Little Miss M's Microphone

...sorry about the title, that's what M wanted to call it...

We did a little rearranging of furniture when Pamma (my mom) came to visit last week. First up was Little Miss M's room. Here's a before pic (this little photo tour is mostly for Kristin, who otherwise might not have the opportunity to check out my digs).

And some afters. Yes, the paint job is bad. Looks even worse since I spackled all the nail holes but never washed the walls down afterwards. And please pay no mind the cloudy blue ceiling that bleeds down onto the walls. It was going to be one of the first things to go when I moved in but the Little Miss M. found her way back to me just a couple weeks later.

That sideboard had been in the living room with my TV on it but my mom thought it would look better with the other pieces in M's room. Please note the bargain valances bought at Goodwill for $2 each! We tried to tuck the the kitchen away as best we could but you can't really get around it.

Wasn't sure where to hang the netted canopy a friend let us borrow. So we put M's table and chairs under the existing hook in the ceiling. The armoire holds all her dress up clothes and the majority of her toys, games, and coloring supplies. Her microphone is probably somewhere inside!

The collage of frames I purchased at Goodwill. Just put scrapbooking paper in them. You can't really tell but I cut out M's silhouette in the purple and turquoise one. Bought the turquoise ballerina picture at Big Lots. Stamped "Oh Happy Day" on a blank canvas board and clipped it up. The dog decal is from Target via Goodwill. Have the others that I still need to slap around the room.

Moved the bookshelf to the stubby wall. I tacked a couple lengths of ribbon on the wall and hung her artwork and photos from decorative paper clips on them. Her table and chairs used to be on that wall so it was a nice way to display her art. But with the taller shelf there I'll probably take the ribbons down and then hang a larger bulletin board over the sideboard.

I'm not really sure where all the purple came from. Cindy let me borrow the comforter and canopy and I guess it took off from there. Just trying to figure out what color to paint her room when the time comes. Planning on painting the rest of the house fresh white.

Isn't She Lovely?

My mom did end up coming to visit us at the end of the week. We made some changes to the living room and M's room. And although I didn't get around to my craft room, mom brought me a little sumpin' to spruce it up a bit...

I always end up with my mom's cool stuff. She gave me this dress form a year or so ago and she's just been sitting around fairly nekkid (the form, not my mom!). I had that leopard print scarf tied around her neck until I finally unearthed the beaded bolero jacket a month or so ago. I've always thought she needed a cancan. And wouldn't you know my mother happened upon a garage sale of a former square dancer. So she picked up three. This off white one (which I'm debating whether or not I should dye it hot pink) and orange one and a black one. She said there were others but she didn't think I wanted them all so she picked these because she thought it'd be fun to decorate her for Halloween. True. But how fun would it be to do something like this in M's room?

I'm a bad, bad blogger and have absolutely no idea where I found this photo. If I had to guess I'd say it was from one of the kids' room tours on ohdeedoh.

I found it, I found it! Click here to see more of this lucky kiddo's room.

I Shopped Till I Dropped

I bought a new toy on Wednesday night. I was at Wall's, one of my favorite bargain stores here in town, and noticed some dslrs in their display case. 25% off. Even though it was just about time to pick up Little Miss M from daycare I got someone to unlock them and compared the Sony Alpha a230 and the Canon EOS Rebel XS. By comparing them I mean I called Carrie who purchased a camera last fall. All I know about them is that I want one. So I can pretend to be P-Dub or Ashlely. Or at least look cool.

In the end I bought the Sony because there was only one of them left and it was quite a bit cheaper. I figured I could do some research and do a switcharoo if I needed to. I think I'm going to keep it, mainly because of the price difference. I wouldn't really have to pay much more if I bought it online or at Walmart but I'm all about saving what I can. Even though this wasn't exactly a predetermined and/or budegeted decision. I blame it on Spring Break. In my experience it's when I'm at my retail weakest.

Without further ado, here she is:

No name yet. Any suggestions? And no idea on how to operate her. I'm open to suggestions here, too!

And, yes, I did pick the kid up from daycare on time!

