The Great Ceiling Cleanse

The second major endeavor before moving in was to tackle the ceiling. I had never seen popcorn quite like this, so thick, so very dirty. It gave me the creeps and I could not imagine sleeping underneath it, anticipating what-have-you sprinkling down over my pillow and into my lungs. Um, no way.

I spent a night or two researching if this was a project we could handle ourselves. But with the age of the house and the potential for asbestos within the popcorn, I was quick to realize this was a job for the pros.

We are lucky, our real estate agent came with a stockade of "guys". "I got a 'guy' who can remove that popcorn" she says. "Oh yeah, what's his number?" And so it was.

He showed up, he brought a couple more "guys" and they knocked it out (safely mind you), smoothed it, sanded it and made an 87 year old ceiling look relatively new.

Luckily the popcorn had never been painted which allows the ceiling to absorb water and be scraped off in nice chunks, versus dust mania. This made removal safer and less costly. NEVER paint a popcorn ceiling you don't love.

Bonus, they even primed it. It's beautiful and glaringly white, making everything else look so dingy. Of course, we have many other projects to complete before we can catch up to these ceilings. At least now I can sleep.

Cats and what they need

We have two cats, Roosevelt and Orange. Roose is twice the size of OJ, half her age, and something of a bully.

Roosevelt. See, total sinister beast.

 And Orange. Why would anyone want to eat her?

So I saw this little house on Moderncat and thought, in addition to the incredible amount of adorable, this could be her perfect sanctuary, a place she could just "be herself."

Alas, with shipping from Canada, this one breaks the budget for cardboard cat houses. But it's inspiration. Maybe I can make it.

Bonus Feature

I'll bet you don't have one of these!

Our house came with a number of wheelchair accessible features — low sinks, tall toilet, and this outdoor elevator. It's a novelty, people make comments when they see it (although no one has asked for a ride). It works, so this isn't just a huge piece of scrap metal we need to dispose of. This is money, baby.