Oh, No. Not a Beer Snob At All.

We've got new neighbors.

Mary-Next-Door moved at the beginning of January and we were relishing the silence and lack of diesel vehicles next door.

Not that Mary was bad, she wasn't, not at all.

She sold me these bowls at her yard sale:

I was in my pajamas, in the dark, at her yard sale. I hadn't brushed my hair. Or my teeth. But I WANTED these bowls. They are much prettier mixing bowls than the set I inherited from a co-worker. Plus, these are easier for me to lift down from their spot. It's love, I tell you.

Anyway, so she moved out. This weekend, the new people moved in. Jeremiah and I were hoping for a couple similar to ourselves - quiet, thoughtful neighbors. Aged appropriately, like us. We were hoping for people down with listening to some music, playing some games, and just hanging out. We were hoping for some nerds like us.


We had our first "Danger, Will Robinson" moment when they rolled up in a cheap sports car tricked out with a spoiler so big it could have acted as the doorway to Narnia.

But we remained hopeful. Right up until they were hanging around with friends after moving everything out of the Uhaul. We were getting ready to head out ourselves, so as Jeremiah was unlocking and opening my door for me I was spying.

Jeremiah: What do you see?
Me: Well, I see an Orange County Choppers shirt. This causes me to shiver just a bit, as I am not a car* person. 
Jeremiah: No big deal. He's not swayed in the least.
Me: I see a guy wearing a shirt that says "F*CK Scottsdale" This gets smirks and snorts from both of us.
Jeremiah: In front of their kids? Not so cool, I guess.
Me: Um, and they are all smoking and...
Jeremiah: And what?
Me: No, I can't. You won't like it.
Jeremiah: Tell me. I can take it. He braces himself.
Me: They are drinking Miller Lite.
Jeremiah: Oh my god.
Me: Out of cans.
Jeremiah: Silence. Forget it. It would never work between us.

And we drive away.

It occurs to me. In all the years that I have known Jeremiah, I have never seen him drink a beer from a can. Not once. And when I call him a beer snob he gets all upset. I am sorry, but you gotta call a spade a spade, you know?

So I don't think our new neighbors will become our besties, but who knows. Never give up.




P.S. Let's re-examine the bowls. Because they are that beautiful. When I use them I will fondly remember the short little woman with teased bottle blonde hair who could have easily been called a cougar, who hit on Jeremiah and wore short shorts. Sigh. Those were the good old days.

* Believe it or not, I actually know that OC Choppers is about bikes. As in, motorcycles. Not because I ever watched the show, but because I did watch Miami Ink religiously while it was on and they did tats for the guys in the shop. So why did I say cars? I think I might have been using cars as an interchangeable word for "thing that moves and goes vroom and gets you from Point A to Point B". That's my only defense.

Freeze Frame(s)

So I know that YHL recently did a wall gallery at their house, but I promise you, mine has been a long time in the coming. We actually had a small-scale version at the house we rented. I pulled my inspiration from these two books:

And while this isn't wall/picture/gallery inspired, I've included this photograph of a blue room with yellow, brown, and green accents from Domino as it served as inspiration for my back room. Just a little less stuffy and a bit more casual. And I want that brown pillow.

Okay. So here are some examples we I looked at. The one below is from The Nest. Of course, I could never paint a wall red. I think it looks great, but it simply isn't for me. But we did choose black frames for the project because it was going into the front room, which isn't as whimsical as the back half of the house. We collected frames that we already had and bought more at Goodwill and Salvation Army, where they cost about fifty cents to a dollar. Then we spray painted the ones that weren't black. And by we I mean Jeremiah because I let him do it. He loves it so much I hate to take that away from him. can't spray paint (muffled sob).

The picture below is actually inspiration for our hall upstairs. Jeremiah took an incredible picture and my mom had it enlarged for him as a gift. We'll put smaller pictures around it, just like they did in Domino.

And we smooshed things pretty close together.

It ended up looking like this after Jeremiah got everything up. For now. We plan on spray painting the mail/wall file thing (that I got at Salvation Army) and adding more to the right side of the table.

You can see that we tried to get a variety of frames. I think that the different sizes, textures, etc. really adds to the wall.

We don't have pictures in them yet. Photographs will be black and white and anything else will/can be color. I have a ton of paper that we can use to matte, too.

That is a recent project. More pictures when we get the frames filled. Howsabout you? Any galleries? Black and white photographs versus color?

