Simple Goodness Blog

Do you know what I mean when I talk about the utter satisfaction of white paint? The catharsis that comes with rolling a coat of clean white paint over a wall studded with grease, dog prints and the history of a thousand foreign fingerprints? It's a feeling of release, that I imagine unwinds the tight strings of my muscles and lowers my shoulders just a fraction of an inch in a moment of pure happiness. Ok, so maybe I am a bit type A, and maybe I am overthinking this, but I really love what a coat of paint can do to a room. I've had the pleasure of that moment of joy about 47 times this week, as we've been working through room by room, painting each surface with Behr premium dual paint and primer with low VOC. The magnitude of that moment has reduced a bit with frequency, as all strong emotions are apt to be dulled via repetition and time, and I can't say that I love spending every evening with a roller in hand (I'd vastly prefer a drink, but then there is that whole growing a son in my womb thing at play, too.) I've cleaned paint brushes nightly and ran to the Home Depot for more paint three times now and we're still not done, but we've definitely made significant progress on the house in our first week of home ownership and I am excited to share it with you. Our goals prior to move in day (which we're hoping comes prior to baby's eviction day!) were to address the flooring and walls. Everything else we can do later, but those large things require open space, time for fumes to disperse and are a whole lot easier without furniture so they have been prioritized. Except- when you renovate nothing ever goes exactly to plan and when you start one project you begin to realize that although you tried to predict what other things might have a direct effect on this first project, there's probably something else you didn't expect to have to consider at the same time, that now makes sense to consider because of its dependencies. For sake of example, let's talk about the floors. The day we received our keys, Troy's first move was to sink and exacto knife into the emerald green carpet and begin to rip it out. We aren't carpet people, I hate vacuuming, and we definitely wanted to change the color scheme of the room (a scheme I have affectionately dubbed the Taco Time color palette, as it consists of dusty rose and emerald green hues that make me crave a soda with pebbled ice and a Veggie Fit Hit bowl.) Upon removing the carpet, we finally got to see the condition of the original fir floors that we knew were underneath. Though there was obviously significant work to do to clean them up, we were encouraged to find them in pretty good shape, with just one coat of paint on top that we identified as simply "annoying that it is there Latex" and not "entirely toxic and cannot be disturbed lead" paint. So far so good. In the dining area and entry, hardwood had been laid on top of the original floors and nailed in. This was a bit harder to remove and required a crew and some crow bars. Luckily, on Saturday family and friends began streaming into the house around 9 am, all eager to help us. We couldn't feel more thankful to the work they have put in to help us get settled. Having everyone we love around the house has already begun to make it feel like a home, so thank you to all who have stopped by, painted, demo'd, let us borrow tools, brought dinner, and provided us with loving company through this busy and stressful week. One night later in the week, after the living, dining, hall, office and downstairs bedroom floors had been revealed, Troy and my dad began to ponder about the likelihood of the same flooring continuing into the kitchen. So this happened:

Sure enough, trapped under a layer of linoleum and tar paper, the floors peeked through. In the process of removing the old cabinets to reveal the entire floor so work could begin to refinish it, a wood window in the kitchen was broken. So next we ordered 3 new vinyl windows. And finally, we ordered the replacement lower cabinets for the kitchen. To recap so far, in the process of re-doing our floors, we ended up expanding the flooring project to the kitchen, replacing 3 windows, and replacing our lower cabinets. But we weren't done yet. The flooring stressors continued as we debated whether to pay for a professional to re-finish the floors from start to finish, lay over the top of the old floors with a new floating hardwood floor, or try to refinish the floors ourselves. Aesthetics and budget were the big consideration factors, especially as our limited budget now had to accommodate the windows and cabinet costs. After a couple of quote and scheduling issues, we found a custom floor refinisher who is willing to work out a happy medium with us: we take care of the majority of the prep work, and he will provide the proper, professional final sand and clear coat of finish at a very affordable price per square foot. Inside, I rejoiced at the prospect of preserving these century old hardwoods, including every rustic dent and scratch, while Troy wilted a bit and tried to maintain a positive outlook on his long week ahead. Though he'd already removed the flooring on top (including chipping away at linoleum pieces, scraping tar paper, and pounding out the hardwood splinter by splinter) the carpet staples still needed to be removed and the entire first floor had to be sanded down with an industrial sander and heavy grit paper to remove the paint and polyurethane finish. And so leads us to today. The first floor is prepped for the final sand, the rose wall paper in the living room was sprayed with remover and scraped off in a process that was easier than any of us expected, and the majority of the walls upstairs and down have that fresh clean coat of white paint that so pleases me. Except the many walls that have the color that is supposedly Cathedral Grey and appears very purple in the lighting in our house- those have a purple-grey, and they will for a long while until I feel like picking up a paint brush again. Please keep up the prayer...

 

Our family welcomes any excuse to party. And we love a good animal race- horses, piglets, goats, you name it, if they've been raced at a county fair, we've lined up to watch and cheer them on. So last year, despite being months late for the annual Kentucky Derby, we decided that Grandma Nancy's surprise birthday bash was the perfect excuse to finally throw our own farm animal races in my backyard (a bucket list event for me if ever there was one!) The Kentucky Derby is a Grade 1 Stakes race for three year old thoroughbred horses run annually the first weekend in May. Held in Louisville, Kentucky, the race is known equally for its traditions of high fashion and infield race attendee parties as it is for its winners. We sent invites to the Kelly Derby to our nearest and dearest and waited for someone to blow the surprise but incredibly, no one did. I thought we almost killed gram she was so taken aback (and thrilled!) when she walked in to the yard to see us all waiting in our fancy derby hats, Mint Juleps in hand. It was one of the most fun parties I have ever thrown and a memory of our home that I will always cherish. We kept our party fairly simple with a Kelly green color scheme, a Mint Julep inspired drink in mason jars, a southern themed menu of fried chicken, cold salads and strawberry shortcakes, and hats for all. The DIY items for the party included pendant drink stirrers, colorful pendant flags strung around the porch, debonair Kelly green bow ties for the gents to clip on their shirts, and the race track my dad assembled out of chicken wire, metal stakes, and ribbon. From the excited goats foraging the flower beds, to my dad acting as the Post announcer and finally to the epic goat and dog races themselves, we had a ball. I'd love for this traditional event to become an annual party at the farm for our family and I highly suggest having a derby party of your own. Get your barnyard critters and loved ones together this week and, with a little bit of training, some bourbon and maybe even a "southern accents required" rule, celebrate "the Fastest Two Minutes in Sports!"

