Hey, I think I might be kind of good at this

Ta Da!  The new coffee table!

I am getting more confident in myself – this is EXACTLY how I thought it would look!  (And damn close to my rendering!)  Don’t you hate it when something doesn’t end up looking like you hoped it would? 

And I love it, it’s perfect. It may seem small, but it’s beautiful and solid especially for it’s Ikea-ness.  I love the scale because it has added girlie gorgeousness, but hasn’t taken up any of my now ferociously guarded floorspace.  I have grown obsessed with wide-open floor!

Tonight I’ll put together the new TV bench (that odd box projecting in to the pic).  I also found an amazing floor lamp but will have to go shade hunting.  The Ikea shades that I liked were all part of a lamp set.  I’ll head back to Urban Outfitters at lunch, and maybe swing by Tiffany.  (OMG that sounds soooo not like me!)

It’s an Ikea kinda night

I’m thinking I’ll pick up the child after work and take off to the land of Flat-Pack Plenty.  A couple few purchases and I’ll have purty pics to post (say that 5x fast ).  Sandi will be here this weekend, sewing machine in tow, so curtains will be done by the end of the weekend!  The Beautiful and Talented Kelly seems to be making spanking progress on the pillows and paper/art piece.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it.  The livingroom will be done this week.

If *$%&*$ Urban Outfitters had the bedspread I wanted today, I would have been a giant step closer to my room being done, too.

 

For Kelly… I can see clearly now…

… the rain has gone…  I can see all the obstacles in my way…

Um, yeah.

New sun/glasses are here and the sun is shining!  Yay!

Oh, and I just thought of a great Mother’s Day gift if anyone cares… Restalayn

Weekend Wrap-Up

Well, I certainly can’t say that I crossed a lot off my to-do list from the weekend – yet I feel totally happy with what was done, and for the first time I can see the finish line.  It’s amazing how finishing the office has changed my perspective on things. 

It’s done.  I love it.  I feel ZERO compulsion to tinker with it more.

I also made sure the pens were put back after Haley was done with her homework, shut down my computer and tucked in the chair when I retired for the evening.  In other words, I took care to go to bed with it looking just like its pics brand new.

I see the point of all this madness now!

Despite my long list of To-Do’s that remain, I am feeling totally excited for the end.  The livingroom has been reduced to 3 big but easy things, and it too will be done and fabulous!  My bathroom is mostly just paint and purge, and my bedroom is just paint and new linens.

OMG!  It’s within my grasp!  (And one big haul from Ikea )

Weekend Progress Report #4 – Landing Strip Part Deux

The clear plastic sorter just wasn’t working for me.  My Un-Pier One’d, newly lacquered white shelf is much more Girlie Modern Fantastico!

I’m also thrilled to have the sun back in the picture.  I’ve been hanging my keys on it since 1995 and it’s just where my keys belong, I guess.

The BEFORE to refresh your memory…

And the REVISED VERSION…

(same blue paint, exposure is just crappy)

Weekend Progress Report #3 – sometimes you have to just stop and enjoy

No curtains = sunshine + cute child + slothful feline = stopping to enjoy the fruits of my labor, seeing my two charges enjoying the pretty place we’re creating.

Anyone who has known the Hairy Beast – I mean, Kenai – for more than the last couple of years will appreciate 1. her snuggling, and 2. her snuggling with the child!  I had this cat almost FIVE YEARS before she sat in my lap.  Now she’s a co-dependent mess, but I digress…

 

And the office IN USE ALREADY!  I added the other paper lantern and my precious Grandfathers Memorabilia:  Papa on his Indian motorcycle, his Army Zippo; and Grandpa’s cross.

Weekend Progress Post #2 – Fridge Art

No more magnets!  This is now the view down the hall to the fridge!  (Once I get rid of the fish tank in the hall I’ll take a long shot again.)  I tell ya, this place is getting decorated right down to its toes!

Artistic credit goes to Miss Haley, Creative Genius in Training

 

Weekend Progress Post #1 – the Office

The waaaay Before, when the madness all began…

From ugly desk chair to silly stool

Now it can fit under the desk, and the old curtains liveth!!

Not “To-Do”… MUST DO!

OMG I am going to lose my mind if I don’t get something finished this weekend!  AAACCKK!

The Child is home, and that can be either a help or a hindrance.  What is definitely a hindrance is my broke ass!  I do have supplies to get some things accomplished, so here goes a list of what I can do based on what I have on hand…

OMG – A Present!!

