Downhill my great week went

So my great week turned out not so great...turns out I have kidney stones, the license plate got stolen off the front of our truck, and our insurance companies computers were down today when I went to pick up another prescription. They wanted $200 for the prescription without my insurance so I am waiting until tomorrow. I wish the pain killers I am on would make me happy about all this. And since I called to report the plate stolen we can't drive the truck until I go get new plates which is very hard to do when you can't drive due to medications and you have no license plates.

Thankfully yesterday my Mamo took me to urgent care and  my other grandma came into town and got my room ready for the new furniture which was delivered. Today my husband took off the afternoon and took me in for another appointment and a CT scan. My grandma and Jerry took care of dinner tonight and I am so glad they are here. Tomorrow I will see what they say from the scan.

I know I was grateful that 2010 was such a wonderful year but this last week has sucked. I am ready for 2011. I do have to say that I LOVE our new furniture and when I am functioning I will share pictures.

Sorry for the downer of a post, I guess when it rains it pours.

Best Week Ever :)

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did. :)

We got to share Christmas Eve with most of my cousins and family on my dad's side. I haven't had Christmas with them in 5 years so it was lots of fun, my immediate family minus one sister and her fiance stayed at our house that night. Colin and I have almost been married for 4 years and this is the first Christmas we have spent at home not alone. It was so nice, "Santa" put Nerf guns in our stockings and we had a war among the 5 of us. Much better than our last few Christmas'.

To top it off my husband got promoted last Wednesday and was brimming from ear to ear, we could have given him only coal and he still would be smiling. Because he was so happy he told me I could finally get new furniture! I am still doing the happy dance thinking it actually happened. One-I hate our current couch, Two-We don't ever have enough seating, Three-Since we have been married we have bought a new mattress/frame and our dining room table. Everything else (lots of it) I either inherited, was a gift from family, or I bought it at the thrift store and revamped it. As much as I love to revamp old items I REALLY wanted new family room furniture, I was not up for recovering a sofa.

So I wanted to share what I picked out.


We got this sofa with a sleeper, we tested the mattress that came with it and decided to upgrade it, sleepers are NEVER comfortable but ours will have no springs and a memory foam mattress instead. I actually would sleep on it. Now we wont feel bad about putting guests on it. We already had a full and twin guest bed but we wanted to have enough beds if Colin's family comes out. Close up the fabric is a hounds tooth weave for those obsessed with fabrics like me.

We also picked a matching love seat that looks the same as the sofa. I needed my own seat, no more competing for the couch with Colin and 2 dogs. :)

In addition we got one side chair, I kind of want another but want to wait until Colin gets the TV hung above the fireplace and I can rearrange.

In addition to this I am planning on recovering our coffee table ottoman with a coordinating cream/gray striped fabric and a smaller side chair. I am still debating on curtains and solid colored pillows to add color.

Either way this wasn't even my Christmas present! 2010 has been a wonderful year, one that has brought so many things I never expected. I can't express how grateful I am that we are not moving, we finally bought a house and my husband (who squeaks, since he hates spending money) bought me new furniture. I need to think of a really good idea for our anniversary. I think I need to pick his mothers brain because she has the BEST creative ideas, by the way Jenifer my sister Cheryl wants to "steal" you as she told me your "Walnut" present was the coolest idea.

I hope your Christmas was FANTASTIC and the end of 2010 has been as wonderful for you as it has been for us. I am looking forward to 2011 and the new things that await us in life.

Christmas Schedule

I am sitting here thinking about cleaning....deep cleaning. I may or may not have my immediate family stay here Christmas Eve. My extended family celebrates Christmas Eve in Denver at my Dad's brothers house and since we are going to my parents the 23rd to go Christmas caroling we are not driving back up there after driving back to Denver. As we decided not to do gifts as a family this year we are doing an activity and that activity will also be in Denver.....too much driving if we drive up there 2-3 times.

So here is our tentative plan for the holidays:

-Tomorrow (Dec. 22nd) my sister Cheryl is driving home from Kansas. She is taking a layover at our house and we are making Christmas cookies.

-Thursday (Dec. 23rd) my dad flies back to Denver and should arrive at about 11am. Colin gets off work at ? time and we will head to my parents to go Christmas caroling on a horse drawn wagon, I am excited because I haven't been in 4 years and I had been every year for 24 years before that. We are staying the night at my parents.

-Friday (Dec. 24th) Colin and my dad have a project involving welding, they are both excited about it because my dad has called Colin a few times from Illinois about it. That night we will be driving back to Denver to spend the holiday with my dad's family. I am also excited about this because the last Christmas I spent with them was FIVE years ago. Not sure if my immediate family is staying or not but my guest beds will all be ready.

-Monday (Dec. 27th) My Grandma and Jerry and possibly my Aunt Robin are coming to spend a few days with us. :) Yeah! We haven't seen them since Jerry had surgery which went well.

I am not sure when we are doing our family activity (aka our family Christmas gift) but we are going to go to the King Tut exhibit and one of those Japanese steak houses where they throw your food and cook it in front of you etc. We wanted an interactive activity and my dad will even like both of those. We are still debating about going to see the lights at the Denver Botanical Gardens.

