friday's confessional: august 5

Last week, I backed into the sister a-go-go's car. I backed into it while it was parked IN the driveway.

I simply nestled myself into Sir Rodney, turned the key and went into auto pilot; back, back, backing down the long, long driveway. As I happily backed my way out of the long, long driveway I even did a little patty-pat-pat on the back as to how well I was doing. I'm am not really very good at driving in reverse. There are walls on either side of the driveway. Wonky low walls that are difficult to navigate. There is more than enough space on either side but the trickery of those walls fools you into thinking you are about to bumper-car into them.

I used to make mr. a-go-go back the car out but I decided to a-go-go up and just do it already. At first I was stop and go. I'm sure it was quite comical really as I inched Sir Rodney, ever-so-slowly down that long, long driveway in a less than straight line. Poor Rodney would swivel one way then the other as I over thought and over corrected the whole situation. Eventually, I manifested a little bit of Elvis magic and just backed the heck up. Which is what I was doing before I smacked the sister-ago-go's car.

I got in the car, rolled down the window and stuck my head out to gauge my distance with the wall and backed up. Confidently so as I was now a pro you see. As I was doing it I thought how much faster I was gassing it and then I thought "Oh, this is how people back up over their pets" and at once I imagined I was about to back over the deaf orange and white tom-cat that roams the neighborhood when BLAM!

You might wonder how on earth I managed to not see an entire vehicle parked in the driveway and well...in all honesty I have to tell you I never looked. We don't park cars in the driveway here. Two cars go in the garage and Sir Rodney hangs out in the back just to the side of the garage. Had I actually looked in the mirror I would have seen said vehicle but nope, I was on autopilot and simply backed, backed, backed myself outta there like the bees knees I thought I was.

I am sooooo not the bees knees. And now, I am afraid to back out of the driveway.

in which i show you i chose a pastel color for a change

You can see it as greenish or blueish, either way, I am finding it quite pretty. Soon, once I rustle up some new vintage sheets, there will be a return to making the bed. For now, you get a messy box filled bedroom with bits and pieces floating about and a bookshelf bed waiting, just waiting for books. And well, nevermind the fact that we underestimated the height of the mattress and it now covers half the headboard. We're gonna fix it with a couple of blocks of wood. More pics to come soon!

*the paint is Behr's pastel jade.

taking a break with butterflies

The mama a-go-go received a jar of caterpillars from the nephew a-go-go for her birthday. Five prickly critters in various shades of brown inched their way up the sides of the cup and into a chrysalis. The jar sat on her bureau in the bedroom for a week or so and one morning I heard her cry "Oh!  butterfly"!

There it was, hanging from the top of the lid, its wings unfolded and gently fanning itself dry. We placed the whole beautiful jar outside in the shade with a mesh covering to make sure each painted lady could emerge as graceful as possible.

Three flew away and two emerged crumpled. Their wings never appeared to fully unfold. One of those two disappeared and the other crawled around a little too close to the bird feeder. Having read that sugar water was something to feed them, I gently coaxed the crumpled girl onto my hand and carried her to the butterfly bush where she immediately began to drink.

Be still my beating heart. It was stunning.

the new tiny casa: revisiting kitchen goodness

Yesterday I hung out at the new tiny casa. I know I shouldn't say hung out but we are still without phone or internet service and the mattress was finally to be delivered. Luckily, we have a space in a tiny orange room back at the Homestead a-go-go which is where we will be staying until oh...tonight!

As I waited for our brand-spanking new mattress to arrive, I whirled through four more kitchen boxes and greeted each lovely bit as I peeled away the newspaper that protected them all these months. If you had been a passerby you might have heard me cooing to my happy mugs and bowls. I even sang a greeting to my butter dish and cookie jar. It is nice to see these little bits of home again. I didn't even think I missed them until they were unwrapped. Long lost friends they were. So sweet to be reunited.

I also found the box of hangers so I decided to tackle the multitude of clothing boxes. We have two closets to hang clothes in and one is just for dresses. I've never had a dress closet before. How spoiled am I? Now, if only I could get my keister INTO said dresses I would be a happy, giddy girl. But that is a different sort of project, isn't it? Clothing boxes were tackled and coats went into the coat closet. Coat closet! And now I need to figure out what to do with my assorted pjs and unmentionables. Methinks I need a dresser as I sold my trunk at last year's garage sale. mr. a-go-go gets the bureau in the bedroom whilst I get the closets but still, a girl needs a special place for her unmentionables. 

Progress is slow going but it is going. Yay for new adventures!

there may still be boxes on top of boxes...

but golly is the light pretty or what?

one can't deny my penchant for color

The other day, I spent almost an hour staring at paint samples. The goal was to pick out paint for the bed, a dresser, the kitchen table and two chairs. My mind was reeling with all the pinterest-pretty greys and such and for one hot moment I had them in my hand but then the real me cleared her throat and I came home with these happy colors. Stay tuned for what is to be painted which.