And then She said...Blog, Blog, Blog

Before/After...dresser obsession cont'd.

2012-02-26T04:14:00.001-06:00

Soooo, a really long time ago I started to paint and makeover this dresser:

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the hardware I wanted at the price I wanted so it sat naked forever, and ever, and E-VER. Then miraculously I found what I wanted (Ebay) at the price I wanted (approx $1.00 per pull) and all was right with the world! But then I sat on pictures for-EVUH again and that leads us to this day.
A bit anti-climatic but nevertheless, here is my finished product:

It's just basic white paint, distressed a little, with spanish pull rings. If only I could rip out the carpet to give it a beautiful showcase on pretty floors. Oh well.

Something that took me all of a day to makeover took me more than a year to show you.
Yup, that's me. Right on time. I think I need to distress the embossed detail on the top drawers a little more to show their distinction but overall I'm satisfied.

Nerds 101

2012-02-17T03:38:00.000-06:00

The other day I realized that Luhvah and I are raising a total geek (like us). Luhvah would prefer to say, "we're raising her right" but imagine my surprise when I read this note that my daughter left for me before heading off to school:

That's it. That's all she wrote.

If the reference is unknown to you just check out this video (start at 5:28min):

Now, let me explain. My Luhvah likes to be weird (I'm sure other dads out there like to tease and be weird with their children too) and since Star Wars is one of his favorite movies (hers too) he's taken to quoting stupid things from the movie.
It goes something like this:

Luhvah (yelling from another room): Hey, monkey! (his nickname for her)

Daughter (yelling back---as you can see, we're a loud family): What?!

Luhvah: I need you to do me a favor! (still yelling)

Daughter (whining): Uuuuuughhhhh. (insert teenage angst and drama here). Yeah?

Luhvah (frantically screaming in a panicked voice): SHUT DOWN ALL THE GARBAGE SMASHERS ON THE DETENTION LEVEL. SHUTDOWNALLTHEGARBAGESMASHERSONTHEDETENTIONLEVEL!

And she laughs hysterically. And the first time I heard it, I did too. Cuz it's totally outta no where. Like, we'll just be watching t.v. or something and he'll suddenly say it to her. And we're a totally geeky family because we get the reference without any explanation.
So, imagine my surprise (and laughter) when I got the note. Because this is one of those weird "dad" things that she laughs at, not really that she instigates.

Yeah, we're raising a lil' nerd. We're raising her right.

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-02-15T01:39:00.000-06:00

I know it's been awhile but I've been here:

The graveyard shift, that is.
I am working nights and it's pretty much F-ed up my whole life this past month or so. Plus, I'm really busy with work (hey, those drunk college kids aren't gonna arrest themselves) so I've been out of pocket for awhile. The good thing about working mids (midnight shift for all you non-police peeps) is that my laundry is, like, always clean. I mean, what else am I gonna do while my luhvah is sleeping? It's not like I can sand the stairs or anything (ummm, mom... that's not a euphemism, 'mmmkay?). So I've been doing laundry like a BOSS as of late.

And here I am, back with a vengeance because, even if all my time has been sleeping, eating, and working (oh, and eating while working, or eating while sleeping -don't even ask me how I'm capable of doing this...) I've still been able to do some crafty/decorative things in between all that eating and sleeping and mids shift work. I just haven't had a chance to blog about them.

Now, whether or not you're a luhvah or a hater of V-day the colors are just dreamy and romantic, right? Pink, white, and, my all time favorite, red. Consequently, I'm a hater of V-day even though I'm in a lovingly squishy relationship. But the edgy sarcastic side of me just eats up the hate on V-day (awful, I know). I saw napkins at the store the other day which I wanted to buy but weren't really appropriate for me so I passed on them but they were sooo cute:

We celebrated Vday last weekend when my luhvah got tickets for the theatre to see Les Miserables. Ummmm...it.was.awesome. I've never seen the musical but I've read the book and I've always wanted to see it. So, we went to dinner and the theatre for our Vday night. That's like, my perfect date night. And the cool thing was that Luhvah suggested it-I didn't even know it was coming to town. He really does have the key ~~to my pants~~ to my heart! What a wonderful, lovely man. Le Sigh. I've been singing tunes from the musical all week long.

Anyhow. I wanted to show you my Valentine's decor. There's not much, just my mantle and a small table.

I made the heart wreath from inspiration off of, you guessed it, Pinterest. You can find the original link with details on Tatertots and Jello's blog. I amended it to fit my needs (a heart instead of circle and I used mini foil cups only because I couldn't find pretty swirly cupcake holders like she had). I think in total I spent 3.00 on the wreath. I couldn't find a heart form so I made a redneck version with duct tape and pink piping that I already had lying around the house. So, the only thing I bought was the cupcake holders. A $3.00 project-awesome.

The framed hearts was another cheapie. Do you remember this picture?

I snagged this cute little frame from my friend when I helped her with her garage sale.

I took out the picture and left the glass and decided to quickly paint the frame pink (acryllic paint and foam brush already had). Then I added ribbon I already had on hand and glued on these cute glittered hearts (1.00 walmart) to finish it off. Uh-dorable. And only 1.00 for the whole project! Love it.

The roses were 5.25 (Walmart again) so the total for this mantle makeover was only $9.25 (already had the candles and red filler). Not too shabby. And most of that cost was for the flowers.

Then I also bought some pretty Valentine's candy (let's be honest, that's what Vday is all about for me). And put them in some apothecary jars I had. Easy-peasy. The candy probably cost me 10.00 in all but will definitely not go to waste.

And that's it. I meant to hang a pretty V-day wreath on the front door but didn't. Oh well. I figure I'm pretty much a vampire now and no one visits us at night so who cares?
Happy Valentines Day!

2012 Check-in...

2012-02-12T04:15:00.000-06:00

I'm just checking in because my friend said she's tired of looking at my blog and not seeing a new post. Well, here ya go Steph. ;)

Love,

Christmas, Christmas everywhere

2011-12-20T10:18:00.001-06:00

I just thought I'd pop over for a bit to show you my Christmas decor before I fall into another black hole by way of the book that had me at "Hello" (Stephen King's 11/22/63). I realize the past few posts have been nothing at all about decorating and mainly that's cuz after the stairs I took a break. Not from decorating per se, but from documenting every infintisimal aspect of decor. But since it's the season of giving I figured I'd share some holiday decor.

This year was all about easy-peasy-breezy and I didn't want to feel crazy and frustrated. I know we women tell ourselves we will dial it back each year to have a stress-free Christmas but this year I really did. I'm nothing if not totally selfish and that meant doing very little this season so I didn't feel overwhelmed. Okay, I'll admit it-I can feel overwhelmed at, like, brushing my teeth so maybe this isn't saying much. But enough babble, lets move on to pics:

First, my shelf (aka, everyone-else-gets-a-mantle-but-I-gotta-settle-cuz-Florida-is-too-hot-to-have-a-fireplace type of shelf):

Here it is at night:

Yes, that's a yule log fire on my tv screen. We do what we gotta do here in Florida.
Since my theme this year was simple I strung garland with lights interspersed only with glittered silver/gold snowflakes:

I added 2 electric candles on the end as well for more silver. In the middle I put a cloche with silver/gold bulbs. Easy-peasy:

Hung the stockings and voila. Done.

On my dining room chandelier I added greenery with some little picks from Michaels (everything I already had). and hung bulbs from it (again, already had-from Dillard's clearance last year):

My last bit of decor was my favorite Christmas item--my grandma's blue village.:

This was handed down to me from my grandma and I have many cherished memories of seeing this each Christmas in her house. She still had a real Christmas village- with all the individual houses, parks, trees- you know, the ones that everyone collects and can add onto each year to make a bigger town. But this was so magical to me. Even as a child I guess I liked simplicity. Monochromatic designs. Not all that busy "Christmas village" stuff (aka: knick-knacks ***shudder***).

The village is dusted with white glitter giving it a lovely frosting and when it's lit it reminds me of all those cold winter nights at my grandma's when I'd stare at it on the shelf under her t.v. I wanted to play with the little people so badly but mostly, they were off limits.

I still get all warm and fuzzy when I see it at night lit up like this.
Next to the village I added some snippets of greenery from the yard:

Free and easy.

As I was making this post I realized I never got a picture of my tree. But it looks very much the same as it did last year (I'm traditional all the way never really changing the look of my tree):

And I still have my bubble lights on it:

I didn't even get a pic of my outside because I only hung a wreath on the door and no lights this year. I dunno. It's just been a lighter version of Christmas this season I suppose. It even translated to my gift-giving. Typically, I make treats for my neighbors but this year I saw a cute idea on Pinterest (*heart* Pinterest) and ran with it:

Ho-Ho's and Ding Dongs. $5.00 Christmas gift that everyone loves, I spent no time or energy on, and a kitschy little phrase to tie it all together? Yes please.

And that ends this segment of Christmas. It is so laid-back I'm sure I took more energy making this post than I did stressing about gifts and decor. ;)

BABIES AND ALLIGATORS... NOT BABY ALLIGATORS.

2011-12-13T16:38:00.000-06:00

Last night I had a really weird dream. I know, I know, you don't care. But I learned something about myself. So, there's a moral to this dream. Hang in there with me, 'mmmmkay?

The gist is this: my sister and I had a baby. I don't know how exactly-it was just that we were locked out of our apartment and we needed a key so the landlord was like, "Here, let me make you a new copy" and then he went into the back room and came out with a baby. And that was our key. Which, because it was a dream, we were totally ok with. We were all like, "Thanks- this helps us out a lot!" and then my sister said, "I named him Jonathan Sector [imput last name here]" and that's when everything went to hell in a handbasket.

I started yelling at her telling her that this is why I wanted to be at the hospital because why does she get to be the one who names the baby? and it's not fair that I had no say in it because this baby was mine too dammit -it's not right that she just chose a name without consulting me. And then an alligator walked by and bit off my leg. And I woke up kicking at the covers (presumably to shake off the gator).

The lesson here: I am way to immature to have a kid. Given the complete tantrum I threw over a name (which, let's be honest y'all, sounds ~~totally~~ sorta like me) it's a wonder my daughter hasn't turned out thoroughly maladjusted (thank you Lord for my husband!). I stayed awake the rest of the night contemplating how in the hell I'm gonna raise a tweenie when I act like one myself.

Confucius says: babies and alligators aside, an adult you do not make.
(or maybe that was Yoda, I'm not really sure).

OPEN LETTER TO WENDY'S:

2011-12-12T07:50:00.000-06:00

Dear Wendy,

Today I visited your restaurant for a salad. Specifically, the BLT Cobb Salad. Which looks delicious on your website, by the way. Upon preparing to eat this spectacular creation I realized that it only contained 1 piece of bacon. One. At that point, I felt very cheated. The name of your salad is "BLT" Cobb Salad. Admittedly Wendy, you held up to your end of the bargain -there was bacon; however, I felt you were being rather stingy. After all, by the very definition on your website:
"Treat yourself to the taste of crisp APPLEWOOD SMOKED BACON mixed with real blue cheese crumbles, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes and avocado ranch dressing" I was lead to believe there would be more bacon.
Of course, perhaps you only meant bacon in a singular form, rather than plural. In all honesty, I don't know the plural of bacon (baconeese? bacons? bacii?) this certainly may poke holes in my lengthy complaint as you may have purposefully left out the whole 'bacii' and meant only a bacon. Still, it seems a shame that a glorious pig had to die for only 1 measely piece in my salad. Surely, he had more to offer. Perhaps also, the reason for this singular piece is that I requested the half size salad. Is it reasonable to assume I would have had 2, nay, even 3 pieces if I had ordered the full size? Alas, we shall never know.
I would be happy to load a picture of my lone bacon as definitive evidence but I see no such means to do so.

Sincerely,
She Said.

Kicking butt...

2011-12-06T16:53:00.000-06:00

Today at work I received a fax advertising a class in Dispatch Judo. After feeling sorry for dispatchers at other agencies and thanking my lucky stars we don't have nearly that hostile a work environment to require a class in judo, I thought that it might be a good idea to brush up on my fighting skills.

You can imagine my surprise (and disappointment) when I continued to read it only to find out it didn't refer to the ability to level a foe with a roundhouse kick but of verbal judo with difficult callers. Thanks for the let down spam fax. We are no longer friends. Never again will I peruse your tantalizing sheets whilst cleaning up my work area ($149.00 flights/all-inclusive package to Hawaii?? I'm calling right now!!!)

To their credit they made it sound as exciting as possible, the idea of drop kicking a person verbally like Chuck Norris.

What with phrases like "three street truths" or "spar with fellow classmates" (don't get your hopes up...it's all verbal sparring) as well as "control their weaknesses" it's hard to resist.
Especially when I think I could verbally be this man after the class:

Maybe I'll ask my supervisor about it.

After all, once a cop pulled over Chuck Norris...and the cop was lucky to leave with a warning.

Spoiler Alert!!!!

2011-11-23T17:18:00.000-06:00

Spoiler!!!
Spoiler!!!
Spoiler!!!

Harry Potter is a wizard.

Whew. I've been holding that in for awhile. Hope I didn't ruin it for you (I did warn you after all).

You know you've watched too much Harry Potter when you wake up and realize you've learned a new curse word without even realizing it (cover your ~~ears~~ eyes mom): Merlin's beard!

I've been saying that quietly to myself ever since I woke up this morning. I have no idea why. I can only attribute it to the hours and hours I've spent engrossed in either Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings (though the actual phrase is quoted from HP).

I think they approve.

Stairs reveal!

2011-11-16T14:13:00.002-06:00

Remember when my stairs looked like this?

Well, now they look like this:

I'm happy it's (sort of) done but there are still problems that need to be addressed. For example: I haven't even done the stretch from the landing to the top of the stairs (about 4-5 stairs) because you can't see them when you walk in the door (so on the back burner they shall go), and I have a multitude of paint/stain touch ups that must be completed for it to look less sloppy, as well as the fact that I still need to protect my stain with a few coats of poly.

For now, I'm taking a break. Overall I'm pleased with the how they turned out though they certainly are not perfect. No, much like everything else in my house, it's a thrown-together dirty job. But it was definitely inexpensive (my number 1 criteria for this project).

Here's the breakdown (all prices are rounded to approx as I remember them):

1) Sand paper:                  12.00-15.00            (sooo much sandpaper needed!)
2) 1/4 round:            5.00                       (I think I had 6-8 pieces of 8ft 1/4 round)
3) shims:    2.00
3) stain:                    8.00                        (stain color is Jacobean)
4) paint:                            12.00                       (this is where I went really cheap and bought basic builder's white paint-I could have spent 25-30.00 for a better quality paint but, you know, cheap is how I roll so....)
5) blood, sweat, tears     +2,532,264.00            (okay, there's no monetary equivalent to this)

GRAND TOTAL:
(excl. my emotional/physical well-being)
                                       =$42.00 (approximate)

Not a bad amount for such a labor intensive transformation.

