My life is to make everything around me beautiful.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Remodel Day #6 & "Pink Saturday"!

Okay okay, it's still early here in the west, chicks!! Just got up and have part done from last night, but needed more photos for ya.

Not much different from yesterday except more mud on the walls and he's to come back today for 3rd mudding and texturing. Then monday we'll paint it and it'll be done except for the "decorating"! *Smile*

Close up of a basket I keep things in.

My first attempt at painting on something "round"! Eeegads, what a time that was. I'll get better though.........I think!

A tribute to my group on ebay. Oh my, how I love those special chickadees! Simply the best ever............

A rose painting a woman was going to throw away and I said send it to me and I'll display it!!! Can you imagine? It's just gorgeous.

Very closeup of one of my birdhouses in my collection.
A sign I bought on ebay because it touched my heart........ ;-)

More "fluff" laying around this house. Always "PINK" fluff though!

The beginning of one of my paper roses. I must get back to them, but blogging keeps getting in the way......and remodeling........and cleaning...........and cooking........and laundry..........and my affair with Tom Selleck and Clint Eastwood! Hah, as if?????

And this is the lovely paper wrapped around the last pictures. You'll see it when you get down to the bottom. I put the little decoupaged hangers on there because they have PINK roses on them and contrast with that wild and crazy paper!!!!!! Wooooohoooo.

My very first painting that I ever considered selling on ebay. I guess no one else thought I should have considered selling it because it didn't. Humbled me, but I don't care. I love it and proudly hang it in my house. So when I'm rich and famous from painting roses and running around in my Mercedes with a chauffeur and thumbing my nose at all of them and wearing those bustiers and hot pants and showing off this hot bod, I can laugh and go nananananana, right??!?!!! And if you believe that, you really ARE in lala land, sweet chicks. I don't want riches; I HAVE them! I have my kids and Love Bunny!!! Yesssssssss, who could ask for anything more than that?!??!

A very sweet and talented lady, Miss Doodle, gave me this lovely roses painting. (It is but a snippet of the whole canvas.) And for that she is in my thoughts almost daily because it hangs on the wall across from me here in my office/computer room.

Another painting that touched my heart from Lorena. It's on the same wall and I see it every single day!

A lot of women send me things for helping them with their computers and technical stuff because I am a techie. This is what one sweet lady sent me - 2 lovely rose paintings. I know, I know, you're asking how can this "beautiful HOT se*y nana chick" be so techie??? I don't know, just lucky I guess!! But I help anyone with anything I can about computers and blogging and photography. Now, don't beat the door down asking me things. I'm busy with the remodeling, ya know!!!



Can you believe this?!?!? I received these in the mail yesterday from Joanne after winning the delightful D R E A M letters from her. BUT can you even guess what they are??? At first I wondered why she would send me some elegant gloves with fancy polka dots on them. And then I picked them up and they're rubber gloves!! Yes, gardening gloves, but ya know what, my sweet chickadee?? I just may wear them out to Applebee's tonight with my "not-so-elegant" attire. Hey, I live in Ideeeeeho, ya know!!! Formal is a crease in your jeans and spit shined boots!!!


And finally, does this say it all?!?!?! The letters/word I won from Joanne.

Remodel Day #5

Day 4 wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, but tonight will be with all the sanding. I've covered the living room with plastic drop cloths because tonight it's sand, sand, sand the walls and then apply more "mud" and sand again. So the next 2 days will be the worst in terms of "sanding dust", which I am NOT looking forward to! Here's what it looks like this morning.


My sweet long time friend, Steph, has awarded me yet another blog award. I love Steph dearly and her mum is my adopted mum. Just how lucky can one chick get, I ask you???!!! She's a true southern lady. :-)

Here are the rules~~~~~~
1. Link this back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post these rules in your blog.
3. Share 6 unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag people at the end of your entry.
So here are six unimportant things about me~~~~~

1.
I love going barefoot. Hubs is always telling me it'll ruin my feet and it causes them to get "tough" on the bottom (his are as soft as a baby's bottom!) but I hate wearing shoes unless I go out somewhere. I am sitting here typing this with my pink "crocs" on though because of the mess in this house at the moment. Nails, staples, wood parts and chunks of sheetrock are everywhere!