Airstream Love

For those of you who might not know me, I have two obsessions: Airstreams and weddings. Imagine the sheer bliss I felt as I was catching up on my wedding blog reading and happened across this engagement shoot by Leslie Mitchell via the Green Wedding Shoes blog.

So then I had to search for this wedding I found several months ago on OnceWed, another wonderful wedding blog.

See more here, here, and here. Photography by Steven Meyers.

Airstreams + Love = Wedding perfection. Ahhh. Now I just need to find myself an Airstream. And a man. Hmmm...

If anyone has a lead on either of the two, please let me know!

Pugalicious

According the the AKC standards for pugs, it is "desirable" for them to weigh between 14 and 18 pounds. Another site I visited said they could be between 17 and 24 pounds. Hmmm...you don't say? Keep in mind that females are supposed to be on the lower end of the spectrum.

Well, I finally took my woofies into the local vet for their yearly checkup and vaccinations. It was the first time I've taken two pets in at the same time. But they did surprisingly well.

Here they are waiting for the good doctor to visit them.

Wilbur, weighing in at 27.8 pounds. I can't be sure, but I think most of it is tongue!

And Bijou. Sweet Boo. My fattie. She's a whopping 32 pounds!
Yep, double what the AKC recommends.

The good news is that the vet thinks they are both in good health (minus the weight factors) and their teeth are fantastic...considering dental issues common in the breed. And he was thrilled with Miss Fattie's teeth especially because she's 5 1/2 years old. You go, gurrrl!

I Hate Puzzles

Okay, so it's the night before you return home from your Spring Break shopping extravaganza and you begin to survey the spoils of the trip. And you see that it is good. Very good.

You are pleased that you finally decided to buy that frame from Ikea.

And you're thrilled with the foldable(?) Barbie house you found at Thrift Town.

And your new owl. The cutest little owl. But will it live indoors or outdoors? That is the biggest question on your mind.

Until the fear sets in. Because you must find a way to make all this material goodness fit into your car. Your compact car. And don't forget about your luggage! And you think about how much you dislike jigsaw puzzles, because that's really all this is. And you wish for an SUV yet again.

Especially when your trunk already looks like this. Always. It's okay, just take a deep breath.

First, you must empty it all out. And then you ought to borrow a Dustbuster to finally suck up the broken ornaments that have been in the car since last year.

Then you lay down your oversized dog crate, golf umbrella, random decorative twigs (that have been in the trunk since moving out of your last office - 9 months ago!), and your What-A-Chair.

Why, yes, I did indeed say What-A-Chair.

Next, you add your Ikea goodies (black baroque frame and Calypso light fixtures) and the stroller you borrowed for "Baby Lilly" (the baby alter ego of your foster daughter).

Then you just start cramming in everything else and hope it all fits. Games, an Ikea poster, a throw you've been meaning to return to TJ Maxx since before Christmas, a lamp from Home Goods, and your Christmas tree hat. Because you never know just when it might come in handy.

When it doesn't fit and you finally come to grips with this realization, you stuff what's left into the front seat and hope to heck that the kid and the two dogs will travel nicely together in the back seat. And that you're tall enough to see over the mound and into your side mirrors. And then you promise yourself that you won't stop at the outlet mall on the way home. But if you do give into temptation, you promise to limit yourself to just two bags. Three max. You can probably squish it all in there. Probably.

Once home, you schlep all of it all onto your living room floor and hope the decorating fairy (aka "Mom") comes to visit soon! Then you sleep. Or drink. Or both.

The Dump

I experienced The Dump for the first time last week. It was like Ross for high end furniture. If only I had more money and/or space (and a stinkin' SUV) I would have gone crazy!

Okay, they weren't for sale but how great are these light fixtures?!

If only I had more than a foot above my doorways. Oh, Loraine, how I miss you!

LOVE this dresser. Can't get enough houndstooth! But it was still over $3,000...

...so I'd settle for this one. So pretty! But can you imagine the fingerprints?

I really did almost buy this picture. Carried it around with me for almost an hour.

