Crap for Sale, Art and the Horsey Dentist

So here is the rundown of my 3 day Memorial Day Weekend. It was so nice to have 3 days off and not have a bunch of things to do. Andrew also had Monday off which was a rare treat.

Saturday: 
We headed off to my Mother-in-law's house to try and sell some of our extra crap at her yard sale. We got rid of some stuff but not a lot.

I found this picture on Pinterest but when I clicked on the link I was told the image was reported as Spam.

OK so our crap wasn't that awesome. We made a little bit of money, which Andrew then used to pay for the tip at dinner Saturday night and for a hair cut on Sunday. It was crazy hot out and I got a sunburn on my shoulders and chest. Luckily the new face cream I'm using has SPF so I didn't get any burn on my face. We then drove back to the apartment and changed clothes since our other ones were super sweaty and gross. Then we went to one of the local casinos and hit-up the new buffet. YUMMY! They had some great food. Then used some free slot play that we had on a player's club card. We didn't win anything though. But our night out was free except for the money we left for a tip at the buffet, so that was good news.

Sunday:
I went and rode my horse, Rhia, while Andrew went and got his hairs cut. Then when I got back to the house I took a shower and we walked to the park near our house to check out the art show that they run every May. A bunch of local Artisans setup booth with their wares for sale. Their are oil painting, pen & ink drawings, wood sculptures, jewelry, and a bunch of neat other items. There was two booths where these guys layer pieces of wood stained in different colors to created pieces of art. They are amazing but not cheap. This horse head was $110 and that is one of his smaller/less intricate pieces.

Another person takes glass bottles, mostly alcoholic in nature, and makes them into wind chimes. There was a no pictures allowed sign but I didn't see it until after I took this photo. And anyways why don't they want pictures? Are they afraid someone will take there idea. I've got bad news, someone could do that without taking pictures. I wish I had gotten a picture of one that they had of this large purple glass bottle. It  was really pretty. I'm not sure what the bottle originally held since there was no label.

Monday:
The Horsey Dentist was coming out to float teeth. What is floating? Well a horses teeth continue to grow all its life. Without regular visits from the dentist the teeth form points. Not on the bottom of the teeth, but on the outer edges. These points then poke and pinch the cheeks. This can cause sores and major discomfort, so much so that the horse may stop eating to avoid the pain or not chew well. Horses are not able to throw-up so if they swallow something that is too big they are very likely to choke on it. So floating is when the Dentist comes out and actually files the points of the teeth down. That's right, he has a set of different files that he actually uses on the horses teeth. No this doesn't hurt the horse and sometimes the horse actually likes it.

Here is a picture of Max with the mouth brace on so the Dentist can get to the back teeth. It will lock the horses mouth open so the Dentist can see in there and get to those teeth without the horse biting down.

Sorry for the blurry photo I was using my cellphone and there wasn't a lot of light in the barn and the Dentist was in the middle of filing so he was standing still. And here is Rhia getting her teeth filed. The Dentist hadn't moved on to the teeth farther back so he was able to file without the brace for a little while.

Horsey Dentist Dave was great! This is the first time we used him and I'm glad we switched he did really well with all the horses and was willing to ask any questions we had. I had asked him about wild horses and how they deal with there teeth. The problem is domesticated horse get pretty soft feed. We give them hay, maybe 8 hours of pasture and pellet grain. In the wild, horse are grazing for a good 14-16 hours or so. They also end up eating some sand and other things that grind their teeth naturally. They also only live to around 15 years old so it isn't like they have this extra ten years that they need to keep their teeth in shape for. And as sad as it may be if the horse doesn't find a way to keep its teeth in good shape then nature takes over and it is survival of the fittest.

After that I headed home and we had lunch and then got ready to go see a movie. What did we go see, well MIB 3 of course. Though it was almost The Avengers again since they started playing the wrong movie in our theater. The movie was pretty good but I'm not going to say it was the best movie I have seen this year.

How was everyone's Holiday Weekend?

Gettin' Creative in Graphic Spaces

Recently we got a new-to-us desktop computer. Andrew brought one with him when we moved into or apartment but we never set it up and we aren't even sure how well it works. It had started giving him some issues prior to our move so there is a chance that it has a virus. So most of the time we do our surfing on the internet using my laptop. My Mother-in-law's boyfriend decided to buy a new computer so he gave us his old one. Which is in pretty good shape and has a ginormous hard drive. The best part is I just got a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 3. I'm so excited I still need to buy the upgrade to get CS5 but at least I now have a version of it at home. What good is a Graphic Artist without Adobe Creative Suite.

