December 2010

I haven't been blogging as much. Reason number one is that the home improvement projects have dwindled quite a bit. My house wish-list is nowhere near being done, but all of the things that needed to be fixed are pretty much complete. We are still going to add shelves in the den, but then I think we will be tackling the backyard...and by "we," I mean Joseph and some hired help. But I went off on a tangent - reason number two is that I have pictures on two different cameras. And those two different cameras download (upload? can never remember) to two different computers.

Here's what I've been up to this month....

I got this headboard for free at a garage sale. Really nice lady. But she painted it black and didn't do a very good job of it. I've always wanted to try stripping....
Sister Kristi. Partner in crime. Turns out we stink at stripping. Will have to keep our day jobs.
It's really hard. We got some black paint off, but it mostly still looks like that.
It's in my parents' garage...we'll tackle it some other day....
I am signed up for Groupon, and let me tell you what a fabulous idea that is! Turns out there is a pottery place right by our house and I had no idea! For a steep discount, Joseph and I signed up to make some pottery!! This is our second session, after the pots were already fired. I couldn't get any pictures the first session because my hands were covered in clay. We learned how to use the wheel and it is something I've always wanted to try. Turns out Joseph is much better at it than I am...but that doesn't surprise me. He has really strong hands. I very frequently beg for neck and back rubs.

We did three each. They've been sitting on my washer since I picked them up...not really sure what to do with them. Sorry about the background...I learned in my photograph class (also purchased from Groupon) that the background is just as important as the picture, but I wasn't moving them just to have the trouble cat want to know what I'm doing, and try to get in the picture. She really likes being in pictures.

These next pictures are at my parents' house on Christmas Eve and Christmas. My Dad and Joseph are putting together the catapult we got for Matt.

Matt was helping.

I don't know why I didn't get a decent picture, but this is my brother the marine. Visiting from North Carolina. Always good to see him.

Steph, sister.

Handsome boy

They are playing a game. It was pretty crazy. At one point Kristi had to put her finger up her left nostril and yodel.

Another nephew, Austin.

It was a good Christmas. I didn't feel well toward the end of the day so I took a nap, and I've been fighting a sore throat and cold since Sunday. I couldn't miss work because I am the only mentor for the three new hires, and they're brand new. They need a lot of attention when they're brand new. I hope I'm not infecting anyone, but I am really getting tired of not feeling well. Joseph takes good care of me when I'm sick, but it's funny because I don't mind being left alone. He on the other hand turns into a baby and needs to be coddled. But I'm pretty sure most men are like that.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I love this time of year. It starts to cool down...but it's still nice enough that you can wear short sleeves when you put up Christmas lights....wonderful Christmas music is playing on the radio...we start planning the wonderful surprises for the people we love...

Are you jealous of the train set? It belongs to my parents....do you remember reading about it in this post? Hehehehe. I crack myself up. I was really excited this year as we were setting up our tree and I realized we had our wonderful lights in that area that we didn't have last year.
So you see my trouble-maker cat Lilly there in the picture? She was really interested in the tree and the train. And knocking down my ornaments. I think she's calmed down now.

You can't really see my Christmas lights...but they are sooo beautiful! We got colored lights this year! We don't go all out on the decorations, but I think it's enough to show our Christmas cheer.

The purple girls at the company holiday party. Thanks for doing my hair (little sister) Breezy!

Katie and Bryan, two of my favorite people. So adorable. Katie is showing off her poker chips...the theme this year was Las Vegas, and there was "fake" gambling. For every $500 you won, you could trade it in for a raffle ticket to put in for different prizes. Cross your fingers for us. I'd really like the Suns tickets...don't tell Joseph, but I would take my dad. :)

What's your favorite holiday tradition? Joseph and I need some ideas. We may have been married four years already, but I'd like to incorporate something new this year.

Original Art

Joseph and I both have artistic and talented sisters. Some sisters are artistically talented because they can match clothes so that they look adorable. One sister went to beauty school and is artistic with hair. My sister Steph painted the mermaid on my wall. Joseph's sister Katrina also paints.


