Lipstick on a pig

I use our neighbor Florence's goats as my own personal garbage disposal/compost until I get to start my own. Today I brought them the stalks and leaves from the beets which they loved. Florence said that's sweet food for them. She also told me that this morning she woke up to find 2 brand new baby lambs in the former chicken coop. She took me to see them and I really wanted to run for my camera but I felt I needed to preserve their innocence from the Clintondale paparazzi just a little while longer. They'll be out grazing with their buddies soon enough and I'll snap away.

We are doing a couple of projects that kind of fall in the putting "lipstick on a pig" or "a band-aid on a headwound" category but hells bells we gotta live here and we want to make it nice. Since our 10 year plan is contingent on winning the lottery we should do what we can right now. Scott is routing down our horrific Goldilocks meets the Flintstones cabinet doors and James is painting, yes painting, the bathroom tiles. It's the most toxic paint I've ever smelled and he'll be singing showtunes from the fumes soon but it's looking good. 

Uhummmm yup that was a PINK bathroom...

We've made no secret of how much we detest the color of our kitchen but having a 10 year plan has put a halt on most of the work. But here's something that felt worth it. 

We call it carpenter's joy in Sweden but this isn't even that, this is some generic pre fab crap that reeks of faux country. But this is real country, we don't need your added touches. 

It may seem silly but to us - getting rid of that edge just made the house a little more ours. If work stays slow we're painting the doors next week.

I feel like Edward Weston, using produce and peeling paint as photo subjects because I can't afford to hire models, besides beets have no attitude and wallpaper doesn't need hair and make-up so here's more still lives from around the house. The wall paper also kind of tells a story, there's multiple generations visible and I wonder what era they all belong to. On one wall in the hallway it's peeled down to the plaster which may be an original wall, meaning 200 years old. 

I think what we are tackling next is the area known as the teacup room. It's the hallway that connects the kitchen, bathroom and dining room. Referred to as the teacup room because of its wallpaper. 

Turns out there aren't really any teacups on the wallpaper but instead completely random things like that weaver majiggy, fruit baskets and mushrooms. I don't know if I can handle all this quaintness.