Alas, the white wall in my kitchen and I have called a truce. I'm actually liking it. And remember Laura's idea about an all-white kitchen with the orange counter tops? Wonder of wonders, I watched a movie last night, Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog, which had exactly that. Well, the counter tops were more of a red-orange, but still... What a coincidence. And I did love that kitchen, but then, mine doesn't have all the lovely glass-fronted cabinets up on the walls and the center island and all that floor space and cool lighting and --

Anyway. The Japanese beetles have invaded again. Last year they chewed-up our grapevines and our rosebush. But unlike last year (and its overwhelming-ness), this year I'm not too busy to kill those guys. I read online that if you can get them into a bucket of soapy water, they'll die, so I found a short white plastic stick-thing, got my bucket of soapy water and walked through our orchard, garden and grapevines knocking the shiny copper guys into kingdom come.


The woman online said to do this everyday. E-v-e-r-y-d-a-y. So now you'll know where to find me in-between the painting and gardening and mowing and pulling weeds and redecorating and --


Such is farm life.


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I could also buy Japanese Beetle traps, but they sound like more trouble than they're worth. At least for today.

Happy 4th of July.

I hope yours is going better than mine.

Oh, the wonderful plans I had to repaint my kitchen today, or at least, two walls of it. I got out the ladder and removed decor from the walls and it went downhill from there.

I nearly always buy 'mistake (oops) paint', but this can was like tinted water. Didn't even cover those annoying stripes I'd painted. And I couldn't mix it with any other paint lest that turn to half colored water.

So I found the last bit of the paint I'd used in our dining room, my favorite room, and knowing I didn't have enough to finish, still I painted a large kitchen wall and a tiny one, stood back, and was horrified. 

In the kitchen this paint does not look like autumn gold, no, it looks like butterscotch. Brown butterscotch. I even panicked and used the watery goldy color as a sort of glaze over the butterscotch--and though the effect was interesting--it looked bad. Very bad.

Ack! So then I ran back upstairs, grabbed a half can of white paint and just started slapping it on over any parts of the walls which had dried. And I'm still not finished with a second coat.

Some people can make white walls appear French and ethereal. I am not one of those people. White on my walls always looks sterile, cold, not to mention boring.

Most days I love painting. But this isn't one of them.

Last week I had a feeling that dining room paint would look too dark in the kitchen. And someday--maybe--I will learn to listen to that deep down stuff, that still, small voice from Grace (I know she was the one trying to get through to me). Sure will save me a lot of time, money and energy when I do listen.

I can hardly wait till that day.



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The good thing? At least the white walls are brighter than the former green. I like that. My online buddy, Laura, who loves orange (nobody's perfect...heh.), suggested I paint the whole kitchen white and then the orange countertops would stand out and look classy. I just may try that, for I'm running out of options. Earlier today I did consider dynamite, but alas, I don't have the money it would take to rebuild. :)

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Anyone have a nice shade/tint of white to recommend?


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And yes, I know there's always yellow for the walls but 1.) I had yellow in our last kitchen for a few years and--for this house--I wanted a completely different look. When I said good-bye to our last house, I said good-bye. And 2.) Yellow is a tricky color to get just right. But alas, I may have to cave and go with it. Later. Someday when I'm no longer sick of painting.


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UPDATE: Wow. The white walls are growing on me quickly. I actually think I like them! A better tint of white might even make me ecstatic. (Who knew?)

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For thirteen days Tom and I have been on 'staycation'.

We drove to yard sales and to his back injection (where I waited over three hours, but with coffee and my books) and to that Men's Swap Meet I told you about and out to eat a ton of times and we watched scandalous hours of Stargate SG-1. 

We puttered in the yard and barn, took drives, ate lunch in front of a stone church built in 1834 out in the country, visited with Naomi and Carl, shopped and ate enough junk food to feed a village. I did only minimum upkeep in the house, made just a couple creative changes and let my email box fill with unanswered mail.

Lovely days. Days where I told Tom, "I wish you never had to go back to work and we could live this way forever."

But alas, Tom must return to work this evening and so must I. And that's a good thing.

I think it's in both Proverbs and Ecclesiastes where work is listed as being a blessing. And it is, what with the balance it brings, as well as its discipline, exercise, lessons and progress. Work was good back then and it's still good now. 

And with today's economy fears? Work should be more appreciated than ever.

Yes, our staycation was incredible, but so are my Normal Days, for which I'm grateful. Why? Because, boy, do I ever have tons of Normal Days in my Life! 

And to concentrate upon making only a few vacation days special each year would be such a loss.


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