$2.50 Tables

Remember a looooong time ago when I mentioned that I bought two tables at Salvation Army and I only paid $2.50 total? Hence the title of this post. The tables started out looking like this: Ugly. For suresies. And I am pretty sure that Jeremiah scoffed at my tables and thought they were unsalvageable. He humored me, the tables came home with us. Lucky bastards.

Then when we he sanded the cabinets he also sanded my tables. Still darn ugly.

When he finished, I primed. Oil based primer. It covers just about anything and sticks to the crap that didn't get sanded off.

Then I painted. White. Several coats. The gnome made his way into this picture, too, so I cropped his happy little face right out. Here's a close-up of the table.

And here they are, finished. With my cheap $5.00 lamp.

We like.

Another success!

So much prettier than before, and at only $1.25 each, quite the steal. Anybody else love to bargain shop? Get any great deals lately?

Holy Ssssshhhhelves!

Hello again, dear friends. And family. I come bearing shelves. Pictures of them, actually. I found this website: Holy Crap This Chick is Talented! and decided that I needed to have several of the shelves. In different lengths. They are for pictures and stuff.

So handy dandy Boyfriend made them and sanded them. I primed them. I painted them.

On a super-exciting note, I have a garage workspace. This is exciting, as I had zero space before. But now? I've got cabinet space. And drawers. Don't be jealous.

Here's what they looked like finished: This isn't the final way it will look, obviously. Any framed pictures on the shelves will be white. And there will be LOTS of them.  The birds will probably stay. So will the candle. But not that bottle. I think I might paint or decoupage it...

But don't you dig my shelves? We altered her design slightly as I didn't want a huge lip in the front. And the shelves are placed lower because they'll be loaded with pictures, so they are eye-level-ish.

Then he made me baby ones for the dining area. Love these. They are higher because they aren't holding any pictures. Just some dishes and my favorite blue jars.

Love. They look great with the constant light that the small room gets.

What do you think? Success? We think so. I just need to collect/spray paint some frames white and find pictures to put in them.

Anybody else building right now?

p.s. Listening to Dead Weather's Sea of Cowards
p.p.s. Please ignore the gnome. That is for a photo project I am working on. 

You Screen, I Screen

While cruising around our local ghetto, we stopped at a second hand store. I found this:



It's wrought iron. It's heavy. I love it.

It was supposed to go in front of the fireplace, but we really wanted the design to stand out so Jeremiah removed the legs and the brass balls (heeeheee) on top and hung it for me.

It needs to be moved a bit, but for now we are loving it. I don't even mind the stumps/screws at the bottom (although Jeremiah offered to hacksaw them off for me) because it adds to its character. It is unique, most likely there aren't too many people who have this, and I LOVE repurposing stuff. And I love a good deal - $20. Jeremiah bargained with him. Not bad for unique art!


p.s. Thank you for all of you that are voting daily! I truly appreciate it. I know that my chances are slim and there are people way ahead of me, but it honestly doesn't hurt to try. The realization that I could write a post each day and have someone pay me to do it...wow. So thanks again.

p.p.s. Also, we've got some great posts coming up. That's the royal we. I mean I have some posts coming up. Some tattoo stuff, some WHITE CABINETS, the chair has a new slipcover, etc. Stay tuned! I've nearly finished the huge amounts of work for school & school, so I might have a little more blogging time!

An Ocean of Color

I wanted to share the little shelf CLH created for me so I could display my ocean-inspired glass SAFELY (a daunting task considering the dogs).

It's in the laundry room (hence the frosted windows) and I'm sorry the picture didn't turn out better but with the flash the glasses didn't light up. Without the flash, the room is a bit dim. I just really wanted you to see the neat effect. It's even cooler in the afternoon when the sun is really shining through. Beautiful glass that lights up the room.

P.S. All of the glass was purchased at either SalArmy or Goodwill for less than a dollar each.

P.P.S. What I'm listening to now: THUNDER! We are having an incredible storm! Roads flooded and everything! It is something that you don't miss until it's gone - grey skies and rain. Makes me feel like fall is finally here. We even had HAIL!

Mirror, Mirror

We found a mirror! It was a steal at 50% off the regular price.



I just wanted to show you the new and improved mantel. There are still some changes to be made, but for now...we likey.

