There and Back Again

Somewhere in Montana on Interstate 90: no lawn visible = pets anywhere their leashes allow.

We had a WONDERFUL trip to Portland for the Christmas holiday!  And it is WONDERFUL to be back at home in our winter wonderland.  The Beastie Grrlz did really well with the long car trips, staying at Grandma Pat's, leashed outings and driving around town and being left in car.  We did really well seeing so many friends and family in just 6 nights and 5 days.

Please wait under the moose forequarters for boarding information.

We rented a red Dodge Grand Caravan from Enterprise to get most of the rest of our crap stuff home to Montana.  It worked like a charm, did well on the drive, had all the features you'd want for a road trip.  Let me tell you, though, the one-way rental charge is a bit of a killer; we probably made up for the difference between it and the smallest U-haul available for one-way with the gas mileage, though.  The only place to return it was MSO (Missoula International Airport).  It looked like a nice little airport and did not disappoint on the taxidermy front.

This is what happens to passengers who don't collect their luggage quickly, quietly and politely.

What I am really hoping to see in person is some weird, fantastical taxidermy like this (from the website on the "watermark").

Who knew that taxidermy fell into both Classy and Tacky categories?

Wildlife Watch !V

Be verwy, verwy quiet...

...I think we have a wabbit!

I spotted these tracks coming out from the ATVport (like a carport for the ATV) and making a trail along the front of the shop.  The ATVport's floor is dirt and I saw what looked like hole under a pallet stacked in there!  Perhaps this is why the Beastie Grrrlz will sometimes demand to go out, then race over the the shop and sniff all around the edges of it in a frenzy.

We also spotted this beauty at a bar/distillery in Missoula where we may have done some Christmas shopping and I may have made a certain non-fan of PDA kiss me under the mistletoe over the bar.

Snowing Sideways

 Neither my camera nor my phone could really capture the snow whipping around, at least not through the windows and I was staying inside, thank you very much.

Yesterday as quite stormy and from the 90 seconds I spent looking at weather.com com it seems it may have been part of the same system causing the Oregon Cascades to be forecast-ed for a foot or two of the white stuff.  We didn't get a lot more snow, but it did come down sideways and in swirly funnels.  It also made the road a mess.

We were assured by our Les Schwab associate that the chains for Bert would not require laying on the ground which is good, because I don't have any Carhartt overalls.

Bert (my trusty truck) couldn't quite make it all the way up to the house without chains even in 4 low.  We left her on the side of the road over night and went down with the ATV this morning to check it out.  No troubles.  So we chained up the E's unnamed, non-gendered Honda to deliver to a parking lot in town so we can have her available for our trip to Portland later this week.  The drag is that once you get down the road, it's time to take the chains off again.

It's been awhile since I've been into a Les Schwab now they have free wi-fi!

All that said, we couldn't think of a better time to head down the highway to the closest Les Schwab to get chains for Bert... except yesterday morning.  Yesterday morning would have been a better time.

Wheeeeeee! bark bark bark Wheeeeeee!

Last week, we picked up a couple of your basic plastic saucers for sledding down our hill at our local Ace.  Then we waited for our colds to get better.  Yesterday we went on a test run.  Eric went first on the driveway.

The Beastie Grrrlz seem to think that the discs are silent relatives of the vacuum cleaner.  They don't trust 'em, but they want to make sure we are safe so they stay close.  Good girls.  I went next, but on the "yard."  It was so slow that when I turned to look at the dogs I could see them awkwardly trying to both run and stay behind me which is one of the cardinal rules of chasing.

We both gave it another go on the driveway and believe that as the season and snowing continues, we'll have some pretty good sledding conditions right out the front door.  It reminds me of growing up on "the hill" on Camwal Drive minus the ditches on either side.

Today we decided to take advantage of the nice, sunny day to hike a little further out into the woods than we usually do and further than I had to date.  We went high enough that we could see not only the other side of the valley, but the Bitterroot River at its bottom.

