You're so vain...you prob'ly think this [blog] is about you...

But nope, it's about me.

This afternoon, I am getting my hair cut. No big deal, usually. Except, today I am getting my hair cut by someone new. I haven't had anyone else cut my hair in NINETEEN YEARS. I've been going to the same stylist since I was 12. (Actually, when she was on her honeymoon and maternity leaves, I did have someone else pinch-hit for her, but it was a basic trim.) Anything drastic or new has been ONLY by this woman.

What happened?

For awhile, I've been toying with playing up my naturally wavy hair, instead of fighting it. When it's done right, it looks really good. I'm very much a "wash & go" type, so I never put much effort into it. Which means it usually ends up in a ponytail or looking very...tired. Awhile ago, I'd investigated the "Curly Girl" method. I know I have some natural curl. Not SUPER curly, but the waves do stay when they are taken care of properly.

That's what I need help with. I think I would do better by having my hair cut when it's dry, vs. what most stylists do--cut it wet. When my hair is wet, it's pretty stick-straight. But when it dries, it curls up, flips out, does whatever it wants to do. Also, my stylist puts her heart and soul into styling it for me...it looks fantastic when I leave the salon, but that's not how I normally wear my hair. She blow dries it (the last time I blew dry my hair was for my grandfather's funeral in October--even on the coldest days this winter, I didn't dry it!), she uses a flat iron to make it as perfect as can be. And of course, the cut looks wonderful when it's styled like that. When I wash it and "go," it looks...interesting. I think the way my hair has been cut is pulling out my curls and waves. As I've mentioned before, it's super thick, I have a lot of it...

So I'd been toying with going to a more "specialized" place for some time, but kept putting it off. I was intimidated to try a new place, wasn't sure if I "qualified" for this type of cut. When my friend announced where she wanted us to get our hair done for the wedding, I noticed that they were a salon that specialized in helping curly girls. (For those who know the bride, she's VERY VERY curly.) While I was in the chair, getting my hair done, I started talking to the stylist about my hair, how I'm not really happy with it, how I tried to go curly, etc. She looked at my hair and told me that I could definitely go that way.

That was it. After I had my hair done, I booked an appointment. I couldn't wait. For the past two weeks, I've been trying to wear my hair more curly...but it's not looking as great as I'd hoped. I've also been not using shampoo--don't worry, it's clean! I've been using baking soda every other day and just conditioner on the off days. Lots of conditioner every day, because you have to keep it moisturized. But I think it might be too much--or my hair is so heavy it's just weighing everything down.

I'm excited about today's change. even though it's unlike me to get this way about hair stuff. We'll see how it goes.

PrettyHappyFunnyReal 2

Wedding Edition

My oldest friend's wedding was last Saturday, so here are some pictures from the event (and after).

PRETTY

These were our bouquets; I'm so glad I put them in water when I got home because they opened up and looked like real tulips. At the wedding, they were tightly closed.


HAPPY
The bride dancing with her dad!


FUNNY
Their cake topper was two little pigs.


REAL
The pins that were used in my up-do. There are a lot here.

Palm Sunday reflections, a few days late

On Palm Sunday in the Byzantine Church, you don't just get palms. You also get these:

That's right, pussywillows. Isn't that cool? (That's my newly painted dining room wall in the background, by the way.)

At my first Byz Palm Sunday, I couldn't understand WHY they would give out pussywillows. That seemed so...I don't know, weird?? Then I realized that DUH, Eastern Europe has never exactly been flush with cash, and since palms aren't native plants, it would be VERY expensive to have palms shipped in from warmer climates. And I'm sure the Communists would have found some way to have stolen them from the people, or worse. This is a great example of using what you've got on hand, by the way.

Here are our "bouquets." They have been relegated to the top of the fridge for now since one of my little darlings thinks they are snacks just for her. She ate the tips off all of the palms...and then threw it all up. Beautiful.