Friday December 31st we are having a New Years Party! So far I have bought all the mixers and noise makers. I still need to get food but I haven't made up my mind on all my appetizer choices yet. I also still need to make the trophies for our contests.

First I better get to cleaning.....Hope you are having a FANTASTIC holiday week!

I need Cheesy Trophy Ideas Pretty Please!!!!

I need some ideas stat! Some ideas for cheesy trophy items!

(Ignore the metal rod on the bar/ apparently we are making a foot rail...)

We have a bar stuck in the 80's club scene in our basement mixed with the 50's....it comes complete with black carpet accented with pink, purple, and teal marks....a bar with records encased in the top with a hot pink bumper edging....mirrors all over....and now misc. junk hanging on the walls. My so generous father keeps gifting my husband new "crap" to hang down there. Classy I tell you! :)

Anyways we are having a New Years party and my husband wants to have trophies for the dart board, Foosball table, and giant Jenga game (giant Jenga made out of 2x4's). I got put in charge of this and have NO ideas other than it needs to say something like: Ratliff's Pink Hoopdy 2010 Dart Winner/Foosball Champion/Jenga Master. I am seriously contemplating painting a chunk of wood pink and painting this in black letters. I have ZERO ideas.

(The new items for the wall light up but I haven't hung on the wall yet)

I should give a background on why we are calling our "classy" bar the Pink Hoopdy. I personally have never heard that term used for a bar until this year. When we were closing on our house the nice guy we bought from honestly was convinced we bought it because as he put it the "pink hoopdy" was so cool. Since then it has just became a joke. I really would like to make the room not "cheesy" but it definitely gets people talking. Unfortunately my husband would like to make it even cheesier by adding booths and more junk...I think I am stuck. :(

Any ideas for trophys? Please help me!

Breathing at Last :)

I haven't been on much since I have been sick. :( I still am stuffed up but nothing else. Yeah!!! By the way they make Dayquil with Musinex DM....check it out if you are stuffed up and sickly. I still think it was mostly due to my allergies but this helped.

So this week once I felt better I made sugar cookies for my mom's entire class. I ate enough cookie dough to last the entire holiday season. Yummy! I also made snack mix while I was waiting on the dough to sit in the fridge. Yesterday I drove up to my parents to drop off the stove that has been living in our dining room for almost 2 months! And had lunch with my dad as he wont be back home until December 23rd due to work.

Today I am getting my eyes checked to use up what is left of our flex spending and taking my Mamo to Costco. We are going before lunch because last time we went after and ate too many samples. Hope you have had a wonderful week!

Cheers to Good Health!

At least I have a laptop.....

All I have to say is I HATE being sick. Yesterday to top off me being sick Gunther threw up all over me, the couch, and the floor. Not my best day by far. I am going back to bed. :( Yesterday all I accomplished was putting my bay window back together and unloading the dishwasher. My awesome husband went and got me some sprite. :) Today I have accomplished nothing and that alone is making me sick, I have things to do! I hope this blows over fast....I still feel like my allergies are causing part of the problem though. :( At least both dogs are in agreement with sleeping, both of them are in my lap snoring away.

Hope you had a better Wednesday and a better Thursday!

Sick :(

I am on here because I feel awful! It's difficult to get anything done when you are gaging and sneezing. I am not sure if I am sick or my terrible allergies are kicking back in.....the wood in our family room is definitely one of the things bothering me. :( I really, really, really, hope it is not just that because I LOVE our fireplace.

Today I wanted to:

-Get my windowsill back together (its all painted) and show you a photo.
-Show you a photo of the garland my mom had left over and gave to me for the fireplace. :)
-Re-paint in the 1/2 bath because I took the cabinet off the wall that Colin didn't like.
-Vacuum the whole house.
-Mop all the non-carpeted areas of the house.
-Clean all bathrooms.
And most importantly make Peppermint Bark, this is the recipe I will be using.

Instead I am sitting on the couch thinking about how much I still don't like our Christmas stockings. What a waste of a Wednesday. :(

House Updating Photos

I thought I would share some photos like I promised several weeks ago. :( Here is our master bedroom with the furniture all moved. The bruise on my leg from the old arrangement is finally gone!

 The other corner with the chair I still haven't recovered....maybe someday I will find a fabric I like.

 The pantry door in the kitchen. It looked funny not updated with the cabinets. What I am not giving you a close up on is the flooring in this closet. The past owners didn't remove the baseboard before putting the floor down....someday we can fix the almost 1/2" crack.

 My new door. :) We talked about painting the damaged old doors and updating the hardware but decided we wanted paneled doors. We both like this much better, its worth the few extra dollars.

 The new door knob, we both like the old handles but the nice little dog in the photos above knows how to open them so no handles.

Here is a photo of the old hardware and door color. I like the wood but this door is in better shape than a lot of the others. It doesn't have scratches across the front or nail holes. Hence painting all the trim white, paint covers up mistakes that we can't fix without replacing almost everything to make it match. I wish I wasn't so OCD about the contractor and past homeowners choices.

