A New Bed

A couple weeks back, I mentioned that I had spent part of my Sunday afternoon working on a headboard.  If I remember correctly, I showed you this picture.

The plans for the headboard came from Ana-White.com.  I think it's called the farmhouse bed, and the plans were originally for a queen-sized bed.  For this project, we had to put on our thinking caps and scale it down for a full-size bed.

We had a minor setback with the side posts.  The plan called for two 4x4s, but we couldn't find any anywhere that weren't treated.  (Green lumber - like fence posts - should not be used inside because of the chemicals they release into the air.)  So we had to do some rigging to make it look like we had two 4x4 posts.  If you look closely in the picture above, you can see that we actually used two 2x4s and then filled the crack between them with wood putty.  I had to do several layers of wood putty but I think we finally got it looking like one solid piece of wood.

Take a look for yourself - this is the headboard after the first coat of white paint.

This headboard is for a bedroom re-do that I'm working on.  Because the headboard is so top heavy and it's going to be for a second-grade girl, we decided it would be best to secure it to the wall.  We're putting together her new room tomorrow morning, so the headboard made its way to its new home this week so that it could be put in place.

Here it is in its new home.

Because the headboard is attached to the wall, we didn't have to worry about connecting the metal bed frame to it.  Tomorrow the bed will get its new linens and the room will get lots of new accessories.  Stay tuned for some before and after pictures!

Make A Wish!

If each month had it's own deck of cards, I would say March's deck is stacked.  Sure, the fall months have the autumn season and college football and Thanksgiving and December has both Christmas and New Year's, but March has way more than that!  The first day of spring happens in March and we get more daylight hours when we spring forward.  March has St. Patty's Day and that's the only time of the year the Chicago river turns green and people enjoy drinking green beer.  Speaking of drinking beer, March Madness makes it acceptable to drink before noon.  Sometimes March has Easter and Good Friday, and it has spring break for those of us lucky enough to still get those.  Seasonal affective disorder slowly fades away as the March sunshine comes and perks up the spring flowers before the April showers rain on their parade.  And, since 1983, March has been lucky enough to be my birthday month!

Really, what's not to love about the month of March? 

It's not a big year in terms of birthdays and, to be honest, it has kinda snuck up on me.  But since so many of you have asked (read: approximately two people) what I'd like for my big day, I thought I'd put together a little wish list.  There's really nothing that I need, but luckily I was able to browse the internet long enough to find a few things I'd be fine calling my own. 

First up, this rope belt pleated skirtin marigold from Ann Taylor Loft.  I've been drooling over it since it arrived on a flyer in my mailbox a week or so ago.  I even went to the mall so I could see and touch it in person.  To me, it screams spring.  But, with a birthday coming up, I convinced myself to put the skirt back on the rack and leave the store without it.

 

I'll also gladly accept the striped shirt they paired with it.  And if you could package up a tan too, my legs would greatly appreciate it.

If I'm going to be decked out in a new outfit, I might need to freshen up my makeup colors too.  I'd like to start with some of this lip shimmer by Burt's Bees.

And the final touch on my new look should probably be a shellac manicure, right?

Totally unrelated but still on the wish list are these kitchen towels from Bed Bath and Beyond.  Ours have seen better days and I think these colors would work in our kitchen.

The big ticket item on the list is this camera and laptop backpack.  I have a camera bag already, but it's pretty bulky and I can't fit anything else in it.  With this, I could travel with my camera and accessories, my laptop, and my kindle all in one bag. 

I was actually at a gift shop the other day buying a gift for someone else, when I found this last item on my list.  Did any of you have slap bracelets back in the day?  I think they eventually got banned from school but I remember them being SO cool for a while.  The SlapWatch is a slap bracelet that has a watch (in case you couldn't figure that out from the name).  Perfect for casual weekend attire!  And I could wear this in the shop instead of my nicer watches.  (This is a hot pink one, but I'd prefer red or grey.  Or maybe turquoise.)

So that's the wish list for Birthday 2011.  Only 4 shopping days left!

Ash Wednesday

Happy Lenton Season, everybody! Do you give up anything for the 40 days leading up to Easter?  I've been observing this Lent tradition since I was in high school.  Every year I try to give up something that I'm addicted to to remember the sacrifice that Jesus has made for us.  Sure, it doesn't even come close to comparing, but at least I do something, ya know?  Over the years I've given up popcorn, donuts, cokes, chocolate, ice cream, and who knows what else.  It's funny to think back on those now, because right now popcorn and donuts wouldn't really be a challenge at all, but since I worked at a concession stand during high school, I remember not eating popcorn being SO hard!  My dad used to buy donuts for our Sunday School class every week and the leftovers always came home with us.  It was torture seeing them on the kitchen counter and not being able to eat them.  Now?  Not so much.  Don't get me wrong, I still love me some buttery popcorn and a glazed donut (not at the same time) but they're rarely in my house tempting me to eat them. 

