ode to my box of kleenex

I have a cold.

It started yesterday.

I hardly slept last night.

I blow my nose lovingly into my extra soft Kleenex.

I think wearing my pajamas all day is a good idea.

sometimes life gets in the way

of my blogging!

Since my last post, I've made it through starting my new position at my job, tech & dress rehearsals & the first weekend (of 2) for The Mousetrap, a 2-day festival for which I designed the program & at which I took nearly 800 photos, the death of a friend and very little down time.

So, since I have nothing cool to post, I am going to share a recipe, if one can call it that. This is hardly rocket surgery after all.

Tater Tot Nachos

Using a 9X13 pan, cook an entire regular sized package of tater tots according to package instructions.

While tots are baking, brown hamburger & add taco seasoning according to package instructions.

When tots are done, remove from oven, pour the meat over the top of tots.

Add block olives on top (optional)

Pour 1-2 jars of salsa of your choice over the whole thing

Sprinkle a whole package of shredded cheese on top (3 cheese "Mexican" blend is good)

Ppop back into the oven for 5-10 minutes to melt cheese

Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving in bowls and a dollop of sour cream.

Makes great left-overs!

bathroom, part 2

Choosing what to do to the bathroom is harder than choosing to do something to the bathroom.

I knew I wanted something serene and spa-like, but I also wanted to make sure that it wasn't too feminine or that it didn't have so much personality that future buyers looked at it in the way we did back in 2002.

Here's the palette we're thinking of: The towel rack was just a convenient place to look at everything in good light & it's going to get refinished to be a closer match to the wood tone of our existing mirror, represented by the cherry color on the right. The rack was purchased when we still apartment dwellers and it didn't find a home here until this fall when I realized that with company coming, we needed more hanging space for guest towels.

We haven't decided yet if we want to go with the wood tone or white for the new vanity that Joe is going to have built at work (thank you 5 years w/ the company bonus!)

There are 2 slightly different colors of Cambria being considered for the counter, then white, represented by the tile, for the fixtures.

We're trying to choose one of the paint colors for the walls and we're leaning toward the top chip. Since the room is on the small side, we don't want the color to overwhelm the space.

The tiles are a really amazing deal. Joe's coworker has them. Lots of them. We're getting them cheap. They're just under 12x12 and although they look rough they are a smooth matte glaze and pick up the other colors nicely.

In my last bathroom post you may have noticed that the tub is white and the surrounding tiles are bisque. This really bugs me, but they are functional and if we can't afford to change them right now, I could still find a way to go on living. That said, I'd like to do something different, but we haven't thought that part out quite yet. Which really means the guy and I don't see eye to eye on this one, so to keep "domestic tranquility" we've avoided the discussion. (we have enough going on without that!)

In our next bathroom segment:
Peggy sets a budget! (can she stick to it?)
Concept elevations and ground plot

these are the days of our lives...

I finished the new calendar! I just hung it up above my desk and I'm pretty darn please with it. The Crayola cling film worked nicely, but there are a few bubbles that were tough to get out. Because it's 8 1/2 x 11, I had to use 4 sheets to create the calendar and so there are seams, but I love the design and although I could have picked from any number of calendars on Etsy, I was able to do this for less and make it mine.

My desk is a little messy right now (when is it not?) But here's a view of what I'm looking at as I blog:
And in case you were wondering, yes, all the bills on the calendar are color coded, because I'm just that geeky.

bathroom renovation, part the 1st

I haven't posted much of late because we're in the early planning stages of redoing our bathroom. It needs it. If you ask our friends it really needs it. If you ask my brother it needs a torch and excellerant.

When we moved into our townhouse almost 8 years ago, the bathroom looked like this:

Pattern, pattern and oh yes, more pattern. The vanity, which matches the kitchen cupboards, was painted very dark navy blue. So was the door. And although you can't see it here, above the door was painted on the wall a sign that read, "The Fish Bowl".

Luckily, we took possession of the house 1 month before our apartment lease was up, so we never lived with all that pattern.

Thanks to my brother, a couple coats of Kilz and LOTS of white paint we turned the bathroom into this more liveable space:

We always planned to "do something" with the bathroom. But as our life changed with unemployment, new business ventures, new jobs and everything else, we never got to it. For 7+ years!

Finally, I'd had enough! I can't take it any more! So, we started plans to redo it. I've spend countless hours on-line searching for beautiful baths as inspiration and found a few really helpful blogs along the way (don't worry I'll share them) and thus it begins.

Plush Nest Bathroom Renovation (insert dramatic music here)
Can they do it?
Can they do it on the cheap?
Stay tuned to see how our heroine (& hero) turn mosaic tile madness into calming bath splendor!

how to make 1 sweet calendar

For the past few nights, I've been attempting to make some old ink jet transparency plastic work for making my dreamy new calendar. Last night, I gave up. It's just not going to happen using materials I already have on hand.

I started researching window clings. I even contemplated having one made at Kinko's or asking sayitwithstyle about just how "custom" she was willing to go, because frankly, I really like the design I came up with.

Enter Ebay!
I just purchased this:

I spent a total of $15. $10 for 2 packs of 4 clings, $4 shipping and a $1 donation to the Red Cross (because it's honestly the easiest way to make a donation ever).

I'll report back once I know how it works...

Meanwhile, I'm painting the frame for this little project with leftover white semi-gloss paint. Nothing special, but since it was a dark sea foam, it's going to take 3-4 coats.

Speaking of coats...Project Runway's on, so I have to go.

everything old is new again

This weekend, I created a couple of new things for the house made from old things.

New from Old Thing # 1:

This started when I saw the sweet calendar the lovely Chris at Just a Girl posted in her year-end recap. I fell in love! Now I haven't ordered the vinyl yet because I strongly suspect that I can make my own in a similar way using Adheisive Ink Jet Film from Joann, but this started my plotting.

That plotting took the form of starting to look around the house for frames. In that search, I found the *perfect* frame, only problem was that it was holding the cork of our bulletin board in the kitchen-bugger!

Then, I had a brainstorm! I had a silver frame that came with a generic floral print inside that was given to me by my mother in-law. I measured and found to my delight that the two frames are the same size! Victory was mine. I figured I could swap out the cork and the glass because the silver frame would look so much more chic in the kitchen and I'd still get the calendar frame I wanted. Perfect!

But then disaster struck. Apparently, at some point in the past, I'd Gorilla Glued the cork into the frame. When I carefully as possible removed the cork, which had been painted to match the frame, some of the cork broke off.

Feeling rather defeated, because I didn't know what I'd do to fix the ugliness. I started looking at other people's bulletin boards online. And as I did this, a light bulb went on: Why not cover the cork in some chic fabric? Perhaps some linen from my stash? So, I went digging and found a piece of linen that was once a part of costume skirt that is a few shades darker than our kitchen cabinets! Redemption!

Here's how it turned out:

I used my office stapler to attach the fabric on the back of the cork board. The silver frame echos the brushed stainless knobs and other accessories in the kitchen.

New from Old Thing #2:

A new lamp for our bedroom has been on my agenda for a while now. Somehow, a raspberry lamp didn't fit into our newly brown and blue decor. So, yesterday in a Goodwill run I found a lamp:

Totally ugly.

I brought it home for $6.99. I knew I could make it look cool. And with some scissors, hot glue and more linen from my stash, I now have a perfectly acceptable lamp:

A great improvement, if I do say so myself!