Stinky Sweater Story

I am wearing my favorite lemon-green sweater. Craig keeps telling me I need to throw it away and here's why:

It's a few months ago and I am wearing my favorite pink-striped pj bottoms, t-shirt and green sweater. For some reason I decide that I need something in the cupboard above my fridge, so I rearrange some items, including this pot of used frying oil that is sitting on top of the fridge. Why is it there you ask? Because Craig likes to make home-made french fries and then he leaves the oil in the pot for FOREVER. I got tired of it and moved it to its present location.

So, I retrieve my wanted item, but not before moving the Fry Daddy to the very front of the fridge area and forget to move it back to the back where it was. Then I think I need something in the freezer, so I open the door, and lo and behold, the entire pot of used, nasty, stinky vat of oil comes raining down on my head. I scream. Oil is everywhere! I am drenched in it, it is sooo gross!

My first thought is about my new hardwood floors, and so I get a few thousand towels and start soaking up the grease. When that chore is done, I must mop, so I go searching for the mop. Well, Craig had removed the mop head and I can't find it, so I find the old mop, it is gangly to be sure. I decide that a quick way to get the mop head wet, is to reach over the bar with it, and then I can turn on the sink without having to walk over the smeared oily floor, great plan? NO!

Instead, the mop knocks my glass fruit off of the bar which then smashes down onto said hardwood floor and 2 of them break into a million pieces. So now I am covered in oil, barefoot, and have shards of glass all over my living room. Needless to say, I am not a happy mama.

Well, I finally get both messes cleaned up, got myself cleaned up, and get the clothes in the washer. But, does the smell come out? NO! Let me tell you that used french fry cooking oil is so stinky, it will cling to every fiber of your favorite sweater and refuse to come out. I have since washed the sweater like umpteen thousand times, and it still reeks.

I read online that if you freeze stinky items and wash them, that the bad smells will go away, NOT TRUE! I froze my sweater two different times for days at a time, and still they reek! Actually the smell has improved, but not enough for Craig's olfactory senses, he kicks me out of bed if I have the sweater on and I wear my sweater all the time. Maybe that is why he got me a new sweater for Christmas?

Snow Wonder

I was raised in a snow state, yet I do not enjoy the snow. I am not a skier, having only gone 3 times ever, I don't like sledding, I don't love driving in blizzards, on black ice, on frozen slush, you name it. I also do not like to be cold.  I remember as a kid walking to school atop 4 foot snowdrifts, and it would be so cold that the snot in our noses would freeze. I even learned how to drive a stick-shift on hard packed ice with snow on top. But alas, I have no plans to move to Florida or anything like that. I adore N. GA. I think I have adopted the Southerners mentality when it comes to snow and ice; I stay home.

Around midnight on January 9/10th, it started snowing.  At 11pm there was nothing and an hour later, the snow was coming down like crazy. North GA received 8 inches just like that. Now the South is not equipped to handle snowstorms like this, as we usually only get one snow a year, mainly in Feb. and it melts before the day is thru. Outside it looks like the winters of my youth. My kids are loving it though; can't get enough of it. I just wish we had a real snow shovel and that the kids had a proper sled.

My house is the cape cod at the top of the blog. I love my house. Stay tuned for reno pics. We have redone the house from top to bottom. This is mine and Craig's first home together. We bought it in Feb. 2004. We also purchased a home in Alabaster, AL in 2007 and lived there for 3.5 years until we sold it and moved back to N. GA. It was twice the size and twice the price, but this house has my heart. (See previous posts-Downsizing and Sleeping Beauties.)

Redneck Solution

These are pics of our french doors in the dining room. 2 weeks ago Craig removed them to put in a new set of doors that he found at Lowe's. The doors were special ordered but never picked up, so we bought them for a deal. Unfortunately, they did not fit our space properly, so Craig hastily put back the old ones sans moulding, insulation, and rubber seals. Then the storm came; we had snow coming in thru the cracks and it was miserably cold to sit anywhere near them, so my hubby came up with the idea to nail up a tarp on the outside of the doors. It may look rednecky, but it definitely helps keep us warmer. Craig did order new doors and hopefully they will arrive soon.

