24 Olive Street

a little bit of...

junkin'

Stopped at an estate sale today. Didn't get any big items but I did get a great old scale. And that bread box...had to get it. The sides are turquoise! Just need to get rid of those stickers on the top but it looks like those will come right off.

Both will most likely be in my booth over at Paint in my Hair tomorrow.

shopping

Hubby's birthday was yesterday but with our crazy schedule this week with baseball & flag football among other things we just didn't have time to celebrate it yet. So that gave me an opportunity to head to the mall today to pick up some last minute things...and I discovered that our local JCPenney has a mini-Disney store inside! Oh man, I was excited to see that!

And that life-size Olaf? Yeah, he's $500...and huge!!

Disney

And speaking of Disney, I'm getting ready to "officially" book our 1st trip to Disneyland. It cannot come soon enough! It's been way to long...our last trip was over 3yrs ago and I was 4mos pregnant so there were many rides I couldn't go on. Tower of Terror is calling my name!!

We had planned on going in August but now I think we're moving it up to June. So excited you guys. I cannot wait to take Addie on her first Disney trip!!

planning

Planning for upcoming shows, Disney trip, archery competition (that was last weekend), Craft Weekend (ONE more week!! Eeek!!). Junk Drunk is in just 2 weeks!

consigning

Just dropped of a bunch of stuff to sell at a local consignment sale & also did some shopping last night. Didn't find a ton of clothes for the kids but I did manage to find a toddler bed for Addie and she loves it!

It needs a little bit of sanding (looks like maybe there were some stickers on it) and a coat of paint and it'll be good as new!

watching

The Goldbergs cracks me up every week. So many things on the show take me back to the 80s! Such a fun decade. My son watches & says "I wish I were alive in the 80s!" hehe

The Walking Dead season finale is on Sunday.

Boo :(

I have yet to see Divergent and I really want to go see it. Maybe this weekend I can squeeze it in. I read the book and while I liked it there was something about it that bugged me. Not sure what it was but maybe the author's writing style?? It didn't keep me hungering for more even though I loved the concept & the characters. I think it was her level of detail (or lack of) in the book. Not sure but I have feeling I'm going to like the movie way better than the book.

I also have yet to take the kids to see the Muppets Most Wanted. This one looks so much better than the last one. As a longtime fan of the original I really didn't like the last one that came out. It had it's moments but it wasn't my favorite.

I don't know about anyone else but I am very much looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning!

it's been a while...

since I've blogged.

Busy, busy, busy. Typical life, right?!

I had started a post last week. After we lost power on Saturday, then subsequently the modem went out & we were without internet til Tuesday evening.

But then I got busy with other stuff. Ya know, typical life :)

Oh, and then my little one got up from her nap and I noticed her entire hand was blue.

Blue.

What the crap??!!

And I went upstairs to find this...

You see, my 2 yr old and my 12 yr old share a room.

And someone...ahemthe12yroldahem...left an entire pack of Sharpies within reach of the 2 yr old. So she apparently had a little fun during nap time.

I wanted to cry.

This was the dresser that I had just refinished for their room. Thankfully most of the "painting" was contained the one drawer front. And while I got a lot of suggestions facebook on how to get it off none of them really "worked".

Magic eraser took off the marker but also rubbed off the finish. Alcohol was less effective in getting the marker off and rubbing off the finish. And since I wasn't going for a distressed look for this piece it will need to be repainted and re-waxed.

Oh joy.

Cause I don't have enough to do!

The marker eventually came off her hand...after many washes.

And speaking of furniture, I've been working on lots of new stuff for my space at Paint In My Hair (as always) and one for myself.

I originally picked up that buffet to refinish and sell but we're in desperate need of a nice piece of furniture for our family room. So once this is finished it'll be our new entertainment center. I really didn't have the time to work on something for myself between working on furniture for my space, 2 shows coming up (see sidebar -->) and going out of town for Craft Weekend in - eek!! - less than 4 weeks. Not to mention sports that are starting back up.

But it was taking up valuable space in my garage so I had to work on it to get it out of there. I shared a work in progress pic on facebook yesterday. I can't wait to share the after pics!!

When a dresser has great wood drawer fronts this is my favorite thing to do. The "shell" was painted in graphite with dark wax.

This cute vanity is painted in Paris Grey with clear wax.

There's also a cute chair :)

I also added some more of my flower clips. These are pretty popular. They're great for your hair, clipped on a hairband, on a bag, wherever! There's also a few new bags in some fun fabrics :)

I'm hoping to open my etsy shop back up & I'll be adding cute stuff like these bags & flower clips along with other goodies!

