Quick Craft

So, the desk has been put on hold. I need it to cool off a little bit outside before I can finish it. I can’t use the stripper in the garage, because there is not enough ventilation.  It is just too damn hot out there!

So, I turned to working on a corner of the art room.  There is a little alcove that is made by 2 of the shelves. I used to use it to store random stuff. It used to be hidden like this:

Wasn't that fabric super cute???

Well, I could not bring myself to cut that fabric for fear of messing it up with amateur sewing. So, it stayed a curtain, until my little sis suggested that I let my big sis use it in her daughter’s room. I must admit, my immediate reaction was complete horror. Give up my prized fabric? Let someone CUT my prized fabric???? Then I remembered, I am just about the coolest aunt in the world!!!!!   So, I had to give it up.

So, the stuff behind the curtain just became an eye sore.

I have recently had to add some stuff to the art room that ordinarily would not be there. So, that corner because more strategic storage, than leftover homeless things.  It looks like this now.

There is a lot of stuff squeezed into that corner!

Hubs and I went to the fabric store to try to find something cheap and cute. No joy. We failed on that mission. So, I was forced to pick from the remnants that I have on my sewing shelf. Nothing really gave me the kind of inspiration that I got from the awesome print on the first curtain.

However, some time ago, I recovered a chair in this kind of cute fabric. It really matched well with the walls in the previous art room.

It used to be a very ugly, worn out, stained grey.

So, I took the rest of that fabric, and a little extra reddish, and created my own curtain. It doesn’t match the walls, or the sports theme border (left by previous owner) but it at least matches the chair!!!

It looks decent. For now!

So… there you have it!

Where Were You?

We all know what we are remembering today. I can not even think of a word to describe how sad that day was.

I was teaching preschool in Raleigh, NC. There were no TVs in our center, but we all had radios in our classrooms.  Of course, the radios were playing preschool friendly music, at the time. However, one of the parents from my class came in, and asked if I had heard that a plane had crashed  in New York. With a room full of twelve 3-year-old children, my mind did not really register anything more than a plane crash.

It was not until later when my boss came and said that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. I said “Yeah, I heard that about a half hour ago when (child) got here.”

He said, “No, a second plane.” That was when I knew something was wrong.

On my lunch break, I went to my sister’s house and watched coverage for about a half hour. I am pretty sure that I cried the entire time. My Dad was scheduled to fly home that day. I called my Mom to make sure he was not in the air. His flight was actually before it happened.

Lots of parents picked their kids up early that day. That made me cry more.

I absolutely can not imagine the fear and sadness that other people felt on that day, or the ones following.

I hope that everyone will continue to remember, year round, what those days were like.  I will.

Day One of the Desk Remodel

Remember I posted about my secretary desk?

Yesterday I decided that it was time to start transforming my desk. Like I said, I still have no idea about the final plan, or where it will live. But, it is time for me to focus on a project. So, here we go.

I came downstairs at the start of Hubs’ basketball game. I told him that I was going to go dig out the desk, and start sanding it. He said that I needed to strip it instead.

Me: “Can we go find some stripper tomorrow?

Hubs: “Sure, it can be our ‘Spending Time Together’ for the weekend.”

Me: “Will you do the dance?”  (I will have to try to get the dance on video, so you can all appreciate it!)

Hubs:  ”Sure.”

Me: “Sweet!”

Fast forward to this morning.

We get into the car to head to Lowe’s.   We bought stripper and mineral spirits. We bought a couple of scrapers and brushes too, so I wouldn’t ruin my existing good stuff. And some protection from the fumes. Awesome gloves, mask, and goggles.

Mask and goggles. Ready to start!

So, I moved the desk out to the driveway.

The Before

I removed all of the hardware.

Drawers and hardware removed.

I emptied the drawers. Then I cleaned the hole punch confetti off of the driveway. Hubs killed the spider and eggs living on the bottom of the bottom drawer. I removed the dust and dirt from the desk.

Then, I made my first test of the stripper on one of the tiny little drawers. I figured they could be removed, and just be more shelves if I screwed them up. The stripper worked fine, but it gunks up my scrapers before I can even get them cleaned off.

So, feeling confident with my plan, I applied stripper to all of the small little spaces inside of the desk.

