Marcus the Truck and Photo Class

I've been watching my mileage. There was an approaching milestone for Marcus the truck.

And he is still going strong. Oh yeah. Love Toyota.

I haven't blogged in awhile. Because I have a CPCU test coming up. It's a test for an insurance designation. J has come into the living room/den a couple times on a Sunday afternoon and found me passed out on a couch. I now have to study at the kitchen table, where it is not as comfortable.

J bought me a photography class with a Groupon for Christmas. I tried to sign up for a January class but they were booked...until May. So I signed up for my May photograph class. And then completely forgot about it.

My CPCU test is May 31st. So I'm trying to cram for that, and I also have this photography class. I seriously considered blowing off the photography class, but I'm glad I didn't. I'm into the third week and I really like it. Instead of going into the technical aspects of photography, they keep things simple and tell you what setting to use for what situation. I need it dumbed down. There's too much crap going on with ISO and shutter speed and white balance and who knows what else. I don't want to be a photographer for a living, I just want to be able to take decent pictures.

Check out my practice pictures.

By controlling the speed of the shutter, the water looks different.

Same for the fan. The lighting looks different because when you change the shutter speed, you have to change the ISO, and it's a bit of a guessing game.

I changed the shutter speed in the second photo but didn't adjust the ISO, so it looks washed out. I'm still learning, don't judge me.

Check out my depth of field picture. See how the background is all blurry? I did that on purpose.

In other news....

My truck was seriously leaking. This was the third time taking it in. I'm hoping third time is the charm. So far so good. Old trucks need some maintenance. It's still cheaper than a new car payment.

At the same time my truck was in the shop, we ran into a problem with Joseph's car.

Look at that handsome man.

Even though we were on the freeway, the flat tire was not on the freeway side, and we had some nice shade. We got it changed it about 20 minutes. Two different guys stopped to offer assistance, which was really nice. But we didn't need any help.

I can't wait for the end of May. I will have passed my test and maybe I can relax a little. Get back to some projects and things.

Mom's Birthday Present

One thing that's funny about my Mom...if you ask her what she wants for her birthday, she'll say, "Oh, nothing. Don't buy me anything." But if you don't ask her and just listen to things that she admires, she's actually easy to shop for.

 I lucked out this year because she actually "assigned" me a project.

Which I figured would be easy. But I was wrong.

She wanted a saying to put on her wall. It's from Conference this year and she just loves it. "Imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to him, but he deals with it. So should we!" - Jeffrey R. Holland.

Since I have a Silhouette machine, that should have been easy.

I've made projects with my Silhouette machine...found here....and here.

Mostly little projects. Nothing large. We peeled those stickers off by hand and re-stuck them one by one. Which presented a problem when I started planning this project....no way was I peeling and sticking a million little stickers for a saying. Plus it would definitely look weird and would not be lined up.

First I found the perfect sized frame I was going to use. I thought about doing a piece of wood but I don't own a router and I would have wanted it to have nice edging.

Then I designed in in the Silhouette program. Asked my sister Kristi what she thought because I am definitely not a designer and she has a better eye than I do. I had to make sure it was within the correct constraints and had good sized letters. It took awhile.

Then I had to decide how I was going to complete this project.

I cut out a word (very cleverly seen here as "test") and used the vinyl as a stencil and painted it.

It looked like crap. Also, the stencil was hard to peel apart. Did you ever get those fruit roll ups with shapes cut into them? They were popular when I was a kid and I loved them. The shapes never came off easy, it always stuck to the rest of the fruit roll up and the fruit roll up would stretch and tear. It was like that. It wasn't a big deal on past projects when it was only a few characters and the technique was different, but it was not going to work for this project.

So I do what I always do when I don't know what I'm doing.

I watched some online videos.

The lady on the online video was using actual vinyl, not my cheap-o, short-cut way of using shelf liner (because I'm CHEAP, ok?). So I figured I buy some vinyl.

I my vinyl came in the mail pretty quick, and I cut it out, and ta daaaaaaa.

It just peeled right off. It was glorious. And a relief. No way did I want to fight the fruit roll up vinyl. (Plus, the Silhouette machine says you have to set your cutter to a "one" but it needs to be a "two." Love online videos.)

So I just had to get the little pieces out, and I was almost ready to go. I put my Silhouette machine and vinyl away...and thought to myself I wonder if I should have waited....but everything was cut and ready to go, so I thought nah, just put it away.

