Progress and Captain Obvious

We've made some progress on the apartment. The living room is set up and all of the boxes are out of there. It is incredibly satisfying to have a box-free room even if half the room is unfurnished. We got some pictures (including the big map) up and are thinking about book shelves and a big table.

I also painted the hall bathroom and despite it being the worst painting job in the history of painting jobs, the overall effect is lovely. We bought some wonderful mounted bug specimens to go with all of the mounted butterflies and will turn it into our critter room.

The kitchen has been repainted. I didn't do a great job of this either (though I certainly get points for trying really hard and doing my research) but it is a real improvement over what was in there. I think the previous owner sort of stopped caring about his kitchen renovation and just slapped the cheapest, whitest latex paint on the walls. Since large strips were peeling off I had to neurotically pick and strip all of those places, spackle, sand all of the walls, wash, tap, and paint with a coat of primer and two coats of a new eggshell white. I can only account for the two coats because 1) I don't seem to be able to paint 2) it was a really glossy paint so it was kind of speckely with only one coat. What ever it is, its an improvement.

Given that money is tight, I resisted the urge to buy new stuff and tried to repurpose some old stuff. I repainted the cabinet and mirror frame in the bathroom and used some old ikea baskets to create spice racks in the green closet.

I have learned that I am not very handy and seem to make every mistake possible when trying something new. I don't think that anyone who knows me would be surprised by this observation (other than it took 30 years for it to happen) but I think I still get points for trying and sincerity.

Oh, my window boxes are doing well. Actually, most of them are doing really well and the pansies are very perky. One is mostly dead and one is totally dead. I am going to break my moratorium on spending and buy some plants this weekend and put in a tomato plant, some string beans, and a bunch of herbs.