A Quick Pick-Me-Up Project

It's no secret that I don't handle darkness well.  Hence my issues with Seasonal Affect Disorder every winter.  (No lie, getting through winter takes A LOT of effort!  I'd rather hibernate in my warm bed for those 3 or 4 months.  Just wake me when the days get long & warm.)

So, these days lately ARE longer & warmer.  So, why has it been difficult to get motivated?

Well, I figured out that its the darkness.

Not that its supremely pitch outside at really any point of the day this season, it's just that due to the temps + privacy, the shades stay closed.  This equals darker-ness.  Darker-ness equals depressed tendencies.  Which results in my brain thinking its time to hibernate still.  Which means laundry gets ignored.... needless to say, we CANNOT suddenly become nudists.  Something HAD to be done.

Considering all that I've shared so far, I've been MORE than overdue for a quick little pick-me-up project that would not only save my day, but save all the rest of the warm days left this year!

Today's stroke of genius occured in the bathroom.  Well, not only did I GET the idea while in the bathroom, it also involved the loo.  Remember the issues of temps & privacy?

Well, here's the skinny - again I'm NOT a nudist, however I'd like to be able to walk around my own house naked whenever I deem it necessary.  (I mean, I live in the country for TP's sake!)  Or at minimum, be able to saunter into my watercloset for a brief vacay without having to STOP, THINK, STRESS ABOUT MY PSYCHO NEIGHBOR ACROSS THE WAY, THEN PULL THE BLINDS DOWN.  (No lie, she's admitted she sits on her porch with binoculars, keeping tabs on any & everything.)  Just sayin'... kinda kills the relaxing vacay, ya know?

(Hello, nosy neighbor!)

Exhibit A:  My Weapons of Mass Resuscitation!

(L to R: my trusty 2" wide painter's tape, "Frosting" spray paint, glass cleaner - Sprayway = best ever! - & an end-roll of blank newspaper.)

Exhibit B:  Highly specific, premeditated plan of attack = open window, turn on bathroom fan, place newsprint into window to protect wood trim, delicately tape the crap around the glass, & blast away!  (Is it really possible to delicately tape the crap out of anything?!)

(With only one coat, it's already made a huge difference.  Any areas that looked heavy in spray, as in they would eventually drip or leave a weird "pooled" texture under the next coat, I blotted lightly & resprayed FROM THE RECOMMENDED 10-12" DISTANCE.  This is a very important part to the success of this project; NO LESS THAN 10" FROM THE GLASS, OK?  Oh and please ignore those nasty shadows of spider webs on the outside of the window.  I promise that is NOT the spray paint's texture at all.  The house just is overdue for a good hose down is all.)

EXHIBIT C:  After 2-3 gradual & even coats of frosting spray paint, be.patient.  Not the easiest part at all.  (The reading material in our bathroom basket you may have spied in photo #3 helped pass the time.)  But after about 5-10 minutes the tape can be removed, so that's good for ADHD hands like mine.

EXHIBIT D:  Voila!  Amazing the difference a $5 can of frosting paint can make. 

(What a stark contrast, eh?)

EXHIBIT E:  POWDER-ROOM PERFECTION!  How nice right?  I can now have beautiful soft light streaming in to brighten my inside world, but bare my derriere whenever I need to without a second thought!  Love it.  (Oh, the other pick-me-up secret is to surround yourself with light, bright, airy colors.  For those who've followed the Ranch over the past 2 years, yes I DID paint the bathroom a lovely churned butter yellow.  Worlds of improvement from that drearily morbid dark-dark-dark green disaster that was ragged on these poor walls shortly before we bought the place.  So glad we rescued our bathroom with some sunshine & crisp white.  Swoon!) 

(Ahhhhh..... the serenity is sublime.  I don't really want to leave my sunny bathroom place!)

Now, aren't you feeling very picked-up & motivated?  Take charge of a small project in your life today, and you'll be amazed at how liberating that small change makes you feel.  ::hugs::

P.S.  We just MIGHT be having a band of 15 bicycling hippies camping out on the 7 acres tonight!  They're a group of college kids cycling cross-country (San Fran to Massachusettes, cycling through Walla Walla), who had their plans of camping at a park 1 mile down the highway dashed since camping's no longer allowed there.  Nice kids.  If it doesn't work out for them at the park 14 miles north of here, then it looks like we're bon-firing it up for dinner tonight!  How should it work with hippies?  We've got acres upon acres of humungous sagebrush bushes they can pee behind... though I wouldn't want to discover any piles left behind... or do we let them use my newly refreshed bathroom?  15 hippies... what would you do?