A Starter House

By the time most of you read this I will be back to being a working American for which I feel so blessed!  I am excited to be back to doing what I love, and although I love my dogs dearly, I think the fact that I’ve even had small one sided conversations with them proves that I need to get out of the house!  All that being said, I do believe that this week will make my posts a little on the weak side as my personality tends to get exhausted in new situations and experiences, and for that I will apologize in advance!  I have several great projects to reveal, and some ideas for projects that I can’t wait to get started on!  Some teasers about different projects, “Mirror Mirror On the Wall”, “Pillow Talk”, “A Runner”, “Some Consolation”,  ”Vignette”, “My Dear Watson, I do believe I’ve got it!”, “What a tool!”  Well…I hope that keeps you coming back even if I neglect to post for the next few days!  Hope you all had a great weekend – we got “snowed in” by 1/2 inch of snow and ice….and I just found out that schools are CLOSED tomorrow? What?  We JUST drove outside at 8:30 tonight and the roads were DRY.  Sigh.  I even ventured out the morning after the storm and managed to ship my first etsy store’s purchases! (littleredflag.etsy.com  forgive my shameless plug)  Here’s to a great Monday!

So today….my last day of weekday “freedom” before I start my new job on Monday…I went and picked up some prints that were purchased from my Etsy shop and stopped in Wal-mart (thanks to the “snow/ice storm” expected today, it was PACKED out!) and thought I would stop at one of my favorite thrift stores on the way home to see if they might have a frame that I could use in my guest bathroom…nope, they didn’t and I wasn’t surprised BUT they did have a roll of this green fabric for…..drum roll…..$3!!!!!! Whoohoo So…even if I get “iced” in I will have plenty to keep me busy

I know, again, not the best picture in the world.  But, it was a fabulous find.  I’m so excited.

Happy Friday….to my fellow southerners, be safe and only drive if necessary!

I just freshened up the blog look.  I didn’t like how the last one was set up and the header really annoyed me….I felt so embarassed to say I was a graphic designer and have a header like the one I had.  This isn’t my best work, but at least I put some thought into it. I do want to figure out how to make some changes to the template a little bit, but that will come sometime later.  As for the header… those are my two dogs, Peyton at the top in his afternoon sunspot…and Piper is the black border collie.  Piper is doing much better, and using BOTH legs.  Three months after surgery and the only problem is that she needs to gain some strength back in the one leg.  Bless her heart, when she sits down, you hear and see her leg slowly sliding out!

1 ) Finish living room throw.

2 ) Spray paint goodwill find (a giant leaf for the coffee table…its not as hideous as it sounds, promise.)

3 ) Make liners for two baskets above my wine rack.

4 ) Find a 24 x 36 inch mirror/frame that is CHEAP.  I need it for the bathroom and by gosh by golly I’ve been looking in every thrift store, second hand shop, goodwill, habitat homestore, hobby lobby sales….and I still can’t find one that will work.  I’m determined that I WILL find one this weekend.

5 ) Fill the empty frames in my house

6 ) Hang bathroom mirror (in the master…I’ve had it for 7 months…and yes, its been leaning on the wall in the master for that many months waiting for me to hang it in the bathroom…..I really do need someone to light a fire under me!)

7 ) Sew two pillows

8 ) Update wardrobe (up to J.Crew clearance center we will go….he insists on getting their shoes? I’ve not been overly impressed with their “longevity” and I used to work there as a sales associate…I love their stuff, especially at the prices at the clearance center….but no, it does not last as long as the price should make them last…)

9 ) Finish painting, and hanging two shelves for the master bath…again, like the mirror, I’ve had them for 7 months.  Folks…I’m pathetic.  I can start projects like these and get 95% of the way done…I’m not sure why that last 5% is always so hard, but let me tell you it is.  I’ve been told I need to hire someone to finish off all the 5%’s I’ve left…I’m really not that bad.  Just when it comes to these types of projects. I’m counting this done, only because it rained ALL weekend, and I was only able to get one extra coat on.  I’m putting another on today, as well as a coat of poly….

10 ) Buy more heirloom white spray paint to paint another shelving piece that looks gross…but really is just worn out.

11 ) Hang clock in Master bedroom

12 )Work on office filing situation

13 ) Organize Tax info (gag….I HATE taxes…like I’m so paranoid I’m going to mess something up every year.  I know they aren’t as bad as I think, but I just don’t ever want to make a mistake…I’m not avoiding it this year though, I’m making myself get it done and over with so I can enjoy what tax refund I get this year….ha, its going to be itty bitty if I do get one!)

14 ) Finish an organization project that has been in the works

15 ) Finally….since lets be honest we KNOW all of this will not get done this weekend…but what to do with these:

Okay, so only 6 out of 15…not that great, but considering I was hindered by the rain, and a dog that ate one of my pillows that I made…I was happy with what I got done.  AND I also cleaned out my clothes, and got rid of TWO bags of clothes!  I also rearranged my part of the closet and now have one almost empty drawer, and one completely empty drawer!  I did make some progress on the frame filling….but still have a little ways to go.  Matt and I also STARTED to check out different surfaces for the kitchen.  We’ve decided to tackle small amounts of the project at a time.  We think we will have to replace/resurface the counters first.  We are going to talk to a local realtor about what would be wise considering our neighborhood.  Yeah we are close to downtown, but people moving into our home will not pay for granite countertops considering the location.  So there are a few surfaces for that we are considering, but I do have a color palate, I’m SO excited.  It may take a few years to get a complete kitchen, but I don’t think Matt and I could handle having multiple large projects, but I’m PUMPED none the less.  The paint color combined with the cabinetry color we will be painting, and the color for the countertops, it will be a place I LOVE cooking.  SO anyways….long story short, two trips to home improvement stores took a chunk of our time.  But I had fun with Matt and that is way more important than any project I could stir up:)