I'm still alive...I think.

Be forewarned that due to my exhaustion this post will be full of completely random and unrelated information. It is also possible that it will be infested with grammatical error. Don't say I didn't warn you.

In a nutshell, all of my time has been spent packing up, de-cluttering and prepping our house for sale. Then we go to our "new" house and unload, into the barn, all of the crap we packed up. Then I paint. And paint.

I am worn out. My lower back is done. I feel like I am walking like our UPS man. He walks with his upper body kind of at an angle...like his lower back hurts....

I have man hands as a result of all my recent manual labor. I told hubs that there was a massage/mani/pedi coming to me at the end of all this nonsense. Like a smart man he said "whatever you want dear"

To top it all of I have had the sneezes/runny nose. It could be spring allergies, but I suspect it is from all the dust I am stirring up. Makes me think I should do a thorough cleaning on a more regular basis.

I moved the treadmill from the guest bedroom to the newly repurposed "office" which used to be my sewing room. Heaven knows the hell hole of a mess that was my sewing room could not be alive while showing our house! Our 4th bedroom has been officially staged as an office/treadmill room. From the 10.5 million hours of HGTV I have watched over the years, I know that each room needs to have a clearly defined purpose when selling your house.

I ran 3x this week, which I was happy with considering my ailments. The swaying of the hips while running actually loosens up the lower back and it ends up feeling better....after the first excruciating minute or so. To add to my cleaning a little more often list, which I can honestly say I did not notice until I moved it, the sweat splattered dust encrusted film on the treadmill. I don't have my contacts in when I run in the morning...good excuse for not noticing it before, right? Disgusting.

Our house should be ready to show by next week. We are hoping to sell it quickly and not have to list it. Now, I know Realtors need love too, but dadgum we are trying to save money. We have some friends who when we first mentioned moving were very interested in buying our house. But, sadly they have decided it is not the right time for them. Now we have a few other people who might be interested due to word of mouth. Namely from our neighbor's and MIL's mouths. (I think they are anxious for us to move or something?!) Dear friends please pray that God will send a buyer our way!!!!

Hubs has been out of town at a conference since Tues. and will be back tomorrow. A little blonde rascal has slept in our bed all week as a result. Tonight b.r. is spending the night with a friend so I am about to go park my happy self in bed and possibly rent a movie....I think that Diane Lane/ Richard Gere chick flick is on pay per view.

I talked to the Marine this morning. He is stationed at Camp Lejuene, which is where Pres. Obama was speaking at this morning. So I called to ask him if he was guarding The Big Boss. He said in fact, no. His company had just returned from the "e course"....what? He forgets he is talking to a civilian...that is the survival course. He went on to explain that for like 55 minutes they RAN through this course, in full combat gear carrying a pack and a weapon through thigh deep mud, a chin deep freezing cold swamp and finished it off by crawling under barb wire.

He said he was bleeding, exhausted and smelt horrible.

I do believe that being a Marine is payback for his teenage years. HA! Ho ho ho har har ha!

Anyway he said that security on base today was NUTS. Obama had just landed when I was talking to him. He said there were fighter jets flying all over the base. He said it was pretty cool.

In a completely unexpected turn of events, I am about to make it big on Ebay. This is it folks, we are about to hit pay dirt, bigger than the lotto. Yep. You see in all my cleaning out, I came across a little gem in blonde rascal's room.

A baseball signed by Pete Rose! I realize that Pete spelled his own name wrong, not to mention used what appears to be a pink highlighter, but considering he is an alcoholic...or was it steroids...or gambling....or all 3...it stands to reason that he would spell his name wrong!

I scored an unbelievably wonderfully sweet antique little dresser and chest on Craigslist this week. I could just die I love it so. I haven't taken a picture yet, sorry. I will get on that. AND I will begin to post remodel of the "new" house pictures....when I have the time. In about 6 months.

I am kidding! I promise. Please come back to see me again before 6 months.

Budget Smudget

I painted the kitchen/dining room/living room ceiling at our "new" house on Sunday. The ceiling starts at 8ft. and slants up to probably 13 ft. or so. (I assigned myself the position of chief painter after the contractor told me what he estimated it would cost to have the inside of the house painted.)