2.
I'm a list maker. I can't live without my lists - from grocery lists to to-do daily lists, it's what I have to do to accomplish things.

3.
I'm not fond of the daily routine of cooking. But sometimes I like to try gourmet recipes and love that. If I was rich I'd have a cook, masseuse and a gardener!

4.
I am NOT a social animal. I hate parties and if you asked me to play a silly game I'd probably refuse. Hubs, however, is a party animal! I only go to functions I absolutely have to go to and that's very few. I love staying at home. Plus I loathe having my picture taken. That's a very personal thing to me so you'd better ask before you take one. I am not a "star" type person and would much rather go through life as a small fish in a big pond instead of a big fish in a small pond. Toooooo much responsibility, chicks!

5.
I cannot stand disorder whether it's in my house, car, garage, yard or head, there has to be order and not chaos for me. I don't function well if it's not. I know, I know, I have a serious problem, you say. SOOOOO WHAT?!?!!!! It won't kill ya, right???

6.
I love Toyota Camrys. I doubt I'll ever have another car that's not a Camry. It just keeps on trucking along no matter what.

Now, for the people I'm supposed to tag. Well, I wanna tell ya something, sweet blogging chicks, I've seen this go around to many of the more "popular" chicks' blogs and some never get tagged. How sad, because there are some lovely bloggers out there that I'd absolutely love to get to know better. I especially like to know what state and town they are in. I truly do! So what I would like to happen is that for anyone and everyone reading this to take the rules and answer with the 6 unimportant things about yourself and pass it on. I do this NOT to get out of tagging someone but because I truly do want to learn more about all of you.

I've seen some, for lack of a better word, "selectiveness" in some blogs. I've NOT selective; I love hearing from and learning about each and everyone of you. So please, please give it a go, my sweet friends. We're all here blogging to have a good time so let's HAVE a good time!!!!!
~*~

Yesterday while surfing some of the blogs I remembered an incident that happened in Mexico - Puerto Vallarta, I think - many years ago now and thought I'd tell you the story today on here.

We were in the condo just coming in from the pool and I was just changing from my bathing suit into some clothes. There was a knock at the door. The young men always bring big fresh bottles of water for the "north americans" every day in those Culligan-type 5 gallon containers which are quite heavy because our tummies just cannot adjust to their water for the short period we vacation there.

Anyway, there was a knock and I couldn't get to it in time. The mirror was on the side of the bathroom where the door was visible when I was looking in the mirror. So after a wait of several seconds because I was "in the middle" of changing (read here as stark n*ked!), I heard the key in the door and the door opening. There stood a very shocked young mexican guy who froze! I looked at him and he was getting an "eyeful" of this gorgeous hot bod!! Riiiiiiiight!!!! LOL He realized I was in the condo at that point but after not answering right away decided to just use the staff key to come in and leave the water. As I said, he froze and I froze and then he backed out, Jack rushed to the door from the living room and opened the door and got the water. It was quite a shock. Ooooh, and we never saw that guy again. I suspect his eyes are still "glazed over" and he's still in rehab from that incident!!! Pray for him; he needs it!!!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Remodel Day #4

Day 4 began in a whirl for me. I had a massage scheduled for 2 pm, we were scheduled to feed 2 missionaries, hubs was teaching a real estate class until 5 and was at least 1/2 hour away and missionaries were to eat from 5 - 6 and be on their way. I had steaks to cook out and I have no clue how to use the BBQ! I mean I can move it around the patio but turning on the gas tank and the actual igniting of the fire is beyond this chick's scope! Besides, like they always tell you: If you learn how to "do it" (whatever it is), then you "own it." Welllll, this gal ain't "owning" cooking out! I barely want to "own" cooking in! As my friend, Bertie, says the only reason I have a kitchen is it came with the house! I adore fast food resturants, ordering in and nice restaurants too. I've cooked for 47 years and hubs deserves to take this "hot grandma chick" out on his arm - "arm candy"!! Hah.......trust me, that ain't so and Sophia Loren has nothing to worry about! But I digress.

