Well, sometimes it just takes a thought to run with a full-blown idea.

I am partial to basically any blue (except – generally – Navy blue and cobalt) and I love orange.

So…I took a look at an empty space next to my kitchen and decided I wanted to paint it “pumpkin” and make it my “Fabulous Pantry”.

The Cha-Chas got together again the third week of September to calm me down about the amount of work that is going to have to go into this house, and to celebrate Sisi and me turning 39 (AND HOLDING!!!)

(I am quite behind on posts – the fun time we had together is one, as well as a sweet girl’s wedding and some other stuff…they’ll be coming soon…)

Anyway – Paulette (Cha-Cha #2) PAINTED MY SOON-TO-BE PANTRY!!! Sisi (Cha-Cha #4) and I (Cha-Cha #3) picked out the color, “Canyon Fire”, and Paulette slaved away for four days putting four coats of paint on the walls since we didn’t understand that this particular paint required a base coat. Mom (Cha-Cha #1) continually reminded me during this painting process that I was making this same woman sleep on an air mattress the entire time she was here.

Which was about a week.

Oh, dear.

So here is the painted pantry (which had been blah and pale yellow/cream) ready for California Closets to come tomorrow and put in my new Pantry.

And here’s a “before” shot of John’s office closet…the one that will house all things hunting and military. (Or at least mostly it will…it’s a pretty small closet!)

What I was confused about is why a closet wouldn’t be outfitted with at least a shelf and a hang-up bar! I mean, what did the former owner use it for???

So, since I’m good friends with California Closets, I decided to let them work their magic in there, too.

I’ll post pictures tomorrow!

Before…

And here’s during (with a fresh coat of paint that resembles the top line of a crocodile, or a ‘gator…which is what I collect for John…Florida boy that he is…) Their underbelly color will eventually find its way to the walls…a nice gray-green. You’ll see.

Oh, Wait.

Let’s do that again…

Here’s Before (taping is extremely important, especially when you have shaky hands like me!)

…and After ‘Gator Paint! All we need is a closet system. Can’t wait!

Oh, and here’s the inspiration: a beautiful egg painted by Jutta Levasseur – a dear friend who works at Disney in the Epcot’s German Pavilion.

She is a terrific artist!

And Brutus and Nero are terrific, too!

Stay tuned for pics tomorrow! (…and don’t mind the salt shaker propping up the crocs…I couldn’t get a good picture unless I took the egg out from under the glass dome.)

John and I are training for the Disney Marathon, which we will run with Armour and Max & Ken in January.

John’s doing waaaaay better than I am; he ran 10 miles yesterday…I plodded along for 5 – and then he got up at 0700 and ran 5 this morning.

I stayed in bed. (I figured…it’s Sunday, for crying out loud!)

Still, I wasn’t going to let him think he had all the gumption and spit and vinegar and …well, you get the idea.

So he got back, made the coffee (that’s his task in the morning…I never do it anymore and I like that arrangement very much, thank you) and proceeded to mow the lawn.

Excellent.

So I stood in the doorway, in my pajamas, and I said,

“Hey, HON-ney!”

“Yeah!”

“How ’bout you pose with this shovel? I ‘got an idea!”

“Aha.“

Picture taken…Holly’s plan about to be imparted…husband about to make it happen.

The plan was to take a horribly overgrown yard:

witnessed by this horrible Florida grass creeping up these beautiful Texas White Ash trunks –

We fixed that by tilling the soil around them in a wide perimeter…and then weeded, and planted heather (I think I chose that because it doesn’t need a lot of water and it appeals to my Scottish roots…)

Grass chinking the pavers -

Not anymore – we just have to sweep it away!

Oh, and that huge palmetto tree that you see growing out of my third White Ash????

Well, it’s not there anymore. It’s been replaced by three staghorn ferns…which won’t kill my poor 55-year-old tree. (I’m not sure why John didn’t get an “after” picture…but we’ll take one later, after they’ve grown a bit, and are cascading down the trunk nicely.)

The south side of the house before…

…and AFTER! A lot more room so you can see the plants!

Warning – this next picture may scare you…John said it looked like something out of Braveheart. (Though, the puppy looks great…)