Litter boxes and other distractions

I had A DAY. A DAY!! I didn't know whether to blog about it or go someplace quiet and thunk my head against the wall. Thursdays are like that. I'm crashing from the massive amounts of steroid I'm infused with on Monday and Tuesday, so I'm tired and have little patience.

All I wanted to do was test a new paint for a local retailer. I'd started a little bench during my shift at the Collector's Market and it was waiting.

But.

Bailey couldn't be any cuter could she?

She poops outside the box. Or in a different room from the box. How cute is she now? Hmmmm?

I thought I was on top of it. Two clean litter boxes in the mud room. yay. Except, what's that smell? Oh, don't tell me...... yep, pooped beside the boxes. Boxes. We actually have 3 boxes, one in the garage. sigh. So I cleaned it up. Again.

And back to my bench.

I was experimenting with the new paint's distressing ability. I did layers of paint which normally I wouldn't do for such a small  piece. I wanted to see if this new paint would act just like Annie Sloan's etc. and sand with ease.

 I used CeCe Caldwell Alaskan Tundra, then Annie Sloan CoCo, topped with the new paint in Warm White. I used a wax resist here and there on each layer of color and did a little sanding as I went along. Each paint distressed easily and the undercoats peeked through just like I wanted.                                                                

I heard a noise.

We have a couple Spare Cats. They aren't feral or strays, they are simply cats that became homeless through no fault of their own. One of them sneaks into the house and she actually uses the litter box.

Thursday morning she scared the bejeezus out of me, coming out of nowhere like a gray streak. She must have been stuck in the house all night.

That's when I saw Logan under the table with a dead mouse.

Thank goodness I still had the shovel from yesterday's snake.

I'm the most squeamish person you'll ever meet. I can't look at the white goo in not-cooked-enough eggs. Dead stuff is completely out of my realm so I was about as cross as I could get. Trying to get that limp mouse onto the shovel wasn't easy. I was just pushing him around and around and I could feel the death cooties coming up the shovel. I finally got him up against a chair leg and wiggled the shovel under him. I shoveled the mouse outside and got back to my little bench.

Yeah, yeah, so I stole his mouse.

 When the bench was all finished and waxed, the fabric I'd chosen didn't work anymore. It was too warm for the cool tones of the paint, for Pete's sake. So I dug around in all my fabric drawers and found a few pieces to try.

I was standing, looking at my little pile of fabric, when I realized my toes felt cold. Oh please. DON'T EVEN TELL ME. I knew it, I KNEW IT! I was standing in cat pee. CAT PEE! No doubt from the Spare Cat being stuck in the office overnight.

That was IT! What has happened to my life?

I have a shovel in the living room for crying out loud.

At least I have a cute little bench.

I was done. And I went junking.

••••••••••

The paint I was testing is FAT PAINT. So far I'm pleased with it but I have more testing lined up. It is a latex base with chalk added. The texture is like chalk paint and the sanding is easy.

More to come.

Sharing with:
polka dots on parade

Mr. Bad picks a dresser

I just don't like honey oak 80s furniture. Never have. Why do did I own a honey oak bedroom set? When we moved from Seattle to a new-build home near Portland we were faced with a big empty house. We went on a whirlwind furniture shopping spree and well, there you have it. Rushed decisions. All of what we purchased that week is gone now, except two dressers.

I've been wanting to move those dressers on to their next life for years but Mr. Bad Rabbit has wanted no part of that plan. How 'bout paint the dressers? Nope. He had two requests, leave his dresser alone and don't block the big windows in the living room.

So imagine my surprise when he said 'I might want that dresser' when I was almost finished painting the huge yellow and maroon thing I'd dragged home last summer. 

I've mentioned this dresser in a previous post. It was The Dresser Left Behind. The craigslist seller had told me it was the only thing left in a foreclosed house. No Kidding?

I was transforming it into a satin black, stately beauty. 'Stately' because I think this is the biggest dresser I've ever seen. Asked why the change of heart? Mr. Bad said this was the first masculine dresser I've painted. Well, I beg to differ and I could show pictures but whatever his reasons, I'm liking it!