I tell you this was a test of my wills (and it isn't even over yet! ::::whiiiiiiinnnne::::)
But I had to show you the almost, pretty much, close as I'll get for awhile, oh hell-I'm done look of my stairs.

It's pretty accurate to the look I wanted (my inspiration pics):

(all pics courtesy of pinterest)

Illusion vs. Reality

2011-11-09T12:57:00.000-06:00

I'm in a dance class. It's a recreational adult jazz class (which I LOVE!) and the instructor rocks. I know, you're like, "wow, that's awesome--are you any good?" And in response, I'm like, "Are you kidding me? LIKE A BOSS!"

Problem is is that reality rarely aligns with my ~~delusions~~ fantasies. So, when I'm dancing and I feel like this:

I'm pretty sure I really look like this:

Note the reaction of the person in the background:

Yeah. I illicit that reaction too.

Stairs...The Neverending Story

2011-11-03T16:02:00.000-05:00

Does anyone remember that movie, The Neverending Story? Or are you not that old? (my age is definitely showing!) I really liked the movie but boy did that dragon ick me out. Anyone else with me? ::::crickets, crickets::::

I think I was freaked by the scales on the back. That texture...yeesh. No way was I riding on his back!

Anyhow. I know I'm way off my topic here.

The stairs. The neverending story.

When I last left you I was sanding them like a boss (mom, do not open this link-not safe for you! I mean it.) and trying to work out the dilemma with the gaps.

That's what they looked like after I sanded a whole hell of a lot. And by no means were they perfect (even barring the gap). There were these types of things I had to deal with:

But ya know, I just decided to go with it. The worst that could happen was to cover it with carpet again
(my mantra every time I got discouraged).

So I forged ahead and bought quarter round. If you don't know, quarter round is a type of trim and almost all houses have it. I'm sure you've all seen it:

It's the part that butts up against the wall and the floor. I figured it would work to cover my gaps. And it did wonderfully. This is also very cheap (.52/sq yard or something). I think it only cost me something like 5.00 to buy a bunch of it (yes I measured but left my measurements at home when I went to Home Depot so I guesstimated-I figured I could always go back for more). I brought them home in 8 ft lengths and decided to cut them with my miter box.

I already had one but these only cost about 15.00. And no, I did not miter. I cut straight lines. I figured I would cover any goofs with copious amounts of caulk. That's all a girl really needs people=====>> copious amounts of caulk.:::snicker:::

Anyhow. Sidetracked again.
So, I made my cuts (measure twice-cut once!) For this I needed 3 separate sizes. 1 for the height, 1 for the width and 1 for the depth of the stairs. Then all I did was nail them down and used liquid nails.
Problem was I still had plenty of gaps to deal with.
You can see where I put the 3 separate pieces together:

I was less worried about the gap above because caulk would help me there.
But there was a gap on the overhang of the tread.

I went back to HD to find a solution. I found it in wood shims. Cutting those little guys was time consuming. But I prevailed.

Then, I caulked (like a boss).

After which, my stairs looked like this:

Okay, not exactly like that. Apparently I took these pics before caulking. And not one after. Oh wells. Use your imagination please. Already it looks a hundred times better than before. No gaps, sanded down. Even with all the imperfections I know it's coming together!

One more hurdle to go-staining and painting!

Halloween dress up!

2011-11-01T14:46:00.000-05:00

So I finally convinced my luhv-ah to dress up for Halloween. And as an actual "couple" not some gore-rific Halloween horror. How did I do it? I have no friggin' idea. I just mentioned how I'd like to dress like.... and he could dress like.... (see if you can figure out our costumes below-shouldn't be too difficult). And he said, "okay". I was stunned. My luhv-ah isn't the most accommodating when it comes to playing dress up (unless it's something really "manly" like Conan the Barbarian). Not that I'm complaining- look how cute he is in his hat!

I loved it! We only went around the neighborhood but it was great (of course it was great- I got to tell people that I am practically perfect in every way!). Funny though how none of the kids really knew who we were. I mean, some of them said, "Hey, she's that lady from that movie!" and one kid said to his friend {about my husband}, "I think he's a janitor!" LOL. So definitely a different era all together.

And while she's not featured, my daughter was a vampire. And no she wasn't this kind of vampire:

She was a traditional one. Cape and all. And we didn't get any pictures of her because this was the year she was all, "Ummmm...I want to go trick or treating alone with my friends!" Le sigh. Tweenies.

Pumpkin Carving fun!

2011-10-31T15:08:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged in a while because I've been so busy doing so many fun things for the Halloween season I just haven't had any time to blog about it!

First, since it is Halloween, I have to show you the awesome pumpkin carvings we did.
Here are the pumpkins lined up looking purdy as a peach (can I say that about pumpkins?or is that, like, an insult to a gourd? Okay, they looked gourd-geous! *snort*). Anyhow, they're just minding their own business unaware that they're about to be slaughtered faster than horny teens in a horror flick.

We had friends over and it was a blast.

Some people used stencils (me looking over them with my daughter), while others free handed it.

I decided to free hand because I was inspired by something I found online. Once I saw it I knew it was the pumpkin carving for me! If only I could recreate it. I messed up some but it came out pretty okay. Here are a couple of the pumpkins friends made:

But of course, I have to show case mine! Because ~~I'm such an attention whore~~ I worked so diligently on it and was overly ecstatic when it turned out awesome.

Can you see it? Of course not. It wasn't that impressive with the flash and no backlit candle. In fact, it kinda looks like a hot mess there.

But look now:

Know what it is? Maybe not. But it's a Mockingjay symbol made famous from the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
My inspiriation:

Okay, so it's not perfect but hell, I was sooo pleased that it didn't turn out to be mush.

And yes, I highly recommend the book.

Sorry to get sidetracked. Back to pumpkins. (or specifically, my awesome pumpkin!)

Happy Halloween!

Sew Perfect Laptop Bag...

2011-09-28T08:09:00.000-05:00

I can't sew. I mean, really, I can sorta sew (remember, I got a C in Home Ec.). I don't sew well enough for like, a real seamstress to call me a "sew-er". I do own a sewing machine and can somewhat sew a straight line, thread my needle, etc. But, I'm an amateur for sure. I'm rambling. I know. I just needed to point out to you the difficulty in this undertaking before I showed you my project.

Here's my inspiration:

via jeanneoliverdesigns.com

I really really love this bag. Unfortunately, it is waaaaaayyy outta my price range at 102.00. Yeah. I can't even possibly imagine paying 100 bucks for a bag (not that it isn't lovely). So, I said, "I think I can make that". It's for my laptop and a couple of school books.

I don't want to bore you with the details but I made a mock-up for the bag and guessed how I might sew it, making my own pattern up as I went along. I took the bag that I had been using for my laptop to gather measurements since I liked the size of it. Then, I went to Joann's (with my 20% off coupon) and got fabric to start sewing. I got 3 cuts of fabric: 1 for the outside of the bag (1.5 yds), 1 for an inside liner (1.5 yds), and 1 for the mustard yellow flower (0.5 yds). I also bought some batting to make the bag slightly softer and more substantial. Total cost for all was16.00 and change.

And here is my end result:

I cannot tell you how proud I am of myself. For most regular sew-ers this is prob a 2 hour quick bag with little to no thought but for me? Well, remember when I made my bread? Well, this is the same thing. I feel so empowered. Like, yes I can!!! (you know back when everyone liked Obama and had hope for our country? That's how empowered and confident I feel). I really love my bag. Let's do a side by side comparison before I continue:

Sorry for the tiny picture.
Not bad though right? !!!!

Okay, enough of patting myself on the back (okay, I just did it one more time for good measure). Here's the lining:

So cute.
And an up close of the ruffled pleats and flower:

What I love about this is that I got what I wanted for only 16.00 I'm sure the other bag is nicer, and probably made better (obviously) but for only 16.00 I'll take my bag!

I feel like I could be Laura Ingalls any day now what with my mad sewing skills and baking bread. Forget the fact that I can't live without electricity or that I have no idea how to kill and skin animals or pluck chickens. I'll figure that out some other day.

Organization in pantry...is it possible?

2011-09-27T09:04:00.000-05:00

Just a small project I tackled to make this:

look more organized.
This is in our cupboard. It hold various items but mostly our boxes of kool-aid packets to add to bottled waters. It always looks like a mess because, no matter how much I organize, my daughter and husband are always sifting through them to find the different flavored packets they want. Inevitably, there are empty boxes and packets everywhere in there. And it never stayed neat.

So, I devised a plan to make it more organized and use up a space in my pantry that is wasted. This was a no cost DIY also because I only used 1 thing which I already had: contact paper.

I bought this on sale at Michaels (1.50 for roll) awhile ago because I loved the pretty pattern but hadn't found a use for it.

Okay, I lied. I used 1 other thing for this makeover: labels.

I also had this leftover from a project I had done in March so- no cost. (originally found at Michael's).

So, here's what I did. I took all the kool-aid boxes and cut them in half (eyeballed it).

Then I wrapped them in my contact paper:

I had about 7-8 pretty boxes.

I added the labels to the front of the box with each flavor written on them.

Here's the end result:

Soooo much more organized. And it uses a space that would otherwise be wasted in my pantry. Since they are measly little packets of powder I just used thumb tacks to adhere the boxes to the wall. No problems with them falling or being too heavy for the tacks. I also added a small plastic bowl below them to hold additional boxes of kool-aid that may not fit into the organized box (we tend to stock up on them and use them a lot as it's the only drink we really have in the house).

Now I just need to figure out how to make the rest of my pantry looks as organized.

More Pinterest inspiration...I love you!

2011-09-10T14:13:00.000-05:00

I love Pinterest. I know I've said it before and if you're my husband you're probably nodding your head in agreement unlike the rest of the world who may not be privy to my addiction as of yet. But despite the neglect of my poor dear husband, I love other things besides Pinterest. Like my daughter (sorry DH!). And this post combines that love into 1 harmonious action. Okay, don't get your hopes up. It's not an overly long or awesome post.

I made this cute little sign for my daughter:

Everything was used from my supplies at home so this was a craft with 0 $ invested.

I put it right next to her bedroom door so that she can always see how much I love her:

A quick inexpensive craft that bring a smile to my face. :)

Stairs Wars...Empire Carpets Strikes Back.

2011-09-05T09:08:00.000-05:00

Here's how my stairs started out:

Humiliating though it may be, you can really see the ickiness of the stairs in the last pic. This is why it was a no brainer for me to attempt this DIY project. I needed to replace the carpet anyway. In the end, if I mucked it all up I wouldn't be destroying good carpet.

So, I started tearing out the carpet. Little by little. This was by no means a difficult project just time consuming. And not all that time consuming really. I was just lazy and took my time. So what I did in 3 weeks time could probably be accomplished in 3-4 hours. I just did a small patch (about an hour) every weekend. Nothing exhausting. Still I was pretty disheartened by what I uncovered. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

To take out the carpet I only needed a few tools.

1.) A mini crow bar
2.) box knife (only for starting the cut of the carpet)
3.) Needle nose pliers
4.) a small plastic cup I could put nails, staples, tacks, etc in

That's it. And the elbow grease. It was simple work just yanking up the carpet. Just ripped it out of staples and off the tack strips.

Ewww for lurking stains.

I rolled the carpet up as I went. It was nice that they didn't use 1 big piece but cut the carpet into increments of about 4 stairs per section of carpet so I never used the box knife except at the beginning.
I rolled up each padding too.

And the staples weren't bad (I've heard some horror stories about staple after staple after staple taking hours to get every single one out).And no glue so that was good too.

Though I did have a nice surprise on the landing. They left a little present under the carpet. Oh for the shoddy work of builders.

Yep. They left a razor blade underneath. Guess it wasn't that important to pickup after themselves.

And this shoddy workmanship is what is sooooo frustrating. Cuz when I started on the longest part of my stairs (the "down" part of the stairs after the landing) I found this:

(and this is a pic of a pic off my iphone so yeah. Deal.)

A nice wide gap. About 1/2 an inch to an inch wide. I was a little scared at that point but I soldiered on. And I wasn't rewarded because here's what they all looked like after all the carpet was up:

*Le sigh* I don't know what I expected. I mean, I guess it was too much to hope that they could cut the appropriate F-ing measurement to each riser right? That simple mathematical step was just too.much.to.ask for. Who knew?

So, now I'm left with some options.
Trim, trim, trim is my best friend. I can cover it with quarter round trim butting up again them like so:

I'm gonna have to get trim anyhow because of the gaps in the side remember? Obviously not in that Gawd awful Honey Oak. I'd just get plain white so I could paint over them.

My other option is a facade. I've talked to a few guys at work and they suggested just getting a 1/4 inch piece of wood cut to the length I need and glue it to the stair's riser. Then it's ready to paint. I like this idea for the seamlessness of it but there are a few problems.
1) Cost (cuz I'm cheap-I'm pretty sure quarter round will be cheaper than a few sheets of wood)
2) Cuts. I would have to make a bajillion cuts to achieve the exact measurement of each and every riser which is about 15 stairs and lets just say 3 cuts per riser = 45 cuts. And I don't have a circular saw or any nifty power tools that can bust this out in 10 min. This would be an old fashioned hack saw with a lot of pencil markings on the wood. Of course, I've heard HD will make cuts for you so....maybe it's still an option. But if any of them are even slightly off this could really f-up my day if I have to trim something back, or it's too small or whatever. I realize that, with a 90 degree angle of stairs, each riser should be equa-distant but...~~*cough* shoddy builders *cough, cough*~~. Do I wanna take a chance?

Okay, I know I'm thinking out loud with you guys so forgive the run on sentences above.
But that's where I'm at with my stairs. Plus, I still have to sand the bejeezus outta them so that'll take awhile (ugh, sanding!).
Wish me luck.

Good bye Summer...Hello Fall!

2011-09-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

No more lazy days. I mean, for my daughter.

School has started and you know what that means? For her it's the end of sleeping in, playing late, then sleeping in again. And I'm sure she's devastated. But me? To me it means... crisp fall mornings, apples and cinnamon, falling leaves, mums, pumpkins, hot chocolate by the fire pit, college football, Halloween *le sigh*.

Of course, I don't have those things living in Florida (you know what I mean) but a girl can dream.

Spartans...A current invasion.

2011-08-28T07:32:00.000-05:00

Remember how I said sometimes working with a bunch of police officers (aka. guys) was fun? If you don't remember, here's a refresher.

The other day I passed a cleaning sign in the hall and did a double take. Here's why:

Ah, boys.

Pinterest...not just for pinning!

