It was so great to share this special day with you, Debbie, before little Liam's arrival!
Monday, October 28, 2013
The Gentleman Goldfish: A themed baby shower
Check out this fun theme that a friend and I created for our dear friend, Debbie's baby shower, complete with, yes, live goldfish as party favors!
Sunday, October 27, 2013
That time we replaced a perfectly functional microwave
This post has nothing to do with crafts, celebrating life through photos, or anything warm and fuzzy, and everything to do with the "you cant make this stuff up" moments of first time homeowners.
We've lived in the house with the big orange door for just over 2 years and we've had no shortage of "duh" moments when it comes to homeownership. From doing and re-doing laundry room pedestals, scraping popcorn paint in the garage, and learning the joys of cleaning gutters, this simple doozie takes the cake.
This little story is called: That time we replaced a perfectly functional microwave.
>Enter Wife, stage right, as she prepares to make a delicious bag of microwave popcorn. Upon hitting the popcorn button to start the microwave, a loud pop and the microwave is dead. Wife is sad. Wife loves popcorn for dinner. Wife starts over-reacting about having to spend money on a new microwave.
Wife gets hungry and makes something else for dinner, but it's not as good as popcorn.
>Act II starts 2 months later, where home-cooked meals have abounded, and above the stove sits a completely nonfunctional, powerless microwave.
Yes, Husband and Wife have been lazy. They just haven't had time to go look for a new microwave. Husband and Wife trick themselves into believing they meant to wait this long, that they have accomplished something in breaking their dependency on this radiation-emitting machine. Finally, Husband has had enough. How will he live another day without warming up his frozen breakfast burritos that Wife so lovingly makes. Husband and Wife visit local Best Buy to make the most anti-climatic purchase they've ever made in their short, married life. Husband and Wife return home with exact same microwave, 237.00 poorer. New microwave sits in Garage for 2 weeks. Upon realizing that she is hosting a baby shower in 48 hours where one of the snacks is supposed to be 6 bags worth of microwave popcorn, Wife decides that it's time.
Husband and Wife think: "This will be easy. It's the same microwave, all the holes and bracket are in the exact same spot, we'll just be swapping them out."
Husband and Wife get old microwave down.
----and realize that although these are identical microwaves, the brackets and holes are completely different.
>desperation ensues as Husband and Wife test their marriage in a war of: "who can figure out this worthless diagram" and "who can suck the least at measuring things". After 2 hours, they give up.
Wife hosts baby shower with an empty hole where microwave goes, above stove.
Later that night, friend of Husband's comes over to help save the day, having installed many a microwave himself.
>Scene: It is 9pm and new microwave is up. Old brackets have been ripped out of walls, new ones installed, new holes drilled in cupboard bases and old ones filled, all while Wife observes from a distance. Husband realizes upon friend walking out the door to leave that microwave is not lighting up. Husband panics and doesn't want to alarm wife. Husband scratches head and goes to the garage to have a look around. Husband notices a breaker....that has been tripped.....for 2 months.
>End Scene<
Yes, my friends, we went 2 months without a microwave, purchased a new one, fought like bears trying to get it installed, gave up, hosted microwave-less parties, and finally cried "help" to our friend to come help us install a new one, all to find out that our old microwave worked all along...
How did we cope? I made a bag of microwave popcorn.
Anyone need a new microwave?
We've lived in the house with the big orange door for just over 2 years and we've had no shortage of "duh" moments when it comes to homeownership. From doing and re-doing laundry room pedestals, scraping popcorn paint in the garage, and learning the joys of cleaning gutters, this simple doozie takes the cake.
This little story is called: That time we replaced a perfectly functional microwave.
>Enter Wife, stage right, as she prepares to make a delicious bag of microwave popcorn. Upon hitting the popcorn button to start the microwave, a loud pop and the microwave is dead. Wife is sad. Wife loves popcorn for dinner. Wife starts over-reacting about having to spend money on a new microwave.
Wife gets hungry and makes something else for dinner, but it's not as good as popcorn.
>Act II starts 2 months later, where home-cooked meals have abounded, and above the stove sits a completely nonfunctional, powerless microwave.
