easter eggs and pickles...oh my!

the wallpaper stripping project continues. sweet jesus. this is a nightmare!

allow me to set the scene.....my bathroom is really kinda yucky. the wallpaper was circa 1982 and a country heart pattern. every time i looked at it i felt like i was trapped in my childhood home and i was grounded (my mother LOVED country decorating and our house was loaded with hearts, ducks and ceramics in a putrid color of blue) (i should not she has nice taste now and a lovely home.) (i also should note that my mom rocks at home improvement and can paint/wallpaper/spackle like no other.)

i am sure you get the point that the paper was ugly. not only is the paper ugly....it was peeling. last friday night i just started pulling it off the wall. for those of you who have read charlotte perkins gilman's "the yellow wallpaper" i can tell you that i know how that lady felt! i wanted that stuff off and i do think there was something "creeping" behind the paper. i did in fact, find some fascinating things behind that paper. first off, there are layers of old paper, including a lovely green and yellow number from before i was even born. then there was a cockroach looking bug that has been glued into a corner. don't let me forget about 25 holes from nails, and the big winner of an enormous hole behind the toilet that "the boy" has been sticking his arms in. i know understand why people have chosen to wallpaper these walls.

i hate wallpaper. i always have. i have heard my mother swear and sweat and at times yell while applying paper to a wall. i don't want to go through that. so i decided to repair the walls and do a cool decorative finish to the walls. seemed simple enough.....

i went to home depot last weekend and i was full of energy and excitement. i have painted one small bathroom in my entire life and i think my ex-husband did most of it. so i am at home depot and i load up the cart with all of my supplies. once i came home with all of the goods, the steam started to simmer down to not much of anything. i realized i had a real project ahead of me. the wallpaper that has been stuck on there for decades does not want to come up. to complicate matters, the walls are made of drywall and the sheet rock is literally peeling off. i found a product on the web that helps to repair the wall and prepare it for priming. but, i had to order it. so my bathroom project was put to rest for the rest of the week as i wanted for the repair primer.

now, let's get into this weekend. i knew that i needed to do the best that i possibly could to remove the layers of paper, glue and residue from the walls. at the ace hardware the woman told me that if you mix 3 parts vinegar with 1 part water and spray onto the walls, you are able to bring up most of the junk on the walls. so i tried it.

holy mother of god. my entire house reeks!! it is like an easter egg project gone wrong. i stink so bad. it worked okay. the sheet rock is coming off with the paper. i did the areas that were the worst and i am praying that the special order drywall repair actually works. so i am waiting for the walls to dry and for the spackling to set. then i can sand and begin the 4 step process of painting. first there will be the wall repair sealer, then the primer/sealer, then a coat of regular paint, then a coat of the glaze to add the faux finish. i figured if the walls look "textured" that might cover up the actual issues with the walls.

and after all this....i still want a pickle right now. my whole house smells like one, so i guess i should eat one too.

Nutmeg...Not to be outdone

This morning was a real "treat" quite literally.

I think Nutmeg was jealous that The Boy was the superstar of the blog yesterday. This morning I stumbled, barely awake, into the living room and discovered a half eaten bag of marshmallows on the ground. Nutmeg loves anything in a plastic bag and will eat marshmallows like they are going out of style.

I wonder what Punky is going to do?

PS- all three of them ate spicy Indian Saag Paneer last week. They are truly strange.

the boy.....the demon

The Boy, my cat, was fixed last week. He is truly insane and very wound up nearly every moment of the day. I felt so guilty about adjusting his "business" but the doctor assured me that it was important for his health. He did very well and bounced back like a champ.

Well, the procedure did not do much of anything. It has been a week and he continues to be off his rocker with energy and aggression.

For Example: Today I came home and noticed that the window in the living room was broken. I freaked out and thought maybe a bird flew into the window. I rushed over to the window and was looking outside trying to see a poor birdie met his end on my window. I saw nothing outside and then looked down to see how much glass was on the carpet.

The Boy broke my window!! He knocked over a lamp and the lamp crashed into the window.

It is just like having a kid. My Grandma told me to "cat proof" my house. I think The Boy needs daycare.

a hole, a space, a void

I was talking with a friend the other day about how people come to the decision of what to do after they finish college. We got into this long, analytic discussion that lasted a few hours of back and forth over IM. The long story short is that they were wondering what helps people decide if they should get married, buy a house, what type of career to pursue, should they have children....etc. This whole conversation came about because he noticed that many of his friends made these decisions and afterwards, they still didn't seem happy or satisfied.

My theory on this phenomenon comes from personal experience and quite a few hours of soul searching on the very same topic. As a person who didn't put much thought into some of these life decisions, I have some strong opinions on why people sometimes make these huge changes in their lives without really considering all the details. My theory is this-We have this idea that life is not really a menu to choose from, but a series of hurdles we must clear. We see most people go to college, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids and think that somewhere in there-we will find happiness. After doing a few of those things myself and finding that happiness was not magically waiting on the other side.....I came to the conclusion that there had to be another way. So, as we talked about this I explained that I think that people are inherently lonely. And that many people feel like they have this empty hole, or space, or void that is inside of them. So, they go around trying to find things to fill the void- cars, spouses, kids, money, and jobs. After all of this effort, they still are unhappy because that void can't be filled by anything external. I think that maybe the void is a lack of self. If you don't know yourself and who you are you won't have the ability to be happy.