A pretty all right view.

We hope the sky stays clear tonight so we may view the Geminid Meteor Shower!  From the hot tub!  With spiked homemade hot chocolate!

Bad News From "Home"

A really tragic thing happened not too far from my recently-left home in Portland today.  I still stream Oregon Public Broadcasting on my internet radio, because I just don't like the lineup on Montana Public Radio and so I heard the news unfold, even on the national news, as I was wrapping Christmas presents.

I have said via Facebook and to some people that I am feeling two, opposite things: the desire to be back among so many of my loved ones so I can count them and hug them and talk through all this with them while at the same time I am glad I am "so far" away.  I know senseless violence can happen anywhere, but today it didn't happen here.

There are so many little bits and odd ends in my head.  We hear gun shots daily here; we live right on the National Forest, it's a few dozen yards from our door at most, and it's hunting season.  We walked just a short way into the forest a few days ago and ran into our next door neighbors out hunting after work/school and before dinner.  The dogs wear blaze orange things on their collars every day so they aren't mistaken for shoot-able animals.  I'm this same woman, in this new context and today my old context is fighting with my new one a little bit and giving me more things to think about than I'd rather.

It's times like this that we are reminded about that balance between paying attention to Life-with-a-capital-L and paying attention "my life."  I'm going to focus more on the latter tonight, this photo is going to help me.

Wildlife Watch!!!

Ok, it's just more deer, but so charming and peaceful in the blue glow of the twilight on the snow.

The trick is getting a good look without the Beastie Grrrlz realizing what we're on about.

The Real Deal

Our first Real Snow* in Montana!  And the first time that the road was plowed by the neighbor the road committee hires to do such.

A couple of inches fell on Thursday and a few more on Friday giving us about 6 inches total. 

We have 2 birdbaths; the other is heated to 40 or so degrees with a special device on a loooooong extension cord left for us by the former owners.

A rare still moment for the dogs who respond to snow like it is dognip.

So much for my fancy new Montana license plats.

One of the small trees near the driveway.

These are WAY better than icicle lights.  Not sure what, if anything, we're supposed to do about icicles on the eaves.  There are no gutters for them to tear off, so...

Eric's first plowing of the driveway was a success!  There's a learning curve, but he's starting strong.

This is how the Beastie Grrrlz usually look in the snow.

There was no snowfall again until Sunday night and it didn't melt off or ice over like it probably would in Portland.  We woke up Monday to another inch or so and the forecast is for more this week.  I think that there is less build-up on the valley floor and in Missoula, but we'll see when we go out for some holiday errands either today or tomorrow.

*This was verified when we ran into our neighbor yesterday afternoon/evening while walking in the woods and he referred to this as "real snow."

License (Plate) and Registration, Please

We drove down to Hamilton, the Ravalli County seat, on Tuesday to register our vehicles.  Get this: it was kind of fun.  For reals.  What is essentially a trip to the DMV (although it's actually part of the DoJ here or something) was a pretty good time as bureaucratic endeavors go.

There are currently about 130 different license plates to choose from in Montana.  There are supposed to be about a dozen more coming out before the end of the year.  Really.

Now, this is not for drivers licenses, just vehicle registration, but get this: there's no take-a-number machine.  You just wait on a bench until they call next.  There were about 3 people ahead of us and we waited about 5 minutes.  I barely had time to take a photo of that poster before we were called in!  Also there in the line was a TV set up on one of those tall rolling carts like they had in schools (maybe they still do) running a loop of a bunch of animals that are available for adoption from the county Humane Society.  It's like they knew we were coming.

A fond farewell to our Oregon plates.  Someday, we'll hang them in the garage.
Seems like people always blur out license plates in photos, so I decided to do it.  Just in case.

Then when we approached the window the lady working there was friendly, helpful, funny, engaging and patient.  I was able to register Bert "permanently" because she's a senior citizen, but that also means that I didn't get to have a plate that supports a cause or team* that I like.

