Wasting Time

You can never really predict how long a home project will take.  I had plans of hanging new vanity lights in our bathroom and replacing the drawer pulls.
1.   Picking out lighting - I had decisions to make on vanity lighting.  I searched on LampsPlus and found what I wanted, but the cost was going to be WAAAY too much.  When I abandoned my cart online, I actually received a call on my cell phone from LampsPlus to see if I had encountered problems checking out.  Yes, I had encountered a $600 problem!  Time wasted - about an hour.

I love you but you are too expensive!

 2.  I went to Ace Hardware looking for drawer pulls.  After much deliberation, I decided on some pulls.  I needed 13, and they only had about 6.  I conceded and found another pull I liked.  Again, there were not enough.  Over and over again...until I left Ace empty handed.  Time wasted - about 30 minutes.
3.  I went to Lowe's to continue in my quest for pulls and lights.  I found some vanity lights I liked.  I crawled under a ladder and found bin 28 A 17 where they were located.  I needed 2.  There was only 1. Time wasted - 20 minutes.
4.  I found another vanity light I liked.  There were 2!  Yes, add to cart.  It needed glass canopies.  I carefully selected the canopy I liked from 20 different choices. I needed 6.  There were only 5.  I had to settle for another canopy.  Time wasted - 10 minutes.
5.  Now, for some coordinating drawer pulls.  Where are they located?  Why is every Lowe's laid out completely differently?  Where?  Hardware?  Help?  Anybody?
Yes!  I finally located the pulls and carefully selected what I wanted.  Bonus - there were plenty.  I purchased 13.
6.  I found someone who could help me purchase longer screws to fit my pulls in the event that the screws that came with them were not the correct length (which is usually the case.) See, I have learned to ALWAYS BE PREPARED!  I am so on top of things!
7.  Now Phase 2 - installation.  First, I screwed in all the pulls with no problems.  For once, the screws they came with actually fit.  Wasted time in step 7 buying the longer screws - 10 minutes.

 9.  Next, vanity lights.  This was a new realm for me.  I took down the old light and removed the mounting plate from the wall....only to find - 

....A giant hole in the wall making company with 3 medium size holes and 6 small screw holes.  There was no way my new small mounting plate and fixture would hide this monster.  And I don't do drywall.  And I am pretty sure there should be an electrical box of some kind here instead of just wires sticking out of the wall.  Realization sets in...experts will have to be called.  Time wasted - the last two weeks of preparation and everything leading up to this moment.

10.  Project enters Phase 3 - Reinstallation of the vanity light I just removed.  Wasted time - it's hard to calculate when you are this frustrated!

Ode to Santa Cruz, Bolivia

I just finished painting the bathroom cabinets. 

With all my "formal" training (HGTV watching,) I was surprised that I had failed to forecast what was about to happen:  my forest green flooring and coordinating forest green counter tops would look extra foresty green when paired with white. 

"What's wrong with green and white?"

Not everyone has a problem with Forest Green.  It was really popular in the 90s.  In fact, I think it was invented in the nineties.

You know who appreciates Forest Green?  Ole Ralph Lauren.

I kept thinking.  This reminds me of something.

My husband is a Boston Celtics fan.

What could it be?

Green is all the rage!

And why should I have such a problem with Green and White?  Why do I have the sudden urge to sledgehammer the tile floor and throw sticks of dynamite in the sinks?

Drum roll...here is the unveiling!  Remember, you voted on this!

And here she is!  2 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint later.

What can I say?  I am muy popular in Santa Cruz, Bolivia!  ¡Olé!

La Bandera Oficial de Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Any good black Friday deals on dynamite and sledgehammers?

New Carpet!

Having had carpet put in our last three houses, I wish I could give good advice about the best carpet do put in, choosing colors, etc.   The only thing I seem to ever learn is what NOT to do.

This sums up my past carpet choices. 

Lesson #1 - San Antonio Home - White berber.  Didn't realize it was going to be that white.  Rex threw up on it during the first week and we never got the spot out.  

Here's a shot of the white berber in a little photo I would title:

"Playing with New Baby Brother"

He is now 5 and outweighs her.  She had to have her fun while it lasted.

Lesson #2 - Big Spring Home - We did a fluffy shag-type brown with spots.  Better with stains (I know because I spilled a great deal of paint in one room and besides being a little crunchy in that spot, you couldn't see anything.)  However, it felt dirty...like each fiber was absorbing dirt and hair and popcicle juice and coffee.  Once Marc got a bad fever and decided to sleep on the floor.  He proceeded to sweat profusely for several hours and I'm pretty sure the carpet was never clean after that.

"New Baby Shelby on Sweaty Gross Big Spring Carpet"

Of course she didn't know any better.

 In what can only be described as an ADD moment in my life, I chose three different carpets for three different rooms for our new home.  We just got it installed this week.

Master bedroom = wavy

I am not feeling this color.

Rex is looking a little seasick.

Carly's room has an organic motif.

You cannot see the motif very well.  Come over and have a look.

 

Conrad's carpet is brown with a "dotty" design.

Brown...dotty... This is my favorite.

Maybe, just maybe...there is no perfect carpet???? 

Bathroom cabinets

I painted the bathroom this weekend.

It used to be this strange mint green color.

 I took our gray-greenish-bluish bedroom color, and took it one shade darker.

We really like this color.