We looked at several houses I wouldn't need to do any of this (they already had) but we liked this house for the floor plan and the lot. At least this way it will slowly become what we want. Everyone thinks we will be moving (bigger house) in at least 5 years, after moving constantly for the last 5 years as long as Colin's work lets us stay I do NOT want to move.  We bought a large enough first house I don't think we need to, besides it is going to take me way longer to get things the way I would like them. Currently this house is too big for us, a small part of me misses our cracker box house we lived in before (1000sq ft) and then I remember I have my own room to make things and Colin has a huge garage. :)

I am off to finish the bay window in the kitchen. After finishing today my list for the kitchen/dining room updates gets much smaller. :)

Photo Break from Chaos

I thought I would share some exceptionally bad photos since I need a break from working in my craft room. Usually I make ornaments at night while watching TV, this week I have been painting on commercial breaks. Just window frames as I decided I have to start somewhere with painting my woodwork. So here is one window in the kitchen now painted to match my cabinets, no more water stains from the previous owners never sealing the wood. :) And then here is one in the dining room.

 And I have just primed the edges of the kitchen bay window, the rest will have to wait until next week.

 Chaos is our house! Here is a very small chunk of items going to Windsor, CO for a jewelry party tomorrow. The rest is laying all over the floor so I can organize it for display.

Part of the mess on the floor in my workroom. I am really glad I trained the dogs not to pick things up that aren't theirs. Every once in awhile the puppy still does in the rest of the house but not in this room, he finally knows better. :) Colin says he is going to build me a ledge for my tables so things can stay on it instead of the floor, obviously I have been keeping him too busy to get it done.

Wish us luck that we have a really good show tomorrow so I can pay myself this month and have the new computer paid off. November left my finally full business bank account very poor, not good before Christmas.

Christmas Tree Show and Tell

So I searched all over the place for a tree this afternoon. I looked at a TON of fake trees and even a few real ones. Since we shouldn't be moving anymore I wanted to get a fake tree. Target by far had the best selection and prices. They were out of the one I wanted that was on sale but this one was a good deal and is even 7ft tall. :)

Here are our stockings and my nice red basket, please ignore the cords on the floor, this is the cleanest this room has been since we started revamping the mantel. It is still a work in progress. :) Next year we can have some greenery on the mantel, the tree blew my decorating budget and the string of lights planned for here died. :(

 Here is a close up of our stockings, I still miss the ones that were stolen. Taking these out of the decoration box made me sad. If I hadn't spent so much time stitching our names on them I would make new bright cheery ones, I still might. Darn it that I made the Christmas tree skirt to match....anyone want a tree skirt?

 And of course I have to share the K-State Santa that is hanging out in the kitchen with my plants. This windowsill has not been hit by my paint brush....yet. It needs a good sanding job first to cover up the water stains that my plant pots are hiding.

I wanted to share some cheer as tomorrow is December 1st! Christmas lights make me happy since they are bright and colorful when everything is cold and dreary. Even Colin the Grinch helped me put the lights on the tree....decorating the tree was too much though for Sir Bah Humbug.

Peppermint Mocha Creamer.....yummmmmmmmmm

I have a huge long list of things to do today and I am sitting here trying to type because our puppy insists he has to sit in my lap. It is makes me think he is part cat because they always want to sit with you when you are busy.

I finished off some more trim painting this morning and am waiting for my coffee to be done so I can add the peppermint mocha creamer I bought. Yesterday I ran and got some groceries and got several delicious flavors. As much as I hated living in Phoenix I miss my work team buying me breakfast and coffee at Starbucks every morning. I miss those delicious drinks! I would hate to think what they spent even in one week on that habit!

So today I am working on new pieces for my show Friday and getting organized. Lucky me gets to run to the craft store to get more ribbon (I ran out for ornaments), cash some checks, and go look for a decent inexpensive Christmas tree. Yea to birthday money that I just deposited, I was saving it for a shopping expedition but I think I might use it for a nice tree. I think I need to wait until this afternoon as I am already behind my daily schedule because I am on here! Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Hope You had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!

We had a nice little break for Thanksgiving! Thank you Jenifer!

I ignored the mess when we got home....I left the kitchen spotless when we left at least. :) While I unloaded wood and filled our indoor pile up Colin made some Ramen noodles for dinner. Quick and easy and then we caught up on our DVR. Relaxing and nice, we added a fire in the fireplace and the swirling snow outside added ambiance.

Relaxing until this morning anyways.....I wasn't sure where to start. I repriced items for my show Friday, and made a nice list (this is like the 4th one) of items I would like to make this week to add to my stock. I wrote out a game plan and then moved on to laundry. While laundry started I went around the whole house and filled in nail holes in the window ledges. Then ran a coat of paint on one kitchen ledge and painted the caulking around the fireplace.

So now I am taking a quick break before I move on to folding, adding another coat of paint and then go back to making jewelry. It is VERY windy outside and the ground is covered in snow. I really need to run to the grocery store as well but I think that might wait until tomorrow. I think we will have chili tonight as I have all the ingredients on hand to make that. Yum! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Thankful for a weekend out of our house....

