goodbye cows

(it was time!!! look at that raggedy edge by the kitchen!!!)

hello beadboard!

i've updated the dining room! with the homedepot gift card the guys at work gave me a few weeks ago i ordered beadboard wallpaper. i've wanted to do beadboard in the dining room forever but have you checked the price of real wood beadboard???? ex.pen.sive. i checked out the martha stewart beadboard wallpaper on line & read all the reviews about it & decided that was the way to go.

the cows & green checked wallpaper have been up for many years -- i can't even remember how long. probably close to 12 years or so! it's been through a lot - including a friend's 4 year old son who drew a red X with a sharpie marker on EVERY single cow!!! thank goodness for those mr. clean sponges --what are they called? i can't for the life of me think of what they're called!!!! oh yeah! mr. clean magic erasers!!! when i saw what he had done it was MAGIC that i didn't choke him!!!!!! i banned him from ever coming to my house again though! (he also put bug killer in my peanut butter. that kid couldn't be left alone for a minute. shoot! he could do something bad right in front of you without you realizing what he was doing!!!)

but getting back to the dining room.............

so i took down the old wallpaper & border on a saturday night (the package from home depot came on friday). after ripping that 1st piece of cow border off, there was no going back!!!

sunday afternoon i put up the new beadboard wallpaper. it was soooo easy! it wasn't prepasted so i rolled paste onto the wall with a paint roller. so easy! i'll never do the water mess kind again! this wallpaper is sort of "foamy" with the board grooves indented in, so it's different from regular paper wallpaper.

then it was time to put up the chair rail moulding. i don't know how i get myself into these predicaments! i started to put up the moulding -- 1st pieces no problem. then i came to the corner & had to do a 45 degree angle. got out the mitre box & cut a 45 degree angle. wrong!!!! there are 2 types a 45 degree angles. the wrong one & the beveled one. i needed the beveled one! there was no way i could cut the beveled angle. the wood was too wide for the mitre box & there was no way i could hold the circular saw with the plate on an angle AND hold the board (on the dining room table that i was using for my "saw horse" -- i put my quilting mat on the table to protect it though!!!) all by myself.

i prayed outloud "God, i can't do this myself. why do i get in these projects where i need a man to help & i have no man? God, i need a man!"

just then, suzanne & her boyfriend justin & his friend jacob & his girlfriend nicole walked in!!! i said "thank you God for sending me 2 men!!!"

the boys helped me do one side & i fed them pizza for dinner. (they had got there around 9pm & it was almost 11 by the time they we i was done with the one side! [i told them i was going to take FULL CREDIT for putting up the moulding AND cutting the 45 degree angles!!!!!!!!]) they said, "you don't expect us to do the other side TONIGHT do you?? you can do that side by yourself, can't you?" i said "heck no!!!!! i can't do it by myself! it took 2 of you to do that side! there's no way i can measure right, hold the saw at that angle, hold the board & cut by myself & have it right!!!!" "i need y'all to come back tomorrow. i'll feed you dinner again. what do you want?" you never heard "lasagne" blurted out any faster than they did!!!!

so they came over monday after work & i we they finished the other side. then i caulked it all & a few days later i painted the wood & the wallpaper. painting the wallpaper helps to strengthen it. the walls are white & i painted the chair rail & the beadboard white. i LOVE white beadboard!!!! i like the all-white dining room! it sure makes the room look bigger!!

i still have my large cow pictures on the window seat & my cross-stitched cow hanging on the wall.

it looks like a country farm house dining room now, not "grandma bessy's parlor"!!!!

what a difference between the old & the new!!!!! another of those "why did it take me so long to do this" projects!!!!

i took one of those quizzes on facebook that's supposed to tell you what kind of a house you should be living in.........guess what i got?!

yup! a FARMHOUSE!!!!! what else??!!!!! i have another "farmhouse project" i want to do - i'm getting anxious to do it!!!! maybe later this summer........ but i need a man with a circular saw......anyone know one?! (i do, but i don't think he wants to help.)

and tonight i thought of ANOTHER project for this summer!!!!! not gonna be able to do it til after june though.........maybe......!!!!

been busy!!!!

i know i've been gone for a long time --- people everywhere are asking me, "when are you gonna do another blog post?" well, at least i know i'm missed!!!!

i've been busy helping some friends get their house ready to sell. he got a job out of town & they're having to move. they hope to have the house fixed up & ready to put on the market by the end of the month. this has entailed fixing things, painting everything -- doors, woodwork trim, walls. moving & rearranging furniture & rooms, decluttering & depersonalizing (2 VERY hard things to grasp!!!!) we think we're about done with a long list of things & then we make another long list of things to still be done!!!!

one day it'll be all done though!!! and then life can get back to normal for everyone --- well, for me at least! their lives won't be back to normal until the house is sold & they're all settled in their "new" place!!

had some computer problems!!!! i HATE the new windows 8!!!!! can't find anything, can't do what i used to be able to do -- it's so confusing!!!!! i seriously think computer geeks change everything up just so we'll have to call them for problems & keep them in business!!! one day my NEW computer is working just fine & the next day it's all locked up & i can't do anything except look at a green screen. so i took it to best buy & they said it apparently locked up in the middle of an upgrade. "that happens a lot" -- not comforting words!!!!! they had to WIPE it all clean & i'm starting over from ground zero. i can't get back some of the stuff i had & i've tried to re-install OFFICE again, but it's not letting me. looks like i'm gonna have to make another trip to best buy because there's no phone # for office on the package or anywhere else on the stupid website. I HATE COMPUTERS!!!!

in the middle of all this, i've still managed to do a few projects back here at the ranch!!

i've been working on some things for our church's annual ladies' tea. don't have any pictures now, but i will soon.

our hose hangers on both the front & back of the house broke several years ago - actually a LONG time ago - & i finally got around to putting up new ones. here's the one i put on the back of the house:

yes - it's an old galvanized tub!!!!! i drilled some holes in the "side/bottom" so it can drain & i can store the sprinkler or hose nozzle in it.

for the front yard i couldn't go as "rustic", but i found the perfect hose hanger at lowe's:

it fits my texas star theme just perfect!!!! i wanted to put it on the front of the house so it could be seen better, but i don't think the HOA would want that so i put it on the side next to the faucet.

i've cleaned out some of the bluebonnets in the driveway & front yard & have a huge crop of black-eyed susan's growing now. there are so many of them & they're so big that they're blocking the walkway to the front door!!!!! i've had to stake them up & i even pulled out a bunch, but they're growing like crazy! i'll have to take some pictures & post them another day.

i've done another MAJOR project inside - but i'll tell you about it another time because it's late & i'm tired & i haven't been sleeping much lately & i WANT to go to bed now, so i'm gonna try to GO TO SLEEP.

see y'all soon!!!