Month: May 2012

Ready for Stripes

Marie Haigh2 Comments

The walls beneath the chair rail have been primed and painted a boring white.

Elly helped. Remember how I recommended a shower cap for your young helper?
Well, a shower or painter’s cap is recommended for you too.


(That’s white paint in my hair. I don’t have quite that much white/grey in my hair yet though I’m working on it.)

I never needed a hat before Elly insisted upon helping. It’s clear I could use one now.

Back to my crazy stripe project.
Several of the stripes will be left white while the others will be painted yellow, green and orange.

I can’t wait to start painting the stripes. The thought of all those bright colors makes me deliriously happy.

Lots of prep work has to come first. Stripes have to be measured, drawn and taped. A painter’s cap must be obtained.

Painting with a 2 year old

Marie Haigh3 Comments

It wasn’t my plan to let Elly help me prime the dining rooms walls. She was just that insistent. Even my pulling out the trump card, a Tinker Bell movie, didn’t hold any sway. Elly didn’t want to watch a movie or any TV show for the matter. She wanted to help me paint.

And so she did.

It didn’t matter that Elly dripped paint all over the rug because the rug is ugly and way past the date when it should have been tossed in the garbage. In one corner, we are holding it down with duct tape. In another spot, the carpet is unraveling. And in several other spots, the carpet crackles when you walk on it. It’s that old. Goodness knows, you don’t need me to elaborate on its ugliness. Just look at it, would you?

I kept Elly in front of me on the wall we were working on. That way she could draw ‘c’s, ‘o’s and dinosaurs to her heart’s content. I followed with a paint brush and evened everything out.

It also didn’t matter that Elly dripped paint all over herself. It was easy to just toss her in the bath afterwards.

Though if your 2-year-old offers to help you paint and you just happen to own a shower cap, put it on her. Even after a long bath and a thorough brushing, Elly still has paint in her hair.

Bicycle for Two

Marie Haigh1 Comment

I fell in love with it the moment I saw it in Tri County Bicycles shop’s window.

All John, the owner of the bike shop, had to say was “yes” in response to my question about whether Elly’s bike trailer could be attached. I hummed the song Daisy all the way home.

Much to my delight, Dan was equally excited about it when I gushed about it over dinner.

I ordered it Easter weekend.  We picked it up Saturday. It’s a Sun Biscayne tandem bicycle.


Here we are in front of Tri County bike shop on High Street.

It’s so much fun to ride!

Elly loves it too. Well, she’s always been a fan of her trailer, but now “Daddy and Momma ride bike together. A family” says Elly.

War on Weeds

Marie Haigh1 Comment

Last year we had our Colorado blue spruce tree cut down. Unsure what I wanted to plant in its stead, I let the spot lay fallow. Boy, that was a big mistake. Weeds took over.

These aren’t the sort of weeds that you can grab at the base and pull out. These weeds are evil. They are common milkweed, I think.

Their roots are similar to a dandelion but longer and riddled with rhizomes. Like a dandelion, if you don’t remove the entire root system, it will grow back. Ask me how I know. grrrr.

I found the best way to remove them was with a shovel. I would insert the shovel directly in front of one of the weeds and without pulling the shovel back out of the earth, I pushed down on the shovel handle just until the earth was loosened. Then, I searched through the loose earth for the roots of the weeds. Grabbing each weed by the root, I was able to slowly clear the land.

Afterwards, I planted 3 fast growing coreopsis flowers. More flowers will be planted when I divide up the day lillies.

I wish I could announce that I was done, but alas no. There are more of these evil weeds in front of my lilac bushes. Plus, the lily of the valley, another  invasive weed plant that grows through the use of rhizomes, needs to be eradicated from the bed next to my veggie garden.  I have dreams of an herb garden.