Eight Plus Some Stain

Eight more pieces of wood and some stain and OUR deck is completed. OMG it looks absolutely amazing!! I love it!! The BF did an amazing job designing and building this beautiful deck. I'm already envisioning some chairs, me tanning in the 100 degree weather reading my book while the BF and Boy swim.

Ahhhhhhh Summer. I can't wait to put in grass next!

It's like our own personal brand of Heroin!

It's addicting like a drug! We can't stay away from it, even late at night we find ourselves being drawn to it. I swear I hear it calling my name.

Screw rehab, two days come and gone and we are HOOKED!

No turning back now!

Lindsey Lohan eat your heart out. I know you're feigning too!

What the heck were we waiting for these past 2 years? You have to try it! You know you want to, everyone is doing it!

The Boy leaves for Disneyland tomorrow with his Dad.

HEY, I'm sad, kinda. BUT......Do you KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS? I GET THE POOL TO MYSELF.

DROOLING just thinking about it!

Total relaxation!

The best part! No more squealing screeches. Sometimes I really think The Boy is a girl. No more water being splashed in my face. NO MORE little hands swatting at my rings! I have to get more then 5 points at the water ring toss game.

On a side note, The Boy's taking my Sony Webbie Digital Camera/Video Camera to Disneyland. I can't wait to see all the pictures and videos he takes. I'm just hoping it's not a bunch of pictures of toilet seats, rocks and garbage cans. Yeah I have, THAT KID!

If you're looking for me, I'll be here............

Relaxing in this......


While playing with this....

While floating on this..........

Because it's all about this.......

Slowly Coming Along!

Check out these updated pictures on the deck. It's going slowly but surely. The BF is doing a wonderful job.

There will be two sets of stairs. A longer set will go to the left of the stairs that you see here in the picture. You can kinda see the cut out behind our refurbished gazebo, where the 2nd set will go.

I love how there is deck space to the left and right of the stairs. It's going to look so good!! NO MORE WEEDS!!! Well for half the backyard! The big empty square in the back left is where the pool is going to go!! Whoot Whoot!!

As you can see there still is a lot of backyard to landscape. In due time, In due time!

I'm hoping to put some grass in this open area eventually. I'm not sure what we are going to do about the hill though. Maybe extend the deck up? Who knows.

Moving Right Along

Movin' right along in search of good times and good news,
With good friends you can't lose,
This could become a habit!
Opportunity knocks once let's reach out and grab it (yeah!),
Together we'll nab it,
We'll hitchhike, bus or yellow cab it!
(Cab it?)

Movin' right along.
Footloose and fancy-free.
Getting there is half the fun; come share it with me.
Moving right along (doog-a-doon doog-a-doon).
We'll learn to share the load.
We don't need a map to keep this show on the road.

Yeah no, this isn't a remake of the Muppets Movie, though I kinda wouldn't mind seeing it again. Then again you are talking to a girl who's BF bought her the entire FRAGILE ROCK DVD Box set.

So the deck is coming along, here are some pictures of the progress The BF made on the deck in the short 1 hour of sunlight he had left after we got home from work.

This new outer box are you see will become the actual deck that will surround the pool. Hopefully we will have the pool up by Saturday.

Tonight's Zumba, I haven't been to the gym since Saturday. I think I might take both Zumba classes tonight to make up for lost days. Wish me luck!

Visions of Sugar Plums, all in my head....

Well kinda, sorta. This weekend was crazy, and I'm wicked tired this morning. We OFFICIALLY HAVE A 5th GRADER IN THE HOUSE. Whoot Whoot.

With the temperature getting hotter with each day, we are hard at work in getting the backyard ready for the pool.

Finally soon, there will be no more jungle where cats give birth to their kittens and BF's think they are being attacked by Possums only to be kittens. Most importantly, no more staring at these tall overgrown weeds, that consume the precious grounds that is our backyard.

Soon, inside the square you see below will be our POOL!

The BF used a demo hammer to dig the holes for the posts of what soon will be our new deck.

He sweated his Ba**s off on Saturday mixing concrete, measuring and lining up the posts.