Midway through the ceiling painting torture, in a weak moment, I informed hubs that I was through saving money.

(Remember hubs had rotator cuff surgery in Oct. so assisting in painting is out for him! In his defense, he did kindly offer to hire painters to save my fragile little self. Yet, I firmly & perhaps ignorantly remain cheap and determined when it comes to saving money.)

The trauma of schlepping the 12 ft. extension pole for the paint roller, wearing a shower cap and goggles (it's a popcorn ceiling...messy painting), hyper extending my neck and shoulders for 8 hours and the blisters on my hands...really, it was not fun.

However. It looks fabulous! It is amazing how a fresh coat of white ceiling paint brightens up the place.

It is all a distant memory as I have regained most of the movement back in my neck and I will bravely paint the walls of the house now. WALLS, not ceilings.

The good news is that The Marine was in town for the weekend and we had the strapping young man rip up the rest of the tile. He is used to physical torture by now.

On a different note, blonde rascal didn't have school Monday so we went to see "Hotel for Dogs"....totally cute. I even teared up at one point.

My mission this week is packing up excess clutter and "staging" the house for showing. Clutter....where does it come from and why do I have it?

It's fun to be a copy cat!

I have "co-room mothered" with the same 2 moms since 1st grade. At every holiday party for the class, they roll their eyes at me and grumble while asking what cute thing I made this time. I am always 100% honest and say I copy ideas right off the internet.

I don't get specific and give them blogs to go find....I mean seriously, I don't need another mom trying to one up me!

But I will tell you guys, cuz I'm nice like that!

Chris at Just a Girl posted this idea and it struck my fancy because blonde rascal's adorable teacher is a germ-o-phobe deluxe. What is not to love about a teacher that always has a Clorox Wipe in her hand? Stomach bug be gone!

In a moment of grandeur I decided to make Bakerella's cake balls as blonde rascal's Valentine treats for his classmates . Mine looked nothing like hers, but they are oh-so-good. Rich beyond belief but undeniably yummy! Oh, and I should mention....e-a-s-y!

Blonde rascal glued the Valentine tags together and we were done. Our contribution to the sugar crazed holiday.

Just a few hours of laundry and straightening the house and then I am bravely going to his class party...aka the sugar frenzy.

Go forth and be a copy cat today!

Shout out

How about a shout out to Craigslist? I am addicted, I mean seriously. I am stalking 3 pieces of furniture right now.

One is way too expensive. Too expensive on Craigslist to me, is over $75. It is the perfect chair and ottoman for a little reading corner in the "new" house. I can look at it and dream, right?

One is a chest of drawers that is desperately needed for b.r.'s closet. I am tired of schelpping around his out of season clothes, on and off the shelves in his closet in big plastic totes. When the weather is so weird...22 one day and 71 the next...I need easy access to all seasons.

Another is a cool curio cabinet that could be fabulously shabbied up.

I bought a set of 6 dining room chairs that I got before X-mas and I need to paint and recover them. I also got 2 completely cool funky chairs for the guest bedrooms....$15 bucks a piece. Hubs thinks they are wretched. Wait until he see the finished product! I'll have to show them soon.

Anyway, I got these 2 lamps on Monday for $10. Yes, 2 for $10! You can't even top that at Wally World!(Please disregard the mess on the dining room table. I could have pushed it aside...but just keeping it real.)

I think they are pretty cute like they are...but on the other hand the paint and lampshade re-do potential is pretty high.

On the agenda today is starting the Valentine goodies for blonde rascal's class. When he gets home from school there will be lots of gluing, chocolate dipping and such ready for his little hands!

There has been lots of flu junk going around town and I have been nursing an ugly headache for about 24 hours. I am NOT getting the flu, though. I just thought I would throw that out there. Even though the 3 sweet neighbor girls that we carpool with all had it...

I am off to main line a Lysol and orange juice concoction.

By a landslide

It is unanimous...Tobacco Road is the winner! Thanks for all of your input and tips. You guys rawk.

