one man's trash

i went outside yesterday to take our puppies potty - - and this little number was sitting on the curb with the trash at our neighbors house. 

i walked right over there - - heaved it over my fence and snuck it into my house.

i have been wanting a coat rack, but didn't really want to throw down the money for one.  the gods must be looking out for me.  i realize the screws need to be tightened and it needs a little love - - aka: spray paint, but i think it might be perfect for me.

originally, i wanted one made out of wood - but beggars (or dumpster divers) can't be choosers.

since it's already white - i'm thinking about either putting a new coat of white on it to cover all the old school brass.  or i was thinking of going bold and painting it a light blue.  that's the accent color in my office and i think it might give it a good pop of much needed color.  i was planning on hanging a blue valance - - something like this:

 but this idea might be even better.  and if i hate it, i'll just buy can of white spray paint and redo it. 

today is an unnaturally warm day for december - so maybe i'll get started after work!

cleaning out my closet

like eminem? i wish.  but no, i literally cleaned out my closet(s). 

i have all the new clothes from christmas and no room to fit them anywhere. 

i am lucky enough to have taken over 3 out of the 4 closets in the house.

two in the master bedroom; one in the office.

ronnie has one in the guest bedroom.
(it stresses him out to see my messy closets - he wants me to take over the basement as one big closet, but i'm resisting.)   

my dream would be to have this:

can you imagine how much stuff i could cram into here? it would be amazing.

but alas, this is what i'm living with now.

 master bedroom closet #1

master bedroom closet #2

office closet

and here is what i took out.

 it gave me some anxiety, but my mom and sister-n-law went through and took some of it for themselves, so now if i ever get that "damn, i wish i still had that" feeling... i might still be able to get it back.  the rest is going to the salvation army. i'm feeling a little lighter and little more organized.

a good start to the almost new year.

christmas movie marathon

one of the things i MUST do over the holidays is find time to watch the majority of the classic/favorite christmas movies.  today happened to be movie marathon day. 

prior to today i had watched miracle on 34th street and prancer.  after today we'll have watched white christmas, a christmas story, home alone, and frosty.

we're saving christmas vacation for tomorrow. 

i heart the holidays.

wishing everyone a merry christmas!

all i want for christmas is...

tis the season to give.

but i thought i'd have a little fun on the internet
and pick out all the things i want too. 

don't judge.

adorable earings with a vintage look. 

these were found at forever 21, but they are available everywhere right now.

deep freezer.

i think i would like to try cooking in mass amounts and then freezing for later.

an idea i picked up here.

32" flat screen - i hate our big ol' tv on top of our dresser. 

i would love it to hang on the wall.

yarn wreaths - aren't they divine?  this might just have to be my next craft project.

a looooooong brown cardigan

my guest room is in desparate need of an armoir to hide the (another) tv.

king size bed - need i say more?

this is found at fred flair - forget me knot ring

i am in love with plaid capes right now. 

aren't these adorable... i just feel like i could pair them with any "fall" outfit.

academic path wedge - pink studio

you've got (no) mail.

what happens when you don't take a good picture, walgreens is out of envelopes, and the postal service is backed up a week?

christmas cards don't get sent out. 

one of my favorite things to do/recieve. 

not happening for christmas 2010.  maybe new years 2011 cards?

i'm disappointed.

(last year's card)

on the market

i have been searching for a job for about, eh, a year.  give or take a year.  i only do it speratically when i am either:

a) bored at work

b) mad at work

c) lindsay sends me a job she thinks i could do

so i'm not very throuough or regular. 

i went on an interview over the summer (didn't get it), but my boss found out and her boss found out.  they wanted to keep me, so they promoted me.  that equalled a new title and $6,000 more pay a year.  yay, right? 

well not really.  of course i love the extra money.  we get to do more things (hence the wood floors), but the whole point was not the money - - it was being challenged and advanced within my career field.  none of that happened.  i don't do anymore than i did before the promotion.  so i'm still bored. 

soooo, within the last two weeks i've applied for five jobs.  they range from marketing managers, pr managers, volunteer coordinators, blah blah blah. 

i am really hoping to at least get an interview and maybe that will get me motivated to keep going or turn into a new job opportunity.

i'm 27, with three and a half years experience and a master's degree.  i know there are people out there more qualified, but i'm going to try anyway.

cross your fingers.  

diy - wood floors

if i had known from the beginning how long and how hard this would be, i would have said - forget it, let's hire it out. unfortunately, that's not how my husband thinks, so we took on this massive project - - and at first, not so bad.

step one:  move all furniture. rip up all the carpet.  pull out all the staples.  sweep up all the crap. 

easy?  yes.  and i would recommend you do this step yourself.  

step two: lay out flooring paper.  it's a thick black tar paper that you can put down with a staple gun. 

diy? yes.

step three:  lay your floors.  our floors were solid wood, tongue and groove and so we needed a pneumatic floor stapler (rented from home depot for $40 per day).  next to the wall we needed a nail gun because we couldn't fit the floor stapler. it took us about a weekend to complete.  easy?  eh - yes and no.  looking back, it was one of the easier steps, but the person using the floor stapler will need a hot bath after bending over all day.  ronnie definitely complained of back problems.

step four: fill the nail holes (remember to buy puddy that will take stain) and sand.  easy? hell no.  this is where is got really hard and this is also where i would suggest you hire the rest done.  leave sanding and staining to the professionals.  we had to rent a floor sander and it was hard to use.  it's very easy to leave divots in your floors and you can't get close to the corners or edges so all of that has to be done by hand.  so hard, so very very frustrating.  and it needs to be perfect, because you'll see all your mistakes once the stain is on.  also, after you're done, buy mineral spirits to clean with.  the floor can't have water or anything on it, and this is the best way to get it clean and ready for staining.

step five: stain.  we bought lambs wool cloths, knee pads, a four gallon drum of jacobean stain and went at it.  it looked like shit.  the puddy we bought seemed to have bleached the wood so you could see a patch of light wood where every nail hole was.  i literally thought we were going to have to rip up all the floors and start over.  instead, my dad and ronnie got the hand-held sanders back out and went over those spots. (yes, we know you are never supposed to sand stain, we had no choice).  it was touch and go for awhile.  and when it was done, we decided to do another coat of stain in hopes of everything looking a bit better.  believe it or not, it worked.  our color turned out much darker than we expected, but we didn't mind because we are both big fans of dark wood.  (thank god).

step six: polyurethane. another long process.  not HARD, but just god awful. you lay the poly on smooth, let it dry over night. go back and sand it lightly and then clean it.  repeat this two more times.  the last time you do this, let it dry for three days before walking on it or moving any furniture back.  we waited a week before we laid any rugs and we added felt tips to anything and everything. 

we still have baseboards to repaint and quarter round to lay, but for right now... the floors are looking good.  i'm just glad i can live in my home again. 

*****
ps- i took pictures of all the steps and NONE of them turned out.  i blame the disposable camera and not the user. i found pictures off the internet that pretty much look like what i took anyway.