Thursday, January 29, 2009

Conversation with my BFF Coworker

Becka says (1:41 PM):
why dont they make deoderants that match your shower gel stuff?
Chelsea says (1:41 PM):
what do you mean
Becka says (1:42 PM):
I have coconut shower gel, shampoo and all, then I have cucumber melon deoderant
Becka says (1:42 PM):
just doesn't make sense
Becka says (1:42 PM):
even the 'unscented' is still got a clean smell about it
Becka says (1:42 PM):
no wait, it's the original, not unscented
Becka says (1:42 PM):
anyway, why not have strawberry or coconut deoderant
Chelsea says (1:43 PM):
people probably don't want to associate BO with their food
Becka says (1:43 PM):
lol
Becka says (1:43 PM):
ok
Chelsea says (1:43 PM):
ya know how sometimes deodorant wears off and you can smell a bit of nasty with a bit of good?
Becka says (1:43 PM):
but I'm just saying it's conflicting smells
Becka says (1:43 PM):
or scents
Becka says (1:43 PM):
yup
Chelsea says (1:43 PM):
i wouldn't want to smell strawberries and mexican food at the same time (which is what all BO smells like to me)
Becka says (1:43 PM):
oh my gosh
Becka says (1:43 PM):
i just laughed so loud
Chelsea says (1:45 PM):
lol
Chelsea says (1:45 PM):
good

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Day Handmade Dies

Jenny from Allsorts puts it better than I can, but a reminder to all about the CPSIA ruling that goes into effect February 10th. I think the most helpful information I gleamed from her post is who should be concerned. Go on, take a gander. Maybe you'll call your state legislature now. I'll be calling tomorrow {and I already wrote them a letter!}.

Oh, and my devious little self will probably still sell things in the future...
just look for the [not intended for children under 12] disclaimer.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

My First Estate Auction {and a rummage sale}

This weekend was so slow for me. It was nice, if not a little boring.

On Saturday morning I woke up way too early {for a weekend} and headed to Topeka for an estate sale I had read about. I was interested in an old china hutch to store all my serving platters and milk-glass collection. Topeka is about 30 minutes away and I'd never ventured there in the 6 months we've lived in Lawrence so I figured...why not? {It's not much - sorry if anyone who reads this lives there}

The auction was held in a ghetto mall called White Lakes Center. It was actually kind of funny. I got there and saw tons of old people walking briskly down the aisles in sweatpants. Even funnier are the signs posted throughout the mall with exercise 'route' tips. Cracked me up.

But I rounded the first corner and could hear an auctioneer spewing out more words than I could understand. So I moseyed toward the big items in the store and checked out the china hutch I was after.

It was in terrible condition and wouldn't be coming home with me.

But I stuck around because I saw a few other things that could be fun.

Like this really old chair that I paid $2.50 for. Its disgustingly dirty and water-stained fabric doesn't really scream, "come sit on me and stay awhile" but I am going to make it my first second reupholster job and find a home for it, possibly in our bedroom in a little nook.


I also bought some really old wooden fruit crates {forgot to take pictures earlier and I'm much too comfortable under my quilt right now to be bothered} that I'll turn on end and use to stack my fabric in. They're the PERFECT size for it. I might possibly mount them on the wall. We'll see what husband thinks.

Finally, this antique highchair. I'm not sure if I'll need to sand and stain it yet, because I really like the color, but it's not a professional job in the slightest. I just don't know if I want to go to all that work. Maybe I'll sand it down and do it a solid black - if it's not obvious by now, I love black {and just dark in general} finishes on furniture.



The auctioneer thought it flipped into a stroller but as you can see it's actually a play table/tray with beads. It has wheels to move it around easily.


The beads will need to be taken off and given a massive scrub or even replaced and I already started pulling off the small metal and plastic wheels that you can see in the second picture - they're so gross, you don't want to know - but once it's done, it will be so cute. Now I just need a baby. Going to yard sales has afforded me the opportunity to see lots of old furniture and this baby chair is in such great condition and I won it for $15.

I don't think I should be allowed to go to auctions by myself if I buy things like this.