We had some nice weather over the weekend (mixed in with rain) but today is all rainy so I'll be working on a cabinet/hutch that *fingers crossed* will be in the store tomorrow!

planning & dreaming

In my family we're big Disney fans.

Huge.

We went to Disney several times when we lived in TN and GA...especially in GA because we were just 6 hours from the happiest place on earth!

The last time we went was in January '11 and I was about 3 1/2 mos prego. I've actually done 2 trips to Disney prego.

It's hard to believe it's been over 3 yrs since we've gone but in that time we've moved across country and had a baby...so we've been a little busy! ha

Our trips were usually every couple years for the most part. It's our one big family vacation that we save up for.

And while there are so many other places we'd love to visit, there's just nothing like the magic that only Disney can deliver while your kids are small!

We've decided that we're going to take our first trip to Disneyland this year and we're all super excited!

It's been a bit difficult trying to figure out when to take our trip. My oldest will be starting middle school in the fall so I really don't want to take her out of school. I also do not want to go during the peak season...having Crohn's disease makes it nearly impossible to deal with big crowds. I know my limitations. They were running specials for the beginning of this year but we just don't have the money saved up just yet. So right now it's looking like our trip might be in middle/late August. But nothing has been finalized yet.

But it's so exciting to plan and dream!!

And aside from it being our first time there it will also be Addie's first Disney trip.

So, of course, since we've been dreaming of our Disney trip we've been watching a lot of videos, reading travel books, looking online, and reminissing at old trips in our scrapbooks. There's just nothing like a Disney trip if you're a true Disney fan :)

I've also thought about doing some posts related to Disney trips, what I've learned, favorite must-do's, etc since I've had many friends ask me for advice over the years. So I've been pulling together what I want to share in a few posts...soon :)

Craft Weekend!!!

In other travel news...I'm excited to be going to Craft Weekend in April (you can read about it on Meg's blog here). I've been a follower of her blog for years and I think I've been on the waiting list for at least a year and a half. When I got the email the spots filled up super fast...I got the last one!

I had a little bit of guilt in deciding to go to this. It's a lot of money. And taking a flight halfway across the country - by myself - is a little unnerving. Don't get me wrong, I'm very independent. I've done multi-state road trips with just me and the kids. I've done plenty of weekends away without my family. But I always had someone with me (even if I was the only adult). This time it will just be me with a bunch of people I've never met.

But I'm excited. I'm excited to do something new. To meet new people. To make some fun crafts. And to go to an antiques store :)

And I know the weekend is going to be here before I know it!

I've also been doing a bit of planning for upcoming shows.

How I want to set up my space. How I want things to look. Working on projects. It's a fun job but definitely time consuming and exhausting at times!

So far this year I'm planning on being in Junk Drunk in April and Chic Farmgirl Vintage Market in May. If you're local you can click the links to get more info and I'll be sharing more when the dates get closer. Junk Drunk was a lot of fun last year so I'm looking forward to being part of that again. And Chic Farmgirl Vintage Market is brand new so that's pretty exciting! I'm not sure about Pickin' On The Prairie this year as it may conflict with our Disney trip. Kind of a bummer but I'm a bit limited on when we can take our trip for various reasons.

Like most junkers, my dream one day is to be part of The Farm Chicks. But since I have a little one at home and it's pretty much just me & the hubby with our kiddos here in WA and it's just not a possibility right now. Not to mention I just don't have the time that others have to work on stuff with having a little one at home. And I don't want to waste away the few years she's home with me.

But I'm hoping when my kids are a bit older one or both of my older kids can help at shows which they actually sometimes do right now. My son has already said he wants to come with me to Junk Drunk again this year! He enjoyed working that one with me last year :)

So you could say we're doing lots of planning and dreaming at our house lately!!

11.12.13

What a cool date. Bummed that we were running behind this morning & didn't get a chance to take a pic like the one I did last year when it was 12.12.12....

I realized this morning that I had no eggs. My pantry is barren. I haven't gone shopping in quite a while. So it was McD's for breakfast...and since we haven't done that in months I didn't feel too bad about it :)

Oh well, next year I can get one when it's 12.13.14. Or maybe I'll just take a pic tomorrow....ssshhhh, no one will know! haha

Last Saturday was the Monroe Street holiday open house and since I had some big pieces go on to new homes I took a few new pieces down to the store.

I painted this buffet in Chateau Grey & used clear wax on it. I love this paint color because it's more of an olive green than grey (or maybe a combo of both??). I love the color!

