This was a tough one, and I thought we had done very badly. But it turned out that we got our usual 120 points and were smack in the middle.
Fun names this round:
Garlic as Good as 10 Things I Hate About You
Bridget Jones’ Diary of a Mad Black Woman
The Rambo Connection
Edwoodington
Eddington in Peru
The OG Cast of Lady and the Tramp
We each had hand-lettered place cards, and got to take home a coaster. The cats on the coaster are smitten kittens, which is what Cheyenne’s daughter called Cheyenne and Renee.
As we went to our table Matt said, “Look, it’s that drawing thing you do!”
And it turns out that Cheyenne also Zentangles!
Cheyenne and Renee met at the Rosetown Ramblers square dancing club, and they invited Matt and me to their wedding. It was held at the Nordic House, which was a lovely venue.
The brides:
The Nordic House, of course is also the home of the Ole Bolle Troll, which Matt and I went to say hi to.
There was a delicious dinner, and then there was strawberry shortcake.
But also with a small cake for cake cutting.
Cheyenne and Renee invited 16 Ramblers, enough to fill two tables, and we had a grand time.
Jason and gerry
Jeff mugs for the camera.
Susan and John talk.
Jim, Eileen, and Matt made up the rest of our table.
As was befitting a couple who met while square dancing, there was a community square dance.
The whirling nature of the pictures had to do with the light (the sun had set) but also probably reflects the three glasses of wine I had drunk.
I had a really good time at this wedding.
While Stephanie North was painting my bedroom, I got to work adding hooks to the 2x4s Burt installed during our Unwrecking Crew session.
I placed each tool in a spot in hopes that everything would fit.
With some overlap, it did, all except for the tree pruner.
I had to add two more 2x4s bits to the very top to get the final things up.
Then I swept everything clean and things are looking quite tidy.
I’m very pleased with the project.
Matt attended another protest, with this new sign: If there’s money for raids, there’s money for Medicaid
He found out that using the dollar sign for money and the numeral four in succession caused confusion. People read it as four dollars rather than money for.
This sign was from a previous protest, but you don’t want to leave a blank side.
It’s been almost 15 years since Chris and I panted the walls blue. It wasn’t my favorite color, but it was my favorite color of the Metro Paint colors. Rereading that post, I was reminded that I once had an idea of installing shelving so the cats could hang out up top. I have no memory of that plan, though I do remember the plan to stencil Hungarian stars on the wall.
Anyhoo! I’ve grown very tired of this blue and am very excited for a new era. Here’s a corner by corner view.
To prepare for painting, I pushed my desk into the middle of the room, put my bedframe in the back yard, and my mattress in the front room.
To prep, I spackled over holes that I wouldn’t be using, and removed all of the extraneous things like switch plates and shelving.
In this picture, you can see that the second mirror on the wall was installed before the room got painted, and we didn’t bother to remove it when we painted it. It won’t be coming back, so I spackled and texturized those holes.
The big texture spot on this wall was where the folding desk was. That desk only lasted two years; I have other desk plans for the new room. The person on Buy Nothing who came to get it was thrilled. And also named Patricia. And was younger than me. Weird!
Both the postcard display and the drying racks on this wall will be coming back.
All the shelves are down from the desk area, but they will be back.
And here’s an interior of my very empty closet. The front room is stacked with all the many things I efficiently stored in my closet. It’s kind of a lot.
And here’s the view from the closet floor.
I’m excited for the changes.
What occupied this spot in my closet?
It’s my Ikea shoe holder. I took it out because the closet is being painted (and wallpapered) so I needed to strip down to basics.
Look what has been accumulating from my shoes over the last decade.
This wasn’t me being lazy; the shoe holder is affixed to the wall. So the only way to clean under it is to remove it.
Anyway, super gross, but it cleaned up fairly easily.
Friends Burt and Laurie have been getting together once-ish a month to do 90 minutes of some sort of project at one of our houses. It’s been pretty fun, and it’s also motiving. When there will be four people working, those backburner projects tend to come to the forefront.
This month, I had a variety of things ready. Laurie dug out our old worm bin while Burt drilled holes in a trash can that will become our new worm bin.
Burt put in two-by-fours that Matt and I cut to size. These will be used to hold hangers for all the yard tools.
Matt, Laurie, and I put together an object. The three of us assembled the wood that Matt and I cut into a box, and then Laurie and Matt added dowels while Burt and I measured the yard.
The final yard object. It’s main use is to keep me from tripping over the pole for the clothesline. It’s removable, and I can set it to the side while the cloths are drying.
A very fun day of work!
I spent a good chunk of allotted room transformation money at the Swedish flat-pack store and have been in my happy place: assembling Ikea furniture.
The cat tree that was in the bedroom so that the cats could get to the windowsill and perch has now moved out to the living room in preparation for moving to a new home. In the meantime, it’s corralling the cardboard of the items I did and didn’t assemble.
My new table! One of my goals was to have a place where my sewing machines could be easily accessible. They will sit on top of this table, which has drop leaves that will let me have space to sew when the bed is put up.
The wall with the window will have three Billy bookcases. This is the biggest one, it will be flanked by two smaller ones. It has a rolling drawer.
I also bought a new duvet cover. It’s not as orange as it looked in the store, so it might not be the final iteration. We will see.
When I was looking for a new coffee table, I was hoping it would have storage and be the height where I could comfortably put my feet and legs on so I could lounge out. Julie informed me such a thing was called a storage ottoman.
I ended up going in a different direction, storage ottomans being in short supply, but what should I find at Ikea, but a very small storage ottoman for thirteen dollars!
It nicely matches the chair that has always needed a footrest.
From the future, I can report that I went back and bought two more of these storage ottomans and they sit at the end of the coffee table. I put them against the couch and can now lounge out, like I always dreamed.
They will also be a great place to put scraps of fabric.
Thanks, Ikea!