So now I need to make a Graphic Space to get creative in, but where? I hate the idea of having the computer in a separate room cut-off from everyone so I want to try and put it somewhere in our living room. However, most of the space is already taken up. Then I decided maybe I could fit a small desk right next to the couch. Not along the wall but along the actual arm of the couch. The space is 36" long x 18" deep. I think that should be enough space to fit a small desk. All that needs to fit on there is a flat screen monitor, keyboard and possibly a printer (if it doesn't fit then I'll just bring it out when I need it).

Here are some inspiration photos:

This one is pretty cool but I don't think it would work for the space I have even if I did it on just one side.

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I want some shelves on one side almost like a bookshelf. If I made it myself I could possibly even use a small bookshelf to support one side of the top of the desk. I also wouldn't mind at least one cabinet or drawer to have some closed storage. One like the one below would be perfect except the cabinet side might have to be a little narrower.

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The big question is do I want to buy something new, used or try to build something. New might be expensive and may be a waste when we move into a house and have room for a larger desk. A used piece could be really fun to refinished and possible less expensive but it may take longer to find something the will fit the space and my needs. Building a desk on my own will take a little work but I'll be able to make exactly what I need. Then the other thing is that Hubby thinks the living room will be to crowded if we put a desk next to the couch.

Pantry Space & Everything In Its Place

OK, so I'm horrible at this continuous blogging thing. But here is a new post for you all.

So living in an apartment with limited cabinets requires some interesting storage ideas. When we first moved in, there was this cabinet in our kitchen that we assumed was used as a pantry. It sits next to the fridge. It is now closer to the fridge and we actually have a new fridge because the one in the picture had a ripped seal so the landlord replaced it.

There are 4 selves in there and those 4 shelves hold a whole mess of stuff. Everything from snacks, spices, pasta, baking items and anything else I can fit in there.

Here is what the inside looks like with everything in it. There was stuff in here that I've never used or haven't used in a long time and don't really plan on using ever again. When we first moved into this apartment our parents went through their pantries and gave us anything they didn't need/want or that they had duplicates of. Needless to say we got things that I or Andrew would never eat. There was also stuff that had past its expiration.

So after going through everything. I threw out stuff that was expired or open stuff that I was never going to use again. Items that I didn't want but were still good were put in a plastic bag and put out for the annual food drive that the postal carriers do. It worked out to be good timing because I did the pantry clean-out on Thursday and the postal carriers were picking up on Saturday.









After all that this is what I had left.

I also cut down on some of the bulky items buy removing them for large boxes or combing items. Like I had two types of Nutri-Grain bars. I just emptied one box and put them in the other.

This left me with a very empty pantry cabinet. So now it was time to decide the best way to sort the items to fill the shelves.

I wanted things we use the most to be at the top and least used items toward the bottom. Also the door on the cabinet happens to pop open a lot, due to uneven floors and a weak magnet, so I wanted to make sure anything in the lower cubbies wasn't going to be of any interested to some nosey kittens.









In the top shelf went all of our snacks and lunch sides. This includes chips, microwave popcorn, cheez-its, Nutri-grain bars, and even the kitties' treats. The second shelf got filled with spices and any kind of sauces, toppings or items needed for cooking. That means Pasta sauce, olive oil, ice cream toppings, marinades, and  any spice bottles that can't fit in my spice rack.

In the next shelf I put everything that had to do with baking, came in packets or just really didn't have a place. This included instant Jello Pudding, Peanut Butter, extracts, Chai Tea (yummy), packets for dips and muffin mixes. After all this I didn't really have anything left for the bottom. So I decided to clean up the area to the right of the pantry and use that stuff to fill the bottom shelf. That meant any soda cans, canned seltzer water, beer bottles and my gallon of white vinegar took up residence on the bottom shelf.

Which made the right of the pantry go from:

This

To This!

Please ignore the dust. :) So this ended up being a much longer post then I intended. Guess you know more about my sorry little pantry than you ever wanted. Have any of you been doing any de-cluttering?  I got motivated to do so after reading YoungHouseLove's week of ORG posts that was kicked off with this post. ORG is short for Organizing, just in case you were afraid of what you would find when you clicked the link.