CHIPS

I just love this picture of the boys. We were in Naples, FL in August visiting Craig's mom. The kids were having a ball. Grammie gave them some chips for a snack and then they both ran out to the water to enjoy them. I couldn't resist snapping their photo. This pic is my wallpaper on my computer.

'Tired' of Sleeping on the Floor

Here are pics of the furniture Craig and I ordered for our bedroom from our favorite furniture store of all-time, Alabama Furniture Market in Calera, AL. They have the most beautiful furniture at the most amazing prices. Our house is a Cape Cod, so this furniture does it complete justice. We are doing all of our new furniture in either bisque or black. We also purchased a new dining room table and 6 chairs and a hutch/sideboard for the dining room last summer that are also in the cottage theme. The company that produces the bedroom furniture is Liberty and the style is called Ocean Isle. It should all be here by Feb. I can't wait!

Good High

I finally started back to Curves on Monday the 3rd and I was able to work out yesterday as well. The owner took my measurements but the only information I got was my weight which was an astounding 176. Not pleasant, but not unexpected either. The only thing I am sure about is that that number will go down, it must!

It felt really great getting back into the swing of exercising. I am motivated to do more exercise throughout the day. I am thinking about training to run a 5K. Everyone I know runs in some kind of race or other, and I think I would like to try it myself. First, I need a good pair of running shoes.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's! We shot off fireworks last night with some friends. Peyton slept thru the whole show.

We enjoyed a white Christmas. Sunday we had snowball fights with the neighbors.

The Bain of a Woman's Existence

I am very sorry to say that after working so hard from Sep., 08 to Mar, 09, in which I lost a total of 21 lbs, I ended up gaining it all back plus a bonus 10 lbs to boot. For some reason, after all my hard work, I just quit doing everything right and started doing it all wrong, hence the re-weight gain. However, this Christmas my beloved has purchased for me a new year's membership at Curves and I absolutely can not wait to use it. This time I intend to lose the weight for good and then keep it off. Nothing felt so good as it did when I hit my lowest weight last year. I could wear anything and look good doing it.

Now I am relegated to wearing only exercise pants with stretchy waists and only one pair of jeans that I own fit me. After I gained the weight back, I was forced to run to Wal-Mart and buy stretchy jeans. STRETCHY JEANS! If I have a choice, this type of pants are not on my list of must-haves. Of the three I purchased, one stunk to high heavens. I think it is the dye they use on it, they are black, and it makes them smell like petroleum. Washing them numerous times has not helped either. But, alas, they do not fit me anymore either. Of the other two pair, just one fits me, but barely. I guess the good part about this is that each pair of jeans was only 5 bucks, so beggars can't be choosers.

Now that I am blogging, I intend to hold myself accountable, whether anyone else reads this or not, I plan to write my progress here on my blog. When I start I will post my measurements and from time to time I will check in about how the weight loss is going. Wish me luck!

Cookies

Every Christmas I bake my special chocolate chip cookie recipe for Craig. They are so yummy! I made 16 dozen this year. Anybody want some?

Sentimental Value



 This is a picture of my dresser. I have had this dresser since I was a kid. My parents bought it and one more for my older sister at a thrift store in Utah. The dressers came from a hotel in Las Vegas that was remodeling. They had been spray painted orange and a mustard yellow veneer was placed on top. As kids, Genise and I used to put stickers all over our dressers, Million dollar man, Bionic Man, Wonder Woman, etc. Back in 1999 I decided to strip mine down and refurbish it back to original. I started in my dad's garage and got some done. Then I moved to West Jordan and didn't have access to a sander for a long time. When I sold my house in 2002 to move to GA; I was moving out and had furniture on the lawn in preparation to load it into a truck. The agent who sold my home was there and she came over and offered me $100 bucks for my half -sanded orange dresser. Needless to say, I declined her offer. After all, this was MY childhood dresser and had too much sentimental value to ever sell it. Well, fast forward 4 years.