Anyway, pussywillows were a big part of my life even before I attended a Byz Cath church. My grandfather would give them to my grandmother and me every spring, without fail. Even when he was too weak to actually walk up to the tree, he'd ride his golf cart as close as he could, use a stick or something to pull down the branch, and then snip away. When I lived next door to him, he'd leave them at my doorstep. The fact that my grandfather gave these out has led Turtle to believe that perhaps someone in my family way back was Byzantine Catholic.* I think it's just a fun thing that he liked to do.

This year, it was different. My grandfather passed away in October, and Palm Sunday was the 6th month anniversary of his funeral. It had been years since he had given me any pussywillows (he lived in a nursing home for about 2 years before his passing), it was nice. A little bittersweet, because I will always miss him, but at least now that I attend a Byz Cath church I will always get pussywillows every spring. In fact, I think the last year I got them from him was the spring before I got married. There's a wee bit of symbolism in there.


*Turtle also believes that since my grandmother did a traditional Easter basket that she had blessed on Holy Saturday, that too makes me Byz way back. It's a Eastern European thing--both grandparents were of Polish descent. But I think it's cute how T is trying to find a connection :)

I can't get my hair clean

People, this is a problem.

The last time I really washed my hair was Friday afternoon. On Saturday, I was in a wedding, complete with a fabulous up-do. I washed my hair prior to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, so that it would have time to get "dirty" enough for my hair to go up. If dirty hair styles better than clean, I would love to go get an up-do NOW.

Anyway, I put a ton of product in on Friday to make it look good (or so I thought, my attempts at bringing out the natural wave were thwarted, but I am getting a new cut at a new salon, details to come!). Saturday's style required 5 cans of hairspray. I joke, but seriously, a lot was used. I also have a LOT of hair. And it is THICK. And wavy. You should see all of the pins that were used, too. Maybe that will be my funny or real for this week's PrettyHappyFunnyReal.

I know, people pay money for perms, curlers, thickeners, extensions, etc. and yes, I am blessed to have this...mane of bulk. But, should the bridesmaid's hair take longer than the bride's????? When she has super kinky/curly hair? She was done with her MAKE UP and I was still getting my hair done. All I had done was have my hair curled, then pinned up in the back, making a very loose bun.

On Sunday, I was able to rock the curls by unpinning the bun and pulling my hair back with a headband. Looked great, was nice and bouncy, and very fun. It was still very stiff when I touched it and my head was already very itchy from the lack of oxygen reaching my scalp.

Yesterday, I washed it, and it took forever. It was around noon when I touched the back of my head and realized that my hair felt...gross. Like I'd put too much of some product in (no) or that I didn't wash out all of the shampoo (possible) or that the HAIR SPRAY WAS STILL IN MY HEAD (VERY possible).

Ugh. I pulled it back into a ponytail to save me from any embarrassment.

Off to try again. This time I might just fill up the bathtub, and stick my head in it to let my scalp and hair soak for a few minutes. Which is what I should have done either Sunday night or yesterday morning. And, my scalp is still itchy.

PrettyHappyFunnyReal

A day late, but I'm sure that's OK. Find out more about this project.


PRETTY

HAPPY

FUNNY

REAL


Some notes because I feel like saying more:

PRETTY--lilacs picked last spring from my Grandfather's farm. It's almost that time again...

HAPPY--one of our cats decided to perch on a shower present to take a nap (taken at our old place, just before we moved)

FUNNY--Turtle is camera-shy! Also taken at our old place.

REAL--look who came to visit on Mischief Night last year. We were testing a deer camera.

I, too, can specialize in awkward

(Title stolen from IlliniGirl's Facebook "thing" where you post something about yourself. Visit her blog--it's over there to the right.)

Guess who's rocking a snazzy purse today?

Of course, it's me. I'm looking for a picture of it, because it's just SO awesome that I'm sure everyone will want one, but sadly no one has thought it important to upload a picture of it to the internet.

