Car update!

Though I did not scrub out my car today (too cold!), I did make two purchases which I'm quite thrilled about.

First off: A TRUNK LINER!! I found one on deep discount and free shipping. It has grates on it for things to not slide around, but it also has a lip to keep things from slipping in the crack to the wheel/side basins. I AM SO EXCITED. And, it's this durable plastic, so I can pop it out and hose and/or shake it off if it gets dirty.

Next, for the pickle pooch that gets muddy paws all over my car and somehow always avoids the blankets:
Yup, a doggie hammock. Now my car will stay clean! I'll have to make sure she can still see out between the front seats. She loves to put her paws on the island between the two front seats and stare out the front window. I chose this style because it looks the most easily removable for when people need to ride in my car. It hooks simply to the headrests! And, it will keep Mads from tumbling into the footwells of the backseat when the car needs to stop quickly. Let's hope it works out! Ebay had them new for pretty cheap, AND they're waterproof!

Sheepishly, she posts car update photos...

Ok, I've decided to post photos of my poor Goldie. If anything, I hope this will serve as self-encouragement to never let this happen again.

Here is my trunk. Notice the lack of a liner board and a topper rug thing. And yes, notice the mud smears too.
More mud smears. Light was growing dim last night, and after removing gallons of water and dirt slop, this was as good as it got. This is the left-hand bucket area.



And here, we have the offending vent. My somewhat-proved theory is that this vent is busted on the inside, and lets water (water that is kicked up from wheels spinning) into the trunk. Water which then gets nasty and gets my things nasty and has brought us to where we are today. This is also the vent that is going to be sealed up so we can test if it is the culprit.

Oh, the joy of a disgusting wheel basin (wheel lifted up).

The right-hand pocket, home to a car jack (which may need to be chucked due to water exposure... we will see), and (oh!) more muck.

So yesterday, I removed 85% of the muck. The rest needs to be removed with cleaner and many paper towels.

I'm currently drying out the mat and trying to flatten out the cover (it's fiberboard and warped). I may have to cut out a new cover-- we will see.

I plan on hot-glue-gunning a plastic cover on the vent. If that works, we'll look for a more permanent solution (if need be). Since the water comes in there, I can't just remove the plug in the bottom of the wheel basin. That would get rid of water only when it gets so high in the left-hand pocket and sloshes over to the wheel bin. I'd prefer to have no water at all.

This is a process. Wish me luck.

Unrelated conversations

Me: My arm hurts. And Paddington is happy because he got some chicken. And the other cats are insane tonight.

B: Please drink more.

In the same boat with my car.

I do this every year. And every year I curse myself.

See, I drive an almost 14-year old Camry. GOOD cars. But, like everything else, the older something gets, the more issues will be had.

For the past few years, Goldie (the car) has had this weird issue where she gets water in the trunk. We hunted down the problem a while back and determined the water was getting in through the cast off of the wheels, which then entered the trunk through a vent.

A fix was attempted, but it didn't work.

So, for the past two summers, I've told myself that I needed to seal that vent.

Did it get done? No.

So now (especially so since it's raining) I have water in the wheel basin and side basins in my trunk. And on warmer 45*+ days, it gets all murky lurky back there. Which means that right now I have a blanket and a few sweaters and a bunch of other stuff that has remained back there because it is just cold and gross to remove.

Which means that right now I'm on the hunt for a garage. Yes, you read that right. A garage. We don't have one, and I really would prefer having one to empty out and fix this car issue. Plus, I'll need to have an electricians lamp and/or heater plugged in to help dry out the trunk. And, well, I'd prefer to not have my trunk rained on as I'm trying to dry it out.

Worst case scenario, we can take black tarping and attach it to the back windows of the car and the rest of it to the house, creating a little camp-like set-up. Obviously, this is not the optimum of circumstances, but it will work. I'm hoping for a garage first.

Why didn't I do this in the summertime when the water wasn't a chilly 40ish degrees and I need snow gloves to do this? Good question. Let me know if you figure out the answer.

Collecting bricks...

B to me: Ever think about buying property out of town?

Me: Yes, but you do know what that will mean, right?

B: What?

Me: Buying a lot of land. Because I'll be plumb content to be in a trailer as we make bricks to create the perfect vineyard home on our 20 acres of wine grapes.

A fair warning indeed.

Time to fire the yard guy.

This story requires me to take two steps backwards first. I promise their are pictures at the end though.

