In Which Aprilynne Wields an Axe, and Is an Idiot

I know I have both complained and raved about my house before. We bought a little fixer-upper and have been . . . fixing it up.:) I have a really big walk-in closet (eight feet by twelve feet) that also doubles as our nursery.

But it is super ugly. Like awful, awful ugly. Blue and pink floral wallpaper ugly. It hasn't been re-done in like fifty years, I kid you not. Check it:



Ug. Ly.

So this week I (rather impulsively) decided that if I didn't get my closet done this summer, before I went to Hawaii, it was never going to get done. So I started. The first thing I did was knock out the little closet within my closet. (Long story.) But it didn't come easily . . . so when my hammer failed, I went out to my shed and grabbed my handy, dandy AXE!! I totally knocked my little closet out with an axe! It was awesome!!! This ia what it looked like when I was done.




So re-doing my closet meant more than just ditching the little closet and slapping on some paint. The walls in my closet were way old and disintegrating and the windowsills all opened right into the walls (like, you could see inside the inner and outer walls from the windowsills. Very, very bad closet.) So I had to re-sheetrock the whole closet, then mud all the gaps because my house is not very square, then texture, then prime, then paint. It was a big job! Here are a couple of pics of the process.






And a couple from the finished product!




Sorry about the lighting on that last one, it just doesn't get any better with the sun behind it.:)

So yeah, I am way proud of my closet.:)

I could make lots of comparisons between re-doing my closet and revising my sequel . . . but trust me, this post is going to be long enough without it.:)

So yesterday was a big day for me. My daughter started first grade and, because she is skipping Kindergarten, it was also her first day of school. She was so cute in her uniform! (I wish I had pics, but my husband took them on our camera and I only brought my phone. *sigh* I will try to remember to post them later. So I dropped her off for school and headed right to the airport. (Audrey was like, "You can go now, Mom.") And somewhere between stopping for gas and getting to the airport, I. Lost. My. Wallet.

ID, money, everything. Gone.

Did you know that you can still fly without I.D.? Well, you can . . . it just requires a lot of searching. So the first thing I got to do on my vacation was cancel all of my credit cards and order news ones to be delivered in a rush since I leave for Hawaii on Thursday morning. *head thunk* However, my husband did find a way to order me a new driver's license online with next day delivery (gotta love Arizona!) so I will get a new license via DHL today. (Which I was happy about because I have a really cute driver's license picture. Now I get to keep it . . . not to mention avoiding a trip to the DMV. Thank you Kenny!) So yeah . . . I'm an idiot . . . but I'm an idiot who made it to Phoenix yesterday!!

So . . . I'm not sure if I have actually shared this; I am going to the Maui Writers Retreat this week . . . and it's not in Maui this year; it's actually in Honolulu . . . and I will get to hook up with friends Sarah and Pat as well as have lots of fun on the beach! (Mostly its a good excuse to go to Hawaii. Sssh!;))

So when I get back from Hawaii I have a really awesome book to give away and I will have lots of pics and stories from the retreat. So stay tuned!

Ciao!