So that list I wrote about the other day....somehow my husband read my mind. We made our weekly trip to Home Depot to get supplies to fix the hole in the wall around the light fixture that the contractor created (master bathroom) and also came home with some trim.

I should start off by saying none of the woodwork in our house is the same stain and some of it is laminate junk so I cant easily paint. This is a combination of bad contractors and past homeowners with no ultimate plan. Poor construction work does not make my husband happy as his job is to make sure contractors aren't cutting corners.

So at Home Depot I mentioned that I would like a fancier molding on the fireplace mantel which was a very obvious display of stupid ideas and bad craftsmanship. We bought some 4" trim and planned on adding it to enhance the mantel. This was until I pulled off the side trim and the front trim to sand.....there was NO caulking or insulation! Figures! So my husband and I proceeded to remove the entire mantel so we could spray insulation foam and caulk. In the middle of that genius me says can we lower it (we had about 6-7 inches) and make it so we can hang the TV up there? Maybe not my best idea. The rest of the day my husband devised a plan to run all the cords inside the mantel and some fancy outlets (like this photo, a coworker sent my husband) to make all the components work.

Our mantel is now smaller, because my vision didn't work with his building plan. The top is now removable and underneath is a tunnel for the cords. Right now he still has to cut an outlet into the top of the mantel, a hole into the garage, a hole back into the family room to wire everything. I might also mention he is not very fast at wiring as he can't see the colors of the wires. I think I may need to call my dad to come help. He said he would do all the drywall but I need to re-texture and paint. I know we wouldn't have been happy with a newer house (HOA's) but seeing the mess in my family room I wish we had a new house that was made for today's technology.

I do have to mention that spray texture in a can works AWESOME! We were hesitant to buy it due to cost and whether it would work. You cant even tell we patched the wall in the bathroom. I also have to say that now my husband and I have a plan with the family room, kitchen and dining room that fixes A LOT of the stupid mistakes made in this house. It feels good to be on the same page visually and mathematically. I tend to see how I want things to look not knowing how, and he sees how to get it that way built right. Sometimes it is a struggle figuring out how to get both. Winter is my time to get things fixed inside the house because it's too cold in the garage for him to work on his 4-wheeler. I think this wiring project just took over though, we are supposed to have New Years party......

I am REALLY thankful that we are headed to Kansas for Thanksgiving so I can get out of our mess from this project. I am also really glad I got such great useful birthday gifts because I think I know what I am getting for Christmas from my husband. Once I am done painting I will post some improved photos. :)

Lengthy Dreamy Post

I keep having this dream that someone is going to knock on the door and say what do you want done to your house? Yeah right! If that ever happens....I don't really know what I would want new. For instance if they asked me what kind of cabinets I want I would have no clue. I am so used to turning the less desirable items into things we use I don't know what I would want if I had money to do anything. So of course while I am trying to sleep ideas are popping into my head, isn't that when all the good ideas come? I used to keep a sketch pad in college to draw ideas when I was supposed to be sleeping. I have to sneak out of our room so as not to wake Colin up now, he does not appreciate me drawing at 2-3am.

So my mental sketchpad says if I had money first I would have one single flooring on our main floor (dining, den, kitchen, and the laundry room), I would want a high quality wood floor laminate. I was against laminates but I kind of like it now that we have it and if you spend the money you can get a nice looking one. While doing that I would replace the banisters and stairs to look like this photo I saved from a catalog. According to my husband our banisters are not up to code and our dogs sneak through the rails because there is too much space not to mention one of our friends kids got his head stuck.

And because this woodwork is white like I have wanted I would then  paint all our trim white and the doors along with new hardware. (I am planning on this but the hardware costs $$$). Right after that I would have our family room mudjacked (they make the slab foundation level again). I have no clue how much this costs but there seems to be a lot of companies in Denver that do it. Then I would like new carpet in the family room, upstairs, and basement.

This is where I am torn, I would like to make the basement more functional which in my brain means wait but I am dreaming of unlimited funds right? So I would add a bathroom in the area that is set up for one, change the bar to be 1/4 the size it is and have a room down there. All the other houses in the neighborhood have functional basements with rooms added, not having this makes our value go down. Plus I would like a room where I design the storage for my crafts.

I also wish I could have new counter tops and sinks in the bathrooms. Subway tiles as a back splash in the kitchen (Colin can tile now, I just need to save) and crown molding around the top of the cabinets. And I forgot Colin would like his floor in the garage coated.

Whew, what I didn't mention was the paint colors running around in my head. Because of this I moved all the furniture in our master bedroom yesterday by myself. It might have also been motivated by the bruise on my leg from running into my dresser. The new arrangement is much better.

So even though I listed all the things I would like done none of them are super exciting. All of them revolve around issues the house came with really. Bad decisions, the time frame the house was built, and the woodwork not matching. The biggest undertaking is new flooring. The mismatched flooring on the main floor turned me off when we looked at the house and I know it will turn buyers off when we sell. Our carpet is in fairly decent shape but needs stretched and has some spots from the previous owners. It will need replaced at some point anyway. So because no one is probably going  to knock on our door I will just keep saving and working slowly to get these things done.