Eric went as basic as possible while waiting for the Bitter Root Humane Association plate to be issued.
I liked the bison skull on this version of the standard plate.

Eric's car is an unnamed young adult of undetermined gender, so he was trying to decide which of the pet welfare type organizations he wanted to support so asked her where Gallatin and some other place is.  She figured out what he was going for and told us that our local Humane Society was coming out with a plate soon and if he wanted he could get regular plate and then when the new ones come out, just pay the difference for those.

The plate E will get eventually.  Not the best looking, but better than a few of the pet groups and you can tell what it's about.

We learned that it costs the organizations $4000 to get a plate, so they must pay off even though there are SOOOO many to choose from.  One thing that must help is that vehicle registration is annual and every time your renew you pay a donation to the organization (of which gets 100%).  The donation is usually between $10 & $25.  There is a bi-annual registration, but I don't think that effects the donation or maybe you can only do biannual with basic plates.

*That's a joke, there.  I don't like any of your "teams" or your "sports"!  Bahahahahahaaaaaa!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Mavis!

Mavis has decked her head with boughs of holly, you guys!

Damn, girl!  You make $8 worth of cheapo faux floral thingies look goooooood.  Or at least cheery.

Aside from Mavis's contribution, the only other holiday decoration up so far is a new weather-resistant wreath on the fence where the spinal column wreath was in October and the birdseed wreath was not in November.  I have a few ideas from something less seasonal, but it will have to wait until after the holiday creating and traveling is complete.

I'm thinking (and hoping) it will look cheerier when there's some snow around. At least now when we give directions we can say, "go straight at the Glama Wreath."

Another cheapo project: $2.99 wreath form (bought with the Michael's 25% off your whole purchase coupon), four $1 lengths of blue/silver tinsel garland, dollar store plastic, glitter encrusted ornament, and a 79 cent sequin "ribbon" floral pick (also 25% off).  Sure it's not the prettiest or the best designed, but it should hold up for the winter and still show up with snow.  And when the parts get ruined, it won't hurt my feelings much that I'm going to have to take it apart and make another wreath... oh, I'll use that form again all right.

$4 Fridge Makeover: How I spent Thanksgiving Weekend

This is the fridge that came with the house.  Well, it's one of them, there's another, larger, un-stickered one in the mudroom (also white).  I didn't hate the stickers.  I liked the sentimental idea of a family chronicling their travels and interests over the years in the room that is the "heart of the home" for so many.  I think they ate most of their daily meals at a round table in the kitchen and it just seems super homey.  And there was some sadness in removing them, like removing part of the history of the house.

It took about an hour to remove the stickers using a couple razor blades, then another 20-30 minutes to get the adhesive residue, sticker bits and associated dirt off.  I also removed the Whirlpool plaque and the handles.

Our other appliances are black and the white just stands out so much against the cabinets and we don't want to buy a new fridge right now, especially another one small enough to fit the cabinetry.  So, what to do?  Thought about painting it until I saw the wood grain contact paper in the bins with the clean contact paper that I used for faux etching the cabinet glass!  Faux bois fridge?  Now, that would be both fun and funny!

After scraping, washing and drying, I drew a plumb line to match my seams.  One roll would not be wide enough to cover the whole front, let alone wrap around the side of the doors.

So the line is not actually plumb, it's square to the fridge's top which is not level.  I figure if we ever bother to level it and if by some miracle the contact paper is still worth keeping, I'll want the grain to be plumb then.

Then I cut the contact paper into pieces long enough to cover the door from top to bottom and also wrap around the top and bottom edges.  The faux plumb line is placed so the width of the paper will reach it as well as wrap around the side of the fridge doors.  Then I applied the contact paper matching a factory edge to the plumb line and smoothing with a tool used for applying one-time, self-adhesive stencils and probably used for vinyl decals.  After the first was on, I matched another factory edge of a cut piece of contact paper to the existing piece and just kept doing this until the doors were covered (4 pieces, 3 rolls of Dollar Tree contact paper).

