The Colonel's (and thus becomes mine too) Newest Home Improvement Project

The Colonel announced that he wanted to redo the upstairs loft. The loft's first iteration contained a DIY daybed, a dresser (full of DVDs) with a television and a DVD player on top of it. The kids used the loft for watching movies or when they had a friend over, it was used as a guest "room".

When Spud graduated college and moved into his own place, The Colonel and I moved the DIY daybed into his old room and moved a huge, comfy chair into the loft (the television and DVDs remained). The loft's second iteration became a reading or movie watching area.

My younger sister has a bedroom on the third floor of her house. The Colonel likes to sleep in it when we visit. In that bedroom is a bunk style bed. The Colonel wanted to create something similar in the loft. He wanted to incorporate the window, so what we ended up with was a window seat/bunk hybrid with book shelves.

Before we could begin the project, we cleared the area and ran the sweeper. Now we had a blank slate.

The Colonel wanted to incorporate some ship lap into the design. He also wanted to use the pretty, colonial-esque, green paint we discovered when we were working on the museum's newest exhibit (we used it on a table).

I do not recall how many trips to The Home Depot or Lowe's we made before the project was complete (it took about a week to complete), but the first trip was made to buy the ship lap, wood for the shelving and paint.

There was a lot of painting in my future, thank God The Colonel had recently purchased a paint sprayer.

I painted the ship lap and once it was dry, The Colonel and I attached it to the wall.

The Colonel ran some wiring behind the ship lap before we reach the top.

Finally, the ship lap was complete. Window framing was next on our list.

The Colonel was constructing the first bookshelf as I was painting the new window frame. I helped him build the second bookshelf.

The custom light switch/power station/reading glasses shelf The Colonel designed for the right bookshelf.

It was now time for me to paint the bookshelves. The weather was perfect, sunny and very little breeze.

The Colonel wired and attached the steampunk lights we ordered to the wall before we moved the DIY daybed back into place in the loft.

The bookshelves were next to go into the loft.

The Colonel completed the wiring on the right shelf...let there be light!

We still had more construction and painting to do before our project was complete. The Colonel framed in the bed and shelves. He cleverly framed around the ceiling fan so that when it was on, it moved air over the bed and outside the bed.

The simple curved frame around the mattress, reminiscent of a captain's bunk...

We added some curtains for privacy.

We are awaiting some new blinds for the window. The wait has not stopped me from putting some of our books on the shelves.

The project is complete. It is exactly as The Colonel envisioned it. This will be the loft's final iteration. I can see lots of reading and maybe some napping in my future.

I LOVE IT!

Throwback Thursday

Halloween will be upon us in just over two weeks. I have my costume ready! Since Halloween is so near and I was looking through some old photographs, I thought I would post the photograph above.

That is me in the green, oriental dress. It was one of my paternal grandmother's dresses. I had eye makeup on to make my eyes seem more Asian. The girl next to me was a friend of one of my sisters. I cannot remember her name but I can remember being impressed by her costume...heck, I'm still impressed by it now. The other person in the photo is my oldest sister. I cannot tell (nor remember) what she was dressed as.

I believe this photo was taken in the early 1970s. We had moved into the new house in 1970. The new house was built on an old farmstead. The old barn and garage were the only buildings left from the farm. I remember my dad burning down the old chicken coop to make way for the new house before construction began.

My sisters, brothers and I loved playing in the old barn. We cleaned up the stalls and played house in them. The hayloft still had some bales of hay in it and we would play in those too. Our mom had been the one to suggest we have a Halloween party in the barn.

We decorated it (see the elbow of the paper skeleton behind me and the orange crepe paper ribbon on the wooden post) and had games like Bobbing for Apples. We had a costume contest and I believe the girl dressed as a man won.

I do not remember the year the old barn burnt down. It was maybe sometime during or after my college days, because I was no longer living at home when it happened. My brothers were burning some trash in a barrel when a spark flew up onto the hand-split shake roof. The fire department was called but the barn could not be saved. My mom had stored an old loom in the barn. She had inherited it from one of her aunts. She was heartbroken over that. In the years before the barn was destroyed, people would venture up our long, curved driveway, knock on the door and ask if they could buy the barn. It was never for sale.

I do remember the dusty, musty smell of the old barn and what fun we had during that Halloween party.

Bye Bye Birdie

Those of you who are followers of my blog know that I like love mermaids and have many representations of them around my house. I also have books about mermaids and T-shirts, bags, a bar of soap and a purse that sport mermaids on them. I even have a Voodoo-ish mermaid key chain (she hangs in my kitchen window. I got her in Key West).

The Colonel and I were just in our favorite antique-filled town. We went for an early anniversary lunch and some shopping. Here is my latest mermaid purchase. I just love her face.