2011-08-28T07:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I've been on the whole band wagon for pinterest for some time now but let's be honest. Pinterest is a lot of day dreaming. If you don't know what it is here's a brief idea from their website (pinterest.com):

"Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes."

Basically, it's a bunch of pictures that you (or others) have pinned and you can click on to get to the original linked site to reference information. So, say you're looking at that recipe for brownies (mmmmmm, brownies) and you want to remember it for later. Well, there's a button you can click to pin the picture (always need a picture to pin something) and then it saves it on you're Pinterest board. And you can make all kinds of different boards. Plus, you can search other people' boards too to get ideas. I have different boards for different categories...one for home, DIY stuff, recipes (yum), MEN (double yum), funny quotes...you know just anything you wanna remember. It's your own stash of inspiration pictures. It's addicting.

Anyhow. I've tried quite a few things on pinterest so I wanted to share. Just little DIY things here and there.

So, this is a pinterest post through and through.

1). Eye Makeup remover:

Quick recipe I found for makeup remover (even does a good job with my waterproof mascara).

Ingredients:

1 C water

1½ TBSP Baby Shampoo (tear free)

⅛ TSP Baby Oil

I had baby oil but not shampoo so I bought a little trial size 1.00 shampoo. Mix all ingredients and voila!

2) DIY flip flops:

These were only 3.00 total to make. I used a shirt for the fabric because of the color and the flip flops were just cheapies from Walmart.

Cut off the flip flop tops like so: Okay, I thought I had a picture of this but realized that I do not. So, whatevs. Cut off the rubber part of the flip flops. The straps.

Then make 4 strips about 3-4in wide and 12-15 in. long from your fabric. Insert 2 strips into the thong part of the shoe. Tie a secure knot (should fit in the bottom of the sole comfortably) like so:

Then about an inch above the top of the shoe, tie another knot. That inch is were it goes between your toe.

Separate and put each strip through holes on sides and tie knot off. Like so:

Done! Can do this with all kinds of fabrics and colors. It won't be fall here in Florida until about, January so I've got months and months left of flip flop weather.(and yes, I know these are crappy photos. And no, I don't seem to really care right now).

3) Nutella brownies:

Easiest friggin' recipe in the world! Only 4 ingredients (3 if you don't count the nuts that were added as the 4th since it's optional).
Ingredients:

1/2 cup Nutella spread

1 large egg

5 tablespoons all=purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

Mix Nutella and egg. Add flour. Put in muffin tins (lined, unlined but greased, you know the drill). Sprinkle with nuts. I had pecans so that's what I used instead of hazelnuts. Bake at 350 for 11-12 minutes. Awesomeness ensues. Eat. Then hide the evidence when you realize you've eaten like, 7 of these in one sitting. This is why there is no pic (they were MINI brownies okay!? Sheesh.).

4) Book Nails:

With my obsession of reading this is perfect for me.
1. Put on nail polish and let dry. 2. Dip fingernail in alcohol-basically any will do, vodka is suggested. 3. Press a strip of newspaper big enough to cover the whole nail on to your alcohol soaked nail. 4. Pull off slowly and be really impressed with yourself. 5. Paint top coat if desired.

Here's what mine looked like:

Not as crisp as the inspiration pic but it was my first go and turned out pretty okay. I loved it.
Oh, and I used rubbing alcohol rather than liquor since it worked better than the rum I had on hand.

There are so many other things I want to try from pinterest but those are just a few of the cheapie things I've found just by browsing others' boards. I'm truly in love and if you need any inspiration of any kind then Pinterest is the place to go to find it!

Pow-uh Hungry!

2011-08-09T17:08:00.000-05:00

Since this weekend I've definitely become drunk with pow-uh. I must.must.must.have.pow-uh.

So... I power washed my front walkway too.

I know this must be monumentally boring for all you pro power washers who've done it over and over ad nauseum.

Here's what my walkway looked like prior to washing (ignore my poor dying plant, 'mmmkay?):

Look at all that gunk!

You know why power washing isn't so bad? Cuz you do almost nuthin'. And the rewards are plentiful! That's a dream come true for a lazy person like me. I exert next to no energy and in return I get clean sidewalks. Lurve.

See? That's all I did. Point a hose, wave it back and forth, maybe write my name in the grime- and that's it. Oh, and listen to my Ipod. Yup, blissful.

Look how pretty:

Gorg.
Yes, I must own me a pressure washer fo'sho'.

The Power of Poseidon...

2011-08-08T11:34:00.000-05:00

OMG, my HOA is a PITA. (Mom, I'll wait to continue while you google those abbreviations).

Understand now? 'mmmkay. We received a nice little letter stating that we needed to clean and restain our fence. Admittedly, it did need it. But ~~demanding~~ politely reminding us via a generic letter that I not be lazy and do work? Fuhgetaboutit.

Except, then a friend at work said she'd let me borrow her power washer so I didn't really have an excuse after that (drat!). Plus, since I'd never used a pressure washer, this was my chance to size it up and see if I should buy one. Can't argue with a free chance to use a power tool (of sorts) and get something done that was long overdue (even if those PITA HOA were the only reason I was doing it).
Anyhow, forget my blah, blah, blah-ing... on to pictures!

Here's the before:

We have a corner lot so our fence it quite a bit longer than most. Which is a bitch. So, I was only able to do the outside (read: the place the HOA will see) this weekend. But I hope to get around to the inside fence so it's all uniform.

I started power washing and geez! what a difference.
It looked beeee-u-teeeful! I was soo impressed. Just straight water and it looks magnificent. Here it is after only 1 section.

I felt like Poseidon, the greek god of the sea, wielder of water...

I just had to add this pic in. When I searched pics of Poseidon I never imagined I'd get one like that ^^^^^^.

Ummmm...nice trident Poseidon.

See how easily I can get distracted? It's a wonder I was able to do the whole fence (outside).

Okay, after it dried for a day we put a clear spray of Thompson's waterseal:

It looks soooooo good now. Like a whole new fence. Take a look-sie:

It looks uh-mazing.

A word of advice, while the power washer does all the work for you, this was very time consuming. I only washed the outside (still have to do all the backyard side). It was split up between 2 days and took me a total of 10 hours to power wash. The clear finish was easy, only taking about an hour to spray on and follow up with a brush.

We bought a 10.00 pump sprayer from HD. Looked similar to this:

Made the application very easy. You can find it next to the sealants in the paint section.

Look at the difference now in my fence compared to my neighbor's who butts up against us in the rear (okay, how can I write that sentence without having a lascivious thought?).

Looks awesome.

Even our little lizards approve.

See him at the top of the post?

This makeover cost approx. $40.00 for 2 cans of sealer and the sprayer. Oh, and a batch of brownies for my co-worker who lent me the power washer. But now I'm so addicted to power washing I might just have to buy one myself.

Laundry Detergent...DIY

2011-07-18T15:26:00.000-05:00

So, for a while now I've been thinking about making my own laundry detergent. But even though I'd seen tutorials for it, I had it in my head that it would be a time consuming task not worth the savings. Boy, was I ever wrong. I finally decided to give it a go when I was pinning (Pinterest= lurve!) and found 4 DIY soap options.

1) The ever present powdered laundry soap
2) hand liquid soap (I'm totally making this too)
3) liquid laundry soap
4) Dishwashing detergent

All of these required the same basic ingredients as a base (give or take an item). And were totally plausible. Since I knew that I could make 3 things with basically the same ingredients I decided it was time.

I followed the very easy directions found on Why Not Sew? Quilts website. And it was easy. You need all of 30 minutes of your day to do this folks...take the time!

So, to start. Ingredients are as follows:

1)Borax - 3.00 approx(in laundry aisle at Walmart)
2)Washing Soda- 2.00 approx (same area)
3) Bar soap - 1.00/bar (I chose Dove but I believe any will work)
4) Water-free

Tools:
1) Cheese grater
2) big pot
3) funnel
4) empty milk jug

First, start by grating your soap. I halved the batch she made in her link because I only had 1 gallon jug free and had no where to put another gallon. So, I grated half a bar of soap.

The problem I had with this was the soap would stick on the grater and wouldn't grate well after that point.
Like this:

All I did was take a knife to scrap it off.

No biggie but it did slow things down a little as I could have grated the soap in like, 3 minutes but it took more like 10-15 min with the in between scraping. Again, just a small delay and could be due to the type of soap I got (Dove). In the linked tutorial she states that it was very easy to grate her soap and took no time at all.

After grating 1/2 the bar into the pot fill the milk jug half full with tap water and add to the pot. Set on stove to dissolve soap (med/high heat).

After it dissolved I added 1/2 cup of both Borax and Washing Soda each. Stir in and let boil until it starts to thicken.

Note: I did not see my mixture really coagulating like the tutorial stated (boiled for about 15-20min) but no worries.

After you take it off the heat add another 1/2 gallon of water and let it cool (that's where the thickening came for me).When it's cool take a funnel and add the whole mixture into the jug.

Voila! You're done.

This makes a full gallon (duh) of detergent and if you use her link it would make 2 gallons (wow, look at my extraordinary math skills! I tell you, I should be in Mensa).You only need 1/2 a cup per load when washing.

Put it in a pretty container and you're good to go!

The Stairs...A Saga only just begun

2011-07-12T07:59:00.000-05:00

So, remember when I was all loco and I said I wanted to do this to my stairs?

Courtesy Thrifty Decor Chick

No. not the cute little shadow mice (but that would be cute for Halloween). I want to to rip out my carpet and paint/stain the stairs.
Here's her before (mine is very similar-but unfortunately I don't have a pic right now):

My stairs aren't nearly as nice (carpet-wise). They weren't in the best of shape when we moved in and we certainly haven't helped,what with having a parade of kids running through these past 6 years (daughter and her friends).
But the layout is the same L shape stairs to the loft and it's all enclosed with drywall. I wish I had a pretty staircase with banister. Like these:

But alas, it's not to be.
Instead I have what I have. Oh, well. But on to a few more pics to show you what I want to do with my stairs, dark stain and white risers!

These pics are all courtesy of a basic image google search.

So, down to the nitty gritty. I decided to cut a piece out of my carpet and pull it back to see what I had to work with:

Not good. It's like, drywall plaster or something. Okay, but this was the top of the stairs so maybe that's why. I pulled back my padding and another riser of the stairs to see:

What the crap. I was very disappointed. I mean, look at it. Its some sort of plaster.
But this gave me a little hope:

See that peeking out of the white? It looks like wood. So, there's wood there for sure (duh), but it's covered in some sort of plaster similar to the texture of my walls UGH. I wanted semi-smooth (if not a little beat up) basic wood. I tried to sand it a little to see how difficult it would be to come off...It wasn't budging. Then again, I just sanded by hand. It might do better with my electric sander. But it would certainly be a daunting task to undergo and would most definitely cut into my napping time on the weekends (not to mention I already have a dresser I've got to re-stain that I've stalled on because I hate sanding!).

Wanna see another problem? Okay.

Check out the gap. No, no, not the GAP. (though they do have cute clothes). I mean, this huge gap between the staircase and the wall.

Not so bad from that angle but look at it straight on.
See?

What the crap!?
How do I fix that? I don't even know if it's possible. Wait! I know! Trim...trim fixes everything. So, one problem down. But still, what to do about that crazy texture stuff?

Anyhow... that's where I stand in the stair department. I put everything back together but I may be ripping all the carpet out anyhow. I mean, it's filthy stained carpet (judge not, lest ye be judged!) and needs to be gone sometime anyway. So rip it out now and try for something else. All else fails, I could paint them (forget the stain). Keep the texture, just paint them something wicked like this:

In fact, that doesn't seem so terrible after all. I think I'm gonna try it and just see where it leads me.

All of these painted stairs look perfectly imperfect which is what my house tends to be anyhow.

2011 Check list check-in:

2011-07-11T15:51:00.001-05:00

Here is the list I started at the beginning of the year:

1.) ~~Clean out my closet.~~ Done.You know it's always easy to get the small things out of the way.

2.) ~~Organize my bills/junk mail.~~ Done. I even organized my bar so that those pesky papers wouldn't land there all the time. The problem is, while my bar is nice and clean, I now have a basket in my bedroom with a stack of papers that needs to be filed. Okay, it's definitely neater than the way it was before...but it's still a pile. :(

3.) Refinish 2 dressers. I'm half way there. I've 1/2 stripped one, and painted the other but am waiting on hardware. Sooo....sorta done.

4.) Tear out the carpet on the stairs and try to refinish them. -Working on it now!

5.) ~~Sell 5 items I no longer use on Craigslist~~.(2 [1] desks, 1 coffee table, ~~1 dresser~~, ~~1 tv armoire~~) Close enough.

6.) ~~Finish losing 15lbs.~~ I've actually gained 15 lbs but lets not talk about that otherwise I'll go home, crawl under my covers, and cry myself into oblivion whilst clutching a yummy box of chocolate macadamia nuts (Thanks for enabling me BFF!!!!).

7.) ~~Paint the loft upstairs and reorganize it for more functionality~~. Sooo done.

8.) ~~Take down the Christmas tree and decor inside~~. Would you ever read my blog again if I hadn't done this already?

9.) ~~Replace our shower window.~~ Done. And much cheaper than I was originally quoted. So, YEA!

That leaves me with only 2 3/4 things left to do (if you count that I've only half way done some things). And I still have 6 months left! I think I'm doing really well considering. ~~Considering how lazy I am~~.

I would almost say I'm hopeful enough to add a few more things to my list. Dare I? Okay, I dare. Yes, I laugh in the face of ...uhhhhh....list-making...and uhhhh..whatever else I can hubrisly laugh in the face of! I'm totally gonna add stuff.

1.) Repaint my kitchen cabinets.
Right now they look like this:

You're to ignore the mess in the kitchen (it's the only pic I had available at the moment). But can you imagine why I might want to paint them? Of course you can!

I want to paint them black. Like this:

courtesy of The Lettered Cottage

2.) Repaint my bathroom cabinets as well. I may consider white, who knows? I just know I want the Honey Oak GONE (it's all through the house).The HOFF (Honey Oak Furniture Flip) in action!

3.) File my bills, uh-gain!

4.) Crown molding in the powder room. It's a small room. For that reason I imagine it would be an easy place to start with a crown molding attempt (never tried before). I even have scrap molding in the garage just waiting to be used to try this out. We'll see.

example

5.) Finish painting base boards. I started a looooooong time ago painting my base boards from smokers yellow (yuck) to crisp white. I only got about half my house done. I really need to finish.

not my baseboards

Trust me that's more than enough to keep me busy when I think about adding them to the list I have every.single.weekend:

1.) Sleep in
2.) Wake up, eat waffles.
3.) Watch any number of my DVR'd shows.
4.) Pet my kitty (this is not a euphemism!)
5.) Pet the other 2 kitties so they don't feel left out.
6.) Take a nap out of sheer exhaustion.
7.) Wake up, repeat.