I'll have to describe it. Imagine a reusable shopping bag, the kind you can get anywhere. Then imagine it being BRIGHT RED with this logo on it. CLASSY! Don't worry, it's safe for work and children. It's very...texty.

Yup, that's what I'm schlepping around with me today.

I'm sure you're wondering why. That's where my specialization in awkward comes in.

I bought a Snapple iced tea this morning. The one that Bret Michael's name is on. That stuff is delicious and it's diet. Well, I took a sip or two, then put it in my regular purse...and it leaked. A lot. Fortunately there was a lot of iced tea left, but enough was gone to make my purse un-carryable for work, even after I sopped up what I could. It's currently on my passenger's seat, flipped inside out, hopefully drying in the sunlight. Good thing it wasn't leather. (When I ran out at lunch to do some errands, I thought my car smelled sort of nice. But it's still wet.) Luckily I had my SNAZZY makeshift purse in my door compartment thing (please let me know if you know what that spot is called), so I threw most of what was in my purse in there. When I ran out for those aforementioned errands, I took only my wallet, keys & phone. I left everything else in the car. That would look really special, going into the bank to make a deposit, and there's me with that SNAZZY purse.

And if you are interested in one, have no fear because we have several like these at home. Turtle got them for free through work. But only I get the one with the CVS Greenbag Tag! My SNAZZY purse is a limited edition model. And hopefully will be retired tomorrow.

What a difference some paint makes...

Last night, I came home knowing that there would be some new paint on my walls. I didn't know which rooms the painter would have worked on, so as I stepped into the house, I turned the lights on slowly. Yes, it was already dark when I got home :( The kitchen looked the same, which was fine--she's here today and tomorrow too. The street light cast a small glow into the dining room and I could see a blue hue.

I flipped on the light. WOW! My dining room came to life. It went from boring old contractor white to a vibrant shade of blue. Misty Blue by Benjamin Moore, if you're interested. The cream-colored curtains POPPED off of the walls. What a wonderful contrast. My dining room furniture--the table, chairs and hutch was an estate sale find; the buffet is IKEA--seemed to look richer. The white trim looked so crisp and sharp.

(Turtle's reaction a few minutes later, when he got home: "I love it." I was not expecting that!)

Wandering into the hallway, I noticed that wasn't painted yet either, but that was fine, too. I turned into the office and saw that the furniture had been moved back to their proper home. I smiled, knowing that this room had been painted as well. I flipped on the lights. The office looked so warm and inviting. While I chose a soft color, Frosted Cafe by Benjamin Moore, it worked really well with the tan/floral curtains and the slip-covered secondhand chairs (chocolate and taupe). The color also highlighted the brick around our fireplace.

(Turtle's reaction wasn't as excited as the dining room, but he thought it looked fine.)

Pictures to come--she's expecting to do the kitchen and our bedroom today, and will finish up the entire project tomorrow.

I plan on writing a post or two about furnishing your home on a budget, and to keep it real, I'll share with you what we've spent on getting almost our entire home furnished. For what some people would spend on a piece of furniture, or maybe an entire room's worth of stuff, I'm getting almost my whole house painted. I am fortunate that we were able to furnish our house with things our families no longer wanted or needed (still in great shape!) and that we received IKEA gift cards for shower and wedding gifts. We've spent very little money buying actual furniture for our home, and with those savings, I was able to afford the painter. Which, to me, was so much more important. It's starting to feel so much more like our home, instead of a place with boring white walls. It's about time!

Spring is coming, I can smell it

Driving home the other night, it was warm enough to put the windows down a bit. As I drove up our "country" road, I breathed in deeply. There it was. The familiar smell that accompanies warmer weather in our neck of the woods. I smiled. When I was a child, I hated this smell, and would beg my parents to put up the windows when out for drives or visiting friends of theirs. My dad would always exclaim, "There's nothing like it!" I thought he was nuts. How could you be excited about THAT?

