I suddenly realized a couple things this afternoon: first and foremost how long it's been since I came back to this blog to see what's happening with visitors, secondly that I get a lot of traffic at this blog so instead of moving it, I'm going to link it to my homepage and other blogs once I figure out how and third, how much Pinterest has inspired me and the number of projects I've done because of Pinterest. With the growing popularity I need to get with the program.
I am now maintaining 3 other blogs on my own website and that's a lot of work when you consider that I'm still completing my degree in web design and will soon be working outside the home part time. If there was ever a time to get and stay organized, it's now. I think I need to have a set day for each blog to be updated weekly instead of doing so randomly as I find the time.
I will be doing some research this evening and tomorrow to figure out the best way to add a permalink to my website and vise versa because I'm not entirely sure you can redirect traffic that's already coming to a blogger site without constantly maintaining a link. As soon as I have it figured out, I'll post back. I have a ton of new Pinterest inspirations to share as well so you will be seeing more of me soon!
Friday, July 18, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
New look!
Sorry for the surprise format change but I wanted to brighten things up. I will likely be changing things up again as I am considering moving my blog to my own webhosting account. I am a little miffed that Google won't allow me to use adsense so why promote for someone else's financial gain when you can drive business to your own business. I am a newbie to web design but learning things very fast. I'm a quick study and a big believer in diving in head first. I know that's a complete shock to my readers.
I have toyed with the idea of using my hosting account to create a whole new world of blogging. It wouldn't be interest specific because I think it's awesome to have lots of diverse contributors. I personally have a huge range of interests. Even if I would never do something I would still read about it and think on it. I definitely will link my current blog to my website and vise versa until I make that decision. It's a big commitment and I'm unsure what direction I am taking. Either way, it's always smarter to diversify your interests and create as many streams of interest as possible. It's just a daunting task to link up all my online affiliations. Not that I have multiple personalities but I used to set up email accounts for specific purposes or just on a whim. I need to sort through and disable some. I have done my best to link up my most used accounts but I'm far from finished. I just keep plugging away.
So FYI if you are linked to RSS and it takes you some place new, don't panic. It's just me in a new spot.
I have toyed with the idea of using my hosting account to create a whole new world of blogging. It wouldn't be interest specific because I think it's awesome to have lots of diverse contributors. I personally have a huge range of interests. Even if I would never do something I would still read about it and think on it. I definitely will link my current blog to my website and vise versa until I make that decision. It's a big commitment and I'm unsure what direction I am taking. Either way, it's always smarter to diversify your interests and create as many streams of interest as possible. It's just a daunting task to link up all my online affiliations. Not that I have multiple personalities but I used to set up email accounts for specific purposes or just on a whim. I need to sort through and disable some. I have done my best to link up my most used accounts but I'm far from finished. I just keep plugging away.
So FYI if you are linked to RSS and it takes you some place new, don't panic. It's just me in a new spot.
Making a custom backsplash
As with most things in my life, I always seem to need to be unique. I don't do average, normal, popular, common or anything else that everyone else is doing when it comes to making my home appealing for me. I look for ways to use unusual products or ideas and incorporate things that make me happy. I had looked at hundreds of backsplashes to decide what texture and visual I was going for. I had settled on glass for it's personal appeal and color variety. There are too many objects and possibilities to list everything you could use for this most personal of projects. I knew I wanted rich color, brilliant shine and unique shapes for this. I checked out sea glass first but everything available was thin and seriously rough textured. It wasn't what I had in mind. I spend too much time perusing the commercial options online and locally but didn't see anything that caught my eye. I was sitting at my computer multitasking (that's what I call work mixed with facebook and shopping) when I happened to think about the different forms glass comes in. I was thinking about those large, smooth, flat pebbles you can buy at the craft store to use in plantscaping and candle jars. That led me to think about glass stones. I wondered if anyone local carried the larger ones. Sure enough, Michaels does! So off I went to dream in color at my local store. Oh the blues, the greens, the reds, the purples...good thing I knew that I wanted to stay in the ocean theme for the sake of my fish shaped sink. What ever material you choose, here's a sweet way to lay it all out and get it into place painlessly. Home Depot carried fiberglass mesh in a 6" wide roll. It's something like 75' long but only costs a few dollars so it doesn't matter if you never use it all. It's slightly self-adhesive but you will need to use additional spray adhesive or craft glue to get things to stick well enough to be able to lift it up and put it in place on your wall space. This worked out so well for me considering that I had 5 shades of glass in various sizes and I wanted to lay it out perfectly before I made a mess with mastic.