Last weekend I went to an elementary school gym sale and almost jumped for joy when I found this little scale.


Hillary was looking for one a few years ago when she wanted to do newborn pictures and I just thought it was cool anyways. Similar scales can be found on ebay but this is in fabulous condition and was so cheap{!} that I grabbed it before anyone else could even see it!



I love old bakeware so I bought these fluted pans. I found two of the same pan. It's about 7" diameter, which would be a perfect size for a dessert for two. I'm thinking an old school jello molded into one would be fun.


This book's title caught my eye, but look how great the illustrations are. I love this type of illustration and rarely pass up a look through kids books.



Finally, a set of score cards for our favorite game.


I love new treasures.

valentine inspiration

from my latest issue of Martha Stewart Living



We're not big on Valentine's Day declarations around here...maybe a little gift or a thoughtful note, but I don't like dressing up and going to dinner because it's February 14th...besides, my birthday is just a week later.



But I think I'll make a batch of these.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Note to the Blogosphere

Not everyone was glued to their tv's/internet/live feeds yesterday for the 'grand event'.

In fact, there are *some* of us that don't really care for our new president and are nervous about the impending doom.

That's right.

I'm not excited about this so-called CHANGE.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

January Craft Day Projects

Curtains aren't 100% finished, as I've mentioned. I need to add more grommets to each panel to make them pleat and hang correctly. That requires a trip to Overland Park {only about 40 min away - but still} so probably won't be done until the end of the month.



Overall I really like them. As soon as they were up we noticed how much more warm the room looked. We have another window in the room to add them to and I want to make some brown roman shades to replace the blinds. Down the road....

This pillow is huge. I LOOOVVVVEEEE it. It's 27"x27", sewn to be permanent {I'm not ready to attempt zippers} and just simply pieced. The back is a medium-weight home decorator fabric, the front is a mix of linen {brown}, home dec. {orange}, and cotton {off-white}. Oh, and old glass and plastic/factory buttons. I didn't have time to do the other 2 smaller ones. Maybe I'll take pictures of that process.





Finally, these strawberries are my new favorite dessert. They're delicious and sinful. Chocolate dipped and stuffed with a white chocolate-cream cheese filling. I think it negates any bit of healthiness the strawberries would add.

Here Comes the Bandwagon

Hurry! Jump on....

Poladroid took my existing images and made them look like developed Polaroids. Kind of a fun thing to play with. I was a little impatient after I added the pictures {you have to wait for them to 'develop'} and clicked on them, so I have a few in different stages of ready.

Fun, huh?



Monday, January 19, 2009

Craft Day Projects

I will have to wait until tomorrow when I can hopefully grab a picture in good lighting, but I'm so gosh-darn proud of myself for starting AND finishing not one, but TWO projects on Saturday. Wait, I didn't finish the second one totally until last night {stitching up the side} but it was 95% done...can I count it?

Come back tomorrow to see pictures. I know I'm not the best seamstress {since I just picked it up a year ago}, but I might do a tutorial if anyone is interested.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Grateful

I was tagged by my good friend LeahMarie and I was planning on posting anyway, so it's time to combine efforts.

Ten Things I'm Grateful For:

{No particular order}

Fossil Fuels - My house is nice and toasty and warm. Thank you natural gas.

Husband - self explanatory. But so it doesn't look like he gets the shortest blurb, I'll tell you that when he puts gel in his hair and is sporting his winter beard {as he is now}, it's hard not to get all hot and bothered. You're welcome for the over share.

My job - as much as I hate it, I love it. I love it a lot. My office rocks. And they have great health insurance.

My home - I know it's not perfect and it's not ideal, but it's nice and big enough to hold most of my schtuff.

The Intrawebs - without cable, this allows me to watch ALL my favorite tv shows and some of my not so favorite ones when I'm bored.

The Gospel - I've been blessed so many times and many of them can be attributed to my faith in our Lord and Savior.

Walmart - yes, yes, evil corporate blah blah blah. It's still my favorite one-stop shop and I'm able to live comfortably because they stack them deep and sell them cheap.

