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The Power of Paint and Prep

Painting!

I enjoy painting. Or, rather, I enjoy the results created by paint. Paint is the cheapest way to remodel your house and give it a fresh look.

And I don't mind the actual painting itself. I find it soothing. However, I've learned over the years that I will be patently unhappy (read-obsessively) with the results if I don't take the time to do the part I don't care for all that much: the prep work.

Ugh.

So first, I take the before picture. I'll want to remember how transforming paint can actually be. You might need this motivation to get through the prep part.

Then you need to do two things. Remove EVERYTHING. And clean EVERYTHING.

This is the boring part. So I usually do one section at a time. Right now, I took all the decorative objects and curtains down and removed the hardware. Then, I'm going to give it all a good cleaning. I personally like TSP (or a TSP substitute) because it's a degreaser and deglosser and it really cuts any crud that would make your new paint not stick nicely. However, it is a chemical and you need to wear gloves with it. There is a probably a non-chemical alternative involving vinegar, but I just haven't bothered to investigate that yet.

After I've washed the walls, I can go back and spackle any holes or dings or scratches in the parts of the walls that have dried. Sand down the high spots and bubbles from the last paint job. Wipe down again.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

It helps to either listen to one (or several) of your favorite movies or your favorite music. Enlisting company helps, too!

Reward yourself after this step is done. It's the least fun and it makes everything look worse before it looks better, but it's sooooooo important. Did I make that clear enough?

A Happy Ending?

Photo credit: Jennifer Vander Klipp

So after my disappointment at the destruction of my baby robin nest, I had hoped to be able to watch the growth of baby cardinals outside my bathroom window.

We were getting ready for church and I heard a lot of chirping and squawking outside. The cats seemed quite interested, moving from window to window. I finished getting ready and then carefully lifted the window shade in the bathroom to check on the baby cardinals.

They were gone! The nest was empty. I scanned the ground and bush as best as I could from my vantage point, thinking maybe they had tried to fly. I have no idea how long it takes baby birds to be ready to do that.

Hurrying outside and around the back, I tried to see what I could find. The nest was empty, no baby birds in sight. I peered in the leaf litter under the bush. Maybe they fell out? I couldn’t see evidence of what had happened, but I kept looking, hoping to find something, anything.

Then I saw the slightest movement in the leaves. I took a stick and slowly started moving leaves around. Nothing turned up and I thought maybe it was just some creature or the wind.

Then I saw it. A bit of matted baby bird feather. I moved the leaves away and saw the baby on its back, beak open, looking like he (she?) was trying to squeak, but no sound came out. I wanted to put him (or her) back in the nest, but I was frankly a little too grossed out to touch him. I know, I’m such a girl. So I did what all good girls do and yelled for my husband. He came out and scooped the baby bird up with some leaves and laid him (or her) back in the nest.

We had to rush off to church, and I had no idea if the baby was injured or would survive or what had happened. There’s was nothing I could do about it anyway.

When we came back from church I hustled back to the nest before even going into the house. It was empty once again. Sigh. There must have been some predator in my backyard. Which would have explained the cats’ interest in what was going on outside earlier that morning. Turning to go back inside I saw a baby bird body already being attacked by insects. Yuck.

So. No happy ending this time. But I never would have had this kind of excitement back in my cubicle. The birds and their nests spurred me on to learn more about the creatures around me. And now I wonder what the change of seasons will bring.

Looking forward in eager anticipation…

A Second Chance?

So in my last post I shared how I loved watching momma robin build her nest. But I was frustrated by one thing: from my angle, I couldn’t see inside the nest. I didn’t know if she had laid her eggs, and if so, how many. My brave husband to the rescue! He climbed up on the roof to get a picture of the nest.

Three adorable little eggs. I couldn’t wait to see them hatch and watch the baby birds right outside my window.

Two days later I noticed Momma wasn’t on her nest. I waited and waited and she didn’t come back all day. Something was wrong. Remembering my research, I suspected something had gone wrong with the nest. And it had. I found crushed baby blue shells in the front lawn and in my planting bed.

I see the empty nest through the window every time I walk into my office. I was surprised how melancholy I felt about it. I had looked forward to seeing baby robins hatch, hearing their noisy squeals for food, and seeing Momma push them out of the nest. All of that was cut short.

It is the way of nature of course. In my research I discovered only 20% of robin eggs actually survive to maturity. I’m not going to make a glib comment about the circle of life or anything like that. The momma and daddy robin still remain in our yard, claiming it as part of their territory. I saw the daddy robin with a piece of twig in his beak, and I hoped that they had found a safer place to build another nest. Though I’m sorry I won’t be able to see it.

And then one morning it looked like I might have a second chance at watching baby birds hatch.