At this point, I got really nervous. It was just so...busy. I got over my panic attack and forged ahead. Sometimes you just gotta shove that pill down your throat to get where you want to be. If nothing else, it would be totally unique. I was super nervous about the chocolate grout but I had to have that continuity in design or the backsplash wouldn't work with the marble tile. I put all that behind me once I started grouting.I did have the foresight to tape off everything else before I started.
I let this grout set up for almost two hours because it was really thick and needed that extra set up time. Striking it was like dipping a toddler in melted chocolate and having to clean her off with only spit and tissues and without the aid of a shower or bath tub (or lake or ocean or rain). I am not kidding at all here. It took me an hour for the first pass. I let it set for another hour and then went back at it for another hour. I finally finished it up by cleaning off each individual glass stone, carving back and smoothing the grout until I was pleased with the look.
This came out so genuinely lovely. I don't know why I am always so surprised that I actually like the finished project but I stood and stared at this for hours. I kept going back to the bathroom and just staring. Just so so beautiful. It's actually better than I had imagined.
My original plan was to box in the tile edge with oak and stain it really dark, same as the vanity. I then considered using an edge tile but was too limited by the small amount of space between the top of the tile and where the drawers needed to fit back in. I also wanted to keep this part low key considering that I'd gone all royal on the backsplash. A final rundown on the whole vanity project,not including the rest of the room: I made a drawer for the center dummy panel because it was so wide and so much wasted space. It ended up being more than big enough for what little makeup and facial crap I keep. I am currently building slide out bins for all the stuff that ends up under the sink. I have the mirror all framed with colonial trim and I'll cover that in my next installment.
My original plan was to box in the tile edge with oak and stain it really dark, same as the vanity. I then considered using an edge tile but was too limited by the small amount of space between the top of the tile and where the drawers needed to fit back in. I also wanted to keep this part low key considering that I'd gone all royal on the backsplash. A final rundown on the whole vanity project,not including the rest of the room: I made a drawer for the center dummy panel because it was so wide and so much wasted space. It ended up being more than big enough for what little makeup and facial crap I keep. I am currently building slide out bins for all the stuff that ends up under the sink. I have the mirror all framed with colonial trim and I'll cover that in my next installment.
The bathroom renovation
Now I'm going to backtrack and show off the renovation to date. I just had to get the sink/plumbing details out of the way first. Here is a quick comparison of what I started with and where I am today.
I have now accepted that the only real fun part of a project is the dreaming. I thoroughly enjoy the dream state where I come up with all these lovely plans and fill in the details with mental and physical trips to the home improvement store. I get a little excited about demo work but I actual despise it because I cannot get through it without at least a couple broken nails and multiple booboos. On this one, I thought I broken my pinky, sliced open my palm and now have a lovely scar up the inside of my right wrist compliments of an unseen screw tip. Removing a Corian counter top is not for the faint of heart. You really must be ruthless and mean because there is no nice way about it. If I had a sledgehammer, I surely would have just used that and gotten it over with. After enormous amounts of pulling and whacking with a hammer, I finally loosened it enough to slide it forward and off the vanity. Who knew that shit was so heavy?!
As you can see, it's quite massive for a single sink vanity. I couldn't be happier to say goodbye to that ugly outcrop above the toilet which was heavily "re-engineered" to make toilet tank access easier by some previous homeowner. Next I removed the doors, drawers and toilet paper holder. I carefully scraped the adhesive from the wall and made sure everything loose was gone before patching the walls. Matching this unique texture on the walls has taken me some time. I had to first figure out how it was done then try to successfully duplicate it. I think I've done acceptably well. When painted over, you can't tell where the pros stopped and I repaired.
