I got a job!

NW Handspun Yarns is a local (Bellingham) business that has the most delightful atmosphere and merchandise.  It has an upstairs where you can just go in and knit and hang out.  They have knit nights and knit days and classes and gatherings.  It's where I got my spinning wheel.  Last November I went out to their website in search of a drum carder.  I knew they had one in the store but I wanted to know how much it was.  Their site was not helpful.  So I sent a email off to the owner offering my services on their website.  I didn't hear a word for over two months!  Two weeks ago I finally heard back.

The perks of the job are:  I get to work from home most of the time. When I'm not working from home I'll be surrounded by yarn and spinning wheels and fiber and lovely artsy people. I can pick my own hours. I can work as much or as little as I want to. My job is updating, and keeping up-to-date, this website: NW Handspun Yarns.

There is only one downside of this job:  No pay.  None.  But really that's perfectly okay by me.  The upside of not getting paid allows me the freedom and flexibility I insist on.  Also working with them get's me out of the house and allows me to keep active in my profession.  When, and if, I start looking for a job for real I will have something new to add to my resume, I'm getting experience with software I'm not familiar with and I'm making excellent business contacts.

Despite all the excitement about my new job I'm making slow progress on the guest room.  It's not going as fast as I'd like.  The room is pretty well gutted.  The wallpaper is off the walls, they are suitably sanded and patched, the texture is off the ceiling.  I am nearly ready to start painting.  One small hitch though. I was trying to "tap" in a thing on the wall and in so doing I put the hammer right through it.  I made a nice big hole in the wall in the shape of a hammer head.  I'm considering drawing in eyes and a nose, putting a frame around it and calling it art.  It would be way easier than fixing the stupid thing.

Company is coming!

Company is coming and it's time to roll out the red carpet - or at least set up a proper bedroom.

Our friends from Portland have decided to head north for spring break.  They may stay here one night on their way into B.C. or they may make this their home base for day trips north.  As yet to be decided.  Either way - I'm excited.  I really like these people and I'm pleased for the company and the opportunity to show them my new world.  My biggest problem is that the guest room is seriously messed up.  This is what it looked like when I got the news:

The picture doesn't really do it justice - There is a pervasive odor in there, I'm sure from years of dust, 50 year old carpet and wallpaper.  It has nothing to do with cleanliness - old things just smell... old.  Not to mention stuff from the work on the other rooms has been crammed in there as well as items like furniture and art and odds and ends that just haven't found a home yet.

Three days of moving, shoving, stowing and stripping have left me with one little patch of wallpaper left.  The saving grace is that this wallpaper has come off the wall pretty well.  There still needs to be some sanding and a modest amount of wall repair - but nothing like the other rooms I've done. 

The room still smells.  I intend to remove the popcorn ceiling and the carpet.  Basically removing every visible surface in the room SHOULD do the trick.  Spring break is less than a month away - it's sure lucky I work well under pressure.

Bagels and honeydew - a yummy combination

The office is done - short of re-installing the trim and hanging the curtains.  Yay!   I managed to work through the wallpaper fiasco.  The paint I chose is called "bagel."  So I could get an idea of the color I had selected, I smeared some of my bagel on my walls several days before I was actually ready to paint.  I hated it.  I was ready to toss the can away and start over.  But it was expensive paint from a hoity-toity paint store.  (I thought I'd see if expensive paint makes a difference.  I don't think it does.)

I had two visitors come by while my smeared bagel was on the wall and I dragged them both into the room to see what they thought.  One politely said it might look better with more of it.  The other said she had rooms that color once and really never cared for it at all.

Not very encouraging.

I am not one to throw in the towel that quickly.  The financial investment was made and all it would cost me by going forward was some physical labor.  That stuff is cheap.  I decided to embrace my bagel.  Make it my own.  I would learn to love it.  Surprisingly, I really do like the way it turned out plus I have learned that I should not smear paint samples on the wall.  It just makes me nervous.