Brick & Stone houses

So our casual house hunting continues. OK so it is my more house hunting. I check several real estate sites practically everyday for any new houses or price changes on houses that I have been watching. There was one that Andrew actually liked that came back on the market a few week's ago. But then it disappeared again this week. I went back and forth on it. It is super cute bungalow with an in-ground pool but I think it would have ended up being too small for us. It also needed quite a bit of work. Possible basement mold, upgrade the electrical which might have included rewiring and then the cosmetics like removing stained carpets and possibly replace it with new flooring.

I've been keeping my eye on a couple of other listings but both are currently listed over our budget. One is closer to what we could afford then the other.

 

Brick Ranch
This house has 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom and is 1144 sq ft plus a basement. The benefits is the electrical is already at 150 amps and it seems to be in relatively good shape. Mostly just some cosmetic upgrades are what is needed. It also has a one car garage and basement space that we can finish and use as Andrew's Man Cave. Of the two that I'm watching this one is closest to our budget but still out of reach. It is also not to far from our current apartment. I think our Christmas tree would look fabulous in those corner windows next to the fireplace.

   

Stone Retro Rambler
This house is much larger(1800 sq ft) but needs more updating. The kitchen is covered in 50's pink tile. But it has a beautiful big living room and and the kitchen and dining room are completely separate rooms. It also has 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom and a 1 car garage with an unfinished basement. But it is also $30,000 more than the other house which is also already over our budget. This one is a foreclosure and it is pretty close our current apartment. I love the storage unit in the dining room and the built-in bunk beds in the pink kids room. The other nice thing about this house is the good sized corner lot.
 
  

I'm loving the brick and stone exteriors on both of these homes. Andrew refuses to like either because he knows we can't afford them. He also thinks the wide chimney on the brick house is a little strange. My problem is I get so emotional attached to houses. I start to imagine us in each house and the projects I could do to each.

Brick house: I think I'd remove or cover the brick on the kitchen peninsula. Or even maybe just white wash the brick if it is real, that way you can see the different shades of brick. A beautiful example of white washed brick is shown here. I'd probably also consider removing the cabinets over the stove to open the kitchen up to the dining area.

Stone Rambler: This one probably has quite a few projects. There is an entry hall between the living room(blue) and the dining room(green) that I would love to make look like a mudroom. The pink kitchen definitely needs work.

Uh oh the dreaming and planning has started.

Head - Lights

Yeah so I didn't end up getting any of the things done this weekend that I posted here. However, we went to visit some friends at their new store they opened last year. The shopping plaza was amazing and had several stores I had never been too. One that many bloggers mention all the time and love, Anthropologie. It was my first time ever being to one and I fell in love with several items, but they were more expensive then I wanted to pay, so I did the next best thing. I took some pictures on my phone to share with you all.

Giraffe Paper-Mache Trophy - $68
This guy was my favorite and I really thought about buying him.

Rhino Paper-Mache Trophy - $68

Giraffe Door Knocker - $32
He was made of a nice heavy metal & I got close to buying him too.

If you didn't notice I have a bit of a thing for Giraffes. Some other things that I didn't take pictures of but I still love were all these great hooks.

Horse Bit Hook - $32

Stable Hook - $

I think these Horse related hooks would look great in like a mudroom/hallway for hanging up coats and bags.

View From Here Hook - $20

Alphabet Hooks - $12 each

I'm not sure where I would put the giraffe hook but I would love the alphabet hooks in a bathroom.

What am I going to do now. I think I'm obsessed with Anthropologie now and don't have the money for this obsession. I have another obsession Habitat for Humanity ReStore. We just happened to have been driving by ours on the way to the shopping plaza so I talked the Hubby into stopping. Yeah, so now I'm obsessed with this beautiful light fixture that they had there.

I think this is the same as the one I found here.

They actually had two of them brand new in the box. If it is the same lamp it is a Portfolio 23" Chrome Millbrook Pendant with a black linen shade and it is originally from Lowes. If  that is true then the retail price was $169 and the amazing ReStore price only $45. This makes me want to go back and get this chandelier even more. It is such a deal. However, I would just have to store it somewhere for now because I have no where to put it up.


Have you visited a new store recently and fell in love with there products? How about finding a really great deal?

Project Paralysis & Procrastination

So yeah I'm a total procrastinator. I put off things and put off doing this blog. Pinterest is totally not helping either. You can just lose hours a day on there. Hubby makes fun of me for obsessing about Pinterest but he loves some of the stuff I find on there.
So here are some things that I want to do:

• Help Dad repair Grandma's old chair that she gave him.
• Remove the ripped up carpet on Brady's cat tower and replace it with some sisal rope and create some kind of pillow for the bed portion of it.
• Make pillows from a few of my old sweaters
• Create some art using reclaimed wood.

