Geri Sullivan, Girl Homeowner [Redux]

I'm going to be scrubbing walls forever. At least, it sure feels that way!

Hit the rewind key to May, 2004. elaine_brennan came up to help me settle into Toad Woods. Alas, the moving truck was due in a bit after I'd anticipated when we scheduled her visit. So we tackled the wallpaper on the stairs. Most of the wallpaper in the house was painted over before I took possession, but not the stairway or upstairs hall. The paper was in good shape, but it wasn't to my liking. It wasn't in any way horrible; it just wasn't me.

Nor am I one to paint over wallpaper, so we scored the paper, sprayed on the Zif adhesive softener, and scraped, scraped, scraped. Joe and Edie were in Spain; Baskerville watched us work, and occasionally tried to help.

We pretty much cleared the stairway, and scored some of the paper in the hall, but then we ran out of time.

Fast-forward 14 months. I've stared at the paper in the hall a kazillion times since, and grown overly used to the dull yellow surface of the stairway walls, still flecked with small pieces of paper that proved overly determined to stick. Enough already; it was time to finish the job and move on. ( It's all in the prep )

I tell 'ya, those smudged yellow walls are looking better and better...

Plaster of Baking Soda

I'm okay. The plaster of baking soda helps, but interferes with typing.

Cleaning the garage was a natural follow-up to mowing the lawn this afternoon, especially since it included useful tasks like installing the downspout extenders I bought back in June. That was the most obvious "away" place to put them, right? Right. I moved kindling and firewood into a couple of bins, then swept the floor where it had been piled. Then I swept the thistle seed just outside the garage door, where it had piled up. I've done that every couple of months since moving in, always without difficulty. Oops. Not today.

( Squick Alert: Wasps/Hornets )

It looks like it's safe to venture back outdoors, and the plaster of baking soda is flaking off the sore spots, which are now less sore. Onward.