Refurbed

He everyone! It's been a while, so this'll be a long one... I've been busy lately trying to juggle more projects than I probably should, but I thought you'd like to see some of the results.

When we moved into our new house, we went from a one living area household to a two living area house hold. That means that instead of JUST having a living room, we now have a living room AND a den. Now, since we're not in the financial situation to be able to buy all new furniture for every room... we've had to get creative.

First off- Garage sale chic-

I found these two matching chairs at a garage sale a few months back- lovely, eh? and only 10 bucks a pop! Ben said that they reminded him of the chairs in our bishops office at church... but I was not fooled, these could be nice chairs with a little face lift...



































I think that Tucker has gotten the idea that any time I break out the camera it is for him... so, here he is trying to squeeze into the frame...



































Here is the fabric that I picked out. It was fished out of the "designer remnant" pile at my local fabric store and only cost me 12 bucks!


































So, after staining the wood a little darker, and the reupholstering... Voila! Here is the final product!



































Two chairs for about 32 dollars, not to shabby!



































Next up- A couch. I was lucky enough to find a friend at church who was giving away her old couch. A couch that had been in her family for some 40 years and earned the nickname "Ol' Beige"

































I know, right?!?!? WHO would GIVE AWAY this ol' gem???

And just to prove my point about tucker...

































Looking for a spot... and...

































Strike a pose!

Here is the fabric I picked out. On sale- but I needed so much that I ended up costing about 40 bucks.
































One dedicated Saturday, an Artemis Fowl audiobook, and a WHOLE lot of staples later and- here she is!
































Ain't she a beauty! We've since replaced old rollers with wooden legs to match the two chairs and are a little bit taller than the originals... They look pretty snazzy.


And last but not least- Ben's old Armoire-



































I believe this piece is at LEAST 10 years old. It has served him (and us) well, but it was about time for an updating! New hardware and a fresh coat of black paint and you have-

































Ta Da!!!

We can't decide whether to put the doors back on with new hardware or whether to leave it open up top and add in some shelves... any opinions???

and here's a better look at the hardware-

































More pics can be found HERE!

END.

I Love Kristin Wiig

Wow, I'm really going post crazy...

This really cracks me up



I wouldn't want to touch the tooth either.

A Must for all HP Fans...

Raven-Kelly

HP Dress Up


Have fun!

New Kitchen Gadget

So.... I bake wedding cakes and make fancy dinners (sometimes) and watch Food Network ALL the time, but I have one serious culinary flaw... I can NOT boil and egg to save my life.

I know. It's one of the easiest kitchen tasks, but for some reason I just can't let those little eggies sit in the water long enough to get properly cooked. And if I DO try to go against my instinct, I will let them sit there entirely too long and they will majorly over cook.

So... Enter my newest gadget:



























Purchased at William Sonoma for 6 bucks while I was visiting up in Idaho.



























So, the idea is that you put the egg sized and shaped timer directly in the water with the eggs, and the color will change as the timer heats up, letting you know precisely when the eggs are cooked to your desired doneness.

I decided to test it out this last saturday and kinda screwed up royally (see previous blog post for full story...), so I did a second test last night.



















My timer sitting in the water with 3 eggs to test the three settings.



















Here's a pic from Saturday when those eggs were at medium


And the final results?




















Soft, Medium, and Hard cooked eggs. Not bad!

And all Ben could say was, "It smells like farts in here."

S.O.S.

This post is to explain a serious disorder of which I suffer from. It's called Shiny Object Syndrome. To illustrate the devastating effects of this disorder, let me tell you about the last 60 minutes of my life.

The Plan:

Super speed clean so that the house is beautiful and welcoming when Ben gets home from teaching his class at UTA.

The Reality: (timing is approximate)

60 minutes ago- Start cleaning the kitchen. Get distracted when I open the fridge door, see the carton of eggs, and remember the super nifty new kitchen gadget that I got while visiting Idaho (shiny object #1). Start the eggs boiling and go back to cleaning kitchen.