How we change as we get older. I'll never be as enthusiastic about it as my father, but I have grown accustomed to it. While it's not usually thought of as a pleasant smell, there's symbolism behind it. It represents life and growth. Of the changing seasons. It also represents space and freedom and peace. If you can smell this, there's a different pace of life nearby.

What was this smell? Cow manure. I live near a few farms, all of which raise cattle (beef & dairy). You can't have a farm in the middle of a big city. You need green pastures and lots of space. From the manure comes fertilizer for plants and more green pastures. From the cows come food and a livelihood for families, some of them who've been farming for centuries. Let's not forget the calves either! So cute. And yet, less than 10 miles away is a city with an Ivy League university and one of the country's best hospitals. It's like living in another world. And I love that.





(And yes, I blogged about poop.)

Met the new neighbors last night!

More on this later--but they seem really cool and nice! :-)

Something fun for this drab Monday

http://flavorwire.com/169166/what-your-favorite-kids-book-then-says-about-you-now

Check this out and see what it says about your favorite kids book says about you!


From that list, mine was Little Women, haha. But I wouldn't steal people's boyfriends!

Hope your Monday is going better than mine.

A Day in the Life of a Stay at Home Rabbit...

Friday, April 8, 2011

7 AM--alarm goes off, go to guest room, laze in that bed for about 1/2 hour. Visited by 2 out of 3 cats.

7:25--finally get out of bed, take AM meds, make sure DH is up since we have to leave for the oral surgeon (wisdom teeth extraction) in about an hour, talk with him for 10 mins or so, then leave him to shower & shave while I go eat. So rude to eat in front of someone on a medical fast.

7:45--in the kitchen. Make myself breakfast--2 eggs scrambled, with leftover rice, some cannelini beans, and cheddar cheese. If only I had some salsa...

8 AM--back upstairs, hop in the shower. Get dressed, comb hair, put some makeup on.

8:25--downstairs, put shoes on, gather up stuff to do while in the waiting room.

8:35--in the car, backing out of the driveway.

8:45--pull into surgeon's parking lot, head inside, check in.

9 AM--DH goes off with a dental assistant. I settle in with my MP3 player, some water, and a packet of info from our financial planner. I take a quiz that shows I'm low to medium risk. Ha! Really? ;-) Try to remember our monthly expenses while filling out a budget sheet. If only I had a laptop and had my excel files with me...

9:45--DH is done! I go back to see him, he's chatting away. Everything went smoothly. We get our instructions, I go get the car.

9:55--heading home, chatting away. DH's speech is VERY slurry. Is that the drugs or the gauze? Who knows. But he's making sense so that's good.

10:15--get home, help DH in the house and into bed. Back out to the car to gather our things.

10:30-11:30--change gauze 2x, play with the cats, throw in a load of dishes and laundry, prep potatoes for mashed potatoes later, prep meatloaf ingredients, pick up a bit, made a phone call, took out the trash and recyclables.

11:30-12:30--bring up ice packs and change gauze. And water. Check email and FB. Take away ice. Change gauze. Blog a bit. Read some articles online. Debate starting meatloaf. Think about when to go on painkillers run. Change gauze.

12:30-1:30--mix meatloaf, put in oven, deal with laundry issues (including why a load of blankets didn't spin out all of the way), clean up the kitchen. Bring up DH some jello, hang out and chat while he eats, talk about going for painkillers and movies, let the cats in to see him. Get radio from basement, bring back upstairs. Leave him to rest, head back downstairs, check meatloaf. Get mail, walk around house looking at all of the weeds that have sprung up in just a few weeks of non-snowy conditions. Must have been all of that WATER to help them along.

1:30-2:30--start email to former boss, timer goes off, pull out meatloaf. Make snack. Work on email to old boss. Check job postings online. Finish email to old boss. Check the patient, gauze change.

