Tom meticulously trimming the wallpaper in my kitchen.

By Susan Shanklin

Goodness, it’s the end of February, and you are reading this in March! St. Patrick’s Day will be soon, then daylight saving time, which is always a joy, and then comes Palm Sunday and Easter. Where does the time go?

I have had winter plans, even though we haven’t had winter so far. Still time for snow. Bring it on. Farmers need it.

My first plan, and Tom’s, too, was to finish the upstairs closet that Tom started, well, a long time ago, and he hasn’t had the energy to go up and down stairs and out to the garage over and over again to finish it. So, we had Jake, the handyman, come and finish it up, and I painted with a mossy green and then stenciled the back wall with a French Bee Lattice pattern from a stencil in gold, and I repainted a thrift circle mirror to put on the wall. Ta-da.

The next project was the poorly remodeled kitchen that we are remodeling again.

We already had the two layers of Vinyl flooring removed before we moved in, and not too long ago had an outside exhaust vent put in so the grease would no longer go all over the kitchen and land on the horrible can track lighting. We have a very high ceiling, which makes it impossible to keep clean. So we asked our friend, Mark, former Master Electrician to help take down the track lighting.

Mark comes and straddles a tall ladder and wipes out the gross track lighting lickety-split. Hip hip hooray. 

I’m dancing for joy and start washing the ceiling with an extension pole mop, but I don’t have the arm strength, so Tom washes the ceiling and I do the walls. Happy dance.

Looks like the ceiling needs some repair and sheetrock mud, so we call Handyman Jake again.

Oh, pretty pretty! Looks great! Just some sanding and he can prime and paint it.

Well, of course, every indoor project makes a mess, and this was no different. Whine whine.

I then had sheetrock dust on every inch of the little house. 

Got to look at the progress. Have to look at the victories, or you’ll get discouraged.

Next up is the wainscoting four feet up on two walls. Hooray! Done.

Bye, Jake! Thanks for everything!

I’m alone in my little house again dreaming of what’s next. 

I painted the wainscoting a mellow buttery beige to match the wallpaper I bought before we moved to Scandia two years ago. 

I put it in the dining room but had plenty left, so I decided to put it in the kitchen.

Last weekend, Tom and his assistant, me, papered one wall with a beautiful William Morris floral. Heaven. I reallllllly like wallpaper. Well, most.

We have two more walls to go, but one has an old cooking stove flue covered with what they call a pie plate. Ugh, I can’t have a painted pie plate cover in the middle of my wallpaper. 

I finally convinced Tom to cover the hole so we could wallpaper over it. I go online and find many suggestions for Tom, of course, on how to repair it. He says he has a plan to seal the round hole.

As I am working in another part of our little house, Tom is starting on the chimney flue.

“You would never guess there was 4 inches of soot in that pipe. I cleaned it out.” my Tom says.

How do you yell “Scream!” on paper? 

Well, I didn’t exactly scream, just under my breath. There were soot smears all over the kitchen floor. I go get my vacuum and mop. 

I’m ok, now.

I walk into the living room and Tom is sitting in his chair, and I am sitting in my chair. I look over and there is a large black spot under his reclined chair. He had worked in his socks and soot was all over his socks, and now it’s on the off-beige rug!

I jump up and take his socks off. I get a bucket of vinegar soapy water and scrub. FYI, that is not what you are to do with soot. First vacuum, then scrub. Wahhhhh Wahhhhh.

Well, that didn’t work. So, I got the handy rug scrubber out the next day. That didn’t work too well either. Like I said before, look at the progress. Breath in the victories.

So, if you come to my house now, don’t look at the rug. I’ll keep trying, or I’ll turn the rug around and put it under the couch. Ha ha.

Life is too short. Look at the progress you have made and soak in your victories!

Two walls to go.

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