In my continued efforts to live within my means  (aka unemployment compensation) and given that curtains are so expensive I like to think I was clever and stylish.  Target had plain canvas roman shades on clearance for less that $10.00 a piece, so I bought two  (because I have two windows.. sheesh).  I also purchased a philodendron leaf stencil.  I stenciled the leaf onto the curtain with the bagel, as well as the color of paint from the adjoining dining room (honeydew).

And then I took the honeydew and stenciled the walls in the office.

It was a very inexpensive solution.  I hope it doesn't look cheesey.  I like it but I think Peter is just humoring me again.

Now, assuming I get the trim and curtains done tonight, tomorrow will be spent on goat shop plans.  I have to acquire a business license, apply for a booth at the Farmers Market and I need to increase my "stock" of merchandise to sell.  Enough of this home remodeling - I have priorities!!

Sometimes I'm too clever for my own good.

Wallpaper.

I HATE wallpaper.  I know, hate is a strong word but I mean it down to my toes. 

This past summer I spent weeks attempting to strip wallpaper from the walls in the batchelor pad.  The wallpaper was glued directly to the sheet rock.  After so much time, effort and sore fingers I finally realized it just wasn't gonna come off.  I had tried wallpaper remover, hot water, soapy water, one of those wallpaper perforation tools, and multiple combinations thereof.  My final resolution for this problem was to apply skim coat (2 layers!) to the wall and completely cover up the obstinate wallpaper.  It worked just fine.

Fast forward to the farmhouse.  The same dated wallpaper is stuck directly to the sheet rock in the room that will be our home office.  Being the clever sort that I am I knew the paper was not going to be easily removed so I didn't even try.  While I was waiting to start on our floors, I spent my time removing all the loose bits and making repairs to the walls where necessary.

Rather than hand sand all the rough edges, and since I happen to have my electric sander out I decided to be incrediby effecient and (here's that clever part) I sanded the wallpaper and smoothed out the edges.  It seemed like a bright idea.  The idea was that the wallpaper would be smooth, the edges smoother and maybe, just maybe I might only need one layer of skim coat instead of two.

The bad news - it didn't work so well.
The good news - I finally found out how to remove this wallpaper.

I couldn't keep the plaster on the wall.  It seems the sanding made the wallpaper porous enough that water - or ANYthing wet just makes the stuff all but fall off.  Such a mess.



Now I have to redo this wall - it's completely ruined - and then I need to remove all the rest of the wallpaper in the room.  A damp cloth on it seems to be sufficient to do the job.

Man I hate wallpaper!

Should I sit here.. or should I sit there.. or there or there or there....

We have furniture!  And oh what a problem that causes!  I now have to stop and ponder where to sit my seat.  Do I sit on the left end of the sofa?  The right end?  The middle?  The recliner?  The rocking chair??

Oh.. woe is me. Such a conundrum.

Peter has that end of the couch so I guess I shall have to choose somewhere else.

Getting to this point was no easy task.  Peter and I have spent that last week sanding and oiling and buffing and oiling and painting and repainting and trimming and more.  Exhausting work.  I shall thoroughly enjoy the luxury of sitting on my big red sectional - brought all the way from Salem and stuck in storage for the last 7 months.    The living room and dining room still needs picture rails, baseboards, curtains and artwork hung but it's definately feeling like home now.

The rest of the week I shall continue on with the computer room - We've done the floors and I have to finish the walls.

On the Goat Shop front - I got a message from the Lynden Farmer's Market late last week - time to make that a priority and get my stuff together for joining that fray.

A bit of sad news - and one that makes me question whether or not I can really handle the cruely and reality of farm life - Pepper, having recently successfully faced down a mean 'ol possum did not win the battle with a stupid ugly mean nasty bad hawk. He defended his ladies with valor and will be remembered as a hero. He has left behind 3 lovely little offspring who will always remind me of him. RIP Pepper.