The missionaries ended up grilling the angus steaks I had and Love Bunny missed a fiiiiiiine meal, let me tell ya. Steak, potatoes, salad from our garden, corn on the cob and watermelon. Ooooh, let me correct that; he missed a fiiiiiiiiine HOT meal! Missionaries were gone before he even got home!

All this going on while Contractor Bob is measuring, cutting and hammering away. (Oh, an aside here.....some of you sweet little chickadees think hubs is doing the remodel; Love Bunny is NOT doing the construction; we hired a contractor we know personally. I wouldn't trust hubs to be diligent in getting it done in a timely manner, which in actuality means he won't listen to my nagging to "get this job done!" Remember, we're married - annnnd want to STAY married. Need I say more?!?!?!)

You've seen this house before so I won't add descriptions, just use your imagination as to what is happening to the living room/kitchen/dining area wall to enclose it and "define" the rooms a bit better. It's also providing wall space on which I'll hang more "fluff", move our grandfather clock into the LR and can then get a non-working fireplace/mantle in our family room. That'll be "eye candy" also. Squeeeeeeeallll!!!!






Earlier in the morning I decided to wash off the patio from the grease drippings and bird droppings. I moved all the chairs, pots, the grill and the infamous bicycle of hubs that he insists sits out there till he finds time to clear enough room in his shed to hang it in there. Well, 2012 is just too far away for me so I put it in the yard and when the sprinklers came on last night it got wet. I thought he was going to keel over. Now, don't those guys doing the Tour de France cycle in rain?!?! Yep, so what's the fuss all about?!?! It's wet; deal with it, guy! *Sigh*.........................

Then after hosing down and scrubbing the patio, I turned the hose on the window and surrounding areas of the house washing the spiders and earwigs outta their little hidey places. Whoooooooa, chicks, it was fearsome, let me tell ya!! Then I "attacked" the window, which in reality is a breeze because....................... of these 2 little items below. That's a window squeegee and a lambs wool window cleaner. Washing a window with these 2 little things is not only the fastest, easiest way to do it, it is actually fun. You dip the wool washer in plain water from the bucket, swish it over the whole window QUICKLY and then take the squeegee and wipe the water off. I've never had to do a window 2 times and they're clean with absolutely no film on them. It does it all efficiently and quickly. I absolutely love these 2 little items!! They're supposed to have been made in Italy but the handle says made in Oakland, Ca. and it's called Ettore, as you can see on one of the closeups, with a very specific little "aviator wings" logo. They're the absolutely, unequivocally best thing I think you'd ever find for cleaning windows - nothing but water and they're squeaky clean. A bit pricier than most but I've had these for maybe 8 years and it shows no signs of use or abuse. You can get them at commercial cleaning supply companies. Well worth it in the time it saves you.


Remodel Day #3 and Gripes!

Nuuuuuuu, my sweet chicks, no gripes about the remodel; it's coming along just fine. I'll talk about the gripes further down.

Mr. Bob, and his name is Bob Robinson of Nampa, Idaho, if you live nearby give him a call. He's very reasonable and has been recommended for doing nice work. He seems to be right on, or even ahead of, schedule with this tiny remodel. We're thrilled with the progress anyway. Remember, he is doing this "on the side" from his day job. So he starts about 4:30 in the afternoon and quits around 8 - 8:30 pm. Today he will put the "plywood arch" on that header and then maybe sheet rock and tape. If all goes well tonight, he'll then mud/texture(?) tomorrow. But it's looking good and giving us a clearer view of what it'll look like.