Well...I have long maintained that God has a sense of humor. And it is TWISTED.

The large sticker that I peeled off got stuck to my saying, and peeled it back.

Peeled off the part about imperfect people. Very funny God, haha.

So I had to get my machine out again and re-cut it. It only cuts in 12 inch pieces, and the saying was longer than that, so J helped me line it up and tape it together. Love my Handsome Man.

Can you see the three separate pieces? Geez.

Then came the transfer paper. Which I had to buy. Did I mention that I am cheap? I saw online that you can substitute Glad Press N Seal. Which we have. But this is a BIRTHDAY present for my wonderful MOM. So I didn't cheap out.

Luckily this part of the project didn't have any problem. The transfer paper pulled it right up and J helped me center it on my paper.

And it's all ready for my Mom. I hope she likes it. Between the design, the plan, the testing, and the overall labor, this was quite the project.

Only cause I love you Mom.

Watching Lily

Brian and Katelyn had a wedding this Saturday and asked if we could watch Lily. I had plans with my sister, but J offered to help. So when I came home Saturday night, Lily was there, hanging out.

She wanted to jump on the trampoline, so we all went outside. J and I did a little clean up while Lily played.

Lily: Deidre.
Deidre: Yes Lily.
Lily: Watch this big jump!
Deidre: Oh, nice job. What a big jump.

Lily: Deidre.
Deidre: Yes Baby Girl.
Lily: What is this?
Deidre: It's Joseph's garden. Look at the strawberries. We can't eat them yet, they're not ripe.
Lily: Oh, I like strawberries.

Lily: Deidre.

Deidre: Yes Lily.

Lily: Look, I can fit through here.

Lily: Deidre.
Deidre: Yes Baby Girl.
Lily: Can I help?
Deidre: You sure can, thank you.

Lily: Deidre.
Deidre: Yes Little Lily.
Lily: I love you.
Heart. Melting.

Bathroom Remodel

Finally. Finally. Finally. Finally! FINALLY!

When we first bought our home, I knew I wanted to remodel the bathrooms. We have updated so many other things in our house - light fixtures, outlets, fans, paint, finished the office, shelves, the backyard...

We even tackled the kitchen. Pretty much the only thing left was the bathrooms.

Let's take a look at my nasty bathrooms.

This was the master bath. The vanity was old and had water damage. It was gross.

This picture makes it look like it's leaning. Haha. It's so nasty it's lopsided!

We hadn't updated the light fixtures. They're the only light fixtures we haven't touched in the house (other than the laundry room but I don't care about the laundry room). With the pending remodel I just let the light bulbs burn out.

This was the guest bath. It also had double sinks. Which turned out to be a good thing. Only one sink worked in each bathroom.

Look at these nasty faucets. I couldn't ever scrub off that hard water residue.

The countertops were stained and always looked dirty.

That's just gross. And also why the sink was broken - it just rusted out.

I got my performance bonus in February. I found a few different contractors to give me a few different quotes. At first I just wanted to switch out the vanity. A couple of the contractors said they would build custom vanities (which sounded ex-pen-sive - custom vanities?) and another contractor said I would have to find my own vanities but gave me a quote to install them - and a quote to install tile since a new vanity wouldn't match the footprint of the old vanity.

I looked around at how much it would cost to buy my own vanities. And countertop. And sinks. And faucets. Adding that cost plus the installation - it was cheaper to go with the custom guy. Installing tile ended up being pretty affordable. And what the heck, those were the only light fixtures we haven't changed out yet, so let's do that too.

Yes, we decided to pay a professional. There are certain things I would rather pay someone else to do than do myself. And considering the remodel took over a week (it took a full day for the guy just to remove the old tile), I am so glad I didn't have to do the labor.

I wanted to leave the mirrors alone. I got a new toilet in the master because we hadn't replaced that one yet - he had to pull it up to replace the tile anyway so there wasn't an extra cost for labor. Overall, it was very affordable.

We got back from our CA trip Monday, March 25th. The contractor came on Tuesday to start the tile tear out and install the cabinets. It would take a couple days to get the granite fabricated for the countertops, so he put my old countertops on temporarily so that we wouldn't be without a sink for that time.

And the mirror fell down in the master, breaking into pieces. Joseph was thrilled, he wanted something framed.