I thought it would be great in my kitchen but it was still a little steep for me.

Several other pictures had a 30% off sticker...drats!

Curb Appeal...sorta

Lest you think I've done nothing productive during the break, check out what I did yesterday!

I found these house numbers at Tuesday Morning in T-Town but they didn't have all the numbers I needed. Luckily, they were at the store around the corner from my aunt's house in Texas. The best part is that they were$1.99 each!

Old numbers...teeny tiny.

Look how tiny in comparison!

And, okay, the numbers are bigger but because they're nickel it's a little tricky to see against the white paint. Alas.

School Office

To make myself feel a little better about the home office looming ahead of me I dug through some photos to find before and after photos of my school office.

I painted the two brown walls this pea green color I bought in the Oops! section (of course). It took me awhile to get used to it but now I really like it. If the paint is still usable I think I'm going to paint zebra stripes on the other two walls this summer. I have more shelving and filing cabinets in the room now but I think it looks bigger mainly because of the color change and furniture placement. That rug is one of my favorite garage sale purchases. $5...score! The colors are fantastic. It's old, handmade in the 70s, and there are spots where it's worn through and/or unraveling but I still love it!

Ugh

My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to deal with this today...

My office/craft room. It invokes fear in the heart of man. So daunting. Ugh. I don't think I need to worry about this message self destructing because this room already has!

Curious

I bought my pups these Three Dog Bakery Lick 'n Crunch cookie treats. Vanilla cream sandwiched between carob wafers. They're referred to as the "Oreo cookie for dogs." So true! My pups love them. And I'd be lying if I said they didn't smell doggone good! I cannot believe I am even thinking (let along posting) about sampling one. Because they don't smell like dog food. And they're all natural. But it's not normal to want to eat scooby snacks of any form. Right? I'll let you know if I succumb to curiosity. It killed the cat, you know.

Obsessed

photo found here

Oh my. I love iced coffee. Love it. But I don't like to pay for it. And then I discovered this tasty concoction on P-Dub's Tasty Kitchen. My life will never be the same. Unfortunately, neither will my waistline. I might have made myself TWO on my lunch break yesterday. Maybe.

Now, I don't like hot coffee (even though I do own a coffee maker) so I improvised the recipe a bit and used instant coffee. The first time I made it I did use my tea kettle but then I started using cold water. Just have to shake it a little bit longer is all. And while the mason jar isn't required, it certainly is cute! Here's my version...

• 1 T instant coffee
• 3/4 C cold water
• 3/4 C milk
• long squirt of chocolate syrup
• longish pour of Coffeemate (I used Italian Sweet Cream like suggested but I'll try French Vanilla next time)
• 2 pkg Splenda
• ice

I do use a mason jar, but I have a really big one. Then you, you know what to do...shake, shake it, shake, shake it, shake, shake it like a Polaroid picture!

Sooo good. Do try!

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - Q

Disclaimer: I must admit that I cheated a bit and looked up some Q words. Otherwise I would have had only two entries.

Quarter - not just one-fourth, ladies and gentlemen! Apparently a quarter is "a unit of measure equal to 28 pounds." Did not know that. 25 pounds is what I would've guessed if pressed.

Q-Bert - okay, I loved this video game as a kid! I don't know how many quarters (possibly 28 pounds worth - haha!) I went through at Mazzio's and The Tilt on this game. To almost clear the board and then end up hopping off the edge accidentally...nooooo! In middle school I had "Note Books" with my friends (we passed spirals -one spiral per friendship- back and forth to each other in between classes) and Meena wanted us to use code names in case our book was confiscated. Q-Bert was my name. Or possibly hers. But I think probably it was mine.

Quiet Light - when we lived with my grandparents for a bit if I couldn't fall asleep I would find my grandmother who was usually sitting in her wooden rocking chair in the living room. I would sit in her lap and we would rock back and forth looking at the lamp post in her backyard, our "quiet light."

Quinquennium - a period of 5 years. How exactly is this word used? Is it like a 5-year anniversary mark? What are your goals for this quinquennium?