Didn't she do a breath-taking job? The picture doesn't do it justice. She really captured the colors in the room.

Storage Boxes

I have these little nooks in my house where the wall doesn't meet the ceiling, and there's a ledge up high. In my living room I have a couple of decorative jars up there, and they look nice. I decided in my bedroom the nooks could be used as storage.

I snagged these boxes from work. But I just couldn't put those ugly boxes up on display.

Luckily my crafty sister Kristi agreed to help. Her box turned out a lot better than mine did. But I am still happy with the end result.

Outside Lights

This week off has been really great. I'm totally bummed that it's Saturday and my stay-cation is pretty much over. We got a lot done. With the cooler weather, we moved some of the home improvement projects outside. The two trees we ordered haven't arrived yet. One of the Moon Valley Nursery locations is closing down and there are some really great deals. But that also means we have to wait about two weeks to have our trees planted. In the meantime, we did some weeding and....lighting!

I really hate brass. If there's one theme that is pretty constant in my blogging, it's changing out anything that's brass. This is the front on my house.

The Before.

And the After. We switched out the light, added some seating, potted flowers, and spray-painted the doorbell. I left the windchime that was with the house when we bought it. I have heard two different superstitions about wind chimes - someone told me it's bad luck to take one down, and someone else told me it's bad luck to have the old one up if I didn't put it up. I'm not superstitious and I think it's a cute windchime, so it's staying.

The new outside lights are motion-sensing, so they will turn on if someone comes to the front or back. Nice security feature, but also convenient for those of us who forget to turn the light on.

This is the light in my backyard. Or was....

It's really amazing how changing out the old lighting really perks things up.

And I have to say how much I Loooooove the weed sprayer. Don't let the fact that Joseph is in the picture fool you - I did a whole two gallons for the front yard. He just doesn't take the pictures.

Flower Border

Awhile back Joseph planted some flowers and rose bushes in our front yard for me. He put down red mulch to keep away the weeds, and had every intention of putting down a border...someday. I am happy to say that someday is here. The before:

We had to dig a nice little ditch. Notice the Viking hairdo?

We asked the Lowe's guy how you are supposed to cut the bricks down to size. He said they used a wet saw for their display. We do not own a wet saw. We decided to improvise. I told Joseph we could probably chisel them - did you know they have a brick hammer that will do just that? I thought it would be best to drill holes to try and prevent it from breaking in random spots. Here he is drilling.

And using the brick hammer. The first brick he tried to hammer split in the wrong spot. I told him to try it on a softer surface, so he moved off the cement and onto the dirt. The second one did not split, but then the third one did. My theory was that the vibrations from the brick hammer would be better absorbed in the dirt than the concrete. We were unable to determine if my hypothesis was valid since our experiment turned up inconclusive results.

And after, but before we spread the mulch around.

I think it looks a lot better (minus the wilting flowers that will hopefully perk up now that the weather is cooling).

There was one spot by the garage where Joseph added a piece of broken brick that came up short about three inches. He declared it "good enough." I stared at the brick, contemplating if it was going to drive me crazy or not. Then it went a little like this:

Joseph: No one will even notice.

Deidre: No answer, continues to stare.

Joseph: You can't even see it, really.

Deidre: No answer, continues to stare.

Joseph: It is going to be a pain getting out another brick and trying to cut it down.

Deidre: No answer, continues to stare.

Joseph: Alright, let me get another brick. I'll measure it and fix it. I know it's going to bug you.

Ah, that boy can read me. And I really appreciate him.

The Details

I'm cheap. I don't like to spend money on things I don't have a use for. I was recently at my friend Renee's house for a party when I took a look around and had a bit of a self-revelation. Her house was very nicely decorated. A vase of flowers here, some artwork there, a mirror over there, etc. I realized that my house had, essentially, the basics. If you couldn't sit on it or it wasn't providing light, I really didn't have it. I told Joseph, "We need more details."

So we got some details.

I just love this little area. The cabinet, vase, and mirror are all new and really make my living room fabulous. If I do say so myself.