See? Clearly, I have a really busy schedule every week so adding more to it will surely overwhelm me til the end of the year.
*crossing fingers I can do it all!*

Baking Fail-4th of July

2011-07-07T08:03:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't call myself a baker or a cook. Though I think that I do an okay job at both. But when I try something I really expect it to work. Unfortunately this last attempt really failed. It all started when I saw this cake on the blog, 17 and baking:

How cool is that?

Unfortunately, mine turned out like this:

I make no attempt to hide the damage people. Feast your eyes on this hot mess. Like a train wreck, it's hard to look away.

Now, learn from my mistakes (see how uplifting and educational I can be-even in the wake of my own patheticness?).

I won't go into all the tedious details of how to construct this cake as the original blogger did a great job explaining it (with video even) in the link above. Plus, do you really wanna take advice from me when mine turned out like it did? Of course not.

But I will give you pointers on where I believe the train derailed.

1) Be patient.
2) If possible make this in 2 days rather than 1 evening.
3) Be patient.
4) Let the cakes cool completely, and if you've read my number 2 rule, freeze them over night.
5) Be patient.
6) Cut the cake after its frozen which minimizes crumbs and allows the form to remain intact.
7) If you haven't read rule, 1, 3, and 5, read them again.
8) Buy 4 cans of icing (3 for the cake and 1 more just in case the cake is a bust and you need to drown your sorrows at your failed attempt).
9) Be patient.

That's pretty much it. I used box cake and it tasted great. Even with the chaotic mess it made:

It was yummy. I mean, it was cake. What's not to love? But that wasn't really the point with this specific cake now was it? It was the presentation (it's all about presentation). And I mucked that up real good. Can you guess why? (if not read rules 1,3,5,7,9)

So, instead of my co-workers getting a fantastically presented yummy cake my family got a hideously deformed yummy cake.
(Woo-hoo says my daughter!)

Oh well, there's always next year.

No Sew Pillow...

2011-07-04T09:34:00.000-05:00

Okay so, the title of this post is a lie. An out and out lie. I sewed a little (but only a little). My sewing skills don't exceed more than "a little" anyhow. I mean, I was sweating it when I had to thread the darn sewing machine so thank goodness it didn't require more than that (remember: I got a C in Home Ec).Anyway.

I wanted some holiday decor being that it's 4th of July. But I'm cheap and money is tight. The easiest way to get that was to make new pillow covers for my couch. So, I got some basic red fabric:

I started by ironing a crisp hem (after measuring the amount I needed for 2 pillows) and adhereing with iron on hem tape:

Then I took white ribbon and measured the amount needed for 2 stripes (on each pillow) and adhered those with more iron on hem (whomever the hell invented this stuff-I thank thee).

Incidentally, I didn't have enough length for the 4th stripe. I centered it as best I could on the front but it didn't reach the full length on the back of the pillow. I didn't care. I mean, it's the back so who notices really? It's not like I'm having Martha over for the 4th-she's too busy hosting a clambake in the Hamptons or some such activity (sorry Martha- thanks for the invite- but I can't make it). Plus, I wasn't about to get out again for, like, 4 inches of ribbon. Whatevs. This was a cheap, easy, and fast DIY project. It's not perfect (so it pretty much fit right in at my house).

After the ribbon I formed it around my pillow to verify that I was on track:

I wasn't sewing in a zipper but I wanted the option to change them out so I made a back flap. After verifying that it worked I sewed the sides up. I only made 2 sewing lines which finished the pillow off:

Here's my old sewing machine: I'm sure it wishes it had someone else as it's owner. Someone who would properly take care of it, who wouldn't let dust bunnies collect on it, who gives it the proper maintenance to run efficiently, heck, someone who even knows how to friggin' thread the thing.

After it was sewn I turned it inside out and stuffed the pillow in it. You can see what I mean here by the back flap:

The finished product:

Cost breakdown:

Fabric (1 yard which yielded 2 pillows): 3.99

White ribbon (already had) but cost: 1.00

Iron on hem tape: 2.00

Total Cost for 2 pillows: 7.00 (3.50 per pillow cover!)

Star Wars...

2011-06-28T17:53:00.006-05:00

I used to blog.

And then I got busy at work, and stressed at home, and summer began, and family visited...and I found out that Darth Vader was Luke's father, it ruined my life forever and I went into hibernation.

I felt like this:

No, really. I want to try and blog but I'm extremely busy at work which doesn't give me much time ( ~~prime blogging hours~~- ~~don't tell my boss~~).

But I promise to start again soon!
Until then, I'll leave you with a great pic....Most Inappropriate Picture in a Children's Coloring Book:

Before/After...Barstools

2011-05-30T10:31:00.001-05:00

I've mentioned that all my furniture pieces are hand-me-downs, right? And I've mentioned that it all tends to be that honey-oak color, right? And I've mentioned how much I hate that color, right? If you need a reminder, just read this, or even this, to see only a few things that I've had to rescue from that horrible 90's trend. I really should start a file for these pieces alone as they have a personal hated place in my heart (all things honey oak colored). Forever more they shall be called...The HOFF (Honey-Oak Furniture Flip).

So, in this week's chronicles of The HOFF I took bar stools I've had for 5+ years to a whole.'notha.level (as my pastor likes to say). Before:

These babies were given to me by my in-laws when we first moved in 6 years ago. And you know my motto: Never pass up free....well, anything. So, sure, they weren't pretty but they were free and I've seen no need to upgrade since they do their job just fine and, did I mention that they were FREE? I planned on painting them long ago but, you know, ~~I'm lazy~~ life got in the way. Plus, they really needed it because, besides being ugly, they had damage done from the in-law's pups:

Some teeth marks from gnawing on the stool legs. And full on damage when they chewed out-right:

I just sanded them down to smooth them out a little. It wasn't perfect but it was better and no one hardly looks at the stools bottom rungs.

My inspiration came from all the numbered chairs I've seen popping up all over blogland. From the Lettered Cottage:

To Life in the Fun Lane:

And even Sweet Something Designs:

Seems I'm way behind on the numbered stools/chairs bandwagon. And I liked the numbers but wasn't sure which numbers to do (something with significance to me?) 1, 2, 3 seemed logical but a little blah and boring.

Then the idea hit me when I kept saying 1, 2, 3...1, 2, 3....1, 2, 3...

Indians. Know this song? 4 little, 5 little, 6 little Indians... It was a favorite of mine in childhood. My husband says it's not PC and offensive and was pretty skeptical when I was painting them. *Gasp* what would the neighbors think if they saw them?

I figured it wouldn't hurt to paint them and if I didn't like it I could always paint over it. But I do like them. I think it adds a little bit of whimsy to the stools and I smile when I walk by them and start singing. Of course, my husband is probably right. It's probably considered an offensive song now-a-days. When I tested my daughter she'd never even heard of it. Maybe it's an Oklahoma thing? Everyone from Oklahoma is either part Indian (ahem, Native American) or knows someone who is. My family is. But somehow I've never shared with my daughter this cute little song.
Anyhow -I like my whimsical stools now.

I slightly distressed them and still need to add a coat of poly (spray painted them with a flat black) but I am so pleased with them. No more ugly honey colored stools! (If only I could perform the HOFF on that pergo flooring!)

New Entry look...

2011-05-18T06:46:00.000-05:00

My friend brought over her mudroom bench thingy (technical term). Which meant it was time to change up my entry to accommodate. Here's what the entry looked like...basically its a small walkway between the stairs and living room.

That is where my daughter piles alllllll of her things. Backpack, softball bag, skateboard, junk, shoes, etc.

Here is the bench with no adornments

Pretty, no? I am such a lucky girl (with an awesome friend) to get this thing.

There were hooks on the front by the mirror but I didn't want anything junking up that area so I grabbed some S hooks I already had to hang things on the sides:

Like my daughter's softball bag and backpack. I put some throw pillows at the top which were green like this:

But I wasn't feeling them or the seat cover because everything was so dark. And solid. I wanted a pretty spring pattern to lighten up all the dark metal.So, I started searching for fabric I might like (for cheap of course). I found it in cute pillow covers at Michael's. And, get this, they were on sale for only 1.60 each.
I just threw them on the pillows I already had and voila!

For the bench I want something that can be taken off and cleaned quickly. I perused the thrift store for any pretty fabric I could use and came across this floral patterned pillowcase which was perfect because I didn't even have to sew. It was only 2.00 too.

Underneath went a container (also donated by my lovely friend) for unsightly knick-knacks. So, here it is:

I'm so excited about the organization it gives the front area. Plus, it leaves the area right next to the door open.

Problem now is the dirty, scuffed-up wall. See it? Of course you do.

UGH.

I'll get around to it sometime.

BACKYARD MESS

2011-05-09T15:21:00.000-05:00

Since it is spring going into summer (has been in Florida since, oh, January) I figured I should clean our backyard. Especially since my husband was kind enough to buy me this swing chair for our anniversary.

Which looks like a scary contraption until you sit in it and it is sooooo comfortable. My co-worker had to make it dirty (said it looked like it was one of those types of swings) but I refuse to let him ruin it for me. It's a comfortable chair that I can sit in and read a book and relax under the tree.

Problem is is that I get to look at this:

And this is the "cleaned up" version (I always forget to get the really real before picks). Remember that my back yard was neglected and trashy? Well, this is after I cleaned up a little bit.

I wanted a peaceful backyard oasis but my budget...well, you know me- I'm cheap. I didn't have $300-400 laying around to buy new pretty patio cushions, new chairs for the table, flowers, an umbrella, etc. I had to work with what I had. So, instead, I bought flowers for only 15.00 and assessed what I had.

This was a good time to purge, purge, purge. I took every decorative item that wasn't hanging on my walls and laid it all out to see what would work outside.
After all, I knew a lot of things wouldn't work. They had to be pretty (pops of color would draw the eye and make it look fun!) but also weather resistant. We have too much rain and blazing sun so no candles and no flimsy fabrics would do.

Here is all the "stuff" I have:

This was also a good chance to clean out those unloved items that I never use.
Rearrange, reorganize. So, I inventoried. Unfortunately, my house still looks like this with all the stuff strewn about.

I gave my patio furniture a good soak down with the hose to clean them off of any debris. Then I took this old crappy flower pot and decided to redo it

It was pretty beat up. It even has a hole in it. But I was determined to use it.

I spray painted it with leftover red paint I had on hand so the cost of a bright new planter-FREE.

I also remembered some huge Christmas bulbs I had that I love but only display at Christmas time. And I thought, "Why not use them as gazing balls?" They are red which matched the flower pot and would sparkle beautifully in the sun.

See there, the hanging part of the bulb? Yeah, just flipped upside down and voila! Instant gazing balls.
I set them on top of some red hurricane glasses I had which looked awesome (I just need to add some weight so they don't fall over and shatter).

I brought around a pillar that had set out front for a long while with a pot on it.

This is the cleaned up version. And it still looked pretty bad. Plus, I needed another splash of color. So I took some of my true aqua paint sample left over from my failed attempt at my night stand.
I diluted the color with water and quickly painted the pillar. (it only took 10min).

I like the splash of turquoise and is a great place to set drinks when sitting by the fire.

Anyhow. Here's the after when I added pillows for the chairs (already had as well) and flowers.

My total cost for this makeover was...
8.50 for flowers.And lots of elbow grease of course.

I didn't do much to the main patio but I did make a nice display on the table.

Again, all free. Now I just need to add a few more plants/flowers to make my back patio a little nicer.

Pretty flowers...

2011-05-03T07:30:00.000-05:00

Recently we had an anniversary and my husband bought me beautiful white roses. So pretty I just had to post them.

I just love that guy. He's still so sweet after 11 years.

Spring Cleaning the loft

2011-05-03T07:22:00.000-05:00

This area is my 11 year old daughter's play room and a basic catch all for office-y type things. I used to have a desk up here for the computer until we sold it (I had before pics but can't seem to find them now). But here's what it's looked like pretty much since I sold the desk:

It's just a hot mess.A bunch of "stuff" thrown up there that needs to be organized. And I've been telling myself that I need to get more bookcases. I wanted a more library-esque feel with bookshelves all over the walls. Here are some examples of the whole bookshelf thing (I can't have built-ins but I can dream):

I was holding off on buying bookcases because of one reason or another (okay, truth is -I'm cheap-don't tell anyone). But my one itsy-bitsy bookshelf has needed help. Here's what it looked like:

My books were overflowing into other areas and I needed more room for them. Plus, there was only a tiny bookshelf for my daughter's books which was too small for her stuff as well.

Luckily, God loves me (Okay, okay, He loves you too but lets pretend he plays favorites and I was it the other day). I was in the right place, at the right time, to snag 2 free bookcases when my workplace got rid of a bunch of stuff. YEA ME!

So, I loaded them up and brought them home. And since I had to rearrange, organize and clean pretty much everything in the room I figured, "Hey, why not paint this room while you're at it?" So, I did (with the help of my daughter. Child labor = free!).

But first I had a lot of organizing to do so I tried as best I could to purge the loft and clean. Here's what it looked like in the middle of it all:

It's gotta get worse before it gets better. See all those books hanging out? They needed a place to live.

So, after organizing, painting, and lugging 2 bookcases upstairs, we ended up with this:

Okay, it's still got a long way to go. But the walls are painted and the bookshelves are there shelving their books like good little guys and that ugly curtain is down and everything is more organized. Here are the two (free!) bookshelves I got:

Look at how much space I have now! And I still have the other bookshelf too so I can use that as well. None of them match but I was thinking about scrapbook papering the backs to give them a more unified feel and to add a little more pretty to them (rather than the glaringly obvious fake cardboard backing).

There is still more I think I could do to tweak the room (add curtains, accessorize a little better) but for now I'm just pleased to see so many bare surfaces after living with this:

It's nice to see this:

Here's a better look at the color:

Okay, that's a crappy look at the color. What can I say? My camera sucks. But the color is Dappled Gray (Walmart) which I had color matched in Behr's paint/primer in one. I know, it looks white. But it isn't. It's a very sublte blue/gray.

It's been a long journey and I am very happy with the results. Before:

After:

But I will continue to decorate. And I'm more than thrilled at my freebies!

IT'S ALIIIIIVE..........

2011-04-27T17:45:00.000-05:00

I feel like Dr. Frankenstein. Why you may ask? Because I've taken these two hands...

Okay, not these two hands-
those hands are just some random model's hands. I didn't have the ~~inclination~~ ability to take a picture of my own hands so I just ~~stole~~ borrowed these from the almighty web. If you want a true sense of this story picture my hands chubbier, with half bitten nails, and throw in some dry skin for good measure. There you have it. Now you're on board with this story. I took my own two hands and created something glorious.

