Office Furniture

Here is the before look. Check out my project blog for details on my game plan. 

Project: Refinish Office Furniture

Furniture Source: In Laws

Supplies: Stain, Poly Coat, Brushes, Electric Sander, Sand Paper, Knobs, Drill, Nail Gun

Estimated Time for Refinish: 1.5 Weeks

Check back for the finished look.

P.S. Ignore my messy garage, I cleaned it up after I took this picture.

Experiences in Farming 101

I would like to say that I come from a long line of farmers, but I don't. If I had a farming history, and as far as I know I don't, I would like to think that I would have grown up on a farm. Or at that least grew up on farmish property. I wouldn't be scared of the size of a horse or I would be eating brown chicken eggs. Maybe I would have some crops.

So I am not a farmers. Obviously.

But... my grandpa gardens. He loves to garden. I remember being little and there was always something growing in his dark Arizona soil. He grew a beautiful, big, plentiful garden.

And... my mom gardens. She loves to garden. I remember being little and there was usually something growing in our brown Arizona soil. She grew a beautiful, big, plentiful garden.

So here is my experiences in farming 101. I learned a thing or two about growing vegetables from my mom and grandpa. I've helped grow corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini etc. So when Brett and I got around to landscaping our backyard we decided to grow a garden.

So... we try to garden. We love to garden. Isaac will someday remember being little and there being one thing  growing in our hard Arizona soil. We grow a unsightly, small, scarce garden.

Last winter was our first garden. We got broccoli. This past summer we got zucchini. This winter will be our third garden. 

Every season we plant six or seven different things. We usually buy starter plans and plant them in random but organized rows. Our experiences have resulted in death. We only get one type of produce. Expensive and wasteful. So this year we planted seeds in rows, the way farmers do. I also decided to try a few potted vegetables. I work with a girl who has had great results with this.

My last attempt this year will be an herb garden. I took a well shaded part of the yard and decided to try a few herbs. This will be my second herb garden. This summer I tried a few things and ended up with a beautiful basil plant. It is still alive and growing in so full. 

Let's cross our fingers and hope that third time is a charm. Cause I am not up for failing farming 101 again.

I Painted While on Vacation

I'm going to send you to my project blog to read a post about the bedroom Krista, Andy, Brett, and I worked on. It was one on my favorite projects. But here is a sneak peak of baby Addy's new nursery.

I'm a Project Do-er

Kay. I finally did it.

I have been wanting for so long to make a project blog and I always have a project or two going on to talk about.

I started the blog with a project I did for a family member, but I need to add a few projects that we have going on right  now at home. But I am so one of those people that just needs to get something started or else it stays an idea forever. Which totally torments me.

Anyways. It is boring right now because it only has one post, but it's a good post. So go check it out.

Unexpected Situations, New Obsessions, and Good Deals

I guess I am a liar. I promised a post weeks ago. Better late then never. Ooops.

Yesterday, when I was thinking about the promise I made to post, I realized that I'm bad at posting because life right now is just kinda slow. I don't have a ton to report on. I have three minor categories of life to expound on. That's pretty much all you are going to get.

Unexpected situations. This category is pretty much an all encompassing title for the events in my life.

No one expects to get sick: unless you are sharing a lollipop with a sick person. Brett and I got sick. Not due to a lollipop. Brett decided to go help out in 5th grade where his sister teaches. Apparently all but nine of the kids were out at once due to illness. Brett has his own personal version of the swine flu, again, which included massive headaches, a vicious cough, a sniffly nose, and a few body aches. Several days later I got sick. Just a basic cold followed by five days of having no voice.

Meanwhile, I have been working at the salon. It's slow, I'm enjoying it though. After working in this particular salon/studio for about three weeks, the lady I rented from called and asked if I wanted to take over her lease. Now, I knew that she eventually wanted someone to take it over, but I was thinking at least six months from now. Unexpected. Anyways, Brett and I are looking into taking her up on her offer. I'll keep you updated on that. Next.

This category is probably my favorite. New Obsessions.

About three years ago my supervisor from Best Buy tried to get me onto the whole TV shows bandwagon. I had already committed my Monday TV time to How I Met Your Mother and Heroes and he wanted me to try getting into The Office. So I tried. I started with season one, watched two episodes, and had about had it with the rudeness of Michael Scott, I handed seasons one and two back to him and said yeah right. Well these days I still find time where I am bored out of my mind, so I put my Netflix account to good use. I had a The Office marathon. I started with season one at 1AM Sunday morning and got caught up with about five episodes of season six Wednesday afternoon. I didn't get much done around the house for a few days. Needless to say Brett is also hooked on the shows, but is taking his time getting through the five seasons we have missed. We often find ourselves talking about Jim and Pam and sometimes find instances to quote Michael with a "that's what she said" joke.

