Grey table

Ok first thing is first, I need tperfect rug underneatho update the blog with pictures, because words will not do this justice.

Now I try to make my words do justice until I log into the app via android (actually that is another new thing!)

A few weeks ago one of my dearest friends and her husband were over to eat and the topic came up between us lovely ladies about redoing furniture.  I mentioned that I had been considering redoing my dresser (really for quite a while) and I was debating a nice grey color.  As we are talking I look into my dining room and I kept thinking, you know what would REALLY look good grey is that table right there.  Ever since the idea popped into my head I knew that it was going to happen, and I couldn't get the idea OUT of my head.  Fortunately I have SEVEN chairs for my dining room set.  Random I know, but that made one thing very easy......if I messed up I would still have a perfectly good dining room set.  So of course I started with the broken chair (that I now have to fix).  After work one day I ran to lowes and asked for the best primer they had.....not gonna lie I had NO DESIRE to sand any anything....the lazy way of doing the project!

The great people in paint directed me to a gallon of primer.  Of course it only came in a gallon so if you are looking into doing a project and need primer you know who to call.  I got a quart of paint, and with just one chair left and a few touch ups it looks like it will be enough, but it will be REALLY irritating to have to buy another quart for minimal painting.  I started with the grey because I had black cushions, my thought being, I won't have to sand, varnish, or redo the cushions.  As soon as I did the first chair my thoughts were that the black would do until I found fabric I was thrilled with....but that the cushions would also need updating.

Now that it is in my dining room (though a few upside down places need touched up when I do the last chair) I totally love it.  Enough to be bothered to DEATH when there is stuff cluttering it, enough to NEVER use it as a craft table again.  We did have to sand the table top because of my paint and glue spills embellishments.  I am very thankful to my dad for his air sander which made that a quick and painless job.

For the cushions I looked around at fabric stores with no success.  If there was a fabric I might be happy with than of course there wasn't enough of it.  If it was a fabric I LOVED my husband pointed out that it looked like a face, you can never un-see that, and I am very grateful I hadn't bought the fabric yet.  As I was running some errands at Target the corner of my eye caught what I thought would be perfect.....a table cloth of all things! The best part? The tablecloth cut PERFECTLY into 6 pieces that were the exact size I needed! Pics to come as soon as I can possibly figure it out! This is a project I am very pleased with!

Pictures are before,  first 'practice' chair with old cushion,  during, chair after,  and the complete set!

The chairs beforehand,  I recovered them with this fabric about 5 years ago. 

Work ststation during 

Complete!!!!  Though I do need s perfect rug underneath.  

Scholastic warehouse sale

If you live towards the center of a fairly large area and are lucky enough to have a Scholastic warehouse near you, you are probably aware of the sale that they do in December or June.....you know the huge one where books go into big discounts.  If you aren't sure what I am talking about stop reading now and go Google the one nearest you.  Go.  NOW!

Ok anyways now that you all know what I am talking about I have to admit it is a great experience.  Books of all shapes and sizes, and there are tons of them at huge discounts.  (I am really going to regret sharing this best kept secret later...) If you volunteer your time at this sale you basically get books out of the deal.

Now if you know me and the adventures in life you know that I am in need of some.....so the first week of my summer vacation and that is where I was.  Book heaven but I got some really good ones and totally consider it worth my time.

glitter clothes pins

Ok this is a post that I am actually writing in the moment and will (probably) post as soon as I am done....small little victory dance?  Though I won't be done with it....I need to download the blogger app to my new phone so I can add pictures to all these new posts I am suddenly writing!

I had heard of the idea of glitter clothes pins in multiple places in the pinterest world....so when I saw it and then got some glitter at a decent price I knew my life would not be the same without them.

I read multiple ways of doing this on Pinterest and Ia m not sure if I used my own way or if I adapted it from several different sources, but if you DO feel that you are the original poster please contact me and I would be happy to add a link.

So I got 36 clothes pins for a buck at the d-tree----seriously awesome! I had tons of mod podge sitting around and I got a nice set of super fine glitter at  Michaels.....so the project was pretty well priced as well.
1. I started with a foam brush and added a layer of mod-podge then sprinkled the glitter.
2. After that I let the glitter and mod podge dry at least an hour
3. I used a piece of scratch paper to thoroughly tap off any excess glitter and then returned it to the container.

From here I either did another layer, or I sealed them depending on how thick the colored glitter.

4. For the last layer I used a foam brush that had a little bit of water on the brush.....only because it hadn't dried by sealing time.....and I do feel that it helped the mod-podge disperse without making a huge disaster and leaving gross clumpy glitter high and low.  I let it dry and sometimes did a second layer of mod-podge to seal it.

I just finished the second half of this project yesterday, I got E-6000 (the grossest strongest smelling glue I have ever worked with!) and used it to glue magnets and thumbtacks to the back. I made more thumbtack ones than magnet ones, but I also snagged a few for our fridge and they look really cute holding the wedding invitations we seem to suddenly be getting in the mail again!

