All on a rainy Sunday.

The rain is back. Today it rained, and rained, and still it continues to rain. This was supposed to be our weekend to build the stairs up to the upper lawn, but it was not meant to be. After a busy Saturday, we let ourselves sleep in this morning, but quickly made up for any lost time.

We installed the final touches on the new dishwasher and refrigerator. That consisted of mounting the dishwasher to the underside of the counter, and balancing and leveling both appliances. They look great in their new homes.

Next we put together the hand-me-down bed frame in the guest room. We'd previously had a metal "Hollywood" frame, with no headboard. This beautiful antique came from my Aunt and Uncle, who were glad to see it go.


Before


After (updated with Spring bedding) Among other things, this wall was screaming for some verticality. The headboard helps fill up some empty wall space.

The foot board curves out from the mattress, providing some extra toe room for our taller guests. I also recently replaced the existing curtains with these gray panels.

The artwork next to the windows are poems I typed and printed to fit the oval Syroco frames. They were originally gold, with images of a county home, all in tones of rust and gold. The frames took the black spray paint beautifully. I'd like to find some portraits to fill them, but for now the poems will suffice. I found a few old poems about the sea, and played around with fonts and color until I found something I liked.

These will be the new bedside tables. We picked them up last weekend, another Craig's List steal at $25 a piece. They'll need a light sanding, and then a fresh coat of paint. I was initially thinking red, which is never a fun color to try to pick a shade of. It's so easy to go so terribly wrong. But now that the room is taking shape, and I've had a chance to start to look at how the colors are coming together, I'm thinking of going with a very dark fuchsia. A pink so dark it almost looks red. Something like this...


This is a section of Benjamin Moore's Classic colors. No. 1343, Fuchsine, is my front runner so far. I have to sneak my pinks and purples in where I can, and the guest bedroom is a perfect place for it.

We also hung our new piece of artwork in the family room, but that will have to be another post. The cleaning of the garage that we did is much less exciting, and I'll probably skip the post on that.

I thought that spring was sprung...

Apparently, I was wrong. With this recent burst of cold weather, it seems that spring is on hold for now. All the tulips, daffodils and other spring flowers that were making their way up and out have seemed to stop dead in their tracks. It's cold outside! All the same, I am thrilled to see so many of the things I planted, and replanted, coming to life again. My little Lilac next to the front walk seems quite happy, and has tons of new green growth.


I was also very happy to see the Coral Bells and Bleeding Hearts along the front walk are also growing back, no thanks to the deer that mowed them down so prematurely. No sign of the Hostas that suffered the same fate, but I'm holding out hope.


The stars of the yard, my precious Andromeda, have survived the winter fabulously. I did catch a young deer trying to munch on one of them last week, so I let out our vicious attack dog, Maybe. She has become quite the little guardian of the yard. She used to ignore the deer, but with just a little coaching she now sees them as intruders. She barks at them with all her might, and circles the perimeter of the yard until we call her off. My plants just got a little safer. I want to plant two more Andromeda, right along with the others, to help form the border across the back of the yard. The three in place now are growing faster than I expected, and I think we'll get some nice separation from them.

I purchased (but have not planted yet due to the constant rain), three bright red Azalea on clearance at Home Depot. They must have been from last year, and were barely hanging on, but for $3 each, it was worth a shot. Since they've been outside, soaking up all this rain, they've started to come alive. I wasn't planning on having red in the mix, but I think I'll plant them in the back for a nice hint of color.

We've had a strange occurrence in the front yard. A transplant of some sort. We watched this plant grow out in the middle of the pachysandra, and originally thought it was some mammoth weed. As it took shape I realized it was a flower after all. An Easter Lily perhaps?


On our one day outside, we managed to get a good clean up in. At the end of the day we decided to rip out the picket fence behind the garage. It was terrible, and we knew it was going to go eventually.





Eventually this will all be large patio pavers, wrapping from the deck around to meet up with the path on the side of the garage. I can't wait to get this area cleaned up, but for now, this is a big improvement. It is much more open back there, and you can really appreciate the amount of potential usable space. You can see my rock wall is almost complete. I'd like to finish it up with one more row of stones on top and a border of of plants along the top. I am really proud of that little wall. I think it looks great, and I can't wait to turn the rest of the piles of rocks into nice features for the yard.