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning out/packing the built in, in the breakfast area and the hutch in my dining room. Good grief. What I found was mass disorganization. So I made copious notes of things that must be grouped together when we move and ALL storage is uber organized.

For example. Candles. What the crap? I found at the very least one candle in every drawer, shelf, cabinet. Then there was holiday paper plates/napkins. I am a sucker for the after holiday 90% off sales when you can get cute paper plates for nothing. But what good are they if I never know where they are/forget I have them when the holiday rolls around?

Also included are salt and pepper shakers. And a new category, pool side plastic ware. A happy category indeed! I saw a whole collection of colorful summer-ish plastic plates at Goodwill...that will hopefully still be there after I scrape all of the coins out from under the couch cushions. Remember, we are getting granite, so my decorating budget is...exactly what I can find in the cushions!!!

While I was dutifully working, I couldn't help but stop to photograph the lazy miniature weenie dog napping on blonde rascal's bean bag...
What a life. I loathe using the flash unless 100% necessary, so I am still trying to master keeping the camera steady to avoid blur. I have a nifty tripod...but sometimes that hinders spur of the moment shots.

Then I decided to switch to my ultra cool big momma lens...Admit it, Missy is beeeeeeutiful! Still a little blurry so how about outside for some natural light shots?


Oh geez, sorry....a bathroom break.

Ahem. Moving on.... she goes down for a roll in the grass.
ahhhhh.
Shake your booty.

And then here she comes.......looking like a low rider wooly mammoth!


Last night hubs and I went to a wine tasting party at the home of some good friends. It was seriously fun. We sampled lots of wine while snacking on cheese, chocolate, meat and fruits that complemented each wine.

I was feeling all civilized, cultured and chic...until hubs asked the wine guru if Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill would be complimented by Frito's. You might be a redneck...

(Be honest, raise your hand if you drank a little Boone's Farm in your minor days!)

We are going to the "new" house today to tear out all the flooring which will be replaced (by professionals thank goodness) with wood floors. You know, a little sweat equity. I suspect our bodies, specifically backs, will be hurt by this project. Send Tylenol.

It's mind boggling, really.

My advice to you today is don't ever paint a room in your house again without first buying a few, hundred, samples. You know how the light in a room changes from sun up to sun down, so you have to live with you color choices for a few days to see how you like it in all light exposures. But who wants to spend $18 on a gallon of paint that you may hate AND goodness knows the little paint cards are honestly no help at all.

There is obviously a brilliant woman (no doubt) somewhere who said... hey make a pint size sample that costs $3.50!

This is a wall in the living room of our "new " house...and no I am not keeping the red accent wall. I think I have narrowed it down to 2.
I am looking for a warm buttery/tan color. When I turn the lamps on at night, my dream is for the wall color to softly glow in a wonderfully cozy way! One is Tobacco Road, which The Nester (and she knows, trust me) swears by. Then we have Cracker Crumb from The Queen Bee...by all means go visit her, she shares some way cool budget friendly decorating!

I think C.C. may be a hint too yellow. I dunno. What do you think?

Funny and sweet

I was going to post about my laundry room in our "new" house...it is actually more like a laundry hall...because I have found some fun ideas to utilize the space. However that will have to wait for another day because I am POOPED.

So instead, I insist that you go visit Meredith and watch the Ellen clip. Oh my heaven above that is hilarious. I want to be feisty like Gladys when I am old and crazy....and I think I have a pretty good shot at it.

I got an award from Tricia Anne. I have just tried to attach the picture of the award and something is awry. User error, no doubt. Not that ANY of that matters because the award is written in Spanish...or Latin...or Zulu.... good grief Tricia Anne gives me WAY too much credit!! (It probably loosely translates to this blogger is a goofus or something so it might be better that I don't attach it!)

Anyway here is what the award represents.....

What the Award is About...
"This Blog invests and believes the Proximity- nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming...these kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self- aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!"


Tricia Anne is a sweetheart. When she comments on my blog it feels like a hug from an old friend. She is talented, funny and real! One of the many unexpected joys I have gained from blogging is making friends across the U.S. Thanks T.A.!!!