So, what did I create? Okay, it wasn't an inanimate monster brought to life but, I'm proud of it none the less.
I made my first batch of bread.

And when I say bread, I don't mean I hooked up a bread machine to churn things out (I have no idea how bread machines work). I used my oven and my hands and that's it.

I didn't have the courage until I read this book, Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day.

I first read about it on the Nester's Blog. I checked it out at my local library (free!) and set to work.
And with only flour, water, salt, yeast, and an oven-I made bread.

See?

That is my trial loaf. It was awesome. I felt so...empowered. I'm not one for baking bread but now I feel all Little-House-On-the-Prairie-like. Like if I was somehow thrown back into that time period I could survive (never mind the lack of electricity, plumbing, refrigerators, etc.).

I know, its a little anti-climactic for all you "I've been baking bread since I was 5 years old in my e-z bake oven" people. But I ~~was~~ am so proud of myself.
I took loads of pictures and my husband said it turned out great! It was very dense like sourdough and was yummy with some butter slathered on top.
Okay, more pics.

I even made 2 extra loaves I was feeling so enraptured with my baking skills. The cool thing about this is that you can make a big batch and refrigerate it for up to 2 weeks. So, fresh bread any night of the week! And then when that's done just make another batch on the weekend. YEA!

So, there it is. My masterpiece. My creation. My own two hands.

IKEA, I heart thee...

2011-04-26T10:56:00.000-05:00

When Ikea first moved to my city I went there constantly. I'd never been to Ikea before (none near me in Oklahoma) and everything was so inexpensive and the showrooms were so inspirational and.... I went there all the time.

I hadn't been in awhile so I decided to pop in for a bit. My favorite area is the AS-IS section. I can get great deals there for pennies. When I was there I got these baskets for only 3.00 each (reg 7.00 I think):

I used them to organize my medicine and other toiletries in the master bath.

Then I went over and just fell in love with these pillow covers...so springy!

Very reminiscent of Pottery Barn to me. Like these I just found on their site:

Except mine cost 5.00 a piece while theirs were 20.00 each. Yea!

Ikea keeps me in pretty decor while not breaking my budget.

Hoarding...

2011-04-21T08:32:00.000-05:00

Last night we watched an episode of House which featured a woman who was a hoarder. It was horrible.I got hives just watching the show.

And then I felt awesome about myself because I said to myself, "my house doesn't look that bad" (on most days). And I was proud that I had some anal retentive genes that cancelled out my lazy genes and makes me organize and clean out junk. And then I felt ashamed that I was judging another person just to make myself feel better about my life and laziness (like, "at least I'm not that bad"). And then I breathed a sigh of relief when the commercial came on and I remembered that this was just a show and I shouldn't feel bad about judging a fictional character. And then I walked to the kitchen to get a drink of water and passed this:

And then felt bad all over again. Vicious cycle.

This is our typical dumping ground for any junk we have when walking in the door. I'm sure everyone has those spots. Some area where all the crap lands when you don't want to put it away right at that moment.
Junk mail, dishes, lunch box, makeup case, whatevs!

Remember when my great friend gave me all that stuff from her garage sale?
Well, I knew just what I was gonna do with this thing when I saw it:

It will help control that hot mess you see above (or that's the idea anyway).

First, I wasn't feeling the lighthouse look so I decided to paint the organizer a cheerful green. I started by sanding the sides to remove most of the dark colors since the lime green I was going with would make them show through:

And I painted it in about 7 minutes.

I used a free sample I got from Glidden called Spring Leaf. It was a pretty celadon color.
Here it is after it dried:

And the bar after I cleaned everything off and sorted, threw away, etc. all the junk and used the organizer:

Much better. Still junk but more organized. Thankfully.

Self-Cleaning Oven...A God send!

2011-04-21T07:29:00.003-05:00

Yes, this is a post on the Self-Cleaning Oven feature. In the 6 years I've owned this oven, not once have I used the SCF (self-cleaning feature, silly!). All these years I've been cleaning that oven by hand scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing to get the goop off. As you can imagine, with that level of work, it didn't get done ~~at all~~ often in the 6 years.

So, I decided to try it the other day. Push a button and 4 hours later its clean? How is that possible? But it IS. For those who may not realize (or maybe I'm the only moron out there who never knew) the SCF basically heats your oven to unheard of levels of heat charring everything in there to ash and then you just wipe it all down when it's done (and cooled off). No chemicals, no products, nuh-in'.

I didn't get any before pictures because I wasn't aware of the magnitude of how awesome the SCF would be-so much that I'd blog about it. But I was so excited about the end result I had to take after pictures.

It was only slightly embarrassing when my husband and his friend walked in to me snapping shots of the inside of my oven. I was too excited to be embarrassed. Of course, my husband was mortified and had to explain why his loco wife was squatting in front of the oven snapping photos like it was a supermodel, "Work it...work it...own it!"

Anyhow. Pics. Here's the best example I have of how dirty it was prior to SCF:

Those are pics of where the oven closes and so it didn't get the heat charred spa treatment. And the racks- which I took out prior to SCF- still with bits of yummy goodness on them. Imagine that hot mess but, like, all over the oven, 'mmmmkay? And I'm trusting you a lot to show you just how completely filthy it was. Please don't judge me.

So, here's the purdy after- with only a quick wipe with damp napkins to take up the main ash. (that's my husband's reflection as he tries to explain to his friend why I'm not yet ready to be institutionalized just because I take pictures of ovens for keepsakes).

Isn't that phenomenal? I mean, who knew I could take 30 seconds to push a button and 4 hours later it would look this good? The only caveat I have was the smell while cleaning was horrible. I mean, it's understandable because it's heating to such a high degree and it's burning off everything so it really smells bad (like somethings smoking or burning) which may worry some but that's the SCF just doing it's job. We just opened the windows and turned on all our fans and within a couple of hours after it cooled it was fine again (no smell).

So, there you have it. My first ever attempt at the self-cleaning oven feature.God bless the person who concocted this feature. Now if only they made that for bathtubs and toilets.

Filing Cabinet Makeover...

2011-04-19T17:37:00.000-05:00

I made the exciting decision to paint the filing cabinet I had upstairs when I was spring cleaning my loft. After all, it's only been in my house for 10 years and I've only been thinking about painting it for oh, the past 5 years so...why not now?

It took me 2 cans of spray paint (total investment-$2.00) and about 1.5 hours to do it. Sheer laziness made me delay this inexpensive and easy makeover.(Well, it was upstairs holding allllll those files and ugh...I'd have to unload the thing, carry it downstairs and outdoors...too much work!) It sat up there in all its ugliness beggin' me as I walked by, "please love me enough to give me a face lift. please." So, I finally did.

Here's the before:

I'm more embarrassed of my back patio.:::hangs head in shame:::

Weeds galore and an old empty flower pot? *sigh*
The neglect means I lead a very interesting and busy life, right?

Since the patio needed some TLC too the filing cabinet and he became instant friends. They started a secret club. And a book is already in the works, titled, "Orphaned by a Neglectful Parent...And Other Things that Cause Us Pain". Some chapters include "Fire Ants...A Biting Commentary" and "Gone with the Rust...As God as my Witness!"
(I've suddenly had an epiphany as to why I might never get around to certain things. Too busy making up imaginary book titles/chapters in my blog to bother with real work.)
Anyhow....Here's a pic of how beat up this filing cabinet really was:

After taping off the handles I set to spray painting.

After 1-2 coats it's already looking tons better.

I even had my daughter out there pulling weeds-just to show you how ~~embarrassed~~ dedicated I was to overcoming the weed problem. She kept complaining about the ants. I really need to maintain my backyard better so as to not invoke child labor.

In the end it didn't take much to finish off this mini-makeover. 2 cans of spray paint, 1.5 hours time, and 1 stubbed toe (my husbands- from moving the cabinet). Its worth it (especially since the stubbed toe was not mine).

Here's the finished product:

Do I even have to comment on how much better it looks? No? Good.

Here's the before/after:

Renaissance Festivities!

2011-04-12T10:36:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went to the Renaissance Festival. Surely every town has them? I love the renaissance festival. What's not to love when it comes to fair-like qualities dressed up in Renaissance clothing?
The area they hold this festival in definitely lends itself to the era-making you feel like you're in Sherwood Forest.

They also did neat things by painting all the knots with eyes. Creepy but cool.

First thing we did when we entered the festival was get a turkey leg. The Renaissance festival just isn't complete without munching on a big ol' turkey leg while browsing the festival.

There were lots of gypsies, fairies, and the like clad in Era clothing.

What I find funny is the confusion of Renaissance=Pirates. I guess cuz it is the Tampa area (Buccaneers) and they already have the whole Gasparilla thing going on (which is a parade held every year in Tampa where a bunch of "marauding buccaneers invade Tampa Bay" and everyone dresses up like pirates and has a party/parade) so the confusion is there I suppose because of that. But there are lots of Jack Sparrows running around at the Renaissance Festival here (as opposed to Oklahoma's Ren. Fest).

Lets not even mention to these pirates that they are a whole century off from the Renaissance era.

I love going booth to booth and seeing all the crafts-y stuff they have at these festivals.From fairy get-ups:

To swords and armor:

Even camo kilts (really???):

I have to say they really commit to the era because when they talk it's all, "Thee, thy, hither...godspeed" Even their signs are like that:

They have lots of animals, and rides, and even a little play area for kiddos.

(the sign under "Frogwartz Magic School" says-Prithee...stay with thy children. LOL)

One cool thing my husband went on and on about was this:

It's Sauron's helmet from Lord of the Rings. Pretty cool. It was $300.00 (Holy smokes!)

To top off the experience we saw the "King" knighting a little girl:

It was cute. He told her (in his little english renaissance voice), "Now should anyone not call you m'lady from here on out you send them to me."

It was a very magical afternoon in a different era (if you ignored all the gawking people with cell phones).

Garage Sales...

2011-04-07T09:11:00.000-05:00

I love garage sales. Next to Craigslist and thrifting they are one of my favorite things. But when my friend asked me to help her with her garage sale I was a little hesitant. Going to garage sales=fun. Participating in one=stressful. Still, she's like, my only friend (have I mentioned I'm reclusive by nature?) and it's not a good idea to burn the one bridge ya got so...for her I said yes.

Then she sprung it on me...Be at my house at 7am SHARP. WHAAAAATTTTTTTT!?

Yes, I realize that's what participating in a garage sale means. You must get up reeeeeallly early to get started. Because true garage-salers are there at 7:15 (when your sign says 8am) shoving things in your face inquiring, "How much will you take for this?" [Incidentally, this really irks me-early garage-salers-I find it quite rude]. I'm the garage-saler who sneaks in around 10:30-ish. I'm not like, a Nazi garage-saler. My body won't allow it.

So, when she told me 7am sharp I was thinking, "Is that even humanly possible? Get up at 6am on a weekend day?" Still, I swallowed my terror and squeaked out that I might be a tad late. She was generous enough to give me until 7:03. (That's why she's my friend...she's just like me! ~~a bossy bitch~~) So, I told her "Okay Adolf, I'll see you at 7:03".

I arrived at her house to help set up (it was a community garage sale so others were setting up too) to find her sons blurry eyed but there as well. We got started fairly quickly and it went rather smoothly after the first 30 minutes got under way.

Here's the awesome part-she let me take anything I wanted from her garage sale.

I kept saying, "Oh no, I couldn't possibly take that... I don't need this...what would I even do with that?...My husband would really kill me if I bring more junk into my house..." But she just shoved it in a box that we'd dubbed as "my box" and it slowly filled up as the morning progressed.
Let me tell you...all those protests, well, they were in vain. It.was.AWESOME.getting stuff. I love free things. Cheap things.Things, things, things. I don't NEED things mind you. Ah well. It is what it is. But my friend is totally great and she repaid me for getting out of bed and at her house on time with the prize of giving me all those things (she was also kind enough to buy me lunch).Yes, I realize how materialistic this sounds. When other blogs are talking about purging, simplifying, de-cluttering-I'm going on about things. That's me- going against the flow.

I also went around to a couple of other sales and bought a few things which totalled a whopping $2.25. So, in all, I paid 2.25 for a bunch of things (or that's what I'm telling my husband so he doesn't divorce me for bringing in more junk). "Look ~~honey, sweetie, love of my life,~~ sexiest man alive, these things only cost a total of $2.25!" Yes my friends, stroke their, ahem, ego and they'll be putty in your hands.

So, here's what I brought home:
An acryllic magazine holder. I'm attempting to organize my loft area and I've been on the hunt for any type of organizational tools for cheap.

This adorable, fuzzy, soft angora hat. Can't wear until winter but it's so cute.

Another organizational tool-I'll paint cuz I'm not into the light house theme but love this little wooden organizer

Cute little Christmas bell salt/pepper shakers (they even really ring). These are really for my sister in law who collects S&P shakers.

This botanical picture frame. I love the oval shape. I might paint the frame, change the pic. I dunno. It was free...how could I pass it up?

A couple of pairs of cute shoes:

And the creme de la creme- this scrapbook organizer:

About a year ago my mom got something similar and I really coveted it. I wanted something like hers (which she also got for free- must be genetic) and here it is! I can't wait to put all kinds of things in it. I'm gonna be so organized my husband will want to marry me all over again (Cuz he wants to divorce me, remember? Since I brought all this "junk" home.).

Oh, she also gave me this huge mudroom bench organizer thing as well. Looks similar to this but nicer:

I haven't gotten it yet (she's delivering it later) so I don't have a pic for you but wow. Isn't that great? I mean, it's awesome. It's so awesome that I'm about to talk myself into feeling guilty for taking all these things for free (yes, she even gave me that mudroom bench for free).Next time I see her I might throw money at her and then my husband will divorce me all over again because not only did I bring home a bunch of junk now I'm actually paying for it and well, I should just stop talking so as to not feel so guilty about my great friend's generosity.

:::Going off to purge/declutter my guilt:::

Clothing Conundrum...

2011-04-06T11:01:00.000-05:00

The other day I got up feeling rather...punky. And it begged me to wonder (and ask out loud) the age-old question (pun intended) ...How old is too old to wear certain looks or styles?

We can typically agree that 50 year olds should not wear mini-skirts (I think the actual cut-off age is 35).

But what about something that just...has a younger feel to it? Does it look ridiculous on a 33 year old mom? Does it even matter?
I certainly don't want to be relegated to wearing only mom jeans

but...
If I'm not showing too much skin is it okay to wear certain younger styles? Or do some styles just look wrong on, ahem, mature women? It's a tough question. Sometimes I say, "F-it! I'll wear what I want!"

