2023 Halftime Report

What would you call it when you’re waiting 30 minutes for the optometrist to open so you can make your yearly vision appointment, and then you break your glasses in half while cleaning them?

Kismet?

Serendipity?

Irony?

WTF?

Well, that’s where I find myself this morning as I sit down to hunt and peck at the keyboard with two monocles where 20 minutes ago, I had a beautiful pair of spectacles.

I guess they knew it was about to be their time…

But the blind fun has already begun! I went downstairs to rummage up some sustenance and chanced upon a clear plastic tub full of little round white things. These weren’t familiar, and I oughta know, since I do the shopping and cooking. But I do seem to remember Handan making a beeline for the bakery the last time we stopped into Publix.

I glanced at the store-printed label, which quite clearly wrote, “TOASTED MORON.”

Toasted Moron?

Sounded like some sort of California hippie granola.

I asked my babes about the Toasted Moron. After all, she was the one who put them in the shopping cart. Maybe she could give a little insight into these little dunce nuggets.

She looked at the tub in my hand and burst out laughing.

Well, the good news is I got an appointment this week, and I’ve since located my backup pair of glasses, so I should be able to muddle through the next few days with a minimum of moronity.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, how have you been?

I know, I know, it’s been a month, but the things we’ve done in that month!

As I mentioned in a recent email, we undertook our biggest DIY project ever…at the worst possible time.

Limewashing our house (which still isn’t finished, I should mention), would have been an unbelievably perfect project for two months ago, when the weather was…perfect.

But the day we started (and I’m not exaggerating) coincided with an influx of heat and daily thunderstorms. That only lasted about a week though. Then the real fun began.

Two weeks (or so) of blistering heat and humidity with heat indices regularly in the 110s.

Then, the daily rains again.

It took us a month to finish the front, but that also includes a 100% remake of the landscaping beds. Now I’m onto limewashing the sides, and we still have to rip up about 100 feet of sod and lay in new garden beds.

So it’s been a job and a half, and it’s not done yet.

But at least the front is done, and that means we can get a jump on Halloween. And you can bet your sweet bippies we’ve already started!

Before I jump into the ghouls and goblins, let me catch you up on what else has been happening here since winter. Blog posts will be coming on all of it, once I can free up a little more time.

Now, I know I promised a blog post about the limewashing in the last email I sent. I was only holding it back because I hadn’t gotten the chance to take proper photographs with my professional camera. Well…

I still haven’t because it has rained or been cloudy every single evening for the past three+ weeks!

It is far too grand a project for mediocre photos, so I will wait until I get the perfect light!

But just to hold you over, here’s a quick iPhone snap from the evening we fully finished the front. If I only had another hour of light, I could have gotten professional pics!

This makeover has created an unexpected controversy on social media, with some loving it and some absolutely livid about what we did to the bricks. Some have even called for me to be jailed for it. 🤣

Before this massive undertaking (and another prime factor in the relative lack of blog posts this year), we built a pergola and a gazebo on our patio.

The pergola in particular was another huge endeavor, as it required a lot of heavy lifting and grunt work. But by and by (and with the help of Baris home on spring break last March), we got it done. Not to spoil the surprise, but here’s a little peek at the pergola.

This was quickly followed by a gazebo build for the far end of the patio!

These posts will be coming soon along with some DIYs made specifically for them!

Many of you will remember our very first viral post from the summer of 2017 – Handan’s beautiful waterdrop solar lights.

Well, I remade them this year in a simpler manner, so if you never got around to making them, or if the original version proved a little tricky for you, please have a look at our updated waterdrop solar lights!

Back inside, I gave three closets a makeover this year, two of which I’ve shared. The other closet makeover was for the guest bedroom closet, and I’ll be sharing that one soon.

I’m also in the process of giving our lanai an overhaul. It all started back when we stained our patio earlier in the year. I took that time to slap a new color on the brick lanai floor, and things snowballed from there!

Now, that puts me to right about now. I’ve got two active projects – limewashing and Halloween (really, a group of projects), but I have several more on the horizon. Presented here in no particular order (and not counting seasonal craft projects):

• Finish painting the downstairs interior
• Makeover the bonus room to an exercise room
• Guest bathroom makeover
• Master bathroom makeover
• Master bedroom makeover
• Living room makeover
• Family room makeover
• Dining room makeover

The dining room has been a thorn in my side since we had to fire the brick tilers in the spring of 2022. That tiling is still not finished!

We have, however, set up the dining room despite the unfinished walls.

But this fall, in those precious moments between Halloween and Christmas, I intend to finish that damn wall and share our glorious new dining room with you all!

Until then, we thank you for your patience as we grind our way through these projects. And if you’re not following us on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, you might want to join in the fun, because our content hits social media before I get the chance to write it up in full detail!

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