Stink

Today, there is good news and bad stink. Let's start with the good news, y'all. My living room wall is back together...at least roughly. It needs a better spackling job, but there is no longer a hole from the living room into the kitchen. Hurrray!

Now - for the bad stink. Something, or multiple somethings, are dead in the wall/ceiling and rotting. Steve-o notes that a foul-smelling molecule called cadaverine may be responsible for the stink. For you science nerds, cadaverine is a diamine with the formula NH2(CH2)5NH2. For you non-science types, it smells just like what it sounds like - a dead body of an animal. Wikipedia also tells me that it is partially responsible for the smell of semen. Hey - don't say you never learned anything from my blog! Not that I said it would be stuff you wanted to learn.

Anyway, I've heard that the stink will take anywhere from 1 week to 6 weeks to go away. Some people seem to have trouble for months, which I am hoping will not be the case for me. But I'll be painting in the next few days, so if the paint VOCs and my least favorite diamine don't blend together to knock me on my a**, then maybe the paint smell can mask the dead animal smell. (Kinda odd that paint fumes are now the preferred smell in my house.)

Back from the homeland

I took a little break this weekend and went back to the homeland (a.k.a. my parents' house) to see my sis graduate from grad school, hang out with the fam, and to play with my nephews - Who thought it was absolutely hysterical to run at me full speed and then jump on me.

Yeah - it's a hoot...and I've got the bruises to prove it. Okay, secretly, I think they're downright adorable, even when inflicting pain on me. And my dad and uncle managed to fix the flooring transition pieces that my flooring contractor messed up. He's not going to get paid what he thinks he is, by the way.

Anyway - the weekend was a lovely distraction from the home repair nonsense I've been drowning in. But poor Steve-o, he spent the weekend being awoken by the pitter-patter of little feet....and I don't mean little kids - nope - I mean rodents. We've been hearing them on and off for a little while, but apparently, over the weekend, they got extra fiesty. "Being in the middle of the mouse beltway" was how it was described.

So...that's bad news. But, the kitchen now has all of its cabinets. And I bought the wood to construct my "in the wall" shelves for the kitchen. So, we're making progress on that front. I'm going to try and paint the living room this weekend, so that maybe I can get a couch in there....and watch TV and sit on something besides the floor. I will be so happy! What color will it be? Well, I've narrowed down the contenders, and have quite a few sample pots of 1/2-used BM tans if anyone wants to try them out on your own walls. If not, I'll probably use them in some art project....once I can carve out a corner of the house to be artsy in.

Also, I have to plant this weekend, because the house is being taken over by foliage....and honestly, I need the space to organize stuff. So - Mel and S-dog, come and get your darn tomato plants!

I miss chairs

Despite many hours working on the the ol' house, I seem to have stalled on my progress. I still don't have the rest of my cabinets in because I discovered the ice maker line to my fridge was drip drip dripping. And since the people at the home despot are useless, I had to order the stuff I needed online. So, I am waiting for the horribly useless ups people to bring it to me. And if I put the cabinets back, it will only make fixing the fridge more difficult.

I also have a series of beiges, browns and tans up on my wall. And I am having trouble deciding. Is it too green, too pink, too dark, too yellow? The pressure is killing me! Maybe I need a whole new frame of mind - like - haha, it's fun to try out 9 different paint colors!

I'll give it a try, but it's tough when....as Steve-o said the other night, "I miss sitting on chairs." We eat dinner on the floor, cause all of the furniture is still in storage. We plugged in the TV the other night and I sat there on the floor, completely mesmerized by law and order. I realized I hadn't watched TV in months! And it wasn't really the watching-tv part that hooked me. I'm not much of a TV addict.....well, maybe for law and order. But it was just the opportunity to forget about the house, and all the work I need to do, for a little while. A little escape, if you will. Then, after they found out that the church was burned by the son of the guy who slept with his stepmom, once the son found out that his brother was really his dad, I got up off the floor and slapped another paint color on the wall. Sigh.

Do You See What I See?

A kitchen! Yes, a 'stirring orange' kitchen with most of my old white cabinets back in their places. Steve-o says it reminds him of a creamsicle ice cream thingy. I think that's a compliment. After all, I love ice cream. And a certain blogger pointed me to another orange kitchen that looks quite cheery, don't you think? I'm not sure the color is acurrate on the screen, so don't judge it just yet.

It is so nice to wash dishes in the kitchen sink and not in the tiny bathroom pedestal sink....or better yet, use the dishwasher. And now, I can cut food on the counter instead of on top of a box in the living room. Seriously folks - go look at your counters and say a few nice words to them. Don't worry about what others might think about the fact that you're talking to your laminate. You need to show your countertop the appreciation it deserves! Unfortunately, the orange kitchen has come at a price - a disaster of a living room. I won't even show you the bedroom. It's too hideous.

But speaking of other rooms, I've been pondering Bugheart's comments on my proposed living room color - tan. It's true - white-ish pinkish people do look bad in tan. I wouldn't be caught dead in a tan shirt. (Note to self - remember to put "no tan shirt" into my will.) So, why should I have a tan wall? Maybe I shouldn't. But I ask you - what in the world will go with a reddish-brown floor, an adjoining orange kitchen, and a navy blue couch? Plus - don't forget this is a basement, so I can't go too dark or it will be dungeon-y. To 'tan' or not to 'tan'? And if not tan, then what?