There is just something about the dorm/hotel fridge vibe that tickled me.  However, I didn't like the remaining white so I also removed the grill at the bottom and the hinge cover at the top.

I mulled over what to do with the handles, grill and hinge cover.  Paint, but what color?  We decided on black to play on the idea of iron.  I then disassembled those pieces as much as possible and scrubbed them really well, then let them dry over night.

You can see here that I also did the top & sides... at least where they show.  Ahem.  I had one more roll and some scraps from covering the doors, so I used those to keep the white from standing out so much.  I didn't do anything to the door gasket, so it's white, but meh.  It's a tongue-in-cheek fridge rehab, for crying out loud!

Annnnnnnnd done.  Probably.  I've toyed with the idea of applying faux or dummy iron-looking strap hinges for an old-timey, country look, but haven't been hit by satisfying inspiration as to how to accomplish that.  Plus, I'm kind of diggin' on the fact that I only spent $4 on this project!  I already had the spray paint (the Fred Meyer house brand in "semi-flat" black) and all the tools and cleaning supplies, so all it took was four $1 rolls of contact paper (yes, it was Contact brand and everything).  When I painted the various parts, I also painted the Whirlpool plaque, but I haven't reinstalled it.  I kind of want something funny there, but I haven't found just the right thing yet.

OK, that white strip between the doors bugs me a little bit, but the truth is that neither Eric or I actually see it unless we are opening the doors, because it's below our standing line-of-sight.  And yes, those are bloody hands on the front door in the background, still there from Halloween.  Those silicone window clings are a hassle to take down and put away so I'm procrastinating.  Besides, red is such a cheery xmas color!

What's next? We're narrowing down on a back splash solution, so we're getting close replacing the wallpaper with something that suits us better.  YEY!   

And finally a gratuitous dog-photo-bomb!

UPDATE: $4 DIY vs. $85 Store Bought: You be the judge.

It's Mavis!

It's surprisingly rare to come upon a branch of any size with any needles of consequence on it laying on the ground around here.  Nonetheless, Mavis has been pined.

She seems like a good visual representation of the change of seasons or the cycle of life or something eternal and meaningful with her orange and green needles arranged asymmetrically. [nod knowingly and reflectively here]

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.*

While setting the table this seemed like such a big and elaborate spread!  I think you'd have to see our normal 1 or 2 dish meals to appreciate the bounty shown here.  Plus we layered our service like fancy times.

Two 17-hour round trips in 2 months seemed a little much, so we decided we'd spend Thanksgiving here in the woods and Christmas back in Portland.  In order to make it not just another Thursday (which right now is just like any other Monday or Saturday or any day), we are making a special dinner.  Just not that special dinner.

Eric made this beer-cheese soup (with turkey kielbasa).

I made these Hasslebeck Sweet Potatoes (thanks to Dale for posting the recipe on Facebook)

Flavored with maple syrup, cinnamon, applesauce, apples, dried cranberries and pecans.

 
... and beer bread from my mom's recipe.

We used Guinness this time around.

We threw together this yummy green salad with dried cranberries, candied walnuts and blue cheese.

A very friendly salad: served in a housewarming gift from our neighbors, the Baetens, and dressed with oil and vinegar served from the cruet set I was given by Cinda!

Of course, we paired the meal with Jubel Ale and what was left over from the above recipes. No one is thankful for wasted beer.  No one.


And for dessert, I made slow-cooker cinnamon almonds using this recipe from the Detrimental Beauty blog that I found via Pinterest.  I'm not sure we're going to even be able to look at those almonds we're so stuffed.  Oof.

HOLIDAY BONUS ACTIVITY: Bigfoot somewhere in this post!  Can you find him?

