So, taking a slight (very slight, because we’ve had our home visit and I of course have to write about that !)  break from talk of the adoption project, on Easter weekend, my mom came over . As usual when she comes comes to visit we cooked and did some homey type projects, and went shopping. The homey type project we did was to re cover the chest that resides in the Craft Cave.  This is the before picture. Not too adorable in my opinion. It was given to me a very long time ago from someone who was moving, and I have never really liked the fabric on top of the chest , or the tone of the wood. So I asked my mom if she knew how to re do it. Indeed she did.

The Before We removed the top of the chest which was held on with 6 screws. We then had to remove the 12 billion staples that held the fabric on. This task was NOT fun, as for some reason those little suckers liked their home nestled in the wood.  =(

Once we removed the fabric from the top, we spread it out over the new fabric and used it as a pattern to cut the new fabric.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, as the edges are going to wrap around and be hidden in side the chest.

We then stapled the new fabric onto the top, it was kinda like wrapping a present.
This is the chest top

We then removed the hardware and got to work painting.  I have no schnazzy  photos of this step, but we just used a very fine grain sandpaper first, and the same white paint that is on our ceilings.

ANNNNDDDDDD

HERE IT IS COMPLETED !!  I’m super happy with the results. I’ve never upholstered anything before, and think  and the chest now fits into the decor in my craft cave MUCH nicer ! Thank you to mom for getting me to do this after YEARS of having the HORRID fabric on top!

This post is actually about LAST weekend, and was supposed to be auto posted, but for some reason we here at the Junction had technical difficulties and it didn’t work out ! So it is being posted now.

This weekend was great, and productive !  We painted our one dresser that didn’t match our little bedroom set to match the rest, and it came out fantastic ! I also got to spend some time with  my mom and I hosted a wine and cheese party on Sunday evening. All in all a fantastic weekend, if you don’t count my little mis step of losing my car keys somewhere in Target.

Yes, I dropped them somewhere in Target, and didn’t realize it until I was looking for them to get in the car to go back home. UGH. I was going CRAZY. I retraced all my stops through out the store, checked with customer service. Called Hubs crying… finally decided to call a cab to take me home so I could get the spare key from. While I’m waiting the customer service lady who I just spoke to about whether they had been turned in rushes out and lets me know they have been turned in ! I am free to leave.

I then headed home to get ready for wine and cheese party for some friends at my place.  I decided that since I had a plethora of tomatoes from my garden I was going to make some tomato basil bruschetta for the party along with the cheese. I got everything done for my little party (made Bruschetta, put out cheese, chilled the wine etc)

Here is how the spread looked. I was quite pleased, and my guests brought some super yummy things to the table as well. SUPER good artichoke dip, deviled eggs, and Pear Galette to name a few ! WAS SOO GOOD to much and talk with them.

Recipe for super simple Tomato Basil Bruschetta

(serves 12)

I bought some baguette, sliced on the bias

(about 24 slices, I figured about 2 per person)

brush with Olive Oil

Place on a baking sheet

bake at 400 for about 10 minutes or until crisp and slightly browned.

I used about 6 ripe tomatoes from my garden and took out the core/seeds and diced them

about a table spoon of fresh, chopped basil

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1/4 onion minced

4 tsps olive oil

1 tbs balsamic

salt and pepper to taste

Spoon tomato mixture over the toasted bruschetta and serve immediately.

The second task for the weekend was to re finish the one dresser that didn’t match the new dresser and night stands we got for our bedroom.  So here is a little before and after and a small description of what we did.

Before the dresser was a kinda lighter brown, and had seen better days. It had scratches and such everywhere and didn’t match the rest of our furniture in the bedroom.  We took it out to the garage, sanded it down with 150 sandpaper, took a drawer from one of the night stands to get the paint matched, and painted away. We then sealed it with a satin finish clear coat, to hopefully keep the finish from scratching. I am still on the hunt for new hardware. I’m hoping to find some nice brushed nickel knobs/pulls.  Look for the rest of the bedroom decor coming soon !

No more !!  we got a new washer. (yes, about a month ago, I am sadly behind in my blogging…) BUUT let’ start at the beginning shall we ?

A while ago I started noticing that there was soap on our clothes when they came out of the washer. I was a bit confused… but just rinsed it off by hand before putting them into the dryer. Then maybe two weeks later I stayed in the garage to clean while the laundry was running (usually I would just put the clothes and soap in and let it do its thang) But as I was cleaning up some stuff and was listening to the machine, I noticed it was not agitating. It was simply filling with water, emptying the water, filling with water, then spinning out the water. No agitation motion to actually you know move the clothes around and CLEAN them. They were just getting wet and rinsed. EWWWW. So we discovered how much it would be to repair (about 400) We figured that is the cost of a machine, so we went on the hunt for a new one.

We searched Home Depot, Best Buy, Sears, and finally Lowes.  We searched reviews on the washers we found. We did research on if front loaders really save THAT much money on water and energy (they do) We saw that Lowe’s had the one we wanted for a bit more than Home Depot, so we asked if they would match it. They beat it by 10% and we got a rebate of 200 from PG&E and our water company WOOT !  This is definitely a plus for us, as we totally didn’t need the financial burden of purchasing a new machine right now.

It uses a TON less water than our other washer. The only bummer is that it takes about twice as long per load !

