided to finally get the kitchen painted instead. Here is an action shot of Husband, vacuuming out the underbelly of the range. I would like to make a point of telling you that he does not regularly wear acid washed cK tapered leg jeans. These are his "work jeans," and any time he puts them on, I know that a project is going to get DONE.

I don't know if it's the nesting instinct kicking in, or just me getting older and more finicky, but I have never in my life been so excited about pulling a range out from the wall and scrubbing it down. I focused on that puppy like I'd taken a handful of Adderall. I also cleaned the top and back sides of the fridge, so long as we were pulling major appliances out from their spots and all.

Before

After!
(Good job picking up before taking the stupid photo, right?)

I love, love this color. I am a big fan of mossy greens. This one in particular is a Behr paint called Lucky Bamboo. I wanted to do something to perk up the wood, and I think that I did it. I can't say that this kitchen is really my taste, but I've been much happier since I decided to go with it's traditional vibe rather than fight it. It's cheaper that way, at the very least.

We (Husband) also painted the hall bathroom...but I'm not posting any pictures of that because I still HATE it. It looks like something straight out of 1982. I don't know what I can possibly do to fix it, short of ripping out the pink formica vanity with my bare hands.