2:30-4:15--leave house to procure pain meds and movies, drive to CVS that is located near a Blockbuster, since many of them around here (around the country?) are going out of business. Tell the woman at CVS that I'll be back in about a half hour. Go to Blockbuster. I have a list of movies to buy if they are cheap enough and movies to rent. It's Turtle's lucky day (or I'm a sap) but he gets 6 DVDs for $40 and we each get a rental. It's about 3:45 at this point, and obviously I've taken longer than I'd planned, so I head back to CVS. Grab Turtle a new toothbrush since he needs a soft one and a few other things. Head to the pharmacy counter. Guess what wasn't ready. I'm glad I said a HALF hour, yet gave them an hour. Prescription was in "holding" since it was a narcotic, but whatever. Pay, leave, drive home.

After this, the day sort of blurred. I know I went home and ate dinner at some point. Did some cleaning up, etc. Then Turtle came up with this great idea to go to a grocery store to pick up a few things. I actually said to him, "I know you've been laying low all day, and probably feel wonderful, but I haven't. I'm actually a little tired right now. I need to relax for a bit. Then maybe we can go."

7:15--backing out of the garage and off to the grocery store! Home by 8:15, then watched a movie, and bed. I was so tired.

Next will be a "typical" Working Rabbit day. I don't know when, so just hang tight.

SAHW today!

I'll post more about my day later on. I'm not home for a good reason (Turtle had his wisdom teeth out this morning) but I'm getting SO. MUCH. DONE. In between running upstairs for gauze changes and ice packs.

I should do a "Rabbit at work" and a "Rabbit at home" days comparison.

Today: good, bad, then good again

Today was going to be a good day. I was going into work very late, since we had an appointment with a financial planner this morning. We had breakfast at a bagel shop in my hometown, which neither of us had been to before. It was wonderful to take our time, not be in a rush, then head over to the man's office. The appointment went very well; we liked the planner immediately, he seems like he's a good fit for us and our personalities.

Then we went our separate ways--Turtle for his usual 12 to 8 Wednesday, me for an abbreviated day, although I'd be staying very late. Work was...challenging. My boss, who has been there less than 2 months, has lots of great ideas and very little knowledge as to how things work in the office and with the company. I got in at 11:45, by 12:15 I had a headache. And was annoyed. Then the programmers didn't upload files that I'd asked them to upload last night, for an email blast that was going out today. Then I was angry. I thought about some things in my non-work life, which made me sad. Mostly me and my health, and how a few people have disappeared recently, despite my reaching out.

I wasn't feeling that great by the time I left work around 7 pm. I dreaded the drive home, even though I knew I was making steelhead trout for dinner and it's one of our favorites. I reached our house, walked inside, and WOW! All of our ceilings had been painted. The kitchen looked fabulous--it had been filled with nail pops and bad patch jobs. Our bedroom was amazing--there had been a large stripe down the center from (I think) a taping fix that wasn't neat. It was GONE. The other areas looked great as well.

It's funny how something SO simple can lift your spirits. I then sprang to action, getting dinner in the oven, pulling things out for tomorrow night's dinner, unloading the dishwasher, etc. I even managed to move some heavy furniture away from the walls so that the painter could work on those tomorrow. If only these "little things" can pop up while I'm at work!

Updates to some older posts

1) I spoke with our priest, Fr. T, today about a lot of things related to why our parish is struggling. Turns out my post from 3/22 was (mostly) on the mark. Look for a post later in the week about this--I don't have much time right now. Hopefully I'll remember today's conversation.

2) Guess who got 1 coat of wall paint up in the half bath this afternoon??? Yup, me. Looks so. much. better. Plan of attack--sand some of the weird spots, coat #2, touch up the parts of the ceiling that got wall paint on them, paint the trim, paint the door, any other touch ups, and THEN, move the bathroom stuff back into the bathroom. By bathroom stuff I mean curtains, mirror, trash basket, etc.