*This quote is attributed to Ben Franklin**, but apparently he didn't actually say it.
** Ben Franklin was not really a pilgrim, but he wore old-timey clothes and is a long-dead, American historical figure, so I think that's close enough of a connection for my Thanksgiving post, thank you very much.

A Holiday isn't a Holiday without Costumes

Eric's always saying that these dogs are a couple of turkeys, but I have come to learn that the truth is they are one turkey and one pilgrim.  A few weeks ago I thought I'd whip up a couple of turkey costumes for these turkey-chasing turkeys, but it took HOURS to make that tail-feather tutu-like thing.  Of course, a second one wouldn't take so long, but I couldn't face doing another so I decided to whip up a pilgrim costume instead.  And it was actually whipped up.

You've probably gotten tired of this photo by now.  Nah! Who am I kidding?  Who could get tired of this photo?  No one, that's who.

How to spend hours making a turkey get up for your dog:

We got a 50-pound turkey this year!  Domestic, but semi-free-range, organic and omnivorous.

I cut 5 feathers in 3 sizes in both dark brown and tan felt.  Then I cut details in red, orange and yellow making sure that no two adjacent feathers had the same color in the same place AND that the backside details didn't match the front side details.  I originally planned this for Betty who will wear such things and wanted it to look good coming and going.  Then I sewed the detail strips to the base feather for the 10 pieces making a shaft in black-threaded stitches up the length of the feather.



I wanted them to stand up so I cut a cereal box to make supports and glued one dark brown and one tan feather to either side using about a teaspoon of glue out of the gallon if Elmer's Glue-All I have.  I left about 3/4" of cardboard hanging out the bottom that I cut a slit in to make two tabs.  I folded one tab toward the front, the other towards the back.  When all 10 felt feathers were made into 5 two-sided feathers and the glue had dried, I glued the tabs (one facing forward the other facing back) to another strip of cut cereal box just longer than the 5 feathers' bases.  I took no photos of this for some reason, possibly hatred.  I did get some closeups of the finished product that may help illustrate, though.

Left: The cereal box cardboard between the felt feather layers. 
Right: The tabs at the base of the feathers and the strip they're glued to inside the polar fleece waistband.

The finished feathers stand up pretty well and I don't think the whole thing was particularly uncomfortable.  Delia just prefers to be mostly nekkid is all.

While that dried, I sewed a long tube of brown polar fleece and cut a slit in it the length of the 5 feathers' base.  I inserted the feather assembly through the slip and glued the fleece over the cardboard.  When it was dry I did a quick fitting on Betty, cut the extra fleece off each end leaving enough overlap for a goodly amount of hook and loop tape which I then cut and sewed in place.

She did NOT want to take this photo.  She kept insisting on showing me the non-wattle side.  But as soon as the shutter clicked on this shot she was relieved of her modeling duties and released into the yard to play.

 

The turkey wattle assembly is roughly based on a Gentle Leader which is a "headcollar"  that fits over your dogs muzzle, but doesn't inhibit their panting, sniffing, biting, kissing, drinking, ball stealing, etc.  Mine is made of 4-way stretch something-or-other that I had in my stash, luckily it's black so it blends with the Beastie Grrrlz' snootles.  I just cut a wattle out of red felt left over from the tail feathers and sewed it to the "headcollar" with a zigzag stitch.  There's a loop at the bottom that slides over the "neckcollar," but the whole thing is loose enough that a few swipes with the front paws takes it off her snoot and leaves dangling from her collar (see video below).

How to spend about an hour making a pilgrim costume for your dog:

So prim, Miss Betty is.

Another turkey tail was out of the question, so I decided on a pilgrim costume.  Either dog would wear the collar, but Delia would never go for a hat.  Luckily, the girls are very close in size so I could just make Delia the turkey. (actually, it's Delia who makes Delia the turkey)

Betty's pilgrim outfit was made entirely from scraps, leftovers, and scavenged parts saved for just such an occasion.

