Blogger Hello

Hi All! Long time no see. I've been super lazy this entire summer, so I took a much needed blogger break. Especially from the house blog. Typical me started up the house blog with all the motivation in the world, and quickly got distracted by more enticing things. Those who know me well also know of my short attention span....

What was I talking about?!

Ah...anyways.... Ross & I have been busy this summer, catching up and having fun with family and friends. And when we do finally have free time, we get about 5 minutes of work done on the house :/ But here's the latest with us:

1. Ross' job is an unending drama that I could drag on and on about, but here's an extremely short version: Ross is getting laid off from his HR Generalist position (as of 8/26) at NHS since they are 'restructuring' (aka downsizing) their HR dept. So instead of claiming unemployment come September, he applied for a Recruiting position at NHS (a step down the ladder, but a raise in salary since they eliminated so many positions) and succeeded in getting that job.
So all in all, he can work that position while he continues his unending job hunt. Unless he actually enjoys the recruiting position, then he can just continue working that job. But he's done recruiting in the past, and feels so-so about it. He really loved the HR Generalist position, so I hate to see him give up his job search when I know there has to be something better out there. And I don't think too highly of NHS any longer b/c of the numerous ways in which they screwed their HR employees over. ANY company has to treat their employees better than what NHS has showed us.

2. My job is still so-so. Nothing new. Moving on....

3. We are slowly making progress on the house. Mainly only when we have a free weekend, which are few and far between. It's been a busy summer. Ross has been working on the yard (i.e. tearing out weeds and bushes...aka, making it look way worse before it will look better....say, next summer?!). I've been working on the 2nd bedroom. It originally had parquet flooring, that we wanted to rip out first before installing carpet. So I ripped it all out in 2-3 hours (and saved it for a possible re-use?!), and we're ready for carpet to be installed next week. Once that's in, I want to paint the room, fix some of the wall where paint is peeling, and decorate it a little. I want it to be a spare bedroom (not that I really expect guests any time soon!), but we'll bring in Ross' old bed that is currently living in Stephen & Betsy's spare bedroom. I have big plans for this room since I have no inspiration/ideas for our own master bedroom which is desperately lacking in organization and decorations.

4. Lastly, I've deciced Ross and I have WAY too much clutter (aka, the 2nd bedroom was ALL storage), so I'm cleaning house and making a pile for Goodwill. NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING will go back into the 2nd bedroom unless I've used it in the past year. Our entire house is extremely lacking in organization, so I'm slowly making progress on that!

5. Lastly, Ross & I are eagerly looking forward to camping on Labor Day weekend with friends! This is only our 2nd outing for camping this season, so we're looking forward to it. And also our week vaca in Virginia Beach with my family in September, another much needed break! So still a few things to look forward to, and before you know it, summer will be over....

So that's all we've been up to. I hope everyone's summers are going/went well. I guess I'll see you back in about, oh, 3 months, when I decide to update again :)

Out with the Red, In with the New

It's times like this that I wish I knew how to sew! I've been wanting to learn for years now, but have not made the time or space for a sewing machine. You see, my latest pet peeve is mine & Ross' red couch:

If only there were a way to cover the red nicely! Sure, I don't mind it so much in this picture with the white throw and white pillows, but you see, that was just my way of trying to get rid of the red.....8 months ago! Now that we're buying a new house, I give myself an excuse to redecorate, and I'm done with red. OUT. Nada. No More. BUT you see, we don't exactly have money for a new couch, so I have to make do with what we have. My solution was a sofa slipcover:

Awful, right?! Any suggestions? Of course, I think it would help if it weren't so wrinkled! I literally pulled it right out of the package in all my excitement and threw it on the couch. I'm tempted to wash and dry it to get rid of the wrinkles, and if I still hate it, I may still try to return it!

I want to bring greens, yellows & neutrals in the new house, so my other ideas are to buy a green-ish throw to drape over the couch, maybe 2 to break up the white, and some colorful pillows. Do you think that would help?! I'm really at a loss. I guess it's worth a shot to accessorize first and then return it if I still hate it. But sadly, I think I'm willing to work with this, as ugly as it may be, than live with red for any longer. Too bad I couldn't just sew myself a customized slipcover. Now that would be 'snazzy' :)

My suggestion to my future self? Always buy neutral-colored furniture and accessorize with colors. Much cheaper than buying brand new furniture after only a few years of wear & tear.

Good Will Hunting

If I haven't mentioned before, one of my newest hobbies is shopping for home decor items at the local Goodwill thrift shop. You wouldn't believe the things you can find, and things that you can bring home and give a new life to. And you can't beat the prices. Especially when I'm always looking for ways to save on home decor. I just love rummaging through their items and seeing what I can come up with. Well, here are a few items I'm most proud of that I've found recently...

Here I scored a Deer statue, for only $2.99! I love the size of it...it's only about 7" tall, so it's perfect for a bookshelf, and it's a classic decor item that I can use all winter long:I REALLY wish I would've taken a "before" pic of this deer. It was an ugly "gold-ish" tarnished color, but I gave it new life after I primed it with a coat of Primer Spray Paint, then sprayed it with a Brushed Silver spray paint. The paints cost me a total of $5, so for only $8....I think I got a great deal. And I love that it mimics this bigger deer statue that I bought last year at Kohl's, 2 days after Christmas for only $7:
So what do you think?! Hit or miss?!

