* * * The cats have been fucking nuts lately, hauling ass from one end of the house to the other, picking fights with each other, just generally being a pain in the ass. I don’t know if it’s the warmer weather, or the fact that it’s been really nice out and I won’t let them into the back yard (we don’t have a collar for Joe Bob, so I don’t dare to let them out. I’d hate to have to call the shelter manager and tell her I lost Joe Bob!) or what. I don’t mind the wildness during the day, but at night and in the early morning when I’m trying to sleep, it REALLY pisses me off. Yesterday morning I was trying to sleep in a little – something I haven’t done in a while, since I’m on this get-up-at-6 bullshit kick – and the cats were racing around and fighting and being a pain in the ass. I had to yell at them a couple of times, and then there was a period of silence, during which I started to fall back asleep. Suddenly, I heard the sound of a herd of elephants hauling ass through the house, then the bedroom door flew open, and I heard a weird squeaking sound. I opened my eyes, looked toward the closet, and saw the most amazing sight. Tommy was perched halfway up the doorway casing, just HANGING there. I’d never seen anything like it so I stared at him for a minute, then yelled “Tommy, what the hell?!”, whereupon he let go, fell to the floor and raced off. Boy, it sure is a good goddamn thing we put SoftPaws on his claws, isn’t it? I’d hate for him to be able to CLIMB things. Fucker. The SoftPaws don’t slow his stupid ass down at ALL. Last Thursday, because Joe Bob was at the vet’s, I let the cats into the back yard. Not only does Tommy have SoftPaws on his claws, he wears a collar that’s supposed to shock him if he gets too close to the fence. I was sitting on the couch watching TV when I happened to glance out the window in time to see Tommy run across the back yard as fast as he could (and he can move pretty fast for a portly cat), then run UP the tree by the shed, and begin climbing. I went out and coaxed him down – all the while, his collar was beeping, because Fred’s got the electric fence hiked up so the cats can’t, oh, CLIMB THE TREES or they’ll get zapped – and then not half an hour later the little fuckhead did it again. I coaxed him down, then made all the cats come inside and told them it was Tommy’s fault for being a fucking fucker. At least the SoftPaws keep the little bastard from scratching.
First, I had to tape the closet to protect the air intake vent thingy, because we wouldn’t want to get paint on THAT, hellz no. It’s not like it would just wipe up or anything! Actually, once I started covering it, I realized it was just like wrapping a present and wasn’t that hard to do. Unnecessary, maybe, but not hard. I also put several layers of paper down to protect the floor, which was a good damn thing. I was painting the ceiling and managed to knock the container of ceiling paint over. But because I’d put so much paper down, not a single drop got on the floor. Go, me!
The top of the closet and the ceiling. The master bedroom was originally the dining room, so I imagine the entire room had this wallpaper border. The brown paper under the border is what the rest of the wall was covered in. I don’t know what the hell this paper was. I wouldn’t think it was wallpaper, but I kind of think it must have been. The previous owners didn’t put this on the wall, just left it there.
Looking up at the shelf. The brown wall is that wallpaper stuff; the wall to the right is just drywall (the previous owners had to create a closet in the bedroom, so used drywall).
So, I thought all I’d need to do was paint the ceiling and then paint the walls of the closet. I didn’t know what the brown paper was, but thought it could surely be painted over. I got the ceiling – which was covered with white paper – painted, and it almost immediately started to peel. Then I painted the walls of the closet, and the brown paper softened and started to peel as well.
Obviously, just painting over the paper wasn’t going to work. I started pulling the paper away, and was surprised (though I shouldn’t have been) to find lovely wooden walls under there.
And that’s how I spent the entire three-day weekend – first I had to scrape the brown paper off the walls and the white paper off the ceiling. I found this wallpaper on the ceiling.
Yes, wallpaper on the ceiling. I don’t know, don’t ask me. So anyway, I scraped the brown paper off the walls and the white paper off the ceiling, which left a lot of brown crap all over the walls, so I had to go back, wet down the brown crap, scrape it off, then go back again and scrub the walls with a green scrubby thing.
Partly finished. I’m completely finished now (forgot to take an “after” picture), and the back and left wall and ceiling of the closet is comprised of this lovely wood. Fred suggested that I just paint over it, but I like the bare wood. Yesterday, I painted the dry wall portion of the closet (the right wall and the inside of the front wall) the light silvery purple that the top part of my bedroom is painted.
Now all we have to do is stain some corner pieces and put them up, then put some trim around the bottom of the closet (I actually painted some wood when I was painting the closet originally, because the brown paper didn’t go all the way to the bottom of the wall), hang some shelves, and we’ll be done!
I think it took me longer to get the closet done than it took Fred to do the entire damn room. But it’s a fine-looking closet, I’ll tell you that!
We made a fire in the dining room fireplace not once, but twice this weekend.
My jacket and my purse still smell like smoke from the fire (it was very windy this weekend). I’m doing my best to convince Fred that we should get a pellet stove for the dining room, because my parents got a pellet stove recently, and have nothing but good things to say about it. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be at convincing him, but I’m going to keep trying!
HATE.
Smackdown at the Anderson Corral.
