Day 2 (or is it really Day 1) of Craft Room Fix Up.

Alright, so we had a change in plans last night as well... My younger brother came over to pick up some stuff I had for him and he ended up staying for dinner. Man the stars are not aligned for me to get this room done - but I did NOT go to sleep without working on it!!!

So without further a do (is that how you write it?) I give you day #2 - of the Craft Room Fix Up!

Took the air mattress out and moved the craft desk up towards the middle of the room. I want to paint this desk and I got a quart of oops paint (in dark brown)that only cost me a $1! Quick Tip: if you are ever in need of paint, before you go out and spend a bagillian dollars on a can of paint check out the oops section at Home Depot (or Lowes) and you just might find what you are looking for for a fraction of the cost!! I think at HD their oops paint is like $1 for a quart and $5 for a gallon. check it!

I moved my sewing table to the little corner in the far right of the room when you walk in. This room is smaller than all the others would be nice as a nursery, but we are not in that frame of mind - Thank.You.Very.Much. As you can see there is a bunch o stuff everywhere. One day at a time, one day at a time!

Ok. so now I am standing in the back of the room and to the left (the tupper) there are projects in waiting! I can't wait to do something with those. There are picture frames, baskets, mirrors, etc. JUST good stuff!!

Now I am standing by the closet (which also needs some organizing and stuff) Here is my sewing table that I got for $5! I KNOW I KNOW that the chair there is not very pretty, but it is comfortable AND it was $3. I will paint it white and change out the seat (which is a purplish/pink color) and it will go great with the sewing table.

Here is another part of the room with crafts galore. On the top right you can see a small bolt of fabric sticking up. Well in that bag is a bunch of fabric that I need to organize and I would have shown you how I started to organize some of it, buuuuuuuuuuut I didn't want to create an avalanche if I opened the closet. You catch my drift right... ok.

So that's it for day #2. I hope to get more done to work tonight because we will just go straight home right after work.

See you later!

Hasta!

Adri.

Day 1 of Craft Room Fix up.

Update on our kitchen lighting situation - our electrician could not make it last night, so we are still using a floor lamp (that we have for emergencies - like these). Hopefully he will come over tonight and fix us up!

So in yesterday's post I said that I would take at least 30 mins a day to get this Craft Room up to par. Well yesterday night was Day 1.

I want to go over ideas of what I want to do in this room and where I want it to be by the end of this series.

a) I want it to be accessible. Meaning that I want to be able to find things and work on projects with comfort and ease!

b) It needs to look good. I mean no one wants to work in a space that looks un-inviting!

c) I need a small tv and cable hookup. I don't know about you, but I almost always (unless it involves paint/spray paint) do my project with the tv on.

d) Just be fun and inspiring!

So, for day 1-here is how it looked when I started:

Full of stuff!! So as you can see the walls are already painted and ready to go. So paint, check! As well you can kind of tell that I have a make shift Pottery Barn desk - you know the one with the $1,000 price tag that is freaking fabulous!! Well hubby made me this one with two shelves that we got for free from my sister and then a piece of wood on top. It works, but it is not cute. It will be painted and moved to the middle of the room where the bed is. Sooo the air mattress and lovely sheets and pillows have to go. To the right of the air mattress is my sewing table that I got for $5 at my favorite thrift store. I think I will move it to the far right corner of the room once we move the craft desk to the middle.

Ok.. so at the end of day 1 - here is what the room looked like:
AHHHHHH... nothing got done! Let me tell you why, the reason is because it was my aunt's birthday (and I forgot that we were going to celebrate at the restaurant) so when I made the challenge to myself, I did not remember that I would have to start today instead of yesterday.

So unofficially, today would be day 1... so get ready for my first day of the CRFU! <--that doesn't really look right, does it? It's the texting way to write out Craft Room Fix Up... but I guess it could be made up to mean something else with the FU at the end... even though, that is sooo Not Me! LOL...

Hasta!

Adri.

Weekend blunder... no bueno!

So I had great intentions of finishing up the craft room, but NOPE. I don't even think I went into that room at all this weekend. OH Well. I have vowed to do at least 30 mins each night this week in that room and I will document it in a small series. I think it will get done faster and who knows, maybe I will be in there for more than 30 minutes without knowing??