There is a stamp branded on the inside one of the drawers that says Heywood-Wakefield on it. Curiosity finally got the best of me and I googled it. Low and behold the dresser was worth about $1800 if refinished back to original. The dresser was made between the years of 1949 and 1951. It even has a name: Kohinoor Mr. and Mrs.dresser. It is an all wood piece made of Birch. It is mid-century modern and very retro. No wonder I have always loved it. There is also an entire bedroom suite that matches it perfectly.

My beloved dresser had been relegated to the basement and garage by Craig, imagine that? It's also been moved around a lot! I finally got sick and tired of not being able to use it. I had sanded a lot more of it down when we lived in Alabama, but not completely. So last month I pulled out the sander and got all the rest of the spray paint off. Then my hubby sealed it for me and my kids are able to use it in their bedroom. I am so pleased with the results. Now, I can't say what the monetary value of my personal dresser is now, but I think of it as a MasterCard commercial; PRICELESS.

Reupholstery

I am so excited. I bought a chair at a thrift shore in Ogden, UT 13 years ago for about 25$. It looked like a chair that was made in the 30s or 40s. It had good bones, and a bad upholstery job. The orange flowery retro look just didn't do it for me. Well, finally I was able to get it reupholstered by a friend in Alabama. I had her come look at it back in April 2009, finally dropped it off at her house in May 2010, she finished it a few months later and I was able to pick it up last week. I love it!

The chair was at one time my only piece of living room furniture. It has followed me around Utah and then to GA, AL, and back to GA again. It is so comfortable. Unfortunately, Craig thought it too ugly when it was orange and banished it to the basement. I just found out that his friend Ray wanted it last year for his friend's ugly chair contest at one time. I told him it would have been a 'no go.'

My grandmother had taken an old ladder back chair and removed the back part of it. She then took the seat part and upholstered it herself to make an ottoman for a Queen Anne chair that she also reupholstered. She gave me the ottoman, so I also had it upholstered to match the chair. You would never know that they weren't a match from the beginning. The material I chose is a brown denim/jean material and I think it suites. Now I need to find a small rectangular blue pillow to go across the back and it will be perfect. I will put it in my bedroom as a reading chair.

Downsizing

                         


Wow, I started this blog in April and fully expected to keep it up, however, in early May we sold our home in Alabaster, AL and moved into our 31' class C RV. We placed the RV in a park in Pelham, AL. Downsizing from a 24oo sq. ft. home to a 240 sq. ft. motor home turned out to be quite an adjustment. The motor home, which was excellent for 3 day vacations, turned out to be inconvenient for permanent living. So, about 2 weeks after moving in, we started looking for something bigger, since we anticipated living in it until the end of July. Finally on June 26th, we brought home our new 39' Jayco Eagle 5th wheel. The difference between the two has been like night and day. I love my new little home. It is so cute, tastefully decorated, and roomy!

On July 2nd, we took the next step in our journey and moved to an RV park in Cumming, GA. We took back possession of our former home which is about 14 miles north. The house was in disarray and so began a solid week of 14 hours days pulling up carpet, linoleum, carpet tack strips, staples, and wood flooring strips, one at a time. We've had to replace all of the doorknobs, the doorstops, a door, and had painters repaint the entire house. After we get the carpet and the hardwood flooring laid then we need to buy all new vents, toilet paper holders, towel racks. Every light bulb has been replaced, I've been dusting and cleaning everything I see. What an undertaking. The best thing about remodeling a house is that I get to put in everything that I always wanted. I wish I could afford to replace all the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms, but that will come later, for now we are thinking about painting them. We do need to replace the french doors and we want a prettier front door. The painters did a fabulous job and I got to pick my colors.

