Better than before…
The entryway is done!!!! And it looks better than before!
I even painted the front door Chelsea Grey. I love that yellow and grey look. I am going to replace the sheer sidelight curtains with some that are not sheer…This way I won’t have to crawl like a ninja when someone rings the bell and I don’t want them knowing I am home. Yes I am that person.
Check out the floor. No holes!
Check out the ceiling! No signs whatsoever that a week ago there was a gaping hole and drywall put up. Terry, the contractor, “joked” that he wanted to be done with the house as much as I wanted him to be done with it…in other words, I was on his last damn nerve…
And Terry put up those cordless shades, so now the entryway stays cool! Usually by 5:00 pm, its close to 80 degrees and the whole entryway and upstairs are just hot. Friday, upstairs was 75 degrees. Never before happened. I was soooo excited. Yes I am easily pleased these days.
I finished the dining room. I am looking for some blue drapes that JC Penney has been conveniently sold out of for the last 2 months, and a new light fixture, then that room is done and done….
I found this sign/picture at a new store in town called Funky Crow. It was all white. White frame, white backboard. So I asked if she could stain and paint it and she did! I love it. I antiqued the edges a little with my silver leaf to tie it in with the knobs on the hutch.
I need to learn how to use a real camera and not my camera on my phone….
ignore all that junk on the table and chairs…
I bought some plate hangers from Hobby Lobby and hung my silver platters on the wall behind the table. I ran out of silver cleaner, as you can see….
And, of course, I had to leave my favorite Gourmet sign on the wall.
Tuesday we get new carpets!!! I can’t wait! Of course, Monday night when Ryan and I are moving all of the downstairs furniture into the garage and kitchen and master bath, I am sure I will be saying a few choice words. But by Tuesday night, all will be well with the world…
Of course, Ryan does not believe in replacing carpet unless you are moving out and seeing as how we don’t plan on selling the house in the next 20 years, it had to be done. Not to mention that when we had the new tile in the kitchen installed, it sat higher than the old tile did and when we tried to stretch the carpet, it tore…
The boys love to go in the backyard and get soaking wet with the hose, flood the sandbox, and then come into the house dripping, dirty,sandy, and walk all through the house like this til I scream at them to get in the bathroom…
And I shampoo the carpets monthly…those stains won’t come out…
this is when the come running in from the backyard to disturb my peaceful reading or online shopping to tattle….
I would like to be “Jersey” and lay plastic down where the boys come in at the back door and by the kitchen and dining room but Ryan adamantly refuses….
I would also like to have a huge party once the carpet is done to celebrate the finishing of the house…but then I would also want people to wear sock booties, which would make Ryan cringe.
And then I would be worried about someone spilling their drinks…. so let’s just clink our glasses from afar…
I can’t believe it’s almost done! Of course there are little things, like touch-up painting. Repainting all the trim, which I have the stairs and the living room and entry way left to do. And though that sounds like not a lot, it’s the most trimmed out rooms in the house…Repainting the front door, on the outside…yes, it will all end soon. I keep chanting this. BUT there has been major progress and the progress has been amazing.
BIG GIRL PANTIES…
Everyone has a pair…mine have been hidden in the back of my underwear drawer…because I have been wearing my crazy bitch panties…Do you own a pair of those? I own stock in them….
So I last left you with the house being redone…we were still in limbo….the painter with the cabinets…well long story short, we had to get a second painter….the first painter needed money during the middle of the job…u know the job where I was supposed to get my cabinets back in a week…but a month later he says, “hey, I need 100.00…” My bullshit alarm went off, but Ryan at this point just shrugged…he was defeated…I could see it in his sad, green eyes…So I paid the guy 100.00 and woke up the next morning, which was a Friday, put my crazy panties back on and bitched out…It wasn’ t pretty. I sent him a text that said he had 5 days to finish my cabinets or I was finding someone else…He simply replied, “ok”….which drove me even more crazy…and drove me to eat…Monday, I texted him to bring my cabinets back by 5 pm, and yes, I had my crazy bitch panties on, and it was a good thing I wasn’t there to help him unload the truck…Ryan just unloaded and didn’t look at the cabinets. I think he wanted him out of there before I came out…I go out to the garage to start on the cabinets that he “said” he sanded and primed twice, only to find he did not do anything he said he did…In fact, he made them worse…and my panties were in a bunch. I was beyond pissed…I sent him a text at 10 pm…it wasn’t mean, but it wasn’t nice. I tried to be, um…not bitchy, but I couldn’t..So those crazy panties stayed on for a few days, til Wednesday, on the way home from the grocery store…yes, buying more food…I saw a painter’s van… I called the number on it and asked him to finish the cabinets. Once he came over and saw them and agreed, I put my big girl panties on. I threw the crazy panties away and decided from here on out, I would be a big girl and deal with it and stop the bitching and moaning and the stress eating because seriously, the big girl panties barely fit at this point…
So for the last week I have been good. I have been wearing the big girl panties dutifully. And there were moments where I almost put the crazy girl panties back on but I didn’t…I was thisclose…but still, I was good…
Then GUESS WHAT happened today?!?!? The painter delivered the cabinets! And they are beautiful. They are lovely….I love them. I am being good and patient though…I am letting them sit in the garage all weekend…so they can promptly cure and I wont have to worry about any nicks when I rehang them. Can you believe it? THE CABINETS ARE DONE ! Ryan is beyond relieved and I am feeling like I won big on a scratcher….which I haven’t…but I am thinking of trying my luck and seeing if I win tonight….anyway…here is what has happened in the last week, besides the eating and the frequent bitch sessions…
The entryway is almost done…we now have drywall up…no more moldy studs or insulation showing. Terry even applied the texture to it today. Last week, we went from the door being removed…see below…
Loved how everyone drove by real slow to look in or walked their damn dogs real slow…Hello people!!! I see you…I had Maddy’s toy shotgun propped on the stairs so people would think it was real from the road…Blame it on the crazy panties…
I can’t take a picture to save my ass. The door is not crooked, its straight…but it was in! And we didn’t have to throw our weight against it anymore to lock it. That was a magical moment for us when we realized how you simply shut and turn the lock…magical…
After all the moldy wood was removed and all the wet wood was dried out over the weekend, the drywall went up.
