Current Lusts {{Home Decor Style}}

While I realize the holidays just got over and I got more than what I ever could have dreamed of, I am still like Veruca Salt from Charlie and Chocolate Factory. I want all the things and I want them now! Only difference is, I know it will be a hot second before I get any of these things and I live on a budget. So, what is it that I am lusting after you ask? This go round, it is all home stuff. I have started to get ideas of what I would like our house to look like. We have been here a year, have done all the major remodel to the outside that needed to be done. Now, I would love to be able to focus on decorating and finishing some of the rooms.

Sonoma Console Table  I think that this would make a great entryway table for us. I like to keep candles and other items like that stored in the living room, so those baskets would be great for that! I also love the under shelf, with thoughts to put our wedding album and Royals Post Season album down there.

Starburst Mirror Set  I love the idea of mixing these into a gallery wall in our living room, in theory directly above the entry table mentioned.

Green San Miguel Vase  and Purple San Miguel Vase for the living room as well. We have a pretty dark pallet in our living room, which these could help brighten up. We also have the bookcases bracketing our fireplace that need filled.

LOVE Marquee Sign I really, really want one of these for our bedroom, but have no idea where to put it. The bedroom is the last room that we plan to decorate since we have been updating so much around the house and want to decorate the communal rooms first.

Shelf with Scroll Brackets  This would be to use above the kitchen sink. I enjoy having lotion and my ring holder next to the sink, but don't like having stuff cluttering our counters, since we don't have a ton of counter space as it is.

Where do you usually find good home decor? I generally stick to Kohls, Target and maybe TJ Maxx/Home Goods.

Monday is Here Already? Kitchen Update and a Great Deal

 

We are still trying to get our kitchen fixed.  If you don't remember what I'm talking about you can catch up here and here. After having a hole in our wall for months, we decided that if we were going to try and make the best of the situation we were going to remodel. Yup, you heard right. Since we had a hole in the wall and are supposed to be getting new flooring we were going to make the kitchen how we wanted it! Sooo... we decided to take out the ugly 80's style apartment sliding door and put in a nice backdoor with blinds in the glass (because boxers love to terrorize mini blinds) and move the window down. The fridge was covering part of the window, but it no longer does! The fridge is getting moved down and we are going to add a pantry cabinet where the fridge used to be. So, what was accomplished in just ONE day you ask? Well, here are the photos.

 

It started raining about 30 minutes into the project, so the boys moved inside to tear everything out.

 

The holes where the window and sliding door USED to be. And my boo thang being a man getting all dirty and shit.

 

 

 

 

oh, did I mention they also took the siding off the back of the house? Well, we are going to get new siding for the entire house! Woot!

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and I also forgot to mention that my Uncle is a contractor, so between he and Big T (who was an electrician in the Army) they got shit done with a quickness.

 

 

Covering up the hole where the old window used to be. And if you look at the left hand side, that's the frame for the new window.

 

 

 

Mr. hanging out the window, mad because I was making him smile.

 

  And... this is the finished product. For now at least. We are havign a company re-side the entire house, so the boys didn't put any new siding up. Yup, we are those cooties with house wrap on the back of the house.

 

 

Next up, we are having the insurance company pay for the new floor and putting up the wall on the inside, so they are going to send a company out ASAP to do that. While they do that we are going to continue to get estimates on siding, a new roof, and windows for the entire house. After the new floor is put in, we are going to add the pantry cabinet, paint all the cabinets with Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations and the Rust-Oleum Counter Transformations.

 

These are the two cabinet colors I am debating between. Which do you like better? Let me know, becuase we are having the hardest time deciding!

 

Castle

Tudor

 

 

 

And you know I hearts me a good deal, so I wanted to let you all in on this coupon! Between Gabriel's extra large extended family and me having worked for schools, I know how expensive graduation stuff can be! If you order from Tiny Prints now, you should be able to get it just in time!

Click here to go to the website and look around 

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My Kitchen...

My kitchen is a hot mess right now. I decided to stop being upset and just be glad that we (hopefully) have a really good insurance company who is going to get this shit fixed quickly and (again, hopefully) cheaply for me and my boo thang.

It is gross and disgusting, but could have been worse. The dehumidifiers and fans are all out of our house (we also had them in 2 other rooms), so now we are waiting to get estimates for repairs. I am glad that the crew who did the clean up were so flexible and open to dogs. Ginger and Tigger decided they needed to make friends and supervise this entire process. The guys on the crew were all really nice and didn't get mad that Ginger tried to rape their faces with her tongue and that Tigger likes to stand and watch right next to your face.

