You might recall the stove in my new house, which works very well but makes the house look like a crematorium.

Well, today I’m out of the hospital where I’ve been battling osteomyelis since Monday and I feel so much better that I suddenly decided to get the 50 years of caked-on grime and soot off the walls and the cast iron fixtures on a whim. I had been putting off doing this since we bought the house because it looked like a terrible job, and sure enough, it didn’t disappoint: as soon as I started, I instantly regretted it.

But after 3 hours of scrubbing the damn thing and mending the period stucco, just look at how glorious it looks! Yes, I’m easily pleased 🙂