Then the scaffolding went up and the “mudding” began… This was a 3 day process, to properly mud, sand and re-mud and blend in with the rest of the walls. I don’t care how long it takes, just as long as it looks like it did before…before the mold… Tuesdays are my day to dust…I haven’t dusted in 2 weeks because they keep sanding and cutting and the dust goes everywhere. So I just gave up on the dusting… Josh fell off the scaffolding and hit his chin on the white finial part of the banister. I felt sooo bad for him. So I make sure Cameron and I lock ourselves in our room when he gets on it from here on out, in case we distract him and make him fall again. Not that it was our fault the first time, but I just wanted to make sure we were not causing him any more distractions.
Today the texture spray was applied!
Thank god the plastic sheets were up… Though I am pretty sure Terry and Josh hated inhaling it.
I plan on replacing that light fixture too…but not anytime soon. I can hear Ryan scream as I just typed that…But I hate that fixture!
And then it all fell into place…Home Depot called today, we ordered the carpet and they are scheduling the installation as soon as the carpet arrives, which they guarantee in less than 10 days…which means I could possibly have new carpet within 15 days….can you hear those angels singing? It was a good Friday.
Then the painter called and showed up two hours later with the cabinets…I called Ryan and screamed, “the cabinets are done!” Poor Ryan, I know….He doesn’t understand my need for this to be done, but you can, right?
Next week, the entry way will be repainted…the floor will be fixed…the cabinets will be up, which means the dining room will be back to normal…the master bath will be done, which means the boys can finally take a bath in the jacuzzi tub again…and then the carpet will be here…Ah….its finally here…the completion…
I have thrown away my crazy panties and promise to here on out where my big girl panties…I feel like I have grown up a little with this process. Or maybe I have simply gotten older…God knows I have gotten wider…
Tomorrow is cinco de mayo! All the more reason to celebrate right?!?! I’ll post pics when the cabinets are up and if I win big on a scratcher, I’ll buy you a margarita too.
WHEN IT RAINS, IT MOTHERF’ING POURS….
Have you missed me? I am needing some much-needed love…I have been gone for ages…doing what, you ask? Well I thought I would have the genius idea of redecorating…oh I know, I know. I just did the mom-cave…which has been invaded by the boys…I had envisioned lounging in the momcave, eating ice cream and reading books and enjoying the silence…Because somehow in my little brain, that room is soundproof…I will tell you it is not…and if I shut the door and tell the boys to go away, they stand there staring at me, through the french doors, sometimes smooshing their faces against it, which causes me to scream…it’s just easier to let them in and walk away… Anyway, we decided to replace the kitchen floor. There were several cracked tiles and I just knew one day I was going to fall and land on said crack and break my back…
Here is the new floor…the grout is drying so the kitchen is now in my living room…
Now let me tell you…you can’t get a new kitchen floor, and not repaint the kitchen cabinets…Let me tell you my quick little story regarding the kitchen…When we bought the home 7 years ago, the kitchen was a key lime green…I immediately repainted it before even moving in…but the cabinets were white and being OCD about touching up paint, matching that white was impossible. I recently threw away 5 different cans of white paint…There are a million shades of white out there and I was never able to match it. So last year, I decided to just slap some white paint over the whole thing to cover the 5 different shades I already tried to touch up with. Let me please, please, please tell you to never do this. Because one day, you will be sanding that shit off, and you will learn that doing it the right way is the best way…Not to mention, it’s a tease when you peel off 4 layers of paint, only to find, more paint…So I have 30 doors and drawers in the kitchen…My dumbass was sanding by hand and was developing carpel tunnel in my shoulder. Is there such a thing? Then Annie tells me to buy a sander, they are super cheap. So I buy a sander and yes, its cheap, and yes it did the job, but the garage was covered in dust. Actually still is….Ryan, GOD BLESS HIM, chipped in to help too…He knows my level of stress was at the point of psycho-bitching out…
After a couple of hours of sanding, and having numbness in his hand due to the vibrating sander, he finally said, I will pay someone to do the doors. That’s all I had to hear, and that sander was packed away before he could finish the sentence…So I hire a guy to spray the cabinet doors. He tells me to go to Sherwin Williams with my door and have them recommend the best paint…This is where it gets good…I take the door in and the Sherwin Williams manager tells me, “Hey, this is oil based paint, you can’t paint over it with latex…” DING DING DING! This was all I needed to hear to understand that it’s not me being the bad painter…its the paint!!! Having never thought of oil based paint, or even using it, I agreed to buy a gallon…Warning, oil based paint is expensive…I think the gallon I bought cost $55.00. But I will tell you that paint is beautiful. Its perfect and it went on perfectly. I literally screamed with delight, as did Ryan when I painted the frame of the cabinet with it. We love it. And we are now oil based paint lovers. Latex is dead to me. I want to hug the Sherwin Williams guy, but that would be weird, wouldn’t it?