 

I have had no luck painting black dressers. Seriously, the finish always looks just awful and when I'm done weeping, I sand and go at it again. And again. And again. Maybe this was the turning point?
I hope so.

I saw potential in the lines and detail. That, and it's a STOUT thing. Big, solid and heavy, it truly is a man's dresser. You will not be moving this thing alone. Even with the drawers removed it won't budge without herculean effort.

I did just a little distressing.

And a little restyling.

Instead of the usual valet tray I found this 1902 miter box.

Mr. Bad Rabbit has been in Alaska all week so he has only seen pictures so far. :-)



Sharing with him and these fun sites:
beyond the picket fence
miss mustard seed
shabby nest
chic on a shoestring decorating
domestically-speaking
the dedicated house
what we accomplished Wednesdays

Inspector 11 asleep on the job.

Fires

Massive, Scary, Wildfire

There is a wildfire burning out of control not that far south of us and it's sending smoke up our valley. Yesterday we couldn't see the valley floor, it was like fog. Today there was a fine layer of ash on everything outside. The sun is a glowing red orb. Yesterday when morning light slanted through the windows there was an orange cast to it that was quite pretty. My phone was the only camera close enough at hand to capture a shot before the sun moved on. Even so, I was almost too late, a few seconds makes a huge difference.
All I got was blurry shots due to the rush I was in.

Today I was better prepared, having set up my camera and tripod ahead of time. The sun moves across the wall in about 3 minutes so
I waited and watched.

This was the first rays coming between the trees.

My red metal Delco sign got REALLY red.

My silver Priceless Artifact from Paris doesn't look so silver anymore.

This is the wall washed in red. The sun was almost past at this point.

I barely got this shot of a couple of my antique shaving mirrors before the sun was past.

The cause of my red walls and all the smoke and ash:
The Oregon Gulch Fire. It's eating 10,000 acres a day.

THANK YOU firemen!!




How 'bout a different fire?

The fire of controversy.

Has anyone heard of Lisa B. Adams? I hadn't. One day I decided to google cancer blogs to see if there was one I would like to link up with. The first blog I hit upon was written by a young man hospitalized for cancer treatment. The post I read upset me greatly. The subject was the editorial written by Bill Keller in the New York Times which singled out Lisa B. Adams' blog and suggested people shouldn't post about cancer, treatment or impending death. His wife, Emma, also wrote an article that has since been taken offline for a number of reasons. 

You can get the gyst of the whole matter here and form your own opinion. The post I read originally had paraphrased and slightly took some of the article out of context so it's important to do your own research.

But, it remains that Mr. Keller questioned patients writing about their cancer journey online. Not write about cancer and treatment and impending death? Huh. How 'bout just not reading it if you don't want to and shut-the-heck-up? sheesh

So, in the spirit of all that, here's my random cancer blurb.

 

Linking to:

my uncommon slice of suburbia

knick of time

miss mustard seed

chic on a shoestring decorating

the dedicated house

The teal bed

There are a few types of furniture I would love to find and old wooden beds are one of them. I have wanted to paint one for ages. I ran across this bed at an estate sale but had to leave it behind because it was too spendy. I happened by on the third day of the sale and the bed was still there. I got it at a fraction of the original price.

I wish I had photos of the headboard being tied to the top of my car with baling twine. Priceless.

Before

I love the rustic carving.

I painted a couple side pieces to complete the set. If I'd had time to paint a dresser before the Tie Days show i would have. Hmmmm. I still could, i suppose.

I didn't do any glazing because I felt the details were strong without it.

I used a teal DIY chalk paint mixed from all the teal samples I had in the garage. Then I ran out of paint. Mr. Bad had more paint matched for me but .... it didn't match. I had to mix mix mix until it did. Lesson learned - always use the Benjamin Moore dealer. They get it right.

Added bonus, here is Inspector 22 hard at work on his first assignment.

Linking to:
miss mustard seed
be different act normal
nifty thrifty things
shabby nest
funky junk interiors
domestically-speaking
the dedicated house

Serious count down!