The first thing I needed to do was get a new sturdy base on the top to support the marble tile. I went with regular OSB because it's inexpensive and easy to cut. I then added a 1/4 inch thick piece of tile board to give extra support and water resistance. I used the extra strong Liquid Nails to adhere the OSB and screwed the tile board to that. You really want a strong surface to lay tile on so the grout and tile don't crack. Lay your tile for a dry run first and, once you are happy with the look and pattern (yes marble tile needs to find it's visual appeal because the veins run through at various angles), mark where you need to cut for your faucet and sink. Drill or cut your holes in the substrate first.
Using my tile saw and a diamond blade for the smoothest cut, I sliced several lines to my mark and broke them out with tile nips. After my dry run, I spread my mastic and laid the tile in place. It's imperative that you level each tile as you go and make sure your mastic is distributed evenly. If not, your tiles will sink from their own weight and you won't realize this until you are getting ready to grout. You want each tile to meet on the same level and you need to have grout lines that are uniform and straight. I always let my mastic set up a full 24 hours. I decided to go with minimal grout width and used unsanded grout in chocolate.
Make sure you press your grout fully into each gap so there are no voids to collapse afterward. Don't smear more grout on that necessary because you'll just make a bigger mess to clean up with it's time to strike it. I prefer to let my grout set about twice as long as the package recommends and here's why: The grout isn't going to harden completely in an hour and since you didn't slather on grout like basting babyback ribs, it won't be difficult to clean up. I find I have less of a tendency to over-strike my grout if it's had more time to set up. I like my grout lines full and level, not sunken in. You can experiment until you figure out what works for you but I've done enough tile over the years to know what I like and what looks better when it's done. I am severe OCD so any flaws will drive me to drink. I taped off with blue painters tape before installing my custom backsplash which I will follow up with in the next installment.
The first thing I needed to do was get a new sturdy base on the top to support the marble tile. I went with regular OSB because it's inexpensive and easy to cut. I then added a 1/4 inch thick piece of tile board to give extra support and water resistance. I used the extra strong Liquid Nails to adhere the OSB and screwed the tile board to that. You really want a strong surface to lay tile on so the grout and tile don't crack. Lay your tile for a dry run first and, once you are happy with the look and pattern (yes marble tile needs to find it's visual appeal because the veins run through at various angles), mark where you need to cut for your faucet and sink. Drill or cut your holes in the substrate first.
Using my tile saw and a diamond blade for the smoothest cut, I sliced several lines to my mark and broke them out with tile nips. After my dry run, I spread my mastic and laid the tile in place. It's imperative that you level each tile as you go and make sure your mastic is distributed evenly. If not, your tiles will sink from their own weight and you won't realize this until you are getting ready to grout. You want each tile to meet on the same level and you need to have grout lines that are uniform and straight. I always let my mastic set up a full 24 hours. I decided to go with minimal grout width and used unsanded grout in chocolate.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Favorite homemade cleaner
I will readily admit that I have spent hundreds, no thousands, of dollars in my lifetime on cleaning products that smell good, have pretty labels, look cool in addition to being very overpriced. They all contain propaganda in their labeling of one type or another. I won't go into detail on which brands were the most misleading and disappointing because I'd be typing for days and this is my birthday and I have other things to do. My quest to find an "all purpose" cleaner that works, is cheap and has a tolerable smell has been years long. I've had marginal success with laundry solutions of which I have settled on a rather strong mixture to combat the extremely high mineral and pollutant content of our water here in Las Vegas. I do like making my own and it's works better than any commercially available product but the cost is higher than your basic homemade version because I have to add oxyclean to get good results. It's a messy proposition so I tend to make massive batches to last 6 months or more.
My homemade stain remover isn't really homemade. It's actually Dawn dishwashing liquid. It does work better than anything else I've tried and I don't have to buy a special product for a single purpose. In our water climate, the mixture of Dawn and peroxide does nothing for armpit stains or yellowed whites as touted on Pinterest but it does remove spots of grease and makeup. I have found that a heavy concentration of super hot water, half a cup of Dawn and a cup of bleach removes some of the mineral buildup in white bath linens but you have to follow that up with a white vinegar rinse to remove the soap residue.