So I repainted the frames in the kitchen and the master bath… The master bath has 17 doors and drawers that are also being painted…this is where my luck starts to wear off….My painter picks up the doors and drawers and I am anxiously optimistic about getting them back in a week. I am at this point done painting the frames and they are cured. Wrong…. He calls on Good Friday, and I am thinking, “Perfect! Just in time for easter!” when I see his name on the caller id… But he has bad news…someone broke into his shed and stole all of his painting equipment and left my sad, tired looking doors and drawers….The good news is he was insured…But we have to wait til he gets his check and then for him to buy more equipment and then repaint….It’s now going on 3 weeks later….3 weeks later of having everything on the dining room table….
Ignore those pizza boxes…that was lunch today and the kitchen table was still in the living room…
Once the doors and drawers are on, the cabinets will be gorgeous.
yes, we love our shake and bake hot and spicy…and yes those are chocolate chip cookies on the stove…that dish was full this morning…
note to self, reorganize those cabinets…
master bath…ignore the plunger please.
and lastly, the jacuzzi tub which the boys are missing daily…I refuse to let them take a bath until the doors are back on….
Now on top of the new kitchen tile and the cabinets being repainted, we had the dining room, and all 4 bathroom repainted. Why? Because the bathrooms were done in flat paint and needed a semi-gloss paint because the steam from the showers were causing the paint to peel…So all the bathrooms are repainted and shiny and pretty. We decided to focus on the master bath, so we redid the cabinets and redid all the hardware. We went with the oil rubbed bronze fixtures and purchased new faucets and wall hardware and outlet and light covers, and cabinet hardware. The only other thing that needs to be replaced is the jacuzzi tub faucet and door handle. The old fixtures were bright brass fixtures = dated….Now I decided to frame the huge builders mirror on the wall thanks to Pinterest…I will tell you, save your time, save your sanity, SAVE your money….I won’t go into details because it causes me to stress eat and as you can see I already devoured a plate full of cookies….And I just popped open my last Coke…but I will tell you, the molding/trim for the mirror was not expensive. I want to say it cost $35.00 in trim to frame the mirror. It was a bitch to paint and antique it the way I wanted it to look….but the expense came when I tried to liquid nails that fucker up there. Sorry for the language, but it’s true…All the blogs said to use liquid nails for mirrors….I did, it didn’t work…not only did it not work. It made a huge mess…and by the way, you would think me scraping and cleaning dried glue off a mirror for an hour and a half, with a short sleeve shirt on, watching my arm fat flap like crazy would make me not eat a plate full of cookies, but wrong my friend, it made me eat 2 plates full of cookies ….In the end, I velcroed that shit up there only after having to pay a glass company to come out and mount it to the wall.This is where the expense came in. Because guess what? The mirror wasn’t glued to the wall like the blogs said it would be…it was merely sitting on 4 clips, that weren’t even screwed into the studs, mind you…Let me tell you, it was by the grace of God when that mirror came off the wall that Ryan and I caught it and carefully moved it into the tv room. How it didn’t shatter, I don’t know but I was cussing like a sailor and thanking God all in the same breath….It can be done, I assure you..Does the mirror look perfect, hell no, but it does look better and it’s not coming off the wall….
you can’t tell but that mirror is antiqued to look like the light covers pictured here…
because I am that anal to matchy match…
I repainted and antiqued this frame and put it above the toilet…because everyone needs a framed monogram above their toilet, right?
And then I found a place for these dark candle sconces I bought back in the day from Kirklands and put them above the master bathtub.
So soon the master bath will be done….Ryan says in a few years we will retile the bathroom and replace the vanity top with granite, but believe me when I say, this is LAST on my list of shit to do.
I repainted the tv room a darker brown because Cameron pushed the theater chair while it was reclined into the wall. It caused a hole and since we did not have the original paint in that room, we had to patch the hole and repaint the whole room. It’s so dark and cozy and comfy. I love it. I’m not completely done with it, but when I am, I will post pics…Same for the half bath…Its been repainted and is in the finishing stages of being done, so I will post pics when its done as well.
The dining room was repainted the same color as the master bath, its a nice light beige color, that works well with the yellow in the entry way. I fell in love with this frame that Ryan’s Grandma Hazel had. She gave it to me, which I will tell you made my whole year!
It was beautiful as it was, in its gold color, but the dining room hutch has silver accents on it, so it clashed with that. So I repainted it and antiqued it in a goldish color, just because it looked better with the gold antiquing than it did with the silver…I used it to frame our family rules…you know me and my vinyl lettering…I am hooked…
I bought the vinyl lettering off Etsy for $25.00 bucks!
So, we think we are making progress….cabinets will be done, we are looking at granite countertops for the kitchen…actually had an appointment this afternoon to pick out color and schedule installation…when the rain this weekend changed everything…We now have a leak…and after our contractor, Terry, climbed into the attic via the ceiling hole in the closet, which by the way is the size of Maddy, and had to be emptied and cleared out last night, so he could climb into it, he climbed back down to tell us its bad….BAD, BAD….There’s mold , lots of it.
this is mold behind the insulation in the wall…
this is mold behind the base boards…..
