Home Improvement Stages 4 and 5

Luckily, the next two stages came quickly. Stage 4 = Depression and Stage 5 = Acceptance

I'd say it went something like this...
"Oh poop. This is taking a while. It's going to be okay. I can't fight it, I may as well just deal with it."

How did the acceptance manifest itself? Through "staging". With the flowers, you hardly notice the wall, right? Right? Totally.

Home Improvement Stage 3

Stage 3 = Bargaining

A lot of promises get made in this stage. It was pretty easy for us to decide on what we were bargaining for...cupcakes (yup, this is pretty much how the Kick*ss cupcakes came about). It went something like "Dear Big Dude in the Sky, just let me enjoy some cupcakes and I will keep working on this project". It's not exactly how the bargaining stage is supposed to go - pretty sure we just wanted a break and some cupcakes.

Home Improvement Stage 2

Stage # 2 = Anger

"Why me? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen to me?"; "Who is to blame?"

Do you notice a small difference between these two pictures? In the first one, there's an eye level phone jack in the gosh darn center of the wall. Clearly this phone jack was the one to blame!

So clearly the only choice was to put a patch over the jack. Clearly. We took our frustration out on it by erasing its existence. Bwah ha ha.

Really, who needs one anyway? Just don't mention it to future potential buyers. :)

Home Improvement Stage 1

Here's my theory: home improvement = the Kübler-Ross stages of grief. I honestly believe that home improvement moves along these stages.

Stage # 1 = Denial
This photo shows my Dad right as we entered the depths of denial. "I feel fine. This can't be happening, not to me." That's right. The previous owner put on wall paper without prepping or sizing the all. They also decided to use some type of space alien from the future rubber cement super glue.

Normally, you have the choice of scoring, spraying with chemicals or steaming. We had to do all of them, more than once each, plus some vinegar for good measure.

It may look like we have removed the wall paper here. But that's not accurate. Wall paper has two layers: the decorative layer and the backing. We had only made it past the first layer and we were hours into the project!
Fun, fun, fun! Thanks for the good times Dad!

Home Improvement

We recently started a little home improvement project. It always starts with plenty of optimism.

"Oh gee. It's a small wall. Removing that wall paper should move along pretty quickly."

You're probably laughing to yourself thinking "Ha! The silly words of a first time home owner".

It turns out that you're right. I'm will post pictures of our progress. That progress has currently stalled and I'm hoping the public shame will force me to finish...or maybe by then, it will be announced that I'm the winner of the 2010 HGTV Green Home (hey, a girl can always dream).

Best...Ever

Best Bumper Sticker Ever

We saw this on a car at BJ's this week. I assume the owner was inside buying bulk quantities of fiber.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!