And to close, we were lucky to get a ton of work done that day, thanks to this sweet, little man staying put on the deck all day. He was happy to curl up in the sun on my sweatshirt.

Boo! Hiss!

Well, the installation of our shiny new appliances did not go as smoothly as we'd hoped. In fact, it did not go smoothly at all.

Problem #1 - Delivery man says, "They told you we can't install or uninstall water lines on the fridge, right?"

No, no they did not.

Eye roll and a heavy sigh in return. Ok, he decides to check out the situation with the dishwasher. He peeks under the kitchen sink, and then turns to us, "Ok, so the problem is..."

I can't remember the rest. Something about not being able to connect the dishwasher tubing to our copper pipes, something needing to be retro fit, blah, blah, blah. He apologizes profusely, and said we should have received instructions on how to prepare for the install. We got nothing of the sort. Considering we had five days to prepare, some instructions would have been nice. The very nice delivery man suggested we call a plumber who will easily be able to handle both installs, for about the same price as what we'd paid Home Depot for installation (which of course would be refunded to us).

They were kind enough to get the fridge into the kitchen so it won't have far to go to get into place. We chuckled as they carefully laid cardboard on our floors to protect them from scuffing. Please, give us an excuse to tear this crap up. The fridge now sits, ready to go, in all its stainless glory.

The dishwasher is still in the box in the garage. We haven't even had a chance to see it yet. And the old relic that we mocked and teased all last week about how its days were numbered, stays in place for a few more days.

The plumber comes on Tuesday. I will say, it was a good practice run, since the fridge and freezer were both emptied in anticipation of the move. When that didn't happen, I took it as a good opportunity to do some long overdue cleaning out.

Upgrade? Yes, please.

We've been making moves lately. This week is especially exciting as we are awaiting the arrival of a new dishwasher, refrigerator, and rattan chairs. All of this coming right after last weekend's arrival of a new King size bed. While this seems like a lot, we've been planning on most of them for a while, and found a few deals we just couldn't pass up.

Our dishwasher is 30+ years old, and two weeks ago the spring-load mechanism on the door went, so now it weighs about 100 lbs. I don't have much confidence in the old latch that holds it closed. In my mind it's death trap for either the dogs, cat or our knees. Not to mention the fact that it doesn't actually wash anything. It has way outlived its effectiveness. A shiny, new, stainless steel version will be taking its place on Friday. Upgrade!

The fridge is in about the same condition. Old, not energy efficient, and we both hate the side-by-side fridge/freezer layout. Dave's been dreaming about a spare fridge in the garage to hold wine, beer, and leftovers after big family dinners. The price was right, what can I say? Upgrade!

As for the new bed, well there was simply not enough room in our old full size for the two of us, and two really cute pups. Not that they sleep with us often, but on the rare Saturday morning that it does happen, the new bigger bed will suit us much better. The thing is huge! And so comfortable. I giggle every time I walk into our room because I love it so much. We've slept very well the past few nights. Designer divas to the end, we settled on a Vera Wang. Also true to ourselves, we got it at an awesome sale price. Upgrade!

Now the chairs were more of an impulse buy, sort of. I'd been thinking that a pair of rattan chairs would work well in the empty end of the family room. I wanted something casual that would work with the espresso leather couch and sofa. Rattan is a perfect alternative to fabric armchairs. Below is a picture of the Temani chair, from Pier One. Their decor is not really my style, but they had a great selection of wicker and rattan furniture. They arrived at the store today, and we'll be picking up a fresh set tomorrow. Pictures to follow.


I'm debating whether to purchase the cushions from Pier One as well, even though I'm not totally sold on the color selection. I'd love to think I could get some fabric I really love, and whip something up, but I'm already behind on my sewing projects. I may just have to live with generic blue for a little while. Either way, I am so excited to get them in and set up that area. We have a new piece of art to hang there that I can't wait to show off.

More soon...

Drumroll please!

It is my pleasure to introduce to you, Rulloff!



Our new little guy is definitely keeping things interesting around here, and not just because we're back to being on constant accident watch. Unlike his big sister, he is very independent. When he is tired, he heads off to his crate, or hops on whatever is close and soft, usually Maybe's bed. He and Maybe have grown quite fond of each other, and she even tolerates him when he steals her bed. We have a running dialogue of the things we think Maybe is saying when it comes to Rulloff.

