Welcome to the jungle*

* formerly known as our garden…

My poor garden is long-suffering.  It goes through periods of total neglect, being used as a paint/workshop, or is the victim of my less than expert attention.  Last week when attempting to dig up a science project I realized the dire situation that had bloomed back there.

Weeds!  Giant killer weeds!!  And they were taking no prisoners!  It’s shocking how they can grow on top of  brick!

There were at least a thousand chores I didn’t want to do so I decided to head outside and slay some weeds.  A little bit of effort yielded a BIG sense of accomplishment – and a big sense of dread at the enormity of the task at hand.

It ultimately took 3 hours to weed my tiny little garden - and I filled the curbside composting bin TWICE.  As you can see, there’s not actually a lot of dirt back there… it’s mostly brick.

Oh… and while I was pulling weeds like a mad woman, what was The Child doing?  Uh, she “helped”.  Who doesn’t need a gigantic hole in the garden?  I really can’t tell you just how helpful it is to hear “LOOK NOW!” with every shovelful extracted!  The annoyance pride shone across my face as I reminded myself that there were many other ways she could have “helped” that would have been far less helpful

 So today – in honor of the first day of spring – we prettied up the clean, weed-free dirt with some actual pretty and EDIBLE things! 

Red-leaf and Meyers lettuce, two kinds of tomatoes (at least one is fog-tolerant – we’ve had them 3 other summers), sugar snap peas, and catnip for the Hairy Beast.  The tall, green-thumbed super salesman at Sloat Garden Center assured us that all of these things would survive the total lack of unclouded sun, cool weather and questionable soil that graces our neighborhood.  Riiiiiiight.  We’ll see about that.

We put some major COLOR!!! along the far wall to brighten up the view from the livingroom.  I’ll be happy if the Forsythia survives… because it’s so bright and grows quite large, and also because it’s my namesake

 

Spring has sprung early in my garden

This afternoon I noticed the cherry blossoms were tricked in to coming out early by this recent bout of sunshine.  Funny how they appear out of nowhere.  My garden is choked with a thick blanket of weeds – though they are lovely, lush and green at the moment.  I find it frustrating that every year I pull them all out, fertilize and try so plant something new; and every year I hope that something will finally take hold, grow thick, and choke out future weeds. 

Ever-hearty is a miniature yellow rose that was given to me 2 months after I moved in to this house – almost 5 years ago.  It was one of those little Easter flower things they sell at Safeway and was on death’s doorstep within a few days of my receiving it.  Cavalierly, I planted its almost dead carcass in a little spot in the garden.  I felt bad for (almost) killing it so quickly so I attempted to absolve my guilt by letting nature decide if it lived or died.  Despite often going months without water and usually being dwarfed by surrounding weeds, it survives.  If suffering my neglect it will bravely bear one small flower.  If I give it any love it busts out loads of blooms.

Today there are two little buds, about to open up and show their beautiful buttery yellow selves…  Awwww… such perseverance!

I hope I get some time this week to start some work in the garden.  Hopefully I will finally coax it towards its potential this year.  For such a little space it presents some serious challenges!

1. There is no direct sunlight.
2. Indirect sunlight is between 4-6 hours.
3. The soil is incredibly sandy.  I have amended it a number of times, but I really need to take some out in order to make room in the beds for better soil.  In order to do that I have to move dirt through my house as there is no access to the yard from the street.
4. Sandy soil = high surface tension = difficult to get water in to the soil to the plants.
5. I’m not a real fan of what would do well – succulents.

Any how… enough of my list-bitching.  I guess I’m happy to see some signs of life back there yet still felt the need for a small scale rant. 

I’ll try to post some Before pics this week.  That certainly worked wonders for getting my house in order!

If you build it, they will come

I cleared a path in my room last night and was reminded that my room doesn’t have to be the soulless dumping grounds for all my cast-off possessions.  Being able to see the floor and the gray patch of paint on the wall got me excited. 

