I LOVE APPLES!!!!

I like apples just as much as the next person. They are great for the teeth and yummy. However, I don't love them as much as the person that designed the kitchen. They used apple wall paper, apple drapes and apple tiles....Or so I thought.

The apple tiles looked DIY mainly because they were covered with this yellow film-y stuff. I first tried scraping them off and that didn't work. Then I tried putting hot water on them to sofen the film up. Fail again. Finally I went to find something in the cleaning box I recieved from my mother.

My mom likes to steal. It doesn't really matter what it is, she just likes to steal things. I still have over half a roll of trash bags she stole (this after using them to bag leafs, gutting the basement and all other rooms in the house.) She also stole industrial cleaning supplise. I figured something in that stock would be strong enough to take off the film.

I found some extrememly toxic film meant to clean foorboards that could take a smile off of Jesus. After opening up all the windows and putting on a gas-mask, I started stripping. Not fun. It took a lot, but after many hours, I started picking the apples.

In the process I also realized they painted the tile so, yeah, double the work!

I'm a bad roommate

I text Holly asking when we were going to drop off the car she was test driving. She text back, "Heading to HCMC. Bus in accident." I write back, "I'm getting off around 6."

In my defense, I really didn't read the text. I just saw the 'bus in accident' and assumed it was more of a hassle then actually being hit. It's a bus, those things are huge! Later I found out she was actually hurt.

I feel bad because we had so many great plans for this weekend in the yard. Now is is hurt and I don't have my partner. Let's face it, this is all about me.

For starters

I started by taking all the cabinets off and began prepping them. Due to the crap-shape they are in, I first had to fill the grooves with wood putty. Then I had to sand. Then I had to prime. Then I had to putty again. Sand again. Prime again. And after that short process, I could paint.

That is a shit load of work! I couldn't use a power sander because I don't have any electrical outlets outside and I didn't want to get the kitchen all dusty because I didn't want to clean out the cabinets.

What's messed up house doesn't have an electrical outlet on the side of the house. That just seems like it should be required! I was going to go into the garage, but Holly still has a bunch of stuff still in there and I think she would be pissed if the next time she went to grab something and it was covered in dust.

Man, sanding things by hand sucks. The cabinets are gonna look like ass.

Where to start?

Again, there are so many things wrong with the kitchen, it is difficult to know where to start. The kitchen is very small and the cabinets are a very dark brown. I knew the wood was too old to re-finish. Plus I don't think it is real wood. After watching HGTV I learned how to paint the cabinets so I figured I would start there.

The second big thing was the floor. No matter how much I cleaned it, it still looked dirty. I plan on actually gutting the kitchen in a couple years so I don't want to spend too much time/money on it. Sticky floor is the way to go.

Budget update:
Cabinet paint - large: 24
Cabinet paint - small: 13
Paint scraper: 8
Wood puddy: 8
Spreader thingy: 3
Foam roller: 4
Floor - two boxes: 64

Total - $124

Amount left: $376

Kitchen challenge

Last week I arrived in Raleigh NC with a hangover and time to kill. The best thing about traveling for work is the hotels have cable and cable has HGTV...and I love HGTV!

I just did my taxes and Obama is giving me $7,500 for buying a house last year. I have decided to spend that money on fixing up the house. I know that all the home improvement projects would cost 10 times that, but it is a start.

On of the most horrendous rooms in the house is the kitchen. It is all sorts of bad. So bad that it needs to be 100% gutted. New everything. It is so bad that I would need new, new everything to make it nice.

Some of the money is already dedicated to other projects, but I am saving $500 for the kitchen. Yes, that is not nearly enough for a re-model. I need a new stove, floor, coubbords...well, everything. This is a 'face-lift' so it looks less horrible.

Dispite all my rage, I am still just a cat in a bag

So the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins is dating that slutty midget, but I still love their music. It reminds of a really angry middle-school kid, oh, the good ole days.