So the good news is I have supplies for some of these projects but not all of them. 

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Dad's chair - Fixing this should be relatively easy but we'll see when we open it up. This picture on the right is similar to Dad's but I don't think the arms come out this far. The back kind of slopes down to the seat but not all the way to the front of the seat. The legs are a bit different too. His has more of like 4 peg legs attached to a base on the bottom of the chair so it swivels. It is the same fabric but in a brown tweed. One of the boards that the base is screwed into has snapped and most of the screw holes are stripped so the screws just fall out.

Brady's Cat Tower - I bought the sisal rope and may my first tool purchase. I now own my own staple gun. Yeah! Now I just have to figure out how to go about this project. 

Sweater Pillows - My black sweater should be straight forward - cut, sew, stuff and sew closed. But no I ran into a road block. The knit of my black sweater has some larger holes when stretched so if I don't line it with some kind of dark fabric you will see all the white stuffing. As for the other sweater I want to try and make a flower pillow like this:

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So my main problem here is Project Paralysis. I'm at the point were I'm just afraid to start. I worry I'll start cutting the sweater at the wrong spot and not have enough fabric to finish. Also, I don't have a sewing machine so I will be doing this all by hand. Let's put it this way it has been a long time since I've done much sewing other than replacing a button.

Reclaimed Wood Art - I'm looking to get either some old wood or wood from a pallet. Put several pieces together and paint something kind of like this:

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Thank You cards that matched our
invitations and design  that was
used throughout our wedding.
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I love the scrolling branches and want to make them look a bit more like the scrolling pattern we had on our wedding invitations, centerpieces and the wedding cake. See the Thank You cards on the right. That is the look I want to go for. Gee, that scrolling pattern looks familiar, oh yeah it is the background of my blog. :) I guess I'm kind of obsessed. I think the birds are so cute and seem to be a little bird art obsessed right now. This is only one of like 5 art pieces with birds that I have pinned on Pinterest. So what is holding me back on this project? Well, living in an apartment doesn't help making wood projects. So I'll have to get the wood assembled at my parents' house since they have the tools and I think I can scavenge some wood from behind the shed. Also, once I finish I'm not sure where I'd put it since I'd be too afraid to hang something so heavy on the apartment's crappy plaster walls. 

So now I just have to get my bootie going and actually start doing some of these projects. Hopefully, I will have at least one of these projects done before the end of the month and posted here for you all to see. I think I will start one if not two of these this weekend.

Land of the Lost

That's right I visited the land of the Lost on Wednesday. The Walmart clearance section. I'm not even sure how long I walked around there and it was only the 3 aisles in the garden section since they haven't started using it for garden items yet. There were a few items that I seriously considered buying. But I just don't have anywhere to put them or a reason to use them, yet. Want to know what they are? Well you are in luck I took photos with my phone. Ok, I did take pictures however I didn't realize there were two different locations that my photos could be saved. Turns out everything was saved to the phone not the memory disk. And for some stupid reason I can only access the memory disk when I hook it up to the computer. Oops figured out how to copy the files to the memory disk.

Black & Decker Belt Sander -3" x 18" - $35

What DIY blogger doesn't need some kind of sander. This is the only one of the 4 that said what the regular price was - $54.88 and now it is only $35. That is just short of $20 off! Please oh please I think my deal meter is going off telling me I need to buy it because I'll never find it this cheap again.

Black & Decker laser level - $22.97

I think one of these would be great for painting stripes on walls or hanging a bunch of pictures in a gallery wall. Hubby said he has used a laser level before and didn't like it.

Black & Decker Power Scissors - $19.88

I think the power scissors would be very useful when cutting those stupid plastic packages everything comes in that you can't seem to open without hurting yourself. The package also said that it was good for cutting cardboard and vinyl.

Black & Decker Rotary tool w/16 accessories - $25.88

I have no idea whether any of these tools are good, since I've never used them. Oh, but how I wanted them.  Also, have you ever noticed that just because it is in the clearance section or it is on sale it makes you want to buy it even more.

So has anyone used any of these? Are they any good? Maybe you have bought some new tools recently or have you gotten lost in the Clearance section of one of your favorite stores.