The next day I got a package in the mail from Sam. She sent me the book The Used World by Haven Kimmel. In the very first chapter, the character is talking to a therapist and says,”There is something missing in my life. I wake up everyday and it's the first thing I notice. I wake up in the middle of the night, actually. Sometimes the hole in the day is big, it seems to cover everything, and sometimes it's like a series of pinpricks."

I found this passage incredibly moving. It really spoke to the way that I feel about life in general. That isn't to say that I walk around feeling empty. But, I have been actively seeking what I need to understand or learn to feel less of a void. It must be a process because none of it comes quickly. But, it was nice to see the words in print. It made me feel a little better.

someday i'd like to

1. witness a baby being born
2. swim in the pacific ocean
3. see yosemite
4. take some really impressive photographs with a fantastic camera
5. have a niece or nephew
6. sing karaoke all by myself
7. master a british or australian accent
8. run a mile without shortness of breath
9. live in santa monica california
10. drive cross country
11. touch a redwood
12. go to greece
13. buy a couch from ikea
14. write a short story that is actually good
15. give up my diet coke addiction for good
16. sew a dress for myself
17. bring home a boy and have my grandma approve of him
18. use an elliptical machine without falling off
19. volunteer for a good cause on a regular basis
20. develop an appreciation for coffee
21. learn to play the guitar
22. sing in a choir again
24. see a broadway show
25. become a morning person
26. read a book each week, or at least 3 per month
27. learn to knit
28. find an organized religion or spiritual group that i can believe in
29. make crepes
30. have a dog
31. rescue another cat (but not for a while!)
32. wash my dishes when i am done with them and not allow them to sit for days (or weeks)
33. use excel without wanting to kill someone.
34. learn to do custom framing
35. reupholster a chair
36. pay off all debt and be debt free
37. go to grad school
38.kayak
39. i guess i probably should go camping at some point
40. own a vw bug
41. purchase a hybrid vehicle
42. buy an antique diamond ring
43. find a sports bra that actually works
44. find a way to enjoy a football game that doesn't involve booze
45. learn to wrap a present and have it look pretty
46. grow a vegetable garden
47. have pink gerber daisies in my house once a week
48. work for myself
49. have a personalized license plate
50. somehow tan my skin that only burns

what goes around.....

my mother just called. she was hysterical. she said "marla, i think your karma came and caught me, what till you hear what happened to me today."

alright. so my mom was supposed to be at some work training today. she and her pal decided to ditch their training session and headed to a casino. she was minding her own business, playing a machine, when a drunk 56yr old man attacked her. he groped her breasts (one of them is actually bruised) and verbally assaulted her. yes...that is right dear reader....my mother was attacked by a pervert 24 hours after i had been harassed at walmart.

tomorrow she has to go to court for his arraignment. can you believe that!! this dude just retired from the department of defense. thankfully she is pressing charges.

be very careful. the perverts are out in full force.

i just can't win

okay. first off-i think God was punishing me for going to Walmart. normally i refuse to go to Walmart because I don't respect the organization, but today i did. and i am paying for it.

i went to Walmart because i needed a power screwdriver. yesterday i was trying to put together my new ikea furniture and it wasn't working out too well. i needed some umph in my arm that just wasn't there.

i picked up my screwdriver and then decided to take a trip through the grocery department. this Walmart is a SuperCenter, so it has a full service grocery. i have been missing my Meijer, which is a little like this SuperCenter.

i was in the dairy department checking out some yogurt. There was this guy that kept standing too close to me. i was getting pissed off and moved over to look at rice pudding. and then creepy cart guy moved over. i continued to get more and more irritated. so, i took off and cut down an aisle. when i turned and looked over my shoulder, i saw him again! i knew that i probably should tell him to buzz off, but instead i decided to leave. so i ran up to the front of the store and checked out quickly.

my anger continued to grow as i pulled out of the lot. and then....i had a little flash....a memory....that the creepy cart guy had a mirror on the bottom of his cart. and i thought "why on earth did that freaky guy decide to buy a mirror???? and then it hit me. that little f@*%$# was looking up my skirt!!!!!

i was full of rage. i grabbed my cell phone and the bill from Walmart and called the store manager to tell him to go find that guy because he was probably doing this to more women.

i swear. i just cant win!! if i had realized what he was doing I would have beat the holy living snot out of that little bastard. man, talk about feeling violated.

but, i am fine. i just wanna beat somebody up. so, instead i am chilling on the couch and cuddling with the cats. but, if i see that little prick again....he is a dead man.

oh, and the lesson of the day is....wear underpants.