Part of our monthly dues go toward yard maintenance. And let me just say: ya don't get much for your money. This is partially due to the bewildering nature of the yard maintenance guy. Let's just say either he's a few cherries short of a bowl or he totally gets that the landlords are over 100 miles away and never follow up on him.

AND: HE'S CREEPY WEIRD. As in, in his late 50s/early 60s, clearly partied in hardy with who knows what and who, and doesn't really process what you say. Like when he came over to do something on our roof and just started doing it, freaking the heck out of me, inside, who had just come out of the shower and now there's a burglar on the roof. I asked him to knock next time, letting me know he was here (so I don't call the cops on him), and he just stared at my blankly.

This is who I am dealing with.

This same guy came and cleared our rain gutters. He's contracted to do it once a year. But this um... interesting... fellow decided to clear the rain gutters in early October. That is a problem because only about 25% of the leaves had fallen at that point.

I kindly let the landlords know that they weren't getting a great service for their money, and maybe next year, oh, they should let the guy know to WAIT UNTIL THE LEAVES FELL before clearing the gutters.

When the landlords visited in early December, they were told by the maintenance men that the vast number of leaves on our roof was contributing to our roof problems.

Keep in mind: the landlord understands this liability issue, and does not want us on ladders on the roof. I don't blame him. So please no comments about the fact that I am lazy and don't clean the roof myself.

So, a couple weeks ago, we got an email from the landlord: "Your roofs will be cleared sometime soon." While I detest the open-ended notification (not quite what Oregon law requires for notification, but I'm not going to belabor that issue with them), I was happy to know that the roof was going to get cleared. No more overflowing gutters!

And then, yesterday morning (after coming home in the dark the night before), I saw this:





Yes, our roof was clean. But the contents of the roof (the rotting, composting, smelly contents) were merely just chucked from the roof to the ground. ALL AROUND OUR HOUSE. Our yard that had been carefully cleaned for fall/winter. The guy even dumped the roof contents ON TOP OF OUR YARD DEBRIS TRASH CONTAINER. And our wheelbarrow was clearly visible too. While I'm of the firm belief that a YARD MAINTENANCE MAN should have his own tools of the trade, I'm not beyond him using our tools to avoid a hideous mess.

Rotten, decomposing leaves all over.

So, carefully worded, an email was send to our landlords, WITH the photos attached. No response yet. Perfect world? They make their yard maintenance guy pick up the leaves for free. My world? I suspect I may get a response something like "we'll talk to them about next year."

And yes, I did discover this yesterday. No posting yesterday though because I was so livid I might cause the computer to explode with my fierce typing.

Anyone want to visit? My yard smells lovely. Like rotten, slimy leaves.

To the dingbat who designed our linoleum...

This is the linoleum in our kitchen:
I swear and promise that it is clean.

What?? you say-- That's clean? Sure looks dirt-streaked to me...

Yes, and therein lies the problem. Despite the glare from the flash, this linoleum not only ALWAYS looks dirty, but it has very little gloss. So, thing that are on the floor are very difficult to clean up. Stuff soaks in. Supposedly, it is "natural linoleum," which means it's pretty porous, thus supporting my claim that it's difficult to clean.

I should add this stuff is also in our bathroom. We have a nice wooden bathmat rug thing in there. Wouldn't you know that there is now that bathmat design ON the linoleum? No joke. The teeniest bit of dirt that has managed to get in between the wood has stained the bathroom floor. I'm not kidding.

So, in summation, this stuff sucks. It may be all-natural and not the most offensive of colors, but it is not user-friendly. And it always looks dirty.

After many a reading (floor canvases, thoughts of tacking linoleum on top of this stuff, etc etc), my fear of mold and nastiness creeping in between layers has gotten the best of me. So I'm off to find a few nice kitchen rugs that will hopefully cover 50% of the floor. While floor rugs are not always the most useful thing in the kitchen, it will at least be 50% less floor that looks gross.

While I would love to lighten up the kitchen, I am not so brave as to be on the hunt for white floor mats in the kitchen. I'm thinking dark brown. Not the prettiest, but sure as heck a lot better than dirt-streaked-looking floors. Ooh, or maybe red.... hmmm.

We all fall down, but in a clean house, so it's ok.

Plus side? The house is clean.

Down side? I'm tired.

