Happy New Small Appliances!

As we head into the New Year, it's been out with the old, in with the new in my kitchen.  Thanks to a hefty load from Santa, my most used appliances have moved up into the 21st century.  And we close out 2011 and think of all the fond memories we will carry with us into 2012, I will do the same with my appliances.

George, your Foreman grill and I had some great years.  I can't even count the number of chicken breast that have sizzled on your plates.  But now I have the Cuisinart Griddler.  It opens up flat so you can cook on both plates.  It has removable plates for easier washing.  And it makes WAFFLES!  Sorry George, it's been fun.

Flowered Crock-Pot, you've been great.  When I went off to work, you stayed at home to cook soups and stews and roasts.  Nothing is better than coming home on a cold evening to a warm meal.  But you were a pain to clean and store leftovers.  Your new stainless cousin has a removable pot that can go in the dish washer, or can hold a lid and go right into the fridge.  Sorry to cause any tension in the Crock-Pot family but it's just time for me to move on.

Avocado Green Hand Mixer, boy could you tell stories.  I'm pretty sure you've been mixing since before I was born.  You probably mixed my birthday cakes growing up.  And I was honored when my mom passed you down to me.  But your cord won't stay in and it's really hard to mix, hold a bowl, and keep you plugged in all that the same time.  Not to mention, this new guy came with a WHISK!  I've never owned a whisk.  So thanks for all your hard work over the years, enjoy your retirement.  You earned it!

Old pots, we never really got along, did we?  I mean it was both of our fault.  You don't like to quick-release grease and grime, and I really don't care for hard to clean items.  Let's not even bring up the skillet I killed over Thanksgiving.  Sometimes things just aren't a match and you must move on.  These news guys promise to be non-stick!  And I promise to clean them properly.  See?  We're already off to a good start.

So with my goodbyes said, I look forward to cooking in the new year.  And cleaning, if I must.  Happy New Years everyone!  See you in 2012!

Remastering My Bedroom

This master bedroom has had me all over the map.  Everytime I get a duvet on my bed it just doesn't work out.  First we had the all white look that was just boring.

Next I tried the Moroccan duvet that ending up matching the guest room walls better than my grey walls.

The last few months I've been using this great Missoni for Target duvet cover.  I love all the colors but haven't for the life of me figured out have to pull the colors I want out and decorate the rest of the room.

I think the small print against the dark headboard was pulling out too much brown and I just didn't want to go that direction.  I have decided to move this fabric to my office (possibly repurposing the duvet as a chair cover and/or pillows).  It will look nice with the wood floors.  This brings us to the latest incarnation of my Master Bedroom.

I love it!  It's simple, clean, and has patterns and it can basically work as a blank slate along with the grey walls to allow the pops of fun colors I've been wanting to add.  Thanks to West Elm's Pre and Post Christmas sales I was able to get the duvet and two shams for a bargain.  The grey sheets I've had matched perfect.

So after 4 different looks I think I finally found my winner!  Actually, I feel all my duvets were winners, it was just a matter of finding where they were best suited to live. 

Officially a Homeowner

Now I know that I've been in the house for over six months, but thanks to a Christmas gift from my dad, I officially feel like a homeowner.

Yes, I have a rain gauge.  I can now put a numeric value on the showers and storms that pass overhead.  This makes me happy.  It will help me gauge how much water my lawn and flowers got and allow me to join into office water cooler chat the following day.  I'm pretty excited for it to rain now!


"We got 3 inches last night at my place.  It was a doozy!"

At my dad's suggestion I've hung it on the fence across from my bedroom window.  The thought being I can just peek out my window and see it!  Not sure if I'll actually be able to see that far but I can't wait to try it out.

Hard to see but it's right below my neighbor's red chair in this picture

Maybe I should put food coloring in it so the rain turns purple!  Or maybe I'll paint the slat of wood it's hanging on to give it some contrast.  Some many options.

