I found that yesterday and it cracked me up!  It’s so how we operate!  Maybe not to that extreme, but we definitely count on reviews for our purchases.

It made me wonder about how other folks buy items based on ratings.  Mine goes something like this…

No rating – If I really really like it or am super interested, I buy it.  There truly is something about not having a rating that allows me to just purchase and not worry about it.

Under three stars - I usually don’t bother looking much further, unless it was only rated by like less than 10 people.

Three to three and a half stars – I usually read the reviews and Google to find where else there might be reviews and ratings.  I just don’t trust the star rating at this level because there are usually people who love it and people who hate it.   Usually, it comes down to how much I like it regardless of what people say.

Four and up – If it’s rated by only a few people, again I try to Google more reviews.  But if it’s that high of a rating with tons of reviews, I’m usually in right away.

When I started looking for paint for my cabinets, it was hard.  Even though I could have purchased a different kind if I didn’t like it, I could not have gotten back all the hard work put in.  I wanted to make the absolute right choice, the very first time!  Ratings were what I depended on.  I started out by looking online.. and even though the internet offers a lot of help, it’s hard to pick the finish without seeing it in person.  So… I started going to a lot of different places to ask about paint for cabinets. I kept getting directed to ones that had a semi-gloss finish.  They all just looked too shiny to me.  Plus, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get it on smooth enough and there would be streaks and drips and so on and so on…

THEN… I went in to Sherwin Williams and they showed me this in a satin finish.

I would have taken it home right away, but the sales lady said, “well when do you need it?  Do you need it today?”  I thought her questions were a bit weird, but I didn’t need it that day so I said no.  She told me to come back and get it when their sale started in two days because it would be 40% off.  She didn’t have to tell me twice!  BTW.. I don’t know how I missed the big sign in the window advertising the sale, when I was on my way in.  Probably had something to do with Jude hopping all over the place.

When I got home, I googled it. (Of course.)  It got 4 stars, but with only 5 reviews on the Sherwin Williams website.  And the very first review was only 1 star, and this is what it said..

What?!?

I was soo bummed.  So I did some more research and read through every single paint forum I could find that mentioned this product.  They were a lot of great reviews!  But still.. I called every single Sherwin Williams in this area (some not in the area) just to ask what they thought of it.  Sometimes different sales people will tell you to different things, but they all said it would perform great.  It would give me all the benefits of oil paint, but with easy water clean-up.  It wouldn’t yellow over time.  It’s self leveling for a nice smooth finish.  I decided to go with it.  But I was worried.  Super worried.

I went back during the sale and got my 40% off.. (woot, woot!)  and bought it white right off the shelf.  They did add some shots of white to brighten it up a bit though.  They said sometimes the white right out of the can has a tendency to have a dirty look to it, and I wouldn’t like that.  Nope.  They’re right.  I wouldn’t have liked that.  Sooo… here we are.  Two coats of primer and one coat of Pro Classic later…

I love it!!  Love it!!!  It has the perfect amount of shininess to it!  The bright white I wanted.  And.. it goes on really well!  Plus, today I accidently whacked one of the top cabinets with a ceramic vase and it didn’t scratch it or mark it up in any way!  {Happy Dance!}

I did not put a second coat of primer or a coat of paint in the cabinets above the microwave.  The handles on my brush and roller are too long and I kept bumping and messing up the paint job, so I stopped.  I need to get brushes with shorter handles to finish that.  I also didn’t paint all the way up to the very top of the inside of the bottom cabinets.  The drawers will be in and nobody will be able to see it.  Soo…

I can’t even begin to tell how many times I thought of the guy charging buckoo dollars to paint the cabinets, and how he would’ve earned every penny.  I still wouldn’t pay it, but it does require an obscene amount of work.  I’m really glad I didn’t think it all through before I started, I may not have started.  Ever.  But I’m reeealllly glad I did.

So, after all of that… how do ratings affect your purchases?

Happy Friday, ya’ll!

Hey there!  This week has been a tough one for me; Damon is flying home (yet again!) today.  He’s been gone waaay too much lately, and I miss him.  After posting about how gratefully overwhelmed I’ve been, I started to feel the not so lovely-dovey, stressed out kind of overwhelmed.  It’s been weeks of not having him with me; I don’t like it very much.  Even if it does make me realize how blessed I am to have him, which in-turn makes me feel very grateful.  A sweet little circle story, I suppose.  But still.. I’d like him home.

