spouse and i had our third anniversary. all this time i did not realize, we got married the day before talk like a pirate day. i have it stuck in my head that talk like a pirate day is the 23rd for some reason? i am never prepared for talk like a pirate day. maybe now i will remember.

i successfully painted the front door green, like bilbo's door. 4pm on a dry, not windy day and i'm like, let's paint the front door, how long could it take? well, i didn't finish prepping and putting up plastic until 7:30ish, and got the first coat of paint sprayed by 8:15 or so. i got 3 coats on by 11pm, but it was still blotchy in places, so the next day i had to finish up with four more (very light) coats. there's definitely a learning curve with the paint sprayer and every time i get impatient i get too heavy with the application and that is BAD. not only does it take forever to dry, but then there's drips and that fucks up the finish and guarantees the need for at least one more coat. but ultimately, the end result is very nice.

i got green paint flecks on the ceiling somehow. there was a gap in the plastic. mmmfffff.

i painted the panels on the kitchen cart at the same time. i got the kitchen cart assembled and it looks really good. way better than the original light wood finish. there's a few spots to touch up that didn't take the stain well, and a little more topcoat needed, but it's basically done. got a working utensil drawer again, finally!!

it's finally starting to feel like our home and not just a place where we've dumped our stuff. i have the pot rack made from a branch over the sink. i have coffee cup hooks also over the sink. i've got a plastic bag organizer, a plastic wrap/foil dispenser, and a magnetic knife strip mounted to the wall. i have a rack for holding the wood trays under one cabinet and i'm going to put up another rack for cutting boards. i bought an assortment of printed metal signs to make a space for my magnetic spice jars (the stainless steel fridge looks nice but is not magnetic, and i love the convenience of magnetic spice jars too much to give them up). since i finished the kitchen cart i could put them in place. things are finding homes and not just "let's shove it where it fits".

i have some sanding work to do today so i hope it stays sunny. much prefer to do it outdoors, so the dust doesn't get everywhere. i have the edges of the nicknack shelves to do, a shelf for paperback books that is going in the hallway, some other small shelves for the portable speakers, the wood closet doors that i am turning into office shelves and the tops of the rolling worktables.

it's getting chilly and dipping into the 30s at night. i better get the yard cleaned up and get the seeds & bulbs planted for spring. one of the california poppies bloomed and i got two morning glory blooms. spouse was mowing the lawn and i went out to remind him not to weed whack the morning glories ... i was too late. he massacred them. morning glory murder. if it didn't have a flower he went to town. no more weed whacker for him. it was an experiment just to see if they'd grow, though. i planted the seeds very late. next year should be more successful.

mary the next door neighbor told me about how she feeds the stellar jays peanuts. so i got a tray feeder in the front yard and i got some unsalted peanuts in the shell (cheapest to buy them at costco) and i put a handful out. there is a magpie that particularly enjoys hasseling Cat and he found the peanuts first. we have named him reginald. reginald has figured out he can swoop above our bedroom window in the morning to startle the Cat and see if we are awake to give him peanuts. he is very demanding.

mary gave me some bird feeders - i should have birds like crazy in the front yard this winter. i got the makeshift bird bath and i'm going to get one of those plug in warmers so the birds will have a source of water all winter. it doesn't get much better in the winter than watching a gaggle of chickadees fight over a feeder. angry little feather balls.

things are going slow and steady. nothing goes as quickly or easily as i want, but it's getting done.

tomorrow is the fall equinox. we've had the house almost 6 months (i can't beieve i don't have more done but it is what it is). i poked on zillow and you know, i still think we got lucky. there's still not much available at our price point and now interest rates are higher. i still feel like we slid under the falling stone slab like indiana jones.

i'm still having some parking drama with the slapper. when we talked i said "it's cool to park on the gravel any day but the night before trash day" and then of course she parks there on the night before trash day and i have to maneuver my bin awkwardly around her and it goes at the curb right behind her car, blocking her in. the thing that made me laugh hysterically is that the slappers have been putting their garbage bins at the end of the gravel strip (over their property line and on ours) this whole time and i have had to move their bins aside to make room for ours. minor irritation. that night they put their bins on the far side of their driveway, more toward the middle of their property. so these assholes choose to put their bins out on our property, except when what's-her-face parks on the gravel, which i told her was no-go because of trash pickup. like she thinks if she relocates THEIR bins it's all kosher to park there, forgetting that we have to bring our bin out right through where she parks, or hoping we will just shrug helplessly and make do and she'll get her way. this lady.

so i leave a note reminding her that we talked about this and trash night is off limits and she hasn't parked on the gravel since. she's been finding a spot in front of the slapper house. so either she worked it out with her housemates (why she couldn't do that from the start, i don't know, probably because they are all a pack of jerks) or she's just biding her time to lull me into a false sense of security before she makes her next jerky nutball chess move. i'm betting the latter. no, you can't have the gravel spot 7 days a week. i'm not slipping and sliding on the snow to drag my bin around your car and risk it falling and causing damage, when you aren't friendly in the slightest. i think 6 days a week is pretty generous for someone whose name i don't know and hasn't once waved or said hello.

one of our friends said she had a dream where spouse and i were werewolves and we were running for political office on a platform of "run fast and pee on everything" and i am thinking about aggressively peeing on the gravel strip to assert dominance.