Obsession number two is all mine. I love decorating my apartment and can't wait to have a home to decorate. So as part of decorating my home I love fixing furniture, art, and making pillows for my home. My mom had acquired a bench that had a broken leg, everything else was in good shape, but the color didn't go with what I had going on. So my mom and I reupholstered it. It came out so good! So if anyone had furniture you are thinking about getting rid of, don't.

And finally good deals. These always make me smile.

My aunt had called one Friday morning, waking me up to a Nyquil hangover and no voice, to tell about some great furniture that was at the Mesa Auction. I drug my butt out of bed and my mom and I met her down at the auction house to see what they had. So much freakin cute furniture. So we planned out what furniture we wanted to try to get and how much we were willing to pay. Seriously, I feel like I stole the furniture, I got such a good deal.

I picked up some nice filing cabinets that go for $100 a piece at Ikea. I got three for $25 each. I also fell in love with a funky lamp for $35. So here is how the story goes. I had to work the night of the auction. I had sent my mom and my deal expert aunt to go get these filling cabinets and lamp for me. After I had finished doing hair for the night, Brett and I hurried our butts down to the auction to pick up our filling cabinets and to check out the rest of the auction. Brett was shocked at how nice some of the furniture was and how cheap it was going for. My mom was eyeing this curio cabinet/china hutch. She had decided though that she wasn't going to bid on it. After this beautiful cabinet has sold for $265 the auctioneer had said that there were two more available new in box to anyone else who wanted them. My aunt and I were very bad influences and panicked my mom with the amazing deal and she bought it. We later found out that this curio cabinet sold for $2200 at retail. We saw a Pioneer Elite TV go for $900. The bidding started at $500 and no one was taking it. I wanted to bid on it so bad. These deals we just so crazy.

I also got a peak at my Christmas present. Well, it wasn't a peak. I had also been eyeing this pub table. So freakin' cute. But, I didn't want to spend any more money and decided that if it went over $150 I wasn't going to bid on it. It started too high for me. So there goes my aunt bidding on it. It was sad. Then she won the bid. Being the brat that I am, I pretty much asked for her to leave it to me in her will. My mom then looks at my aunt and says, "Should I tell her?" which totally made me curious. My aunt was upset and stuck her tongue out at me. And then my mom tells me that she just bought my Christmas present. I was so excited! I apologized to my aunt, she really wanted to table too. Unfortunately, Christmas is still weeks away, so my table isn't in my home right now. It was fun though. A bit of an adrenaline rush.

That is all I have to report. We have family in town for Thanksgiving, so maybe I'll post some pictures of my niece and nephews.

Projects

In the past two and a half months since I have been out of school I haven't gotten much done. To be completely honest, most of my free time has consisted of sleeping. I find myself going to bed at about 2AM and getting up at about 1PM. Then at about 4PM, just before Brett gets home from work, I take a nap for about an hour and half.

But, that's not all I have done in the past two months.

Aside from looking for a job, which is a pain in the butt, I spent my first two weeks of life outside of school reading. I finished the whole Twilight series for the millionth time in about a week. Then I moved on to some Jane Austen. Following books, I moved on to studying for my cosmetology exam, however, studying lasted only a couple of days. I jumped over to movies. First watching the entire Harry Potter series in two days, including the newest movie, followed by enrolling in the greatest idea ever. I absolutely love Netflix.

But, I'm not a complete jobless bum.

I spent a good couple of days planning dinner meals and reorganizing my apartment. I cleaned out the laundry room, the closest, and moved furniture in the bedroom and living room to make room for the free piano.

But, I was starting to go crazy.

I was running out of things to do. It started with my dogs bad breath. So I baked some puppy treats, which makes me feel like a good dog owner. And finally it lead to me writing a letter to my mom's dogs Corkey and Luci. I wrote as if I were my dog Amare, I made him sign it with his paw print, I bagged up some fresh baked puppy treats and delivered them to my mom. I was going crazy.

And then I lost it.

I refinished my kitchen table. Sanded it. Stained it. Sealed it.

I started painting. I taped squares on the wall, and painted them. Then I added more.

I fixed 105 year old piano keys with tweezers and a bit of Elmer's Glue (Don't be mad I used Elmer's Glue. I wanted to play a few songs using F#).

And now.

I'm back to sleeping in.