Viva Las Vegas

I will be in the obnoxious, overindulging city of Las Vegas all week for work. Don't love the city, but am looking forward to our task at hand and hanging with Kel! Hope everyone has a great week!

P.S. Shane and I have officially started wedding planning!

Errrrghghghghgh....

I'm sorry it's been so long. I have had the worst week ever...between work being SO crazy, having no free time because of work and personal commitments and having to deal with the dumbasses employed by WELLS FARGO FINANCIAL, I unfortunately haven't had any time to even think about blogging or being creative or doing anything besides eating and sleeping.

Today, honestly, I just want to cry. I'm stressed/confused/aggravated about a SLEW of things that have happened/are happening and I keep focusing on the ones that I absolutely cannot control and getting so upset.

And I hate WELLS FARGO FINANCIAL because they don't know how to do their jobs so now I'm riding around in a car (that I am still required to pay my loan note on) that has an expired tag and no registration. I guess that titling a car is difficult for them...and then when you pile on their lack of professionalism and customer service, well, they just don't know which end is up. I called Clark Howard's Consumer Action line today and they recommended that I go to the branch and have someone explain the situation to me face to face. I respectfully declined since I cannot be held accountable for my actions once I am there. I have also filed a formal complaint with Wells Fargo Corporate and the Better Business Bureau, posted a nasty Facebook comment, mentioned it here and I am calling them daily until they fix the issue.

Okay, enough self pity. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Ballard Lamp Repair - Part Deux

The lamp has been repaired! Although, I still feel like it's going to break again at any moment...I don't know, it seems a little shaky.

First, I glued down the bottom portion of the lamp clamp and resecured the light kit. (Sorry again for the awful pictures...still don't have a new camera so I can't preview any pictures!)

I then put the lamp kit back on...

Then put on the shade...

Put in a lightbulb, turned it on and Voila!

It is fixed! The only thing that I didn't realize about the lamp is that it doesn't have a switch on the light kit, so to turn it off and on we'll have to unplug it and plug it in to the wall. A little bit of an inconvenience but we can make it work...

What do you think?!? Did I get my money's worth?

Ballard Lamp Repair - Part 1

Remember this baby from a few months ago?

Well, I'm finally getting around to repairing it. How? It's all very technical, but I used a cuticle pusher-backer (metal stick thing that has a flat edge) and scraped off all the old glue from the base of the lamp and the lighting kit at the top. I then used this trusty solution...

...to put it back together again! I don't have pictures to share as everything is still drying - but I hope to show those tomorrow! Let's all keep our fingers crossed that the broken $200 lamp, that I stole for $20, can be salvaged!

Kitchen Organization: Goal #3 Accomplished

OMG. We accomplished a goal. Get.Out.


Saturday was pretty busy (Asher's birthday party (cutest little baby and adorable party!), hanging with Dave and Jennie and getting to see our friend, Tricia, who was in town from California) so we didn’t get a chance to get started on the kitchen organization on Saturday…so we knocked it out on Sunday!

We started around noon and worked until 6 p.m. That’s right. Six hours of organization – the perfect day!

Schedule:

• Go through each cabinet, purge unnecessary items, wipe out cabinets (shelves and both sides of the door) and reorganize placement of contents. (We did this for four sets of cabinets on the top and three on the bottom.) Here are some highlights:

• Clean out all drawers and wipe out all crud and nastiness that was present. We then needed to reevaluate what was in each drawer. We had kitchen utensils in the drawer next to the sink and the dishrags in the drawer next to the stove…duh – we flipped those. And randomly enough, we had a whole drawer full of air fresheners (Glade Plug-ins…Hawaiian Breeze – delish) next to the stove. What?!? That doesn’t even seem logical…or safe for that matter. So, we moved those.
• Slap ourselves for letting our kitchen island get to this point…

I know, I’m thoroughly embarrassed at the disarray of this cabinet. What I’m even more embarrassed about is the time that I took to cram/balance/shove stuff in there and ensure that it didn’t fall out when opening the cabinet doors. I have glass vases teetering in the balance for God's sake! However, we cleaned this out and got rid of a lot of stuff that we rarely or have never used, which cleared up a lot of room. We now have this nice and neat 'after' picture…

After the cabinets were complete, we:

• Cleaned out the refrigerator and wiped down all appliances.
• Cleaned and reorganized pantry.

• Wiped off all items/appliances that are sitting on the countertops, and then wiped down the countertops with the special cleaner. (Special cleaner = Clorox Green Works all purpose spray. It is fantastic for granite.)
• Wipe down all baseboards and chair rail and vacuum.

I am so proud of us for getting this done. We would like to go through the entire house, room by room, and clean things out and organize everything. We have only been in our house a little less than two years but I feel like we have accumulated so much crap that it is ridiculous!


Anyway, the only thing left to do in the kitchen is painting the ceiling and crown molding and trim. I am going to list those as separate goals because the ceiling painting goal has been loitering on this blog since about July.


What do you think? Were you terrified of our ‘Hoarders’ style island?

It Really Snowed!

As I mentioned on Wednesday, we were planning for snow...and it actually happened!

Puppy Prints!

Thursday night, Shane went over to our friend Mel and Jon's house to watch the National Championship game. By the time he got home, the driveway was completely snowed/iced over. We were able to pull it in to the driveway and leave it at the bottom, but within 30 minutes it had SLID INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!!! Can you believe that?!? So we kept it classy and just pulled it into our yard. :)

The snow and ice on our street...