I've had great luck with costume parts that just slide over their collars, so using white fabric left over from some forgotten project I cut 2 collars based on a quick internet search and some creative license.   Next, I sewed them right sides together leaving about 5" for turning and the ends of the top open for the collar to slide through.  I top-stitched around the perimeter to close the hole left for turning and to keep the collar crisp looking, keeping the collar holes open, then hand sewed on a couple of brass buttons from the box o' buttons.

The buttons are not at all centered.  After the first one was on I considered taking it off and centering it, but then I said to myself, "it's a dog costume."

I had made myself a Pilgrim Cheerleader costume a few years back, so I dug out the hat from that to use as a pattern.  A few size and dimension modifications and an elastic chin strap rather than ribbon ties and it was done.

Maybe someday I'll dig out my Pilgrim hat again and Betty and I will do mother-daughter pilgrim costumes.  Eric can be a turkey with Delia.

I was not yet done.  There's just something about a pilgrim that needs a buckle.  I don't care if it's historically accurate or not (and I didn't look it up), it's almost as much a part of childhood Thanksgiving drawings as hand turkeys.  I dug around in my stash, found 2 brass buckles (what luck, dog ankle-sized), found just enough scrap of black vinyl from Eric's Halloween costume a few years ago, a tiny bit of extra-strength, black hook and loop, and some black elastic in just the right width,  Yes!

My favorite part!  The "shoe" buckles!  These were the only thing that Betty fussed over at all and that was minimal.  I took them off right after this photo.

Because of these costumes and a housewarming gift from the neighbors, we now have a Thanksgiving/Autumnal Decorations box in the garage.  I never expected to have one of those and I'm pretty sure that Eric didn't either.

Rest assured, the dogs are not left unattended while wearing these things and they wear them for only a short amount of time.  Keep your pets safe!

This is Mavis!

I would like to introduce you all to Mavis.  Everyone, this is Mavis.  Mavis, this is Everyone.  Mavis joined our family last week and has been settling in to her new home in the living room.  The Beastie Grrrlz have totally accepted her.

You'll be seeing more of Mavis, I guarantee it.

In other news, I tried again with the birdseed wreath, but this time I think I nailed the dissolving of the gelatin and I used a mini-Bundt pan to make cupcake-sized wreaths.

This is a single batch, rather than the double I used for the bit wreath, and as you can see it made 9 mini wreaths.  Again, I let them set up about 24 hours. Only because I'd moved on to other things at the 2-3 hour mark and figured it wouldn't hurt to give them more time in the fridge.

We hung four on a tree we can see from the kitchen window that already had a remnant of tinsel garland in it.  The downward pointing arrow indicates why they are hung rather high in that tree.

I don't know if it's surprising or not, but it seems that dogs like birdseed.  All I can say is that when they somehow get to eat a fair amount of birdseed their "solid waste" looks more like a granola bar than you'd want to believe or think about very much. 

If You Can't Stand the Heat...

Considering our kitchen was built in 1976, it's pretty decent.  Sure, it's design finishes lean towards the rustic, but we do live on a mountain in the woods after all.  Until we decide to do a full-on remodel, we just want to deal with a few smaller projects.  One thing I didn't expect to have to contend with again was open shelving for the kitchen upper cabinets.  But, most of the uppers are either open shelving or glass fronted doors.  I can't really do anything easily and inexpensively with the open shelves, but I could do something about the glass: faux etching.  POW!

But what design?  FAUX BOIS!  But before we get to photos of said faux bois, how about some before photos?

The highlighted circle up top: the red thing on the right is a ceramic Santa Claus napkin ring left by the original owner of the house and the ceramic kitchen witch on the left was added by the folks who bought the place in 1986.  We'll figure out a way to display them and add our own "kitchen totem" eventually.  All that other stuff up there will find a home, most likely in a cupboard.