Off to watch a movie with the other half--have a great week!

A few updates...

I've added some new links to my "Check out some cool blogs..." area on the bottom right. If yours is not up there, it's due to my oversight, not because I don't like you or don't read your blog or because you have green hair.

Catherine Alexander--sorry to "call you out" like this, but I went to follow your blog, and now I cannot find it. If you still have it up and are accepting followers (wow, that sounds like I'm asking to join a cult!), could you please email it to me? rabbitturtle29 at gmail dot com Thanks! :)

It is April 2nd and we have a fire going. WHERE ARE YOU, Spring!?!?

testing!

Can I really post from an email? This might be handy for those times when I am in a hurry. Or at work and something comes to mind that I have to get out..

ETA: Oh ho ho! It worked!

I caved in (NOT an April Fool's joke!)

When we bought the house, I had grand ideas. We were going to tackle things ourselves, and we'd only call in professionals when absolutely necessary. I was going to paint the ENTIRE house myself! It would be SO easy! Psh, me and a 2,000 square foot house? No big deal. The fact that I'd NEVER painted a room before? That's NOTHING! (Turtle saw the light early on and excused himself from any painting. That, and he grew up seeing painting first-hand. Smart, very smart.) If only I had known...

You see, I grew up in a post and beam house. No sheet rock, no paint, no wallpaper, no carpet. Wood, a brick chimney, tile and linoleum in the bathrooms and kitchen, respectively. That's it. But mostly wood. After visiting friends' houses when I was very little, I came home asking my mom if we were poor, since we didn't have the "luxuries" of shag carpet and glossy wallpaper like some of my friends. As a pre-teen, I bemoaned that my bedroom looked like something out of Little House on the Prairie, and didn't even have 4 straight walls so that ALL 40 bazillion of my New Kids on the Block posters couldn't be hung. (Gambrel roofs do not make friends with 11 year olds wanting pictures of Joey McIntire ALL. OVER. THEIR. BEDROOM.) I had to make do with the curved walls and the beams cutting into my fabulous design plans. In high school, these little pieces of walls were perfect for Absolut Vodka ads. Mind you, I didn't have my first "forbidden" drink (meaning, without adult supervision on holidays or at a wedding) until the summer following my senior year of high school. And, I never went to any parties in college before I was legally able to drink. Hey, I thought they were creative means of advertising! Look at me now, I work in marketing!

Back to the present. The painting. It worked well for awhile--I painted our TV room all by myself. Even if it took almost 2 months, with a little help from my mother on the trim towards the very end after I thought it would be great to host Christmas and things still weren't done. Whoops. Then I took some time off (oh, a year!), and started the half bath in...late February or early March. Today's April 1st and I still haven't rolled paint on the walls.

In non-painting tasks, we garden together. We stained 2 decks this summer. We clean and maintain other things on our own. Turtle does the lawn care on his own. (Except for the turf people who put down fertilizer and lime and all of that stuff since the previous owners basically let the grass that existed at one time burn out. This year will be our second/last year.)

But, since I have delusions of grandeur grand ideas, I often forget how much free time I really don't have, and am a poor judge in how long tasks will take. Then I get frustrated with half finished projects, like our less than half painted half bathroom, and wonder if they will ever be complete. This from the same woman who said in October 2009, "I can paint this entire house ALL. BY. MY. SELF."

Right. Here we are, just shy of living here 18 months and what do I have to show for it? The TV room. (Not even counting the unfinished half bath.) GOOD JOB! Granted, things did get in the way. Like a broken hand. Like outdoor projects. Like all of this #*@()$&@^# snow we got this winter. (Yeah, I know, if I was stuck inside for so long, how come I didn't paint? My job does not stop because there's pretty white fluff on the ground. Working from home doesn't mean flipping the channels while answering a few emails. Oh, and when you've got FEET of snow to move, that takes up any extra time.)