There are things that just don’t get done when he’s gone.  Like – he’s the giver of vitamins in the morning.  When he comes home and asks, “Did the kids have their vitamins?”  (Not that he does this every week, he must know by now what the answer will be.) I bury my head behind my hands before ashamedly answering… “ooohhh.. I forgot.”  He’s so good about that morning ritual.  I’m good about my coffee (that’s so horrible)!  Maybe when the kitchen is back to order I’ll set up a ‘morning stuff” station and work really hard at making sure they get them.  We’ll put that on the list, right above watering the plant (that I haven’t purchased yet).

I’ve applied the first topcoat of paint to the cabinets, (I’ll post pics tomorrow) and I really like how they’re coming along.  I wanted to be done, done by the time Damon got home today; it just ain’t gonna happen peeps.  But we’re almost there.  Almost.

We’re also prepping for a Yard Sale around here, and all I can say is “yipppeeee!”  I cannot wait to finally clear out part of the garage!  Making a little extra cash won’t be so bad either.  Here’s to hoping we have a good turn out! {Cheers!}

Lately I’ve been feeling very overwhelmed (in a very good way) by all that I have been given.  This has been a favorite song of mine for a few years, and I wanted to share it with you today.  :)

Yesterday we had severe thunderstorm warnings around these parts.  I don’t like them!  Especially when Damon is travelling, and he is.  Well, was.  (He’s flying home today, Mom!)  She’s forbidden me to post anywhere about when Damon is gone.  And for some reason, he’s gone a lot when we have storms.  Hm.  Anyway..  I have learned that a thunderstorm warning is different than the tornado kind, although it’s taken almost a year to get there.    I’m still not cool with all the crazy weather, (mostly the wind, the wind scares me) but I have felt a lot safer since we got our weather radio.

Damon jokes that I have it programmed for the entire state of Tennessee.  Trust me Mister.. if I thought it would help, I so would.  You know me.  I do have it programmed for surrounding counties, and so sometimes it goes off even when we aren’t affected that much.  Better safe than sorry, I say.  BUT… I think it’s taken a toll on Jude.  Yesterday while we were shooting a segment of the Jude show (I haven’t shared about that on here yet) it went off and the poor kid froze.  Like completely.  I knew it was fine because I had already received an alert on my phone, (yup, I get those too!)  but his eyes got big and he didn’t move and was silent for a few moments and then said.. “I wonder what kind of storm it is.  We should go check it Mama.”  It made my heart sad.  I did that to him.  I’m kind of glad he takes it seriously, because in the event that it NEED to be taken seriously, I know he will.  But I’m sad because he’s 4 and shouldn’t have to be paranoid about stuff like that.  I don’t like having to worry about the weather.  It stresses me out.

Speaking of being stressed.  I need more plants!  Did you know that plants have been proven to reduce your heart rate just by looking at them??  I read this and then thought about how many plants we have in our house.  One.  One single plant.  How many do you have?

For a girl who misses, and looks forward to having all the green leaves back on the trees in Spring, that’s pathetic.

Here’s the thing… I’ve got black thumbs.  And eight black fingers.  I don’t know how to keep plants alive.  Although.. I have had that lonely plant up there for a few years and it’s still kickin’.  Kinda. :/

I learned (as I’m sure you all did) at a very young age that plants are living things, but for some reason… I don’t treat them like they are.  I feed my family.  I feed my dog- sometimes. :/  Thankfully, he doesn’t forget to remind me.  A few fish have met their demise on my watch, but other than that.. I work hard to keep the people and pets I’m responsible for, safe and alive.  Plants for some reason don’t fit into that category for me.  I mean.. if a tornado flew through, I wouldn’t snatch them before running to safety like I would my kids or dog, but they are living things and deserve to be nurtured and watered.

I think I’m gonna try really hard to keep another one (one is a good number to start with) alive.  What about you?  Are you good with plants?

I hope you all have a happy Friday!  I’m off to plant a kiss on my husband!

I’m sitting here staring out the window at the gloomy sky.  {sigh.}  I have so much painting to do, but really don’t like painting when its humid.  And it. is. humid today!  It makes me nervous.  I’m sure it can be done, but the can says not to, and I’m all for following the directions on the can.  What to do, what to do?

I should clean.

I don’t want to clean.