Walls, ceiling and wood floor will now have to be replaced….Seems last years storms caused damage to the roof….so we are trying to contemplate whether to pay out-of-pocket, which means no granite or carpet…GASP! OR file with the insurance and risk them raising our rates yet again…GULP….That’s me stress eating…I have eaten countless cookies….I refuse to count. I just know there are 3 left….and this was my lunch…that I inhaled by the way….That is fried potato salad from the restaurant in the clubhouse…
uh, I ate most of it before I thought to take a picture…and that is a Philly cheesesteak to go with it…on the plus side, they tasted perfect….PERFECT…
Let me tell you…there is nothing fat-free and waist friendly about FRIED POTATO SALAD….and images of my arm flab flapping still haunt me…but I ate that salad…and am thinking I need it for dinner too….Stress eating…that’s my weakness….Oh and scratchers….I thought, with this bad luck, surely, maybe, just possibly the lotto gods will let me win $200,000/year for life….
Please, oh please, dear god....
Eh, the gods were not on my side today….I won nothing on this expensive ass scratcher…NADA…I won $10.o0 on another…but its hard to be excited about $10.00 when you are expecting a $200,000 winner….
So while I wait for Ryan to help decide what we should do about the motherf’ing roof, I’ll be eating…. Yes, when it rains it pours, and I am now out of coke….this is why my blog is called my bitchy blog…for days like today, when bitching is all that I can seem to do…I’m off to Caseys for some more coke and possibly scratchers…..
BEFORE AND AFTER PICS….
I posted before that I was going to tell you about some auction goods I scored on…Well I have been a spray-painting fool!!! Because we all know my dilemma’s with a regular paint and paintbrush, I decided to redo my next projects with spray paint and I will tell you, regular paint is less messy, I think…
So last month I bought these pieces…It was freezing cold, and unbeknownst to me, the auction was being held outside!!! I knew I wanted these pieces… I psychotically stalked the auctioneer’s website pics of this auction for weeks…But believe it or not, Ryan was the one who saw the pieces first and knew I would love them. He came home and showed me the website and pics and even brought me a home a truck to take to load up all my goods. Though I think he thought I would re-do the pieces and resell and make money, I chose to keep them all… well most of them…
I bought this headboard…it was a king headboard that they used for a full size bed. I paid 25.00 for it!
And I primed and painted it Ivory and redid the panels in black satin. I bought the black satin at Walmart for $6.00, and the spray paint for $4.00 a can. I used about 3 cans…
Here it is after….
I bought this vanity for $25.00 and it came with the stool.
I sold the stool on Craigslist because honestly, I didn’t think my butt would fit on it….and it seems really small. Ryan sat on it. Oh yes he did! And said it was comfy, but Ryan has no ass! Zero! and I was too scared to sit on it and feel, ahem, fat…so I listed and sold it the next day for $15.00. So I really ended up paying $10.00 for the vanity and used 3 cans of spray paint on it as well…
Yes, I use way too much spray paint…you can tell by the overspray in the garage on the floor and the walls…and get this…Apparently, I get too close when I was spray paint, because each time I came inside from painting in the garage, my nose hairs were white! I SUCK AT PAINTING…..
at first, I wanted to go super gawdy and do pink and gold...but then decided I better not...better stick with ivory...
Anyway ,back to the vanity…I haven’t found a bench I like, or chair, so I am just using my ottoman as a seat, though I don’t even sit at this vanity. I just wanted it for storage for all my bling and makeup and hair stuff…I took off the hardware and sprayed it with an oil rubbed bronze spray paint I had leftover in the garage, and then, with the help of my dear friend Annie, she told me how to patina the edges, since mine looked awful, and I mean awful. The blessings of phones and texting and texting pics… I used a gold rub to blend after the patina dried. I love it. Here is the after…
I also bought this bench for $15.00. I wanted to put it along side my bed under the window, but it was too close to the bed and so I sold it on Craigslist for $55.00!
And, of course, I had to buy some bling…I bought this for $8.00!
Spray painted it with some paint I already had and rubbed some gold on it and polished the bling that was on it already…Now its in the mom-cave….
And speaking of the mom-cave…I trimmed my curtains with the upholstery fabric I am thinking of using as the trim on the chaise…I love it. It gives the windows just the right hint of color…
So, I’ve been a busy beaver! Spray painting and obviously, by the look of my nose hairs, huffing it as well…My next project is making a big chalkboard pic out of this gorgeous frame I was given by Ryan’s Grandma Hazel….I will keep you posted….Next post will be about movies! Ryan and I have a date night Wednesday and we are going to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo!
Damn holidays….
So I love me some Holidays…ok, wait…I love me some holiday food….so this holiday, I thought I was being good…
So either Victoria’s Secret Pink pants have dramatically changed in sizes, or my ass has changed in size…
Picture this…I adore yoga pants. Since before I had Maddy, I have worn Victoria’s Secret yoga pants, not the Pink version, just their version, the classic kind…
I live in these…I am not a jeans girl…So I swear by these and yes, they cost $50.00 but they last….
I only buy black, and yes, they fade, so I buy two at a time when they are on sale…But I love them. They never tear or shrink and they always, always maintain their shape. I LOVE THEM!