Animal Cruelty, Pt.2

Pablo is super excited about his brand new Christmas sweater.  So excited that he refused to leave his bed as we ate Christmas dinner.  It was the first quiet family dinner we've shared in a while.  No begging chihuahua nipping at our ankles.

Hope your holiday was just as exciting!

Merry Christmas

My motley crew and I are working hard to close up shop for a long holiday weekend.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Sincerely,
Christmas Possum, Hula Santa, Mrs. Pez-Claus, Pooping Reindeer and Snowman, Ali Gator, Domo and Thea

Clowns are Creepy

In my earlier post about decorating the tree, I mentioned a creepy clown ornament that gets hung in the back of my Christmas tree every year.  You may wonder why I hang it at all.  Well, trees look better when they are decorated all the way around even if you can't see it.  So if you had to choose some filler ornaments to hang behind the tree, against the wall, wouldn't you choose your least favorite ones?  Here is my tree from the most popular viewing angle:

Notice that the back of my tree is facing my framed Chicago prints.  Let's move closer.

Look at the dead center of the above photo.  That menacing face is peering right back at you.  Creepy, right?  Let's move even closer.

Yikes!  Who came up with the idea to create this ornament in the first place?  Seriously.  Clowns do not belong on Christmas trees.  But because it was a gift, I hang this creepy guy year after year.  Granted I hang it out of sight, but trust me I always know it's there.

Sorry, couldn't resist one more close up.  To help clear this image from your mind, I will post a picture of the underside of my tree.  It's slowly filling with pretty presents!

Dining Room Decor Update

I have slowly been putting things into the dining room.  I started with a pretty blank slate so I've just been changing my mind alot about where I'm putting things.

I finally put the art up on the walls above the sideboard.  I hung up 5 pictures and then walked into the other part of the house to find my camera.  When I got back into the dining room...there were only 4 pictures hanging.  I completely thought I had lost my mind.  I looked all around for the fifth picture.  Seriously, I spent about 4 long minutes baffled.  Eventually I figured out that it had fallen off the wall and was hiding behind the sideboard.  Sometimes I'm slow.  Anyway, the saw tooth hanger came off the back of the frame.  Until I fix it, it will have to just remain sitting propped against the wall.  I realize it's not very symmetrical looking right now, but I swear I will eventually fix it.

Along with the two stencil pieces I painted, I hung Warhol's Yellow Cow and Butterfies and a self portrait of Renoir.  No real reason for the pictures other than I liked the colors and they were super cheap.  I think Mr. Renoir was $.99.  I've also added random objects to the sideboard, testing out colors and shapes.  I decided against hanging my big letters so for now they are just standing.

My giant hour glass brings in a little wild green to the room. This summer I ended up with a bunch of photo booth strips so I popped them in my favorite accessory...the mason jar!

A couple of my Missoni pieces are on the right side; the bowl currently holding some Christmas cards.  The blue and coral vase is something I have been lusting after since I saw it in a magazine back in May.  It's from Anthropologie and worth all $28 I paid.  The owl is actually a coin bank.  I figure there's no rule that you can't keep your coin bank in the dining room.

All in all it's finally beginning to get a little bit of personality in the room.  I've been looking at fabrics for the drapes and for recovering these chairs.  Here are some of the things I've been checking out.

I'm hoping to start on the furniture refinishing in the new year.  I want the sideboard black and the table and chairs a dark walnut.  It's going to be a tough job.  Feel free to volunteer to assist.  :)  Here's a mock up of the darker table I created using Sherwin Williams' Color Visualizer.

It's still hard to imagine since those olive drapes and mustard chair pads throw you off, but I think it's going to look great with the floors!

Sacrificial Pinky Project

I finally finished the project that was slightly derailed by my pinky injury.  The night of the great pinky slashing, I had been removing labels from bottles using a straight razor blade. 

