Have you ever tried to do something and it didn’t quite turn out the way you planned? I have had a lot of that lately. I bought paint for my dining room a few weeks ago and I didn’t just buy a sample because I was CONFIDENT it was the right color. I have painted the inside of my house enough times to know what color is going to work best even from a tiny little piece of paper. Yep, I thought I was that good. I brought that fancy gallon of paint home and brushed it on all four walls. Dear god, it wasn’t gray, but baby blue. I thought perhaps it was the light and waited until morning to see if it looked better. It did not. I could not paint my dining room baby blue, but also I had an entire gallon of paint that needed to be used. 

While I pondered what to do with the blue paint, I decided to try the paint I had used in the master bedroom. It was the perfect shade and I didn’t even have to go purchase samples. I wish I had thought of that sooner. I ran to the hardware store to get a gallon of that paint and get going on the dining room before my hubby could discuss how blue it was anymore. Honestly, I thought he might forget about that other gallon of paint once he saw how nice the dining room looked. He agreed it looked beautiful but wondered what I was going to do with that other gallon.

Dang it.

Since my girlfriend had just told me she was going to paint her powder room I told him I was going to use it to freshen up our guest bathroom which seemed to appease him, but honestly baby blue in that small room with cherry cabinets had me worried. I even added that I was going to remove the wallpaper border from 20 years ago, paint and then wallpaper one accent wall with something fun. All this because I wasn’t patient enough to purchase a sample first.

Let me tell you, as I scraped that wallpaper I had some choice words for myself, but I was determined to not waste that gallon of paint. Here’s the thing though, I started painting and it no longer looked baby blue in that little powder room. It was the perfect shade of blue/gray which was what I was going for in the dining room. 

Meanwhile, my girlfriend and I ordered some peel and stick wallpaper for our powder rooms, not knowing how it would work. While I waited for that to be delivered I started watching Nadiya’s Time to Eat on Netflix. I had decided I needed a break from house projects. A few episodes in, though, she made a skillet cookie and I became obsessed with making it. Cookies are my thing. So, when my daughter came home from college for the weekend we decided to give it a try. We converted all the measurements and got busy making the skillet cookie. As soon as I saw the dough taking shape I knew it wasn’t going to be good. It was too much like a batter and not enough like cookie dough. We pressed on though, because we aren’t quitters. The bottom burned and the top didn’t cook. We could not salvage it. 

Two days later, I felt the urge to try again. This time I used my tried and true recipe. Again, the bottom burned while the top remained dough. At this point, my daughter was like, “it doesn’t work.”

Nope. It works, we just aren’t doing it right.

I absolutely could not let this skillet cookie beat me. So, this weekend, I once again I gathered all of the ingredients, a better skillet and told my hubby not to talk to me because I was going to master this skillet cookie if it was the last thing I did. He was more than happy to go watch basketball and leave me to the kitchen.I turned Nadiya on and did everything step by step. Now, obviously Nadiya is working with magic so there is that, but I did it. I cooked the skillet cookie and it wasn’t just edible it was yummy. I could rest in the fact that a cookie had not beaten me.

Now, I could move on to the peel and stick wallpaper. 

Ironically, my girlfriend called about that time and I told her about my cookie obsession and that my wallpaper had been delivered. She gently asked if I had hung the wallpaper yet. I replied no and asked about her powder room. She hesitated for a minute and told me that between the dry air and the textured walls it wasn’t perfect. In fact, she said, “you aren’t going to like it.” She then offered that perhaps I should not hang my wallpaper given how I reacted to an imperfect cookie. She’s worried I may never leave the powder room if I begin.

Now, I realize she is looking out for my sanity, but also I feel like she just laid down the gauntlet. I will let you know how the wallpaper turns out.

Sunshine & Sarcasm,
Lowi & G