I have my own recipes for beauty products that I like very much and they are super cheap. Coconut oil is the best moisturizer if you apply it generously to wet skin right after showering. I don't add anything to it for fragrance because everything makes me sneeze or gives me hives. I buy powdered bentonite clay on Ebay from Michigan for my special weekly facial mask. I pulverize oatmeal in big batches for use in this mask as well as for bath soak and my waffle recipe. I use a teaspoon each of clay, oatmeal, wildflower honey and greek yogurt and add milk until I get a smooth pudding-like paste. I use a small natural bristle basting brush to spread it over my face, neck and chest. I use this once a week removing it with tepid water and resist the urge to apply moisturizer afterward because it's actually overkill. It provides intense soothing, moisturizing and nourishing support for my aging skin. I've perfected this mask through trial and error and found it to be the very best one yet. Been using it for about a year now.
I have come to love the vinegar and Listerine foot soak if for no other reason than it really does make callous management easier and it's the fastest way to conquer a toenail fungus (which I am prone to because I abused my toenails with acrylics for years). I add a little lavender Castille liquid soap for fragrance and to combat how drying it actually is for your skin. I then proceed to slather my feet with coconut oil and cover with large baggies for about 20 minutes. It all helps.
Now for my actual favorite homemade cleaning solution. I saved the best for last. Truly. I was searching for a way to clean my laminate flooring without leaving a streaky, sticky residue. I found a few recipes on Pinterest but the best one ended up being a combination of Pinterest recipes and manufacturers recommendations. Here it comes...Get yourself an empty gallon milk jug because you will want to have this on hand for frequent use. The original recipe called for equal parts water, white vinegar and rubbing alcohol with a squirt of lemon essential oil. That recipe was tweaked by manufactures that recommend a lower alcohol concentration and no essential oils but rather actual lemon juice. I've made this nine ways to Sunday and finally figured out the perfect balance to satisfy my multipurpose brain. Here you have my tried and tested result. To the gallon jug add the following items in no particular order: 2 quarts of water, 1 and 1/2 quart of white vinegar, 16 ounces of 70% isopropyl alcohol and one teaspoon of Dawn dish washing liquid. You can add half a cup of lemon juice from a bottle of concentrate but I don't think it works as well. Here is what I do for the lemon additive. I quarter two plumb fresh lemons and throw them in my Ninja blender and pulse it until the lemons are completely pureed. I have a permanent coffee filter that doesn't fit my cup at a time coffee maker that gets a workout as a strainer for lots of things but works exceptionally well for this. You can use a fine tea strainer too but you don't want any pulp to clog your sprayer. It takes a while for all the juices and oils from the lemon to strain through so be patient. I set mine in a large measuring cup held above the liquid line with a skewer and just let it drip for half an hour. I add this highly fragrant liquid to the rest of my ingredients in the gallon jug. Don't shake it up. Invert the jug a couple times and let it mix itself. Fill a spray bottle and get ready to be amazed with yourself. For floor cleaning, just use a Swiffer with the dry cloth. Spray floors in 3x3 foot sections and swipe until it starts to dry on it's own. No streaks, no residue and no grime left behind. Change your cloth as it gets soiled. I can usually get about 200 square feet out of each one but I'm combating the slobber monster Sully so you may use fewer. I keep a spray bottle full and a Swiffer handy just to keep up with the dog. Okay so now that you are thoroughly blown away, here is the most amazing things about this cleaning solution. It works fantastically on mirrors and windows or anything else that's glass. It's gentle enough for regular use on eye glasses with expensive coatings too. I use it to clean my stainless steel appliances because it removes greasy finger prints and films leaving nothing but shine behind. There are a myriad of uses for this cleaner because it's strong yet gentle and natural. The real kicker is that Dawn dish washing liquid repels insects like ants, spiders and other creepy crawlies. It also reduces fogging on bathroom mirrors and eye glasses. Most of the ingredients are in fact insect repellant so if you have children and pets, it's a much safer alternative to dangerous pesticides. It was never a consideration for me until we acquired Sully but now it's become paramount. You know how various objects in your house get touched repeatedly and you suddenly notice that they look like they've been on the front table of a kindergarten classroom? Like your printer, your cell phone, your computer desk, etc. Spray and wipe. Done. I bought a bundle of soft cotton diapers just for cleaning but you can use whatever fancy cloths you may have picked up for this purpose. Just a hint here: if you don't like the smell of lemons just use regular lemon juice from concentrate because it's less fragrant but you won't get the cleaning power that I get. Now off I go to enjoy the first day of my last year in the 40's...