The thing is, is that I have different feelings for different days. I feel a certain way and that's how I wanna dress that day. I wear clothing like I'm dressing up to play a character. It's just FUN. Whatever I feel is what I wear.

Sometimes I wanna look like this-Elegant and Classy:

Sometimes it's preppy librarian:

Other times it's goth (black fingernails and eyeliner-YES!):

And then of course, punk...or punk goth...whichever I'm feeling:

Whenever I feel this way I really think about Avril Lavigne (sooo love her look). She's got that pretty goth/punk thing going on that doesn't look trashy--it's pretty. See:

Anyhow...on this particular day I was feeling all Punky Brewster.(a testament to how old I actually am--a Punky Brewster reference!):

So, I went with a cute dress that is just a tad too dressy (tiered ruffles) and decided to dress it down while punking it up.

First things first, Chucks (or knock-off Ralph Lauren Chucks in my case) and slouchy socks:

I added a cardigan to match and a belt...I felt sufficiently punk enough for my attitude of the day (hey, can't go too overboard since I am in my 30's here)

But then I started to wonder.. is this a fashion faux-pas?*gasp* Should I not be wearing something like this at my age? And then I said to myself, "You know, you're feeling just punk enough to say,'Screw 'em!'"

And that's what I wore out to lunch with my friend. I'm sure she hoped people weren't staring at the old chick trying to look young.

But I do this with my hair too.
Am I too old for the Princess Leia buns?

Or braids

and pigtails (though low-not high)

Should I not care?

PERKS OF DELIRIUM

2011-03-29T14:59:00.000-05:00

As a police/911 dispatcher, our days are typically long. Some are longer than others when you have back to back shifts. By the end of most days, I'm pretty pooped (this pun is hilarious if only you'll keep reading). And working with a bunch of guys, well, sometimes it can get pretty raucous at the station. Especially after a long night.

Take, for instance, one particular day I worked 17 hours. I was tired, physically and mentally, and I'd been cooped up in the comm center (which we lovingly refer to as "the box") for 17 straight hours. I came in before the sun was up and I was leaving after the sun had set. So... I was pretty much a walking zombie when I gathered my things to head out for the night.

On this day, we had cake for an officer's birthday of which there was 1 single piece left at the end of the night. So, I decided to take it home for my daughter. It was in a cake holder container -the kind that had those useful little handles on the lid for easy toting. I figured I'd just take the whole thing home with me, wash it, and bring it back to it's owner the next day. Unfortunately, because I do work with a bunch of ~~neanderthals~~ men, someone hadn't secured the lid properly after having their share. And when I picked it up the bottom fell off causing the piece to tumble down and plop squarely on the floor- frosting first.

After half the station finished guffawing at my blunder and I picked up the cake it left this:

Which pretty much sent all the men back into fits of laughter as they decided it looked like a big fat piece of poo on the floor. So, they all started making jokes.

And one officer wanted to add to the effect (much to the delight of the other officers):

That's toilet paper in case you're not quite envisioning his masterpiece. Of course, their 5 year old kid glee was complete when he acted like he was gonna lick a piece of it...

To be fair, I was laughing just as hysterically as they were. I blame my lunatic hysteria on sun deprivation and lack of any outdoor contact in more than 17 hours. The officers? Well, they had no excuse other than they are all overgrown boys at times.

Which can be quite entertaining when you've had a long day and you're tired and you just wanna relax a little. Sometimes immaturity and delirium are just what the Dr. ordered.

Taking a Decorating Risk...not my forte

2011-03-22T12:27:00.000-05:00

I decided to participate in a link party that The Nester, over at the Nesting Place, was having. She blogged about taking risks in decorating. After all, it's a creative outlet, and what's the worst that can happen? ~~You can waste 3 hours of your life and cry like a baby when it doesn't turn out the way you want it is what can happen~~. Here's her original post.

Okay, get ready for a picture heavy post. Because I mucked this up really well (hey, it was a risk!) I want to take you through every.single.agonizing step I took to result in this creation. First off, the inspiration:

You can find the step by step that Centsational Girl took to achieve this beautiful piece here.

I started with my Craigslist nightstand for 10.00:

First, it was a cheap dresser so it was good to experiment on. Second, it had very pretty lines that I loved. Third, it was NOT real wood (I think mostly MDFor particle board). So this was an okay risk (perfect for the control freak in me).

I started by taking off the hardware (which I will replace since I don't like) and filling in the holes :

I bought a paint sample for 3.00 (Walmart) in the color I wanted (Glidden-Deepest Aqua):

My first mistake was mixing it with too much water vs too little color ratio.

Resulting in a very light "stain", if you will, of the piece.

Oh, and see those markings on the lower right of the stand? Yeah, that's how bad of shape this piece really was (not real wood).
Anyhow.
So, I painted another coat with more paint/less water ratio.
Problem was...the brush strokes showed so easily-it ended up like this:

But I forged ahead thinking the other coat of different paint would cover that up.
So, this is where I veered off a little from her tutorial by mixing a dark grey and a light grey I already had from Glidden (sorry I can't recall the names) which made a muddy stone color rather than her silvery light grey she used:

It's slightly watered down here in the pic and i dry brushed that on which resulted in this:

UGH. Still streaky and looks like I just poured water down the side of it. So, I went to sanding it which made it slightly better but...not really great. It just looked trashy. See?

At this point, I pretty much gave up for the night (it was late). And sure, the lighting is bad. The drawers for the night stand aren't even done (have yet to sand down the holes I filled in-or paint them). And yes, I started out with a white dresser, not a "wood tone". So it's bound to look different than my inspiration. I will try and salvage this piece (or repaint it). I don't have an official "after" pic. But what I saw I didn't like. Still, I'm glad I did it. And I will definitely take another stab at it (maybe with more patience and attention-to-detail rather than the laissez-faire attitude I started out with). This was definitely a risk though (out of my comfortable, white, white, white).

When I'm truly finished I'll post the after product but I wanted to start this post so I could link to her risk party.
Stay tuned for the update!

Spring Quick Change

2011-03-16T09:52:00.000-05:00

What do you do when you're expecting guests and you've been so lazy that you haven't changed any decor since Valentines day and you realize that its all been half-assed anyway and really, your house hasn't been people ready since, like, before Christmas?

You fake it, that's what you do.

At least, that's what I think you do. Cuz that's what I did. So, we're just gonna say that's what you do 'mmmkay? I threw together a display for Spring. Something green. Something fresh. Cuz at spring you always think fresh. Alive.

Anywho...here's my 5 minute makeover, literally, 10 minutes prior to people arriving.

I wish I had a before pic so you could see how much of a hot mess it was. I'm pretty proud of my quick throw together. And because I'm lazy it will probably stay that way until summertime. I should really tweak it but I tend to have the mentality of, "Meh, good enough."

Browsing with Craig

2011-03-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been obsessed with browsing Craigslist. I'm always on the hunt for something (currently it's dresser/nightstands or a headboard) and I always find something (though not typically anything I need LOL).
For example...I could find somewhere to put all of these things in my house. Truly, I look at CL now every.single.morning. and I always fall in love with one piece or another.(My husband should be thanking his lucky stars right now that I know the meaning of restraint!).

On with the pictures.

This cane chair is only 15.00 I think it would be adorable with a punch of color...maybe a pretty yellow-gold (I am sooo into spring mode right now!) and a nice patterned fabric like this:

or even this:

Or this fabric with basic white paint:

I can even envision a vibrant turquoise:

With a bright fabric like this:

The possibilities are endless with such classic lines. And 15.00? Sheesh! I would only spend about 30.00 on this piece in total and it would be beautiful!

Anyhow...moving on...

This was listed as a "french sofa" for 170.00 I think I would ask for lower price. I love the arms and legs (though the fabric is definitely nothing to look at). I figure that, again, would be a simple fix (if you have moderate sewing skills) to bust out new covers. This really makes me think of this great look by Centsationalgirl (btw, I am totally infatuated with her blog right now) :

Another thing I saw on CL made me think of her blog:

It was advertised at 200.00-a little steep (for my cheap ass) but I don't know much about this "Dorothy Draper" style so maybe it's really popular? Here's Centsationalgirl's after pic to get an idea of how nice it could be:

And let me tell you--her before was identical to the pic above (but she said she got it for 13.00 at a thrift store). So, I stick by my comment that 200.00 is steep.
Anyhow. Isn't the after gorg? You can check out her before/after and the steps she took to create this lovely here .

Next, I spied an end table with purdy, purdy legs...

For 25.00. I'm trying to get out of my comfort of painting everything white, white, white...but that's how I see this piece. A soft white. Distressed.
And this as well, A vanity for 50.00

My favorite find, that I drooled over and am still drooling over is this hutch. And let me tell you--I wouldn't change a single thing on it. As is it is beautiful!

It's going for only 125.00!!!! No hardware so I'd have to add that but oh my! It had me at Robin's Egg Blue...Lordy, am I smitten.
And yes, sweet husband, I know you're thinking, "Where in God's name, would you put that thing?" My response is (to quote my fav movie), "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn [where we put it so long as it's somewhere in my house cuz it's such a beautiful piece that I just gotta have it]" See why you should thank me for showing restraint?
:)
Here are a few similar pieces from all over the net (basic google search):

And I'm done with Craigslist ~~for about 2 hours~~ for today. Still on the look out for the perfect nightstand/headboard.

Stripping...a difficult journey

2011-03-02T12:38:00.000-06:00

Ha, ha. I gotcha there. Now all the pervy people who just viewed my blog due to it's title...leave now. (Or stay for an education on sanding/stripping for dummies).

This is only a progress report on the sanding of my dresser. I've been doing it in increments and it's been very very slow work. I started out using a stripper **insert tasteless joke here** but it just wasn't working that well.
I used citristrip:

It worked ok on 1 drawer, but not the other. I don't know if I'm just doing it wrong (yes, I followed the directions accordingly) or if it's just not that great (though the reviews I read on the product say it works well). Anyhow a fair amount of elbow grease was involved so thank goodness for my handy-dandy palm sander.

Here it is in the middle of sanding that stubborn finish off (and the sticky stripping gel too):

And to point out how stubborn and difficult it was:

Part of the problem (I think) is that the gel never fully dried (even after 24 hours - the max amount per directions). Stripping it off was like old hard candy-you know how it gets kinda gel-like and sticky? Like, gooey? Ick. Trying to strip off the gel to get to the actual finish to strip was obnoxious because it was sticky.Like dried jelly. There. That's a better analogy than old hard candy. Does any of this make sense? UGH. It was just ick. So, I sanded. And the above pick shows the difficulty in that endeavour.

Here's the beauty (after I sanded):

Hello gorgeous. You look splendid nekkid.

I ran out of sandpaper so I was unable to completely sand the second (stubborn) drawer. But here's what they look like now:

I am so excited to see what the final product will look like! Of course, at this rate, it'll be for-ev-or before I'm done. but no worries. I have all stinkin' year, remember?

Happy Birthday! and other sarcastic things to say to my sister...

2011-03-02T10:23:00.000-06:00

Just a quick shout out to my big seester since it's her birthday. She's ~~ancient~~...uh....1 year older today and I figured this summed up how I feel about that:

So, I suppose I should just be gracious and say, "Happy Birthday!" But do I really mean it? Sure, I want her to have a happy day but how happy can it be when she doesn't have her lil' sis there to bug her? And by lil' sis I don't mean this kind:

I mean the kind who will eternally bug her and love her even when she's old and decrepit (so, like, in another year).
Just kidding sister.

It kinda sucks that I can't be there on her birthday to ~~cry into drinks together~~ celebrate because she's old(er). I guess I'll have to resort to crying into drinks by myself. Which either makes me A) a truly dedicated alcoholic B) a truly dedicated sister or C) a dedicated alcoholic sister. You pick. No, on second thought, don't pick. I'll pick for you. I'm an awesome sister and just want to have a drink in honor of my awesome sister. There.

So, here's a shout out to the blonde bombshell that is my sis-Happy Birthday! Have a great day!

Copy Cat Weekendi

2011-02-19T17:11:00.000-06:00

Did you see that? I just stole the word Weekendi (like everything else) to put into my title. That's because I'm copying the look (not as successfully I might add) from Kendi Everyday and she likes to infuse her name into regular words. Since I attempted my very first copy this weekend(i) I figured that was an appropriate title.

On to the look. I was trying to replicate this:

And, okay, go easy on me. Cuz:
1) She's, like, adorable - I'm not so much
2) She looks casually flawless - I look like I'm trying too hard
3) She's tall and thin (better for maxi dresses)- I'm short and slightly chunky.
4) She has an awesome husband who does photography with a stellar camera- I have a fence post in my back yard sturdy enough to hold my crappy camera on a timer (or a shaky hand with no flash in a dirty bathroom mirror)

Anyhow.

I have to admit it's fun trying to recreate her look with only the clothes in my closet. It really makes me assess what I own and look at everything in a new way.
For example, I never would've thought to pair this cardigan with this dress-but it didn't look so bad. (I like her mustard colored one better).Plus, I couldn't wear a scarf (it was 80 degrees in Florida yesterday).Yes Kendi, if you happen to read this, rest assured, I am at least 1100 miles away from Texas- safe from stalking distance. It was enough that I was wearing boots (not that you can see them) so I added a necklace the same color as the cardi.

Okay, on to the pics:

Okay, for my first attempt -not so bad. I think as I go along I'll do better. And eventually, one day- after many many baby steps, copy catting, and obsessive Kendi stalking- I'll branch out on my own and I'll be able to dress myself (stylishly so).
*crossing my fingers and waiting impatiently for that day*

Here's the comparison again: WDYT?

Out of the Door--or OOTD

2011-02-16T15:08:00.000-06:00

Quick, half-minded post:

1)I got a new dress and I lurve the color of it and the ruffles.
2)I bought this dress from Ross for only 6.50-yea!
3)Of course, it's probably not the best quality for only 6.50. Meh.
4)Question...do you think I should belt it? Belts are so in right now and I'm wondering if it's just a little too formless.

The last pic is a better representation of the color.

Valentines Gift

2011-02-15T10:15:00.000-06:00

I figured I'd share a quick post about my daughter's V-day gift. As you already know I'm never one to come up with a creative idea on my own (I steal all my ideas) and this is no different. I got this idea from a post on theletteredcottage blog about kind words (one of the pics she had shows stickers with fruit puns) and thought it was so cute that figured I could easily replicate it for my daughter's V-day gift.