It took 9 60lb bags of cement for the 6 posts you see here. We have a ton more holes to dig and posts to put in place.

Hopefully the pool and deck will be completed bu JULY.

It's Getting Hot in HERRRRRE

Yup, that's Baby Boy resting in MY sink in our Master Bathroom. It's been in the 90's these past few days and I sure am loving it! Baby Boy has no idea what he is in store for (100 degrees plus, daily!) I feel so bad for him and his long, fluffy black fur! Poor little guy. At least the tile in the master bathroom is finished, which he loves to sprawl out on to keep cool.

The good news is we are starting to put the pool together! The BF has cleared an area in the backyard, sprayed the weed killer and purchased the wood we need to build the base of the deck. We will lay down black garden tarp stuff (forget what it's called) to keep the weeds from growing back, tonight or over the next few days. Then on Saturday we will have the sand delivered! Once the sand is down and flat we can then put up the pool.

I'm not waiting for the deck to be built to go swimming, NO WAY! Priorities, I need to sunbathe here! I'll lay a tarp down to walk from the patio to the pool until it's built. Yeah you need to walk on something to avoid getting stickers and stuff in your feet. Have you seen our backyard? It's a jungle!

I'm going to take some photos of the cleared area and the wood tonight. FUN!!

BTW:

I joined the gym for the summer, and I DON'T recommend ANYONE taking a SPIN class if they haven't ridden a bike in awhile. MY BUTT bones hurt so bad still, I can barely sit and it's been 3 days! Not to mention the R.I.P.P.E.D class I took the night before spin, has my whole body aching. Despite it all, Zumba tonight at 8:15! Can't Wait!

Breakfast anyone?

This is what we woke up to Saturday morning on our front porch. Poor little bird eggs.

Seriously though, they won't be missed. I have to admit I am glad that it is gone because the mess that has been left behind the past few days from the building of the nest has been insane.

Not to mention I had to scrub and scrub the egg mess off the ground because it had dried over night and stained our front porch. The Mama bird is a cutie, but I can't have her building a nest in the overhang of my front door.

Imagine you're ringing my door bell and you feel a plop on the top of your head. You touch your head with your hand only to feel something nasty and wet.

It's bird poop, well hello to you too.

Bathroom 2 Remodel - Complete

Almost, I still have to hang my art work. I couldn't wait to share though. I'm GREEN with envy!! I wish my cell phone took better pictures as these do not do it any kind of justice!

I'm loving the green! At first it was overwhelming, but once all the accessories were added it's perfect!

My favorite feature are the cute shower curtain hooks. Aren't they perfect! They match everything perfectly!

See, even the litter box matches. You know the cats are so happy to have their second liter box back! So is The BF!

The dark chocolate towels really help to cut the green down a bit. I'm glad we went with the dark brown as opposed to another color.



My 2nd favorite feature is the rug. I think I'm going to buy one more to put in front of the sink. This bathroom is so large I think it needs a second one. I believe it was $19.99 for the rug. I know pricey but it was worth it! Doesn't the new tile look AHHHHMAZING? The tile blends with the green perfectly!



I have to leave the counter empty for the most part as the cats love hanging out in here and looking out the window. I move the fake plant against the wall because I really like it, even though the cats have partially destroyed it. I'm sure it will gone soon!




Another shot of the tile. I'm really loving it. Before I wasn't too found of it, however seeing it all layed out on the floor, I'm pretty pleased. Great job to The BF for picking the tile and cutting all the pieces to fit!!

Click here to see the before pictures and a close up of the accessories on the counter. I really should have taken these after pictures during the day in the natural light instead of last night. Oh well!! Maybe once I get the paintings up I'll take photos during the day and re-post. I'm just so excited to get these up after all The BF's hard work. He spent hours cutting tile, painting the bathroom several times to get the ceiling line perfect (Ceiling is white) and all the cocking he did to get the baseboards back on.



Even Mama LOVES IT!!

TWO DOWN, ONE MORE BATHROOM TO GO! Oh and then we start the Kitchen!

I POPPED my Podginity!!!!