I went out last night to the almost-final showing at our local independent theater to go see "The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest." I went with a friend; we'd seen the other two, so it made sense to see the final installment. And by going on Monday (rather than Tuesday), it meant Miser Monday and therefore: $3 tickets.

But.

The 9:15 start time meant I needed a tad of a pick-me-up, so I had a 1/2 cup of coffee at 8:45.

Fast forward to midnight: WIRED me.

So, the house is very clean. It's actually quite glorious and satisfying. But after getting up, I sat down on the couch, and I haven't quite been able to get back up yet. This is problematic, as I have definite work projects that need significant attention today and a time table schedule to abide by...

Hm.

But in the good news: The movie was great and the house is clean.

And now I fall down.

The happy office hound.

This is the tale of the office hound.

The office hound loves to go to work. Dressed up in her finest duds, she takes every opportunity to be social. This includes being happy to any passers-by she may see through her car window.

Alas, the poor office dog becomes melty and tired due to the vast throngs of admiring fans. This can be viewed by frontal-leg-collapse syndrome in the photo below. Or perhaps this is due to the vast weight of her hat.

But what's that the office hound hears? Possible visitors? Possible fans? She rushes to the door to see what fun abounds from passers-by.

Having been loved and adored once more, office dog is alive with happiness. No more melty paws. There's also the possibility the hat will soon be removed, cause for ample rejoicing.

Santa outfit removed, it's time to relax. Office hound knows the best place to stretch out is under the client chair. No accidental paw stepping-on by the humans, and it's also a great place to watch the doorway for her fans.

But office hound is not all seriousness. The office is a great place to play games, and many a game of peek-a-boo under the office desk (a very productive pastime) occur.

Finally, office hound is tired. No better place to fall asleep (and/or look pitiful and definitely a pup in need of scratches) than right in front of the door gate. Please note she has decided upon a most sympathetic body layout, what with the head on paws and back paws extended. Office dog does not leave any stone unturned for the possibility of setting herself up for getting great scratches.

In case you were confused by the last photo, here is a close up of the optimal dog sorrowful-please-give-me-scratches pose. Must place this pose by the front door for best results.

At the end of the day, office hound is tired. But leaving the office is not a sad occasion-- it means she gets to return home to her cat fans. This is cause for much celebration, love, and, of course, scratches.

The day when everything was amazing.

Yesterday. Amazing.

Actually cleaned parts of the house before work.

Went to check in with a place I still do a little bit of work for-- ALL splendid.

Finished a work presentation.

Went on a 45-minute-long walk in the chilly winter air. Wonderful.

Went to other (the more focused-on) work. Wonderful.

Did my presentation and got great feedback. Wonderful!

Got home and found out my husband had won $3000 to go toward his student loans. WONDERFUL. And brought home 2 reimbursement checks from work-- go work!

Let's just say I literally sang in the car ride home. And then, upon arriving home to that? There was some dancing.

Doctor, stop raising my blood pressure.

So.

I went to the doctor's recently. I am NOT pregnant (before anyone asks). And I will not post TMI on this site. Continuing on...

Of COURSE the issue of kids came up. I told her it was a few years away, when "we're in our own place and financially solid. We could handle it now, but we'd prefer to tackle other goals first."

Doctor's response: "Oh, that's fine. I had my first child when I was 30."

Ok, ma'am? I TURN 29 TOMORROW. If I want to have my first child when I'm thirty, it will mean me getting pregnant next year.

And of course there was the "above 30= more risk" discussion.

Really? I mean, B and I have only been married for a year and a half.

Needless to say, I left the appointment a bit flushed. Am I waiting too long? Luckily, the drive home cooled me off, and I know we're doing the right thing. We've seen too many folks who've had kids and, though they love them tremendously, it has caused major strains financially and on marriages. I know having a child is not a walk in the park, but we're still young enough to be able to have the luxury of waiting and meeting goals that will avoid some problems.

Besides. We have pretty great pets. Not the same thing in the least, but they are awful good snugglers. And they don't talk back.

The dog is not able to blame the cat for this one.

Our dog is typically very well-behaved. Sure, she gets a little excited when people visit (usually for the first 5 minutes). But pretty much, we trust her to have the run of the house while we're gone. And normally, no problems occur.

Normally.

Insert Evidence A:

See the blue?

We were at a holiday party. We came home. And there were blue footprints on the floor. SOMEONE had found a pen, exploded it,and trotted in it.