And then:

Rain!

The rain came down.

So, I practically threw the desk into the garage, at least as much as one girl can throw a piece of furniture. So, I started scraping the inner bits of the shelves. By flashlight, because our garage does not have enough light.

Flashlight Stripping!

After about 20 minutes of this, I could not decide if I was going to vomit, or pass out. So, I gave up and went inside. This is a project meant to be done in open air. My garage is not that!

Day 2 is next!

My Secretary (Desk)

Over a year ago, I was wandering around my Goodwill, and came out with a couple of purchases. I bought an old school TV cart. It came out of a school, I think.  I paid $6.00 for it. I bought a bookshelf. I am not sure where it came from, but it was clearly not a discount store shelf. It is super heavy. I thought Hubs was going to kill himself trying to help me get it upstairs. I paid $5.00 for the shelf. And, to round out my $30.00 shopping spree, I paid $19.00 for a secretary desk.

I had plans to refinish it, and put it in my art room, so I could turn my desk (2 file cabinets and an 8 foot long piece of wood on top) into a painting table.  Then, Hubs and I traded spaces in the house. My art room is no longer the large bonus room. My art room is now the smallest bedroom in the house.  Just for the sake of showing, here is a picture of it.

Isn't it super cute?

I love the new space, but there is not one inch of space left to put another piece of furniture. Literally. Every piece of furniture is strategically placed so that the not even my finger can fit between the door and the furniture. It is full! This means that my plans for my (eventually) cute desk got pushed aside. The desk has been sitting in the garage for over a year.

Well, today, things are changing. Of course, it is still sitting in the garage, but in the middle of the floor!

The Before

I started the process today. I have not decided what color it will be, or where it will live, but I have at least started. Stay tuned for more on my experience refinishing my desk!

Because it is Unrealistic

Every few weeks, TV offers what  Hubs refers to as “My Movie Weekends.”  These weekends are full of movies that I love. Action movies. 80s and 90s action movies. Die Hard. Lethal Weapon. The Rock. Passenger 57. The Fugitive.  And even the much more recent, Taken.  I love action packed movies. I am not into guts and body parts being blown off. I prefer the ones that are not 75% CGI. But, give me a hero running around kicking bad guy ass, and I love it!

Then, there is TV. Reality (totally unrealistic) TV rules the air waves these days. We have Survivor, Big Brother, Amazing Race, The Challenge, Bachelor, Bachelorette, Real World, Project Runway, Ninja Warrior,Pawn Stars, Storage Wars… This list really could fill an entire post.
24 was not that kind of TV. I must admit, I resisted Jack for the first 4 seasons. I just refused to watch. All I knew about the show was that it was 24 episodes, shown 24 weeks in a row, with no intention for repeats. How could I ever fit such a show into my schedule? Of course,  now, I have DVR. Back then, I did not even have cable! But, my sister talked me into spending one extra night at home one weekend. Hanging out with her meant catching the season 5 premier. I was instantly hooked. Honestly, on my honeymoon, I watched 24 while Hubs was in a casino!  Hubs has dutifully purchased all 8 seasons, plus the movie, from the year of the writer’s strike.  Once in a while, I watch the whole series.

Jack has saved us from bombs, bio-weapons, nerve gas, and psycho terrorists. Jack has endured torture and agony. Jack has lost his wife, and girlfriends. Jack has just generally kicked ass. And I love it! One of the most memorable, and talked about moments, for our family, was when Jack ripped the cord off of a lamp and tortured a man with it. Jack can do anything.  Plus his cell phone ALWAYS works and ALWAYS has battery life.

Realistic? I doubt it. I really have no idea.  But, I can not get Hubs to watch 24 with me. He won’t watch it, because he says it is unrealistic. This, from the man who watches Star Trek. He recognizes the Klingon language when he hears it. He went to a convention. Unrealistic. I say BOO to your argument, Hubs! Come watch 24 with me!

101 Things…

Way back when I first began using  Facebook, it seemed like just about everyone wrote the “25 Things About Me” note.  Not wanting to be the only person failing to complete it, I sat down to think of 25 things people might find interesting about me.