I wanted to be like John & Sherry at Young House Love who get up every day, rearing to go paint and create! In fact, I probably would be if not for the fact that I must get up and shuffle off to a desk to NOT paint and create. It it HARD to work full time and try to squeeze in a lot of house stuff into your evenings and weekends when you have a million other things going on, and not much vacation time. So I had to accept what I could not change.

On Monday afternoon, I called a painter to come and give me an estimate. We spoke on Tuesday. Wednesday, she came to see my house and what I needed done. Yesterday I hired her. She starts on Tuesday. I would just like to confess that I have had this woman's card in my planner for almost a YEAR now. Because, I was going to be able to paint everything MYSELF and I would NOT need a professional to help me. Something told me to keep her card though...

It's not like me to ask for help. Growing up, my parents didn't have the money to get people to do things for them, so my dad either further broke fixed things, or we did without. Plus, my mom was home full time for a very long time, so she took care of a lot of house things, both indoors and out, while we were in school all day. I wanted to be Superwoman, but I can't.

This was a BIG deal for me to say 1) I cannot do this in a reasonable time frame (or, ever) and 2) I need to PAY someone MONEY to do it for me. Turtle is jumping for joy and saying alleluia!

People, I can be very cheap, especially when it comes to doing things for myself. Like I've said before here and in other posts, it's how I was raised. I rarely get my car washed and the inside cleaned because I have a vacuum, two hands, soap, rags, Windex and all of that. On the other hand, it's not like my car is always immaculate, either. I will wear nylons with holes in them with pants since no one can see the holes. I reuse everything. My purse is slowly falling apart. This time, I did not blink at the expense. It needs to be done.

The price for painting was VERY good, and I feel good about giving someone a job. Especially a woman who owns her own business. I got her name from my mom's coworker, who had nothing but great things to say about her. To make this small world even smaller, after I'd asked the painter to have her insurance company fax me a certificate of coverage (can't be too careful!), we have the same insurance agent! The agent called me today to let me know she'd be faxing over the documents and to put in a good word. How's THAT for service?

What's getting painted?

• The kitchen (which I was going to have a pro do anyway, because I am not tiny and there are a lot of little spaces where I'd never be able to do)--some kind of beige/neutral since we have greenish countertops, thanks previous owners for choosing that, it really limits your options!
  
• The dining room--a blue
  
• The library--very light greyish-pink/light mauve. With the wood stove, I need something that will hide smoke well. But we have brick in here, so something to accentuate that.
  
• The foyer--a creamy light yellow, since it's dark
  
• The stairwell--ditto
• The upstairs hallway-ditto
• The master bedroom (was also going to have a pro do since we need it to sleep in and I don't think it would have been good for me to take months to do it)--it was going to be blue but tonight Turtle suggested yellow. Now I'm not so sure...
  

What's not getting painted? THE HALF BATH. I started that project, I will NOT be defeated! :) I've decided that I can paint the other two bathrooms when the time is right, as well as the 3 bedrooms not being used right now. And if I can't get around to it, at least I know that this woman does great work at a good price. (I should start saving NOW.)

As my mom said the other night when I called her to run the estimate* by her, I'm going to feel much more settled when this is all over. Hanging this over my head for so long wasn't helping me to feel at home, in my own home. Hopefully I'll be on a roll and finish setting up the house the way I really want it.

Oh, but picking colors would help, huh? I told the painter that it's good that she's starting soon, as I work best under pressure. She'd never had a customer say that before. I bet. I do work well under deadlines. I'm going to the paint store tomorrow for yet MORE chips. I hope I can narrow it down...

Of course this comes after me drawing up a new budget and paying off some bills. It's either all or nothing with me, in so many areas. Sometimes, I just shake my head at myself.

*The estimate apparently was good--someone else my mom works with had their living room done. Just 2 coats of wall paint, the ceiling and the trim = $1200. All of my rooms together, plus the paint, are less than double that number. WIN! And thank you tax refund.