The guy I bought this buffet from was a super nice guy with a very heavy Italian accent (apparently he had just moved here recently). And he said he was suprised when I showed up to pick it up because he said he didn't think this was a piece of furniture that a 'younger' person would like. I said 'oh, I'm going to redo it and it'll look totally different!' But I got a kick out that :)

And I really wanted to keep this dresser that I painted in Provence with clear wax. I left the drawer fronts in the original wood color because I loved the design on the bottom drawer (that I realized after I took the picture is half covered!).

But since this little 'business' of mine is basically funding our Disney trip...I want to go to Disney more than I want to keep the dresser ;)

I also marked down several pieces in my booth...mostly smaller furniture pieces and my fall items.

Yesterday we headed out to the mall to do some Christmas shopping...well, Christmas shopping in the sense that I wanted to see what clothes fit my daughter (what sizes) and what else the kids wanted so I can let Santa know :)

We found these cool remote control helicopters...

I found some cool slippers & my daughter found lots of stuff at Aeropostle she liked (of course!)

I can imagine wearing those zebra slippers at my next scrapbook retreat :)

And the most favorite thing that I found at the Hallmark store...

It's a countdown to Christmas 'radio'. For every day it plays an old fashioned radio broadcast & music! And you can hook your iphone/ipod up to it! I seriously need it. I may heading back to the mall this week to get it...cause if I don't I know I'll regret it.

And I'm sure Addie & I will be heading back to the mall anyway this week for some shopping! I've probably mentioned it before but 2 of my kids have birthdays just after Christmas so I have to do the shopping for that as well. So I usually do all of the Christmas & birthday shopping before Christmas...because after Christmas there's just nothing left in the stores.

But for now I have some grocery shopping to do so we'll be able to eat again!!

reality

Fall finally making its appearance with some cooler temps this week...of course, not before I got sunburnt on Saturday from being outside at games all day!

Trying to keep on top of things while my Crohn's is rearing it's ugly head & giving me a lot of pain (hence the lack of blog posts!)

Getting some fall goodies in the shop...more coming soon :)

Lots & lots of baseball practices & games, soccer practices & games. Addie's 1st bee sting. Those suckers are out of control this year!

Took my oldest to her first 'scary' movie at the theater...Insidious Chapter 2. Good movie (if you like that kind of movie, which I do!). Lots of plot twists.

A huge windstorm kicked up some crazy dust and the inside of my house had a layer of dirt on everything (see the photo of my son's desk). It felt like we were doing construction or remodeling. It was crazy. And my poor corn in my garden took a beating...not sure if half of it will survive or not. I think they still have a couple weeks til they're ready. We'll see...

Getting used to being in the school routine, packing lunches & looking for fun/different/alternative options for the kids (pasta was a hit), planning out weekly dinner menus, getting my freezer stocked back up so mornings aren't too chaotic & some dinners a premade for sports days.

Dirty dishes in the sink all the time. Seriously, I can't keep up!

I made these pumpkin cinnamon rolls (click here if you want to pin it) last night for this morning's breakfast (cause I was not about to get up at 5am to make them!).

They were so good!!! And surprisingly easy to make. I've always stayed away from recipes with yeast cause it kind of scared me but I've been more adventurous lately.

The recipe is a little vague in parts (like how much flour to add, how long to knead, how long to bake, etc). So here's my little tips:

Adding this for my friend Carol :) When she says add the yeast to the warm water til it 'gets happy'...basically it's til the yeast dissolves & looks like what I would call a runny paste. You'll know it. I just remember learning years ago that if the water is too cold your yeast won't 'react' and if it's too hot you'll kill it. And, of course, if you already know this then you'll think my tips are silly and won't need to read them anyway :) haha

I think I added too much flour because my dough wasn't as stretchy as I think it should have been. I think next time I'll only add about 3 cups total to the dough.

I used my mixer to knead the dough & it worked just fine. I just switched out beaters when the dough started getting thick.

The dough is really easy to work with, no flour needed when rolling it out.

Baking for 20 min was long enough.

When making the frosting I used 3 cups of sugar and alternated that with the milk (instead of adding the milk last).

Try them!!! They're really good!!!

rainy Mondays

It's a rainy, chilly Monday. The sun keeps trying to peek out & then the clouds come in again. It's a good day to stay in pjs all day :)

I'm always exhausted after a show, even if it's a 1 day show. There's so much that goes into it before, during & after.

I read a post recently that I want to share this week because it rang so true to me as a crafter, junker & vendor at shows. And I have a post about the bench that we were working on last week.

But today, I'm tired. And we're calling 'lazy day' for this Monday :)

Last week I got a print order for 200+ photos so I'm going to use this day to {hopefully} get caught up {for the most part} with Project Life. If I at least get the photos in the album I'll be happy. Half the 'battle' is simply organizing, printing & putting the photos in the album {for me anyway}.