I gathered together a bunch of items to make a Punny Valentine's gift:

I cut out plain scrapbook paper and put the puns on it using colored markers. This could have been a much cuter/prettier gift had I taken the time to make layers of scrapbook paper tags like below:

But since she only cares about what's in the package-not the presentation of it-I figured simple, simple, simple.The extra effort would be lost on my 11 year old daughter. ;D

In her gift box I put:

1)An orange-"Orange you glad you're my Valentine?"
2)A banana-"I go bananas for you"
3)An apple- "you're the apple of my eye"
4)A pear-"We make a great pear"
5)Strawberries-"You are berry sweet"
6)Package of cashews-"I'm nuts about you"
7)Chocolate marshmallow heart-"You melt my heart"
8)Individual cherry pie-"You're a cutie pie"
9)candy hearts-"You're such a sweetheart"

It was quick, cheap and easy. Plus, most of it was fruit so she didn't get piles and piles of candy that I don't want her eating.

Score.

Valentines Day...love it or hate it?

2011-02-14T11:05:00.000-06:00

I've never been huge with Valentine's Day. I neither love it nor hate it. I understand the draw for either side; however, I don't get the overly crazy V-day people. You know, the girls who get soooo into it that they expect major romance on that day (and are disappointed and angry when they don't get it). I'm good with a basic acknowledgement-a "hey, I love you on this most puketrid of love days" kinda card. And a lil gift (under 5.00 is good, thank you).

I celebrate and embrace V-day just as much as I hate V-day I suppose. Why all the commercialism? Why the need to overprice flowers? Why so much candy that makes my ass fatter? UGH.

In honor of V-day I made cupcakes for work (hello fat ass, yes, I'm comfortable with you, yes, you will always be in my life). I also made anti-V-day cupcakes for those who don't like to participate in V-Day (but still want a fat ass). And I saw a tutorial for a cute heart headband so I had to make that too. Basically, I went all out for Valentines day (weird).

First, the headband. I found this on the DIYshow-off but it actually came from this blog, Rae Gun Ramblings.

This was an easy and inexpensive craft. I paid about 3.00 for everything. I would have paid less if I'd used a coupon at Michaels. :(

Assemble together:
-headband (already had it)
-felt fabric piece in your color choice (.30 from Michaels)
-sequins of your choice (2.99 for package)
-glue gun (not shown)
-needle/thread (not shown)
-chocolate cupcake should you need a snack in the middle of crafting as I did.

Start by making a heart cut out of the fabric. I tried different sizes to see what worked best on my noggin.

Then, after finding the best choice, I haphazardly sewed the heart to my headband. The worse you do the better you'll make me feel about getting a C in Home Ec in school *sob*.

Then I carefully hot glued on a bajillion tiny sequins till my hands hurt and I got carpel tunnel (just kidding). It wasn't difficult just time consuming. I did it while watching tv (and eating chocolate hostess cakes) so it wasn't bad.Using tweezers helped.

And here it is all finished:

Perfect for V-day.

Next I started on the cupcakes. I just used boxed cake mix and frosting (uhhhh....C in Home Ec, remember?)
Since these were for Valentines I made them chocolate, but since they were also for Anti-Valentines I made the chocolate Devil's Food. :D

After letting them cool I frosted and decorated.
Some had pink sprinkles with a purple gummy heart:

And the other's had black sprinkles with pierced hearts by swords:

Perfect for those who don't celebrate V-day.

Hope you enjoy your Valentine's Day whether you celebrate or not!

Thuh The-uh-tuh...

2011-02-09T16:41:00.000-06:00

Do you even understand the title of this post? No? Okay, well, I guess it doesn't translate well in writing but that was my best impression of a snooty person saying, "The theatre". And when we're talking this snooty I've gotta write it up as theatre, not theater.

I luuuv the the-uh-tuh dahhhling (can you hear the snooty now?). Musicals are such a decadent pleasure to me (breaking into song and dance to express yourself? Yes please.) So, for a Christmas present, the in-laws were totally awesome and gave my husband and I tickets to see Billy Elliot. SQUEEEALLL! I was so excited. I'm a music nerd, I love musicals, and I love dressing up- nothing is better than this idea. It's like a forced dressy date with the hubs. Have I mentioned I :::heart::: dressing up (especially since, as you've just recently learned, my clothing on a daily basis hardly varies)?

Of course, my daaahhhling husband is nice enough to play along with my special dressy date night. This ain't your standard dinner and a movie night, no siree (is that how it's spelled?Sir-ree?Sirree?Surrey? ::Cue the music:::"...When I take you out in the Surrey with the Friiiiiiinge-On Top!" This is how much of a music geek I am... and an Oklahoma geek...okay, I'm just a geek all around. ~~confession~~: ~~I was in the musical Oklahoma.)~~ But I digress.

Back to the special dressy date night. When I was talking to some women at work about what I was gonna wear (you know, girl stuff) I was asked by some officers (working in a predominantly male environment) what are you doing? And when I responded, "I'm going to the theatre". Their response was, "Huh? The theater? Like, the movies?" This made me giggle.

I wanted to dress up but I most certainly did not want to spend any money. I decided to plan a look around my favorite heels:

Unfortunately, due to ~~how painful they are to wear~~ the very intricate and glam bead/sequins detailing on them I hardly ever wear them anywhere.

I paired them with a little black dress (LBD) so nothing would compete with their awesomeness and steal the show (besides the actual show-Billy Elliot). Add in some gold glam earrings that a co-worker was nice enough to loan me and bam! I was ready for the red carpet without spending any money:

I even did smoky sultry eye makeup with nude lips which turned out exactly how I wanted.

and the pretty earrings:

It was a fun night. I wasn't overly impressed with Billy Elliot but that didn't deter my ability to love every minute of the night just for the fact that we were out at the theatre and all dressed to the nines.

Afterwards, DH and I were feeling snacky so we stopped into Walgreens about midnight. I snapped a shot in the candy aisle for posterity's sake (though we ate dinner at fancy shmancy restaurant we're not too proud to get dessert at Walgreens):

It was a wonderful night out on the town!

FASHION...HIT OR MISS

2011-02-09T13:49:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been obsessed with fashion. I think it's cuz I've slowly been losing weight (20lbs so far-yea me!!! But I have 15 or so to go). I'm loving that I feel better, thinner, and it makes me want to dress/look cute(r). Because of this, I've been perusing fashion blogs/chat boards a lot lately and so I stumbled across this blog- Kendieveryday. I love her style and she has cute and quirky posts each day.

I wanted to participate in her 30 for 30 challenge (take 30 items in your closet to mix/match for 30 days of outfits) but here's the problem-I wear a uniform to work. Every.Single.Day. This makes it extremely difficult to do that 30 for 30 challenge and let me tell you, it's horrible for a girl's self-esteem. I tell my husband that putting that uniform on makes my cuteness level drop at least 10 points.

Don't get me wrong. Some days it's awesome to not have to think about what you'll wear. You just dress and go. But other days (most days), I want to wear the things in my closet! Not a tan button-up shirt, black pants, black socks, black belt, black shoes. Ugh. The joke at work is that we look like Busch Gardens workers. I should be leading a safari yelling cheesy jokes into a megaphone for tourists as I point out a giraffe on their right. Soooo not attractive. Anyhow.

Back to the 30 for 30 challenge. How exactly can I do this? I'm not sure, I'm still trying to work that one out. But, for now, I figured I'd show you my weekend wear (well, 1 day at least). I bought this dress because I loved the colors and the bohemian feel to it. Perfect with my boots:

Not the best pic but you get the idea. I should really think about cleaning my ~~bathroom~~ mirror sometime. The pics might look better. And I know all you peeps out there with 3 feet of snow are totally jealous I can rock a short sleeve dress cuz I live in FL and it's approx 70 degrees here! (So there are some perks of living in Florida, who knew?)

Anyhow...I promise to try and squeeze some posts in that are decorating related (in fact I'll have one soon-a mini-makeover on my bedroom). But right now I'm really into clothes so I'm gonna have my fair share of outfit posts.

In fact, one thing I'm gonna try and do is show some copycat fashion-I totally adore some of Kendi's outfits and I will be trying to shop in my own closet to replicate some of them. I'm sort of stalking her right now cuz I'm just amazed at how she puts outfits together so beautifully, stylishly and easily .(I promise this is healthy imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery stalking not the Every-Breath-You-Take-Police-rendition type of stalking).

Stay tuned!

Life is not about perfect...crafting with my daughter

2011-01-31T09:38:00.010-06:00

Courtesy of Infarrantly Creative

I decided that this craft project was so adorable (and inexpensive) that I just had to replicate it. I saw it on the DIYshowoff but it comes from this blog, infarrantlycreative.net.

This was a lesson for me in patience and how to let things go. I have a tendency to be anal retentive, demanding perfection and can get easily frustrated when I don't get this (I'm working on it). Here's where the lesson comes in- I had my daughter work on this craft with me. In the end I could have spent more money and had it turn out TONS nicer but it was just crafting with my daughter. It wasn't perfect, and, if I'd wanted perfect, I shouldn't have asked an 11 year old to help paint itty-bitty stencils on a board.

By the end of the project I was biting my tongue pretty hard and trying not to be too irritated that, well, it wasn't the "prettiest" advent calendar out there.However, it was something that my daughter and I worked on together and that's really what it's all about- making memories and spending quality time together. With all it's imperfection it was perfect.

Here are the modifications I made to make this craft a 3.00 project with my dear daughter (DD).

First, I purchased 1 can red spray paint, 1 foam poster board, and 1 package of stencils from the dollar store(3.00 total here). Though I don't count them toward the craft total I did also have to purchase Hershey's kisses, something I would have done anyway.

Then, I gathered my supplies:

I used an old picture frame given to me by my mother-in-law which I loved but hadn't had any use for yet.

I took the picture and glass out leaving just the frame and cut the foam board to fit:

Then I spray painted the board red:

And after much debate with DD about how we should arrange the kisses/wording we stenciled on our words/calendar numbers.

It took awhile to paint them in and really, stickers would have been quicker, neater, and nicer looking. But we were going for inexpensive here. So, we had a few hiccups along the way. So, what?

After all the stenciling was done I just hot glued the chocolate kisses directly above each number.

You can see in the above pic where there were a few mess ups but all in all, (breathe, just breathe) I got through them without yelling at DD (even though she did feel pretty bad about messing it up). Still, it was fun to work on it with her and really, in the grand scheme who cares if it isn't perfect? It's a moopoint. To quote Joey, from friends, "Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo." (this is what I think of everytime I hear or say the phrase "moot point").

So, this was my lesson in letting it go. I think I did pretty good but could have done better I'm sure. I'll get there eventually.

Strike on the List-Closet Cleaned

2011-01-24T10:12:00.000-06:00

So, my ~~new year's resolu~~- my to do list- has 1 more thing crossed off. The cleaning of the master closet.
I tell you, at first, it was a daunting task. But, in the end, it was really kinda fun pulling out all sorts of things from the back of my closet that I didn't even remember I had! First, here's the before:

Scary. Just too much stuff. Time to purge.And purging feels good (okay, not the kind where you have, like, a medical problem but you know what I mean peeps).

I ended up with a fashion show (okay, some of it not so fashionable) trying on all the dresses and clothes that I wasn't sure about and just didn't know if I loved enough to keep.This certainly slowed my progress down a bit but it made it more fun. Like, who knew I had 4 black dresses? And what use do I have for 4 of them anyway? Do I really go to that many funerals? I must think I do because I kept every.single.one.of them.

Kept this one cuz I liked the back. (and forgive the fact that I just tried these on over my jeans/boots. I didn't have time to be prettying up the look. I just wanted to see how they fit and if I loved 'em or not.).

And this is one of my favorite dresses so I certainly couldn't part with it:

This one I kept because I wore it to my grandpa's funeral so, I just couldn't get rid of it.

Not too flattering but I think it would look better with tights (not socks) and my hair fixed, etc. etc.
The last black dress I didn't take a pic of cuz it was a basic sheath and I was on a roll and didn't wanna stop.

But some other gems:

Might've worked but the bust was all too loose. It was outta here!

This one wasn't so bad. I kept it because I wore it to my wedding rehearsal. I just couldn't get rid of it.

Other things won't get tossed cuz they're special occassion things like this sequined red top. I know its a bad pic but it's really very pretty IRL.

Okay, enough dress up...I'm sure you wanna see the after pics so here they are:

I know my side doesn't look that cleaned out but I promise it is! the top shelf just has all our boardgames none of which got cut. And look at all that extra space on DH side?

It looks sooo much cleaner, bigger and lovelier in our closet now. Look how much stuff was taken out of just this one small closet-

Three trashbags full of clothing. It's crazy. (We Americans really do have too much stuff). More may be leaving since I put a small "maybe" pile aside with the stipulation that if it's not worn at least 1-2 times within the next 3 months it was also gone.
Again, the before:

After:

Before:

After:

New Rain Boots...finally

2011-01-24T09:01:00.000-06:00

Since last year I have been on the lookout for new rainboots. I started out looking at these:

By Chinese Laundry.

Soon, I upgraded to thinking about Hunter boots:

But if you know anything about me you already know I was hurting looking at the price of Hunter boots. $125.00. This may not be a lot to most fashionistas but, to me, it was beyond anything I would want to spend on clothing/shoes.

So, I waited, and waited, ~~and pined for them~~, and waited. And finally, when I was ready to bite the bullet and just buy them, I went to Nordstrom and tried them on.And...I was less than impressed. For sure, they were made well and, as rain boots went, were top of the line. But really, I wasn't overly impressed when I wore them. They were heavy for one and two, they weren't 125.00 worth of awesome for me.

So, back to the drawing board I went.

After much scouring of the internet, buying other boots and then returning them I settled on a pair of rainboots that fit each criteria. 1) Inexpensive 2) Red 3) fairly fashionable 4) lightweight 5) Inexpensive.

And here was my first rainy day to wear them:

Of course, they aren't Hunters and I wish they were a little redder (they look orange in these pics but that's just my poor quality photo). Overall, this cheap girl is pleased with her rain boots (DSW, Dirty Laundry).
I got a larger size than was necessary but I love that cuz I can slip them on very easily and they are uuber comfortable.
I can't wait for it to rain some more so that I can wear them!

TO DO: 2011

2011-01-10T13:39:00.000-06:00

Resolutions are depressing. I always feel like if I don't keep them then I've somehow failed.
Even though I do have some resolutions, I mostly don't do them cuz...really...who actually believes I'll keep 'em? ~~Not me~~. Don't answer that.

But lists- I can do lists. Lists are attainable. Jot stuff down then scratch it off. Lists are fun for anal retentive people like me. I make lists for everything from groceries (normal) to packing for trips (normal) to what exactly I would buy if I won the lottery and how it would all break down in my needs/wants and just exactly how much of a "lottery" I'd have to win in order to be considered financially solvent (not exactly normal). Also, I love crossing things out. It makes me feel ~~accomplished~~ ~~at peace~~ not lazy. Like, "hey- look at all those crossed out things? AWESOME!"