My homemade stain remover isn't really homemade. It's actually Dawn dishwashing liquid. It does work better than anything else I've tried and I don't have to buy a special product for a single purpose. In our water climate, the mixture of Dawn and peroxide does nothing for armpit stains or yellowed whites as touted on Pinterest but it does remove spots of grease and makeup. I have found that a heavy concentration of super hot water, half a cup of Dawn and a cup of bleach removes some of the mineral buildup in white bath linens but you have to follow that up with a white vinegar rinse to remove the soap residue.
I have my own recipes for beauty products that I like very much and they are super cheap. Coconut oil is the best moisturizer if you apply it generously to wet skin right after showering. I don't add anything to it for fragrance because everything makes me sneeze or gives me hives. I buy powdered bentonite clay on Ebay from Michigan for my special weekly facial mask. I pulverize oatmeal in big batches for use in this mask as well as for bath soak and my waffle recipe. I use a teaspoon each of clay, oatmeal, wildflower honey and greek yogurt and add milk until I get a smooth pudding-like paste. I use a small natural bristle basting brush to spread it over my face, neck and chest. I use this once a week removing it with tepid water and resist the urge to apply moisturizer afterward because it's actually overkill. It provides intense soothing, moisturizing and nourishing support for my aging skin. I've perfected this mask through trial and error and found it to be the very best one yet. Been using it for about a year now.
I have come to love the vinegar and Listerine foot soak if for no other reason than it really does make callous management easier and it's the fastest way to conquer a toenail fungus (which I am prone to because I abused my toenails with acrylics for years). I add a little lavender Castille liquid soap for fragrance and to combat how drying it actually is for your skin. I then proceed to slather my feet with coconut oil and cover with large baggies for about 20 minutes. It all helps.
Now for my actual favorite homemade cleaning solution. I saved the best for last. Truly. I was searching for a way to clean my laminate flooring without leaving a streaky, sticky residue. I found a few recipes on Pinterest but the best one ended up being a combination of Pinterest recipes and manufacturers recommendations. Here it comes...Get yourself an empty gallon milk jug because you will want to have this on hand for frequent use. The original recipe called for equal parts water, white vinegar and rubbing alcohol with a squirt of lemon essential oil. That recipe was tweaked by manufactures that recommend a lower alcohol concentration and no essential oils but rather actual lemon juice. I've made this nine ways to Sunday and finally figured out the perfect balance to satisfy my multipurpose brain. Here you have my tried and tested result. To the gallon jug add the following items in no particular order: 2 quarts of water, 1 and 1/2 quart of white vinegar, 16 ounces of 70% isopropyl alcohol and one teaspoon of Dawn dish washing liquid. You can add half a cup of lemon juice from a bottle of concentrate but I don't think it works as well. Here is what I do for the lemon additive. I quarter two plumb fresh lemons and throw them in my Ninja blender and pulse it until the lemons are completely pureed. I have a permanent coffee filter that doesn't fit my cup at a time coffee maker that gets a workout as a strainer for lots of things but works exceptionally well for this. You can use a fine tea strainer too but you don't want any pulp to clog your sprayer. It takes a while for all the juices and oils from the lemon to strain through so be patient. I set mine in a large measuring cup held above the liquid line with a skewer and just let it drip for half an hour. I add this highly fragrant liquid to the rest of my ingredients in the gallon jug. Don't shake it up. Invert the jug a couple times and let it mix itself. Fill a spray bottle and get ready to be amazed with yourself. For floor cleaning, just use a Swiffer with the dry cloth. Spray floors in 3x3 foot sections and swipe until it starts to dry on it's own. No streaks, no residue and no grime left behind. Change your cloth as it gets soiled. I can usually get about 200 square feet out of each one but I'm combating the slobber monster Sully so you may use fewer. I keep a spray bottle full and a Swiffer handy just to keep up with the dog. Okay so now that you are thoroughly blown away, here is the most amazing things about this cleaning solution. It works fantastically on mirrors and windows or anything else that's glass. It's gentle enough for regular use on eye glasses with expensive coatings too. I use it to clean my stainless steel appliances because it removes greasy finger prints and films leaving nothing but shine behind. There are a myriad of uses for this cleaner because it's strong yet gentle and natural. The real kicker is that Dawn dish washing liquid repels insects like ants, spiders and other creepy crawlies. It also reduces fogging on bathroom mirrors and eye glasses. Most of the ingredients are in fact insect repellant so if you have children and pets, it's a much safer alternative to dangerous pesticides. It was never a consideration for me until we acquired Sully but now it's become paramount. You know how various objects in your house get touched repeatedly and you suddenly notice that they look like they've been on the front table of a kindergarten classroom? Like your printer, your cell phone, your computer desk, etc. Spray and wipe. Done. I bought a bundle of soft cotton diapers just for cleaning but you can use whatever fancy cloths you may have picked up for this purpose. Just a hint here: if you don't like the smell of lemons just use regular lemon juice from concentrate because it's less fragrant but you won't get the cleaning power that I get. Now off I go to enjoy the first day of my last year in the 40's...