Quire - exactly 24 sheets of paper. Hmmm.

Quitter - not just what you call someone who quits something...quitter also refers to pus. Awesome.

Here's some other random Q words I'll use in a sentence: I hope you never quackle on some qat or a quarender. If you do, I hope a quidam (preferably not a quean or a quidnunc) is there to quagswag you so as to quich the blockage.

Back to the Basics

Just couldn't keep the leopard print background. The pink was too much. So back to where I started. Aaah...feels good!

Oops.

So I was checking out free blog backgrounds at lunch and saw this cute pink and leopard print one on Aqua Poppy Designs and decided to give it a whirl. But it looks a little too girlie for me. And now I can't remember where I found my last background. Of course I didn't copy and save any of the HTML coding. And of course I used to be a bad blogger and I would change some of the code so that you couldn't see their tag/link. Which means I wasn't reminded daily of where I could find it again. Bad blogger, bad, bad blogger! Alas.

What are your thoughts about this background? This one or the loosely interpreted zebra stripe one? I think if this one didn't look so patched together in some areas I'd like it more...but I might be outta luck!

Nevermind...it is now a few minutes later (5:16 to be exact) and I found the last one...it was from Aqua Poppy, too. So I can get it back if I want to. Thoughts?

Game Night - Finally!

Finally, a game she likes! We've tried Memory and Candy Land and Disney Princess Yatzee (a bit over her head yet) and Hi-Ho Cherry-O and some Dora ABC game and...but finally I found "The One" and she has been playing it nonstop! Let's hear it for Hungry, Hungry Hippos! I thrifted it and paid a bit more ($6) than I normally would for something at a thrift store but it looked brand new (retails for $18.99) and seemed to have all its parts. So we brought it home, set it up, and started feeding those colorful hippos! And we kept on feeding them. Into the night. After her bath. Instead of a bedtime story. When she woke up this morning. When we got back from church. After her nap (make that rest time). And...

But apparently we weren't the first owners after all because it turns out it was missing one marble and, well, I'll let you see if you can figure out the other thing...

My guess is some little tyke was in charge of affixing these two poor hippos' sticker eyes in the right place. The green and yellow ones were fine. And, after receiving permission from Little Miss M, I peeled these guys' eyeballs off and relocated them!

Work In Progress

Here's a little look-see into what's cookin' in my kitchen redo...

And here's what was cookin' tonight for dinner:

Chicken Enchiladas from Mique's (of 30 Handmade Days) food blog. Yum!

Memory Lane

For some reason I've chosen this week to delve into the crazy insane mess of boxes in my craft room. Because of said boxes I am unable to actually use the room to do any crafting. So...I jumped into it and, as usual, I have only created a larger mess. Because, of course, I find it necessary to sort through every little thing which reminds me of something else that I need to find which leads me traipsing through the rest of my house. And if I do make progress (which is mostly just creating a toss pile) it looks worse because instead of throwing all the junk into a big black trash bag I have to make several more piles of stuff : one that should be shredded, one for donations, one for stuff to be recycled...and on and on it goes.

But this long and arduous process has gifted me with a few surprises and smiles. For example, a random photo of my step mom whom we lost 3 years ago; old birthday cards from Kristin; the past seven (7!) years of Valerie's family Christmas photos; a CASSETTE TAPE of Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians (I used the artwork from that cover for my 8th grade art scale-to-scale drawing project...21 years ago - egads!); some confetti shrapnel from one of Leslie's cards; a "Hot Shot" hot water dispenser (where were these in my college days?); four of my old cell phones; and this:

It was in a box of some stuff that didn't sell in our last garage sale but I wasn't quite ready to donate it for whatever reason. And remembering that I pulled some CDs out because people noticed that some were missing from the cases, I opened it to see if I could just throw it away. But the CD was still there and so was this:

The first year I went back to OBU to work as a dorm (excuse me, residence hall) director I had an awesome group of young ladies working for me. At the end of that year they printed 250 of these business cards and snuck into my office and apartment and hid them EVERYWHERE. I was finding them all over the place the first month. In drawers, in work files, in the key cabinet, in my sock drawer, in cookbooks, etc. I've kept every one I've found over the years and I think I'm up to about 200 of them. Everytime I find one (and it's getting much further in between findings) I can't help but smile. I hope I continue to stumble across them on into my 50s! What a fun group of girls!