"Dad, oh geez Dad, he pooped on the rug again. So gross. Can you believe that? I would never..."

"...but I don't want to stay on the deck with Rulloff. He's such a baby."



She's got some serious big-sister syndrome, but she is also very clearly happy to have someone to play with. He entertains her way more than we ever could. A new, much larger bed is in the works for the kitchen, as he tends to bump her out of hers. He likes to sleep right in the middle, and she seems to end up on the floor. "God, Rulloff! I was here first! Move over!"

Although they are full-blood siblings, Rulloff looks much more like his father, and much more like a boy. He's got a big block head, and quite a serious face for such a sweet little guy. If you're wondering about the name, well it's a bit of a funny story. When we first heard the name, we thought it would make a cool name for a dog, and when we read the story, it got even better. Now some may say we're setting ourselves up for trouble, but if nothing else, it makes for a great story. Click here to find out about Edward Rulloff.
http://www.rulloffs.com/pages/story.html

Oh, great.

I go to Google. I start to type and get as far as "rep", and up pops "Repairing drywall after wallpaper removal". Gah! Why do you taunt me, Google?!

I've been working more on the dining room wallpaper. It is actually coming along faster than I thought it would. I've made some pretty good progress on getting down some remaining spots of paper, without damaging more of the drywall. I'm close to trying to use the orbital sander, with a high grit sandpaper, on the walls to try to remove some of the thick, dried glue and remaining bits of paper. This might not be the advised course of action, but what the heck. The walls can't get any worse than they are right now, so I figure I might as well try something that could save us a little time.

Once we have the walls in decent enough condition comes the process of prime, patch, sand, skim coat, and repeat as necessary. I was feeling hopeless for a while, but now I am convinced it can be done, and in a reasonable amount of time, at that.

If you recall, we started here. Terrible. Seriously, just awful. This trompe l'oeil paper was easily the worst one in the house.

Aaaand this is where we are now. This is a particularly bad section of wall. I've done some preliminary spackling on the end wall, although in this picture it's hard to tell what is what. It looks scary, I know, but progress has been made. One little piece at a time, eventually it will all come down.

All washed up!

I think I touched on the subject of a laundry room/mudroom makeover in one of my recent posts. The ivy and floral wallpaper is the least offensive to me, when compared to the rest of the house. Somehow though, with the now open laundry closet doors (due to the bulging face of the new dryer), exposing the well papered interior, it drives me crazy. As much as I hate the bi-fold doors, at least they were a neat alternative to viewing the wire shelves and laundry mess.

This is our main entry to the house, so it very quickly gets strewn with shoes, coats, shopping bags, etc. There is a laundry bin, but also usually a heap of dirty dish towels and Maybe's dirty blankets. Her stuff gets so covered in hair I hate to even put it in the hamper with everything else, so on the floor they go.

My dream is a cheery, well organized room. I'd like to ditch the wire shelving in favor of some sturdy wooden shelves that are longer and deeper. I want to have a section for hanging clothes to air-dry, and some small bins or baskets for storage. Yes! An excuse to buy baskets! I want a bright, fun color, but nothing too shocking, being this is a main entry to the house. This could be a great place to bring in a fun color that may be a bit too much for a larger, or more public room.

My first step was to finally take down the bifold doors. One was permanently open, and the other, although it would close, seemed in the way just the same. Last Saturday morning after breakfast, I decided to get rid of them once and for all. It did not go as quickly as I thought it would. It was my understanding that I could lift the doors up and off their tracks, then take them down. Alas, it was not so easy. There was a series of hardware keeping the door on, and nearly all of it was impossible to access. One set of screws was rusted in place from moisture, it was a mess. After calling in Dave for help, and pulling out both the washer and dryer, we finally got them both down and tucked away in the basement.

It looks much more open now, and although I originally thought I'd want to hang some curtains in place of the doors, now I'm not so sure. Perhaps the option might be nice, to be able to close things off at times, but for now, less is more.

We've promised ourselves we won't start taking down any more wallpaper until we've completed the dining room or bathroom. We can't have a whole house full of distressed, half de-papered (yes, that's totally a word, I say so) rooms. In the meantime I've looked up some inspiration photos so I'll have something to dream about...