 It took about twice as long to dry everything out as it should have because moisture kept coming UP from under the subflooring. So, they removed the subflooring and found that we have a crack in our foundation. Oh, and at one point had really sweet white and black checkered floors.

 

 

 

Just a Little of My Cray Cray

Confession time. I am a closet crier. I like to talk through problems and work them out, but every few weeks/months I need a good cry. This happened Tuesday night when I got home. Things have been a little all over the place for me--- we are 5 months away from our own wedding and finalizing things for that, I am in a May 2nd wedding and helping plan her bridal shower, my knee is busted (thanks, Tigger) and whatever can go wrong is going wrong with our house. I generally take most things in stride and keep my crazy contained, but sometimes I just need a good cry.

I have to go get an MRI on my knee, but to do that I have to go throught the process of getting a referral. Which is stupid. Even my doctor said so Tuesday, as she sent me to get x-rays that in her words won't show anything wrong. Well, why in the world am I paying a co-pay and my 20% of the x-rays if you know they aren't helpful?! Because it is the process. Fine. Just let me wear my old man knee brace and be cool for a few more days.

And our house that we just bought feels like a money pit. I understand we didn't buy a new home, but I didn't realize the heater would go out and a few weeks later the windows in THREE ROOMS would leak the first big snow. Now, we have to do some wall exploration to make sure the insulation and dry-wall isn't going to mold and rot. Do they not understand I need to buy cupcakes and booze for my wedding?! I need my money for that, not a stupid deductible!

So, when I walk in and see all the big tornado fans in the house after spending the afternoon at the doctor in a gown that doesn't tie closed and having a lot of other BS going on, I just started bawling like a baby. Gabriel handled it really well and offered me an ice pack for my gimpy knee and got out my pajamas for me to put on. Such a good guy. After, I was totally fine and went to bed. But, sometimes I just need a good cry. I admit it. I feel like I shouldn’t, but it’s the ugly truth. And I am totally an ugly crier.

I’ll keep you updated on what’s going on with the house and my knee. I gotta be able to wear some hells for my wedding! Oh, and we gotta make sure the house doesn’t fall down on us in our sleep.

 

                                                       



2013 Year In Review

2013 has been a good year for me. I think that life has it's ups and downs and the year 2013 was no different. I do believe that getting through tough times make you stronger and more determined.

• March 2013- I went to Mexico with my handsome man and his family. It was my first time going to another country for more than a day trip (I went on a cruise in 2011). We stayed at a beautiful all inclusive in Cancun.

• April 2013- My boo thang popped the question! The Mr. and I got engaged and he found the perfect ring! He actually proposed twice. The first time was on a Friday afternoon. He came home from happy hour with some of his co-workers and started the convo with, "We need to talk."  I thought my ass was about to be looking for a new place to live. The convo ended with, "I think we should get married." My oh so romantic response, "We'll talk about it in the morning." Obviously, the conversation went well :) The second time was the official proposal :) My man went above and beyond to find a ring I would love that could be sized down enough to fit (you can't tell but my ring finger is a 3-3.5). On a Tuesday afternoon, I get a text asking if I want him to bring me lunch. My response is a resounding yes! When he shows up at my office I noticed he had no food bags... So, my hangry butt is giving him the stank eye. He comes up to the front door of the building and drops to one knee! I got a legit proposal :) The joke was on us though, the ring that was special ordered in my size was still too big and slid off my hand! I wore a sizer for the first week or so until we could get to the jeweler and have it sized. 

                                

• June 2013- Relay for Life of Shawnee went down! The past two years I was the Public Relations chair for the Relay for Life of Shawnee. I whored myself out to all the media outlets to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I had a lot of fun both years! I won't be participating in 2014's Relay because I am the Maid of Honor in a May wedding and have my wedding in July, so I won't be able to give it my all. 

• July 19th 2013- we bought a house! July was filled with looking at houses, putting in a bid, and paperwork! Then, we packed up our rental house and moved it into OUR HOME! We spent July unpacking and setting up our house. We deliberately bought a house that we could make our own, so we knew our future was going to be filled with DIY projects. We painted every single room and cleaned from top to bottom. We had our yard completely cleared out, as it was totally overgrown. I have to give massive props to my friends for helping me to clean AND paint in exchange for booze. 
  