So when PINK came out, I decided to try them…I bought the boyfriend style sweats…you know the kind, the kind that have the boxer-style butt….and “PINK” plastered across it…and my pair have lasted me at least 3 years now…no holes, no rips. I would like them longer, which is my main complaint about PINK pants. They don’t let you choose your length measurement… So, ahem, I am older and a little, ok MORE than a little wider, and I’m thinking my ass doesn’t need to shout “PINK!!!” on it, you know? Because when I do wear them, Maddy yells, “Pink!” and when I say, “what in the hell are you talking about, Maddy?” He says, “your butt says Pink…” so its time for a different style…
So I ventured out and bought two new styles last week…I bought this one..The “vintage flare” pant…
Because yes, my thighs may have a little chub, but its better on my leg than on my ass….and then I bought the cinched bottom version, called the Wear-everywhere pant… you know, so I could wear them everywhere, since now, my Jeggings are tight…and I mean TIGHT!
They came in the mail last week…I was so ready to wear them, that I stripped down right in the mom-cave and screamed when I tightly pulled them over my bedonkeydonk…They only covered half my ass. I had some major ass cleavage and no panty that low that I could wear with them…surely not, right? Surely, its the style of the pant? So I pulled out the wear-everywhere pant…same damn predicament…I was so disgusted, so pissed, so mortified at the ass cleavage, that I just threw them back in the saran wrap package and wrote on the invoice, What the hell happened to your sizes?!?!? Then I drove like a bat out of hell to the ups store to drop them off. I wanted no daily proof that my ass had grown…
After dropping off the box, I started to feel shitty. I mean, shit, its not even Christmas yet. The real eating hasn’t even begun…So I drove through McDonalds and grabbed me a McRolo Flurry and soothed my pain…I’m still tore up though…even now as I blog, I am wearing my PINK plastered-butt wearing sweats. I love these sweats…and either I have just stretched the holy hell out of them or PINK has changed their sizings….
Either way, I am sticking with my old faithful…the Classic yoga pant from Victoria’s Secret…I guess I am too old for PINK anyway…btw, I am checking into botox tomorrow…I may be getting old and my ass may be getting saggy, but this face is gonna be TIGHT!!!!
Finishing touches….
Finally, I am posting pics of the mom-cave! I have had ADD when it comes to projects lately…I started on the mom-cave…then started on our bedroom…then back to the mom-cave… Finally I just decided to focus one room at a time…Mom-cave is done, just has some finishing touches…Like the slipcover for the chaise and chair…I’ll tell you that dilemma later…
So here it is…It went from being boring, dark beige, that I only used to for computer and bill-paying, to my retreat…
Yeah that wall is busy. But I love every part of it…My favorite is the chandelier…It was a score for $50.00! I added the flowers, the bling, the pearls, and I love every part of it…
I wish this new camera that I waited in line for an hour and half at Target on Black Friday for took better pictures…but then again I haven’t read the manual yet…
I love this artist Eva Crawford…I have several of her canvases and pictures…
This picture originally had the scripture quote, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” but when I saw that frame my favorite song came to mind…So I redid and glued my song lyrics to the frame…
I bought this piece under the tv off of Craigslist for $40.00. I love it!
It kind of had its own distressing on it, so I just removed the hardware and spray painted them black. I did the same for the cabinets and drawers because after going to 4 different places, I couldn’t find handles that I was in love with, and the ones I did love were outrageously priced…So I spray painted them a satin black…
The long table under the mirror was off of Craigslist too. It was an ugly brown and I paid 30.00 for it, though I still think that was too high…I sanded it and primed and painted it black…the hardware was a bright, shiny gold, so I spray painted it this silver color called Nickel. Hated it, then spray painted it yellow. Hated it. Finally settled on white…not crazy about the white, but seriously, how many times can you spray paint hardware???
I redid the desk, which I will tell you about killed me….It was originally white with the original wood top that was sealed….So I read 100 blogs about how to paint furniture…I sanded…I primed….I painted….and it didn’t work…well it also didn’t work because I didn’t have the patience to wait for each coat to dry…
Patience is not my virtue…so I had to strip the whole fricken thing…(notice I didn’t cuss…I’m working on that!)
see that brown…thats what color it was underneath…
I can assure you, I was cussing when I was scraping this though…So I started over…I primed…let it dry completely, lightly sanded, then painted…And I was so excited because it was actually working…The top looked smooth, looked dry! So I started on the shelves…I wanted to line them with this wallpaper I used in my store…So I stand on the should-be-but-isn’t dry- yet desktop to install the wallpaper….
Oh yes I did….I left footprints….Then I screamed and cussed some more…
So I sanded and repainted….Had to put 7 coats of paint to cover my big ass feet…See I am getting frustrated just blogging about it and it’s making me cuss….I’ll move on, but I will tell you I finally got it covered…no footprints to see, and oddly, this last coat of paint was the very last of the can, and ended up being the smoothest finish out of all the coats I put on it. What did I learn from this? It took at least 10 coats of black paint to cover that desk and get it to the finish I wanted…I used Benjamin Moore Matte Black. It’s supposed to be the Pottery Barn black they use, and now its discontinued…Bitches.
I also repainted all the white on the built in….why? Because over the last 7 years that we have lived here, I have yet to be able to match the white they used…So I figured I would just repaint the whole thing, and as crazy as it sounds. I love the new white. I know white is white. BUT there are million whites out there, and I love this one….
See how smooth that black desktop looks! Luck, I tell you. Luck....
I also hid everything under the desk! I bought a shoe shelf and stuck my printer and router and shredder on it. Then I used a basket from the dollar store to hold all my wires up! I’m such a neat freak, huh?