Earlier today, my friend Patricia posted an entry on her blog with 101 things about her. As I read through them, I saw more than a few things that also described me. Which might explain why we get along. However, I can’t imagine how long it would take me to come up with 101 things other people might find interesting, or if I am even that interesting at all!  But, I am going to give it a try. Mostly, because I am at a point in my life where remembering some forgotten things about myself might just prove useful! I am sure there will be some repeats from the original list. If that offends you, I am sorry.

So, with no further ado… Here they are.

1.  I am ADHD. I was diagnosed when I was 21. I am not proud of the steps my life took to get me to that point. But I am thankful that those steps let me to a solution that helped me.

2. I wish Bill would have stayed in the Air Force for another couple of years. Part of it is because I feel like I didn’t get the whole experience of being a Military Wife. Mostly, it is because I miss the security we had.

3. As a child, I HATED squash. As an adult, it is one of my favorite vegetables, second only to broccoli.

4.I have 2 dogs. We are pretty sure that one has special needs. After 5 years, and many people attempting to teach him, he still has not learned to shake. But, we love him just the same!

5. I was a National Champion in college. NJCAA Field Hockey champions 1995.

6. My husband says I am the Captain of the Grammar Police. I beg to differ. I know people who are way more grammar police than me. However, I do find it next to impossible to correct people when they say, or spell, something wrong. It might be an obsession.

7. As obsessive as I am about other people using words correctly, I love made up words, or spell check disasters that get put into every day conversation. My newest favorite is “exacklywhat” as misspelled by my friend Rhonda during a recent chat. I also love beautimus, ginormous, and jiggleator.

8. Of course, there are tons of words that I can not stand… especially when they are just mispronounced. Some of them are: acrost, elexecute, chimley or chimbley, and irregardless.  (I know, technically irregardless is a word, but only because people have been using it incorrectly for so long, that the powers that be just gave up and accepted it.)

9. I am a bit OCD. Sometimes I wish that included the compulsion to clean. Instead, mine is a compulsion for symmetry.  One of my biggest needs in this arena is for my pot rack to hang straight. And my husband can not seem to grasp that there IS a RIGHT way to hang the pots!!!!

10. I sleep best when my room is cold and I am under a couple of blankets. But, I must have at least one foot sticking out from under the covers. Unfortunately, my husband is very cold-natured, so we have thermostat wars at night.

11. I am tone-deaf. Enough said.

12. I recently left my job. I cried a whole lot. My job made me cry. But, the decision to leave made me cry even more. I have made some truly wonderful friends there, and I love so many of the kids that I left behind.

13. I cry when I am stressed out. It is the personality trait that I like least about myself.

14.  I can not stand Wal-Mart. In the first place, I think most of the stuff there is crap. Second, knowing that it is crap, I can’t seem to STOP spending money there.

15. I want to win a shopping spree at sears. I  always find something I want when I am there!

16. I rarely spend more than $20 on any shoes, besides sneakers. I have no desire to keep a pair of shoes longer than a $20 pair lasts. But, for some strange reason, I will keep a pair of sneakers until they are falling apart before I replace them!

17. I will spend $100 on office supplies without batting an eyelash, but I feel guilty spending half that when I need new underwear.

18. McDonald’s french fries are my favorite.

19.  I am absolutely ready to move to NC and build our house. Unfortunately, or wallet is not!

20. I do not have a favorite color. I suppose that I can attribute that to being ADHD. My color preference changes with my mood, and there is no single color that makes me feel better than any other color.

21. I was born and raised on NC State sports. Go Pack! Having endured YEARS of poor performing teams, I feel as though I have earned a right to look down my nose at people who are not as loyal to their teams as I am. I can not stand to hear a person say that they are  a fan of one school for football, and another for basketball, and another for baseball. Those people follow whoever is winning that year, instead of being a fan of any one school. I know that this mentality makes me come off as obnoxious.  I am OK with that.

22. We finally, recently, got our Wii connected to the internet.  We downloaded Super Mario Brothers 3. I am not as good at it as I was the original.

23. I love to watch Ninja Warrior.

24. Now that we have DVR, watching commercials annoys me. I have been known to read for 15 minutes, just to get far enough into a show that I can fast forward through the commercials.