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Living on the edge...
Yeah yeah I know. It's been a really long time since I logged in, posted a blog and yada yada yada. I'm inconsistent. I've been immersed in school since October and I've been trying to balance life as a dog momma, a full time student and the only person interested in keeping us from starvation, or worse, being buried alive in our own stench. I had an epiphany of sorts early in the fall after a summer trip home to attend my sons wedding and meet my first grand child. We hadn't been back to Maine in almost two years and it was an eye opener. I'm still not sure whether it was the change of scenery and comparing the two very different lifestyles and surroundings or if things really had just deteriorated that much in our old home towns. I lived in the capitol of Augusta for ten years after growing up in rural northwestern Maine. It was shocking how run down and unkempt the area appears to be these days. Anywho, upon returning to Vegas and work, I felt sort of...um, depressed? I question that emotion or state of mind simply because I don't know if that's what I really felt. I felt isolated, discontent with my job(which wasn't a new feeling), generally out of sorts and I missed my family. I was in a state of despair over the fact that I finally have a grand child and will never get to see him grow up. He would never know me. I guess I felt a little desperate. Short of giving up everything we worked and sacrificed for here to move back to a climate and economy that was depressing in itself, I saw no real options. Neither of us were making the kind of money necessary to jet set back and forth between coasts and we couldn't be draining our savings. That's when I realized that I could do something about our dilemma. I could change careers! Sounded legit at the time. So I started my long journey of researching lucrative careers that offered high pay, flexible scheduling and lots of freedom. It took several weeks to finally settle on something that I started learning years before and gave up. In early October I purchased a self-paced Desktop and Mobile Web Developers course and quit my job. I punched a hole in my 401k to become a full time student and change my life. You can't get ahead without taking risks right? I know that I am a financial planners nightmare but it's my money, my life took a desperate turn and I needed to take my one chance at a new career that would give me what I want out of life.
I will just tell you right now that you should never ever believe what you read when you're on a website that is trying to sell you something. They are going to pad the facts, remove any negative(i.e. truthful) reviews and lead you to believe that this is your one stop shop for your educations needs. I definitely have lots of regrets and reservations about Ed2go these days but I am making the best of a bad situation. I am spending enormous amounts of time learning about each subject from online tutorials, websites that are generous enough to give free education and youtube. Where Gatlin Online Training has let me down, I refuse to be had.
Enough about that. Around the same time, my daughter started lamenting the situation with her former dog. She had given Sully(a magnificent and docile pure bred Rottweiler) up for adoption. She liked to call it foster care but, in reality, she knew she'd never be able to take him back in his lifetime. The woman who cared for him(I use that term very loosely) had contacted her to say she was getting a new puppy and was going to bring Sully to an animal shelter if she didn't take him back. In no position to do that, she asked if I would be willing to take him if she could get him to me. Of course I said yes. I sort of didn't think she'd really be able to do that but I had a special affection for Sully and thought he would be a great companion. Well, in late November I received and email with details about his arrival via United Petsafe.