On to what we did do this weekend.

So Friday night after church and getting the green machine (hubby's car) fixed up, we came home and were eating our take out when all of the sudden the kitchen light went out. hmmm? Wonder what happened. So Hubby gets up from the table to flip the switch on and off and nothing. So we come to the conclusion that the bulbs need to be replaced. So Saturday afternoon we head out to Home Depot to pick up two new light bulbs (and some yummy black paint for a little project I have up my sleeve - more on that later this week). We get home and hubby jumps up on a chair to put those suckers in and .... wait for it... NOTHING. That was not the problem. What could it be??? So we call up our pastor and he says he could come over Sunday after church. He comes over and finds out that the actual fixture is bad :( and so it needs to be replaced... bummer. Well not totally. Remember back in the day I had bought a light fixture at a garage sale that I painted from white to a brownish beige to match our cabinets?? Well I have been waiting (patiently) to get it installed. I have NO idea if it works, but we will find out TONIGHT!!! woohoo... during Monday night Football, our Pastor will be over to help out with hanging the light.

Here are some pics to show what we got accomplished last night (in finding out that the original light fixture is a bust.)

This is the ugly but functional (oh who am I kidding,this thing was sooo dim, I am kind of glad it bit the dust!) Here it is after checking it to see what is wrong with it (all the guts hanging out)
Here are all the pieces to it to make it look not so ugly.

Here is the new light fixture in all it's glory! Love how it looks more substantial and bigger and just all around prettier!
Oh and just for giggles, here is what we have been using the illuminate our kitchen for the past 2 days! Mostly at night or in the morning (during the day, I just open the blinds a bit to let the sun peek in)

Now.. something that was fabulous that happened this weekend. We had this light fixture hanging in the entry way when you walk through the front door. Looks at it's brassy goodness... yuk. (I don't know why the next couple of pictures look yellow?? - could be the brass! ha!)

WOW
Just in case you didn't get enough of the brassy goodness....

Oh.. LOVE (not the sarcasm) the seashell top... just glamorous!
Now here is where the fabulousness comes in! My new light fixture - it cost me $3 at a garage sale and I am beyond excited as it was already pretty late in the day (about 12:30) when we rolled up to this garage sale and bam... right there in all it's beauty was this gleaming light fixture. I was worried that it didn't work but when Pastor hooked it up... Oh just check it out below:

TADA!!!!!!!

It is SUPER BRIGHT because the hubbs got some bright energy star or what I like to call squiggly light bulbs and so we need to get a softer wattage. But YAY for a $3 light fixture!!! woohoo!!!! Score for me!

Stay tuned for my "get the craftroom up to par" series coming up this week! It starts tonight!!

Hasta!

Adri.

Getting the house ready for guests, part 2 AND some weekend finds!

Ok.. sorry about not posting sooner, I left my camera AT WORK!! I was lost without it this weekend! I usually carry it in my purse, but I soooo did not have it... so I had to take pics yesterday to upload them today. UGH.. I am trying to at least post one post per day as I really enjoy it when others have at least one new post per day! It's really fun!

anyway.. On to my post.

To continue my second part of Getting House Ready for Guests:

1) Always have toiletries on hand (such as when you stay at a hotel). Keep in open for them to see and put it in a spot that they will be more incline to use it. Such as the bathroom counter. Please excuse my flat iron and towel. Hubby took these with his iPhone. See here in the picture below, this is what I have in the basket.

a) toothbrushes b) toothpaste c) women's and men's deodorant d) tide to go e) razors (men's and women's) - and not so present, women's toiletries accessible if you know what I mean.

2) Also, a good thing to practice is leaving towels (and extras) on hand for them. As well, put them in a spot that is easy to find and accessible. I put 2 regular bath towels, 2 smaller bath towels and 2 wash cloths per person. So In my case it was 8 towels and 4 wash clothes total.

3) If your guest room has a tv in it (ours does and it also has a cable box) make sure that you leave the remotes (and extra batteries on hand) in a place that they can find them. Also, if you have time, give them a quick tutorial or leave a little note on how to work them. I know you can't tell from the picture, but in the little basket on the end table, there are two remotes, one for the tv and one for the cable (you really only need one, but just in case - you never know!) Oh and for an added touch, there is also some gum in the little basket.