Here is another "before."

Note the brown banisters and ugly blinds.

And the corresponding "after."

Photobooth inverts the photos in case you are feeling disoriented.

So I am left with this burning question.

No, it's not about these lights.  Their time is already ticking.

What to do with the remaining wood?

AND.....

picture does not do this justice

The fact that there is quite a bit of odd mint green paint
on the edges of cabinets 

due to previous poor paint job?

You watch HGTV don't you?  Surely you have a suggestion for little old me

and my sombrero wearing online chihuahua friend?

Yo quiero tu helpo.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Twilight Zone

I decided to take an alternate route to school this morning, 

which led me around the front of our home (we park in the back.) 

To my surprise, this is what I saw:

Photo taken early this morning from low-tech cell phone

It is not uncommon for us to rush out in the mornings and leave a few lights on.  

I suppose we left our upstairs lights on this morning.

Only problem is...

We don't have an upstairs.  

Those windows up there with the blinds on them?  

Those are dormers.  

They are not even visible from the attic.  

They are just kind of "stuck on" the roof. 

For your comparison and contrast:  Photo in daylight courtesy of Google Maps.

Which leads me to wonder...who exactly is living up there?  

And should we be charging rent?  

And why do I have to get up and go to work BEFORE the crack of dawn 

when these slakers are obviously just rising for their morning coffee 

and watching the Today Show? 

And, in the words of my Gramma Susie,

I'm feeling like a "fraidy cat"

and am concerned that maybe the previous owners,

know some secret passage way and are living up there.

Do you think they'll change the light bulbs when they burn out?

I think that would be a fair trade-off.

Don't you?

Teaching your family to pick things up

Adapted from this article about How to Get Children to Pick Things Up

This article will give you a way to teach your child to pick things up.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging  virtually impossible

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Time - 18 years
• Patience of a saint
• Lots of Loving   
  
• A realization that you might just have to adjust your standards of clean. 

*Realize that when your child grabs things and throws them all onto the floor, something needs to be done. This is not a good way to live. Rarely will they ever learn, on their own or with the help of others for that matter, that things really do not belong on the floor.

*Try to pretend that you are happy. Mommy is so happy you are chunking stuff on the floor!  Look, the good stuff is in the china cabinet! 

*Pretend that it's a game, and you want to play. Lookey here, now mommy is taking the entire contents of your underwear drawer and tossing its contents one garment at a time onto your floor!  This is fun!  Whoo-hooo!    Now, it really isn't a game. No really...it is kind of fun.  I think they are on to something here.  No more folding laundry.  Just chunk it on the floor!  Of course you don't feel like picking up all the toys, clothes, books, and the never-ending list of things that children purposely throw onto the floor, but push all your feelings aside to placate others but just try to look happy, talk happy, and sound happy while you begin picking these things up. Oh yes, confuse them.  They all think you are crazy anyway.  And if they don't, give 'em a few years.

*It would help if you would even sing while you pick things up with them. "I'm sick of this bit, I'm sick of this bit, why can't anyone, pick up their own ....  "   It would be a little more fun for your child, and they will remember this moment. "The moment when mommy's cheese slid off her cracker."

*Ask your child if they want to play. Most children will be happy to "play".  "I throw things down, mommy sings and picks them up!  This is fun!  I'm off to find more things to throw!"

*Once the game is over, and everything is picked up, it probably won't take long for your child to start throwing things down onto the floor again.  You call this progress? 

*Don't let that bother you, though, because you really are teaching them; and they really are learning. Wait, I thought they were still throwing things down.  Delusional, much?  Where's the "learning" that you mention?  The only thing they are learning is that mommy sings and acts crazy when she's angry.

*Eventually, you should begin to start seeing them picking things up on their own. You only have to harbor your frustration and smile for a little over 1.5 decades.

*They might even sing a little song while they are picking up.  Oops.

*If you catch your child picking up, it would be really great if you would join in, and maybe even say things like, "Yay!", and "This is fun!" Or they will realize that it is not fun, like we all know.  Because it's NOT FUN.  Even if you are singing your little songs and doing your jig and smiling and saying "It's fun!"  It's not fun. 

Let there be (less) light!

Our house has so many lights.  Too many to count.
And with lights come:

Switches....lots of switches

Most of the time, when we hit the switch to turn off a light, we actually end up turning on another light.  We are constantly searching for the right switch.

If you look carefully, you will see 7 of the 14  switches we have in our living room and entry.  That was not a typo or an exaggeration.  14 switches and bagillions of bulbs.

Our master bathroom has 5 light switches and 14 light bulbs.

Perfect for those with cataracts, like our dog Rex, or for people with small, unworking pupils who like spontaneous puzzle-solving throughout the day and paying high-cost energy bills, or for descendants of Thomas Edison.

Ri-friggin-diculous! for the average person.

Master bath:  6 light bulbs in these two fixtures alone, not including shower light, toilet light/fan, and vanity lights.

There are always bulbs that either a) burned out b) shorted out or c) broken out (previous owner liked to bust out bulbs and leave the casings.  I am beginning to understand why!  Too many bulbs!)

....I am slowly slipping into a brightly lit insanity...so bright....so pretty....

So, for my last project, I reduced our lightbulb load by 3 by replacing the above ceiling fan with this:

Just a plain little fan.

Now if I can just find the right switch to turn it on!