Fun little project....I will post my uses of them later dear friends!

Guiltless cheese dip

This is the cheese dip that I made with the cheesy pretzel bread in my previous post....I had mixed feelings about it.....what I SHOULD have done was follow the recipe and use cheddar cheese....extra sharp white cheddar would have been even better....but I hate going to the store and so I used a colby//jack blend that was in the fridge.  The pretzel bread was totally the better part of this recipe....but I would be willing to try it again with some white cheddar.

Check out the orginal post here and when they suggest a cheddar cheese remember that they actually mean it!

Cheesy pretzel bread

Ok this was seriously one of the BEST things that I have made in ages.

I also made a yummy cheese dip.....and another time that I made the same recipe I stuffed it with a white cheddar cheese.  Seriously I made this like 3 times in two weeks. (a few months ago you know me and blog updates!)

It was interesting with the whole baking soda bath thing.....threw me off and bubbled something crazy....and YES it is hard to justify washing a GIANT stock pot because it had water and baking soda....but the recipe was really really good.

Check out the original post here.  Hopefully I will add a pic or two from my phone....but we all know how that actually goes!

Update----yes i am still here!

Ok it has been a few months since my last update.  I really should let you all know that things are going SO WELL and are full of A LOT of adventure!  That being said there are a TON of things that I will soon be updating on my new things list.....but that main update won't be tonight, this is just to let my 7 followers know that I am still alive and kicking and yes I do plan on updating soon!

Some new things I hope to write about soon (and you know me I could get a huge list going in the next few days) are:

ice cream bread
glitter clothes pins
snickers apple salad (or did I do that one already?)
DIY clipboards
DIY gel manicure
chocolate souffle

really I am sure that there are more but life is quite an adventure, I am tired, and there are way too many totally cool awesome things going on right now to blog about.

Don't worry I will have lots of adventure to share soon!

ouch! (6 new things!)

So the last week has been full of new things, most of them unexpected, and not really quite pleasant.

So let me start with the first:

Bike clips: The husband and I have wanted for the last 6 months or so to add bike clips and shoes to our bikes, it allows you to go faster more consistently and your effort is reduced because you are naturally getting 360 rotations instead of just the down stroke as you pedal.  We thought about them this winter, but we didn't want to buy them take a short ride and then have it be consistently freezing out or to have a lot of rain.  So this last weekend we finally went and got the clips, the bike shop put them on for us and we popped my bike in the trainer to make sure that we knew what we were doing before we got home and went for a brief ride.  I felt pretty confident leaving the bike shop and then was a bit panicked riding around our parking lot, but I got the rhythm quick without any falls.  I managed to make it most of the way and got in the habit of detaching my right food before I stopped. I love them.  (yes still present tense)

Bike fall:  It was on this experience about 6 miles into our 8-10 mile ride that my husband stopped in front of me, not noticing the turn signal that it was ok to keep going because the truck he saw was turning.  As I rode up behind him I realized he was stopped....and I panicked.  It was easy to detach the right foot, which is all that I needed to do.  But my mind was not all there....and I freaked out and attempted to also detach my left foot as I was stopping....which led to putting all my weight on the left side....and my elbow and left bum hit the road pretty hard....

Riding with hurt hand: Riding home the rest of the way was difficult breaking a LOT (my hand was already kinda painful) so it wasn't fun making the trip home.  My left side handle was also messed up, but my husband replaced it pretty quickly.

Urgent Care:  I have been to the ER, and I have been to walk in medical clinics....but I have never used Urgent Care for a REAL REASON.  Tuesday morning I went to work, but I was in a LOT of pain, and after my first group of kids I ended up having to leave (which is really another first)  And off to urgent care I went.  Grateful for my husband who filled out all the paperwork for hurt left-handed me.

X-Rays- Ok so technically if you know me you know that I have had X-Rays done before but it wasn't like an x-ray x-ray....anyways....this is the first time that I had to have x-rays to see if something was broken.  Though I have a few scares to prove that I might have been as clumsy as a kid as I am as an adult, it was more cuts and scrapes than anything of bone braking value.  I was sure when I could not move my arm straight or more than really just a couple inches that something was really wrong....but my arm was not broken! WHOO RAW!!!

Sling- Since my arm was not broken but there was obviously something very wrong we had to get a sling and I wore it everywhere the rest of Tuesday and all of Wednesday.  By Thursday it was off and on throughout the day and mostly gone since Friday.  Wearing a sling on your dominate hand is the worst thing EVER but I survived, and still have it for if I ever need to minimize movement over the next couple of days.  At least the sling was black so it was easy to match it with whatever I needed/wanted.

I guess the good thing in all of this is that 1) my arm is not broken and 2) It got a lot of new things out of the way FAST
The major downer was we wanted to get in like 50 miles this weekend : (