4) One of the most important tips that I could ever relay to you. Always, always, always have extra tp in the restroom! You should have it anyway, but as your guest, I don't want to ask you for it when I can clearly find it myself because you soo conveniently left it for me!

and there you have it! The end of my two part series of Getting the House Ready for Guests!

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Now onto the stuff you guys are waiting for. My weekend finds!! My good friend Jvilla is buying her first house with her beau and asked me to take her thrifting. Well since she was busy looking around with her realtor, she got over to my house a little late and therefore our thrifting excursions were short. But not to worry, we did get some good stuff!!

(I got these before she got there) So I wanted to start decorating for fall and got these two vine pumpkins at the one spot at Target (they were $2.50 each). I actually think I will get 2 more this week. I really like them and just threw them up on the mantle. NO ONE has noticed.... hmmm maybe cause i have too much stuff! LOL. I will look at it again and see what I can change.

Closeup of Pumpkin. Soo cute! (that bright white thing to the right is our Unity Candle)

REALLY tall shutter! It was marked at $4 and was half off, so I got it for $2. No one can see my vision of what to do with it, but I know what I want to do and will have it up this weekend. I LOVE IT and think that I might go back this weekend to get the white one that they had right next to it.

OK... so I have always looked for something like this for my kitchen (dish soap/lotion dispenser) and have one in our guest bath, but couldn't find one that I liked. We just happened to go to Pier One and viola. It was a little pricey because each piece was priced separately (though on clearance I might add), but I was all over it. Though in real life I would not have paid $12 for it.... just saying...
Last but not least, I had bought a bunch of silver trays that I had wanted to do the chalk board thing too and have had most of these trays for MONTHS (they range in price from $0.75 to $2.00). I just never had the time or motivation to remember to go out and buy the chalkboard paint. So Jvilla happened to mention that she wanted to do it and so it motivated me to want to do it too. I totally kicked myself in the rear because 1) I did not have my camera to take before/afters and 2) it took like a total of 15 minutes to do all of these once they were taped off and ready to go.

OH and we found the display mounts at Ross, small was $2.99, medium was $3.99 and large was $4.99 - I actually thought that was all very good pricing. So I bought all three and kept them black. I am not sure where these will go, but I know I want to make a "no soliciting" sign out of one of them!

Anyway, I have a lot more to show you, but I have yet to take pics of them. I will definitely hook it up in a few days. I think I might even do a craftroom reveal... maybe...

Hasta!

Adri.

Getting the house ready for guests Part 1

Soooo.. We had some family come stay with us at the tail end of our vacay last week. They came for my stepdad's 5-0 bday suprise luau and since we have room (AND we live the farthest away from the partay zone) they came to stay with us.

It was sooo much fun to have them here with us and we got some great stuff from my Aunt K that she brought from IOWA. (more on that in the another post)

Anyway, there were two couples coming down and at first I only thought one was staying at our house because the other couple said something about a hotel. Little did I know they were talking about OUR house as the HOTEL! ha!!

So when I realized that, I got a little nervous because we really only have 1 guest room (the other two rooms are 1)craft room or 2)office. Sooooo we pulled out the air mattress and I tried my best to make it work. To make it fun (read joke), when I found out that they had left IOWA (in separate cars) I told each couple that whoever got here first, they got the better bed! LOL

Here are the pics of the setups so you can get what I mean by "better bed"

I recovered this the night before they got here. It had florida style palm tree leaves on the seat and I saw potential, but only with new fabric! I put this in the room so that the guests could put their suitcase on it or sit. But as you see below, before they could do any of that, I used it to put their towels.

and the air mattress:

We used my craftroom as the other guestroom because the restroom is between the two and therefore made the most sense. We just moved my craft table and sewing table to the wall to get it out of the way. It was a smidge crowded in here, but it held up well.

