Halloween Rookies

To my surprise, I found out last Thursday that trick or treating in our town was not planned for the day itself, but rather Saturday afternoon from 1 to 5 pm. After recovering from the shock I realized it wasn't too big of a deal. I had already done my candy shopping, most of last year's decorations were still in tact, and Lola's princess costume was good to go. All we had to do was carve a pumpkin for Lola to bring to school on Friday. No problem.

The pumpkin turned out lovely. The Halloween parade at school where all the elementary school kids dress up and parents, teachers, and high school students come to watch, was the cutest thing you have ever seen. The decorations went up in time on Saturday. All but the black umbrella with the witch's tights. We'll save that one for next year.

While rummaging through the box, Lola found last year's witch costume and decided on a last minute costume change. Dressed as Winnie the Witch as she called herself, she and I set out on a gorgeous, sunny, and warm afternoon to join the kids already trick or treating in the neighborhood. We left Ryan to man the front door and dole out the candy.

This is the first time we celebrated Halloween at our own house. I had no idea what to expect as far as the number of trick or treaters we would see or how much candy I should buy. We live in a small town, 575 people including the three of us. How many kids could there be?

HUNDREDS!!!

I don't know where they all came from but they came to the house in droves. And we had nowhere near enough candy. Midway through I jumped in the car and raced to the store, dodging ghosts, ghouls, vampires, witches, and the occasional Green Bay Packer on the way. With arms full of toffee, chocolate, and lollipops, I returned.

After replenishing the bowl, Lola and I set off to scare the neighbors and local shop owners into giving her some more candy. We came back to find the front door locked, the lights turned off, and Ryan hiding out upstairs. We had run out of candy again. Instead of going out to buy yet more candy, we decided to join Ryan in his hideout.

Next year we'll do better. Happy Halloween!

Off With Her Hair!

Photograph by Lola

Adventures Of A Housewife

You may have noticed it's been a little quiet around here lately. I know. It really bothers me, in fact. It's not that I have nothing to share, there is more than enough. There is a plethora of pictures to publish: the local fall festival, the pumpkin patch, Lola's field trip to the apple orchard. Ryan I have been to beautiful Bayfield to celebrate our fifth anniversary. We have visited family down South. We have all been sick over the past three weeks. And then there's the kitchen update. I am sure you would like to see what those lovely pee stained doors look like and if they've grown on me. Why yes, they have.

So why the silence? Because there is something I have to write about first, something I have been struggling with. I am looking for a new job. Why? Because I lost the one I had. About a month ago I was told my position had been eliminated, effective immediately. In fact, an entire layer of management would be cut out, I was told. Seeing that the casino is a bit top heavy in that respect, it makes perfect sense to me from a business perspective. From a personal standpoint, not so much. Enough said.

Dancing around that subject has caused me to clam up, save that one extremely frustrating kitchen cabinet door incident. I have started several posts, but haven't been able to finish a single one. Now that my secret is out, it should get better. So brace yourselves for lots of fall pictures. In between the job applications and painting projects, there is plenty of time to update you on the adventures of a housewife.

Progress Report

Before we even moved into this house, we started working on the kitchen. I took down all the cabinet doors and drawers to transform the gloomy seventies look into a more modern one by painting them white. In the meantime Ryan ripped out the ceiling, painted the walls, and replaced the fixtures. The painting took a bit longer than anticipated. In fact, it is still not done. But, we are making progress. Sort of.

You know how they say "When it sounds too good to be true, it usually is?" After reading some rave reviews on the web, I decided to use Rustoleum's Cabinet Transformation kit. It contains everything you need for a complete cabinet make-over: a bottle of de-glosser (overpriced Spic & Span, if you ask us), a bond coat, optional decorative glazing, and the final clear protective top coat.

Supposedly two coats of the bond coat will turn those nasty dark tinted doors into fresh white colored ones. Not true. Even after three coats, you could still see brush strokes here and there. I was okay with that, though, and felt a fourth coat wasn't necessary. There is perfection and then there is completion.

We have 27 doors and 11 drawers. The doors were painted front and back, three coats on each side. 27 x 2 x 3 = 162. Add the 33 coats of paint on the drawers to that and you have 195 coats of paint. That does not include the 65 coats of the clear protective top coat still to be added, nor the painting of the cabinet frames. It's a lot of painting. A LOT. I cannot begin to tell you how much I have come to detest this project.

But the end is in sight. All of the doors and drawers are done, as well as half of the cabinet frames. But then. I found out the clear protective top coat is not really clear at all. It dries yellowish, like aged varnish. My white cabinet doors all have a stained, dirty look to them. Every single one, though some worse than others. As if someone peed all over the cabinets and did not wipe it off. It's hideous!

Can you spell F R U S T R A T I O N?

I am sure if you use a different color than white and/or apply the optional decorative glazing, there would be no problem. But we did not. We wanted simple white cabinets. Argh!!! I must say though, when I just walked downstairs to pour myself a cup of coffee, I was nice to walk into a kitchen with doors on the cabinets instead of on the dining room floor.

Perhaps the pee stains will grow on me.