I need to keep busy doing something crafty.  Crafty projects keep me from snacking too much.  Cleaning makes me snack more.  Does it do this to you too?  It’s more of a boring busy thing than an exciting one, and I definitely eat when I’m bored.

I just opened the back door to take this picture of the sky to share with you.

Alvin who was ‘sleeping’ by the front door (I think he fake sleeps more than he real sleeps!) came racing to the back door and almost took my leg out trying to get out of the house.  I had to grab him and pull him back if I didn’t want to be chasing him all around the neighborhood.  He almost ripped my hand off, but that’s a daily thing. Keeping him trapped while I snapped was tricky because those birds were taunting him I tell you.  Look at those ears!  He was on alert!

 Then I ran upstairs to grab my camera cord and came racing back down and tripped over Jude’s big wheel he placed at the bottom of the steps to catch bad guys. (I guess today I’m the bad guy.)  It just may be one of those days.

Especially because I’m hearing the toys talking to me.  Maybe we’ve been watching too much Doc McStuffins.  I don’t know.  But I heard someone calling.. “heeelp.  heeelp.”  And when I turned around, I saw this…

Oh, little horsey.. do you need help?

Horsey: “Yes, please.  All this recycling is pushing me right off the counter.”

Why yes, yes it is.  How rude.   Here ya goo..

He’s better now.

On a less crazy note – we’re finally buying primer for (almost) the whole house!!  Painting it all will be a task for sure, but an exciting one.  I plan on posting before pictures, I know I haven’t posted many.. I think that’s because I’m not a fan of the colors.  They are nice, lots of people like them, I just prefer it to be brighter.  And we are going brighter!  Light gray! Or as Damon calls it… white.  :/  It’s so not.

Peace out.  <3

Good Morning!  For the first time in a long time, I woke up (before my alarm!) feeling completely rested and ready for the day.   It’s such a good feeling.  :)  But once the day got started, I felt myself begin to worry.  Lots of things going on, and if there is one thing I am… it’s a worrier.  I like to plan and know that things are going to run smoothly.  I realize that it can’t always happen.. there is always going to be something.. but I like to be as prepared as possible.  This morning as I was reading Jesus Calling, it calmed me.  It said… “I am always with you, so you have no reason to be afraid.  Your fear often manifests itself in excessive planning.  Your  mind is so accustomed to this pattern of thinking that you are only now becoming aware of how pervasive it is and how much it hinders your intimacy with Me.”  It’s so true.  I need to learn to rest in Him in ALL things.

I know this may sound a bit weird, but I feel that way about sewing, too.

I try to plan projects as well as possible.  I worry that they won’t turn out right.  I tell myself that I don’t sew well, that I don’t really understand it, and I hold off on starting.  All of that worry and doubt hinders me.  But when I finally start to believe that I can do it, and sit down to begin – it welcomes me.  It accepts me back, without condemnation.  Just like God.  My sewing doesn’t have to be perfect.  I don’t have to be perfect.  Perfect isn’t achievable, and I know this.  I’ve learned this in a lot of other areas of life, but for some reason it lingers when it comes to sewing.  I feel it before every project.  I wish I knew why.

Here is my latest imperfectly-cute-I’m-happy-that-I-did-it laptop sleeve.

If you’d like to make one too, the instructions can be found, here.

And may you “Let the radiance of His Glory shine upon you, as you wait on Him in confident trust.” – Sarah Young  :)

Today is windy and chilly and perfect for getting these cabinets painted. FINALLY!!!

In case you don’t remember, this whole project started at the beginning of February.  We’re coming up on the end of April and I think I’ve officially pushed my husband passed the point of crazy.  He’s been so patient.  Or as he says, silently patient.  (He’s a trooper!)  But when I’m frustrated with not having them finished, I know he’s beyond done.  (Sorry Babycakes.)

From the beginning…

(And.. just so we get this out of the way, you’re gonna see messes.  I didn’t even begin to try to clean anything before taking photos because there is nowhere to go with anything!)

This is a before photo.  I think we may have been in the house a week or two.  Or a month, hm.

Lets speed it up to a few months ago..  and this is after the doors were off and everything was sanded..

This is the 1st coat of primer on the top cabinets.  I know the photo is really bad, but I really like how its starting to brighten up!   And, I think  it instantly makes the appliances a bit more expensive looking.  Do you think that too?