Anyway, I then sealed it with polyurethane. And I let it dry completely! Yes, I deserve a standing ovation for that. It’s now perfect. And I won’t ever have to touch it up….at least I better not ever have to because I am out of that paint…
There are still finishing touches..like the slipcover for that damn chaise…I spent over $30.00 in fabric dye to dye it black because once I saw how much the boys were in there, I knew having a white chaise was out of the question….Then after hours and hours of dying the bottom cushion, I couldn’t get the blacks to match…sooo frustrating!!!
I wasn’t about to guess how much it would cost in dye to try to attempt to dye the bottom cover that covers the whole frame of the chaise…so I threw in the towel and gave up… I decided to just get the chaise slipcovered in black and use this print for the rope trim edges on it as a splash of color.
Now for the other chair…
I bought this chair at auction yesterday! I scored so many great deals there, but I will blog about that next! I am going to try to dye that fabric pink….and if it doesn’t work, then I will attempt to recover…scary thought I know…
But in the end, it’s the little things in the room that make me feel loved….
It’s the box of dried roses that Ryan gave me for our 10 year anniversary…See back in the day, when we were dating, Ryan was notorious for sending me roses. We’re talking dozens and dozens…One year for my birthday he sent me 5 dozen red roses…The local flower girls loved him. And I used to save them but then I got rid of them once they were all dusty….So he bought me this box and the card inside made me cry…He’s such a good hubby.
Then there’s the pink vase that my friend Carrie bought for me for my store. I put it with the milkglass pedestal bowl that I had searched weeks for at local antique stores. I used it in my store as well. I love seeing those every day.
Then there’s the picture of our house that Maddy drew when he was 5. I loved it then and framed it, and I put in on the shelf so I could see every day. I love how he drew our house and house number and drew the heart above it. He wrote all of our names except for Cameron’s because he didn’t know how to spell it, so he just put “C”.
There’s the lamp my friend, Allison, found for me at the antique store in Dallas. It was originally a sage green, so I repainted it black and added more bling and a lamp shade….The lamp shade was too white, to plain, though, so I wrote my favorite e.e. cummings poem on it. Now it is perfect.
And of course, seeing my favorite faces in the world….
Oh yes, I have my mom cave…and though I thought I could keep the boys out, they love that room. They pile on the chaise and watch spongebob…they play on the floor, and the computer… and yes, they still bring those damn toy guns…
Next blog will be all the goods I bought at the auction yesterday!
It’s movie time!!!!
Oh my goodness, it has been forever since I have sat down to watch a movie, but I have watched quite a few since my last review, so be prepared to get a short, tiny, to the point review of each movie…
On a side note, I am desperately trying to get someone to go watch Paranormal Activity 3 with me, but Ryan keeps chickening out, and no one else here I know loves horror as much as I do. So I may have to wait and watch it on video, or I will be a loner and go by myself and watch it, though deep down, I am a little too chicken for that…It would definitely have to be daylight out. I could totally see Ryan hiding out in my car and scaring the holy hell out of me and me either stroking out there in the parking lot or peeing my pants and crying. Yeah, I will just wait til it comes out on video…
So I watched Trust….Let’s just say I walked away from that movie THANKING GOD I didn’t have a daughter. Ugh it scared me. This movie is about a creepy, sexual predator who lures a girl on the internet to meet him at the mall. He at first tells her he is a senior in high school. I believe she is a freshman…Then, he confesses to being in college. By this point, she is crushing on him, so the college age doesn’t necessarily scare her away but does alarm her. Then he sends her a fake pic and she forgets about his age….Later, he tells her he is out of college and again, she gets upset, but by this time, she is brainwashed. She believes he loves her despite the fact that they haven’t met yet. And when she goes to meet him at the mall, she finds him to be her father’s age. My heart broke and I screamed at the tv at the same time. It was awful to see how he had manipulated her and it scared me to think of all the girls out there who have or are in this predicament. Clive Owen is in this movie and he plays the distressed, anguished, rageful father well. It’s a good movie for those of you with daughters but it will scarethe living crap out of you and make you want to snoop through their computer…
I watched Bad Teacher. It was ok. I was Very Disappointed in Justin Timberlake’s roll. Come on now…for those of you who have seen the movie,you will know of what I am blogging about when I tell you its the scene between him and Cameron in the hotel that disappoints me so…for those of you who haven’t seen the movie, beware of that scene. I love me some JT… And deep down, I’m still wishing him and Britney would get back together…but this movie was ok. But you know me, I love me a good horror or really warped movie…which this was not…
I watched Horrible Bosses. Now this made me laugh. I love me some Jason Bateman, but sadly, I feel like he has the same character in every movie…But this movie made me laugh, it was enjoyable for this drama lovin mama. Rent it!