I had seen a pin on Pinterest that showed various bottles all painted white serving as vases on a table setting.  I figured it would be a piece of cake to replicate.  And it was...barring the fact that I almost removed a digit in the process.  Once my labels were removed I simply primed and painted them with my good ol' friends at Rust-Oleum.

I love the way they look fake or like props.  So generic.  I also love the raised details on the bottom of each bottle.

I've got them just hanging out on the bar right now.  I can't wait to use them on the dining room table with actual flowers.  I may even try to collect a few more bottles. 

More Christmas Decor

It's the end of the year and that means tons of work!  No, not around the house.  Actual real work, the stuff that pays my mortgage.  While I slave away at my 9 to 5, I'll leave you with a few more random Christmas decor shots. 

 I'm really in to all the blue and white and silver holiday decor.  I'm hoping to pick a bunch more up after the holidays so that it becomes my theme for next Christmas.  Until then I grabbed some cheap ornaments and a glitter tree at Walmart.

 This was a free printable I found online.  It just happened to match my blue bar and an empty hot pink frame.

 The wreath on my front door.  Thanks to my glaringly bright LED Christmas lights it is nice and illuminated.

And how can it be Christmas without an Elvis Nutcracker?  May every mantle be blessed with something this awesome.

More Fun With Mason Jars

If I was handing out superlatives for most versitile item in my house for 2011, Mason Jars would win hands down.  So far I've used them to sort spare parts in my garage:

And as flower vases for Nikki's shower:

Now I've found a way to incorporate them into my Christmas decorations.  It all started with some faux-tealights (battery operated) that I found at Walmart.

I put them up in the front dining room window, next to my little light up tree.  This tree was snagged at The Christmas Tree Shops for only 12.99!  It is not to be confused with Pablo's dwarf tree.

The yellow bench has wandered in from the living room to give my little tree a boost for the next couple of weeks.  Now for some reason I didn't get a picture of the tree lit up with my mason jar lights, but I did get the mason jars lit up.

I think these lights will also be great for next Halloween as well!  I now have the ability to make 6 and it only cost $3 for the tealights.  Of course I had mason jars on hand but if you were to go buy a dozen it would only set you back about $8.00.  I think everyone should go grab some now.  Seriously.  Oh, and I have another mason jar project that I can't wait to try!  I saw it on my friend Stacey's Pinterest and I hope to get it done this week.  Gotta love mason jars.

Animal Cruelty

One of these days I'm going to come home from work and Pablo will have up and moved out, taking his bed and jar of treats with him.  But that's a risk I'm willing to take.  Today's brand of torture was for the sake of Christmas.  And really, would you have been able to pass this up for $4.99 at you local Target?

Pablo's no stranger to hats.  He is mortified by being dressed up but at least it ensures he will stand still for photos.  Here is his Little Lion Man look:

And of course, his Longhorn helmet signed by Earl Campbell:

Needless to say, he was not too pleased with my new purchase, but if you ask me it was totally worth it!

Just don't let him know it's actually a cat hat.  That would just be salt in the wound.

Pablo's Tree

I ordered a mini live Christmas tree from my cousin a month or so ago while at a family dinner.  Actually, I picked it out and then proceeded to make my dad pay for it since I didn't have cash or a checkbook on me.  Thanks, Dad!  I don't remember exactly what it looked like in the sales catalog but basically I was imagining a  3' rosemary tree or something.  This week it finally came in!

It is the cutest little tree I've ever seen.  It's maybe 1.5' tall and came with its own string of 20 bulbs.  It also came with the mini Nutcracker and a couple of tiny drum ornaments.  I've decided it is officially Pablo's tree this year. 

I think Pablo is pretty excited.  According to the instructions that came with my little dwarf pine tree, I should be able to plant him in my yard after the holidays (and freezes).  It's supposed to grow to 4-5 feet!  I'm pumped at the prospect of having my own real Christmas tree in my backyard.  That is, if I can keep it alive long enough to plant it. 

Feliz Navidad!