I was really frustrated shopping for side tables. You know they want over $100 for them?? Now remember that I am cheap. We found this side table at an antiques mall for a great price and I fell in love with it. Add in the vase from my wedding (that was sitting around with no flowers) and the flowers we bought from Hobby Lobby (50% off baby) and you have a very nice little area.

The orange lamp and pillows we already had. Because Joseph found them earlier and made me buy them (I argued that we didn't need pillows or a lamp). How sad is that? The little table the lamp is sitting on used to be black, so I painted it white to match.

What do you think? I think I need a little help. Anyone with a good eye want to be my interior decorator?

The Last Light

Last weekend Joseph and I tackled the two lights in the front room. There is a light off the kitchen that I can't stand and wanted to switch out. Joseph said he didn't want to, because eventually we are going to re-do the kitchen and he doesn't know how he's going to do the lighting and won't know until the kitchen is re-done, so he wanted to leave the light alone. When we were at the store picking out the lighting, I found one that would look good in place of the ugly one. Joseph told me we were not switching it out. I said I wanted to. He presented the argument listed above. I told him that we needed to re-do the bathrooms first and that was going to take time, energy, and money, so realistically it would be two years, at least, before we could get to the kitchen. For a $60 light, we would get our two years worth. Joseph looked like he was wavering, so I decided I needed to bolster my argument. I wrapped my arms around him, nuzzled his cheek, and said, "Please? I really like it."

Compromise is important in a marriage.

Here's the old, ugly light that I was so determined to get rid of.

It's really stinking high up there.

Much improved.

You Light up my Life

In our living room we have two holes where there should be light fixtures. I have no idea why the previous owner took them down, but it has been on The List to get new light fixtures. This weekend, we finally went out looking and found a pendant for the front door, a nice track light for the other hole, and a chandelier to change out the ugly brass one in the kitchen. We tackled the first two this weekend.

Here's the hole above the door where we put the pendant.

Joseph screwed up the metal holder, and I shortened the chain.

The instructions to put the pendant together were pretty easy, and we managed this project in about 20 minutes. If I were to offer any advice, it is just to make sure you have all the little pieces strung up before you start screwing anything in. Otherwise, you may end up un-screwing some hard work. Luckily, there were no problems with this one.

I should have been suspicious. Nothing ever goes easy for us. Turns out light number two had a nasty little surprise for us.
Here's the second hole that needed a fixture. The fixture I found for this I fell in love with at first sight. Joseph had reservations about how he thought it would look, but because I loved it so much, he bought it for me.
Here's where we had our problem. The ceiling box hole was stripped; Joseph couldn't attach this metal plate, which is what would support the fixture.
I decided to take it down and see if we could replace it. Here's what it looks like; you can see the two holes where the screws were.
Here's the problem with my ceiling box. That metal piece up there where the box was screwed in is not a solid piece. It is separate from the bar up there. Which is fine for a new building; you can just hold it down and screw it in. But to do that, I would have to put a hole in my ceiling. Which left me searching for other options. We went to Lowe's and bought a new box for "existing" construction that was supposed to work, but it was too deep. It butted up against the metal bar up there and we couldn't get it in. We went to three different shops and they didn't have anything shallow enough.

One guy at Ace said, "Why didn't you just use a bigger screw?" Thanks Ace guy, great advice given too late. And to answer your question, I was afraid I would crack it. It is only plastic. Plus I had no idea that once I un-screwed it, it couldn't be put back up. Lesson learned.

Luckily, I thought up my own solution. I told Joseph we were going to bust it up.

Here's the new white box next to the old one. See how much longer it is?

And here's how we busted it...we took out the bottom strip to accommodate the metal bar in my ceiling.

We had to make our ceiling hole a little wider.

So here it is. A nice solution if I do say so myself. You can see the hole we made, so the bar wasn't a problem.

Joseph was able to put the metal plate back up and hook up the wiring.

Here's the mess on my floor.

Aaaand...my fabulous light! Love it.