The 3 day countdown before my first outdoor show.

Was I ready? Hell NO!

Was I stressed? Not by then.
I was way past stress and seriously into numb.

I wasn't even fazed by the little annoyances:

Paint pulls off with the tape. Thank you Delicate Surface Frog Tape.
Prep work goes hideously wrong. Ohhhh. Wish I'd just left that alone.
The surprise from left field. I'm sure there was more of this paint the LAST time I used it.

And the biggest time-stealer:
Hobbling around on a broken foot!

Time ignored my whimpering and just marched on.

Here's the mess I had two weeks ago. Mr. Bad Rabbit has been pretty patient, understanding, resigned about this.

And it looked pretty much the same until I pulled everything away that wasn't going to make the cut and took stock of what was. I'd been worried about filling the booth and it turned out I had too much stuff. Well, that's a good thing. I could fill in as things sold.

I staged the furniture to see what kind of fit I'd have in a 10 x 10 booth.

Thursday
The trailer got loaded, ready to go to Shady Cove, which is about an hour from here.

Friday
We set up and my poor foot really rebelled.

Saturday
The Tie Days show begins!

This is the booth set up and ready to go. It is very true to my practice staging.

We had a HORRIBLE turn of events. My friend Sioux, whom you know from other adventures, was in a serious car wreck on her way to the show. Mr. Bad drove out to help her and be her advocate with the first responders and THEN, because he's a saint and all (just ask my girlfriends! I'm always being told this), he volunteered to give up his weekend plans and run Sioux's booth at the show. Sioux is going to be fine, by the way, but she is really banged up. Her car, unfortunately, is going to the great junkyard in the sky.

Sioux's booth was next to mine but with my broken foot it would have been difficult for me to hobble back and forth helping customers. Mr. Bad Rabbit would rather eat a bag of hair than attend an antique show so I felt very grateful for his help. He did manage to have fun, helping people, delivering donuts, chatting with customers. He even saw guys he knew. Plus, we got to be together all weekend!

Sunday morning before the sun even came up and I'm already texting.

Mr. Bad bought donuts and went around offering them to the vendors. He was everyone's hero. Another vendor made coffee for everyone. Are all shows like this, where there is such camaraderie among the vendors?

And then it was over and we were packing up. My broken foot was grateful. I'd been elevating it and applying ice whenever I could but it still looked like a swollen cartoon foot.

Today, unpack the trailer. Oh boy.

Update
Which is worse? Before Loading or After Unloading. yikes
There's a song lyric about
"the woe of aftermath"
I totally get it.

Linking to
miss mustard seed
nifty thrifty things

a simple before and after

When we were in Portland for my last appointment with the Clinical trial people I took advantage of Portland's craigslist. I bought a couple dressers and really wished I had more time. We were in a time crunch to get home because Mr. Bad Rabbit had to fly out first thing in the morning.

Oh, and we had to spend some time buying this:

Purdy, huh? But I can't sand and paint it.

• • • • •

So, furniture. This was dresser #2.

Notice that "V" shape on the top drawer? In the craigslist ad it looked like it was raised. I was so bummed when it turned out to be just darker stain!

I debated taping it off and saving the design. I debated adding an applique. In the end I fell asleep in my chair and did nothing.

Another peak at my staging for the show this weekend.

See the rustic dresser back there?

I went rustic with my paint. It was slap-dash-slish-splash. Let's see if I can remember what I used.......

On the sides I splashed on American Paint Sackcloth, AS French Linen, American Paint Plymouth Rock and American Paint Home Plate. I didn't wait for anything to dry, I just smooshed more paint on. Then I sanded. Then I glazed. The drawer fronts and top are essentially just Plymouth Rock and Home Plate. The pulls were sprayed with Dover White.

Have I mentioned I've been hobbling around on a broken foot? I rebroke an injury from early summer and this time it hurts like a bear. And it's just my luck the Tie-Days event is this weekend. Maybe I'll be able to spend most of my time sitting down nursing a Gator-aid.

Linking to:
miss mustard seed
french country cottage
be different act normal
domestically-speaking