Yes, I realize this means we were lax on the pen-minding. Our fault for leaving that on the floor. And yes, I realize that pens look an awful lot like chewy sticks that you give the dog for treats.

But. That still doesn't make her look any less guilty in the photo.

Harvest 2010

Harvest isn't quite finished for 2010! I harvested these lovelies yesterday afternoon:

With the exception of a few other small carrots though, onions and herbs are the only things "harvestable" from our yard. Which is ok by me-- it's kinda soggy out there. Ok, it's really soggy out there.

Last night I made homemade lentil soup with kielbasa. It was a good example of advance planning, if I do say so myself. The lentils were purchased in bulk and were under my counter. The spices I got from the bulk bins in small quantities. I used 8 pints of homemade poultry broth (which means I need to make more, and yes, I realize what that would have cost me if I had purchased it in the store). Frozen tomatoes from my garden were in the chest freezer, as was the kielbasa (which was purchased on deep discount with a store sale and coupon). The onions were in dry storage from the yard. The celery I had in the fridge-- I had salvaged the thing from a previous life stuck in the back of the fridge after Thanksgiving. A cleaner fridge, and better-suited produce fridge bin meant the celery survived this long to be eaten last night. If you ignore the cost of freezing and seeds, I made a double batch of lentil soup (BIG soup pot full) for about $5. It's pretty healthy too. Very nice to have on hand.

The garden still needs some work done. The raspberries need to be trimmed and the blueberry patch weeded. The garden beds and tomato area need their old plants pulled. Currently, the soggy remains of plants that once were are there, and it's just a bit depressing.

But hey, yesterday? I took down the hammock and moved it to a dry spot. Now THAT is productivity! Right?

The Pineapple Express

When a warmer front from the Hawaii-type area hits the Pacific NW in winter, it gets a funny name: The Pinapple Express.

It's not as great as it sounds.

The warmer weather means warmer rain, which melts the snow, which causes a LOT of water to be sent into already-full rivers.

But also, it's annoying. I mean, really. I just whipped out my winter gear, and you're going to suddenly make it in the 50s and low 60s during the day? Truly obnoxious, mother nature.

However, I do suspect that the warmer rain is great for my garlic, recently planted and in need of a good watering. Yes, I was too lazy to water it after planting, figuring "hey, this is Oregon and it's BOUND to rain in a day or two anyway." I was right.

So, we're left sludging. In warm water and mud.

Warmer weather also means smellier chicken. Stinkers. I am convinced there is no good way to handle chickens in the wintertime. Unless you're Martha Stewart and have a crew on hand to assist.

Anyway. I have a big thingie to put together for work, so I'm off to it. And I'll watch the warm rain fall outside.

The dog that kinda owns the place.

I said she "kinda" owns. As in sometimes I have authority.

Sometimes.

Really.

Maybe.

The lack of and need for a file system.

My mom kept track of my health insurance stuffs through college. I had no idea at the time what a blessing that was. I mean, TRULY. You should see her organization. When she handed the file over to me, it was tabbed. There was a cover sheet on the front, indexing what had been received, what had needed to be paid, and what had been done.

WOW.

Let us pray for personal evolution, because I do not do that right now. But I should.

B and I are pretty crudtastic when it comes to keeping records. Well, to keeping PERSONAL records. We do very well when we're at work. But somehow, for some reason, it is difficult for mail to get opened and sorted and filed.

BLAH. So boring.

This is actually pretty strange, because I'm becoming more of an organized fiend as I get older. A year ago, if you had asked me where something was in my apartment, I'd probably have a 50% chance of finding it in 10 minutes or less. Now? Significantly faster and higher odds. We've cut down, we've organized. But, for some reason, FILING DOES NOT FIT THE BILL.

DANGIT.

So what to do? We tried the file box thing, but that floundered. Maybe a shelf SOLELY dedicated to files? Something easy to access? I'm pondering, because an overhaul is needed.

Don't get me wrong, we pay our bills on time. But I tell ya, if it wasn't for websites and auto pay and you name it, there are months when we could possibly be up the creek. Things just get lost. Then shredded.

So, that's the goal of this next month (oh, besides all the holiday to-dos). Get organized on bills and personal records. Yes, to become my mother.... kind of. :)

The Lovely Luna and a new leg

About a month ago, I spied an ad on Craigslist.

I was looking for something entirely else, but I came across something wonderful: A high-back, creamy leather and teak, Luna Chair and Ottoman by Scandinavian Designs. And the price was astounding. 1/10 what the store price would be.

