Remodeling and Regrets-the Living & Dining Room Debacle

Dear Readers:

I have been dragging my feet for quite some time on an issue I normally attack with my ninja skills. I want to repaint and redecorate two rooms in my house:

The Dining Room

And the Living Room.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with these rooms and I do feel rather American wanting to redo a perfectly good room. The idea when we first chose this light gray paint was to have a very minimalistic, clean look (Bicep’s desire) but with a little color (my desire).

However, it just feels cold and blah.

I am determined to do it with no money out of pocket. This means selling things I own to buy new decor and paint, making deals and waiting for sales. I have been patient, grasshopper.

Here’s what inspired my color choice originally. While on tour, I came across this unique cinder block fence. I loved the turquoise color and filed the color in the back of my little creative brain.

Months later, I put together my case for change and presented this color board to Biceps. Lo and behold, the minimalist man liked the idea and enthusiastically supported it.

He has become a big supporter of my decorating prowess after I redid the Master Bathroom and Master Bedroom while he was on tour. I think he became this aforementioned big supporter mainly because he didn’t have to do any of the work. Heh.

So, dear Readers:

Here’s why I am writing to you. I have the inspiration, the go-ahead, the non-budget-budget and the time. It’s getting to the ridiculous point of just needing to pull the trigger and I can’t seem to do it. I think I’m afraid to paint a color so bold and possibly trendy. Should I just jump in, no regrets and slap that paint on the walls?

Because I don’t want to….

This is what I should be doing this weekend.

I cannot remember the last time I’ve washed our car which is found underneath a layer of dust and bright purple bird poop splotches. The neighborhood birds have been eating some form of black berries which seem to pass through them at lightening speed and they are using our car for target practice. Thanks, birds.

The tea, coffee, flour and sugar tins on my counters are sporting a mess of water spots, food tidbits, and fingerprints. But hey, who cares?

The rugs have a fine layer of white cat fur resting atop of them. But if you shut the door to the living and dining room, you don’t know that it’s there. Job done.

And then there’s all of this that I could do but haven’t.

Instead, anytime Biceps puts his studying material down even for just a second, I want to be there to offer him this. I’m such a doer, a get-it-doner, that it’s hard for me to ignore all of the chores that should be done. But, they’ll be there tomorrow and Biceps will be back at the fire department. I’ll still have the laundry, but not the lips of my beloved.

I hope that’s ok with anyone that visits my house this weekend. If not, come back later.

Small Town Coffee Time

I grew up in a rather small town. The Dutch Maid grocery store tripled as a gas station and a post office. After morning farm chores were finished, the old men used to gather at the Daylight Donuts-without changing their boots. The smell was an intoxicating mixture of confectionary sugar, burnt coffee and cow dung.

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There were no “salons” or “spas” in my hometown. I had my hair cut by a man named Noel at his shop that still sported a swirling red, blue and white barber pole.

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We waved at everyone driving by-especially if we were on a rural road.
And a newcomer was easily recognized for the lack of the “two-finger-lift-while-still-holding-the-steering-wheel” wave.

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That said, Biceps grew up in a town roughly 4% of the size of my town. They have one hanging stoplight-recently switched from a flashing yellow to a full-on green, yellow and red.

Image Credit: David Friedman/Getty Images
The video store doubles as the town’s tanning headquarters. And there is still no place with Wi-fi when one certain blogger goes to visit. (me).

I miss my small town-I even miss Bicep’s small town. Just a short drive outside of Tulsa, I find a bit of that flavor once again in Muskogee. Biceps began the Fire Academy today and I decided to accompany him on his adventure.

I packed up the laptop, some snacks and threw on my comfy-but-cute shoes. The only free Wi-fi in Muskogee happens to be at McDonald’s-which is also the only coffee shop open before 10am.

After setting up camp in the corner on a hard plastic bench, I noticed a peculiar amount of gray hairs infiltrating the burger joint. This was their coffee shop.

And they knew I didn’t belong. It might have been that I asked for a ‘tall’ cup of coffee. They felt the need to protect their turf, slowly adding me to their circle, to make sure I was on the up and up.

“What’s a pretty girl doing here all alone at this time of day?,” one asks over his shoulder, as if I was at a bar at 2am.
“You look like Cher,” another states on his way to the bathroom.
“Well, Cowboy, what’re ya doing today?”, the first one asks of his buddy who just walked in. “See that girl over there. She’s working hard.”
“I suppose I ought to head to the library,” Cowboy responds, nodding in my direction. “I have a couple overdue books I ought to pay for. I remember the fines used to be a penny a day. Now, they’re probably a dollar. She is working hard. We shouldn’t bother her.”
“Mh-hm,” said my Cher complimenter.
“We don’t want to bother you while yer working so hard on your laptop,” said another. “But did you know that they threw my newspaper away yesterday when I left it for just a minute?” (I did not see the need for this information.)
“They don’t speak English. So he just bought another one,” said Cowboy.

And on and on it went. I couldn’t quit smiling, laughing and being just a bit nostalgic for home. The only thing missing was cow poop on their boots and donuts in hand.

The Difference Between Man and Wife and Laundry

Awhile back, I noted a difference between Man and Wife in my own household when painting our windows. Biceps was surprisingly not himself when it came time to grab the paintbrush. But, I won’t reiterate what I’ve already stated-you can read about our window difference, if you are looking for something to do.
This Sunday morning, I would like to show the difference between Man and Wife and Laundry.
Here’s a pile of my laundry from one load.

Three pairs of socks and a workout shirt. To be fair, I have several unmentionables hanging to dry and a pair of running shorts.

And this is a pile of Bicep’s clothes from the same load. How does one man go through so many things in a matter of a couple of days?
Yeah, he’s fighting fires, working out and just generally being a sweaty guy. But, come on.

Six t-shirts…

…six pairs of socks and four unmentionables.

Thank goodness I am making my own Cheap Laundry Soap or the household budget might be busted with this guy around.

But, since he’s such a hard working man, it’s worth the extra soap to keep this sweaty guy clean.