25. Speaking of commercials, I wonder when they started showing commercials before the previews during movies.

26. Speaking of movies, I think that children who can not sit still and quiet through a 2 hour movie should be removed from the theater, even if management has to do it. I know that parents want to see movies too, but I pay to see a movie, not to listen to kids yelling and crying, or watch them run around.

27. I love my mini van. Even exploring a mini van started as a joke, but the fold in floor seats have sold me forever on the van. When the seats are down, I have a flat floor in which to haul things. When the seats are up, I have TONS of storage space under the car! I love it!

28. I miss Jack Bauer.

29. I prefer to wear socks that no one can see.

30. I want to go to Ireland and Germany. For now, I have to just be happy with gifts that other people have brought me from those places.

31. I refuse to pick between Twilight and Harry Potter. I love them both.

32. I watched Deathly Hallows Part 2 twice in 4 days… and would go again.

33. I have no problem going to a movie by myself.

34. I do have a problem going to a sit down restaurant by myself.

35. I have a craft room in my house. I am ready for the cooler weather so it will be comfortable in there again.

36. I can not stand cleaning the bathroom.

37. I miss my friends from high school.

38. I miss my friends from college.

39. I miss my friends from camp.

40. I went to the same summer camp for my entire childhood. 1982 – 1992. Then I was a counselor for 4 years.

41. I sing the cabin, club, and campfire songs from my camp when I am in the car by myself.

42. I have been trying to learn to sew. I suck at it. It doesn’t stop me from cranking out weird little creature pillows.

42. I want all of the furniture in our living room to coordinate with each other. I am not sure it will ever happen!

43. I used to collect oil lamps. Now, I am tired of them. I think it is because I have so many that look alike.

44. I suffer (and I mean this in the most literal sense of the word) from insanely sensitive skin. The slightest little thing can make my skin itch. If I can not stop it immediately, the itching progresses to pain. I do not know how to explain the pain so that anyone else can understand it. I think most people believe I am making it up. I am not.

45.  I am crazy klutzy.

46. I am learning to like pink.

47. This year my Christmas decorations stayed up until July. I left them up because my husband was not home, and I was afraid my house would be too depressing without all of that beautiful light and color.

48. We have 2 baby gates in each of the windows in our living room to prevent the dogs from being able to look out of the windows.

49. At one time, our sliding glass doors were covered in contact paper.

50. We do these things to try to stop our dogs from barking. We have a horribly crotchety old neighbor who calls the cops whenever our dogs bark. He even calls them when OTHER dogs bark. We hate limiting our dogs, but it is better than having the police on our porch several times a week!

51. I miss my family. I wish I could see them way more often!

52. Our coolers all have names. This all started with a cooler that my Dad picked up on the side of the road that had the name “Rodney” on the handle.

53. I have never had a car title in my name.

54. I do not like hearts. As jewelry or any other decoration, outside of valentines day, I find them to be horribly tacky.

55. I trust my sisters when they tell me that a movie would scare me.

56. I have a scalp massager. I love it!

57. When I need a good laugh, I go to DYAC to read people’s text fails.

58. I am a horrible sales person.

59. I want to return to school for a bachelor’s degree, but I have no idea what to pursue.

60. I used to have my own horse. While I can’t have him back, I do hope to, one day, have horses again.

61. I SUCK at basketball.

62. Big Brother is my summer guilty pleasure TV show.

63. I love when Bill and I go to an arcade and play Ski Ball and then give the tickets to a child who is trying desperately to win something. The gratitude from the parents is just a bonus!

64. I rescued my Mom’s high school portrait from her trash pile. I love it! It is the first thing I see when I walk into the craft room.

65. My parents were tobacco farmers. When I was a kids I wanted to be a farmer too. As an adult? I don’t even care to weed the flower beds. I obviously would not have made a great farmer!

66. I hate the way our spices are stored. I have been looking for spice storage ideas on and off, on the internet, for three days.

67. After several evenings, my husband and I have finally finished watching Lord of the Rings, in its entirety. I feel nearly as lost now as I did when we started.

68. If you ask me for something that I know is in my junk drawer, I can tell you exactly where it is in the drawer. I have been told that this ability means that it is not actually a junk drawer.

69. I sold a drafting table at a yard sale when we were planning to move. We didn’t move. I want my table back!

70. I ordered flowers off of the internet for my wedding. Each of my bride’s maids made their own bouquet. The flower girls picked the flowers for theirs, and the mom’s bouquets. The rest of the flowers were turned into arrangements leading to the beach.