Our bathroom window swings out from the top when you open it, like an awning. I was cranking it open when I saw a flutter of a bird leaving the bush that sits under the window. I peered through the screen to see if there were more. And I saw this:

Three perfect little spotted eggs. I had no idea what kind of bird this was until a couple of days later. The momma would always fly off when I opened the window, but not too far. One time she was squatting on the lawn, and I could see the crest on her head that marked her as a cardinal.

This nest had the advantage of being at a better angle for viewing the eggs but the disadvantage of having the window scare Momma off every time we opened it. Since the weather was nice, we generally left it open. I didn’t want Momma to leave her nest for very long.

And in the same way that we were careful entering the room when the robin could see us, we had to be careful in the bathroom not to startle Momma cardinal.

One morning I walked into the bathroom and heard a faint squealing sound. Peering around the corner I saw this:

My hopes of seeing baby birds eat and grow and leave the nest looked like they would be realized. Or so I thought. (To be continued.)

A Room With a View

Working from home has brought a difference I hadn’t really appreciated before I made the move: new co-workers. Meet Lexi, Rocki (above), and Lucy (below, who is usually being this ridiculous when she's not sleeping).

I have to say, they are not as industrious or helpful as my previous colleagues have been. However, they are entertaining and they don’t mind if I talk to myself. And they are completely supportive of any decisions I make. Especially if it involves food.

Once difference I was looking forward to was not staring at the wall of a cubicle all day. My office has two windows that look out onto greenery in every direction. The amount of wildlife continually parading before me is astonishing.

Coming from California and Arizona before my move to the Midwest, I’m used to a much more limited range of wildlife. I grew up surrounded by orange groves so we had gophers and lizards and some birds. We could hear coyotes wailing their hearts out at night.

In Arizona I had a roadrunner perch on my backyard wall.

Photo credit: Jennifer Vander Klipp

But with the heat of the day, most wildlife stayed out of sight.

So I was delighted to find that a momma robin was building her nest right outside my office window on a little stub of a branch. I watched her fly in and out with bits of twigs and plant matter. She’d tuck it in with her beak and then stomp around in a circle, treading it in place until the nest took shape. And then she was off for more.

Photo credit: Jennifer Vander Klipp

You can see how her coloring perfectly disguises her when she’s sitting in her nest. You can barely see the red breast and the only other color is in her beak.

My coworkers were utterly fascinated. They were perfectly still all day, only their heads swiveling as Momma flew in and out.

I know nothing about robins so I did what all good researchers do and Googled them. This was how I knew when Momma settled into the nest and didn’t move that she was laying her eggs. At this point, we had to be careful. If the light was right, she could see movement in my office and would fly off. I didn’t want her to be scared away so I started approaching my office with care, moving slowly.

But I had one frustration. (To be continued…)

But I had one frustration. (To Be Continued…)

The Beauty of Routine

I’ve always thought routine was important. Even back when I was in grade school, during free time I’d be writing out my “Schedules of Time” trying to figure out how much time I had for reading and playing the in orange groves while still doing my homework and chores.

When I started working at home I wondered what would be the best routine for me. I’ve read many articles over the years about the best time of the day to do certain tasks. I also had to think about when my family would be home, when dinner needed to get into the oven, what kids I needed to run where.

Tame the Email Monster

I originally started the day by checking my email and seeing what needed to be done. The problem was I often got derailed and several hours later found that I hadn’t gotten to my to-do list for the day.

Then I read this article from Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/6-things-the-most-productive-people-do-every-day-2014-6 on things productive people do everyday. One was to NOT start your day by checking your email. I’ve been implementing this for a couple of weeks now and I actually find it very freeing. I do my “big rocks” (more on that later) then check my email, knowing that I have a time limit where I need to be moving on to my to-do list items.

So once I tamed my email I thought about what I needed to do each day to make me feel productive, even if I did get derailed.

Place the Big Rocks

I have six kids at home, teens and tweens. It’s summertime so they sleep late. I’m a morning person and I like quiet to do my reflective work. So I asked, “What are my most valuable skills? Where do I bring the most value to my clients?” and finally, “What do I need to do to create an environment that cultivates those things?”

I don’t have all the answers. I don’t even have most of them. But I did decide that I needed to do my time in the Word, my exercises, and my creative time before noon. Those are my “big rocks” and I can get most of them done before the monsters—uh, kids—wake up.

Routine is Coffee’s Friend

The article above reinforced to me the value of routine. It frees your brain from having to think about what needs to be done next. It allows you to walk around like a zombie in the morning and still get something done before the coffee kicks in.

The best routine is one that works for you with your energy levels and life situation. There is no one-routine-fits-all I’m still experimenting with what makes sense for me, but I’m happy with what I’ve discovered so far.