There was a small problem with the light fixture and minor things that needed to be completed - cutting down the toilet screws, nailing down the wood floor transition pieces, etc. The granite wasn't ready to be installed until the following Monday so we lived in a torn apart bathroom for awhile. It wasn't too bad.

The guest bathroom was finished first, since the master needed new mirrors and we decided to paint.

So here is the after for the guest bathroom:

Beautiful new lights

It's rather hard taking photos of a small room. But I did my best.

Love love LOVE the new vanities. It's just beautiful. Especially compared to the nastiness that was there first.

I only put knobs on the things that actually open. There were some people who thought it would look weird, but I think it looks fine.

The tub isn't new, but just to give you a full view of my little bathroom.

Also not new, but I love the little mirror and the paint color. I really think it looks fabulous.

Joseph is now plotting to cut some molding and frame up the mirror in the guest bath. He's so funny, because he made me promise this is the last house project (although I need another shelf in the laundry room for storage, but that should only be $50 for materials) because he wants to start saving for our "dream home" that he is planning on building in ten years. But I'm pretty sure our house projects are just going to continue in the backyard. I'm ok with that. This might be a little house, but it is almost perfect now.

After we painted and hung mirrors, the master bath was done.

J and I both hate painting. Which is funny, because J has a real talent. He doesn't need to use tape, he can eyeball straight lines. It took a total of 8 hours over two days to paint the stupid bathroom. I am so glad we painted the guest bathroom earlier. J had wanted to wait until we remodeled, but I am very thankful that he goes along and helps me when I make up my mind to do something.

Side note: It is a good idea to smile and be friendly to the people at the paint place. I got a discount and saved $6. Oh yeah.

Here is the finished master bath:

The drawers are larger than my old drawers; I can fit my hair dryer in there now. We have room to spare. It is wonderful.

The toilet room remained the same except for the new tile and the new toilet. The new toilet is fabulous; it has yet to clog. The old toilet would clog once a day.

I am so happy with the new bathrooms. Just in time for J's 30th birthday party.

San Diego Trip

J told me about a Wordpress conference he wanted to go to in San Diego. He said I could come along and have a nice little vacation. But what was I supposed to do while he was at his nerd conference?

My two youngest sisters Breezy and Steph tagged along.

I ended up working an early shift Thursday, so we drove out to CA Thursday night.

When we stopped for dinner, Breezy commented, “This is refreshing weather.” To which Joseph replied, “You’re refreshing weather.” Breezy’s comeback was, “Well, I am Breezy.”

J forgot his glasses, so he wore his prescription sunglasses...at night.

We got to the hotel around 11 at night. I didn’t realize Breezy had a rolling bag, and my view was obstructed by the stuff I carried in my arms. I was trying to run in front of a car, tripped over Breezy’s bag, and almost face planted. Then I laughed so hard I almost peed.

Friday we all went to Knott’s Berry Farm. 

There was a twisty, circling ride that looked pretty tame. It was one of those where the bigger person needed to sit on the outside because you ended up squishing over to the outside (you can see it in the above picture, and we're sitting in the ride in the two lower pictures). It didn’t look too bad, so I said we should try that ride. I sat next to Steph, so Breezy and Joseph were across from us. It ended up being scarier than I thought, and Breezy and Joseph couldn’t breath because they were laughing at my face. Stephanie kept yelling that my hair was in her face but I couldn’t move it because my hands were clutching the safety bar. I may have been crying a little. There is no photographic evidence so one really can’t be too sure.

It was a ton of fun. I’m actually pretty scared of roller coasters but I suck it up and go anyway. And then change my mind at the very beginning, when we’re getting ready to plunge down the first crest. But it’s too late.

That night we ordered pizza. I informed J, “I’m going to need something to drink.” I heard him say, “What?” So I repeated myself, “I’m going to need something to drink.” I heard him say, “I’m sorry, I still didn’t hear you.” Breezy almost yelled, “She’s going to need something – “ but then turned around and realized J was on the phone ordering the pizza and wasn’t talking to me. Which caused us to laugh, which did not help J hear the pizza person at all. He apologized, explaining that there were “crazy people in the room.”

Saturday J had his conference. Breezy went with me to drop him off in the morning. His brakes made very disturbing squeaking noises. We had recently had the brakes replaced, and he has his car maintenanced frequently, so we didn’t think the brakes were having a problem, but why were they making noise? I came back to the hotel, we got ready for the day, and us three girls went to the San Diego Zoo…driving with squeaky brakes.