• August through October 2013- My man and Big T created the workout room. When we bought the house we knew we needed a place to put the weight benches, elliptical, kettlebells, and have space to workout. There was an unfinished room at the back of the garage, so off to work the boys went. They turned a stinky spot filled with crap into room with real walls! This is now an insulated room with electricity, laminate flooring, a window and AC unit, and ceiling fan. 

• November 2013- My grandfather passed away. It was a really rough time between work and family needs. There was a lot of phone calls and visits to his house that occurred. My Aunt took care of so much, I have to admire her strength in caring for her father during his illness and then planning his services. 
• November 2013- My clinical training plan got approved! I am so excited to learn more about my profession and to become a better social worker. I feel like the more I know, the more change that I can be a part of. I got to date my hours back to October, which was amazeballs! I started my weekly meetings with my supervisor asap! My boo thangs birthday was at the end of the month, so we had a great night out with his parents to celebrate. 
• December 2013- It's hard for me not to love December. There is so much amazing stuff that happens in December. There is my birthday, my Grandma's birthday, my Mom's birthday, Christmas, fun timewith family aaaannnddd I get an extra long holiday break, Christmas lights, and to wear scarves & boots. December is sorta the best month ever. December gives me back my energy to keep going. Oh, and the boys also updated our living room this December!

I know that 2014 is going to be a great year too :) We have our wedding planned for July and I know that even more amazing things are going to happen!

What are some of your best memories of 2013? Is there anything planned for 2014 that you can't wait for?

The Living Room Project

 

Since buying this house we have done tons and tons of work on it! We chose to buy a house that we could make our own. The only problem is that we are both such instant gratification people. We want it to look perfect now!

The only downside to that is… neither one of us truly has home improvement skills J We have been using my dad, Big T, for everything! Luckily, he loves coming over and helping. Or at least he pretends like he does for his baby girl. Yes, I realize I am spoiled. No, I do not intend to stop asking my daddy to do things for me.

This go round, we wanted to update the living room. We want people to walk in the front door and say, “Wow this looks beautiful!” To do this, we couldn’t have the old grungy fireplace and bare walls. So, I whitewashed the brick and took out the doors of the fire place and spray painted them black with Rustoleum high heat paint. I have to admit, that can of paint is the best $3.97 ever spent!

The boys built a new mantle, added cabinets, made book shelves, and put up crown molding. They did all of these things in only three days! They worked super, insanely quickly to get this job done before it got too cold to work outside and in the garage. I have to admit, The Mr. loves learning how to use table saws and create things.

After they did all of that, we painted everything white and I am loving it!  

 

I really feel like the living room looks so much cleaner, brighter, and suprisingly bigger. I have more pictures of the actual process itself, but thought the before and after pictures were the most important!

 

Now, it's on to decorating.

I Totally Had a 5 Day Weekend...

... and have nothing to show for it. Not true! I did tons of shit and just didn't photograph it for evidence.

On Wednesday, I braved the grocery store in order to make the most amazeballs green beans for turkey day. I will def post the recipe for them soon! I also filled in holes on our new cabinets and bookshelves in the living room that The Mr. and Big T made over the past 2 weekends. Then, I sanded the shit outta the entire thing and taped it to be painted. The Mr. didn't trust me to paint by myself, which I don't understand since I am the greatest at home improvement projects, so I put up our silver Christmas tree with purple ornaments. I will post pics on instagram, as that f-er looks amazing in our room with a purple wall. Just saying. Then, my handsome man came home and got the wild hair to paint all that shit and I totally womped his ass with my painting skills. I am legit when it comes to painting without a roller.

This was our pinsperation:

 

Thursday, I ate. Need I say more?

Friday, I played Batman Arkham Origins and spray painted the fire place grate. At least I think it was Friday... the days all rolled together.

Saturday, The Mr. and I ran all over the Kansas City metro area. We went to the Legends to look at area rugs, we went to the opposite end of the world to go to a few home good stores to look at area rugs... all the while knowing in the abck of our minds we would end up buying the super affordable one we had seen at Home Depot down the street.

Sunday, we saw Catching Fire with our friends. I have to admit I have never read the Hunger Games books. I just hate reading books and seeing the movies. I become all judgy judgersone and hyper analyze which was better. Which totally takes the fun out of seeing the movies. Instead, I don't read and sit on my lazy butt and watch what happens. We also half assed watch the Chiefs lose to the Broncos... Man, I heart me some Chiefs, but come on-- 3 loses in a row?!

