the defition of a butt log

What the heck is a Butt Log?, that's always the question. As defined by Webster, it is "the part of the tree between the roots and first limb", generally considered to be the most valuable section of a tree. When I bought this house it had a Butt Log "issue", which was supposed to be taken care of by the time I moved in (yeah, right).

There was a GI-NORMOUS half a tree blocking the spot where, in theory, there was to be a driveway (not to mention the roots choking the life out of my sewer pipes). Seen here, on moving day....
After many, many months and many, many calls to various city officials, they finally came one early morning to take it down. Of course, I got out the camera, took my coffee out onto the porch and supervised the whole production.

And with a big THUD, it was gone, making way for the still-to-be-added driveway (which in itself is an ongoing saga). Isn't homeownership so good at teaching you about things that you never knew nor ever wished to know?

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!!

My pirate name is:

Captain Charity Kidd

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
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kitchen cabinets...don't try this at home

So, as a new homeowner, too poor (read: cheap) to buy new ones, especially since they are bran' spankin' new...got the bright idea to paint my kitchen cabinets. Now if you've done this yourself, you know the pain of which I speak. If you have not, heed my warning and DO NOT do it.

I count this as my 2nd least favorite paint project, 2nd only to painting wood panelling...and not the nice, pine, good kind but the evil, thin, fake stuff. If you are contemplating the purchase of a home that will require you to paint BOTH the kitchen cabinets AND a room of wood panelling, just check yourself in now and save the hand cramp. I digress.

Back to the cabinets....before....

.....prime times 2, paint times 3 (thanks, mom)....

.....and add hardware (thanks, dad)....
.....countless (wo)man hours later, voila!
I gotta say, as painful (literally) as the process was; this is the number one thing that people who have been here before I painted them comment upon. They always think that I replaced the cabinets until I open them, cause hell no, I didn't paint the insides!

End of The Debate

The final word on the entryway paint debate is that I am entirely too lazy to repaint it. I like it well enough and really can't think of a different color that I would like better. Besides, it really is a nice color with a yummy name.

paint debate, part 2

Well, I can't figure out how to get a cute, little color swatch copied onto here so I just took a picture (duh!)... here it is. Any opinions are welcome.

Curse that paint debate...

I am in the process of painting the entryway (or entry way) to my house and just can't decide whether I like the paint I bought or not. It is Behr Toffee Crunch, which looked fab in some deco-porn magazine (which I cannot for the life of me remember), maybe Country Home...anyway I was looking for a taupe-y color and this seems more gold-y in my house. If I can figure out how to post the color I will do it tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a before..note the lovely light fixture.

In the beginning...

Welcome to my random ramblings, inner neurosis, and general home improvement obsessions. I have recently been stalking blogs about other people's homes and thought that one of my own may be fun. We'll see...

I was discussing over the weekend with some friends that I am someone who has over the years of general "singledome" lost the ability to care about other people's opinions of my actions. That's not to say I don't possess the ability to self regulate my actions but that I just somewhere along the way I just stopped giving a s**t what people think....my point being, this is how I ended up with a purple living room...and I wouldn't have it any other way.