Sully has become my best bud. He is so loving and easy going. He is also the slobberyest, sheddyest 100 lbs of dog you can imagine. It's a daily battle to keep from being overwhelmed with the mess he makes. I had many lovely months of hardly having to do anything to keep the house clean. And now there is life with the dog. I don't begrudge him his doggy manliness but...damn, there is hair and dried slobber in every single conceivable space in this house. There is a small corner off to the side of my work station that isn't really big enough for anything but he sticks his head in there and drools anyway. It's also the spot where large amounts of his cast off fur balls up. Some times I just live with the mess and quell my OCD with lots of coffee. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in it.
It feels very strange and foreign to me to not have a job and to not even be looking. Sometimes I have a moment and think about that. I get so entrenched in course work and life that I forget that I don't have an income. I do miss money. But all this is for the best imaginable cause. At some point down the road I will be able to freelance and work from anywhere. My hubby will be able to give up his job and be my travel companion. As one may surmise, my goal isn't to find a job in my new career per se. It's to work on my own terms, taking on contract work. I am almost ready to start building websites so it won't be long before I can start building a portfolio. I have a few more weeks of PHP and then probably a month of XML before my actual paid course is complete. Then I need to get immersed in CMS and learn a few of the popular programs. I took a little hiatus during the holidays to learn Android app development but discovered that it's too much for me to handle right now.
Hubby will be rolling in shortly and I want to talk about homemade cleaning products so I will be up early tomorrow morning for that blog.
I will just tell you right now that you should never ever believe what you read when you're on a website that is trying to sell you something. They are going to pad the facts, remove any negative(i.e. truthful) reviews and lead you to believe that this is your one stop shop for your educations needs. I definitely have lots of regrets and reservations about Ed2go these days but I am making the best of a bad situation. I am spending enormous amounts of time learning about each subject from online tutorials, websites that are generous enough to give free education and youtube. Where Gatlin Online Training has let me down, I refuse to be had.
Enough about that. Around the same time, my daughter started lamenting the situation with her former dog. She had given Sully(a magnificent and docile pure bred Rottweiler) up for adoption. She liked to call it foster care but, in reality, she knew she'd never be able to take him back in his lifetime. The woman who cared for him(I use that term very loosely) had contacted her to say she was getting a new puppy and was going to bring Sully to an animal shelter if she didn't take him back. In no position to do that, she asked if I would be willing to take him if she could get him to me. Of course I said yes. I sort of didn't think she'd really be able to do that but I had a special affection for Sully and thought he would be a great companion. Well, in late November I received and email with details about his arrival via United Petsafe.
Sully has become my best bud. He is so loving and easy going. He is also the slobberyest, sheddyest 100 lbs of dog you can imagine. It's a daily battle to keep from being overwhelmed with the mess he makes. I had many lovely months of hardly having to do anything to keep the house clean. And now there is life with the dog. I don't begrudge him his doggy manliness but...damn, there is hair and dried slobber in every single conceivable space in this house. There is a small corner off to the side of my work station that isn't really big enough for anything but he sticks his head in there and drools anyway. It's also the spot where large amounts of his cast off fur balls up. Some times I just live with the mess and quell my OCD with lots of coffee. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in it.
It feels very strange and foreign to me to not have a job and to not even be looking. Sometimes I have a moment and think about that. I get so entrenched in course work and life that I forget that I don't have an income. I do miss money. But all this is for the best imaginable cause. At some point down the road I will be able to freelance and work from anywhere. My hubby will be able to give up his job and be my travel companion. As one may surmise, my goal isn't to find a job in my new career per se. It's to work on my own terms, taking on contract work. I am almost ready to start building websites so it won't be long before I can start building a portfolio. I have a few more weeks of PHP and then probably a month of XML before my actual paid course is complete. Then I need to get immersed in CMS and learn a few of the popular programs. I took a little hiatus during the holidays to learn Android app development but discovered that it's too much for me to handle right now.
Hubby will be rolling in shortly and I want to talk about homemade cleaning products so I will be up early tomorrow morning for that blog.
Friday, September 13, 2013
5 Months of work will get you nowhere
I went back to work full time 5 months ago and I've had no time to do projects or experiment beyond the basics. It was more necessity than desire that drove me so here I am, working all the time, not having any fun. I've managed a few quick crafty things and some new foods but I'm really looking forward to working on the house again. I have a feeling this is going to be a long term work in progress.