Smackdown in progress (though it petered out when Tommy wandered off.)
you need to change your favicon pic to match your new face Robyn! 🙂
Hey Robyn, I know you enjoy chick lit so I was wondering if you ever read anything by Rachel Gibson. I just finished one of her books, “The Trouble with Valentines Day” and it had me laugh out loud so many times I just have to read another one.
Glad you kept the original wood in the closer, Robyn — very pretty!
I remember from seeing other houses in my parents’ neighborhood that wallpaper on the ceiling was a very trendy thing to do in the 1940s. Usually it was a contrasting color, but sometimes they’d just continue the wall wallpaper up and over the ceiling. Sounds very claustrophobia-inducing to me!
LOVE Boogie’s “hate” pix rounding out so many posts! They crack me up nearly as much as “BOB!”
In “the closer”? Really? Jesus. Of course, that should’ve been closeT.
We used soft paws until the kittens were old enough to declaw. The little brats kept picking them off their nails and I’d find a trail of plastic claw caps all around the house. They still climb without front claws, they just use their back claws as grippers and push up with them. Brats. PLUS they all LOVE to hang out and play in the bathtub. Do your cats do that?
How did you find out about the free trees thing? I’m sure they’re tiny babies, but still, that’s cool.
I love dogwoods- I would like those or fruit trees.
On the blue tape.. I think you have to peel it off when the paint is still wet or a little wet. *shrug*
House looks great and I can imagine Tommy climbing trees despite everything! He’s one determined cat!
The kitties are suffering from cabin fever or perhaps at your house it’s spring fever. Mine are doing it too and have for about the last two or three weeks. Driving me crazy. I only let them outside for a few minutes – maybe 15 minutes in better weather since I don’t have a fence and they refuse to stay on a leash. It’s been too cold up here for them to go out at all – it’s dark when I get home from work and they have to stay in.
We have an 11 year old, tiny Abyssinian mix cat who LOVES to run, jump and hand on door frames. About 6′ hight in the air. OR he will run at them full speed, jump as high as he can and bank off of the door frame to continue his run from hell back in the direction he came from. I don’t know…..he has a thing for door frames. And both of our cats are water freaks. I think they think the bathtub is theirs. The water bowl lives in there permanently now because I couldn’t take cleaning up pools of water anymore.
Hey can I get AMY’S address so I can have the PETA supporters come and have her fingernails removed???
I did that Arbor Day thing back in the 80’s – when my “trees” came, it was a bundle of 10 sticks, maybe a foot long each, with paint on one end. There was a key to tell which paint color was which tree. We planted the sticks per the directions in a garden spot (made a little “tree nursery” to start) and they took off great. Of the 10 trees, when we moved from that house, we’d gotten six of them to full adulthood and they were GORGEOUS. Two of the maples didn’t make it, and we gave another 2 away and they are thriving at the house next to the one we left. I still drive by my old house in the Spring (stalker!) to see the gorgeous HUGE redbud in bloom. So don’t fret when all you get is a bundle of sticks. You have plenty of room for your tree nursery!
Our cat Ollie climbs one door jamb. It’s my husband’s fault. When she was a kitten he’d encourage her, to see how high up the door jamb she could go. Jumping up on the door jamb is now one of the mandatory touch and goes as she zips from room to room.
That was a hideous looking closet! After all the work of stripping the wallpaper, I don’t blame you for leaving the wood unpainted. It looks good now.
I am telling you that a pellet stove is the way to go!! We got one this year and love it. Very clean, low maintenance and puts out a lot of heat. It has a thermostat and once you set that to the temp you want, it automatically kicks on and off to keep an even temp. All you really have to do is add a bag of pellets once a day or less – depending on how much heat you use. It is great for the lazy people like me!!! I know Fred has all of that wood – so it may take some convincing. I guarantee you will love it!!
haha! You have superhero kitties! 🙂
My parents’ upstairs is a trek back to the 1940’s and everything is wallpapered. One room has cabbage roses on a blue grid for the ceiling and the walls are just the blue grid. Another room has dog portraits in a grid on the walls and just the grid on the ceiling. Another room has a hunting scene on the walls with wallpaper similar to your ceiling wallpaper on the ceiling. Truly a time warp. I’m still trying to figure out how they wallpapered the ceiling over the stairs. And they did a damn good job too since 60 years later the wallpaper is still attached, even at the seams. It’s only coming down where the roof leaked and loosened the glue.
Years and years ago, I sent in my $10 to the National Arborday Foundation and got my 10 fruit trees. Then I’d forgotten I did it (before the trees arrived in the spring) and I sent another $10, and so I got 20 trees in all. They come as just a twig with little teensy roots on them. I planted them all out front in a patch of our lawn, they grew over the years, I had to give some away, and ditch some, but we still have several and the ones we transplanted out back are humongous! You will love them, especially the golden raintree and one other that I cannot remember the name of right now. Brain drain!
in fact, here is picture of the 3 I have around back
Bex
Didn’t work — here’s the pic
http://inlinethumb33.webshots.com/1184/2532023550025560968S425x425Q85.jpg
Bex
Have no idea why that didn’t work. Sorry
http://image57.webshots.com/657/0/23/55/2532023550025560968eLSpot_ph.jpg?
try this.