It’s back. Well it’s not back completely, but it’s getting there. It’s almost back, I can see it in the distance…like a movie, it’s running towards me – in ultra slow motion. I actually thought it had fallen off the truck on the move out here and was out in the middle of the desert somewhere in Arizona. Okay, it’s not that bad, but we’ve been here almost three months now and I’m just now getting my craft room together. That means for at least three months, I haven’t made anything, barely baked anything (more on that later), and haven’t had my own “zen” place (so to speak) to go. Confession: It’s not because I didn’t have a place to make anything, it’s because (gasp!), I haven’t wanted to. I guess it’s just a part of the whole getting used to living here. Another adjustment.

However…a few weeks ago, after going upstairs, and standing in the room full of boxes I decided it was time. Time to get some cabinets in so I can unpack all the boxes. Time to self motivate. The cabinets went in pretty quickly, however (and this is a BIG however), I was thinking when the cabinets were installed I would just unpack the boxes and put stuff away and I’d be ready to go. It didn’t quite work out quite that way. I had gone out that day and when I came back I couldn’t wait to go up and see how they looked. Imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw that the cabinets – although very nice, were completely unfinished! WHAT? Are they supposed to be that color? Who? What? Ugh!

I couldn’t bear the thought of waiting another week to get a painter in to paint the cabinets. “JD, I can paint these cabinets myself”. I’m really not sure what he really thought about it, but as always he was supportive. Now I had some decisions to make. Wait a minute. This is my room! I get to pick what I want in here. I can paint the cabinets any color I want! I can hang anything I want on the walls! I wanted to run down the stairs, grab my purse, hop in the car and go buy paint! But I didn’t. Instead, I got online and started reading. I finally came to the conclusion that I wanted to use chalk paint (not to be confused with chalkboard paint). No sanding, very little prep, paint, sand if wanted (for a distressed look), seal with crème wax. This is going to be so easy! I can do this! (then I grabbed my purse, hopped in the car and went and bought paint!)

I hauled all my stuff upstairs and carefully taped off the edges, etc. and I was ready to start. Oh. Hmm. I guess I’ll need to take the doors off of the cabinets first. Guess I better go get a screwdriver. Boy, this is kind of hard to do, some of these screws are in pretty tight. Why the heck do they even put the doors on unfinished cabinets, anyway? Gosh it’s hot up here. I wonder if JD has a cordless screwdriver? Down I go, to the man cave where every tool has it’s own special place with an audible alarm if its not returned to its proper location within a reasonable amount of time. I found it! But where’s the charger? Ugh! Cant find it. Maybe I can use this ratchet thingy. Well, the ratchet thingy worked just fine, but it took me all afternoon to take the doors off the cabinets and the hardware off the doors. Sheesh.

Now I’m ready to paint – easy peasy! Yeah, this is fun. Wow, it’ really hot up here. Three days later I’m still painting. Every day I’d talk to my daughter, and every day I’d tell her I was painting. “Still?” Heh, heh, yep. Then after the painting was done, it was time to sand, because yes, I wanted that distressed look. You know why they call it distressed? I can tell you why, Its because it’s so labor intensive. At one point JD came up to check on me. The look on my face must have said it all – DISTRESSED! And then after that, I still had to apply the crème wax. Not cream, but crème. Seriously? At last I finished! And I like them! I hung the doors back on (another thing that sounds easier than it is), and now I just need the counter tops. Yay! At least the room is functional.

I’m back in my groove – ready to create, and starting to feel like myself again. Hello mojo, welcome back 😉