spouse brought back some germ from his trip to juneau and we both got sick. i am really tired of being sick - i was just sick a few weeks ago! i'm peeved he didn't wear a mask on his flights. i think it's just a regular old cold, but i got one of my headaches at the same time and that was miserable. my brain was full of stupid chattering nonsense and wouldn't let me sleep, plus the sinus pain and coughing. horrible, do not recommend.

spouse's parents had to visit anchorage for a medical thing (found out his mom needs a hip replacement) and before we got sick i thought they would get to visit the house. then i ended up feeling so crummy i didn't even make it to dinner with them, and of course the house is a filth pit because spouse wasn't feeling much better himself. we didn't even get the trash bin out this week. but it sounds like they will be back in town for more appointments before the surgery in 3 weeks. they say they want to see the house. hip replacement isn't an easy surgery. i'm wondering if they are angling to have mil stay with us for a bit right out of the hospital. our house is one floor, with the guest room across from the main bathroom (they don't know this yet because they haven't visited). pretty optimal layout for surgery recovery. she could even make it out to the porch with no stairs. their house is multiple levels and cramped. plus, they're 2 hours drive away if she has complications. staying with us for a bit before she transfers all the way home would be smart. of course, that means i'd be stuck with her for at least a few days solid, but she can't chase me around with a fresh hip replacement so i can easily escape her if she gets aggresively preachy. me and Cat can hide in the backyard. so i'm not completely opposed to the idea.

(i am opposed to hosting mil & fil together during her recovery. fil has his own set of major issues & medications, so i am not comfortable being responsible for both together by myself. so they might be butthurt about that, but the guestroom isn't big enough for a mobility limited couple anyway. we'll see.)

that means i really need to get the house guest worthy. we'd be in a much better place right now if i hadn't gotten sick.

last friday i went mushroom hunting with mary. when your master gardener neighbor who has taken classes and is clearly experienced in mushroom hunting invites you to go with her, you say YES. it's late in the season but we still got a pretty good harvest. king porcini, hedgehogs (pigs trotters), green rusala, admirable bolete, winter chanterelles and angel wings. it was a beautiful day in the woods. i learned so much. not that i'll go hunting on my own, but i did learn a lot. then we processed the mushrooms and i took home my portion and it came time to cook and eat them - it is one thing to spot mushrooms in the woods and pull them up from the earth (ooh aah), and other to cook them up and ingest them, when you are used to buying a package of plain safe domesticated mushrooms from the grocery store. but like hell i am not going to eat them. i made russian mushroom soup with the porcini, hedgehogs and rusala (came out excellent). the chanterelles and angel wings kinda weirded me out so i sauteed them, diced them and added them to a grilled cheese. mostly they weirded me out because the angel wings had a maggot problem and i had to throw out most of them - pretty sure the ones i kept had a little hidden added protein. but i have eaten cricket flour!! i should not be so squeamish. so i ate them anyway. couldn't tell you what they tasted like besides "mushroomy" because i drowned them in cheese. i must have cooked everything well enough because there was no upset tummy.

mary is super cool. she worked as a surveyer and got interested in mushrooms as a way to entertain herself when she was off in the middle of nowhere. sounds like cleaning up her house for sale is not going as smooth as she'd like and she may not get the house on the market by the end of the year. i'm not mad. she's an awesome lady. wish i could be cool like her when i grow up.

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so i painted a mural on the little deck in front of the front door. it's a pretty sad little deck. our house inspector said it wasn't built to code, and mike the contractor said they made it out of the wrong wood, so the thick brown paint someone applied is peeling off in large chunks and it's 80% bare wood. there aren't proper steps, just cinder blocks lined up to serve as a makeshift step from the cement walkpath to the wood deck. one of the cinder blocks is spray painted with a 4, which is an unlucky number in chinese culture, and every time i see it my brain helpfully spits out "oh, 4 is an unlucky number in chinese culture". the whole thing looks super ratchet and i want to replace it maybe this coming summer. until then, we are stuck with it.

when i painted the door trim white, i accidently spilled white paint on the deck. it looks janky enough, spilled paint does not help. then i hit upon the idea of doing a mural to disguise the spilled paint and why not? not like it can make it look worse!! plus i know the paint won't stick well so there's no pressure to make something that will be perfect for 5+ years. if it looks okay for 6 months it will be a win.

we just happened to get a few days of dry weather, so i'm all in on this mural idea. i get what i need - chalk line to make the grid, and the cheapest acrylic craft paint labeled indoor/outdoor (apple barrel, $4 for 8oz at walmart), and a $6 can of clear matte spray paint to seal it. i grab the spray paint leftovers from other house projects (grey primer, black, silver) and some foam brushes and some crayola sidewalk chalk that i bought to entertain future kid visitors. i set up the little 4' pop up tent i bought for craft fairs just to keep the sprinkles off.

i decide i'm going to paint reginald the magpie and maybe a greedy stellar jay with a heptagon pattern in the background and maybe some flowers. nothing too crazy. i find my photo refs and then i have to figure out how to put together a rough mockup with a grid, but my computer still isn't set up so i have to do it all on the phone. sucks. i figure it out after some frustration. i go out and snap the grid down on the deck with the chalk line and then i use the sidewalk chalk to sketch in the shapes. i cut a heptagon stencil out of cardboard so i don't have to try to transfer it by hand. i got the magpie and the heptagon pattern down first - i changed my mind on the stellar jay and decided to paint Cat instead, which is dumb to do after the fact because the composition isn't quite right but who cares.

it look about 2 days of painting. it was lucky to get two warmish dry days in a row. seems like it has been raining part of every day for weeks. i painted the cinderblock steps the same green paint as the door, so now i don't have to look at that 4. the craft paint did okay. i used the white enamel house paint for the white parts of the magpie & cat because i figured it would wear better. so it's a bastard mix of spray paint, house paint and craft paint, with the clear spray on top. i painted fireweed around the cat. i'm not super happy with the heptagon pattern because i used the silver spray paint and it was the wrong color choice. i should have picked a dark complementary color, like maroon or blue. i tried noodling with it yesterday as i was doing touchups, but the dry days are over and it began to rain and i don't think what i put down had time to dry and cure properly and will wear off quick. oh well. it needs more clear spray too.

anyway, i tarted up the busted looking little deck and i quite like it. it's like a sekrit mural because you can't see it until you come up the driveway and approach the house. i have marked my territory. like peeing but much more better. mary and brenda like it. i think it sets the tone when you walk up to the front door. "BEWARE: ARTIST"

spouse is completely unphased by spontaneous mural painting. he is the best. we're having such a nice time being domestic.

also, i found these cool bat window clings at walmart - they have big sheets of window clings for $1.24. most of the designs are for kids and lame but one design has these vintage ink drawings of bats and is amazing! i bought three sheets, and then gave one to mary, and then got three more, and gave one to cassie, and i'll offer one to ashley when i see her next. can't beat it with a stick! occasaionally the birds will bonk into the window so i am hoping the window clings will stop that. i might need more, esp if i keep giving them away.

today is so windy and lovely. scudding clouds, sprinkles, leaves flying everywhere. they say we might get snow next week.