Pointing picture for HP.

This one is just in case the first one wasn't point-y enough. Because, you know, the elephant shrub is kind of easy to miss.

Did you know that hippos kill more people than lions, elephants, leopards, buffalos, and rhinos combined? Have a little respect.

This panda was really enjoying scratching his butt on that tree.

Our tickets came with free bus rides, and we also got to ride that sky ride you can see in this picture. 

This was taken from the bus. That kangaroo is just hanging out..."Well hello there."

I asked Keeley if she'd be able to make the trip with me, but alas, NC is too far. So here is a cameo.

From the sky ride. It was awesome.

This is an aviary place where they kept birds. Breezy and I did not like going in there, because the probability of being pooped on was pretty good. Plus Steph kept humming the Jurassic Park song and then it got stuck in my head (you know, the second or third one with the pterodactyls).

What is this rather phallic looking picture you ask? On the way out we stopped at a large gift shop. I’ve been wanting a large giraffe statue every since J’s brother’s wife had one that looked fabulous at her house. I did find a different leather giraffe that I got for a good deal at the thrift store, but I still went over to the wooden giraffes just to look. They were different prices depending on size; one was $40, another was $50. Then I spotted a price tag that said, $5.95.” I got closer and examined the tag more closely. I did not read it incorrectly, it was a $6 giraffe. I was about to walk away, thinking it was mis-priced, when I thought, eh, what the heck. I picked up the giraffe and took it to the counter. I was upfront and said it was only priced for $6 and could I buy it for that much? The cashier said sure. Woot!! She bubble wrapped it for a safe journey home. I was very excited. Then started thinking, what if it wasn’t mispriced – what if it was damaged and discounted? It was now bubbled wrapped and I couldn’t examine it. Crap. Well, I’ll wait until I go home.

We went back to the hotel and relaxed after walking all over the place. I went out to the car to pick up J when he texted me. And the car wouldn’t start. What. The. Heck.

Hate that stupid car.

J found out that it’s the theft protection device that needed a new battery. We had to go to Target and get a small screwdriver and new battery. When J took it apart, he asked me, “Did you get this wet?” My response was, “What? No. Wait. Ohhhhhh.”

A water bottle had spilled all over in my purse and a lot of stuff got wet. Oops.

Sunday we were late waking up and caught breakfast at the tail end, but there wasn’t much left over. J had his last day of conference, so I told the girls a donut sounded nice. On the walk over there, a man said, “Looking nice today ladies.” It was slightly nice and slightly creepy. We got our food, came back to the hotel, then headed to the beach.

The beach was lovely. I just love the sound of the waves, the feel of the sand. The back of my legs got horribly burned. It hurts to walk. After wandering around, walking the beach and checking out the shops, we came back to the hotel. Breezy and Steph were on their own for dinner; we went out to dinner with Cody (the guy who gives J a lot of his jobs), Cody's wife Raquelle, and another nerd man and his wife from the conference. It was actually uncanny how similar the other guy (his name was Mike) was to Joseph. I wasn’t going to say anything, but Cody brought it up. Then later we found out J had been in MI about the same time Mike had, and their birthdays were days apart, so the jokes about twins separated at birth continued. After dinner we went to Ghirardelli’s on the GasLamp district, and that was fun. I made Breezy text me the whole time where they were going and when they got back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel, I found out that Steph and Breezy had an interesting conversation. It started when Steph noticed the smoke detector was missing and brought this to Breezy's attention. Breezy said, "Oh well, we can sue them if we die or get seriously injured." That kid cracks me up, you never know what's going to come out of her mouth.

We were supposed to go home Monday morning. J scored some free tickets to Sea World, but they don't expire for awhile and everyone was exhausted/sunburned, so we decided to stick to the original plan. I had a lot of fun but I was ready to go home. So we left Monday morning and got home about 2:30. I took a nap and then cleaned my bathrooms in preparation for my bathroom remodel that would start the next day.

I also unpacked and found that my $6 giraffe is perfectly healthy.

I should have taken an extra day off work to recover. My sunburn still hurts and I'm trying to get through a mountain of laundry, and I'm tired after working a full day. But my bathrooms are partially torn apart and I had a wonderful vacation. I couldn't stop smiling today.