Before Pictures

Here are some "before" pictures... fingers are crossed on the outcome.

Faux

I'm freaking out about what this blue color is going to do to my hallway. Spent the day putting up the first coat and so far it looks like I'm trying for an acid washed denim faux finish. Pictures to follow. Hopefully once it's all done my dreams will be realized and not shattered. Oy. The good news? I've been so busy that it has kept my crazy at bay.

Basket Case

Tonight my friend Lisa and her family are coming over for pizza. Lisa is pretty and kind and has the tidiest house I've ever been in. She is gracious and polite and will compliment me on the things we've done around the house and she'll mean it. That said, I am freaking out about the crazy mess that my house is right now. We are horizontally challenged in this house, meaning, if there is a horizontal surface, we will cover it with crap. I know it drives Tom crazy. He went to military school and detests clutter. He's not like the Sleeping With the Enemy Guy, but I think he may be impressed with what he was able to get out of Julia Roberts. We have a coffee table that I love. It is one of four pieces of furniture that we own from Pottery Barn. We bought it in Georgetown right after we got married. A coffee table, 2 end tables and a floor lamp. The lamp has been repeatedly knocked over and broken through the years and I keep putting her back together. My sisters would laugh when we were on the phone and I would yell to my toddlers "not the Pottery Barn lamp!!!!" The coffee table is constantly being sent to the basement. Frankly, we can't handle it. But we need it. I know when I walk into the living room there will be all variety of crap on the table, and I have no idea where to begin with the decluttering. So I keep buying baskets to hide our dirty little secrets in, all over the house. Tom hates this. A few times a year he goes around the house and returns all of these little items to their rightful homes and throws the rest away. Then he stacks the baskets in the basement until I find them and start the process all over again. We also have lovely built-ins all over our house. I hate them. This assaults my senses:

I feel like this could work if I just neaten it up a bit. And I desperately need to paint the shelves:

I've Got the Modern Family Blues

Last night Modern Family was a repeat. I was so looking forward to it after Parenthood was boxed out by the State of the Union Address the night before. Luckily I was able to catch the finale and reunion episodes of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. I want to paint my front hallway today, but that would involve going to the paint store on a snow day. And get to the grocery store. Not going to happen with 3 kids in tow. I don't know how I used to take all of them shopping before they were in school. I find that task way too daunting now. So I will wait. And maybe sit in my kitchen and gaze at my pretty blue back hallway.

Disjointed

Uggggh. I need to keep busy. When I am not insanely busy I am so lazy. And disjointed and I forget simple things like taking my daughter to a music lesson. It's hard to get out of my own head sometimes and I can't get anything started. I sit at the computer and get sucked into internet for hours. No seriously, like hours. Look at my facebook page at any given time and you will see my little thumbnail picture "online." I'm easily overwhelmed with the simplest of tasks. Tom came home from work tonight and I had no dinner made. Not because I was too busy. I just couldn't commit. Laundry sits in the dryer. The hall is filled with shoes. The chaos of library books and papers in the living room is overwhelming.

I've never been neat. I'm clean, but definitely not neat. I never made the bed, would leave my towel on a chair and my clothes on the bathroom floor. I look back to before we had kids and cannot believe how I would leave stuff around. Cups on the coffee table, bra on the couch (ummm, eww), and my husband's favorite... medicine cabinet wide open. Then having my babies one after the other I never felt like I could get anything done. Sweet. My perfect excuse. So now I have no excuse. Three years ago, when my house was on the market I could get that sucker spotless in under 90 minutes. And that was with a 2, 4 and 6 year old. Now I sit around while my kids are at school, jacking around on the computer, walking around Marshall's or spending way too much money at Target.

When I get projects done around the house I feel so much satisfaction. And I'm good at it. I make time to work out. But when I get into these downward spirals I have no idea where to begin. These are the ways that my depression and anxiety can sneak up and get in my way. I need a little sunshine. And a trip to Benjamin Moore.

Eeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!

So I guess the good thing to come out of me finding a dead mouse in my pantry/craft cabinets is that it finally motivated me to organize and clean down there. (((shudder)))) Apparently this mouse was super into Erin's Girl Gourmet cake decorating kit. Mickey (Mouse) tore into the packaging, had a feast, left a shitstorm behind and literally ate himself to death. What mouse dies right at the scene of the crime? Now I have a tidy and clean craft cabinet that is just begging to be painted inside.

Tension Headache

I have an enormous tension headache. Tom is driving in this icy mess to New Hampshire for Coast Guard Training. The northeast is covered in a glaze of ice. I went to the store before to buy candles and logs to burn in the fireplace if we lose power again. We lost it for a few minutes twice today, but a few months ago we lost power for about 5 hours. When the power goes, so does the gas, and therefore, the heat. I am worried about the roads and the other drivers and hoping he just gets there quickly and safely.