Yes, Husband and Wife have been lazy. They just haven't had time to go look for a new microwave. Husband and Wife trick themselves into believing they meant to wait this long, that they have accomplished something in breaking their dependency on this radiation-emitting machine. Finally, Husband has had enough. How will he live another day without warming up his frozen breakfast burritos that Wife so lovingly makes. Husband and Wife visit local Best Buy to make the most anti-climatic purchase they've ever made in their short, married life. Husband and Wife return home with exact same microwave, 237.00 poorer. New microwave sits in Garage for 2 weeks. Upon realizing that she is hosting a baby shower in 48 hours where one of the snacks is supposed to be 6 bags worth of microwave popcorn, Wife decides that it's time.
Husband and Wife think: "This will be easy. It's the same microwave, all the holes and bracket are in the exact same spot, we'll just be swapping them out."
Husband and Wife get old microwave down.
----and realize that although these are identical microwaves, the brackets and holes are completely different.
>desperation ensues as Husband and Wife test their marriage in a war of: "who can figure out this worthless diagram" and "who can suck the least at measuring things". After 2 hours, they give up.
Wife hosts baby shower with an empty hole where microwave goes, above stove.
Later that night, friend of Husband's comes over to help save the day, having installed many a microwave himself.
>Scene: It is 9pm and new microwave is up. Old brackets have been ripped out of walls, new ones installed, new holes drilled in cupboard bases and old ones filled, all while Wife observes from a distance. Husband realizes upon friend walking out the door to leave that microwave is not lighting up. Husband panics and doesn't want to alarm wife. Husband scratches head and goes to the garage to have a look around. Husband notices a breaker....that has been tripped.....for 2 months.
>End Scene<
Yes, my friends, we went 2 months without a microwave, purchased a new one, fought like bears trying to get it installed, gave up, hosted microwave-less parties, and finally cried "help" to our friend to come help us install a new one, all to find out that our old microwave worked all along...
How did we cope? I made a bag of microwave popcorn.
Anyone need a new microwave?
Thursday, October 24, 2013
A Gallery Wall
One day, while laying in bed trying to think of another project to add to the slew of half completed wonders in my garage, I got the bright idea to create a floor -to- ceiling gallery wall. Just for fun. I tried to shut my brain off but I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was madness and I could not stop until I had pinterest'd a million different gallery wall looks for inspiration and got to work. Im sure Mr. A thought I had finally lost my mind when he wandered out of our bedroom, just waking up for the day, to find me, in my pajamas, in the middle of the living room floor, hunkered over an extremely large piece of cardboard placing random items. You see, my first step was to take the large piece of cardboard from our last TV purchase (I knew I saved that for a reason), cut it in the exact dimensions of the wall whose fate I was planning, and start throwing stuff on it to see what fit and what didn't. It actually turned out to be a great philosophy. I had seen on Pinterest the "cut out the shape of the objects and then start taping them to the wall to get the right placement/spacing" technique, but I felt like that wasn't going to cut it for me.
1. I had NO idea what the heck I was going to use for this thing; I mean, come on, I had just dreamed it up a mere 15 minutes earlier (throwing all my in-progress projects RIGHT out the window for the time-being).
2. I couldn't get a visual picture of how this thing was going to look if I didn't have the actual objects next to each other. Enter: life-size cardboard cutout. Now, if you don't have a ridiculously large piece of cardboard laying around your house (likely), I still think this method can work for you! Simply measure the wall that this gallery will encompass, and use painters tape on your floor to establish your gallery "area". Trust me, this goes a long way in being able to visualize, properly space, see what fits and what doesn't, etc. You're welcome.
So, the next few hours looked a little something like this: run around house looking for random objects that, at one time I thought "I could use this for something". Try to find perfect mix of photos, objects, art, printables, colors, etc. trip over dog. stub toe. spread more items than needed all over living room floor so that I know what Im working with. Start placing objects. rearrange objects. rearrange objects. repeat. get in husbands way of TV-viewing. find more objects. rearrange. stand back and marvel at crazy object covered cardboard. plan paint color for thrifted items. plan photo and art options. trace all items onto parchment paper. poke a hole in parchment paper for nail-hole. tape paper to wall. start painting items. eat some food. loose some steam. take a nap.