Yesterday was Administrative Professionals’ Day  *cough* and I celebrated with a tooth extraction and abcess draining!  Well, isn’t that the traditional way to mark this international holiday of great importance?

All the Big Guys in my office are out of town this week, so I didn’t bother to remind anyone.  This morning the still freshly appointed director that is here this week asked if he failed to observe this truly special day, and in apology sent me a link to Smartassery - sure to amuse me and validate my EA life here.

I did laugh and responded, “I actually feel like this job is my karmic payment for past suffering” – and I truly meant it.  I like it here and I am lucky to have landed such a choice spot.

And I was all full of these Hearts-n-Flowers before I left to get new glasses (which I CAN do solely because of the rockin’ kick-ass bennies I get at my aforementioned plush job!)

I came back from Site for Sore Eyes to find a box from the NY office on my desk.  I wasn’t expecting anything and I hate opening mail so there it sat for a good hour.  I happened to find scissors in my hand so I thought, “shit, while they’re here I may as well open the box.”  (Can you tell I’m a little drugged and low energy today? )

Inside the cardboard box…

Hmmm… curious….  untie the bow and OMG OMG OMG

Retail therapy for the “No LASIK this year” blues

My *%$#@*&* teeth have already bitten (meh) too deeply in to my LASIK fund (read:  medical FSA) for me to have it this year, so to make myself feel better I just treated myself to some retail therapy! at a discount, of course, thanks to Spectera vision insurance.

Two pairs of Guess glasses, please:  one pair regular, one pair super swank sunglasses.  ORDER UUUUUUUUUUUP!

I hate getting old

Everything has again come to a screeching halt, and not due to sunshine this time.  This time for some dental dramz.

All I have to say is that yesterday afternoon at the oral surgeon’s was kind of like a Rave, but with a very bad ending.  I must be getting old because nitrous, for the first time ever, was not my friend.  That familiar wa-wa-wa-wa mind numbing refrain in my head did not usher in the euphoric desire to dance for ten hours straight.  It made me kind of sick. 

I hate getting old. 

I heart bamboo

We had such a fun trip to Sebastapol on Saturday!  The weather was amazing (and the wind that howled everywhere else was nonexistent) and it was so nice to hang out with Tami… my oldest friend.  She’s not the oldest, she’s the longest running!

We had a wildly successful bamboo hunting expedition!  She had thinned the herds significantly already, but I was able to glean some great pieces that were already dying off.  That means they were already dry and ready to paint!

Before….

Tomorrow I am going shopping with a machete

For reals!! 

Haley and I are heading up to Shangri La/Sebastapol tomorrow bright -n- early to visit Tami and take a machete to her….

Want my ugly redheaded step-fish tank?

It isn’t actually redheaded (and I really do appreciate a beautiful head of ginger hair!), and its relation to me by marriage would require an argument too complex for this humble venue… but I digress.

It’s too big.  Need something smaller.  Thought I had a trade lined up, but it didn’t work out (I thought it was 7 gallons bigger than it is, and Mr. Tradsies balked.  Sheesh.)

Specs and pics …

Eating (between) seasonal produce is getting a bit dull

The farmers market is chock full of root veg and asparagus, and that’s about it.  I’ve been going every Tuesday and buying my produce for a few weeks now.  I am fascinated with eating produce that is in season – not imported from another season by way of the southern hemisphere. 

My fridge is still well stocked with carrots, rutabagas, parsnips, turnips, taters, leeks, and apples – so this week it’s more asparagus (such torture, I know! ), spinach and now snow peas for more bento flower fabulousness!  OH!  And my favorite snickety-snack, dried fruit (apples, pears, persimmon and white peach make up this week’s mix!)

And OMG Donna’s Tamales.  You have not lived until you’ve had Donna’s homemade tamales from Heaven!  This weeks’ assortment:  butternut squash, smoked mozzarella & red bean, and chili cheese.  Yes, I share

But I am really ready for the summer veg to start making its way to market! 

WANTED

A tulip coffee table… Saarinen or knockoff… Ikea Docksta would be fine, but the coffee table model has been discontinued, and the dining table is not really hackable :-(

I think it’s a better way to go than glass as I previously thought.  I loves me my rug, but a wide-open expanse is kind of a lot…

Shorter version, please… —>

I’m terrible

I couldn’t resist snickering…   :-)

Creative Cooking

I cook dinner pretty much every night any way so that part of the Apartment Therapy Cure is a non-issue.  What I have done, though, is start to get creative packing the Little Missy’s lunch. 

 

Behold…. BENTO!

Contents can be seen here… http://www.flickr.com/photos/horseychicken/2416910116/