Built-in Bookcases

So we have a ton of books, no surprise there.

Most of them are Stephen's and are theology or philosophy related.

We have keep them on our set of dark brown ikea bookcases.

We have learned though that ikea furniture was not intended to be moved, and certainly not 4 times.

Each move they have fallen apart more and more.

So because of that, and because we had more books than bookcases,

We decided to built some new bookcases.

We had no idea what we were getting into.

The cost and time was more than we had planned.

I spent about 4 days priming and painting all the pieces in our living room.

I listened to Tale of Two Cities while doing it so it wasn't so bad.

Alice of course was very helpful in the whole process.

The bookcases up with some touch ups left.  

Guess you can call them faux built-ins because we made them so they could be taken apart and be used individually and can come with us when we move.

Organizing the books.

Ok so here is the final before and after.

Before:

After!

Looks amazing right?!

Sadly we still have 6 boxes of books left over.

Mostly my psychology books and Stephen's civil war books and misc.

We left one of the bottom shelves for some of Alice's books.

I think I am going to regret doing that, we probably should have waited till she has learned to put them back.

Guest/Craft Room

I realized the other day while looking through some old blog posts that I never finished the before and afters of the house!

Worst of all, I forgot to show you my favorite room!

The craft room! (also the guest room)

Here is the before:



Taking down that stupid border was such a pain!

After!



Aren't those scissors awesome! I got them at Target!

Guest Room Side:



Sorry guests, we never got around to getting a bed frame.

Craft Room Side:



Here is my little work space for my Etsy stuff.



Androgynous Andy helping me with my apple tags.



This is what I do with some of my pieces in limbo:



They are crying "please buy us and give us a forever home!"

Now not only do I love this room because it has all of my wonderful crafting supplies but also because of the special decor pieces.

Like this antique writing desk and piano stool.



That piano stool holds a lot of memories for me.

That was the stool my mom always used when she cut my hair as a child.

On top of the writing dest is the bouquet that I held while Maid of Honor at my best friend Anna's wedding.

This is the picture that is next to it.

(Sorry for the picture of a picture, I don't have a scanner)



That is Anna at her wedding.

The wedding dress was handmade by her mom.

It's a great crafting inspiration, as well as my very favorite picture of Anna.

This is where I keep a lot of my craft supplies.



That middle square is overflowing with Martha Stewart Living magazines.

I love Martha.

Well, at least the Martha corporation.

I don't know her well enough to say I love her personally.

On top of this organizer is a spice holder I got as a wedding present and had intended to use but it took up too much precious counter space.

So I used it here.



Here is the room facing the other direction.



Behind that cutain is this:



That blue dresser is filled with more craft supplies.

Don't ask me how I acumulated so many craft supplies, I honestly don't know.

I think they might multiply when I'm not looking.

Which is fine by me!

Friday

Ah Friday.

Yes, even a homemaker can enjoy Friday.

This particular Friday I am enjoying because I finished the yard work today.

I mowed all the lawns with our push mower.

I have never ever in my entire life mowed a lawn.

I had hoped to die with that achievement.

(That and never having tasted spam)

But it had to be done (the lawns, not eating spam)

Unfortunately the lawns hadn't been mowed for a really really long time.

Mowing overgrown lawns with a push mower is seriously hard work.

And the mower kept making this awful squealing noise and I have no idea where the WD40 is.

But I got it done.

I also pulled all the weeds.

This was one of the "weeds" I found:



And I trimmed the hedges with our electric hedge trimmer which I am always sure I am going to chop off my leg with.

(No worries, my legs are still intact...for now)

Before I show you the picture of the yard, let me just say I hate the landscaping.

Just so you know.

So here is the front of the house with lawn mowed and hedges trimmed.



And 2 ugly palm trees (I'll say more about them in a minute)

Here is the backyard, looking from the back of the house towards the garage.



Notice the hot mess those fanning palms are.

Here is the yard from the garage facing the back of the house.



Now in the backyard there are three palm trees (not counting those fanning ones).

I hate them.

I hate them because their tops look like this:



(Notice the pretty palm trees in our neighbors yard, why couldn't we have had those kind of palms?)

I hate them because their bottoms look like this:



And nothing will grow around them.

And little berry things drop from them and make a mess.

In summary, palm trees = ugly mess.

Also today I gave the dogs a much needed bath.

After their bath I put them in the house while I finished some of the yard work.

(If I leave them outside, they are bound to run around and roll in the dirt)

When I came back in the house, I found them like this:







Then came lunch time.

Now I am about to tell you about something amazing, but you may not believe me.

Now you have to trust me.

Have I ever led you astray?

No.

Ok so believe me when I say that kabocha, goat cheese and caramelized red onions are an amazing combination.

(Kabocha is a winter squash like butternut squash, only better)

So for lunch I took some kabocha I had roasted and pureed, some goat cheese and some caramelized red onions and put them on a tortilla.

(Now remember to trust me)



I then folded it in half and fried it like a quesadilla.

Then all the ingredients melt together into this amazingness:



You have to admit that it looks good.

And it so is.

Now to spend the afternoon finishing some chores around the house and this evening to give myself a much needed pedicure while watching Gnomeo and Juliet.

(One of the plus sides to Stephen being gone is being able to watch all the movies he doesn't want to watch)

Yard Work

Today, I dragged myself out of bed to face this:



Yes that is what used to be this:



Things got a little out of hand. <-- understatement

Let me first say that I hate hard labor.

You know those people who love "working up a sweat"?

I'm not one of them.

I don't like sweating.

I don't like having to work hard physically.

That is why I went to school to become a therapist and not a construction worker.

Working in the yard = hard labor.

The lifting, pulling, digging, bending, mowing, raking and all with the hot sun beating down on you.

You may like it (you also may be crazy)

But it is so not my thing.

But what is my thing is making my husband happy.

Nice yard = happy husband.

I also can't pass up a great before and after.

So here it is:

Before:



After:



You see that nice brick path?

All me.

Including the loading them in the cart at Home Depot, loading them in the car, then unloading them and carrying then into the yard.

I may need someone to brush my teeth for me tonight.

Any volunteers?

No?

While working in the yard I came in contact with:

geckos

flies

fruit flies

snails

worms

slugs

cockroaches

and

cute little frogs the size of a pea.

I liked the frogs but all the other creepy crawlies, I could have done without.

Another reason I hate yard work.

But now that the afternoon sun is up, the rest of the yard work will have to wait till tomorrow.

That is if I can still move tomorrow.

Now because I worked all morning on my least favorite chore in all the world, does that mean I can take the afternoon off?

No?

What do you mean the laundry wont do itself?

Dang it.

Containers

I love containers.

I love containing things in containers.

My favorite of all containers are glass ones.

They're like doorless cupboards, organized clutter.

They give me the warm and fuzzies inside.

They make me clap my hands and hop in place.

I have your basic containers of all-purpose flour, sugar and brown sugar.



I have containers for cooking utensils and 3 different kinds of oats and 4 different kinds of rice.



I have containers for different kinds of flours.



I have containers for spaghetti.



Containers for lasagna noodles.



Containers for wine corks.



Containers for beer caps.



Containers for change.



Containers for colored pencils.



Containers for sketching pencils.



Containers for mini colored pencils.



Containers for paint brushes.

\

Containers for buttons.



Containers for my brains.

Wait, where is that jar?....

It’s around here somewhere.

Anyways, in summary,

I love containers.

The end.