UpsieDatesies:
The house is still haunted. Yesterday while I worked out, Spike walked to the closet door, sniffed, and then backed away. Afterward, he walked into the master bedroom, got just past the doorway, and cowered until he was laying down. Last night, I saw weird shadows in the bedroom. I had Jeremiah turn on the lights. We sat for a minute, heard a super weird screechy noise, and Spike went ballistic, barking at NOTHING. Later that night, it got hot (which woke us both up) and I immediately sensed that everything was okay. No spooky feeling. It was gone. Whatever it was.
Just wanted to let you know that our house? STILL TOTALLY HAUNTED.

The Big Picture...Sort of.

I had some complaints because I didn't show the WHOLE living room the last time I showed pics of the house. I'm still not completely finished, but here is a bigger shot of the room. The mirror above the fireplace is temporary until I find the perfect mirror. Elmer the elephant is for keeps. The framed pictures will be moved to the hall upstairs. But for now, here it is:

And for awhile I had a pretty floral scarf serving as a tablecloth, but then I found these green placemats at Kohl's for a buck (don't worry, I got a full set) and thought they looked great with the blue, plus the punch of color from the flowers (from Jeremiah on our anniversary).

By the way, that little yellow corner table is the best thing ever. I got it at Salvation Army for about ten bucks. Whoever owned it before painted the pop open drawers a pretty sea green. Totally complimentary. Love.It.

P.S. The cabinets have been removed and sanded by Jeremiah. The priming (my job) is almost done. Next step: Paint (also my job)! The slip cover for the slipper chair is half finished. It was most definitely another successful and crafty weekend!

Kiss My Glass

I mentioned that I found some awesome deals at Salvation Army. Again. I heart Salvation Army. I really do.

My first piece is this fun green vase. I figure it will be perfect with those little tiny tea lights I bought, some fresh flowers, or whatever. I likes it a lots.
Excuse the water spots, but aren't you loving these glasses? So much fun! They totally go with our stuff. I'm planning on using them for drinking glasses, but they could double as cute votive holders or even small vases.
Lastly, I added another jar to my collection. You can see that we put my first two right to work. They house our rice and corn kernels. Yes, we pop our own popcorn. No, we don't own a microwave. No, we haven't set any pans on fire (remember that, dad?). And yes, people think we're weird 'cause we don't have a microwave. In my defense, I bought one, wasn't satisfied, took it back, and just kind of never replaced it.

Anyway, ooh, pretty. Right?

So that is it. Anyone else have an addiction? I figure I'm okay because I use all of the glass I buy, plus I pay about 50 cents for each item.

P.S. Stay tuned because we are painting kitchen cabinets this weekend, I've bought fabric to FINALLY slip-cover that slipper chair, and MAYBE we will finally be making our own drum shaded pendant light. It doesn't get much better than this.

Blinded by the Light

So it is officially...The First Day Of School! Holy Crap! I may actually vomit. For those of you that aren't planning on puking today, I post this, in your honor.

You might remember that I mentioned in a previous post that boyfriend had risked high-voltage for me by replacing an existing sconce with a NEW sconce. That took me months to pick out at the store. MONTHS. Here is the old sconce:
Stop. Stop yelling and fighting. Just send me an email and if you are the first reply I get you can have it. You don't need to fight over it. (Seriously, though. I hate these sconces. We have two more to replace yet.)

Anyway, here is the new sconce:
It's brushed nickel with a frosted glass. Me likey. Seriously a night & day difference.

Also, I've included a picture of a lamp base that I got at SalArmy for about two buckeroos and the drum shade I picked up at Ross for about two more dollars. So I'd like to introduce you to my four dollar lamp that I heart. Seriously.
I don't know for certain where it will go, but I think it was four dollars well spent.

Oh No He Didn't, or The Thief in the Kitchen , or Kitchen Etiquette

Yesterday night in my most tired state ever (I've started my first week back - no students yet, but still! It's never easy to come back) I rinsed my tupperware that had housed grapes for lunch that day. Then I set out the newly cleaned 'wares for today's grapes. That way, when up I gets in the morning, I don't have to do it then.

I'm smart like that, yo.

Imagine my surprise when I go downstairs (after exercising for nearly an hour) to have breakfast and finish making my lunch only to discover that boyfriend had taken my freakin' tupperware and used it himself. And then left.

Oh.No.He.Didn't.

Looks like it's Ricky that has some 'splainin' to do this time. Completely threw me off my game. I tried to explain why I was upset to the dogs, but I honestly don't think they cared. Typical males. I hate being outnumbered!