71. Why yes… I did get married on the beach.

72. In my bare feet.

73. In a big poofy dress.

74. I wish we had a boat. Or, at least, a jet ski.

75. I want to go back to Vegas.

76. I love slot machines, though, I rarely win.

77. I am terrified when I have to get into a taxi.

78.  I am more terrified when I have to get on a plane.

79. I do know that these feelings of terror are based in the fact that these are two situations where I have absolutely no control. I need to be in control.

80. I went to boarding school.

81. I still talk to, and see, 3 friends from there on a regular basis. There are a few more that I wish I could see on a regular basis.

82. I think it would be cool to own a bed and breakfast. Of course, I can not cook, and I hate to clean bathrooms. I am not sure it could work!

83. I have no tattoos. I have accompanied 4 friends to get theirs. Each time, I was reminded why I did not want one.

84. On a regular basis, the only jewelry I wear is my wedding and engagement rings.

85. If I could get away with it, I would wear flip-flops 24/7.

86. I love a zipper hoodie. A pullover hoodie makes me feel like I am being strangled.

87. I love 80s music.

89. I want to take shag lessons.

90. I was in a car wreck that took away 11 hours of my memory of that particular day.

91. I snort when I laugh.

92. Even though I do not care for gold-colored things, I have gold curtains hanging in my living room. They are there because I paid less $4.00 a piece for them at a huge clearance sale at Sears.

93. I told my husband on the day that we met that I would be right 95% of the time. I still think I am.

94. I do not typically follow trends… but I am loving the current owl trend… but the cute ones, not the creepy barn owls.

95. I do not wear perfume, I can not find one that does not irritate my skin.

96. There is no headboard on my bed. I want one.

97. I have never been on a cruise.

98. I do have a passport.

99. It has never been stamped.

100. I took piano lessons in the 3rd grade, and wish my Parents would have made me continue.

101. If I could, I would go to the beach every day. I find it to be incredibly peaceful, even when there are hundreds of people around.

So, there you have it.

I Quit My Job…

And could not be happier.

It really is a great feeling to go into a new job feeling excited and thrilled, and full of new ideas. What a shame it is to leave that job feeling defeated, disrespected, and used. That is what happened.

So, for a few days, my days are my own. And I am looking forward to not setting the alarm!

Hubs is Home!!!

For everyone that does not know, Hubs came home from Afghanistan about 6 weeks ago. We decided not to spread that around, because we weren’t really sure what was going to happen. He came home because he was sick. He has been with the doctor, and is now as good as new! However, the doctor recommended that he not return. So, Hubs has officially been released from his contract, and all obligations associated with it.

Cause to celebrate? Absolutely!

Hubs Left Today

So, officially, there are 365 work days + 21 days of vacation. 381 days. Give or take a few on either end. 381ish days until this job is over. 381 days until I know that Mr. Brady Life is home. And safe.

Thankfully, I have the best Mom in the world. Even though she has a ton of stuff that she needs to get done, she stopped it all to drive 3 hours and come hang out with me. She didn’t want me to have to spend my first night alone, alone. Of course, I feel certain that I will not sleep tonight, without some sort of sleep aid… but that is OK.

Monday, I go back to work. Of course, at that point, I still have to decide about what to do there. But, that is another story, for another day.

If you pray, please pray that B makes it safely to his job site, and that he will be safe while he is there.

Thanks.

First Truly Rough Day Alone

On Wednesday, I was having a piece of chocolate on the playground at work with a fellow teacher, and felt the most excruciating pain. I broke a tooth, and a corner off of another tooth. Crap!

Of course, I didn’t know what I had done, only that it was hurting. So, yesterday, I went to the dentist, and found out about the damage, both to my teeth, and our wallet. As far as my teeth go, I had to have one tooth removed and the other prepared for a root canal. I was have the root canal and a bridge put in once I am healed.

But telling B how much all of this is going to cost was scary! It’s not like he would tell me no, but we are so tight on money all the time, that thousands of dollars to fix a tooth is just crazy… and that is after the insurance already paid for part of it!

Maybe I am in the wrong field!