Here is both top and bottom after one coat of primer.  Don’t worry about what it looks like at this point.  The job of the primer is to adhere, not to look pretty.  :)

And now we sand, again.   At this point its all light sanding, but lots of it… especially if you want a super smooth finish.  I used a 220 grit sandpaper (used for between coats) to get rid of all the little bumps.  ’Tis messy business.

And while we’re on the subject….  WHAAAAAAT was I thinking?!!?!?  Why did I think I could get through this project with minimal sanding?!?  I’m crazy!  That’s all there is to it!  It’s nothing but sanding, cleaning up the dust, painting.  Sanding, cleaning up the dust, painting.  But ya know, as much I dislike sanding… it was tranquil.  (I think I may have even enjoyed smoothing out all that roughness, but don’t tell anyone.)

Up to this point, I had been ignoring the shelves.  But if we want to get it all finished, shelves are important, sooo…

it was time to take this project outside!  And while we’re here…

The garage is also driving us crazy!!!  I take full responsibility because, well.. I have to.  It’s my mess.  :/   It also happens to be where all of our kitchen has currently been placed.    Also, yes.. as in there is lots of stuff in there making messes that you can’t see.  It’s horrible.  After the kitchen I really want to tackle it and get it all organized.  HOWEVER… our pantry is a hot, hot mess right now too!  Our dog has torn up the floor in there and it is such a sad sight.  I have to say, when he started doing it, I didn’t exactly  try to stop him because I secretly wanted to stencil the floor.  And that is all I’m going to say about that.  Back to the kitchen.  :)

There you have it from Jude’s viewpoint.  (He’s a budding photographer, that one.)  Here you see two coats of primer.  Doesn’t it make such a difference?  Alycia kindly pointed out that I forgot to paint under the top cabinets.  I soooo did!!!! :/  I don’t know how I missed it.  I had to have thought about it, that’s why there is tape along the bottom of the cabinets.  I think I have a spot in brain where  thoughts get captured and never return.  Do you have a spot like that?  I’m going to wait until the top coat goes on and I get the shelves back in until I worry about it though.  I need to restore order to this house, and that won’t happen until the shelves are in their proper place!

I really really like how bright it is.

Do you have anything you’re brightening up?

· · · — — — · · ·

I’m stuck, guys.  Completely stalled.  I just can’t figure her room out.  And every day for the past week or so, I’ve gone in there… sat down, pondered, moved some things around, and walked out as stuck as when I walked in.  It’s just not coming together the way I want it to.  I’m not really great at the actual design part.  I can see items and figure out different ways to use them.  I can transform them.  I just have a really hard time putting it all together!  Like, really hard!  So instead of struggling over this all by myself, I thought I’d ask for help!  Help me, please!!

This is what it looks like now.

Above the ‘you look gorgeous’, I want to hang a big black and white photo of Alycia having fun or being silly.

My problem is… its not balanced, and I don’t like it.  Those double doors are the closet, so we can’t have anything blocking them from opening.  The space there is about 11.5 inches in depth.

I tried this, and I think I like it better.. but it’s still not balanced.  Too tall.

Excuse the mess.  I was trying to get to the floor and throwing stuff wherever I could.  But it’s all better now.  The entire floor, including the closet, which hasn’t seen the light of day in a very long time, is clean!  {Happy Mama Dance!}

I think I’m making things more difficult because my mind is having a hard time letting go of this…

mainly because I created it to be together!  I wanted to give her a vanity, remember?  Since then, though, we’ve moved all makeup to the bathroom, where it can be cleaned off the floor much easier.  Soooo…. I don’t know what to do!  I’m still working.  What do you think?   Any suggestions?

She also has a futon in her room.  It currently has a rip in it..

and I’m thinking I’ll cover it with this…

That other fabric is possible pillows.  What do you think?

Any and all opinions, suggestions and/or questions are welcome!

· · · — — — · · ·

Happy Monday!  I don’t know about you, but the weather here today is gooooorgeous!  I wish I could share it with everyone!

(I wrote that yesterday but didn’t manage to get this post published.  Oh well.)

Here is another teeny tiny sneak peak at Alycia’s room.  I’m still plugging away at a bunch of little things in there, but I’m thinking I’d like to pace myself and try not to put stuff in there just to fill it.  I think it’ll make it more personal that way, don’t you?