So anyway, I had to dig for a clean container and will now be completing a kitchen etiquette list for Jer-dog.

Because, also? Guess who doesn't exercise for almost an hour (in the wee hours of the morning)?

Boyfriend. The dude totally had the time to get his own tupperware.

p.s. please stayed tuned for "oh no he didn't, part 2" as we analyze Boyfriend's attempts to "quietly" come to bed after I've already hit the pillow. Boys. Boys. Boys.

p.p.s. please note that I can't be too snarky to the boy 'cause he hung my sconce yesterday (that took me months to pick out) while I was at work. Any guy that will risk taking some voltage for you is totally worth keeping.

Bargain Saturday

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. Call it back to school blues, call it cabin fever, call it whatever. There's been brooding and moodiness and all sorts of stuff. So ignore the funk.

What I really want to share is some serious bargains I scored this weekend. Jeremiah's exciting purchases were limited to new bike wheels and a toilet kit. My buys were endless...and so cheap.

Apparently I'm going backwards or mixed-up, so here goes. My second stop was Pier 1. Love Pier 1. Especially when they have these glass tea lights on clearance. Sixteen tea lights (which can be reused with new tea lights when the current ones burn out) for under five dollars. They'll be perfect for a nice dinner or scattered on the mantle.
Now go back in time to Salvation Army with me. I got this canister for about a buck. Perfect for sugar, which seems to go quickly what with the hummingbirds and Jeremiah's tea habit. Probably not the original reason for the canister (I'm thinking coffee), but for us, it's the sugar.
I also found the exact replica of the Rubbermaid container that I was trying to convince my mom to give me this summer as she packed it up to go to the new house. About a buck. And we love Jell-O here, so this is a good buy.
And this bowl/dish? SalArmy. Could be used as a centerpiece. See below? Or as a fruit dish...Love it.
The glass vase came from Poland! $3.50.
Finally, while at SalArmy, I saw these glasses:
Not exactly my style, but I couldn't step away. They had a funky snake design imprinted on the bottom. They were on sale for $3.50. I used my new phone to google the glasses. Guess what? They sell for about $25 a piece. So I snatched them up.

Those are my bargains. It doesn't always work out that I find so many great deals, but when it does, it is fun. So fun. Nerdy bargain-y fun.

Check Out My Knobs

I have to tell you that a Hobby Lobby opened recently near my casa. One Saturday when I was feeling a bit blue, a sweet man of the boyfriend variety suggested that we go check it out, hoping to lift my spirits.

First, you must understand that any grand opening is scary, but a crafty store grand opening might be the scariest thing ever. I don't recommend checking it out alone. You need someone there to hold your hand. There's all sorts of people there, just pushing & shoving & not following the bubble of personal space rule. You've got the kids, teens, etc. You've the got the crazies looking for a bargain (oh, lord I sort of fit in that category. I just don't push or shove. I'm very orderly in my shopping and bargain hunting, I promise.), plus the guys with their gals that would rather be ANYWHERE else, the guys looking at the model building stuff, little granny and grandpa types...You get the idea. All types of crazies. And it is okay for me to say that because I put myself in one of those categories.

As we are wandering through the store, Jeremiah points out that they have an aisle dedicated to knobs. Knowing I was looking to update some knobs, he steered us down the aisle where I found these little buggers:

So we got the E & J so we can use them on our new desk (that was only $15 at SalArmy). I'm just showing a close up until we get the remodel done on the desk. Then I will do a before and after for you.

I also wanted you to see these:
The entire house was/is filled with these cheap brassy knobs. Ick. I've been having that boyfriend of mine replace them as I am painting. We bought these as replacements:
Brushed nickel instead. So much prettier & much more me. I'm done discussing my knobs.

Love Birds

So Jeremiah got me these bird salt/pepper shakers for Christmas. It was sort of like this when we walked out of the store. Me: "Tell me right now if you aren't going to get those for me. I want them and I will go back in the store RIGHT NOW if you aren't going to come back for them." Boyfriend: "Just get in the car." I took that to mean that he would get them for me and he did! Want to see my shakers?

Don't you love them? I've always been a little chickadee and I've always liked to watch the birds, but lately I've been bringing them into my house, so when I was at Salvation Army on Saturday and saw this...

I thought, oh.my.gosh. and picked it up immediately. It was a dollar. One dollar. It matches my shakers perfectly. I don't have anything else to say. I'm just in love with my little white birds.