Friday Fuzzies

I needed something happy to talk about since this has been an up and down shit week. So, I decided to talk about the things that are making me happy lately. Life has a lot fo twists and turns and sometimes I get a little motion sick from. Life, this is why I don't ride roller coasters you crazy bitch! But on to the greatness :)

• We are working on our living room this weekend. On Thursday night, I white washed the brick around our fire place and I am going to paint the fireplace doors black this weekend. Then, the Mr. and Big T are going to put in cabinets and bookshelves. The pinsperation for this project:

 

• My clinical training plan got approved, which I am super, massively excited about. As a social worker, this is the next level of licensure that I can get. For the next few years I will learning to be a better social worker! Woot!
  
  

 

• We are celebrating my fabulous boo thangs birthday tonight with his parents. Every year we go to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and have a delicious meal. This year is no different. I am going to get off work, stop to buy his present (it was too big to hide), and go tart myself up for a fun night out!

 

Is it Costume Time?

I have a mad love for Halloween. I waited until the middle of September before decorating, which for me was a major accomplishment.  If I coulda I woulda decorated at the end of August. Here is a preview of some of the house decorations. If you didn't know, you know now--- I love glitter and sparkles. There are on my skulls, pumpkins, "dead" flowers, err where. I even put them bitches on the black roses.

If I was even craftier (i.e. totes had no life), I would make a bunch of the shizz I see on Pinterest , but I totes have a life. If you call drinking wine and watching reality tv a life. Either way, here are some of my fave ideas from good ol' Pinterest. If don't already, go follow me on Pinterest it is where you can find all of these cool pins. Oh, and I totally just buy candy to eat it myself. Screw those little kids, they'll get cavities anyways. 

What Up?!

I have no super fun pictures for this weekend. It was way chill. I got the crap pulled out of my hair at work on Friday, so needless to say I had a headache most of the weekend. I learned the hard way, I need to learn to watch my back when playing ball in the gym.

The Mister and I did cheap and easy for dinner on Friday, so there were no cute, dressed up pictures. We got down on some chinese buffet, which is cool with me. I can eat chinese food all day, err day I love it so much. Call me fat again, I don't even give a f.

Saturday, we laid around the house and went out to din din. I did shower that day, so I guess that counts as dressing up. I also sat for a half hour in a massage chair to try and get rid of the headache. It help a little bit. I can't wait to buy one of those massage chairs. It's on my bucket list.

Sunday, my Pops came over and the gym room only needs the flooring put down! They boys have doen so much work in such a little but of time. The Mister and I are doing the flooring tonight. I'm so excited. I can't wait to get out of the workout funk I've been in. I realized I am co-dependent on my elliptical. If I don't have it, then I hardle ever convince myself to workout. I mean I do some Blogilates a few times a week, but that aint keepin the food baby away. And how am I supposed to shake that a$$, if I have a food baby?! That shit aint cute.

Hammer Time!

The room is bumping along nicely! There is now a window, with an a/c unit, walls and a ceiling :) You know, everything you need to live comfortably in a garage. At this point, there is actually sheet rock up and we have started mudding. The boys really did cut a hole in the side of the house to put n a window. I've never seen anything like that before! The saw went through layers of  siding, shingles, wood, sheet rock... Our yard has the constant drone of a saw cutting wood and a hammer beating on shit.

Hopefully, the new room will be done soon! I can't wait to put my elliptical in there. Also, I am tired of the boxers stepping on me while I do my yoga in the living room. It would be nice to have a dog free zone to stretch out.

Will Work For Beer

There has been a lot going on in the new home. We have painted all of the rooms in the house, except the kitchen as that will be getting its own makeover later.

Now, the men are hard at work finishing a room in the garage to become our AT HOME GYM! Just what my lazy ass needs! The Mister and I have always owned work out equipment; we just never really had a proper spot for it. When we bought our house an important feature was the ability to make a gym. There was a 12x12 unfinished storage area, so we decided it would be the perfect room to make a gym!

My dad is amazeballs at doing shit like this, so we can do it on the cheap. Meaning cost of supplies (with Pops' discount) and beer/food. My kind of cheap labor. The boys have been hard at work on this shiz for the past 2 weekends and the room is REALLY coming along fast. In the end, it will have linoleum floors (so it don't stink like sweat), a window with an a/c unit, and a door. We could rent this shit out.