Just because it's an air mattress, doesn't mean you have to just camp out!
I know the pillows don't 'match', but I wanted them to feel somewhat at home!
I got the little table for $5 at a garage sale and thought it could be a nice end table to put their cell phone or watch when they went to bed. As well, I used my sewing chair to put their towels. Could also be used for the same purpose as the little bench in the other room (hold suitcase)

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my guest accomodations.

by the way Team A won the better bed. Team B lost by about 2 hrs. (BUT in my opinion Team B should have gotten the better bed because Aunt D braved driving through Dallas!)

Hasta,

Adri.

September is a busy birthday month in our familia!

Wow... so far 4 down 1 to go.



1) Sept 5th is my younger brother's bday - I call him Moosekey and to my amazement, 1)it has stuck for all these years and 2) others are actually calling him that! Ha!!! We didn't get to hang out with him cause he went out of town for his bday, but we totally hung out at my stepdad's partay.
Moosekey is the guy in the front with the backwards cap. He just turned 18! Not really a Moosekey anymore, but who cares, he's MY Moosekey!


2) Sept 9th is my stepdad's bday - the Koencker! He turned the big 5-0 this year and my mom out did herself by throwing him a luau!! Those are the pictures from the luau in the previous post. Besides the Luau, we secretly got some of his siblings to drive down here (from IOWA, which takes about 20 hrs!) and they stayed at our house. Which I will post about tomorrow (not how much I misse them, but the accomodations - which is what us in the decorating, DIYing blogworld like read about)

Here is the big guy!!! The Koencker! The best stepdad you could ever ask for!! He is a winner! (and I mean it, he's in 2nd place right now in our fantasy football league - I, folks am in 3rd! woohoo)


3) Sept 13th is my aunt Gaby's bday - I truly am not sure how young she is, but she is my mom's brother's wife - and she is the reason I coupon now. (Back in the day she used to be coupon queen and I never knew how to do it, but now I do! - more on that in another post)

This one is kind of tricky cause we don't get to see aunt Gaby too often, but she in this picture from my cousin Cheeto's graduation. She is the one videotaping this picture being taken (can you spot her?? hint: she's in the second row on the left...)


4) Sept 17th (today) is my MOM's bday!!! She turns, well now, that wouldn't be nice now would it. A lady never reveals her age! I will say that next year, I turn 30 and she had me when she was 18 (you do the math)

This is my mom with her dad at Christmas.
This is my mom and her sisters. They are all soo beautiful!!

5) Sept 28th is my aunt Patty's bday - she is well, again, a lady never reveals her age. (hint, she is one year older than my mom)

Here she is with her younger sister, Vero. Patty is very generous and thoughtful! She is always thinking about the hubbs and I when she goes out of town and has an extra room "Thanks, Patty." One thing you may have noticed is that Vero is in every picture - that's for a few reasons 1) she ALWAYS has her camera with her wherever she goes. NO JOKE 2) she is beautiful and goes well in any pictures!!

So you see, this month is a busy month for us and will forever be the 2nd spendiest month of the year (December is the first!)!! LOL.

MOM - I love you and wish you a Fantabulous day today. You are forever to be known as the hardest working person I have ever met and I pray that I can get atleast 1/2 of your energy cause you could definitely out do me in decor/diy anyday! You are the bomb, baby!!! :) (oh and by far the best pull-er-off-er that I know.. cause you can pull anything off in a flash - even if you change your hair more times than people have underwear!!)

Hasta,

Adri.

Sooo much stuff, so little time!!

Man, I have neglected my bloggy blog! I don't have much to write about but have tons of pictures that we took on our vacay. We spent some time with my little brother, dad and then some family that came in from out of town.

Fun was had by all. Here are the pics!

We started out vacay with dinner at a Hibachi place with my DAD and little brother.

Then went to a some garage sales (can you see the stuff in the back - behind my little brother) after those, we went to a MLBaseball game.

(my favorite cheeseballs below)

Then made our way out of town in this: We had to stop several times to wait it out!

Came back home to have some out of town guests from IOWA. We took them to dinner (they all fit in our suvan)

(we love hibachi)

(surprise 50Th birthday party for my stepdad) He didn't know that his family had come in from IOWA to surprise him. It was classic!!!

my other younger brother and his gf

PHEW!!! and those don't even include all the GREAT stuff I got from my mom and aunt Kim. I will post about those in another post!

Hasta!

Adri.