Blogs - especially those of crafters. I never knew there were so many talented people who were so willing to share their finds and gifts with others. I love reading the lives of other people. I love sharing {in a way} in their joys, struggles, laughs, cries, good days and bad. It keeps me connected even though I'm often sitting by myself in my 'office' for 8 hours a day.

Clear Nail Polish - Right after Thanksgiving I decided I was going to grow out my nails. I've been a terrible nail biter all my life. In kindergarten I remember my mom coating my nails with bitter apple something or other. Yeah...nice try, mom, that didn't work. The only thing that keeps me from biting or picking at them until they're nubs is clear nail polish. It has to be clear. When I'm tempted to pick at them, I instead chip off the latest layer of polish. Add another coat, let dry, repeat in a few days. I have really pretty fingernails right now.

Family - Yes, they're crazy. Some members are crazier than others and I have a difficult time spending too much time with others because of personality conflicts, but either way, they're family. They're here now and will be for eternity, so I'm learning how to love and appreciate all the good qualities each possesses.

Well, folks, there you have it. Tomorrow is January's craft day at my house so I have a downstairs to pick up and vacuum and we're heading out with our friends {who are harboring a fantastic little secret!} to Zen Zero for dinner. It's delicious. I love the Massaman curry {or however it's spelled}. And then we'll probably come back here and watch a movie instead of heading to a theater. Maybe even start a fire in ye olde fireplace.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

New Curtains

Alright, so I said I'm going to start getting my house more put together and I'm one step closer.


{well, at least I ordered the stuff - it's not here so not finished yet}


What started from a picture from a blog got me to comment and ask where her curtain fabric was from. Which led me to Urban Outfitters.


This was the fabric/curtain I really really liked.



But it's only 7ft tall. I want the option to make it floor to ceiling-ish.
My solution?
Buy tapestry that I can cut in half, hem, and make curtains out of. They didn't have the same pattern, so after looking for a bit I went with this.






So it's a little busier than orginally planned for, but I really like the little speckles of blue and yellow the birds add and think it will dress up my droll front room.

Ryan and I talked about getting our couch cleaned {or just cleaning it ourselves} and putting it on Craigslist. It's an awesome couch, but we'd maybe like to get a 3-seater couch and an extra wide chair and ottoman.

I also grabbed these fun hooks for behind our front door to hang light coats and jackets {in silver}.



We also stopped by Costco on our way home from the airport last night to pick up a couple of these storage shelves for the garage - they hold 1500 lbs each shelf! That's insane.



I might need to get some more goals for this year!

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Viral Infection

...on my laptop on Friday made a complete wipe of the harddrive and reinstall necessary. I saved 9+ GB of data, but wouldn't you know, I'm retarded and neglected to save ALL my bookmarked pages and ALL my browser links that I'd favorited. I'm really heartbroken.

The only consolation I have is the defunct Del.icio.us account I stopped updating 6 months ago AND I remember a few of the blogs that weren't added to Google Reader that I'd just begun to love.

damn technology

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Resolved to Be Resolute

{image via HWTM}
I'm going to skip over Christmas festivities and travel logs and just list my goals for this coming year.

* Be organized - this should probably be first and foremost for a happy marriage
* Simplify - thoughts, wants, needs, life
* Be healthy - this may include making more meals and eating {out} less
* Make more meals at home - at least 6 nights a week. ay ay ay.
* Make my actions more thoughtful
* Bake more, but give more away - see 3rd line down
* Paint my house - maybe even tackle the front room and the vaulted ceilings
* Have a yard sale or two - part of simplifying
* Be more successful on a professional level
* Find out information on costs and requirements for culinary school
* Get our house put together more - more cohesive themes in rooms, garage cleaned and organized, etc.
* Put together a food storage system and use it for one to two weeks to test its effectiveness

So there you go. 12 goals and 12 months in 2009. I wanted to add 'have a baby' in there, but I think our Heavenly Father has that later down the road for our family - like closer to when Ryan's schooling will be done, plus, that's not really in our control anymore.

What are some of your goals? I might need to steal a few more to poke in here and there.