Here in the Evergreen state, cutting your own Christmas tree is something I believe everyone ought to do at least once. It's much like how everyone in California should try surfing at least once and those in Tennessee should catch a country concert. For my family and I Christmas tree hunting is an annual tradition. Yesterday my family and I met for our annual tradition and came home with four trees that cost less than one would at the lot and a few stories worth so much more! After twenty some years of hunting, I have harvested many "wild" Christmas trees and have learned a few tips and tricks I think are worth sharing.

1) Plan early and buy a permit: Yup, you gotta buy a permit to cut a tree in the forest. Sure, there are people out there who disobey the rules and cut down trees all willy nilly, but for those who choose to obey rules, get a permit. I buy ours at the Enumclaw Forest Service Office. You can also go to the REI in Seattle or Alderwood if you prefer. The permit are $10 each (which when compared to a $60 tree from a lot is a great bargain)! For more information on permits and rules and regulations check out the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Christmas Tree Cutting Guide.

2) Gather Your Supplies: At the very least you will need a saw (a sharp one is always better) and something to secure your tree to your vehicle. Additionally, you might consider bringing a thermos full of your favorite hot beverage (try this ymmy caramel apple cider recipe) to keep you warm and treats to keep you happy! Treats also come in handy when bringing kids (Belinda and I were always easily bribed to keep trudging through the snow with the promise of a few Oreos). Yesterday I saw a couple dragging their tree on a tarp and was a little confused as to why they didn't just pick it up, but I guess a tarp might be necessary for some folks (although I still can't figure out why). And lastly, your favorite Christmas music soundtrack is absolutely necessary!

3) Dress appropriately: Remember you are going to the mountains. On any day the weather can go from sunny to rainy to a downright snow storm. No matter what it looks like at home I always wear waterproof pants and jacket. I also always wear my snowshoes and bring gloves and a hat. Yesterday I told everyone the report said no snow so some of us (Kate) thought they could get by with just jeans and then tried to blame me when they were jeans were soaking wet and pasted to their skin. Just because snow isn't in the forecast doesn't mean waterproof clothes aren't necessary. We also always make sure to bring hand warmers!

4) Bring a change of clothes: Christmas tree hunting is not for the fair weather hunter. Even if you get lucky and it is sunny (I can't remember a time when that has happened) it will still be cold, the trees will still be wet, and the ground will either be muddy or snowy. If there is snow on the ground, and you aren't a total fuddy duddy, it is likely you will romp around in the snow a bit and will get wet. No matter how high you crank the heat, driving the 40 plus miles home in soaking clothes is never fun so bring a change of clothes and wear under garments that allow you to change without showing the other Christmas tree hunters your "goods"!

5) Be Realistic: I think it's important to remember that when you cut a "wild" tree it will not be perfect. Our Forest Rangers do not spend hundreds of hours pruning the trees so they are full and perfectly shaped for your viewing pleasure. The trees you get in the wild are more sparce which I like because it allows me to show off all my ornaments. They also may not be perfectly straight. And often times they have more than one tree growing on the same stump. This year three of the four trees we picked have at least three trees growing from the stump which means we don't have to pick between a star or angel tree topper - we get both! For some reason Ross and I can never agree on a tree easily. I like the "character" of mountain trees and their imperfections while Ross likes to search for the perfect tree. We are quickly gaining the reputation of the annoying couple who can't agree and has to hike all over kingdom come for the perfect tree only to pick one that's closest to their car because they finally get tired and agree to compromise, which brings me to my next point.

6) Remember you have to carry the tree to your truck: There isn't a lot attendant that will help you carry your tree...it's up to you and whoever you bring with you, which means choose your tree wisely. If it's a big tree try to find one close to the road or bring lots of friends. If it's smaller make sure you look at how big the trunk is because that is where most of the weight is. And as a rule of thumb we avoid searching for trees on the side of a cliff!

7) Consider the height of your ceilings: one my best friends growing up, Annie, was also an avid tree hunter and in her family every tree had to be inspected by her father Ken. The inspection always included a height analysis where he would stand next to the tree, look up put his hand next to the top of his head and say out loud, "well I'm about six feet"! Even though we gave him a hard time I give him credit for being careful to not bite off more than he could chew when it came to getting a tree in the house!

8) Take Lots of Pictures: Sure it takes way more time and energy cutting down a "wild" tree, but the memories you make will more than make up for it so be sure to capture them on film (or flash drive)! I have years worth of Christmas tree hunting pictures that I love to revisit each year. As a child driving to the mountains, hiking through knee deep snow and selecting our Christmas tree was a tradition I looked forward to every year. Now as an adult I still try to make sure I make time in all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season to make a trip to the mountains with my family and hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. It is a tradition I now get to share with Kate and she has made her own tradition of posing for a picture of cutting down her tree with an extra determined face. Below are some of the pictures I took from our hunt yesterday and I would love to hear about your Christmas tree traditions in the comment section!