I drooled. We bought the set. It just so happens that we previously (that day) had sold a few things on Craigslist, so we just used that money for our chairy bliss.

And Oh(!) was it comfy. Two weeks pass. And one evening, I heard a crack when B sat down.

One of the legs, at its weakest spot, had broken. NOOOO!!!!!

I called Scandinavian designs, and they contacted their manufacturer. "No can do" they said. "You have to buy an entire replacement frame for $130." What!?! No. Come on. it's a modular chair-- I can swap in a different leg! I got the manufacturer's number and contacted them directly. They decided to do it! $25 plus shipping. MUCH BETTER, and for that, I could not make a replacement (and this one would actually match). I coordinated with the Dania (ScanDesign up here) office in Portland, paid them, and the leg arrived yesterday in the mail. A few minutes, and the old one was out. A few minutes more, and the new one was in.

A thing of beauty (and perhaps the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in):



As planned, we have since swapped out our loveseat/chair for a full-size couch, which means this lovely Luna is destined for my office. It just needs to STOP RAINING for a few minutes so I can get it out to my car without getting it soaking. Supposedly, there's only a 10% chance of rain until about 1pm today, when it becomes more of a 70% chance. Looks like my odds are favoring the unlikely right now, because the 10% is what is showing through. RAIN outside.

I may have to dodge raindrops with the chair.

The garden overflowed with garlic

Well, it's that time of year again: garlic planting. And, like last year, I did it a bit late. I got my garlic in well before 12/21, which is the unofficial cut-off. So, that at least makes me happy.

I moved the location this year to where my fruit trees were. To cut our ties to this land and realizing that there were many cheap fruit locations near us, we decided to sell many of our fruit trees about a month ago. The good news is that opens up several garden beds that are in prime sun real estate. AND, if we should move out before the garlic is ready (not saying we are, but IF), my neighbor Joe can easily extend his garden fence to include these guys. So, I might actually get to see the full-grown garlic, even if we do move.

I had so much fun with garlic last year that I decided to greatly expand my garlic operations. Hey, if it works well AND brings me joy, might as well, right? This is the same reason why we're going to have more potatoes next year too.

So, all told, there are: four, 2x4' boxes:
.... and two, 2x6' boxes:
Yes, I realize that's almost 60 square feet of garlic. I put leaves on the top for winter insulation, FYI.

I decided to grow a lot more because a) I was moving the garlic to an easier-to-maintain location. Previously, the garlic had been in a 6'x6' bed, and it was hard to weed because of the bed depth. This is much easier. b) the new location gets more sun, so I figured better garlic success too. And finally, c) I want to actually be able to give some away this year. All of the 2x4' beds and part of one of the 2x6' beds are all the Italian Late garlic variety. I realize it's a bit of a risk, planting this many of a never-before-grown-by-me garlic, but, if it works out, it's a softneck variety, meaning I'll be able to braid the garlic when I harvest it. Hopefully, that will work, and I'll have nice presents for folks.

I got my garlic this year from the folks at wegrowgarlic.com. Luckily, I ordered in August when they still had available garlic. They may still have some available, but I do know they sell out of many of their varieties. Go visit! It's not too late to plant!

Small photos, but here is the Italian Late garlic (which I planted a LOT of):
The Chinese Purple garlic:
The Red Janice garlic:
And finally, the Red Rezan garlic:

I hope they all turn out.

But there's more that still needs to (eventually) get done outside. I'm not quite sure what happened to the blueberries, but they look quite distressed. Did I water too much (?) or too little (?) this summer? I know it's fall and they're supposed to look sad, but I worry that they're sad as in close to dead. Hm. Regardless, their beds need to be weeded. B said he'd take care of that.

I also need to prune the raspberries and rebuild their trellis. I made the mistake last year of going with the furring strips for the wood (which is fine, but), and securing it with nails. NOT a good idea. The furring strips crack easily, and the nails did not provide enough security. Result? falling apart trellis. This year's model is going to be a LOT more simplistic. 4 posts at the four corners of the garden beds. Screwed on. Then wire. Voila. That's it folks. I can tear out the trellis now and prune the raspberries, but I don't think I'll start rebuilding until later on in the winter.