I now have the likeness of a mermaid that I carry with me at all times. Yes, I have gotten a mermaid tattoo. I had been thinking about this for some time and when Ink Life Tour (with 200 top tattoo artists) came into town last month, I thought what a perfect time to see about maybe making my mermaid tattoo a reality.

The Colonel, Judy (an older friend of ours who may eventually want a tattoo) and I went to the event center (the same one Yam and I were in for the County's 80s party). After a purse check and paying our entrance fee, we went into the huge room that was packed with booths of tattoo artists and tradesmen.

We walked around the room and stopped at various booths. The tattoo artists all had binders full of examples of their work. There were some very, very talented artists at the event. I stopped by one booth in particular and asked the artist if she could maybe help me out.

When Spud was a toddler (he is 25 years old now), I got a tattoo of a bird on my right ankle. We were in Texas visiting The Colonel's sister and her husband. I mentioned I was thinking about getting a tattoo and Tony, who had recently gotten a tattoo, said he would take me to the place he had gotten his. When we got to the tattoo parlor the artist asked me if I had been drinking. No, I replied. He informed me that they did not tattoo anyone who had been drinking. Good policy. Tony and I walked around the small parlor and looked at pictures of items he could tattoo on my ankle. I knew I wanted a bird and not a large one. He did not have much of a selection to choose from and the bird I chose had a rose in its mouth. I told him to ditch the rose.

The bird was my first tattoo. I did not know what to expect. The pain was intense but bearable. I remember using some Lamaze breathing techniques as the tattoo artist was working.

Back to the tattoo artist in the event center...So, I asked her if she could maybe do something about my bird tattoo. As she was looking at it, The Colonel suggested I get the bird covered up by a mermaid tattoo. I would still have my bird but it would be incorporated within the new mermaid tattoo. It just so happened that the tattoo artist I was talking to specialized in tattoo cover-ups and watercolor tattoos. I asked if she could oblige me and she said sure. I would be her first tattoo of the day.

The tattoo artist was named Cee Jay Inky Jones of Sassmouth Ink out of Riverview, Michigan.

Online Image

I am not immersed in the tattoo culture and was not aware that there is a television show called Ink Master. Cee Jay Inky Jones was on season two of the show. My confidence in Cee Jay's abilities increased and I was committed to getting my new mermaid tattoo.

I joined Cee Jay in her work space. She had set up a table for me to sit upon and began to get the tattoo supplies together.

The look on my face betrays my feelings at the time...I wanted to do this...but I was not looking forward to the discomfort.

With Cee Jay's help, I decided upon the design for my mermaid tattoo. Cee Jay then began sketching the mermaid on my leg. She hid my bird tattoo within the mermaid's tail.

Once Cee Jay had the sketch done, it was time to begin the tattooing.

I had forgotten just how painful tattooing was. I was doing the Lamaze breathing again as well as having a death-grip on the cuff of my shorts or the table. Once the needle pierced the skin, Cee Jay was able to put some Lidocaine cream on my leg...that helped a bit with the pain...a bit...but the needle had to pierce the skin first. This new tattoo was considerably larger than my little bird tattoo too.

The first part of the tattoo was complete...the outline...

Bye bye birdie...Now time for the colors...

Nearly done...Thank God...

Two hours and fifteen minutes later and my tattoo was done...goodbye birdie, hello mermaid!

You may be able to see in this photo of Cee Jay and I, that not only was I sporting my new tattoo but I also was sporting a colossal headache. The tattoo session had taken more out of me than I had anticipated. No more tattoos for me...I am getting too old for this kind of thing.

There were all kinds of contests during the tattoo event. One contest was for the best cover-up. Cee Jay entered my new tattoo into the contest. I lined up with the other contestants and when my name was called, I had to show the three judges a photo of my old tattoo and then show them my new one. I was not the winner.

The Colonel and I kept seeing a heavily tattooed and pierced man walking around the room as I was getting my tattoo. I wondered what kind of job he could hold (besides maybe being a tattoo artist or biker) with all those tattoos and piercings. Well, I did not have to wonder long as he was the featured human in the World's Sickest Human Suspension Show (I kid you not, that is the name of his show).

This man had his back pierced and was suspended by his back as he was swung around the room. The big guy in the black shirt helped to swing the pierced man. A couple of times the black-shirted man held on and swung along with the pierced man. Ouch! The whole crowd watching let out a moan. I felt a bit sick as I watched this.

A friend of mine said one of the reasons she will never get a tattoo (aside from the pain) is because she would be afraid that she could be identified, via her tattoo, if she ever committed a crime (I cannot see her in any criminal capacity...she is an Oxford trained PhD). I Guess I will have to keep my nose clean while sporting my new mermaid tattoo.