Anniversary, Take 3

Love you babe!

A Shortcut to Mushrooms - or - A Fungus Among Us - or - Are You Ready to be Majorly Schkeeved?

Disclaimer: This is disgusting. But John and I agreed it must be documented.

I ran out into the backyard yesterday and found 8 GIGANTIC MUSHROOMS growing under our large oak tree. It was so gross!

We decided to remove the offenders. Each mushroom was larger than the size of a very large cabbage. They were so heavy. We estimated each one weighed at least 10 pounds each. We ended up with almost 100 pounds worth of fungus. I am so schkeeved! Ewwww!! The mushrooms filled an entire large garbage can.

Oh and the whole backyard SMELLED of mushrooms. Ughhhhhhh!!!!

Just to be clear, this is ONE mushroom pictured. There were SEVEN OTHERS.

Note: Now I am not sure what is more disturbing, the size of the mushroom, or the socks-under-thong combo that John is wearing. He wants me to point out that this was the first time he ever wore his socks like this, since it was an emergency situation.

Upon further research I think we had a bonafide trove of Sulphur Shelf, which is also known as Chicken-of-the-Woods, because, you can, you know, prepare it like a chicken cutlet?

I know, barf.

FYI, This is just a guess after about 5 minutes searching on the internet. I would never try to eat this stuff or let anyone else try to eat this stuff. Or tell anyone else it's ok to ever eat something growing in the wild.

Gross.

Stay tuned for a major painting project in progress...

Yesterday...

Yesterday was awesome! My parents visited and my mom and I worked on the dining room sheers. We found some gorgeous stripe-y sheer fabric:

And we stitch-witched everything together. The amount of fabric we got JUST fit.

The other side of the room - let's pretend the AC isnt in...

It looks much more finished now!

We also managed to squeeze in a trip to the paint store. Putting on my painting clothes right now...

Herringbone

I have a thing for herringbone, also I have been on-again, off-again wondering what to do with our hearth. Some kind of tile, but what?

I saw this recently in the Water Witch Club. Not sure about the color, but I really like the pattern...

Last Saturday was an... interesting... day

I started last weekend thinking that this would be THE WEEKEND OF THE PAINTING OF THE FRONT STOOP!!!

Fate had it another way. But I did manage to paint the front door.

Before - this looked worse in person

The blue paint looked dull and the brass hardware was majorly rusted

After - this looks better in person 

I was hoping for a little more color difference between the black paint 

and oil-rubbed-bronze spray paint, but overall does look much more cleaned up!

As for my weekend:

Intention:

Remove all the hardware

Spray hardware with Rustoleum's Oil-Rubbed-Bronze

Let hardware dry 

Paint the front door

Replace all hardware

Call it a day

Paint the stoop on Sunday

Reality:

Remove some hardware

Get stuck removing the doorplate with lock attached

Change plans and try to put lock back together FAST!!!

Lose random screw inside locking mechanism

Call locksmith

Delay painting because I don't want the locksmith to get covered in paint

Locksmith comes, all is restored $140 later...

Line the surrounding area with plastic and spray paint the lock directly on the door 

Wait for it to dry

Paint the door

Replace other pieces of hardware

Pass out on couch for 2 hours

Wake up and force John to accompany me to Lowe's

Realize at Lowe's I forgot the blue cement piece I need to match for tomorrow's project!!

Realize I have a sore throat!!!

Wake up Sunday am with excruciating pain in my throat and a 101 degree fever!!!!

Miss most of work this week thinking I have strep throat (I don't)

Upstairs hall bathroom closet

One of the things gnawing at my OCD for a long time was our bathroom hall closet. It came to a head after last week, when I was spending way too much time digging around for everyday basics like dental floss and deodorant, and coming up with empty bottles of Listerine and hand soap. 

So, after a thorough cleaning and dumping...

Yes, I have striven and dreamt about this all my life - baskets that match, and a closet that rivals those in the Pottery Barn catalog. Sort of.

I'm hoping to someday replace the shelving, and patch and paint the inside of the walls. But really, that's a project for Spring 2017. Too many other things in the works!

Step 2 - front step rehab - painting the steps

Our house is blue and white. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I think it's a little too country.

I like blues, but I like teal more than denim blue, and I would prefer an all-over, shades-of-grey house and much less white on the exterior.

The thing is the foundation is also painted blue. The blue is just fully-integrated into the whole thing. And to re-paint the entire house when we think it's ok, it just seems like we'd be spinning our wheels, at least for now. But I am willing to paint the front door!

So now time for some Photoshop fun:

My mom suggested we paint the steps charcoal grey:

Paint the door and bench black, paint the stairs charcoal grey, add lime green planters

I think it's just a little weird to have a slightly different color on the steps than the foundation. It also contrasts too much with the house.

Then I mocked up a "crazy" color door:

Paint the door lime, paint the steps and bench blue

So, we're leaning in this direction:

Paint the door black, paint the bench and stairs blue.

Hoping this weekend is dry and sunny!