Welcome to my garage sale

I held my first-ever garage sale this weekend. It was rather ironic, considering I have lived in homes with much larger garages, yet was able to cram four generations of household items, knick-knacks, clothes, toys and stuffed animals and furniture into a one-car space.

Despite living near a construction zone and in a secluded neighborhood, I still attracted a fairly steady stream of customers, especially after deciding to add “1/2 off” to my sale signs on the last day. This ploy pretty much eliminated people asking me to discount my merchandise, which I was already selling on the cheap.

Is it really that outlandish to sell cute children’s chairs, barely used and retailing for $40, for $10? They didn’t sell until they went down to $5. “Bargain” takes on a new meaning when it’s in a garage.

Among my most memorable visitors were:

- A very elderly man wearing a rope around his neck with an old 78 record attached. Maybe it was a reminder to look for a record player?
- A young man with platinum hair and glittery polished nails who bought serious books. He said he had more time to buy books than to read them.
- A man who told me that my house should be in Connecticut, followed by a woman who had actually moved from Connecticut.
- A Romanian native who had recently moved to the U.S. after living in France and China. She was trying to understand the use for some of my merchandise, including a dress and wig labeled “goose clothes.” That one was pretty much unexplainable.
- The little boy who assured me that he needed a hot pot to boil water. His mother wasn’t convinced.
- My toddler neighbor who was fascinated by a plastic car that she would climb into and happily sit in on my driveway. Her mother finally bought it for her after admitting that it was not exactly the kind of developmental toy they were looking for these days.
- A man who took all of my free cement block remnants and then asked for a free DVD to offset the heavy lifting. I gave him “Wedding Crashers” even though he said he and his wife found “Mad Men” was too risqué.
- A little boy who rammed into and broke my gazing ball, which wasn’t even for sale. My breakables inventory remained intact.
- The two children who pretty much unsized all the baby clothes I had neatly folded and sized in plastic totes. Aaugh, I didn’t want to speak to their mother about their behavior because she was buying some high-ticket goods.

Now it's time to reclaim the garage and get rid of the remaining inventory through donations to the library and Goodwill. Unfortunately my first Goodwill drop-off resulted in the purchase of some shoes, a sweater and a small set of Christmas dishes. Which means I may need to have another garage sale in the future.

Summer reading cont. (how did it get to be September already):
Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart
Glitter and glue: a memoir by Kelly Corrigan
And the good news is...lessons from the bright side by Dana Perino
Recipes for a beautiful life: a memoir by Rebecca Berry
You're not the boss of me: adventures of a modern mom by Erika Schickel
Tout sweet: hanging up my heels for a new life in France by Karen Wheeler
Getting real by Gretchen Carlson (former Miss America)

Eleven homes = a lot of painting,

but blue gray has prevailed

Nothing can change the look and enhance a room like a fresh coat of paint. Having now lived in 11 homes, I’ve painted more than my share of walls, cupboards, trim and ceilings. I particularly remember the unfortunate green sponged-on paint that I had to cover in one bedroom and the eggplant-colored bathroom cabinets in another. Then there were the layers of unsized wallpaper that I had to peel off before painting a condo dining area.

With each paint job, my technique and patience improved to the point where I’m now pretty confident in even the most challenging rooms, no matter how many windows, doors and other things there are to paint around.

Fortunately, I’ve really made only one major faux pas when it came to paint color and that was during what I can only call my “Swedish” phase – when I thought my kitchen cupboards in a previous home would somehow look more Scandinavian if I painted them barn red. Try to sell that to a prospective buyer. My real estate agent and I ended up repainting everything white in one weekend and it’s a miracle that she’s still speaking to me.   

So, I’ve been spending the past several weeks painting over a color I call boy-brown in my two bedrooms. It was the kind of color that I could live with as I worked on other home improvements but I knew that, one day, it would need to go. It just wasn’t me. The color that is me is a blue gray that I chose for my previous home’s kitchen. I also chose it for my current, previously knotty pine, kitchen. My daughter used it in her half bath and kitchen (with mom doing the painting) and my brother used it for his home as well. So this “comfort color” was the natural choice for my bedroom.

The guest bedroom was also an easy choice because I had nearly a gallon of a nice soft green paint left over from a paint job completed by the home’s previous owners.