Happy Monday friends :)

washer woes

I have been dealing with my whole washer/dryer issues for the past week.

Well actually, if you count the other 2 times my dryer died I guess it's been longer!

I figured I'd share some of my thoughts to 1) vent a little :) and 2) I know I'm not the only one that finds it frustrating shopping for washers/dryers so I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents on this.

Thursday - my dryer died. Again. With company coming that day, a load of towels in the washer and dryer and about 2 clean towels in the house.

It's the fuse again but there's obviously something else going on with the dryer to cause it to go out. So instead of fixing it for a 3rd time, and try to find what else is wrong with it, we I decided to just buy new ones. Because our old washer & dryer are about 12 yrs old.

Yep, it's time.

It wasn't in the budget & I was really hoping they'd hold out til we saved up for it but sometimes it just happens this way. Sorry Dave Ramsey...gotta go way off budget a bit this month!

I opted for a top loader because I have a very small laundry 'room'...it's not really a room, more like a closet in my upstairs hallway.

This 'room' needs a serious overhaul! I love having the washer & dryer up there...especially given the amount of laundry I do in a week. And please excuse all of the grainy photos...no natural light.

And since front loaders have a hard time drying out I don't really have room to keep the door open all the time.

I decided to buy from a local store that's been around for many years. I really like to support smaller businesses when I can. The salesman was very knowledeable and I ended up going with a top loading GE washer & dryer (and if anyone's interested in why I chose that model I can certainly elaborate).

I had to wait until Monday for my new washer & dryer. The guys that showed up to deliver it were....ahem, not the best. They were at my house for an hour and a half. I've moved 4 times in the last 10 yrs. It does not take that long to take a washer & dryer out & bring a new one in and hook it up. Well, it does if you're taking smoke breaks every time you walk outside.

Seriously??!!

I'll be honest, I was getting #@$%$^$ off. Cause I don't have anything better to do ya know!

And to top it all off...the washer didn't work. Yes, an hour and a half and the washer didn't even get fully hooked up. So back out of my house it went.

So I took this opportunity to paint my laundry room. Lookin' on the bright side :)

Like the paint (I used Ancient Olive) but now I want to replace the light fixture in my laundry room. There is no natural light which is why I picked a very light paint color. But the florescent light is making the paint color look a bit minty. I like mint in my desserts, not on my walls :)

Tuesday - they came to deliver a new washer. Better guys...who knew what the heck they were doing. And discovered that the 1st guys didn't hook up the dryer vent properly. Ummm...I'm a chick and even I know it's not that difficult!

Then I started attacking the mountains and mountains of laundry.

That's not even all of it!

And I discovered...I hate this machine. The washer that is. I gave it a good go. I washed about 10-15 loads of laundry, trying every option. I wanted to like it. I was so excited to try one of these new fangled machines that everyone talked about :) I expected to love it. But I still hated it.

And here's why...because there's no agitator in the middle the clothes don't, well, agitate enough. I sat & watched an entire cleaning cycle. More than once. I also watched the clothes sitting on top that were not getting washed at all. When I called the salesman he tried to tell me that the extra pump pouring water on the top of the clothing helps with cleaning. Um, no it doesn't. That just makes the clothes wet! Agitation is what cleans. Remember seeing how women used to use washboards? It was the action of rubbing the clothing on the washboard that washed the clothes.

I know he was just trying to explain things to me...ya know, from the 'seminars' he's been to on this machine. Not trying to insult him. He was a nice guy, and very knowlegeable. But I get a little testy when a man tries to tell me how something is supposed to work considering I have just a tad more experience when it comes to this subject :) I'm guessing he doesn't do nearly the amount of laundry I do, if any at all. And the clothes that were sitting on top were not cleaning until they make their way to the bottom...which takes quite a while in some instances. The clothes that do get agitated get all twisted up. I'd almost be afraid to put delicates in there...the only cycle I didn't try.

Not to mention, in the spin cycle it rattled like crazy & sounded like a helicopter landing upstairs. I wasn't aware a helipad was included in the price of my home when I bought it!

So...not happy with it. When you spend that much money on something I feel you should love it. Scratch that - I demand I love it.

Thursday - another new washer & dryer...this time a GE front load washer & dryer.

First impression - I really like these. SO much better than the other ones. The bending over to put stuff in & take stuff out is a bit of a pain...something you just have to deal with when you have front loading machines.

And it doesn't sound like there's a helicopter landing upstairs when on the spin cycle :)

The true test will be when I wash Addie's diapers in a couple days.

