What I’ve been up to lately

The cats

Walter

I’ve mentioned in one of my emails that Walter had 8 teeth removed last fall. I never mentioned it here on the blog. That’s a lot of teeth for such a young little guy. He is only 4 years old. His breath was so awful though. You literally couldn’t bare him near you when he was grooming himself. Fishy, fishy!!! That’s how bad it was. Now he isn’t smelly anymore. Thankfully!

Since I can’t afford to get each of their teeth cleaned every year, I’ve been alternating instead. This year it is Maya’s turn again. Her teeth are pretty bad too. Next year after that, Willy’s and then Walter’s again. I sign up for the care club at the vet for the year they have their teeth cleaned. I also still have health insurance (check out my post for more info) for them but unfortunately, that doesn’t cover dentals which is such BS.

Walter is such a strange little guy. He is still overgrooming and pulling out his fur which is most likely due to stress and anxiety. He is a stalker and drives Willy crazy. All he wants to do is follow Willy around and then challenge him. Willy can’t stand Walter because of that and it makes me sad. I am constantly trying to avoid fights between them.

We’ve been trying Purina Calming Care supplement but he is still nuts. I do have to say though that all 3 cats absolutely love this stuff and prefer their wet food with it sprinkled on top. They are obsessed with it and since it is good for them, I’ll just keep giving it to them.

My husband’s vet cousin also told me to get the book “decoding your cat” which I just downloaded and will listen to on my daily walks. One of her friends was involved in writing the book.

What else is going on with me…

… my husband and I are approaching our 25th wedding anniversary which is just crazy to me. We have no idea what we should do. We can’t go far since I have to pick up our son the day after and get him ready for his trip to Germany. Maybe a day at a local spa and a good dinner or something along those lines.

As every winter, I work at the local ski resort so we have season passes. Our kids work there as well. It’s been a terrible winter though with no natural snow and only the man-made version.

Gosh, I’m so ready for spring and focusing on my blog and projects at home again instead of going somewhere else to work. The blog is after all my full-time job. As always it is constantly changing and hard to keep up with as a one-man (uhm woman) operation.

Speaking of projects and DIYing…

My bedroom

I still really want to add wood beams to our bedroom ceiling. That project has been on my wishlist for several years now but something has always gotten in the way. Covid lumbar prices, a hurt back and now recently my shoulder has been killing me. It would not be an easy project since our ceiling is so high and I’m afraid of heights LOL. I’m still not giving up on that dream though. My friend has a scaffold that I could use when the plants are back outside and there is more room to work in the bedroom.

Look, don’t you agree that faux wood beams would look fantastic in our bedroom? (If you are new around here, check out my chandelier cover-up I made last year and also the DIY artwork on the nightstands)

My dining room sideboard

A while back I cleaned the sideboard in our dining room and when I lifted the booze tray off the top, it pulled off paint with it too. Yikes! It’s also pretty banged up on the sides and I think it’s time to repaint it. The color also faded for some reason and doesn’t even look blush anymore, which is odd. I do love the color that I originally picked. (Here is my 2016 blog post about the makeover. I can’t believe it’s been that long ago.)

I even looked on Facebook Marketplace for a different option but I couldn’t find anything that I like better. The lines and size of this old Bombay Company sideboard are just perfect for the space. The issue I have with it is that it is MDF board and not solid wood.

What color do you think I should paint it? I’m considering a light rust or terracotta color. As mentioned in my recent post about terracotta paint colors, I’m obsessed with the color combo of green and terracotta. (If you missed it, check out those color blog posts where I explain everything a bit more)

I only have to wait for consistent spring temperatures to be able to paint it in the garage.

Speaking of painting in the garage. I also have to repaint our kitchen cabinets AGAIN. Especially the white is looking very dirty lately and the magic eraser just isn’t taking care of it anymore. Why can’t people just touch the cabinets with clean hands? Is that too much to ask? LOL

The porch

I get questions about how my porch has held up over the winter since my makeover last spring. I’m happy to report that it held up great! (check out the project)

Let me refresh your mind. This was the porch this fall:

And here is a photo that I just took with my phone today. No paint chips at all! I only have to clean it a bit when I put the rattan sofa back outside for spring and summer. The bench will go back onto our patio.

As I mentioned above, I still love macrame and want to make a kitchen towel holder yet. Sorry if I’m boring you with it but it’s coming.

My car

I just have to mention my car, my 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe! If you follow me on Instagram then you know that we had a crazy amount of issues with it last year. It was at the repair shop and dealership twice for about 3 months each. So I was without a vehicle for about half of the year.

The 3 months at the end of the year, that it was at the dealership were spent trying to get Hyundai to accept that it was certified pre-owned. We bought the car in 2016 and the dealership in New Jersey where we bought the car never added the paperwork to the Hyundai database. Since then the dealership had also sold and of course, nobody had the original paperwork or was willing to help. It took forever to get this resolved.

You might wonder why the CPO issue is so important. Well, my car needed a new engine which is covered until 100K miles if the car is under first ownership or a CPO vehicle. Hyundai would have even given us the new engine but if it isn’t a CPO vehicle then there is no warranty on that new engine and we also would have had to pay for the installation.

In the end, our Santa Fe needed 17K worth of parts and labor and we didn’t have to pay for any of it. We even got money back from the previous repairs that should have been covered. So it was well worth all the fighting. Hopefully, I can drive my car for another couple of years now since my husband needs a new car.