Secondly, I bought these two matching Pillar Candle Holders (the candles I already owned). Each pillar cost me $1.99. I love the look, and there really sturdy, almost like a cast iron. I even love that their a bronze look, but if I change my mind and hate the color down the road, I can always spray paint them another color, but for now, I'm happy with how they look:

And the most exciting news yet?!?!! I was just putting these puppies away today, to get ready for the "big move", and decided to take the stickers off of the bottom, but as I was looking at the stickers, I discovered 2 great finds!! First, these puppies are originally from Pottery Barn! SCORE! And guess how much they charged for them??

Any takers??

$14.00!!!!

EACH! As in - - I paid $3.98 for both, when they were originally $28! Yikes!

Here's the pic to prove it:You see! And the little green sticker is my scrumptous $1.99 I forked out for this puppy. And underneath the sticker the Pottery Barn logo is also engraved into the pillar, you can kind of see in the pic, but the stickers are covering it up. Anyways, I was so excited about my find, I just had to share. I loved my pillars before I knew there true worth, but now I love them a little more :)

Keeping Busy...

Finally!! After weeks of unemployment, mine & Ross' insanity has been put to the test, and we've tried just about anything to keep us preoccupied. Of course, we're constantly on the lookout on the job front, but until then, we're desperate for things to do. Well, as of yesterday, we had to make the decision of whether or not to renew our lease for our apt. at Presidential Arms. I've been here for 3 years now (Ross -2 years) and we're both sick & tired of paying rent, and we just can't commit ourselves to being tied down to another year-long lease. And we're just not in the position to buy a house just yet. Our lives are so "up in the air" with not knowing where our jobs are going to be (hopefully close, but you never know), or where we'll be in 6 months or even 1 year, so signing up for another year just didn't seem worth it. AND we would love to be SAVING, rather than spending....who wouldn't?! SOOooo...*drum roll please* we've decided to downsize (yes, yes, i know...there ain't much downsizing to be done when you're already living in a 1-bdrm. apt.!!!!) and move to the empty apt. that my grandparent's have over their detached garage (for little or no rent!). We're literally packing up anything and everything that we haven't touched or don't use in our everyday lives and putting it into my parent's garage for storage until, one day, we can upgrade to a bigger space. (p.s. - Sorry mom & dad...we all know how much you LOVE having your kid's crap stored in your garage! JUST as soon as Mike & Michelle finally got their stuff out...here we come!! :)

So, anyways, we've got 2 months left here at Presidential Arms. *Tears please* Don't worry, I will do a post dedicated to my first apt. before we leave. I have to. It's only necessary to document your first home of independence. I will miss it, but at the same time, I'm excited for a new change.

And of course, I'm excited to have an excuse to spend money on some home decor for the new place :) The amount of hatred I have for clothes shopping is quickly made up for in home decor shopping! I dream of curtains and rugs and color schemes. I dream of finding deals for this stuff as well b/c a deal is always sweeter than paying full price. OHHH Ikea! Here I come! I'm tingly all over just thinking about it. So, for the next few weeks, we will be busy packing stuff up, and moving down the road 10 minutes. I'm excited even though the new place is much smaller. It'll be a fun change.

Oh, and did I mention that we need to buy a stove & fridge as well for the apt.?? I've found a few great deals on used stoves on Craigslist, and now I'm officially giddy with excitement about how fun it is to find great deals on that website. We're thinking of buying a new fridge, since a second fridge can always be handy in a home one day, so I'll have to start researching a few. AND we also need to buy my own washer & dryer for the place. MY OWN WASHER & DRYER! NO QUARTERS NECESSARY! *gulp* I'm giddy again. I should go before I'm overloaded with giddiness.......

A lil' Xmas cheer...

I might've decorated 3 weeks ago, but it's taken until now to add a little more charm to our christmas decorating. Even when I get a  head-start on things, I still find a way to procrastinate on just about anything! Anyways, without further ado, I finally made my table centerpiece a little more 'christmas-y.'

I inherited 3 hurricane glasses from Michelle's wedding, that are 3 different heights, and added some silver & a select few gold bulbs to cheer them up with some christmas-y goodness! The bulbs were from the dollar store so it only set me back a few dollars.  Also, I needed some red placemats, so I bought two, because I figured I could use them in the future as well, since red is a re-occuring theme in our house, and used them with the centerpiece.  These puppies were $3 each at walmart, so another $6 was well spent. Lastly, I bought some wired ribbon that I was planning on using elsewhere, but ended up using a strand in the one hurricane glass, entwined with the bulbs, and then a piece of ribbon sitting out side the hurricane glass holding one more bulb.  I love it and my table finally looks like it belongs with the season :) Total cost = $10

Lastly, I wanted to find a cheap and cute way to display all the Christmas cards we get every year without them piling up on our TV unit, like they usually do, and instead, showcase them in a fun way. Especially when people send pictures with their cards, I would love to have them up to look at all season, rather than stashing them away somewhere.  So this is what I came up with....

Yup, either you hate it or love it.  I personally love it (Ross hates it).  I just used some thick hemp cord, and tied it to a nail on each side.  I tied it on the end like a shoelace too so that there's a cute bow on the end with the leftover string hanging down :)  I think it feels very cottage-y.  I even hung a few random words like "snow" and "brr" and "happy holidays" in a cute font to add some cheer.  And once this puppy gets filled up with some more cards, it'll look even better.

If you hate it, welp, sorry, not your apt. :)  Or let's just say, the pictures don't do it justice.  Or maybe I'm just so excited to finally not have a big blank wall staring at me anymore!! (Sadly, it's taken me 3 years to finally get something up on that wall!)  And the best thing is, that once Christmas is over, I can just hang some random pictures on it, or take it down completely, since the nails holes are so small, you probably wouldn't see them anyways. Either way, I'm excited to finally get to see all our Christmas cards at once & in one place :)