Cokes felt like a big sacrifice at the time, but now that I don't drink caffeine, Sprite is the only "coke" (soft drink, for you non-southerners) that I drink.  Chocolate is and always will be hard, but you know what has always made it the hardest?  The fact that my birthday falls during Lent.  And guys?  My birthday cake needs to be chocolate.  (I mean really, would it even be a birthday cake if it wasn't?)

So, after spending the last few days trying to think of something I could give up that would be hard and really feel like a sacrafice but not be just a repeat of the past, I've finally decided on something.

I'm giving up my snooze button.

Sigh...I know most of you probably think I'm kidding and that's not a big deal at all, but you obviously don't know how deep the relationship between me and the snooze button runs.  We make contact at least four times a day.  At ten minute increments, that adds up to a minimum of forty minutes of extra sleep!  And this girl looooooves to sleep.

Doc asked if I was going to change my alarm time to the time I actually get around to getting up each day, or if I'd just get up earlier.  As of right now, the plan is to keep the alarm set to the same and just get up earlier.  I've already turned off the option to snooze.  As Doc pointed out, this means I'll either be getting up right when the alarm goes off or somewhere around 9:30 when I finally wake up again.  Let's hope it's not the latter since I have to be at work at 8:00. 

Now, this would be where a better-than-me type of Christian would say that they're going to use those extra minutes to read scripture or do some kind of Bible study.  As much as I'd like to say that's my plan, I'm going to be realistic and say I'll probably lay in bed for a few minutes before finally getting up to play with Lolli.  And maybe if the weather ever warms up I'll get up and go for a walk.  I'm such an exerciser. 

Just because I'm not committing my morning minutes to something, doesn't mean I'm not adding something (a virtue, if you will) this Lenton season.  I've decided I'm going to aim for posting this here blog at least four times a week.  And it's up to you guys to keep me accountable.  The way I see it, some of you might actually read this to keep up with what's going on in our lives (Lala, Poppa: I'm looking at you two since I imagine no one else really cares) so it really doesn't serve its purpose if I go a week between posts.  Doc has already informed me that he prefers "meatier" posts to the short and sweet picture posts like my last one, but I can't guarantee that they'll all be like that.  I will try to entertain you and kill as much of your work time as possible, but even I run out of things to say occasionally. 

So there they are, my goals for Lent.  Write more and sleep less.  Lord, help me.

(In my pre-Lent thoughts about what to give up, I had decided I could conquer the lack of a snooze button as long as I offset it with more naps.  Cause I like to nap.  But here's the thing: have you ever tried to nap with a puppy on your head?  Not do-able, people. Not do-able.)

I shared mine.  Now it's your turn.  We're all in this together.

Oh, guess what?  Last Thursday when I was busy just uploading pictures because I didn't have anything to write about, I didn't notice that it was my 200th post.  Yep, two hundred.  Another milestone.  Whomp, there it is.

Picture Thursday

Just some random things going on... Another recipe from our new cookbooks: spinach pasta, fresh spinach, roasted pine nuts, a dollop of ricotta cheese, and shredded parmesan.

Working on more felt balls for another project:

Best 99 cents I ever spent:

(It doesn't leave my hands feeling too dry or too greasy after applying, and it's small enough to throw in my purse.)

Finally, blooming flowers! Take that, San Diego.

"You talkin' to me?"

The NB Diaries: Chapter 9

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I wrote about New Boss.  It's just that there are SO many entertaining conversations and stories and happenings with or about her that it became hard to decide which ones to write about.  It got overwhelming.  And, to be honest, most days she's not my favorite person so, amusing or not, it makes me not want to write about her.  I think she's bipolar.  One day she wants to be our best friend and the next day she's yelling at us.  Seriously.  It's exhausting trying to decipher her mood each day. A lot of times when I'm telling Doc the latest and greatest episode involving ol' NB, I think about how it's eventually going to catch up to her.  She can't be awful to us every week and it not turn around to bite her, right?  Sometimes over lunch my coworkers and I plot schemes about all turning in our resignations on the same day, just to see the look on her face.  Of course, we don't really plan on doing that because we love where we work, but she can be completely ridiculous.  Example?  Once a month she hands us all a printout of an excel spreadsheet and makes us calculate all the formulas by hand to double-check excel's totals.  We've yet to catch excel in a mistake. 

Anyway, all that's to say that while I try to be a nice person even when she's being nasty, occasionally it feels good when karma seems to be on your side.  Like today, for instance, when this little gem appeared in my inbox:

From: New Boss Time: Wednesday, March 2, 9:30 am Subject: Re: Interview

The interview is tomorrow at 4:00. 

I don't know if I'm coming in today.  I fell down and broke my nose, and I don't feel very well.

Ok, I do feel bad that she's hurt - I wouldn't wish that on anyone.  But, on the other hand, this isn't too awful of an injury and my coworkers and I did laugh a little when we saw the email and took turns guessing how she fell and broke her nose.  It's almost like payback for the gosh-awful meeting she made us sit through yesterday where we spent an hour listening to her drone on and on about nothing important.  Because guys, she's going to show up with bruises.  On her face. 

That's all.