The house originally had silver, gold, and bronze fixtures, so we are making everything match to bronze, so that means we need new sink fixtures too. Craig tiled my laundry room and will tile the 3 bathrooms. He bought me a new washer/dryer set. When we sold our house in AL, we sold most of our furniture. That means we have to spend money, but I also get to buy new things that I really want. My favorite furniture store is AL Furniture Market in Calera, AL, so whenever we go back for Craig's job, I want to go furniture shopping.

Now I am focusing on weeds. The two flower beds are awash with them. When that gets done, we will purchase new mulch and plant new flowers. Craig has started power washing the house, the garage, the driveway, the front and back porches. The house is really starting to come together. Although we lived there for 3 years previously, the house has become as if brand new.

We need to get our furniture out of 4 storage units back in AL. Then my parents are coming for Peyton's 3rd birthday, the 24th.

Shopping Nightmare

I have the hardest time understanding why, whenver I take the boys somewhere in public, that they decide to act like crazy people. I truly adore my children, but sometimes I wish I could replace them with little robot look-a-likes that would behave when we get around new people. Chase informed me that that was not going to happen (the robot part) at least.

Sleeping Beauties

Well, here I am after reading the blogs of friends, finally deciding to blog myself. It is late and the boys are both asleep on the new couch. We bought a new couch thinking it would help the house sell, because the old ones didn't match the style of the house. The day we brought it home was the day we got a call from the realtor who brought us an offer a few days later. We have been under contract since Easter day and will close in 2 weeks. The stress of packing, storing, and living in a house that looks like it belongs on hoarders is a lot to handle.

Can you believe we will be living in our RV? It is only 31 feet long and has one slide-out in the living room. It is great for camping, but for living in full time, I can only imagine what it will be like. I wish I could redecorate it. The theme of the day (back in 01) seemed to be BLUE BLUE and more BLUE. Now blue is my favorite color, but the blue they chose is tacky and over the top. However, beggers can't be choosers when the RV only cost 30 grand and only costs 250$ a month to make excellent vacation and traveling (with Daddy while he works) memories.

My family took a 5 week vacation every year when we were kids. I enjoyed it so much that I long for my kids to have similar experiences. When I was 5, I skipped a birthday party I had been invited to just so I could go with my dad to pick out our new motorhome, a very old school bus he later jokingly called the ODGE because the D had fallen off. I remember it had bench seats everywhere that were no longer affixed to the floor. My dad kept the best 4 to use as seating at our dinette and also as living room furniture. He put in a port-a-potty, crafted a chest of 6 drawers, cupboards, put up walls, and bought 3 sets of springy bunk beds from an Army surplus store. The beds were the greatest, every time my dad drove over a bump, the kids lying on the back would fly up to our delight and amusement. My dad used to get all of our friends and cousins and spend hours drivng around our hometown in search of bumps (which wasn't hard if you have any idea what Utah roads are like). We suffered many scrapes and bruises when we hit the ceiling or the above bunk beds but who cared, we were having a ball.

The ODGE was that horrible school bus yellow. I used to spend hours trying to peel off the paint, in hopes that if I peeled enough off, then my dad would finally get it painted the color that RV's were supposed to be. If you entered the bus, and stood in the enter aisle facing the windshield and then lookd up toward the ceiling you would see permanant footprints. My sisters and I used to hold on to the two posts up the front of the bus, put our feet on the door opener, walk up the windshield and across the ceiling right before we would flip over and land back where we started. My favorite memories are of sitting next to my dad on the entrance steps and watching the world go by as my dad and I would shoot the breeze. I remember many a morning waking up and my dad would have already been on the road for hours. He used to get up while his 5 'girl-illas' were asleep and just drive. My dad earned the nickname "Iron Bladder Bill" because he hated to stop to let 5 women go pee, which seemed to be quite often. Now we did have the port-a-potty, but you know those things only hold so much and then they don't smell so fresh.