I also have the option of putting in some carrots now that will be ready in the spring. that would be nice, wouldn't it? I just have to pick the rest of the carrots out there right now though.... :) Then it's just a matter of planting the newbies and putting some sort of mesh over them so they don't get trampled on by neighborhood cats thinking the garden bed is a gigantic litter box. FUN.

So, that's all for now from the garden.

Homemade ornaments

I love homemade ornaments. My mom has these plaster little ornaments she made when she was first married. Some have broken, so the collection is smaller than it once was. But they are still there, these little painted figurines. It adds this air of home. There are also many ornaments my sister and I have made over the years. Macaroni noodles have fallen off, clay has chipped, but they are still there.

So, since B and I are having our first CALM Christmas together this year, I wanted to make some ornaments. I say first "calm" because last year, if you recall, we had just moved after spending 10 days homeless in between rentals. We moved in on 12/10, and we barely had our feet under us by Christmas.

This year is substantially calmer.

I wanted the ornaments to be unique, personal, but not easily breakable. There's at least one move in our (hopefully) not-to-distant future, and really, with Christmas ornaments, they kind of have to move once a year, what with the packing and unpacking that they go through with each Christmas season.

Then I came up with the idea. A number of months back, I picked up these approx 2.25 diameter, round tiles at the recycling store (I actually have a tub full, but here are a few):

They are all nicely glazed on the front, but nothing on the back. So, I took the back side (the unfinished side) and painted holiday scenes. I mostly used my Martha Stewart paints that I mentioned yesterday.

Once dry, I mod podged the paintings to seal them:

Once that was dry, I put a thick layer of diamond glaze on the paintings.

And so far, here are the results!!! 2010 and the blue/white house scene have not yet been diamond glazed.

I plan on getting some ribbon and gluing it on the sides, creating a circle with a little loop at the top for hanging.

I'm very happy with how everything turned out. Time-consuming, but they will last a long time... I hope! I think I'm going to do at least one or two with photos in it, that way I can add to them each year.

And, they are durable. These can be someday hung on the lowest branches without risk of swallowing or dropping by little kidlets. Not sure how much sucking I want them to be doing on tile, but at least there's not the "DON'T DROP THAT!!!!" risk. :)

A spice rack, FINALLY!!

Our spices have long caused me a headache. I hated the racks that took up space on countertops; not only did they never have complete sets of spices, but the labels on the spices were often permanent (no switching out of spices easily), and they took up so much space on my limited apartment countertops.

So, a few years ago, I switched to all-magnetic. But, the heavier spices would fall down. And, more frustratingly, the jars were HARD to open. You don't want hard-to-open jars when you're mid-recipe.
When we moved to this house, the problems persisted. So, we began looking for new spice jars. Ones that would hold a decent amount of spice, but be easy to identify and open.

We decided on these oval, glass canisters with flip top lids (with good seals) from Crate and Barrel. Not too expensive either! We initially ordered two dozen, but then made it 3 dozen. We may have a spice problem.
But it constantly perplexed us what to do with the jars. We had them labeled on top and in a drawer, but our kitchen drawers do not open all the way. About 2/3s out, the auto drawer stop kicks in and you can't see the last 1/3 (if not more, it's pretty significant) of the drawer.

However, we didn't want to get a big old, fancy spice rack either. We don't plan on being here forever, and so we don't want to spend a ton of money on something that may not be of use in a new place.

So, I hit up Goodwill, and for $4, I found two spice racks that would do the trick. This one needed to have two front little lips pried off so the spices could easily fit.

And this one did not look like your traditional spice rack, but it would do the trick wonderfully.
This is how far the drawer opened. There was at least 8" of drawer space unseen. You now see our problem. The purple things are the post-its identifying each spice type.

A few weeks ago, the Home Depot (whom I am a fan of on Facebook) had a special Facebook offer: fans can order all 14 sample-size Martha Stewart's "favorites" paints for $4, and that included shipping. I took them up on the offer, knowing I had a few projects coming up where I could use paint.

The box included "Azurite," a pretty dark blue peacock-type color. I knew it was the one to use on this project.
Then, after painting, it was just a matter of mounting the racks. I didn't care much that they didn't match. The blue made them look enough alike, and the spices really hide the form of the shelves anyway.

They still need side labels, but I am still enthralled. And yes, I do have many empty ones because the third set of jars just came in. I still have to fill them up!

Fun, easy, and for $4, it will more than work while we are here. Who knows? Maybe it will be used in the next place too! We're definitely keeping the jars. Those we love. LOVE!