I recently purchased the marble tile that will make my bathroom vanities. I'd been swooning over it for several years but at $10 a square foot, it was more than I wanted to spend when I could do so many other things for less. I tiled my kitchen counters at our Maine house and wanted oh so much to use that tile but I am so so glad I didn't. 7 months later, we decided to chuck it all and move the Vegas. The new counters and other work I did in the kitchen helped to sell the house in a really tough market but we still took a beating on the final price. Not to mention that I'd feel even worse about leaving it behind. Home Depot just dropped the price on the Emperador Cafe marble to $3 a square foot. I had to really stare at the price tag a long time before the reality hit me how drastically cheap it would be for me to buy what I needed for the two bathrooms. I spent $75 and will have plenty left over for oopses.
It's actually turning out to be a good thing that I don't have time to work on the house. The time has allowed me to really think through what I want to do to get the highest function out of our living space and end up with something beautiful as well. I had a million ideas, as usual, but I've paired them down to exactly what I want to accomplish. I've even managed to decide on the kitchen plan. That was the toughest one because my hubby and I disagreed on the look, I couldn't settle on anything and I needed to do it right the first time because we pretty much live in the kitchen.
So the bathrooms will be next when I have time, the kitchen will come after that and our outdoor kitchen will be last.
Here is a rundown of the mini adventures we've been on: We tried our hand at smoking tri tip for the first time and it's came out perfect. And amazing. I started making my own spinach hummus and rosemary crackers for snacks at work. Recipes originally from Pinterest but the hummus came out better with my own tweaks. I also had to change up the cracker recipe to suit my taste buds. Nothing major, just little secret ingredients that make it especially yummy.
I made this
with a heavy candle holder, some pretty embossed sheer fabric and modpodge.
The most exciting thing of all was going back to Maine for 5 days to attend my son's wedding and to see my first grandchild for the very first time. I got to spend precious little time with family but it was all worth it. I wish I had time off and money to go visit every six months but alas, that is not my life. I will hopefully get back there sometime early spring for another visit, longer maybe.
So that's the rather sad story of my existence at this point in my life. Not a lot going on to share but I will try to share what I manager to squeeze in.
I recently purchased the marble tile that will make my bathroom vanities. I'd been swooning over it for several years but at $10 a square foot, it was more than I wanted to spend when I could do so many other things for less. I tiled my kitchen counters at our Maine house and wanted oh so much to use that tile but I am so so glad I didn't. 7 months later, we decided to chuck it all and move the Vegas. The new counters and other work I did in the kitchen helped to sell the house in a really tough market but we still took a beating on the final price. Not to mention that I'd feel even worse about leaving it behind. Home Depot just dropped the price on the Emperador Cafe marble to $3 a square foot. I had to really stare at the price tag a long time before the reality hit me how drastically cheap it would be for me to buy what I needed for the two bathrooms. I spent $75 and will have plenty left over for oopses.
It's actually turning out to be a good thing that I don't have time to work on the house. The time has allowed me to really think through what I want to do to get the highest function out of our living space and end up with something beautiful as well. I had a million ideas, as usual, but I've paired them down to exactly what I want to accomplish. I've even managed to decide on the kitchen plan. That was the toughest one because my hubby and I disagreed on the look, I couldn't settle on anything and I needed to do it right the first time because we pretty much live in the kitchen.
So the bathrooms will be next when I have time, the kitchen will come after that and our outdoor kitchen will be last.
Here is a rundown of the mini adventures we've been on: We tried our hand at smoking tri tip for the first time and it's came out perfect. And amazing. I started making my own spinach hummus and rosemary crackers for snacks at work. Recipes originally from Pinterest but the hummus came out better with my own tweaks. I also had to change up the cracker recipe to suit my taste buds. Nothing major, just little secret ingredients that make it especially yummy.
I made this
The most exciting thing of all was going back to Maine for 5 days to attend my son's wedding and to see my first grandchild for the very first time. I got to spend precious little time with family but it was all worth it. I wish I had time off and money to go visit every six months but alas, that is not my life. I will hopefully get back there sometime early spring for another visit, longer maybe.
So that's the rather sad story of my existence at this point in my life. Not a lot going on to share but I will try to share what I manager to squeeze in.
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