And...that's about as far as I got that day. Over the next week, I got more and more items placed on the wall, had a few panic attacks (WHAT AM I DOING TO THIS WALL, THIS IS GOING TO LOOK RIDICULOUS!?!?AHHH!@), changed a few things, got nervous about not sticking with a specific color theme (this thing was gonna be colorful, y'all!), asked for husband's affirmation 12 times. discovered the weight limit of command strips. tore off a huge circle of paint, clear down to the drywall. found object to cover it up. looked at it a bunch to make sure it was just right. had a weird empty spot with nothing to fit (that will teach me to rearrange things without consulting my cardboard). couldn't stop staring at it. ordered vinyl arrow to fill the space. <3LOVE<3
And, the end. That was it. I finished in about a week of hemming and hawing over details and Mr. A actually said "That looks pretty sweet". I think its because I earned brownie points for finding a spot to put his Bears canvas that Ive been making him hide in the basement because it doesn't go with anything. But, I digress...
And just for fun, here's a reeeeally grainy before picture:
1. I had NO idea what the heck I was going to use for this thing; I mean, come on, I had just dreamed it up a mere 15 minutes earlier (throwing all my in-progress projects RIGHT out the window for the time-being).
2. I couldn't get a visual picture of how this thing was going to look if I didn't have the actual objects next to each other. Enter: life-size cardboard cutout. Now, if you don't have a ridiculously large piece of cardboard laying around your house (likely), I still think this method can work for you! Simply measure the wall that this gallery will encompass, and use painters tape on your floor to establish your gallery "area". Trust me, this goes a long way in being able to visualize, properly space, see what fits and what doesn't, etc. You're welcome.
So, the next few hours looked a little something like this: run around house looking for random objects that, at one time I thought "I could use this for something". Try to find perfect mix of photos, objects, art, printables, colors, etc. trip over dog. stub toe. spread more items than needed all over living room floor so that I know what Im working with. Start placing objects. rearrange objects. rearrange objects. repeat. get in husbands way of TV-viewing. find more objects. rearrange. stand back and marvel at crazy object covered cardboard. plan paint color for thrifted items. plan photo and art options. trace all items onto parchment paper. poke a hole in parchment paper for nail-hole. tape paper to wall. start painting items. eat some food. loose some steam. take a nap.
And...that's about as far as I got that day. Over the next week, I got more and more items placed on the wall, had a few panic attacks (WHAT AM I DOING TO THIS WALL, THIS IS GOING TO LOOK RIDICULOUS!?!?AHHH!@), changed a few things, got nervous about not sticking with a specific color theme (this thing was gonna be colorful, y'all!), asked for husband's affirmation 12 times. discovered the weight limit of command strips. tore off a huge circle of paint, clear down to the drywall. found object to cover it up. looked at it a bunch to make sure it was just right. had a weird empty spot with nothing to fit (that will teach me to rearrange things without consulting my cardboard). couldn't stop staring at it. ordered vinyl arrow to fill the space. <3LOVE<3
And, the end. That was it. I finished in about a week of hemming and hawing over details and Mr. A actually said "That looks pretty sweet". I think its because I earned brownie points for finding a spot to put his Bears canvas that Ive been making him hide in the basement because it doesn't go with anything. But, I digress...
And just for fun, here's a reeeeally grainy before picture:
Monday, October 21, 2013
Hello Fall!
We'll tackle fall pumpkin decorating in a completely separate post, after I actually get those decorated. For now, here are some signs of fall popping up around the house. Fall decorating is my absolute favorite holiday to decorate for. This year, we decided not to decorate for both Halloween & Fall since we have no Halloween gatherings. Next year. :)
First thing's first: Fall chalkboards:
Our Church community center's chalkboard from our Fall Fest event!
Next up: Fall accents throughout the house
{notice the subtle changes I made to our entry table. Make up your MIND, Michelle}
And finally: our fall tables cape
And finally, a sneak peak at pumpkin decorating!
Goodbye summer
Better late than never. Now that we're in the dead of fall, why not re-cap some of my favorite memories and do the infamous "iphone photo dump".
Without delay, my favorite summer memories:
Without delay, my favorite summer memories:
4th of July shellac, a pinterest find!
Getting together with friends/family
This little guy getting old enough to interact, be more vocal, and just genuinely fun to be around. He is such a sweetheart and so eager to learn.
Summer life. Fresh flowers can change the mood of any house.
Puppy pool!
Husband graduates and wife gets to make more paint sample garlands
Grilling for every meal. Not even peaches are safe!
Fresh picked Mulberries and green beans
Dog Days
Swimming!
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