I watched Water for Elephants…Let me just say I am so happy I didn’t read the book because the movie kind of sucked for me. It was ok but nah, not really….I couldn’t get into it and it’s not because of the midget, I promise. It was just ok…Was really expecting to be swept off my feet , falling in love with this Twilight movie star, but I didn’t….I heard from some the book was hard to get into, and others loved it…I have a feeling the movie have the same effect…
I watched Trespass with Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage..This movie is about home invasion. Let me save you from this movie as well. It was not scary, it was not believable. It was just your average home invasion movie, similar to those on Lifetime, where the family is saved in the end by the police…come on…it would have been more interesting if there was more killing…but there wasn’t…
I watched Crazy, Stupid Love last night…The best thing about this movie is Ryan Gosling. I love him. I don’t know why, but I have a major crush on him. So I watched it for him…This movie was ok. Nothing fabulous, nothing that I walked away thinking or feeling inspired, but I did walk away remembering Ryan’s rock hard abs…and his smooth character in the bar…Rent if you love Ryan Gosling, otherwise you will be mesmerized by Steve Carrell’s nose and how many nose shots there are. It was humorous. Horrible Bosses made me laugh more but Ryan Gosling made me pay attention more…:)
I watched Captain America…Only because of Cameron’s constant role-playing…And it was good! I am totally not a cartoon watcher or a comic book movie person…I just watched Spiderman for the first time about 3 years ago! And I loved Spiderman, and I liked Captain America too! It was a good movie, good storyline. I was impressed. And you know how picky I am!
Ok this is more my type of movie. Depressing, sad, traumatic….Don’t ask me why, I am just drawn to these types of stories….So this movie is about how the parents’ lives were affected when their son committed a mass shooting at his college and then killed himself. It makes you realize what the parents go through, how they are tormented by the press, by the public and by their own memories of what they did or did not do wrong. Yes, it was a heavy movie, but it was good.
I watched Tree of Life with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Ok, I lie, I watched half of it. I could not get into it. It was way too arty for me. Very little dialogue or storylines, just a lot of opera, classical music and space shots…I am sure if I would have stayed with the whole movie, maybe in the end it would have all come together, but I didn’t have the patience to stick with it. I’m gonna tell you to save your money on this one folks….
Now these last two I saved as my favorites…
Yes its horror, yes its scary, and it scared the hell out of Ryan so yes, it’s now one of my favorites here lately. Honestly, its been awhile since I have seen it. It wasn’t the kind of scary movie that makes you pray to dear Jesus that you wont have nightmares, but it was scary enough and that works for me.
And now my favorite. I don’t remember if I blogged about it before, but if I did, and you havent rented it, then good Lord, go rent it!
I will tell you Ryan brought this home and I vaguely remembered the previews and remembered thinking, ugh another political movie that I won’t get…So he watched it first. Then he came in and handed it to me and said, “Watch it, you will love it, and I will even watch it with you again. ” Ryan hates to watch movies more than once so for him to say that I knew it must be good. But I played hardball and said, “I don’t like movies like that…” and he said, “it’s not what you think, just watch it.” So I did the next night, and I loved it. I immediately texted Ann and said, ” Get out of bed and rent this at redbox now”…. A week later she did and she loved it too. It is sooo good, the storyline is sooo good. Matt Damon is soooo good. Did I mention this movie is soooo good? Ah, rent it please!
Now, for some tv series talk….
I am in love with American Horror Story on FX. Have you seen it? It has Jessica Lange, and Dylan McDermott in it. I will tell you, I watched the first episode about 2 am, when everyone was sleeping, in bed, with no lights on…The show started and the creepy, scary music started and then I saw this white thing go by my bedroom door out of the corner of my eye and I stopped breathing. I immediately started praying, “Please Lord, let that be Cameron!” and about 5 seconds later and a near bladder explosion later, Cameron walks in. Turns out the creepy music woke him up. I put him back to bed, scared he would get ideas from the show, because he has somehow developed my love of “ghost shows!” which I refuse to let him watch but he begs to watch every day and I am slightly creeped out by it, but I digress. This show gave me nightmares the first night. Gave Ryan nightmares the 3rd episode, so you know this shit is scary if Ryno is complaining. I am hooked though. Please watch it but watch from the beginning….And Jessica Lange is sooo good in this!
I love this show! I eagerly wait til everyone’s asleep as well so I don’t have any disturbances. It’s on ABC and has Madeline Stowe in it. She always plays the tortured, fornicating wife role. She’s good at it too. Remember CHINA MOON? or Kevin Costner’s movie REVENGE? OOOH that movie was good! so sad, made me bawl like a baby but good! Odd she now is in a series named the same…
And finally, I am in love with this series. It makes me laugh out loud. It makes me cringe, makes me sick, makes me feel sorry for the guy but most of all makes me laugh. And as Ryan says, “I have no sense of humor”, which is not true, I just don’t find Ryan’s sense of humor funny…but in this case, it works for me, and Ryan loves it too….Series 1 and 2 are now out on DVD. Please buy it. That’s right, buy it. It’s that freaking funny. But do not watch in front of the kids. He cusses like a mutha….and you all know I have a potty mouth, a bad potty mouth, but I can’t have this show on in front of my kids…. so watch it late at night and laugh your ass off quietly so you don’t wake the kids….Because you will…laugh your ass off.
Next up….Mom cave update pics!!! Yay!!!!
Oh Halloween….
Thank the Lord Halloween is over. For weeks, all I have heard is “ghost!”, “ghost house!” “ghost, boo!!!!”, and ”ghost movie!”
I’ve accepted the costumes, accepted the odd fascination with Cameron’s love for anything ghostly, or scary or eerie…
And first thing Tuesday morning, I went outside and took down all the Halloween decorations and put them in the Halloween tote.
But later today, they were all out again…So I boxed them up again and then put them up on the top shelf in the garage…Let’s hope this 4-year-old isn’t smart enough to look up.
But I keep telling myself to remember his joy and love for Halloween. I went to the school’s Halloween parties.