50 minutes ago- As soon as the water starts boiling I notice the new gadget working its magic and think of what a great blog entry that new gadget would make (blog= S.O. #2). Go grab the camera, which happens to be out of battery power. Start the hunt for new batteries (S.O. #3)

45 minutes ago- Camera is ready to go, start snapping pictures of my gadget at work, which reminds me that I have a few other projects going on in the house that need to have "before" pictures taken.

40 minutes ago- Gather these items for their photo shoot and start snapping away (S.O. #4). Tucker decides that he would like to be the subject of these photos, and he is just too darn cute to disagree with. Thus begins a full fledged Tucker photo shoot (S.O. #5)

30 minutes ago- Come back to the kitchen to finish doing dishes and realize that I've forgotten about my new gadget and let it work its magic just a smidge too long, pull my eggs out of the water, start running them under cold water, and wonder if the blog post is now ruined.

20 minutes ago- Doorbell rings- two kids from the neighborhood are fund raising for some summer camp (this does not count as a Shiny object since it didnt really catch my interest, just ate up some time)

15 minutes ago- Decide that I really need to crack down if I'm going to get this house clean, and head back to the kitchen. By this time the eggs are cooled so i decide to peel one to see how badly I screwed up. Turns out, its a little over done, but not too far gone- just as the new gadget had predicted... so the blog post is NOT ruined!

10 minutes ago- If i'm going to clean this kitchen, i'll need something entertaining to watch while i'm doing it. I remember the movie that I've got on the DVR that I was watching last night. (S.O. #6) Cue the movie to the right spot. Turn back to the dishes and realize that, 50 minutes later, there is actually a BIGGER mess in the kitchen than there had been before, realize it is all due to my S.O.S. and realize that THAT could make a really good blog entry...

Brag Post

Just a quick post to brag on my big sis.

I got the opportunity to visit Idaho this last weekend where my sister is a high school band director. They had their District band competition on Saturday and her band ROCKED the Smurf Turf of Bronco Stadium! They swept their 4A division and took 4th place overall- beating all but 3 of the 5A schools.

While it was fun to see her band perform, but even funner to see my big sis as a FOR REAL band director. This was my first time seeing her with her little band-nerd kids, and it was pretty amusing to watch her yell directions into her megaphone and then see the kiddos fall in line.

Congrats to Josie and the Skyview Marching Band!

















You can click here to read a more detailed post from my sis.

New Flower

This last spring, after moving into our new house, Ben and I were surprised by a large volume of flowers that poked their heads up to welcome us to our new home. However, that only lasted for a few weeks and our yard has been sadly color free for the majority of the summer.

Imagine my surprise when I let Tucker out this morning to find that several new flowers had magically appeared overnight. I dont remember seeing any evidence of potentally budding flowers over the past few days, so I must conclude that these flowers sprang into existance sometime while we were sleeping. I hope they're still there when i get off work!

We make our own toys in this family

Who needs expensive dog toys and treats? All you need is some water, a few carrots, and a freezer ... and you've got an irresistible dog toy that would get any labs tail wagging...

It took Tuck about 30 minutes to free these delectable carrots...

Public Transportation- The Final Frontier

So, ever since we've moved, I get the pleasure of driving into work on Hwy 30... I HATE 30... it kills me... without traffic i can get to work in 10 minutes, but with traffic... anywhere from 30 to an hour.... it drives me crazy! and Dallas drivers are SO rude! I fully understand that there are people who have commutes worse than mine, and I hate to be a whiner, but seriously...

So...

Last Friday after a particularly aggravating day in traffic, I decided I'd had enough of driving myself to work. Why should I suffer daily behind my steering wheel, when Dallas has public transportation? I've lived in Dallas for over 2 years and NEVER taken a DART bus. I decided that it was high time that I explored the DART system. Besides, there are some major selling points with public transportation:
1) Saves gas and money
2) Multi-tasking, and I LOVE to read
3) Could end up saving time because buses can use the HOV lane

I got up early Monday morning, packed my commuter bag, and hit my first snag of the day... My inability to get out the door on time.... I ended up JUST missing the bus I'd planned on taking, i seriously watched it drive by when i was about 50 feet from the stop. So, I got to stand there for 10 minutes waiting for the next one.

