[F]unemployment

As of Tuesday I have been unemployed for a full month, but this has been anything but a lazy, dull month. The first few weeks I applied for jobs in Alaska and DC like nobody's business. This did nothing to change my situation. Then I started following up on old job leads. This lead to some positive movement, but no concrete changes signaling an end to my status as part of Romney's 47% percent (in my defense, the money I currently receive from the State is unemployment insurance I paid out of each of my paychecks plus what was matched by my previous employers, so I'm not a total freeloader just yet!). 

In addition to taking positive steps toward finding work, I've been busying myself around the house. Last week I tore down our pony wall to create an open concept living/dining/kitchen space downstairs. This week I am repainting the downstairs to propel us toward a nice update. The overall concept for our downstairs is French/provencal colors with slightly industrial furnishings and details. During our most recent Home Depot run, I bullied convinced Leigh to go with a 3-tone pallet: saffron yellow, "French Court" blue, and a muted, basily green.

The wall below with doors leading to our pantry and utility closet was previously an orangey-yellow. We really loved that color contrasted with the black picture frames. It was the only non-white wall in our entire downstairs, except for a rather tragic blood-red accent wall we inherited from the previous owner. On Day 1 I repainted the orangey wall a Saffron yellow color. Then I painted the previously white wall to the left the "French Court" blue color.

There are two major problems with this picture: 1) the colors look great as part of a green-blue-yellow pallet, but next to one another on a wall without something breaking them up they just look weird. 2) Leigh says the blocked out way I painted these walls reminds her of her high school. I agree. It isn't working for me either. The really weird part is that I LOVE each color on its own and when I look at the walls from various angles they look great.... except for THIS particular angle, it just looks terrible. So back to the drawing board....

Before scrapping all my work so far I decided to put some of the green up to see how it looked. I love it. Leigh loves it. It's a winner. 

The next step is to extend this green into the kitchen (pretend you don't see all the clutter, thanks). In the long-run we plan to replace our cabinets (they're original to the house and Leigh can't stand the musty smell, plus I want something prettier and more functional). But for now pretty much all the white spaces in the kitchen will be green. 

Referring back to a variety of home decor websites, I got the idea to extend the green color throughout the living room as faux wainscoting. Apparently this is a typical use of color in provencal homes. So I will continue with the green color from the moulding to roughly the height of a dining chair.

This "wainscoting" will extend from the window near the [formerly] red wall, wall the way around to our stairs leading into the living area. The current "French Court" blue wall (not pictured, but to the right of the above image) will be repainted white with the green on the bottom too. I'm hoping this will make the space feel more open and allow the theme to feel continuous rather than choppy like it would with a bunch of accent walls.

But what about the beautiful blue color I love so much but just couldn't find a place for? Well, for now I'm planning to top the "wainscoting" green with a thin strip of the "French Court" blue all the way around the room. That way we can bring the color in via furniture and fabrics without it seeming to be "out of the blue" (har har). I'm also hoping that Leigh will permit me to repaint the cabinets on our currently black kitchen island to match... but I'll save that battle project for another day.

Even though I've been super busy every day (today I drove Leigh to work, primed and painted a few walls, did the dishes, bought an infant car seat, attended a lawyers luncheon, and chauffeured Leigh home from work), I indulge in some guilty pleasures. For instance, over the past two weeks I completely caught up on the last two seasons of Teen Mom on Hulu.

My TV time looks a lot like this:

 Ever heard of "personal space"?

Yep, I'm also a full time mom to Juneau Cat and Cannelle Dogger. These two are great pets and are self sufficient, provided that we stick to our routine of NOT being home all the time. My change in schedule has caused them to change their previous routine of sleeping all day and playing with us in the evenings to bugging the crap out of me all day. We are still establishing a yard time/play time routine, but I think the consensus is that I stink at being a stay at home mom to any creature.

Of course, they're awfully cute too. That white thing Cannelle is snuggling is a baby's onesie. This plain white onesie had some schmutz on it, so I set it aside thinking I would try washing it out. Cannelle snatched it up right away and started playing with it. Cannelle is known for destroying her toys by systematically ripping them apart, usually eating the cloth and rubber parts. But 4 days later this onesie is still completely intact and her new favorite snuggly toy to sleep with. If this is any indication I think Cannelle will be an excellent big sister!