I just can't decide where to start painting the trim.....and debating if I should wait until I have enough saved for door hardware so that matches.

Finally Some more Photos

I finally have the rest of those boring pictures from 2 posts ago.

Yesterday I used my birthday gift card from Colin at the Gap. Because he also snagged me some coupons to be used on Wednesdays so I got 2 sweaters and a new pair of jeans for under $73! 

 A red basket for the holidays to store our fire starters. It was a dinghy white before, spray paint is awesome! Thanks for the basket Mamo, its perfect just like you thought!

 My tiny fish tank in the Laundry room. It is a nice change while folding laundry. :)

 The new fixture in our entryway, no more dinky small gold fixture. If you look close at the door you can see the peep hole Colin put in for me. Thanks Mom for the fixture and thanks to Colin for drilling a hole in the door which was killing him.

And like I said earlier this week I broke my own rule of decorating before Thanksgiving. I am just thankful I actually have a place to put my entire nativity this year. This is the replacement of one that was stolen several years ago. I have never had a place to put it all out because its HUGE! I even put a little light in the stable to turn on at night. :)

Decorating Early

I am normally opposed to stores and people decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Probably because I like to decorate for both and Thanksgiving deserves credit too!

Well this year I am kind of breaking my own rule. I want our Christmas cards to have a photo of us in front of  our new house decorated. I measured the house and we figured out where we want lights, then I pulled out our lights to figure out what we had the most of. Nothing exciting but we are having white plain lights for the next several years with some red bows. I bought them at Ace Hardware several years ago so I could hopefully get more that match if we needed them. Since Ace is awesome they still have the same light brand. :) I only had to buy 4 more strands, we have lots of other sized bulb strands that I don't know what to do with though. So today I am getting my decorations out so I know what I can give away or keep. I like colored lights in the house so as of right now I have no clue what to do with all the extra white lights.

Colin is most likely not going to be happy that he has to put up those lights this weekend, but it was his idea for me to decorate early. Quite a few of our neighbors have already gone all out. Even if we decorate our house is not going to be even 1% as cool as those around us. All I can wonder about is where are they storing all the junk that is now on their houses/in their yards. I would really like to check out the organization for all those decorations.

Well I better get to work figuring out where to place the decorations I am about to make a mess of. I am missing a piece of garland for the mantel and a tree so that cuts out opening all the boxes of ornaments. Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Missing Photos to Great Projects

So I was going to share LOTS of new photos but alas blogger doesn't seem up to uploading all of them today. :( So I was going to show you the snazzy new black & white bedding in my red studio. I had to cut down an old comforter to go inside the duvet and forgot to share. I also forgot to share the headboard I found for $7.50 that matches my desk perfectly. Now the room looks a little more finished.

I also was going to share my fish tank, I finally set it up again after a lapse of 6 months+. It now lives in the laundry room, and I love the glow when I walk in there. I knew I had Colin put in super strong shelves for a reason. I went with cheap tropical fish this time, no saltwater this year. Photo wont upload :(

The new light fixture in our entryway and the new one in our bathroom. The bathroom one wont be finished for at least a week though. The silly contractors that built this house had the bracket on the wall not in it and it wasn't centered so Colin says he has to replace a chunk of drywall and I will need to paint. :( As he also needs to take the mirror off to do this I think it is a perfect time for me to frame it so it looks more finished and not outdated. :) Personally I would just patch that small section and paint but he wants it done right.




My new laptop arrived yesterday afternoon. It is going to take me a little while to get things transferred. Right now I have my everyday links and my antivirus switched. This could take me awhile, I am glad most of it is on my backup hard drive.

Lots of new jewelery pics, I made a bunch of $10 items for an upcoming show the 5th of December. I sell a ton of my lower priced items at shows, I wish it was worth it to add them online. These photos also wouldn't download :(

Besides that I raked the leaves in the backyard that were covered in snow. Dug out dry wood and filled up our indoor wood pile and filled a huge bag up in the garage so we have backup dry wood. It is still snowing and they say we should get at least 6 more inches today. Yeah! I love snow!

Hopefully I get lots more accomplished as Colin's friend Shane is coming tomorrow night to hang out for the weekend. We are going to watch Wade Bowen Saturday night, I am pretty sure I have to be the DD. I will add photos as Blogger gets it's act together.

Hope you have had a wonderful week! I also have to brag that I need to buy only 7 more Christmas gifts and then I will be done! Yeah!!!!

Great Weekend

Just wanted to say a quick hi before I get back to breaking things. Quite a few things I touch have broken in the last week. In the last 10 minutes I broke the vacuum belt by just turning the vacuum on! Hopefully the next few days are as good as this weekend has been otherwise.

Since we were planning on putting in tile Saturday for my mom Colin took me out for dinner Friday for my birthday. We thought about going to a movie but nothing looked exceptional so we got movies from Redbox instead. A nice start :) On top of that Colin won a $15 itunes gift card that he gave me on top of the 3-step stool and the Gap gift card he got me. What great birthday gifts! We also ordered a new laptop Saturday so we have a updated/running computer, it was a GREAT day! Colin finished off the weekend by putting a peep hole in our front door so I can see who is knocking before I open the door.

