I have a couple "dirty little secrets"

I have something I've been hiding, from you, my loyal friends and faithful followers. I've been living this lie, hidden behind closed doors and careful cropping of photos. It's something that has gone on for a full 3 years now (the entire time I've lived here) and now I'm ready to cleanse myself of the awful lie.


The truth is, I've been living with some pretty big messes. You know, things just "happen" and you start living with them. For starters, there's this pile here:

It's all the wood that we were given about 3 years ago, that will eventually become all of our baseboards. Yes, GIVEN. That's a lot of wood, and it's a whole lotta free too. Did I mention I don't have a garage? I don't have much room to store such things. Soooooo... it ended up (stacked neatly) under my dining room eat in bar. Yep. 3 years I had a pile of wood in my dining room. Sigh. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and I seriously am putting off doing baseboards.

It wasn't all that bad really, you get used to seeing it after a while. However when we'd have company over, I'd take this huge tablecloth I have and cover the whole pile. No need to look backwoods if all possible.

However, something happened last weekend. We found a set of 3 (exact amount we needed) pretty bar stools (just what I was looking for) at a garage sale for about 20% of what we were willing to spend. ($75 for 3!) We took that little blessing as a hint and brought them home - one sticking out the sunroof of the jeep.

This was the incentive we needed to get the wood moved. I didn't have time (I was editing some photos) and so Gene did it all by his lonesome. He pulled the jeep up to the dining room window and piled wood in the back. It was quite the sight.

A little sweeping, a little paint, and voila!

It's like a whole new dining room!

Despite what everyone keeps telling me, I think I'll keep that husband of mine around - at least a while longer.


Now the second big secret is way worse. Oh, it wasn't hidden, in fact, you could pretty much see it from space.

Yep.. I have a shed in my backyard that is out there for the "whole world" to see.

Long story short, long before I got here, there was a fire. The owners replaced the garage "temporarily" with a refrigerated semi trailer. Before the new garage was built, his mom passed away and they decided to move instead - leaving the trailer behind.

Yes, every single day I'm greated with "Scotlad foods" logo. Tanner finally figured out that there's a guy playing the bagpipes on there too. The back of it is spray painted "Maryville Sucks". Somedays I agree with that sentiment, but for the most part, I think it's there to make the farmers say "wtf" when they plant beans or somesuch.

The people that bought the house from the original owners did nothing. Well, nothing isn't exactly right. They cooked meth in it. Oh, and mummified cats and had sadistic rituals. I'm kidding about the cats and rituals part - I hope. The meth part is true.

I mean, their taste was good. It LOOKS like it should be a nice place to cook up some meth.

I really felt the need to apologize for it every. single. time. someone came out here. And well, I do apologize, and I think Scotlad foods needs to apologize too. And the meth cookers.

One day while watching the chickens I said in front of Gene and Tanner "That embarasses the hell out of me" and that's all it took for Tanner. Within a few days, without me asking, he went out in 90 degree heat to paint the trailer. We just so happened to have 4 gallons of paint given to us by the in-laws, left over from a project from the other in-laws and by golly, paint is a beautiful thing.

Oh it's not beautiful. But it certainly doesn't make me want to bury a body under it anymore either. Oh wait...... Nah, Gene has been pretty good today. You'll even notice that the electric that was running to the "shed" is gone. It ruined so many great photos. That electric now runs to the chicken coop so the chickies can have their very own fan.

Yes they are spoiled, you ask because???

So there you have it. I feel like a weight has been lifted.

Kinda....

I have one more, and when that gets disposed of, I'll show you before and after of that one too. Everyone is dragging their feet on that one, so there'll be a party when it's done.

you're all invited.