I'm in love! This is one of my favorite colors, although it would be a bit too much for our little mudroom/laundry room. It makes me wish I used powdered laundry soap, just so I can have a big glass jar of it to display.



More blue, but this is a little more my speed. No need to leave out the laundry room when decorating. A sweet print and a Lucite stool play nicely off a damask print ironing board.

I love the pull out drying rack, very convenient and space saving. Ironing board covers have come a long way, have they not? I can't commit to having my ironing board so far away from my bedroom. I'm a compulsive ironer, and I'm also big on the snooze button in the morning, so I need my iron upstairs. For people that don't iron their jeans every time they put them on, this is a great solution. I'm starting to think I could just fake it with a big jar of powdered soap and hide the liquid.

I Want That!

More Chairs. Yes, there is always room for more chairs. Especially a beautiful 19th century French Bergere armchair. I love everything about it, from the low sloping back, to the blue paint and striped upholstery, although it's a bit prissy for my house. I think a pair of these, in a more neutral palette, would go nicely in the family room.









Crochet Poufs! I want to bounce around in a room full of them. I think they are most intriguing to me because I can't wrap my head around how they are made. I mean, I get it. I know how crocheting works, generally, but how do you make it into a big squishy ball? I think these are super cute and very kid friendly.









Black Lamp Shades. I recently added a lamp in our bedroom corner (a steal on sale at JCPenneys for only $11) and picked up a black shade at Target to go with it. I wasn't planning on keeping the set in the bedroom long term, but now I'm so in love with the black shade that I'm thinking about getting more for our bedside lamps.








A Terrarium. I've been fascinated with terrariums since I was a kid. I've wanted to put one together for years, but it just hasn't come together. I have looked for plants over the years, and only recently have I seen them at Home Depot and Lowes. Last year I even went as far as to buy a glass jar for my terrarium. And promptly dropped the bag in the parking lot, smashing it to bits. It was the end of an already bad day, and so I took my defeated self home and forgot about the project for a while. One of these days though...







Stripe Duvet Cover. This duvet cover is from West Elm, and is quite reasonably priced. Crisp and clean, modern and classic all at the same time. This is on my shopping list for sure. This duvet cover is so cute, it's almost a shame that winter is almost over.













Holden Pet Bed. Maybe has asked me to add this to the list. This bent-plywood platform pet bed retails for $250, and is shaped just right for cuddling up.

Your Oops is my find.

I've become a bit of a compulsive shopper when it comes to the Oops paint at Home Depot. So much so that I've self-imposed a moratorium on anything new until I can use up some of what I already have. Now, I'll only buy from Home Depot of course, because Lowe's just doesn't knock down the price enough. What I've been finding lately is all quarts, and the Depot sells them for $1. Lowe's wants $5. Highway robbery!

If you're not familiar with Oops paint, it is usually paint that has been mixed and then returned, or often never even left the store because the original buyer did not like the outcome. Considering the money we've spent on paint in the last year, checking the Oops paint is always worth it.

On a recent trip to the Depot to pick up one quick item, I buzzed right by the paint department, almost without stopping, until I heard someone say, "Excuse me, where do you keep your Oops paint?" Oops paint! Must turn around! I found myself a few paces behind the couple that had inquired about the paint, only to hear the husband disappointedly say, "Ugh, just some stain and this ugly blue color." Well I'd love to see their house if they thought this was an ugly color. Their bad taste is my score. It was a quart of the most perfect pale robin's egg blue, semi-gloss, just how I like it. For the price of a pack of gum, this little quart of paint made my day.

I used to have a blog.

I don't know where the last month has gone. It seems like only yesterday it was New Years, and yet here we are, February flying right by. I've started a new job, which has consumed almost all of my energy for the last while. Finishing up my old position, and gearing up for a new start, with a new spiffed up wardrobe and all, kept me quite busy. But now I've gotten smoothly into the swing of things, up bright and early each morning, and home right at 5:30pm everyday.

We've started attacking the dining room wallpaper again. It is tedious work, and will take many more hours before we feel like we're getting somewhere. It helps that it's staying lighter later each night. It makes it easier to want to get some work done on weekday evenings. Spring is not far off, although looking out my window tells me otherwise. I'm looking forward to warmer weather so I can get back to some painting projects. I have a backlog of furniture in the garage that is ready to be painted, including a fabulous new little armchair I have yet to share. This was a Craigslist win. I got lucky with my timing, and a seller who stayed true to dealing with the first responder. She told me she had nine other people interested, but it was first come, first serve. And I was first!