Well, and another thing, too – one of the reasons I want to have a fabulous room – but that’s for me to know and you to not find out

I have a Zipcar truck reserved for a Saturday morning dump run.  Then I am going to clear the whole room out.  My livingroom will hate me, but it should go a lot faster and inspire me to get it done in one shot.

So here are the official “Before” shots:  pics taken in a semi-clean but drearily and thoughtlessly not decorated.  I think it would qualify as assembling things that kind of match (in the way ALL earthones match) as opposed to being decorated.

What an ungodly, ugly mess.  *Blech*

Don’t you just love the shameless nature of the cat?

Everybody loves the befores and afters, right?

Enjoy!  I sure do

A refresher…

… just in case you are not appropriately BOWLED-the-”F”-OVER by my magnificent talent and stunning transformation of my hovel

Behold… my walls:  before and after

From BUSTED to BRILLIANT! hahahaha

Actually, I was just kind of caught off guard myself

Weekend Progress Post #1 – the Office

The waaaay Before, when the madness all began…

The livingroom kicked my ass

Thank goodness for my little darling.  She was actually a HUGE help this weekend.  She is the Baseboard F’ing Master! 

With her help we got the whole livingroom painted – we only have one more coat to put on the baseboards and doors and it will be done!!  Then I can put the whole room back together. 

Haley is hilarious – she requested that she have a “surprise reveal” when I put the furniture back in place – like some HGTV show!  HAHAHA  Like mother, like daughter

 

Amongst our activities this weekend:

• livingroom primed (2 coats) + paint
• church
• rode
• taught
• Scottish Country Dancing
• 2 trips to Home Depot

UGH

 

(this looks darker than it really is…)

Evites are out!

All right… transforming my home is a Herculean task as it is… No way am I also going to reform myself enough to hand-write invites.

HA!  It is to laugh!

The big date is April 26th.  It’ll be great:  red wine spilled on my new and sooo pretty sofa.  :-(

Sooner rather later I guess!

Project To-Do List

Oy…  Sure doesn’t look like I’ve done much yet…

Table Tradesies

Yay!  Just talked with Robin and we’re trading tables!  Well, kind of…  I will deliver to her the coffee table of her dreams (my current coffee table), and in return she will deposit the cash needed to purchase the lovely Strind below!  On the way back from Vacuumville we will stop at Ikea and the circle will be complete.

I just love it when everything works out!

The before pics, warts and all – Part I (NSFTWWC*)

* Not Suitable For Those With Weak Constitutions

 Knowing I was going to undertake this massive project I pretty much abandoned all efforts at domesticity.  My housekeeping apathy was justified by the reading of the book, the obsessing over paint swatches, the birth of this blog…  Honestly, I think it also exaggerates the issues in our space and makes them painfully clear.  You can see where accumulations form, what previous “fixes” failed miserably, and removes any shred of doubt I may have had about how dire the situation has become.

Tomorrow I will post more Befores, then I will post my Week 1 pics.  It’s a more accurate view of what our home looks like on a daily basis, but the trouble spots remain undeniable.  Hopefully they will also reassure those of you ready to call CPS.

 Photos are small so as not to leave any lasting damage on your optic nerves…

Prove you love me

This Saturday or next… come over, pick up a paint roller, and help me crank this bitch out!

I want to see my new happy sofa and my happy chair in a happy newly painted living room.

I’ll love you forever.  I’ll buy pizza, beer, hook you up with a speed-ball …  anything. 

The cure for what ails me?

Undertaking the Apartment Therapy Cure 

I’ve grown obssessed with design blogs, probably due to my continual tweaking of my apartment decor.  Far and away my favorite is Apartment Therapy because they promote form and function as being the foundation of beauty and style. 

At AT I have grown to love Mid-Century Modern design and other forms of simple, pared down style.  The creaters of AT wrote a book, a plan, to achieve balance in your apartment:  The Cure.

Basically, over the course of 8 weeks I should be able to exorcise the demons (of relationships past) in my apartment, make it function according to our needs, and be a healthy welcoming place for friends and family – a place we want to be, that we love and loves us back.

YAY!