During the excavation process the boys found this super cool historical item. It is an invitation to the Harry Truman (you know, the president) Commendation Awards Dinner. It was in the original mailing envelope and all the papers were still in there! It is honoring General Lucius Clay for his heroic acts in WWII. Since we live close to the Harry Truman Presidential Library, I have a call into them to see what we should do with it.

 

Harry Truman Commendation Award Dinner Invite 1964

Have you ever renovated/remodeled and found something cool? Let me know! I feel like I should be on Antique Roadshow or the History Channel J

Who Let the Dogs Out?

What do you do when you just move into your brand hew house and your dog has already made enemies with all the neighbors he has come into contact with? Last week, Tigger hops the fence to go two doors down and make friends over there. That lady very politely told me that it would be best if my dog didn't come into her yard. So, we rapidly put up Tigger's electronic fence on Thursday. This morning, while I am blissfully attempting to sleep through The Mister getting ready for work, he comes yelling at me. Me?! What did I do?! The Mister had let the dogs out while showering and was going to leave for work and I was supposed to let them in. Instead, as he is pulling out of the garage he sees the lady next door to us in her robe beating at Tigger with a spade. Apparently, her granddogs were over and Tigger went to make friends. Unfortunately, they didn't make friends and instead some Michael Vick action commenced to go down. The Mister proceeds to tell me neighbor lady is panicking and I should go talk to her. So, I put on my robe and peek outside, asking what do I say/do? We fucked up leaving the dogs out totally unsupervised in a new place. My bad. Yeah, we told you about the electric fence, but deliberately didn't mention that Tigger powers through it when he feels like it. My bad. Awww, shit. I don't forsee us getting a welcome to the neighborhood from anyone anytime soon.

Cranky Pants

We've moved into our new house. It didn't go the way I had planned in my head. I like things to be set out and then I follow that plan. I don't really like when the plan changes and I don't know about it. Well, The Mister also likes to do things his way. Mostly because he hears what I'm saying, but doesn't always LISTEN. And yes folks there is a difference. A BIG DIFFERENCE. So, I thought we would close on the house on the 19th, then come over and clean, paint, and bring over small stuff this week. Tomorrow was supposed to be our "big" moving day. If you hadn't noticed, we've been living here all week. Well, The Mister and his dad decided to hire movers to do all of our big ticket items and scheduled it for Monday the 22nd.

Moving the date up by a week completely threw my easy, calm, lots of time to move plan into a tailspin. It also made me put on my cranky pants frequently this week. I feel like I am not getting anything done since the rooms aren't painted, so we can't move stuff into them yet. The one thing I refuse to do is paint around a bunch of crap in the middle of the room if we don't have to. And we don't have to, so we aren't. Let me retract that statement, I do have the bathroom and kitchen set up. They were my first priority since I go back to work soon and we need to be able to use them asap. Other than that, I watched tv while sitting on a cardboard box the other day, because the tv and cable are the only things in my house right now (I got my priorities in the right order). We slept with our mattress on the floor since it was here but our bedroom furniture had not been delivered. While I am a cluttery person, I dislike chaos and feeling unorganized and that is exactly how this week made me feel. Yay moving! Don't get me wrong, I am glad we bought our first home. I am excited we have done that. I am not excited about how little communication and organization there was to the move.  So, it's rainy outside and I have my cranky pants on. But, at least I'm not on my period. There is that.

Welcome Home!

I've been gone all week buying my house and moving :) It's exciting and nerve wracking all at once. Oh, and I forgot to mention painting. The people who moved out had two little boys, so those bedrooms were painted boy colors. I creepily took photos when we took our tour so that I could see how they had decorated the living room and set up their couches. I took photos of all the other gloriousness just to document the awesome tasted that Gabriel and I have in paint colors. Here are the before pics of some of the rooms! I love how large the kitchen is, but I just can't get down with black and white cabinets with yellowy beige walls. No bueno.










We have had tons of help with the move! I gotta give a shout out to all my homies! My parents came by and helped clean, shelf paper, and fix crap. Jen and Kala came by and helped me unpack some stuff, paint, and shelf line!I had these bitches working hard for their money!I somehow ended up inside a cabinet while shelf lining. Apparently, that's not necessary. On the upside, now I know where to hide if we get robbed.

I want to break free! (bonus points if you get the song referenced)

So happy Kala let me out!

   

Jen, Kala, and myself taking a break