Finally I got on the bus and was surprised by how crowded it was. I dont know what i was expecting, but when i got on nearly every seat was taken. I actually had to sit right next to someone... GASP!

My next snag came as soon as I hit downtown. I only had one bus change, but that required finding a stop in downtown, walking a block, and catching another bus that would take me into Uptown. It turns out... I didn't know downtown quite as well as I thought i did... I ended up panicking, my head full of visions of missing my stop and ending up somewhere in Ft. Worth without any clue how to get back to Dallas. So, rather than miss my stop, I jumped from the bus about 10 stops too early with no clue which direction to walk to get to my next bus... oops...

8 blocks later... panic walking all the way... I found Main/Lamar and my next bus stop. I FINALLY got myself to work... and it only took an hour!

First thing I did upon reaching my office... PRINT A MAP!

The ride home was much better planned, but it turns out two of the drivers that work my route had called in sick... so not only was my bus home late, it was also uber-crowded. The trip from office to front door took about an hour and a half...

So, in review... Didn't save time... The three dollar day pass means I didnt save money... and I was concentrating to hard on my destination to get much reading time in...

But, I did meet some nice people and had one crazy adventure.

Tuck's lucky day!

This morning- instead of the baking and cleaning I was SUPPOSED to be doing- I decided to take Tuck to the dog park and let him swim in White Rock Lake. He had SO much fun. Here are a few pictures.


















Happy boy!

BINGO!

Just a quick pic of the cake I made last night for one of my co-workers for her mothers birthday...





















I had three guidelines- Square, Bingo, and Pink... I think i captured them alright. I hope they like it!

I've been a little shocked these last few weeks... Until about two weeks ago no one at my office really knew that I made cakes as a hobby... but then one of the few that DID know asked me to make a cake for a coworkers birthday, and ever sense then, I've been bombarded by cake requests... I've got two more concrete commissions this month, and a few more where we're still working out the details... Crazy!

Helpers

It's been a busy weekend so far. Ben's brother and his family are visiting us, and I was also hired to make 4 dozen cupcakes for a birthday party. I learned that the nephews are BIG helpers and always want to help in the kitchen. I gave them the job of official frosting taste testers. Needless to say, they've been running around on sugar highs for most of the weekend (see pictures below...)






















Xavier with a frosting goatee...























This almost looks like frosting karaoke...























Really, I'm just trying to cement myself as favorite aunt... I have LOTS of competition...

Thanks Mom!

It's been a while, but as you'll soon see, we've been busy.

At the beginning of August, My Mom came to visit for a full week, and my Mom LOVES a good project. The result of her hard work (with some help from Ben and I) can be seen in the pictures below. Enjoy!





































































Here are also a few pictures of the Kitchen. We decided that the green didn't match the color of the countertop, and since we're not ready to replace that yet, we painted over it with brown...




































































And one final pic of Tucker enjoying the new room...



























I'm not sure which he enjoys more- the carpet, the ceiling fan, or the fact that he can lay on his back and still see out the window...

Its Officially Official

I am a NERD!





Professor Umbridge,
Random Griffindor girl,
and Narcissa Malfoy








(This post is more enjoyable read in a fake British accent...)



This last weekend, Dallas played host to the yearly HPEF Conference... Thats right folks, a Harry Potter Convention less than a mile from where I work! How could I not go??? Early Saturday morning, I raided Ben's closet for a Blue and Silver necktie, packed the essentials (lip gloss, cell phone, and credit cards), and headed off to the beautiful Hilton Anatole.

I was a little nervous - seeing as I had no one to go with, and I had never been to one of these conferences- but rest assured, I had a great time! I even met a few girls who shared my love of Ravenclaw house to pal around with.

First, let me say... this convention was for ADULTS ONLY... Whether this makes it more or less dorky... i'll let you judge...

I will say, the number of 60 year old women in full Hogwarts uniforms was highly comical... you will NEVER find a better place for people watching! I can promise that! Some of the best costumes- there was Peeves, the Snape boggart (Snape dressed as Neville's grandmother), a very convincing family of Malfoys, and someone dressed as Winky the House elf - post World Cup...