I think that the wallpaper has served it's purpose and deserves to be retired.  We'll do that once we decide on what do put up as a back splash.  I have a few ideas for durable, inexpensive, DIY installation options that will also be fairly easy remove when we do decide to upgrade on larger scale. 

Another set of doors on the opposite side of the kitchen.  The fridge is just to the right and will be one of the next project in there.  Wait'll ya' see that!  (assuming it turns out)

This project was moderately time consuming, but not really difficult.  The hardest part was getting the wood and glass (4 panes of which had been right by the stove for decades) really, really clean and able to receive masking tape and contact paper, respectively.  The people who lived here before kept a really clean house, but nooks and crannies just build up with stuff.

Took the doors off their hinges, cleaned them really well, masked and applied clear contact paper from the Dollar Tree.  I didn't have enough for all 6 doors, so I had to go back for more.  Luckily, piecing together pieces for this project is fine so long as the whole surface of the glass was covered.

I looked at some faux bois images that I'd pinned as a reference and then free-handed the wood grain onto the contact paper with a Sharpie.  Obviously, I wasn't going for realistic wood grain, so it was pretty easy.

I used a razor blade to cut the contact paper around both sides of the wood grain markings.  Again, I wasn't going for realism, so I didn't have to be very exact.  An Exacto or utility knife would work just as well, probably be easier to control, but since this pattern was relatively free-form I decide to use cheap, plentiful blades that I didn't' have to put in and take out of a holder.  The first time I did this on the first 3 doors, I removed the skinny little grain pieces instead of the wide pieces.  Luckily, I caught it before spraying the "etching" paint on!  And I had already planned to go back to the Dollar Tree for more contact paper.

Ready to spray, with the correct pieces cut away and removed. 

I did all those steps in the kitchen and in the office in the house, but I moved the center of operations to the shop for the spraying.  I used Krylon brand Frosted Glass Finish which I had to shop 4 stores to find.  I wasn't looking specifically for Krylon brand; there just wasn't any frosting product.  I'm pretty sure this stuff is available at the chain craft stores in Portland, but not in Missoula and not at the hardware stores in the Bitterroot that I checked.  I finally found it at the big Ace store in Missoula where we get the Beastie Grrrlz' food.  BUT I as able to walk right into the spray paint aisle unaccompanied and view all the spray paint cans without a glass or metal barrier and then just buy it like a law abiding citizen!  Didn't even have to show ID.

I did eight (8) coats, following the manufacturer's directions of doing horizontal, then vertical passes and standard rattle can *best practices. 

I didn't remember to take photos of them after they were painted, but before I pulled the masking.  But they looked pretty much like that, only the glass was frostier.  I used a picking tool from large scale, one-time use, self-adhesive stencils that I have used in my decorative painting business to grab the little strips of contact paper so I wouldn't have to dig gently and precisely with what is left of my fingernails.  The tape just pulled off.

Annnnnd our spices, oils and vinegars are now much less visible behind the frosted glass! 

In person, the stuff in the cupboard is even less noticeable and the diminished visual clutter is such a relief to my eyes.  Also, it's inspired me to finish unpacking and sorting out the kitchen stuff to further diminish the visual noise (as much as we can with the wallpaper still up).  We'll see if that inspiration lasts the next couple of days.

And the other one from the before photos.  I think part of continuing to sort out the kitchen will be finding a different home for those white boxes containing hundreds and thousands of cocktail umbrellas and cocktail swords, respectively.

 We're both pleased with how it looks.  It solves the issue of seeing every last bit of our kitchen crap, updates the look, expresses a little humor, keeps with the rustic/mountain style AND was accomplished for under $25 and is reversible with paint or lacquer thinner.  Also, it claims to be washable, but I applied the spray to the inside surface of the glass, to minimize its exposure to grubbiness and scrubbing.


* I apologize for the yucky business jargon, but it's late and I couldn't remember another way of phrasing it.  What a burden.