Picture This...The "Extra" Rooms

Now that you have seen my office and the bedroom, I thought perhaps you should see our other two "extra" rooms. Well, one is supposed to be B's office, but he still spends most of his time downstairs. His papers, however, are upstairs. So let's start there.  Remember the back blue room with the mini me lock:

It now looks like this:

Actually, that table is no longer in there.  B is operating totally on the floor, with papers everywhere.  I liken this room to a war room where all major events occur.  All of the house planning and tracking are done in here.  It also subs as a mystery room for the cats as we usually keep the door closed for energy efficiency.  And you can't see it in this picture but the mini me lock is still there.  Why would you ever want to get rid of something like that?

Next up, the starry blue room. I am sure you remember:

The floors in that room were already exposed similar to the dining room, but needed a little sanding and shine, as evidenced below:

Sanding and some beautiful sun through the window.  And now:

Pretty floors, a love seat, a hamper and a laundry basket. Yes, this is where I store my clothes. Not on my dresser.  The cats also love this mystery room as it is usually closed off. The couch just made it up there recently.

We* have not yet painted these two rooms as they are not used often so, thus, not as important.  They will probably be painted last. Hmmm....or maybe the kitchen.

Just for kicks, here is a picture of B's closet when he first started using it:

Get that boy some clothes!! Actually, it is full right now. Know what else is in it? His autographed hockey jersey that he got for being employee of the month! I guess he gets more than just our kudos after all.  

Tomorrow's picture post will be the living room. Be prepared for a real transformation.

*Just so we are absolutely clear and credit is given where due, when I say "we" I generally mean B. With the exception of the bathroom basement, B has painted every single room that I have shown you, and those that have not yet made it to the blog. He has also dealt with the disposal (more on that later), the shower head (more on that later), the electrical outlets (more on that later), hung all of the blinds/drapes (more on that later), mounted the TV to the wall, and numerous other tasks that I cannot even begin to remember right now.  B is the rock star here for realz.

Peanut Butter and Popcorn

On a completely different subject, let's talk peanut butter and popcorn. Not together, mind you. Although that could be yummy.  No this is about some recent events involving peanut butter and popcorn, separately.

Here's the thing - I eat the same thing for breakfast every single day.  No lie. Quaker Oatmeal Cinnamon Roll. That is it. No other flavor will do.  When I run out, not only am I sad, but I immediately decide that is justification for a toasted plain bagel loaded with cream cheese from Elaine's*.  Not good.  So I try not to run out of oatmeal.  However, since I am behind in everything including shopping, I ran out this weekend.   So Saturday I woke up and thought "no oatmeal - its bagel time!"  Then I decided I was too lazy to leave the house.  What to eat? 

After rummaging around in our tiny pantry I came up with peanut butter toast. YUM.  So I made some and ate it and all was well in my world.  Until about 20 minutes later when I got a stomach ache.  It was then that it hit me:

There is a peanut butter recall.

PEOPLE DIED.

Suddenly, I was convinced that my peanut butter was tainted and I was GOING TO DIE.  Panicked, I slightly remembered that perhaps big named peanut butter makers were not part of this. So I rushed downstairs to get the peanut butter to see what kind it was and rush back up to do some research into the matter.

45 minutes later I had totally forgotten my quest and instead was doing laundry when B came home.  He mentioned that I didn't look well which triggered thoughts about my stomach ache:

Me: Well I have a slight stomach ache. I think it is from the peanut butter I ate. Do you think I am GOING TO DIE?

B:  Well you are not 80.  

Me: What does that have to do with anything?

B: You are close, but you are not 80.**

Me: AND?????

B: And your immune system is not weakened.

Me: Not that we KNOW of.  Is it only elderly people and weak people dying?

B: I don't know.  Was it a new jar of peanut butter?

Me: No.  It wasn't. It was opened and used.

B:  It was opened? By someone in this house?

Me: Yeah. I think I ate some before.

B: Did you DIE before?

Me: No.....

B:  Peanut butter does not just go bad because it is peanut butter and there is a recall. If it is bad now, it would have been bad before.

Me: Huh

Crisis averted.

Me: Well I am relieved to hear that.

B: Me too. I am also relieved that popcorn didn't kill me.

Flash back a few days earlier, I was making popcorn when B asked me to throw some in the microwave for him.  I told him all I had was some sample pack.  He said throw it in anyway, and I did.  Later when I got it out for him it smelled AWFUL, just AWFUL:

Me: What is wrong with this popcorn?

B: What?

Me: Can't you smell that? It is like lemon or something.

B:  It does smell weird.

Me: Do you think it is bad.

B: I don't know.

Me: Well it is not NORMAL for your popcorn to smell like PLEDGE.

Despite my saying that, B ate it.  B did not die.

Turns out it was lime and salt popcorn.***

Mystery solved.

Crisis averted.

*I love you and miss you Elaine's. See you soon {wink}

**B loves to get his digs in about how much "older" I am. Two years buddy, two little years.  You are no spring chicken and I am no craddle robber.

***Do NOT buy this popcorn unless you plan on dusting with it.  B said it tasted "okay" but the smell was downright nauseating. That cannot be normal or healthy, even if it says it is organic.

And My Office is Born

Just like with the bedroom, Phishez also guessed my office correctly. I picked the green room.  I just loved the green color. And although B repainted the room, I chose another green color.  So now it will be my new relaxing office/TV room.  Unlike B's TV room, however, my TV is not yet mounted to the wall. B assures me that is coming.  Pictures will follow as this room evolves some more, but I am so behind with our picture progress, it is getting crazy. Things are changing every day around here, even if they are little changes.  So here goes.  

The original green room:

The original green room had a sandy gritty green paint. It mellowed the green and gave it a somewhat sponged look which I liked, but it needed to be repainted, the grit was a bit too much and I wasnt about to sponge, so this is the new color, pretty close:

And those floors looke nice right? (Aside from the dust).  See that desk? That is B's desk from when he was like 8.  In fact, when his parents came to visit the other day they remarked that B must really love me to allow me to even touch his desk. Apparently they were not allowed to go near it when he lived with them.  Well, he must REALLY love me because he is letting me use it permanently (well temporarily permanently? until I find something else).  During the transition stage, I found that I rather liked the desk in the middle of the room or off to the side. It works perfectly with B's desk because the hutch goes up the left and can rest against the wall. My desk had a huge hutch on the back and was generally larger.  B will be using my desk until we sort it all out. Not that he is in that office much. He is usually found in the downstairs TV room.

How nice does that desk look? I just need a more comfortable chair and I will be blogging to you more often and more relaxed.  Below is my view of the TV from my desk.  Also, you can see I am starting to unpack things, mainly books. Unpacking is a work in progress:

That ugly chair and ottoman? The previous owners left it behind. And even though it is all chewed up, I claimed it for my own because I like the lines. One day I hope to have it redone, but until then, I just need some slipcovers.  That chair is magical. At least that is what I told B when he came home from work and found me curled up asleep in it for the third night in a row (and before the ottoman made its way up there - can you say ouch?).   And, yes, I woke up saying "This chair is magical."  I say a bunch of crazy things when mostly asleep. B can attest to that.

One more view:

This room is far from being done. I ordered some roman shades. Well we bought one and had to special order one. That window above is 54 inches. There was ONE of those in the entire country from Bed Bath and Beyond. The entire country.  It was returned. I hope it is in good condition because it is on its way here. I also need a rug and some organization for the stuff that is currently sitting in boxes in the basement. I think it is coming along nicely and I wanted to show you what we have so far for this room.

Next up?  

Stay tuned.