Hope you had a great weekend as well. :)

Overflowing Generosity

Thought I would say a quick hello and share some pictures. Hope you had a WONDERFUL Halloween. We had so many treat-or-treaters we had to turn the light off because we ran out of candy :( The puppies were not so fond of the doorbell ringing non stop and I need to add a puppy/baby gate to my wish list, kitchen chairs do not work that well. Here is a picture of my "fake" pumpkin that I carved.
My new dining room runner. I like a LOT of color and this room was struggling. Thanks to my friend Joyce that helped me find it while I was in MO. :) Colin likes clear patterns like this due to not always seeing the colors, he even really likes it. Yeah!

And since it is going to be a long time before I ever get a new couch after getting estimates for a new furnace I bought a colorful rug for the family room. Maybe I am over the top with color but it makes me happy. Now I just need to update my pillows....Unfortunately every time we need something my couch fund takes the first hit.

And last but not least my source of nervousness/scared/amazed/grateful. If this didn't appear in my car Saturday I would have no idea what this red box is other than it has stole my ONE corner of the garage. It is a parts washer, short story the top lifts up and it cleans tools/parts. It has NEVER been used and my dads friend gave it to Colin because he already bought a bigger one. That is the largest of gifts Colin received this week but one of only many. My Grandma and Jerry brought Colin so many tools he is still grinning from ear to ear and our garage is about to burst, I had to move almost all of my tools in the house except my gardening items. Right now a shed is at the top of my NEED/WANT list, like I said no couch. :( At least I can store items under this silly washer. Colin also tried to bring the 4-wheeler parts in the house and take them in the basement to make room! It just makes me think of my Aunt Fleta and all the motorcycles she lives with because my Uncle John just keeps bringing them home.

Most of the items on Colin's want list got fulfilled this week. :) Good thing because he is getting a dress coat for Christmas from me, nothing fun this year. Walking into the garage is making me nervous, we have never owned half this much stuff and having so much is making me edgy about the future and moving. Hopefully it wears off a bit, right now I feel like spring cleaning. Thank you to everyone that has been so generous to my husband! Hope you have a wonderful week!

This Tuesday is Really a Monday

So my short vacation went well. It was after we got back it crashed. As in really crashed! Monday My 18 month old almost $800 laptop warned me my internal battery was bad. No biggie it is almost always plugged in. Then it wont turn on. :( Colin says it might have erased my hard drive, so I flipped out. His tech friend calmed me down and said I should just need to get a new battery, at this point I think it is just the battery.

So today (Tuesday) I take it into the geek squad....apparently it is also my charger in addition to the port the charger goes into. Great! Just what I wanted to hear, he told me flat out it will cost more to fix than me buying a new one! So he suggested me buying a charger ($86 with tax), taking it home and backing up my files so I can figure out what I want to do. I have 30 days to return the charger, 30 days to figure this out because my port will go out and then I wont be able to use it as all, I will just have an expensive paperweight. So tomorrow I am taking it to my dads tech guy at work, he said he will see what he can do for some beer. My dad says he rebuilds computers so I can hope. I can definitely give him some beer, lots of it! Either way I am never buying the nicer model with more memory because if your computer wont turn on what good does it do you.

I have my old desktop (about 7 yrs old) and it has no issues other than none of our newer programs work on it because it's version of windows is too old. :( I can't even input my business files on it. Right now I am stressed and we have furnace people coming this week for estimates on a new furnace....poof there goes all our money! What an awful month!

I also have to add that the dog threw up on me when I got home from hearing this bad news! I can't wait for November! At least my ballot just showed up so at least I can vote!

I need a Backbone, I lost Mine :(

Disappointment in others is never good or healthy. We are all who we are. I just wish that I had been given the skills to speak my mind with those I love more than just keep my mouth shut. There have been many times I let people use and abuse me or walk all over me and I say nothing. All of us are guilty about that, we figure it's easier to say nothing than cause problems. But it's not, all it does is reinforce that behavior.

I am in turmoil due to others choices that effect myself and my family past, present, and future. I can't find the right words or enough backbone to say what needs to be said. It's a beautiful thing how complex humans are and a terrible thing as well. Please pray that I get the strength to turn an issue into a positive story and to speak up.

*Thank you to my mom for understanding as she has the same issue (she takes blame for my sisters and I having this problem) and for finally starting to speak up for herself and for us. I struggled with this as a kid because she never stood up for me and I stood up for myself too much, right now I miss that angry kid and want it to come out of hiding and voice "my" opinions.

I am jumping off my soapbox as I am not ready to leave and I still don't have my supplies to ship out some orders sitting on my worktable. That is not helping the turmoil going on in my head.

Enjoy your weekend, hopefully mine goes better than I think it is going to. Positive events happening: see both my sisters, shopping with my mom and them, seeing my best friend. Those should be enough to fix a black cloud overhead any day.

