We’re moving.

After years of occasional threats of leaving, we’re finally making good on the deal and relieving our long-suffering neighbors from our lawn-care incompetence and loud children. Of course, we’re somewhat long-suffering as well. The burning plastic. The revving engines at midnight. That wasn’t us.

In this neighborhood I was the stray-cat/animal lady. If a stray cat showed up in town, chances were it would end up looking through my front door and hanging out there until I did something about it. Our dog came to us after being dumped by some person of questionable morals near our town. He was full of fleas and ticks, had an ear hematoma, raging ear infections, wasn’t fixed, no clue about shots, and he had the ugliest collar ever. Idiots. The world is full of idiots.

It’s been a somewhat quick 13 years in Pleasant Dale, although that seems somewhat suspect. During these years we’ve had four children, we’ve lost furry family members and gained others. We’ve made friends and even a few enemies. In short, we made a life here.

So now the hard work of pulling our roots up and away begins.

This week I decided to fight with the woodwork in the kitchen. There are two doorways and a window which, I mean, I don’t know how people screw these things up so spectacularly. Besides the awkward layers of paint we were confronted with in this house, we also had almost no corners because the wallpaper was so thick. Apparently removing things first wasn’t quite the ticket with the previous owners. We spent a good two years removing wall paper from every available interior surface- including ceilings. True story. Ceiling paper.

So, after the Wall Paper Wars, we grew weary and the doorways and window sat undisturbed. Disturbing, but themselves undisturbed-

You’ll notice how it’s been picked at. Like a nervous child with a nose-contents fetish, I’d stand there picking pieces of paint off while on the phone, while waiting for pasta-water to boil. I was afraid to use the bad chemicals, so that wasn’t going to happen. For awhile I thought of prying all the woodwork off, but then I remembered my adventures with plaster, and put that idea away for braver times.

Finally, I decided to try some of the bad chemicals. Here was the magnificent result-

Obviously much better.