First, Cameron’s pre-pre-k class had a little party. Check out these pics…
First they have to parade out in the hallway…good luck keeping them in a straight line…enter Cameron…out of line… and the first of the nosepickers…
See the nosepicker above in red? Well turns out there are more nosepickers in pre-k…
hee hee, I love this.
nosepicker 3!
That's not a happy Captain America...
Rawr!
check out his strut!
check out that creepy golf ball costume in the background though...
mmmm, looks good cameron....Maddy wouldn't know though, since you ate it....
oddly, there was a ghostly image that appeared right where cameron is...is it a ghost? nah, I think my fingers were dirty with candy and cracker grease and I accidentally touched the lens...
cameron struck his pose!
check out that tattoo sleeve...
Accepting the differences…
I haven’t blogged in ages.
I know…
It’s because I am obsessed with completing the mom-cave. It’s thisclose to being done! And as much as I want to post progress pictures, I can’t. I want it done. Almost done though!!! And let me tell you….not only has it been costly, its been a bitch. Painting is not my forte….I literally told Ryan, “Next time I say I am going to paint, slap me!” Now we all know that wouldn’t happen but I need a slap of reality…All I know is a professional painter would have finished that room in one day…Not my 4 days….
And a professional painter wouldn’t have to tape, and re-tape, and touch up, and then re-touch-up, and then shampoo the carpets because there is paint on the carpet, or have to throw away 4 different outfits because they are paint-splattered…Just saying…
And I am not even going to go into how hard it is to paint furniture. I won’t complain again about the prices of distressed pieces, because I now realize that shit is hard to do…and I want to comment so bad on those blogs that say, it was so simple, and it turned out sooo good. Puhlease….I bought the same paint, the same rollers, the same brush, and Followed the directions to the “T”….and guess what, it didn’t turn out…it didn’t look soooo good…but I am way off the subject here.
Tonight I blog about Cameron and Maddox. It’s so hard not to compare…Maddox was such an easy baby. Such a happy baby! Still is! Maddy wasn’t the silly kid or the kid who would break out in dance at the drop of a hat. He wouldn’t run through the house screaming, “Apple Bottom Jeans….Boots with the fur….” Thanks to the Zookeeper movie. Maddox was a quick learner…To this day, you tell him one time how to do it and he does it. Cameron is different. You tell him once and he ignores you. You tell him twice and its a joke, and he says, “What did you say?” You say it a third time and he laughs and walks away….The fourth time, you scream it. OK, I scream it and he screams back, “OK MOM!!!” And Ryan and Maddy stifle their giggles and once he is out of the room, Ryan points and says, “That’s you!”
And it is…and a big part of me loves it but at that moment, I don’t…. That’s when I realized how much Maddox is like his daddy. He’s sweet, non-confrontational, easy-going, loving, good!
Halloween is coming up and in our home, everyday is halloween….Cameron wakes up everyday and chooses to be a character….
For example, last week, these are the pics I snapped with my cell, since yes, my camera is still broke, thanks to Cameron…I don’t have to mention that Maddy never broke any camera’s, much less, two…
Cameron is Batman….
And yes, he wears this out…And he tells all the strangers that he is Batman…no stranger-danger here…
Thanks to the Zookeeper movie, he likes to rap…Apple Bottom Jeans…and in this pic, he was singing it into his microphone…but if you asked him what he was, he was the “Apple jeans guy” who sang, “Apple Bottom Jeans”.
Those glasses kill me…
This day, he was Captain America/Ghost Pirate… Anything with a skull on it is a “ghost!”
For Halloween this year, he wanted to be Captain America…
Maddy wanted to be an Angry Bird, but the costumes are sold out. So he changed his mind and wants to be a gangster. Down to the cigar and can I add, these are almost the same size as the ones Ryan smokes…Seriously…
I want to cut his hair so bad, because Maddy has the fur-cap hair going on right now. But I want to wait til after Halloween so I can slick it back Jersey Shore -style.
So I am coming around to accepting the differences. I am learning that Cameron won’t ever be just like Maddy. And to let him wear whatever costume he wants every morning, even if its 2 or 3 layered upon each other…
So my goal everyday is to take a pic of his “character” that day….Because he is growing and one day he won’t be this silly and I want to remember these little moments…My baby is 4 now! And so if he wants to be a ghostbuster/bumblebee rapper, then ok…I’ll embrace the silliness. I’ll embrace the differences. Just remind me to do this in his teen years…Please!
Care Packages Are The Best Packages….
It’s been a long time since I received a care package, but anytime I receive a package, whether it be from Old Navy or Victoria Secret, or Ebay (those being the main packages I receive in the mail) I get all giddy. I love it. Sometimes I forget what I ordered and then when I rip into the package, I am delighted. But this last month, I received two packages, just out of the blue, from two of my favorite, oldest friends!
The first package I received was from my friend, Brent. He moved to California and has worked for the Disney family channel for years. I miss his laughter, his margaritas, his music, I miss him! Every year for my birthday he sends me custom CD’s of new music, old music, the best music. When I had the store, he made me several mixed CD’s as well. But they eventually made their way to my car 
But this package was different. He sent me pics for my boys. And that just touched my chubby heart. I loved it, the boys loved it, Ryan loved it and it made our whole week!
Toy Story!
McQueen for Cameron's room!
Mater! our favorite!
Monogrammed zebra apron!I love the ruffles on top and bottom!
Try and steal my keys...I dare you!