Clicking my Heels

I am headed to Kansas for a few days with my parents and one of my sisters/fiance. Unfortunately Colin has very few vacation days left and wants to save them for the holidays so he can't go. At least I didn't need to find a puppy sitter for the dogs as we can't board Gunther anymore. I wish he could come though.

So instead of getting thing done I am sitting here typing on this silly blog. I need to finish laundry, pack my bag, vacuum, pick up my ornament supplies, go pick up a rocking chair for my cousins wedding gift....I know I have other things that I can't remember. :( I also am waiting for supplies for purity bracelets, they are LATE and I need them before I head out the door tomorrow afternoon. I hope they show up earlier today, that would make me breath much easier.

Either way I am psyched to see my best friend. :) I haven't seen her since last October for her wedding and reception. We are celebrating again! She got cancer when we were in college and has not gotten a clean cell count in over 6 years. Last week she finally did, so we are celebrating just the two of us. :) She also needs a pick me up as she has about a 15% chance of having kids and her sister just found out she is pregnant. Its killing her and she needs real life hugs. Every time someone asks her why she doesn't have kids its like they punched her in the stomach. I am so glad I have the opportunity to let her cry not on the phone. I wish people thought about the potential pain they cause people that can't have kids when they ask them that loaded question. All I can say is cheers for friends when you need them!

Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!

Look a-like Curtains

Today has been a long day....I finished my curtains in the dining room and office/den and Colin hung my recycled curtain rods (free from my grandma, I just painted them). Thanks Grandma!


I loved some curtains at Ethan Allen that I saw window shopping with my sister. They were $79 per panel! So I bought some at Walmart and added some ribbon to make them look similar, that cost $9.50 per panel total. Much better and exactly what I wanted. :)

(Inspiration photo, it has ribbon on the bottom as well)

Cross one item off my want list! :) Lots of other work was completed at our house, this was just the project that the finished project is better. Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Kerrie=Ornament Maker

No photos today folks. :( Currently I am working on ornaments, I am sold out of all the popular colors at the moment. I love selling things but being sold out shortly before Christmas is freaking me out. So from now on I am making ornaments at night while watching TV. I need to make a lot!

I really would like to have three times the amount of ornaments than normal because my mom was asked to participate in the Christmas tour in my home town. We decided that her Christmas tree shall be all my ornaments with a sign that they are for sale. She has a HUGE tree so I better get to work.

In other news I am also sold out of purity bracelets at the moment! It has been a good last few weeks but running out of items also means that I had to make a supply order that really hurt my pocketbook. At least I payed my order and payed myself this month, after new licenses etc. and moving again I am glad to be out of the red. THANK YOU TO ALL THAT SUPPORT ME! I love you!!!!

Wish Wish Wish

So I am slacking....I couldn't sleep so I worked until 2 am this morning. Right now I don't think my brain is at full capacity to deal with numbers (taxes). So I am on here dreaming of things I would like, it's a long list.

-New furnace, since ours is not long for this world.
-Shed for back yard so my husband is happier with the size of his garage.
-New fridge that doesn't have a crack in it. Preferably one with a freezer drawer.
-Gas Stove
-Microwave over the stove so I have more counter space.
-One larger cooking pot for the kitchen, I only have one and I always need another one (mine is too big).
-New jeans from the gap, how about an entire shopping spree while I'm at it.
-A folding stool with three steps, my old wooden ladder is not safe.
-A shelf hung in my studio to store supplies....I already have the shelf and brackets though. :)
-Curtains in the dining room so it doesn't echo.
-Rugs for the dining room/den/entry from Ballard Designs.
-Bedding for my studio/craft room.

and the biggest wish is a new couch and love seat for the family room.

Figures after I finish the kitchen cabinets this is what my brain does. Unfortunately all of my wishes are pretty large. :( We have to have dreams though!

I have lots more wishes but these are the ones on the front page of my brain at the moment. Check out Handmade Obsessions for some new items before they dissapear, the new items don't last long so it looks like I am not adding any. Catch twenty two! :)

*I am updating my wish list when I have actually gotten the items, by changing them into italics.

Messy is Me

I thought I would give a quick update on life at the Ratliff house. It is a HUGE mess! One week of painting the entire kitchen does that. We had unexpected guests Tuesday that I still haven't cleaned up from, I haven't vacuumed or dusted on top of the kitchen mess in a week.So today I am still painting and have done 5 loads of laundry. Sigh, I should never listen to the ideas in my head. Right now all I want to do is start a fire in the fireplace and read some of the new books my sister gave me. Reading sounds MUCH better than painting.

It is drizzling at the moment which makes me happy since its helping my grass seed grow. That and it seconds me wanting to have a fire. We can burn every night if we want to until the 31st of this month and then we have restrictions due to pollution and the mountains. Having a fireplace so far is everything I hoped it would be. I love fires at night!