Waaaay back before Christmas, we were looking around World Market and Alycia found some bangles that she really liked (they have some cute jewelry!).  I didn’t get them then, but I went back later (without her) and picked up a bunch for her stocking.

Knowing that they probably needed a home if I didn’t want them lost in less than a week, I picked up this old mug rack and candle holder for about $1 at the ReStore.  (I’m still loving that place!)

I really liked that the base of the mug rack was small enough to fit inside the candle holder.  I glued them together with E6000 and spruced them up with white spray paint.

And even though this JUST got done, we managed to keep track of most of them!

I’m gonna try to get some good, morning light shots of her room and get them posted.  We’ll see how it goes.

Hope ya’ll enjoy your day!!

I’ve had a can of magnetic primer sitting around for a few months.  I’ve had so many things I’ve wanted to use it on..  but kinda knew I was saving it for Miss Alycia.  She’s at that age where she wants things on her walls, and the flexibility to swap them out on a whim.  (The gazillion tiny tack holes that I filled in before painting was evidence of that. ) I wanted to give her almost an entire wall…

Oh wait… I forgot the before… here it is..

It was pink.  Pink to a teen is a little girl color.  At least this pink is.  And I needed to make it feel like a super cool teen hangout spot.  Can we say pressure?

When you ask her what her favorite color is, the list keeps going.. which I love!  I’m a color girl too, so I’m all down for not being able to decide on a fav.  But.. green always topped the list, and she wanted a green room.  Tough, tough, tough.  I wanted her to have ALL of her favorite colors.. and the flexibility to put whatever she wanted in there and have it feel like it belonged.  Soooo.. I ended up going with Frost by Martha Stewart.

Damon was all like (in a very nice way)… “it looks nice, but I’m confused.  She asked for green and it’s not green.”  I felt bad.  And then I worried.  And then I talked to myself.  :/  What if she doesn’t like it?  I should have painted it green.  Why do I do this?  It’s not my room.  I should have just painted it the color she asked for.  

She loved it!  She really liked the color!  And it does feel very much like a super cool teen color.  Whew!  {Big sigh of relief!}

Okay.. back to magnets…

After reading the back of the can, I realized that I couldn’t cover the space I wanted with one can.  It covered a 16 sqft space.. so I moved the tape in, and really pushed it by doing 18 sqft.  :/

In that picture, you see three thin coats of primer.  I did one more after that.  I think I did mine thinner than I should have because I should have only had enough in the can for three coats covering a 16 sqft space.  I tested out the strength with a magnet after each coat and even after four.. you still need some pretty strong magnets!

If you plan on using magnetic primer, wait to buy it until the day you plan to use it!

Like I mentioned, I had this can sitting around for a few months, so before I opened it.. I shook it like a mad woman!  Once it was open I tried stirring it, but there was a big lump sitting at the bottom of the can that I could not for the life of me break up!!

Can you see it?  It was a big fat lump of magnetic stubbornness!  I was going to try and lift it out with my stir stick to get a better picture.. but decided based on my clumsiness, especially if I didn’t want to be wearing it, it wasn’t a great idea.

I re-read the instructions, thinking maybe this is something that happens and there is something special that I need to be doing.  Nope.  BUT.. the can does say to shake it in an electric mixer or stir thoroughly for 10-15 minutes.  I tried the stirring part.. it didn’t work.  So I took it back to Lowes and they were kind enough to shake it in the electric shaker for me.  Not even the high speed, violent shaking of the mixer could break apart whatever was going on in there!  This product is supposed to have a five year shelf life.. so they called it defective and gave me a new one.  They shook it all up for me.. and I came home and used it immediately.

I don’t know if it was truly defective.. or it was because it was sitting around for a while.. either way.. if I bought this again, I would wait until the day I planned to use it, juuuust so they could shake it for me before I go home.  :)

Here is a pic of the top coat going on…

It covered really well.

And here it is all done, with posters already up!

Yup… Twilight and Hunger Games.    While she was hanging them, she asked… “which side (of the poster) do you like better?”  And I’m like.. “definitely that one!”  It feels very strange that we both like these books/movies.  Now I kind of know how Damon felt when we were listening to a new album he bought and Alycia knew one of the songs.  He said.. “I don’t know how I feel about us both liking the same music.”  It’s strange, people.  Very strange.

Anyway.. Damon thinks the magnetic wall would look really cool framed out.  I’m on the fence.  What do you think?