Now, because I am a totally lazy person, I'm gonna make my list short. Then, when I get done I can be proud that I've accomplished something instead of lying on my hiney all year long doin' nu''in'.

So, the list goes like this:

1.) Clean out my closet (this is more like a spring cleaning thing). I was in my master closet and realized I have waaaaay to many clothes now. So, I should downsize some things and clean it out.Plus, just reorganize what I have.

2.) ~~Organize my bills/junk mail.~~
Done.
It was a big pile. and now it's nothing. YEA! (See how awesome it looks to have something already crossed off the list? Le sigh.)

3.) Refinish the 2 dressers that I have but haven't done anything with. Actually, I have tried to sand the bottom 2 drawers of this dresser. And then I left it alone for a year.

The dresser above just needs to be painted. One afternoon is all it will take. I'll get there.

4.) I would love to add this to the list- tear out our carpet on the stairs and try to refinish them like Thrifty Decor Chick did here:

Gorg. But a bit of a stretch for me unless I am loco.

5.) Sell the 5 items (2 desks, 1 coffee table, 1 dresser, 1 tv armoire) that I no longer use on Craigslist.

6.) ~~Finish losing 15lbs.~~ I scratched this off, not because I attained the goal, but because it seemed more resolution-y (is that a word?) than list-y (and is that a word?).

7.) Paint the loft upstairs and reorganize it for more functionality.

It doesn't look nearly this nice right now and well, I'll take a before pic to show you exactly what it looks like when I get to that point.

8.) Take down the Christmas tree and decor inside. (I wish I could scratch this off right now, but nope, too lazy, haven't gotten there yet.)

9.) Replace our shower window.

Of course, this has been cleaned up but no glass has been put in as of yet. I nearly choked on the 1K price right before Christmas and it didn't hinder taking showers so it never got done. It has to be on the list now.

So that's it. Cleaning and reorganizing will be my motto for the coming year. Can I do it? Heck yeah! I have all year after all, with only 10 9 items on the list. Let's see...that breaks down to about 1 task every month. Even my lazy bum should be able to do it, right? (Let's cross our fingers.)

Winter Mantle

2011-01-05T08:24:00.000-06:00

I officially declare it all right to show you my Christmas/winter mantle after the fact since A) I was lazy and didn't get it up until the week prior to Christmas and then B) I was sick through the holidays so I didn't blog like I meant to which also brings us to C) I was just plain lazy.

So, lets suspend the reality of blogland. Pretend that you aren't done with the holidays, that you aren't thankful they are over, aren't tired of seeing holiday decorations (most having already taken them down by now-unlike my lazy bum), and haven't gone through a bajillion blogs already a month ago that showed you their Christmas mantles-probably much prettier and much more efficiently done than mine. Come along on this magical journey, transport yourselves back about a month ago and look at my pictures and like it dammit. ~~or just skip this post all together-it's totally your choice.~~

This year I decided I wanted a silver/gold look on the mantle (since I already had so much silver anyway). Cue the music, "Silver and gold, Silver and gold, everyone wishes for silver and gold..." This joke would have gone over much better a month ago when everyone had the holiday spirit. (just humour me, 'mmmkay?).

On to the pictures.

I already had:
1) the happy holidays sign-I think I paid 3.00 for it last year.
2) the silver/gold snowflakes
3) the silver candlestick
4) the silver urn
5) the electric fake candle sticks (1.00 each). They were a really ugly cream yellow (I call it smokers yellow) and I just painted them silver with spraypaint I had leftover from another project. took like, 2 seconds to paint.
6) the glass vase, beads, and twigs (which I also spraypainted silver)
7) the garland

I bought:
1) the 3 white candles (flickering electric from the dollar tree!! 1.00 each)
2) 1 pkg gold bulbs for decor to offset all the silver (1.00 dollar tree!)
3) gold shredded icicles (dollar tree)
4) the big glittered gold bulb (dollar tree)

So, for my mantle I spent 6.00 and 3 of those dollars were for candles that I can use again at another time.

So, there it is. My Christmas mantle. Which, when I take down the "Happy Holidays" sign, will become my winter mantle.

Okay, you may now go back to your regularly scheduled programs.

Being sick sucks.

2011-01-04T08:45:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to explain why I've been a bad blogger as of late.

It all started with my sister's, ahem, allergies. See, she and her son had some allergy problems while we were visiting and I seemed to have caught the allergy bug (love ya sis!). She swore up and down that her problem was in nooooo way to blame for my current illness because-quote- it's just allergies -unquote-.
Despite the fact that she was coughing, sniffling, sneezing, etc, etc. (and yes, I realize the symptoms of a cold/allergies are similar).

(Side Note: Can I say that that way, the whole, "quote/unquote" thing? Or is it more correct to just put in the actual quotation marks= " " ? But that doesn't make sense because when I say it I mean to emphasize the quote/unquote status of the situation so it seems more correct to actually write out the words quote/unquote...hmmmm...Oh the quandaries of writing). But I digress.

So, the last few days with my family I caught a cold. Yes, a COLD. Not allergies (really, really love ya seester!). And it started on Christmas Eve and it totally blew. I still enjoyed my Christmas but I really wanted to feel awesome ya know? And what is worse than getting on a crummy old plane and traveling half a day when you feel icky and achy?

Let me break this down for you. I'm a hermit (have I already explained that?) and so, it already takes a lot to get me to want to, I dunno, come out and play with people. You know, interact. I like my time, my space, my home, my hermitness. Still, I missed my family and I was looking forward to spending the Christmas holiday with them. But nooooo...my ~~allergies~~ cold had to come on and then all I wanted to do was crawl in my bed, cover my head, and die. ~~yes, I'm a baby and melodramatic about being sick.~~ I was miserable on Christmas day.

I'm just starting to emerge from my cocoon of comfort after hiding away and dying for the past week and half (I know, you're saying to yourself, "Hey, it was just ~~allergies~~ a cold, get over it" but, have I previously mentioned how melodramatic I am?)

Really, I shouldn't ~~whine~~ complain. I had a pretty good Christmas besides the cold I caught. But that is why I haven't blogged and have been out of commission completely when I might have otherwise blogged some lovliness over Christmas, or New Years, or the likes.
Because of allergies.

Love of a Good Man

2010-12-16T08:23:00.000-06:00

Just to give you an idea...here's reason 5,281 of why I love my husband so much-

This is how our kitchen looked last night after I got done making cupcakes for my work Christmas party.

It was 10:00 pm, I was exhausted, and I had to get up for work the next morning at 530am.

Note: For most normal people 10:00 - 5:30 is great sleep. I know, you're saying to yourself, "Gee, that's like, almost 8 hours of sleep. That's a good amount of time!" But, when I actually settled in for my ~~long winter's nap~~ crappy sleep schedule it was more like 11-11:30 so I was really working off of 6 hours (now you're saying, "Still! 6 hours is more than enough time to recoup"). But no, no, no. This is not so for me.
See, I think in my previous ~~seven~~ ~~eight~~ nine lives I was a cat. And, being just like a cat still, I need a minimum of 9 hours sleep to feel good (I joke that I would sleep 18 out of 24 hours if I could). Otherwise I'm a complete bear. So, this 6 hours was pushing it.
Anyhow...I digress.

Back to reason 5,281. I left our kitchen just.like.that. when I went to bed. And my husband didn't bat an eye at the daunting task of having to clean up my mess the next day (his day off). Ain't he the sweetest man ever? I mean, come on, we're talking gold here people. Nothing is hotter than me being able to make a mess and leave it for a man to clean up. Awesomesauce.

Yeah. He's pretty great.

Weather forecast--it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2010-12-13T09:30:00.000-06:00

Here's what I saw on the weather today:

Just look at the low tonight! 30 degrees! Wow. Below freezing in Florida. Hip-hip-hooray! It's definitely beginning to feel more like Christmas and I wanted to show you my Christmas decorations. I've been rather blah about them lately because I've been working so much and I haven't found the energy nor excitement to put up all my decorations.

Still, I had to put up some decorations or my poor daughter would suffer the terrible feeling of having a grinch for a mother:

We at least put up the outside lights and the tree. I have tons of other christmas items, garland, wreaths, etc to go on my staircase and around the house but I just haven't been "feeling it". Anyhow.

Here are the lights outside. Just ignore the fact that the garland around the front door has only 1/4 of the lights working. That's how lazy I've been. I threw up that garland, plugged in the lights, and realized, "Oh, crap. They aren't working. I should ~~fix it~~ ~~take it down~~....aw, hell, just leave it.". And it's been like that for 2 weeks now. No wreath on the door, half-lit garland- Grinch indeed.

The tree fared much better since my daughter put it up, my husband put on the lights, and all I did was supervise the hanging of ornaments (which my daughter and her friends hung).

Still, it's not half the decorations we could have ladled on.

One of my favorite things on our tree are the bubble lights:

You might not be able to see it but that's bubbling going on in there.When the light below warms the liquid in the tube they bubble. These lights are the one thing that really put me in the Christmas mood. My aunt had them on her tree (I think she still does) and they always seemed so magical to me as a child. I would stare at them because they were so pretty and bubbly and I was entranced.
So, when I grew up, that magical feeling never left and I had to have some myself. I think they were popular back in the 60's maybe? they aren't popular now so no one has them on their tree. Hopefully, when my daughter grows up she'll have the same feeling about these lights. Slightly sentimental and a nostalgia of childhood Christmases.

Of course, here in Florida, no tree would be complete without the Mickey ornament:

Sorry for the blurry pic.

Well, there it is- a little Christmas here in Florida. The weather is nice enough to play along. 30 degrees people! Woo-hoo!

Now if only I can figure out how to get it to snow here...

A Sensitive Subject...(Pun Intended)

2010-12-08T07:54:00.000-06:00

You know how people have bucket lists? Well, I don't have an official one but, like all people, I have some ideas of what I want to accomplish before I kick it. Some are bigger, some are small. About a week ago I got to cross one of those things off my list.

In this case, I've always been intrigued with the idea of a hairless cat (look for the hidden analogy here people). So, I went looking for one. The best are from Brazil (or so I've heard) *hint, hint* so that was my first inquiry when searching for information online.

First of all, let me tell you that I ~~dislike~~ ~~avoid~~ loathe pain at all costs. I know, I know, most everyone hates pain. But I'm a real pansy when it comes to anything that inflicts pain on myself. I mean, I'm not a thrill seeker, daredevil, or risktaker by any means of the imagination. I go to great lengths to avoid anything that makes me uncomfortable in any manner. The H and I joke that if given a choice between having my arm cut off or his I'd selfishly throw him under the bus. And he'd selflessly give his arm for me (awww...how romantic in a totally sick and twisted way). But I digress. I just needed you to know how big a step this was in the most melodramatic way possible mmmmkay? That way, (though millions of people are hairless cat owners), my sacrifice and pain seem greater.

My point is, I've heard those Brazilian Hairless Cats (come on folks, follow me here!) sure sounded like they would really, really hurt. But I forged ahead with every thought of "just once, I'll just get one and if I don't like it, well, never again!".

I read reviews online about it and the pain that would accompany a BHC (that's Brazilian Hairless Cat for those of you who haven't been following me thus far). Though it wasn't horrible (based on reviews) they all said to take some extra strength tylenol before undergoing the process so it wasn't exactly a picnic in the park either. I found a reputable location to obtain my BHC and made an appointment.

Before research, I really didn't know much about a BHC. I mean, I knew basically what it was but I didn't know know. Ya know? And did you know that when they say those cats are completely hairless, they mean, like, completely? The front and the behind. I mean, it is a hairless cat after all so it stands to reason that it would be completely bare but I guess I didn't realize...well. Anyhow.

Funnily enough when I polled friends and ladies at work (we're close like that -we can discuss such matters) they all said they'd never gotten a BHC before but all were curious about it and most said that, like me, it was something they'd always wanted to try. So, I became the spokesperson guinea pig for my small sect of friends in the ins and outs of obtaining a BHC. Which was funny because I thought I was like, the last woman on earth to have ever tried this-its so common to have a BHC now. Apparently not in my little world. You'd think this wouldn't be the case though considering how Florida has all the sun and beaches around here I just figured the BHC would be more common place. Perhaps it is and I just run with a different crowd. meh.

Anyhow... the long and short of it (no pun intended-haha!) is that it was slightly painful but not really that bad. Sure, there were definitely those moments when I winced and was like, "AH!Ow! shhhhiiiIIIIIIIII...." But I think, in the end (again, no pun intended), it wasn't that bad. Probably because it only took 30 minutes. I knew I could get through anything if it only lasted 30 minutes. I reported back to friends that there were no casualties in my obtaining the BHC and most likely I'll be keeping it.

Oh, and the husband? Surprised and loving the BHC.

And then She said...Blog, Blog, Blog

Before/After...dresser obsession cont'd.

Nerds 101

Happy Valentines Day!

2012 Check-in...

Christmas, Christmas everywhere

BABIES AND ALLIGATORS... NOT BABY ALLIGATORS.

OPEN LETTER TO WENDY'S:

Kicking butt...

Spoiler Alert!!!!

Stairs reveal!

Illusion vs. Reality

Stairs...The Neverending Story

Halloween dress up!

Pumpkin Carving fun!

Sew Perfect Laptop Bag...

Organization in pantry...is it possible?

More Pinterest inspiration...I love you!

Stairs Wars...Empire Carpets Strikes Back.

Good bye Summer...Hello Fall!

Spartans...A current invasion.

Pinterest...not just for pinning!

Pow-uh Hungry!

The Power of Poseidon...

Laundry Detergent...DIY

The Stairs...A Saga only just begun

2011 Check list check-in:

Baking Fail-4th of July

No Sew Pillow...

Star Wars...

Before/After...Barstools

New Entry look...

BACKYARD MESS

Pretty flowers...

Spring Cleaning the loft

IT'S ALIIIIIVE..........

IKEA, I *heart* thee...

Hoarding...

Self-Cleaning Oven...A God send!

Filing Cabinet Makeover...

Renaissance Festivities!

Garage Sales...

Clothing Conundrum...

PERKS OF DELIRIUM

Taking a Decorating Risk...not my forte

Spring Quick Change

Browsing with Craig

Stripping...a difficult journey

Happy Birthday! and other sarcastic things to say to my sister...

Copy Cat Weekendi

Out of the Door--or OOTD

Valentines Gift

Valentines Day...love it or hate it?

Thuh The-uh-tuh...

FASHION...HIT OR MISS

Life is not about perfect...crafting with my daughter

Strike on the List-Closet Cleaned

New Rain Boots...finally

TO DO: 2011

Winter Mantle

Being sick sucks.

Love of a Good Man

Weather forecast--it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

A Sensitive Subject...(Pun Intended)

IKEA, I heart thee...