My goal after I get off my computer is to get the rest of the cabinet doors put back up and the kitchen clean so I can make a real dinner. I am tired of leftovers and pizza. Then I am going to read a book and enjoy the fireplace. :)

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Kitchen Cabinet Update

Thought I would say hello while I am waiting for my paint to dry....:) I bought a paint sprayer, as of right now it is tied with my electric staple gun for favorite tool. I am loving it!I decided if I didn't start now painting the kitchen I would never get around to it. Spur of the moment ideas might not be that great of an idea. Anyways I primed the crappy laminate sides of the cupboards and am painting them with my roller but the worn oak drawers and cabinets are getting treated to my sprayer! :)

I only have room to work on about 1/4 of the kitchen at a time so right now I have one door and and 5 drawers in my makeshift paint booth. Tomorrow I will do more doors, they take longer though since the front and backs need done. What a mess! My goal is to be done with at least one side of the kitchen by Friday. I am not sure I can get away with the kitchen being this messy much longer than that.

Next week I may tackle adding the crown molding around the top that I wanted to add. :) Hope you are having a productive week as well!

Blah

I haven't been writing on here because I haven't taken any photos lately. Blog posts without photos are not much fun. I have not been very productive this week is all I can say.

-I met with my accountant to straighten out my filing issues, everything is much clearer and makes me breath easier. :)

-I bought some fake pumpkins and carved a cool ghost into one. I most likely will still buy a few real ones but the fake ones wont rot on the front porch. Besides that I wont have wasted 30-45minutes carving my difficult design.

-Did a mountain of laundry, all folded but it has been sitting on the dryer not put away.....why is that always the hardest part?

-Painted the damaged metal fireplace surround. I ran out of paint though so it's a work in progress. Note to self, get another can of high heat paint at Home Depot.

Honestly other than keeping the kitchen clean I don't feel like I have done much at all. My goal today is finish laundry, wash all sheets (we had guests), clean bathrooms, dust, mop kitchen, and vacuum. Not a bad list at all but since I don't feel motivated it might take all day.

I will share photos of the fireplace and my pumpkins as soon as I get the camera charged up. My dad is coming this weekend to help Colin put in some motion sensor lights outside and a light fixture in our guest bedroom. On top of that he is bringing us a newer stove which at least should work consistently unlike my current one.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kentucky Coffee Tree...a stick in the yard

We are on our way to Kansas, oh I wish I had some sparkly red shoes....no worries the drive is only 5 1/2 hours not over 20! Yeah to living close to our families!

I thought I would share a photo of our new Kentucky Coffee tree that we planted last Sunday. Thankfully it has rained twice this week and the weather has been cooler. Hopefully it will have enough water the next few days. In the next few weeks I think the poor thing is going to look like we stuck a stick in the front yard, the posts to keep it straight are bigger around than it is. At least we planted ours, my mom still has hers in the container we bought them in.

I know you can't see that the yard is recovering from neglect but it is. :) Colin and I fertilized the yard and he trimmed up the butterfly bushes. Next spring I plan on transplanting the bushes to the backyard and planting some drought tolerant plants up front as well as adding some seed for the dead areas of the lawn. The very best thing we have done though was remove the dead bushes by the front porch. We are getting there slowly, I see the appeal of buying a new house where you don't have to clean up the yard mess of the past owners. I am still working on getting rid of all the rock in the front flower beds before spring...I would like to do the same with the back but there is only one of me. Colin is not interested in the yard other than the tree, that is really the only thing he has been set on since we bought the house. I may have to load the truck up with rock this coming week and take it to my Aunt Cindy's so one flower bed will be ready.

Tuesday I have an appointment with my accountant to make sure my business files are all correct to file this quarter. They also specialize in my accounting software so I can get some guidance. :) I am so glad life is coming together and is good.

Enjoy your weekend and those around you!

Waiting

I am just waiting....my list of things to do is complete. :)

-Set show set up.
-Get food/drinks, they are all ready in the fridge.
-Mow lawn, this almost didn't happen because it rained last night.
-Vacuum entire house, including the stupid black casino carpet in the basement/bar. (Not dog hair friendly!)
-Kick Colin and the dogs out.
-Mop the house after the boys left.

I finished too early so now I am sitting around waiting and it is not going well, two of my RSVP's have called (sounding terrible) because they are sick. Not good for them and not good for me. :( I really hope they get better quickly because being sick is no fun.

It is weird that the house is so quiet with just me home, between the two dogs and Colin it is never this quiet on a Saturday. It is rather relaxing and wonderful. Enjoy your Weekend!

Tomorrow's Show :)

I just wanted to share a few photos since my show is all set up and ready for tomorrow. Well minus the delicious snacks. I already have to break open another bag of peanut m&m's because my Mamo ate them all while she was helping me set up.

Ornament Trees with small and medium ornaments for sale.

The sale table set up in the next room, all of these have been marked down A LOT. I hope they find nice homes tomorrow. :)

Table against the back wall, it has a variety of new different pieces.

Main table in the middle of the room, its hard to see but there is a button bracelet tree in the middle.

View from the front door, notice I FINALLY finished side chair #2. Between those chairs are my $5 items which I save exclusively for shows.

I can't wait :) And I should be hosting another party soon as a friend that can't make it would like to host one at her house in Castle Rock. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!