We’ve spent the last few days making our laundry room more attractive. Witness the before photo:

The previous owners had painted one wall yellow (to their credit, it actually does match the adjacent hallway and kitchen) and wallpapered the remaining three walls. They also (thoughtfully!) added a top and bottom floral border strip. Other problems include suspiciously flimsy shelving above the washer and unpainted two by fours holding up hanging rods. Blech.

The first thing we did was remove all the “stuff” attached to the walls. We are putting up clean, white cabinets in lieu of the open shelving. I patched the holes and Eric sanded and taped off the room.

After priming, it looks like a sterile hospital room.

Instead of spending countless hours stripping wallpaper that was directly adhered to the drywall (eep!), I just primed and painted over it. After all, we reasoned, it’s just the laundry room. I am happy to report that it worked! :)

Ta da!

I chose ‘peanut butter’ for the wall color and spray-painted the outlet covers and floor register ‘almond’ so they all matched.

Last night we bought a corner shelf to go next to the cabinet above the washer and another cabinet to go above the wine fridge in the back. More photos of the completely finished product soon.

Edited to add: the completely finished product!

For a five year old dog, Riesling has a lot of energy and really likes to run, so sometimes we take her rollerblading on the nearby Tobacco Trail. She loves it, as evidenced by this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgzxgyPFuLA

After two miles of this she usually sleeps very soundly that evening!

Even though it was 82° (28°C) just 48 hours ago, it’s currently 52° (11°C) and misty outside, and we’re feeling wintery. That means it is time to break out the red slippers:

These slippers are so old I don’t even remember exactly when I got them - but I was in high school, so at least 13 years! A bit ugly perhaps, but very warm and comfortable. I don’t know what I will do when Leandra finally throws them out they finally fall apart.

The occasionally updated Idle Words blog is a rarity on the internet—well-written. A quote from today’s Hong Kong post:

“In some areas, our civilization had even regressed. In the 1980’s, the bad guys were a globe-spanning empire with a thermonuclear arsenal, undisputed chess superiority, great graphic design and a rather catchy worldview. Twenty years on, the global enemy had become a loose coalition of fundamentalist beardos whose most potent secret weapon was the airborne beverage. Cobra at its least competent was a better global adversary than al-Qaeda. “

I also recommend “Warsaw police hijinks” and “Argentina on two steaks a day.”

Many of you have heard about the chemical fire in Apex, NC—we’re fine, it’s about 20 miles away from us (both downwind and downstream). The morning traffic was the only effect we’ve had due to the diversion of several major roads in Raleigh and a rain front moving through. Hopefully the fire will be contained soon and the chemical release will be less than feared, especially in the groundwater supplies for Apex.

We still leave pup in the kitchen area with her crate open while we are at work… but lately she’s finding the bed I made from two chair cushions tied together more to her liking. This is the look I got just before I left for work this morning.

We both went back to work today, but took this scene with us in our minds…

After dinner on Saturday, we took gram to Ft. Desoto beach to see her first sunset in a very long time.