A Long Time Comin'

So after at least eight (8!) long months I FINALLY got my hair trimmed. I remember that last winter my hair was pretty dry but this winter has it topped. My split ends had split ends! How does that even happen?! No joke, one of my hairs was split seven times. Yep. I counted. At work. When I should have been using my time more efficiently. But even with the sorry state of my hair I never got around to making an appointment for a trim. Until last week. I finally called the hair salon I went to years ago when I lived here before.

And there was some massive confusion about which Janice I used to go to back then. Because there are two Janices. I had no idea which one. By the time it was over I thought I had made an appointment with Janice H. only to find out later that it was actually Janice W. I used to see. But then I remembered I had a conference on Tuesday and was going to use it as an excuse to cancel the appointment. But after I told them I was unable to keep my appointment because of a conference it ended up I was on the right Janice's schedule after all. Noooooo! And she wasn't going to be able to fit me in again until Spring Break. Nooooooo!

Anywho...yesterday I spent more time than necessary looking at my split ends and breaking them off (it was kind of cathartic in a gross, creepy way) and I decided I had to do something about it. I was even going to head to the mall when I decided to call them back just to see. I'll spare you the script of that call. Mostly I was awkward and not very clear. I think the way I worded it ("Do you have any openings?") made them think I was looking for a job. But I was able to get in! I didn't get anything drastic done. Really it was just a trim (but she had to whack off around three inches to get rid of most of those ugly little suckers) and a little bit more bang than last time. And she told me if I took 2-3 flax seed oil pills a day for a couple of weeks I'd notice a big difference in my dry hair. Hmm...I'm up for that experiment.

And that, my friends, was a great big snore fest of a story for each and every one of you. And now I have to actually do more productive things while at work. Boo.

Oprah's Full of Inspiration

So here's what my dining area looks like:

Pretty blah, no? The biggest issue is that I'm unable to use the french doors to the backyard because the (rather small) table is right smack dab in the middle of the fairly small room. So I end up using the door to the utility room which leads to the garage which also has access to the backyard. Way too many steps out of my way if you ask me. Which I know you didn't.

And then there's this cut out or pass through or whatever into the living room to contend with. So not inviting. I know, I know, I really should have hung something on the walls by now. But it's only been six months. Cut me some slack, people! Sheesh.

I know, blah blah BLAH! But then I picked up the Winter 2007 issue of Oprah's O at Home magazine in a recent thrifting trip and all my dreams came true. Or at least I finally solved my decorating dilemma.

I don't know if it's because my old dining room was chocolate brown or because I have an oversized gold frame or that I own one of the EXACT SAME black and white chairs or what but I'm so drawn to this room. And I think it's similar in proportion to my teensy tiny room. I checked the shopping section in the back and learned that she just slipcovered an Ikea bench so I made some notes for my upcoming trip to Texas. But then I went into TJ Maxx and found this:

Methinks it's perfect! And it's a storage bench to boot...for cookbooks or extra dishes or (gasp!) the toaster oven my grandmother has convinced me never to get rid of but right now is awkwardly sitting on top of my dryer. Genius!

Also, I'm not planning on doing brown again. If I ever get around to it my kitchen will be painted white. Although I did consider painting that back wall in black chalkboard paint for Little Miss M but then I nixed that idea. And unfortunately my gold frame is too big for the space. So I'm going to hang a black mirror there for the time being. And I'm keeping my black table. And two of my dining chairs. The armless ones. I'll reupholster the seats in something snazzy...black and white zebra stripes perhaps?

Pics of the work in progress to come. Hopefully leaving all (three) of you faithful readers hanging will motivate me to whip the room into shape. But for now the big question is...what will I buy on my Ikea shopping trip over Spring Break now that I found the bench?