One person said they wouldn't like the "closed in" feeling of it and that they liked the openness of a house with several rooms. Well, if I had one of those open log homes up in Sun Valley, so would I!! I love that look where you have huge rooms all open but all defined as the living, dining, kitchen, family/great rooms but in a small house it just doesn't cut it for me. However, if Bruce Willis or Arnold would come down off the mountain and switch with me - straight across switch - I'd be more than happy to take it over and even clean those big houses. I'd be singing a happy tune, let me tell ya!

But for this house it just looks too small to do that so we'll "define" the living room a bit more. I tend to be a bit more "formal" in there also. "Formal" being a highly relative term here! It's in no way "Formal", just a lot less "informal" than the small family room. Remember, my little cherubs, this is our last, scaled down, senior, live in till we die house!! You'll understand this when you retire and are near to 70 years old! :-)

Since I couldn't "clean" house yesterday (it would do absolutely no good!) and couldn't think of too many things I wanted to do, I decided to prime and spray paint this little reading lamp since there was hardly any wind. It was brass and I've had it for many years. Tarnishing was taking over as its primary "color" so I spritzed it white and am quite pleased with it. I'm soooooo loving spray cans of paint now - quick and easy beyond belief! I may become the Miss Spritz Queen! I'm lovin' it that much!!!


~*~

Now the gripes.

Why is it that when we find something we really love - a new found thing or something we've used for a long time - they decide to stop making it or they decide to stop distribution in MY area?!?!?! This has happened to some frozen foods we've loved for years, to a mouth moisturizer, to a shampoo, conditioners and hair sprays, to salad dressings!! WHY?!?!?! I love certain things and don't want to give them up. The vanilla tasting dry mouth moisturizer is now a minty spritzer and not a "open your mouth and put luscious drops of a creamy vanilla taste on your tongue" type moisturizer! I loved it, but not the harsh minty flavor spritz they've forced upon me! I also loved Revlon's Outrageous shampoo. It was so wonderful smelling and great for hair. I'm not even sure they make it anymore. Same with the conditioner. Hair spray? I like a certain one with a level 7 of hold. Nada, zip, zilch........no where to be found anymore. I've even had my daughter and granddaughter check in Calif. and Seattle. Why do they stop making something that is so great and does the job exceptionally well. Not to mention the salad dressings!!!!!!!! Yesssssssssss!!!! I loved a certain lite Italian dressing but can't find it in the stores at all - from Idaho to Calif.; I've checked and it's no where to be found. *Sigh*............ Why don't THEY keep their paws off of MY things?! I tell ya it's enough to make me start a revolution. Viva la revolución!!! But excuse me while I go vacuum up the wood chips and eat breakfast. Revolutions seem to take more outta me these days and those little bits of wood are hurting my tootsies, don't ya know?!?!?!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Remodel Day #2

First of all, I want to show you my Giveaway Win!! I cannot tell you all how thrilled I was to win this little beauty!!!!!!!!! It's one of my favorite things now. I so appreciate this wonderful little cake plate or dessert server and the huge rose that came with it.




Mr. Bob had this done within about 3 to 3 1/2 hours last night. The remodel is coming along just fine! Not much mess at all from this part, but he was very careful to put up plastic sheets to help hold down the "mess" and I appreciated that. Ooops, I see a strip of blue tape stuck to the wall in the pix below this one.



Just thought I'd "throw in" these faux desserts as a bit of "eye candy" for ya chicks!! :-) I spend an entire 2 days just making these things. Ya never know what I'll do with them. ;-)

I heard someone the other day refer to "young wives" of "older men" as "arm candy" and I had to chuckle, I tell ya. I've always told Love Bunny if he did that to me when I die I'll haunt him till the day HE dies!! And I would, too. Trust me on this one! I truly do not even believe he would dishonor me like that though.