I started my day with a volunteer shift in the registration booth (to hopefully meet some people) and then went to see the guest of honor, Jim Dale's presentation. For those who don't know (and I'm sure most of you don't) Jim Dale is the man who read all 7 books for the US audio books. He was fascinating to listen to, and has a great sense of humor.

I spent the rest of the day doing extremely nerdy things like perusing the wands and quiddich robes for sale, browsing the fan art gallery, and attending presentations. They offered presentations on everything from whether Harry SHOULD have ended up with Hermione, to the deep psychological symbolism contained in the series.

Unfortunately, there are too few hours in a day and I do not currently own a working Time Turner, so I had to narrow down my options...

I attended one on JK Rowlings methods of Characterization, one on the similarities between the Harry Potter books and old Arthurian legends, an in depth reading and dissection of the Christian symbolism in the chapter "Kings Cross", and one applying the world of Harry Potter to the teachings of famous psychologist Carl Jung.

My favorite presentation was a woman who worked with severely abused children who had used the books in bibliotherapy- a method where you have the child read any book and use the themes in that book to open discussion on their own feelings. I was amazed at how many kids she had worked with who could identify with Harry because they too had been locked in a closet or had never celebrated a real birthday.... And how feelings of kinship with these characters had helped them through some difficult issues of their own.

She also told a story of how she had once done up Harry's psych chart and used it in a training meeting to show others how to write a patients chart. One of the women in the room (who hadn't read the books) raised her hand and offered to see if she could use her connections to get Molly Weasley approved as a foster mother so that they could get poor Harry taken away from his abusive aunt and uncle... She obviously hadn't read the bottom line where Harry's last name was listed as Potter... LOL!

Cake!

This last weekend I made a baby shower cake for my niece Amanda. Her nursery bedding is pink and green with lady bugs on it, so I went with the theme.

This was one of those fun instances where my dislike of baby showers collided with my love of family functions, and even though I think I drove Ben nuts with my pre-shower anxiety, I can say now that I'm glad I went. The food was good, the company was good, and thanks to an awesome niece hanging out with me in the kitchen, the conversation was not entirely baby oriented... all in all, a successful trip.

You can see a sampling of my other cakes HERE


Enjoy!

Drawrings

I've always had a fascination with people that can draw... Ben probably had NO idea how well his cute drawings and cards sealed the deal when he was trying to woo me...

I always did well in elementary and middle school art classes, but was too busy to care much about art in High School. Performance became my artistic outlet of choice.

Recently, my love of illustration has been rekindled by two things... by husbands superior artistic skills... and something called "fanart"... This artist being my favorite...

These two things have prompted me to challenge my drawring skills. I followed an online tutorial and created these cute little characters... tell me what you think!













Yes... those would be 5 Harry Potter characters at the bottom (what a dork!)... and a Tinkerbell (so that I could practice a different pose)... plus a few random girls... Ha Ha... not too bad for a novice... It won't be long till I RULE the art world! Mua ha ha ha ha!

Kitchen Cabinets

We've been working on our kitchen cabinets for a few weekends now. Let me tell you, it is a BIG job!

But... I believe the results were worth it.




















All we have left to do is put pulls on the cabinet doors... which we will do as soon as we can afford to buy them... Ouch! Cabinet hardware is expensive!


More pics here!

Flickr

I'm generally opposed to internet quizzes in all their reincarnations- with the exception of the kids-say-the-darndest-things type quizzes where you ask your kids questions and type out their answers, those are super cute- anyway, a few months ago i found this fun meme on a blog that i check fairly regularly and thought it was both artistic and fun. How could I say no??? Plus it gives me a chance to explore some of the internet tools that blogger has to offer.

So... for my second blog post... I give you... the Flickr meme!


Flickr meme

The rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick your favorite image.
c. Copy and paste the html into your blog, or download/upload the image.



1) What is your name?




















2) What is your favorite food?











3)What school did you go to?




















4) What is your favorite color?




















5) Who is your celebrity crush?




















6) What is your favorite drink?














7) What is your dream vacation?








8) What do you want to be when you grow up?















9) What is your favorite dessert?












10) What do you love most in life?










Fun!