Shane and I both worked from home yesterday to avoid having to try to drive in the ice and mess that were the backstreets in Smyrna. And last night, we just watched movies while eating homemade calzones and drinking wine...mmmm.

It is Saturday and our street is STILL pretty icy and we STILL can't get the car up the driveway. However, we will have to make it because we have a pretty busy day - some shopping, little Asher's birthday party and plans to get started on the kitchen organization. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Southeast Snow Watch 2010!

For those of you who live in the Atlanta area, you are probably aware that we are expecting some snow tomorrow! So exciting...if it actually happens. I always say that my ideal job is actually a meteorologist because you don't ever have to be right. 'It's going to rain tomorrow...or not.' 'It's going to be sunny and warm tomorrow...and cloudy and cold.' Whatever! However, if it does snow I'll be super excited! And even more excited if I can get out of working!

So, for my fellow southeasterners who may not be well versed on the cold and snow (myself included), here are some tips to keep your house safe:

• To ensure that your pipes don't freeze, leave your faucets dripping. Remember to turn on the cold and hot water.
• Open your cabinet doors to allow warm air to surround your pipes.
• Keep your garage doors shut (for those of you lucky peeps who actually have a garage).
• Keep your blinds shut.
• Remove hose pipes from outside bibs. This prevents water from freezing within your hose and starting the process of freezing your pipes.
• Make sure you are using space heaters safely and turn them off before you go to bed.

Hope that everyone (in the ATL) stays safe tomorrow and enjoys the snow!

(Our casa last March after a freak little snow storm!)

2010 Goals and Planning

**Sorry for that title - sounds so much like a meeting invitation that I would receive at work. Eww.

As I mentioned yesterday, I am going to pick up my monthly goals again but try to be a bit more realistic. It’s just downright embarrassing to have 10 goals a month and accomplish two…I mean, seriously. So, to kick off this new decade and this new month, here are my goals…dun dun dun!

1. Paint the front door black.
2. Paint the exterior of the back door.
3. Clean out and reorganize kitchen. (I have a detailed plan for this and will share it once I complete this goal. ;) )

As part of a larger set of goals, I would like to do the following throughout the year:

1. Blog four times per week (minimum). Receive extra stars and pats on the back for five blog posts or more.
2. Start and complete one DIY project per month. (This can and will include wedding DIY projects. :))
3. Read two books (one for book club and one other) each month.

Wish me luck!

What about ya'll? Any good goals for 2010?

Merry Christmas, Newly Engaged and Happy New Year!

It has been a while! A lot, lot, lot has happened so let’s once again backtrack…

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas - we certainly did!

Wednesday: Went over to my dad’s in the late afternoon – played games, ate dinner, opened some of our gifts and watched a movie. The next morning, we opened the rest of our gifts and we got some great stuff.

Brother CS6000i Sewing Machine

Indoor/Outdoor Wireless Speakers Thursday: Went to my mom’s – played cards, played drinking games, hung out. We got up the next morning and my mom was making her traditional meal, including turkey, dressing, veggies, giblet gravy, fudge…yum. My butt is now two feet wider because of this meal. We opened prezzies before lunch and got some more great stuff!

My new food processor:Flip Video Camera:Friday: Went to Shane’s mom’s – hung out with the fam, including Shane’s aunt, uncle and cousins from Texas, opened presents (even MORE good stuff!), played games and played Rock Band. I think that we woke Manny up around 2:30 a.m…it was bedtime shortly after that.

New Coach Purse

Saturday: Packed up Shane’s car and headed back to the house. I made one bad move before we left for our three day adventure – I turned the heat OFF in my house. I’m trying to be economical! Needless to say, we arrived home to a house that was 46 degrees. Not a good move.

We are so very thankful for our family and friends and thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas! Thanks to everyone for your thoughtfulness and generosity – we love you!

December 30: A day that Shane and I will always remember…our engagement day!

Shane and I had dinner with his parents that night and got home around 11 p.m. Things were normal, he was taking the dogs out and I was making my coffee for the next morning. He popped his head inside and yelled ‘Hey, come out here!’ I thought that the dogs had tried to run away so I came outside and Shane had both the dogs on the front stoop with the ring in his hand. Our home is very special to us as that is where we started our family so it was only fitting to start this new chapter of our lives there as well. It was very, very sweet! I thought that I would cry like a baby, but instead I just laughed…and shook. But I ultimately said yes, duh! Here is a shot of the ring!

New Years: Me, Shane and our friends Austin and Kelly went to Athens for the NYE festivities. I went in to the office until around 11:30 a.m. (but did absolutely NO work) and then came home for a nap. Got up around 3:30 p.m. and got ready to head up to Austin and Kel’s in Alpharetta so that we could get the party started! We had a great night and good times…see some pics below!

This past weekend was pretty lazy as we prepared ourselves mentally to start a full, non-holiday work week. Boo.

Also, as we have entered a new year and a new decade – I feel compelled to start establishing some goals again. However, we are going to take a different approach this year and I will only have three per month. If I find after the first quarter that I can accomplish those three, then I will bump it to five. The 10-11 item lists are just unattainable, and the fact that they just roll over every month is just embarrassing.

What did everyone do for New Years? Fun parties? Chill evenings with family?

I hope that everyone is having a great ‘first Monday of 2010!’