I've also readied myself for some sewing projects, finally. I brought a table into the family room, so I can work in the evenings without being upstairs alone. I'm starting with covers for the throw pillows for the family room. Four in all, from three different fabrics. Three of the pillows I already have, and will just make new zippered covers. The last is a large pillow form I bought at Joann's on sale for 50% off. I just happened to be running errands and stopped in to find this great sale. The pillow form, which normally would have been expensive, was much more reasonable at half-off. I also purchased some foam to give a little extra padding to the seat of that armchair I was just telling you about. The fabrics are all from my recent purchases at www.Fabric.com. Two variations of blue and natural zig-zags, and one from a softer yellow and ivory Ikat. I haven't sewn in a while, much less sewn in zippers, and on fabrics with patterns that need to be carefully matched up. Gosh I hope my sewing machine still works!

Happy New Year!

No resolutions, just a huge to-do list. Now that Christmas is over, and the New Year is upon us, the thought of all the projects still to be done is overwhelming. Days are too short, and weekends are definitely not long enough.


The winter to-do list starts here...

Fix (or replace) the garbage disposal. Broken since Thanksgiving, the clogged drain is starting to get the better of us.

Sew and hang the family room curtains.

Sew the throw pillows and covers for the family room couch.

Hang remaining pictures in the game room.

Paint the small guest bedroom.

Clean out all closets on the first floor and organize (there are more closets than anyone could ever need, yet we've stuffed them full of coats, tools and loads of miscellaneous crap)

Re-do the mudroom/laundry room (below). Now that we have a new front loading dryer, the closet doors don't close, leaving the washer and dryer exposed. There is some wallpaper to tackle in there as well, of course. The bi-fold doors will have to be removed, and the shelving redone so that it is more functional.

Sand and paint the old coffee table that will be transformed into the new TV console.

Finish the blue guest room, including finding or making a headboard, new curtains, and hanging up pictures. I'd also love to find the perfect pair of bedside tables. I'm waiting for the Craig'sList gods to send them to me.

Paint and reupholster my new chair and bench. (Separate posts to come!)

I'm sure there are a million more things I could add to this. Starting with miles of wallpaper that needs to be addressed. I think I need to get back to working on the wallpaper for a little while each night after dinner. Even 30 minutes to an hour would help us make some headway in the dining room and powder room. I'm really thinking that before our next dinner party we should make some progress in the dining room, or people will think we've given up.

I did manage to scratch one thing off my list in the last few hours of 2010. After scrubbing the master bathroom top to bottom, I finally installed the shade for the window. It was so quick, I wish I'd done it ages ago. We actually bought two for the same window, one grasscloth at Christmas Tree Shops for $17, and another bamboo at Lowe's that we liked much better. Once we found the bamboo shade I'd intended to use the first one in the mudroom. The bamboo ended up being a touch too wide for the inside mount, but the grasscloth fit perfectly. It really is embarrassing how long it took us to get that done, but oh well.

I'm looking forward to a winter of weekends home. Don't tell Dave, but I secretly can't wait to get back outside and work on the yard. Once spring comes, I know we'll be outside 24/7, so we've got to get cracking on the inside. If only we could attack the wallpaper with the same determination as we attacked the yard.

Sweet dreams.

This is the twin bed we purchased two months ago for the small guest bedroom. It has a white-washed finish that's polished without being too formal. If you recall, this is the bed we purchased at a barn sale where I found the arm chair for the other guest room, the Swedish chair, if you will. This bed was tucked away in the chicken coop, and I have to give Dave all the credit for finding it. It has come in handy several times since then, and I'm so glad we picked it up.

The walls actually don't look so bad in this picture, but this room clearly belonged to a child, as there are hand and fingerprints everywhere. It needs to be painted, soon. I have the paint, one of my favorite colors of all time, Benjamin Moore's Covington Gray. Now all I need is a free day. Easier said than done.

I have no ideas for this room, other than I don't want it to get too prissy. I think a cool, clean gray will help with that. I want some crisp white curtains, nothing too fussy. This little bedroom may be great for a few plants, as it has three windows, and gets sunlight from the North and West. Now if I can remember to water them, it could work out nicely.

