starlings in the slipstream

Saw the first flock of starlings today, they seem to have displaced the flock of geese I'm used to seeing. It seems far too early, but hey, maybe Punxsutawney Phil was on to something. Oh, and in case you were wondering, a flock of starlings is a murmuration, yeah, I didn't know either.



In other news, it turns
out a 5000 square foot house / full basement / half acre lot is an excellent place to lose tools. Especially little blue ones like my cement board cutter. It's always the little things that jam up the simplest projects. Instead, I notched out the jamb, and
cut off the tongue of the oak floor for the marble threshold. The marble was a pleasant surprise from the blue store - a nice beige, matches much better than the carrera they normally sell.

I also started painting, the colors are surprisingly great for dollar paint from the Habitat Restore - the upper paint is similar to the silvery green everyone gets from Restoration Hardware, and the lower/trim (not painted yet) will probably be a dark muddy teal - lovely. I've bought a lot of paint from the Restore, obviously open up the can if they'll let you, but more importantly, make sure you're familiar with the most current labels on the paint brands you're interested in so that you can tell the age/quality of the paint. I've saved hundreds doing this, and have never gotten a bad can.

these aren't in good enough shape to be
stained, so they'll work great for the
laundry trim which is being painted

Last but not least, I've started going through my stockpile of trim and hardware in the basement, but that's less like work than it is playing in a candy store with mom's credit card.