So now we I have to figure out what to do with this laundry room...

I took down that awful wire shelf when I painted. At this point I have to figure out the best storage options for such a small room. 

I'm thinking of cabinets on the top with maybe a shelf below them. Several ideas I'm mulling around that I've pinned on my Laundry board on Pinterest.

I also need either a table/counter built above it or pedestal below. I refuse to spend $500 on the manufacturer drawer pedestals, not to mention I don't need drawers, I need space for laundry baskets.

I'm really thinking I want to build I want to have hubby build a pedestal for laundry baskets underneath. That is something I desperately need since there's no room in there for laundry baskets right now. Until now I've kept a laundry basket for towels on top of my dryer.

The only problem...this washer weighs a ton. The thought of pulling these out & then lifting them back in on top of a pedestal doesn't sound appealing :) But I also don't like all the bending over for a front loader so that will probably be what we end up doing.

I will be sure to share an update once it's finished.

Until then... :)

NCC-1701

Awesome movie! Do people still say awesome?? Well, I do :)

Non-stop action.

I got teary eyed twice. Yes, during a Star Trek movie.

KHHHAAAAAAANNN!!!!!

Oh man, the writers did a great job on this one. They always do. And how they reference different Star Trek movies, esp Star Trek II. Oh man.

And if you're not a Star Trek fan, but still love Sci-fi, you'll love this movie. You might not get all the 'inside jokes' but it'll still be great. I promise :)

Oh man, I wanna go see it again!

And now I need to get to mountains of laundry that have been piling up for days. My dryer decided to die...again...the day my friend was coming into town.

Of course, the only clean towels in the house were the ones sitting in the washer and my now broken dryer.

Sigh.

Wasn't planning on spending 2 grand this week but that's how home ownership goes, isn't it?!

Well, I should say...I'll get to doing my mountains of laundry once the guys actually get done delivering and installing them. Ya know, doing all that hard work gets in the way of all their smoke breaks.

Yeah, not happy. The store will be hearing about it, too.

Double sigh...

Correction...after the washer & dryer were hooked up they discovered the washer doesn't work. Round 2 tomorrow.

Triple sigh!

friday

This is what we woke up to this morning.

Whoa! When did winter get here??

I love snow but I was unprepared for this. Not that it's a ton. The roads are just wet. But we were scrambling to find coats, gloves, boots, car scraper!

I figured we'd just get a dusting.

And I also figured I still had time to get the outside Christmas lights up before it got cold. Guess I was wrong! hehe

I hit an estate sale this morning. Thankfully there wasn't a ton of people there. So hard to move through a tiny house (because it's usually a tiny, old house) with a 17 month old!

Oh hey, Addie is 17 months old today!!

Anyway, picked up some vintage Christmas goodies.

They always make me feel so nostalgic :)

Several boxes of old ornaments. Gonna make a wreath out of these beauties!

I {heart} old Christmas lights.

Found 2 boxes. One didn't work. Bummer.

Found an old tree topper, too. Forgot to take a picture of it.

I just loved these boxes :)

I've been thinking about my December Daily for this year, pulling things together.

I'm hoping to work on the cover this weekend and at least cut the pages for the album. I'm using a 6x8 album from Simple Stories. I've found that that size works the best for me.

I would really love to use some of the October Afternoon Make It Merry line...but it's still not in yet and I can't wait around forever!

I wanted to work on some Project Life pages but ran out of printer ink. So either I need to run to the store or just upload a bunch to Costco. That's, I think, the most time consuming part of scrapbooking!

Looking forward to the long weekend. So thankful for our military & families who work so hard to keep us safe :)

full weekend

What a weekend!

My friend Becky was in town so Friday night we headed out to see Frankenweenie at the IMAX in 3D. I normally don't spend the extra money on 3D movies...but in IMAX it was pretty cool!

Holy crap the flash on my camera phone is bright...can you tell?? hehe

Neat movie. FYI - not really appropriate for young ones. And if you've lost a pet you might get a little teary at one point...but it doesn't last long I promise!

Saturday was the Brian Regan show.

And I got to wear my new boots thanks to some birthday money :)

Always photo-bombed by one or all of the kids or dogs! lol

Oh my gosh, the show was hilarious!!! And he did the little league bit for an encore. I nearly peed my pants!

At my son's game someone said 'good eye Ben!'...he looked over at me & giggled! Oh man...

Addie started getting sick on Sunday so sleep has been a scarce commodity the last few days.

I was going to take advantage of nap time for the little one & pull the fall/Halloween stuff out of the garage...but she woke up before I could finish this post! Maybe when the kids get home from school. Don't want to be like last year & do it on Halloween!