I saw Santa!

And it made me as giddy as a five year old on Christmas morning. Driving through town Friday evening on my way to run a few errands, I saw a man dressed as Santa standing in his front yard. I yelled out, Santa! (to myself), and quickly tooted the horn to say hello. Santa waved back, and I was immediately struck by a wave of what could only be Christmas spirit. That translated into a stop to pick up a few bottles of Prosecco. Nothing says holidays like some bubbly, right?

Saturday we got right into Christmas mode. We drove up to a nearby garden center, recommended by a friend of ours, to get our tree. Maybe came with us, in one of her holiday sweaters, to help find the perfect one. Instead she ended up bullying Lilly, the black lab that lived there, so back to the car she went. She occupied herself with figuring out how to get out of her sweater while we checked out the nursery store. They had an amazing collection of Christmas trees, all decked out with different ornaments for sale. They also had some gorgeous wreaths for sale, all real, in a variety of sizes. Beautiful as they were, they cost almost as much as the tree, so I held off. Somewhere I have a pretty decent fake I have to put out for the season. So we picked out some ornaments, and also grabbed some clearance bulbs to plant when spring rolls around.

We settled on a 7' Fraser fir for our Christmas tree. We took it home and then headed back out to do some Christmas shopping. At Target we found a new star for the top, along with some new gold bulbs, icicles, and a stocking for Maybe. The only thing I couldn't find was lights for the tree. There was a whole row of lights, but none of them were what we were looking for. LED lights, colored lights, globe lights...but regular white lights were no where to be found.

Thankfully, Christmas Tree Shops saved the day on Sunday, and we were able to stock up on lights. It took forever to get the tree trimmed enough to stay up straight in the stand, but finally we got it up. The Fraser is a pretty tree, and quite tough, but weaving the lights in and out was a bit of a challenge. It's nearly finished, we have some more ornaments to sort through and put up.

As you can see, Maybe has been gearing up for the holidays as well. So far her and Andre have been careful to slow down when they chase each other around the tree. My tuckered out little reindeer is curled up in my lap as we speak ,which is making it really hard to type. On that note, goodnight!

Sick day, my new obsessions, and other miscellaneous news.

I think the only way for me to get anything posted these days is to be on my death bed. I can't remember the last time I was this sick, it's been a few years. I'm not usually one for sick days either. I can usually take a DayQuil and be fine, but not this time. Such a waste of a day to be home but not able to be productive. The dust bunnies are safe for a few more days.

My clumsy self broke the camera this weekend, well, one of them. Of course it's the one we use the most because it has a great rechargeable battery. I dropped it, with the lens open, so now all I get is an error message and can't even get to the photos on the memory card. Hopefully the lovely people at Canon can help us out, and keep it on the cheap side. I did the same thing to my own camera last year, but it was less than a year old and still under warranty. I may have fibbed a little as to how the damage actually occurred in order to get it fixed for free.

I am hooked on a new website; http://www.fabric.com/ I arrived home yesterday to find a box of goodies I'd ordered online on Black Friday, all at great prices. Most of what I found was $5.58 per yard, with free shipping, and I also found a coupon code for 15% off my total order. I'm not sure what most of the fabric is going to be used for yet, but I didn't want to miss out on some of these prints.

This grayish-blue and white cotton print is going to be used to recover the seats on the pair of dining chairs for my sister.










I'm obsessed with this fabric. If I could, I'd buy every yard they have in stock. For now I purchased it in a few colors, including charcoal (seen here), candy pink, chartreuse, and corn yellow. I would have gotten more but it was sold out in a few colors at the time. It is a medium weight cotton duck, and it would be perfect for drapes or throw pillows. It's like a grown up, ethnic version of polka dots.





I also purchased a few yards of this zig zag print in several colors, including the chartreuse/ivory seen here, corn yellow/natural, titan blue/ivory, and a light blue/natural. You could go in a lot of different directions with this fabric. It has this timeless vintage-modern vibe that could go with just about anything.







This pretty print also came in a variety of color patterns, but I settled on this gray and ice blue combo. It's got a classic feel, but is hip and trendy at the same time.







So there's a sample of my new stockpile. Now I just need to get sewing and recovering. My mom brought me this great little bench that needs some love, choosing which fabric to use will not be an easy task.