So, my confession. I’ve never been a very neat person. EVER. My mom used to have to threaten many things for my room to get clean, and it never stayed that way for long. So when we bought the house (and since i’ve been searching for work and have the time) I’m VERY much working on keeping our new home tidy. I’ve been reading FLYLADY for a while, and used to read the hyperhomemaker blog (which has now, sadly been taken down) and I have found that with both of them, it’s all about baby steps, and little routines that you MUST stick to. With that being said I think my first thing that I’m going to start doing (a la fly lady) is a weekly house “blessing”  According to Flylady it is an hour spent quickly (not “deep”) cleaning. everything in the house, a quick vacuum, a quick dust, change the sheets, clean all the mirrors. All tasks should be completed in 1 hour. It is just a way to keep on top of things. I did it for the first time today, and it was AWESOME. Here is the list of things that I plan to do during my 1 hour “home blessing” I modified Flylady’s list according to my needs.

1) vacuum living room (without moving furniture)and hallway and bedroom

2) Dust bookshelves/end tables/dining buffet

3) mop kitchen and bathroom floor

4) change sheets

This may seem like a lot for only 1 hour… but keep in mind… it is ONLY a quick cleaning.. more deep cleaning comes in 1 time a month for each of the rooms of the house to keep things managable !

We’ll see how well I keep up with doing this weekly house blessing, but right now it’s making me feel good to take control.

You know, when I was younger I never really wanted to help my mother out in the garden. I’m a girly girl, and I.hate. bugs, and worms and yucky creepy crawly things, and there is just WAAAAAYYYY too may of them in the dirt for me to deal with. Plus (in general) it takes too long to see the fruits of your labor.

It is sooo different when you have your own home !!  First of all I’ve grown up a bit so I have the patience to know that I WILL see those plants grow and look beautiful, and come to be what I envisioned, and not mere little green buds. Second, no one else is going to do it for you, ya know unless you pay them… and umm… I have NO money for that right now… and second of all, it’s a great way to spend time outside, and possibly chat with neighbors who pass by. Thirdly, my home is about 50 years old, so it has plants already, and I feel guilty removing anything the previous owners planted since they were the only owners and obviously really loved the garden and their home. So yesterday hubs and I did a garden improvement project. We weeded, mulched, and gave systemic rose food to the roses that line the hill down to the flat part of our yard. Systemic  comes in little jugs, and you just plant these little granuals around the plant every 6 weeks, and it gets rid of powdery mildew on roses, very easy cure. Powdery mildew  makes the rose leaves look like they are a bit greyish, like someone sprinkled baby powder over them or something.

The poor plants were being chocked by the awful horrible nettles, and dandilions !!  It took us about four hours, but in the end I think it made the whole little area look much more neat, and cared for, and hopefully the plants will flourish without the weeds impending their progress. I think it made a nice difference in teh way the area looks to have the mulch put down, and I know my plants are happy !!

Weeds and dirt

 
So, it was sooo gorgeous out this weekend !!  I went to brunch in Sacramento while hubs coached a lacrosse game in the city. I got home around 4-ish, and it was such a nice day out I decided to grill on the deck. We don’t have any deck furniture yet, so we picnic-ed .  it was exactly the kind of evening I LONGED for when we had a tiny apartment in the city and it was a perfect BBQ night, but we couldnt’ BBQ. 

 I also did some (very) light yard work in the front of the house,  added a sign to the front of the house that I got made at Marine World last week, trimmed back my hydrangas, watered, etc.

The most exciting part of the weekend though was we FINALLY got our new couches !!!!  We ordered them in January from Ashley furniture. They finally came early on Saturday afternoon, and I was so excited to see them. I think they are awesome. I think I’d like to figure out a new way to arrange the living room, but I don’t know if it’s possible with where the cable box is stationed at the moment. I think eventually we don’t want the “main” TV to even be in the living room, but until the work on the basement is complete (like some carpet, and MORE couches) I don’t think it’s going to happen.  The picture is not the best, I admit and I will try and get some better ones with my real camera (not my phone) when it is umm.. charged. (I know I know, BAD blogger !! ) But the living room is coming together and I am sooo soo happy with the progress !    

Living room with Sofas

OUR FIRST HOME !So here it is, the homestead we searched for !

It’s been a little bit of a change moving to the suburbs after spending 7 years in the city, but so far it’s been great ! So we’ve been working on the house since we closedabout a month ago. (moved in about two weeks after closing) So far we have painted upstairs and the basement, cleaned up the VERY over grown yard, laid some flooring down stairs in the office, and what is now my craft room (YEA !) put up some new light fixtures, got new central heating installed (and patched the wall where the wall furnaces used to be)  got new electricity service put in, I can’t remember what all else has been done, and it doesnt seem like THAT MUCH, but it sure has taken LOTS OF TIME.  Last week the in laws come out and helped us do a bunch of work to the house, as well as we’ve had my uncle come by and do a whole bunch of work as well. It is starting to come together, here are a few before and afters, although the afters still aren’t “complete” but, it’s getting there

Master Bedroom Before

Color on the walls looks a bit yellowish from the camera, but is actually a light tan color.

I will update with more photos of the house as things progress ! Still have to put the ralph lauren “candle light” finish on the blue wall there, which should hopefully turn out nicely, we also should have furniture for the living room soon, even though it was order back in JANUARY ! So I’ll take photos of that when that is delivered !