Finally after months and months of talking about Modge Podge, I actually created a craft to where I needed to use. I love the stuff and am addicted to it like a Dope Feign is to crack. I want to Modge Podge EVERYTHING. This is the coolest stuff EVER!!

We are still in the process of painting The Boy's bathroom. It has been primed and the first coat has been put on the walls. I really couldn't find any art to which I liked to place in his bathroom, so I decided to get a little creative, with the help of JESSICA OVER AT OH SO HAPPY TOGETHER and her textured wall art. Yes you've probably seen the link at the top of my blog.

While I was pulling out my paints, I found some wooden plaques to which I was saving to make chalkboards. I instantly was inspired by a painting in my house and thought hmmmm, I can make that.

It's funny how with a few items such as those shown above, and a really cheap budget, $1.20 for the wood board, the paint was $.38 cents each and the tape we had left over from painting. You can create such divine art such as:


Um YES I MADE THOSE! All three of them. My favorite is the squares. The BF's favorite is the lines. I like the circles, I just think it's missing something. These were super easy to paint. I Modge Podged them once they were fully dry. They were very dull looking and looked unfinished before the Modge Podge. I'm telling you this stuff is amazing.



Oh YEAH! A perfect match.

After I had made the three paintings above I just wanted to make more. So I went to Michaels and bought 3 canvas's for $5.99 and some modeling paste. I was ready to re-create Jessica's Textured art.

Once you have the modeling paste spread out all over your canvas (I used a steak knife) you want to let it dry completely. I love this stuff as much as I love the Modge Podge. This was super easy and I'm going to make another one for the downstairs bathroom we've already re-modeled.

Once it is dry, I just squirted the paint colors (Same exact ones I used in the paintings) all over the board. I then used a paintbrush to spread the paint around.

Isn't it beautiful? I love it!! Once the paint was completely dry, I Modge Podged this as well. It now has a beautiful glossy shine!

Here are all 4 pieces patiently awaiting to be hung in The Boy's bathroom. I will be using those new command strips to hang them on the walls. No more nails!!

Ahh Modge Podge.

Let me tell you a few things about it, that I wish I had known so long ago.

1) This stuff simple ROCKS.

2) Do NOT use a foam brush to apply this. The foam came off the brush and little black spots started to dry on my paintings. Apply with a paint brush.

3) This looks like glue, is sticky like glue and comes out white like glue. I thought I ruined my paintings.

4) Have no fear, it drys CLEAR!

This is a must have for any painting project. It's really cheap at Michael's, $5.99 and I had a 40% off coupon.

Sneak Peak

After one full day of tiling, The Boys are rockin and rollin, I want to share a sneak peak with you all. It's gettting done way faster than I had expected.

They plan to grout on Monday, which means Wed or Thursday we should be able to start painting. Hopefully by next Sunday it will be completed if not earlier.

Introducing the T-POW!!! Patent Pending

I know I have been in a crafting funk. I've also been really busy and have not had the time to craft even if I wanted to.

Until I saw THIS! Again for the 100th time.

IF YOU HAVE A SMALL CHILD OR A KITTEN, THEN YOU WILL NEED THIS!

IF YOU HAVE A BATHROOM WITH A TOILET, THEN YOU WILL WANT THIS!

Introducing the T-POW!

A custom designed decorative toilet paper protector. Do you see those decorative buttons? Oh yeah that's so the T-POW fits around the TP as the roll gets smaller and smaller. I kept these buttons plain because I didn't want to take aways from the fabric. The buttons could be a great way to "fancy" it up!


YOU KNOW YOU WANT ONE TOO! It looks so good in the new bathroom. I hope to make curtains with the same fabric. I LOVE the fabric. It matches perfectly!!


My neighbor Dori assisted me with the design. I almost used Velcro instead of making this pretty loop to go over the buttons.


I'm even going to make one for The Boy's bathroom. His buttons are green. Fancy! This picture hardly does the fabric or the buttons justice. It's the perfect color green.


The T-POW is super easy to make and doesn't take a lot of time. I'm making a Dallas Cowboy's one for my Co-Worker. I've already got orders placed. Would you use the T-POW?