I recommend sticking with just a few basic colors if you’ve got a small home, because otherwise the rooms won’t seem to flow and will look choppy. In my case, the living room and sunroom are painted a sort of café mocha color, while the study’s knotty pine walls were transformed with a more neutral ivory. The blue and green are the accent colors and blend with the rest of the house to give it sort of an earthy vibe. It sets a cottagey mood, especially since there are a lot of trees outside and a river across the street.

In both cases, the painting turned out as I had hoped. I am a very slow painter, taking my time in prepping walls one at a time. It’s a necessity in smaller rooms, where furniture can’t be moved very far.

Following are just a few more tips for taking the pain out painting:

- Take advantage of the people who mix your paint. I always tell them what I’m painting and ask for any recommendations on paint finish, brand and tools.

- Invest in good quality paint rollers and brushes. It can make a huge difference in the ease of a paint job and the end result. I now use six-inch rollers for greater control, supplemented with spongy brushes for small areas.

Boy-brown becomes blue gray


- Spend plenty of time with painter’s tape (left). It’s a nuisance to have to run tape along ceilings, windows, doors and floors, but it can really lead to a professional looking paint job instead of amateur smudgy lines and unintended dots of paint where you didn't want them.

- Don’t try to pull tape off before the paint has thoroughly dried or your new paint may be pulled off as well.

- Patch any nail holes or other blemishes.
- Remove electrical plates and any other wall attachments, like cupboard door hinges, instead of trying to paint around them.
- Paint (and tape) in good light. I never paint in low light and prefer natural over artificial light to make sure I’ve covered everything evenly. I also go over the walls with a bright lamp before I finish a room.
- Keep a damp rag or paper towel handy for any drips. I have not yet had any major spills (knock on wood).
- Take your time. I like to do one wall at a time and After I paint one wall, I take a break while it’s drying or start taping another wall.


"Comfort colors" work well in bedrooms. 

- When you’ve finished painting, take time to enjoy the transformation and your “new” room. Give yourself a pat on the back after you’ve washed  the paint off your hands, of course.
(P.S.: If you’ve got room, store any extra paint somewhere in your newly painted space. That way, you’ll know right where it is when it’s time for touchups.)

Recently read and reading

- I Regret Nothing, A Memoir by Jen Lancaster (it's a LOL book)
- 'Til Death Do Us Part, another in a series of mysteries by a former Cosmopolitan editor
- Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India, by a young, female NPR reporter
- Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw the World
- The Receptionist: An Education at the New Yorker
- Romance is my Day Job: A Memoir of Finding Love at Last, by a Harlequin romance editor.
- An Italian Journey: a Harvest of Revelations in the Olive Groves of Tuscany
- There was a Little Girl: the Real Story of My Mother and Me, by Brooke Shields
- Nine Lives to Die: a Mrs. Murphy Mystery

Entering the Zone:

No aches, no stiffness, no lie!

So I had a house call from a doctor several weeks ago. When I originally was contacted about this visit, I was assured that it wasn’t because I was, well, getting a little long on the tooth, but rather just a courtesy to participants in my self-insured health plan.

Well, it actually was generated by my advancing age, I discovered, but once we got past the preliminaries and he realized I wasn’t exactly homebound and shuffling around with a cane (wait, what!), I decided to pump him for information. He told me that his three biggest preventative health suggestions were mammograms, colonoscopies and daily baby aspirin use. Having once worked for the maker of Bayer Aspirin, I was a little skeptical about his assertion that aspirin can help one become a vegetarian, but I do plan to ask my primary care physician if the regimen would be a good idea for someone not knowingly at risk for heart attack or stroke.

What I really wanted to ask this doctor about was my joint stiffness, ie likely arthritis, and his response was astounding. He said that if I started following an anti-inflammation diet called the Zone, enhanced by some supplements, that I could likely dramatically reduce the aches and pains. Wow, this guy was so worth the initial annoyance of being put on his senior citizen client list. After all, he wasn’t exactly wet behind the ears either.

Anyway, I first went out and loaded up on a multivitamin, a joint health herbal formula with turmeric and fish oil/omega-3 (which is supposedly purified and contains no nasty mercury, PCBs and dioxins from our bodies of water). Then I went to the library to look for The Zone book, written by a researcher on inflammation named Barry Sears. Unfortunately, since the book was about 20 years old the library didn’t carry it so off I went to a local bookstore which has a large used books section. Voila – I found the book. But, in looking at current titles, I realized that Sears has actually updated the book with The Mediterranean Zone, published just last year.

