Decisions, decisions

I died this week.  Just for a couple days but then I got better.

That 24-hour stomach virus hit me like a ton of half-full paint cans and I was down for the count.  Fortunately I have some of the most amazing parents who knew exactly what to do, when all I knew to do was not move.  My mom came over with enough provisions to get us through Y2k, and my dad came over at just the right moment with (insert the sound of angels' voices) aspirin. Much better!

Now that I don't have to eat like a toddler anymore,

Chicken fingers, tots and Motts

I figured it was time to start in on the house again, light duty.  So I need some help deciding on what color to paint my front door.  I found an incredible deal at SignatureHardware.com on a door knocker.

Doctor's door knocker in antique brass

The best part about it is that it doubles as a wreath hook during the holiday season and is flat enough that I can keep the glass storm door up.  (I don't love the storm door but Pete likes to look out onto the world.)


So, decision time. Yellow or red door? What do you think? I honestly cannot decide!

The Weekend Warrior - Part 2

The softer side of my warrioress-ness:

After a fairly restless night getting used to my hyper house guest,

Manny!

Petey giving me the put-the-camera-down look

I finally tackled that throw pillow project I've been putting off for reasons including but not limited to: a) I needed an iron/ironing board, b) I needed at least two hours of quiet, and c) I am still a little afraid of my sewing machine.  One time (at band camp) I was using the wrong thickness of needle to sew some denim - the machine is called the BabyLock Denim Pro II for goodness sake - and it broke off and hit me in the lip.  It really hurt but my first thought was, "Thank God it wasn't my eye!"

Since then I've been wary of the thing and have always worn glasses/sunglasses/ safety goggles when putting it to use.  I have a lot of meshugas, I know.  As my dear Aunt Molly would say, I may be high maintenance but at least I'm self-maintaining.  The whole point of me blogging this stuff is to document my learning process when it comes to DIY and overcoming my fears.


I get daily emails from Joss & Main, One Kings Lane, Fab, Beyond the Rack, My Habit and The Foundry, which are all websites listing daily designer sales up to 80% off retail value.  I am addicted to scouring these sites but am extremely restrained when it comes to buying.  Only on a rare occasion will a deal so fabulous catch my attention that I throw down the plastic for a piece of bargain basement gold.  Most recently it was a Fab.com tea towel that will be framed to hang over the future breakfast nook...more on that later when it arrives in 10 to 22 days.


The most common pieces that I rummage through are linens and decor.  Graphic prints are so hot right now and I love yellow and white chevron throw pillows, but not at the $65+ price tag!  So I popped into the local fabric store when James was in town, found the very print I was looking for and a 16x16" pillow form to work with.  That lovely yard of yellow and white goodness has been sitting on my sewing table for a month and I no longer had excuses a and b standing in my way.  Time to kick the dogs outside and conquer c!

Sometimes I plan and plan and plan, other times I just jump right in.  This time was a jumping plan.  Without a pattern to work with (not that I would really know what to do with one if I had it) I started measuring and estimating that I would give myself an extra two inches on each side to work with.

20x20" square

There was some pinning, some ironing, a lot of stitching, peddling and some cussing, but before long it was starting to look like a pillow!

Now how do I finish this? That took the most time out of anything.  After two broken needles and no blindness, I decided to hand stitched it shut and spot clean later, I guess.

Not too shabby for my first attempt at pillowry!

Here it is in action

 I quickly moved it to a safer location because of this guy and his shredding ways.

Ya'll come back now ya hear?!
~Easty

The Weekend Warrior - Part 1

I am a weekend warrior.

I have a full-time job that requires me to be awake at 5am and at work by 7. I get an hour break and am home by 4, at which point I am pooped.  I am Queen of the Power Nap too (Petey is the Duke of Snuggle Buggle).  After a quick recharge, I make some dinner, clean up, go spend some time with my fellowship, and then I have time to do things around the house...starting around 9pm.

So really it's over the weekend when I get the most done (and on the blog too).  Someday I hope to have a really successful, workaholic spouse so I don't have to do the 40-hour grind anymore. I want to be one of those women who says, "I work because I want to," say 20 hours a week.  Right now, it is just me and The Duke and he doesn't bring home the bacon.  He's an outstanding watch-dog though, despite being such a little squirt.

Stewart Peter Brown I, Duke of Snuggle Buggle

When my officemate found out I was closing on a house he said, "Congratulations! You just took on a part-time job," says the father of three toddlers - all boys.  I came home for lunch on Wednesday and found a four-foot deep sink hole to the immediate right of my driveway.  By the grace of God it was in the city's jurisdiction and they were all over it!  Whew. Now, for the kitchen:

When we last left it, the kitchen was in a state of backsplash nakedness/hoodlessness.  It being Saturday morning...

ATTACK!

The Duke inspecting the temporary kitchen setup.

I started the day by clearing the counters and the upper cabinets, setting up a temporary kitchen in the corner with the daily necessities.  The most important placement was the coffee pot because I am just not fooling around in the morning. I will cut you if you stand between me and my coffee.

After that I took down all the upper cabinet doors,

and I found this:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Upon completion of a brief melt down, I decided to put on my big girl pants and suit up...out came the pink rubber gloves.  

After learning my shocking lesson a couple weeks ago, I turned off all the power in the house before starting to remove the cabinetry from the walls.  I already have gravity working against me; I don't need to add more physics into this! 

Power On: beep, beep beep!

Power Off: silence

Look Ma! One hand!

A few things to remember when dealing with electrical wiring:

1. Make sure you shut the power off from the main circuit breaker box outside. The box inside is usually a subpanel (learned that the hard way!)
2. Only use one hand. Don't complete the circuit by using both!
3. Rubber is good. Very Good. Rubber soled shoes, rubber gloves, rubber handled tools. All of it good.
4. Use the right tools like a voltage checker (as seen above). It lets you know whether you've got a live wire or not and it's like, ten bucks at Lowes.  Also, these cap dealies (right) are pretty crucial for capping off exposed wire until the electrician can get there.  I should have bought more yellow ones; those are the size of most of my wire and I used them all today.

So, I had some fixtures to remove and all of these things came into play this morning.

Snip, snip mofo.

Exposed and dangerous

Done. Now listen to Marilyn.

When I got to the nasty florescent over the sink, I realized I needed my crowbar and rubber mallet to remove the "Country Kitchen" wood thingy (valance? what would you call that thing??) I summoned my inner hoss and ripped, clipped and stripped everything down and without hurting myself, save for a couple awesomely tough bruises on my thighs.  Note: when removing cabinetry, check for the no-see-um screws first, often found on the very top or underneath.  Unscrew those, then the lower ones, then do the top.  Dealing with the hidden screws is how I got the bruises.

Valance thingy?

Rubber hammer time!

Ta da! 

Oh yes, those big brown patches over there on the sink wall? That's drywall. Really friggin' old drywall that used to be white. I have to replace the whole thing I think. The project keeps getting bigger but thanks to Sherman-Williams and their amazing Color Visualizer, I can start to see my vision coming alive:

Imagine this with those white dishes I found, red accents and a whole bunch of glass jars filled with pasta. Ahhhhhhhhhh. It makes it all worth while.

Call it a productive Saturday! Cheers, ya'll!
~Easty