Mewska loved her food, but, unlike my apartment, I didn't have a good place to keep it. Before I kept it in a cabinet, far, far away from the cats. However, the cabinet space in the house is lacking. There is a total of three. Seriously, I moved into a house 10 times my apartment, and the cabinet space is maybe a quarter of the apartment.

I digress...There is no space for the cat food so it has to be kept in the open. When the chow is low, they could get in the bag. Because Mewska was so small, she almost fit in the whole bag.

Pergola

I am still recovering from the death of Mewska, but I think I should add some house stuff. One thing Mewska really loved was being outside. I was excited, and even got her leash out, so she could play outside with Holly and I as we fix up the yard.

One thing we want to do is add a nice sitting area in the back yard. Holly kept calling it a Per-go-la because that is the way that it is spelled. However, when I asked my construction buddies, Thom with a H and Tall Paul, they said it is actually Per-gu-la. According to Wikipedia because it is Latin. Yes, I did make fun of her over and over and over and over and...well I like to make her realize she doesn't have all words in the English dictionary down.

Anywho, I am getting a boat-load of cash back from my taxes so I am putting some towards the yard. I am happy because I get to remind Holly she pronounced it wrong at first.

"I'm just holding it for a friend"

Mandy had a thing for catnip. I guess it was more like Kate Moss' 'thing' for coke, and not the soda kind *zing*. Mewska would act like she really didn't care when the nip came out. Mandy, on the other hand, would do what ever it took to get to the nip.

Mewska would be all like, "trying to get me on the nip just enforces the stereotype, created by the dog organization, that all cats like nip. It's not true, man." She was a strong-minded cat.

However, I came home one day and found both Mandy and Mewska got in the nip. Mandy was no where to be seen, but Mewska showed her true colors.

Killmouski, Mewska Killmouski

I don’t remember her given name, I just remember it did not fit. I think it was something like 'Flower', or 'Hope'. It proved to me that teen aged volunteers should never be able to name the cats....ever...

She was found in St. Cloud and was transferred to St. Paul with her sisters. Her sisters were not in the same room so either they were adopted or, well, taken care of.

Mandy had a new sister, but she hated her. When I brought her home I found out a funny little tidbit about Mandy, she snorts when she hisses. However, it took only a couple days until they were playing together.

The next big problem was the name. She reminded me of a Russian spy and I wanted something with Mew in the name. Her fur pattern looked as if she was a white cat that had a black cloak draped over her. There was even a spot on her chest for a button. To me, that meant Russian spy.

Her fur markings made her a spy, but her attitude helped a lot. There were many times I would turn around and almost step on her. She was sneaky! Hence, Mewska was born. The Killmouski came later after a friend told me about a friend with a Killmouski.

When Annette met Mewska

I started writing the story of Mewska, but realized it takes more than just one post. This is Mewska part I.

I got my Dotty when I was 7 years old. She was a ‘I’m sorry your Dad and I are getting a divorce, so here’s a cat!’ present. I picked her because she was different from the other cats. She really didn’t care to impress me, she was just herself.

It took me days to finally pick her name. I remember talking to my Dad about her and he asked what she looked like. I said, “she has a lot of dots.” There after she was named Dotty Linda (her given name) Buttons (what my sister wanted to name her) Hanley.

Dotty was never spayed. We didn’t have the money and she was an indoor cat. She died in 2006 from cancer. Cancer, that was 80% more likely because she was never spayed. From that point on I vowed to take better care of my pets.

It took me a couple months to adopt Mandy. I walked around for hours until I found her. She was cowered in the back of her cage, but the second I put my hand in there, she came out. Her previous owner abused her and kept her in a closet and she had nothing better to do then rub her hair off. She was gross.

I never intended on getting a second cat, but Mandy would keep me up at night wanting to play. I had to give her a friend because I was going to be a better cat owner.

When I went back to the humane society, I had an idea of what I wanted. I needed a cat a couple years old and she had to be small. I wanted someone Mandy would play with, but wouldn’t get too big.

I was just about to give up when I went back into a communal cat room. I accidently kicked the top of a cat box that was detached and I realized something was in there. Inside I found a little tuxedo mew. I picked her up and fell in love.