Before I invested in this book, however, I had to make sure that his dietary recommendations were not going to be too restrictive or complicated. Bottom line, could I still have my beloved cottage cheese and other dairy products, my coffee and the occasional dark chocolate?

The answer is yes, in moderation of course.

 

It’s all about reducing cell inflammation, which can  lead to lots of bad stuff, including stiff joints, weight gain and even aging too fast. And to do this, you simply need to avoid gorging on sugar and other white stuff such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes and start focusing on polyphenols – antioxidants found in colorful fruits and vegetables. If your plate at every meal is about one-third protein and two thirds of these vegetables and fruits (with an emphasis on vegetables), you’re in the Zone.

Initially, it was a little challenging reverting to this eating plan, but a grocery list in the book definitely helped. My morning cereal was replaced by egg white omelets with veggies or plain yogurt and fruit, along with coffee. Lunch sandwiches were replaced by Wasa crackers with lean meat, veggies and mozzarella cheese, along with cottage cheese., For dinner, I’ve been eating a variety of sautéed veggies and throwing in some shrimp or other “easy” meat. I also like veggie or fruit spinach salads. Later, I’ll have some berries and a square of dark chocolate.

 

I’ve discovered that I like eggplant, brussel sprouts and hummus, in addition to cheese sticks and lowfat cottage cheese. Plain yogurt was definitely an adjustment, as were the dry red wines and the more bitter dark chocolate that fit better in the Zone. I’m still working on an optimum eating schedule (which should happen every five hours) and haven’t yet finished reading the book.

But what a payback already! In addition to losing about 35 pounds in a relatively short time, I’ve lost most of the joint pain. No aches, no stiffness, no lie! And grocery shopping is now so much easier when you can bypass all that processed food and just head for the fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meat.

So I may be getting a little long in the tooth, but if it weren’t for this fact I would have likely never been visited by this doctor and discovered the Zone. Better late than never to begin eating healthier and yes, I still have the occasional ice cream.

No words needed for this cuteness.

New backsplash brings back Contac paper memories
Maybe I’ve overloaded on home redecorating television lately. Or perhaps I’ve been spending too much time admiring my neighbors’ kitchen repainting and tiling project. At any rate, I decided it was time to cover my kitchen’s mottled gray laminate backsplash with something less mottled, but much less expensive than my neighbors’ pretty but pricey subway tile.

I started researching ideas on the internet and first found self-adhesive synthetic trimable tiles that could be ordered from a manufacturer in Canada. But they were quite pricey, difficult to determine their color and, most importantly, my trusted contractor/friend had never heard of them. Then it was on to the usual building supply stores to see if I could find any other alternatives. I even looked at Contac paper, which was very limited in design.

Then, while roaming the aisles of Target, looking for inspiration, I found some self-adhesive rolls of wallcovering that looked, well, like more sophisticated Contac paper. There was even a blue and white striped design that would complement my refaced beadboard kitchen cupboards. And for less than $25 per roll, it was worth a try.

I used to be a bit of a Contac paper aficionado back in my early-apartment days. I used it mainly to cover stained shelves and drawer interiors, but had never attempted anything as large or as visible as a kitchen backsplash.

The key is to measure carefully and leave enough length for trimming with a razor. Then, as the paper is applied, the backing can be smoothed off with a ruler or yardstick to minimize bubbling. I started slow with about three feet of backsplash surface to make sure I liked the look. And I liked it so much that I finished the project in just a few hours over a few days.



You can't have too many stripes in your kitchen.

The only tricky part was matching the stripe pattern when adjusting the adhesive around the stove and outlet covers. But otherwise, it was a pretty easy application, requiring just one roll of the adhesive, and brightened up my kitchen considerably. I even hung a couple of cute 88-cent fish plates I found at Target over the stove.

 
One thing leads to another, however, so now I’m swapping out my black metal/wood kitchen set for a white one and plan to add a couple of white bar stools to improve the view of the new backsplash. Now if I can just figure out how to get rid of the mottled gray laminate countertops . . . .