Monday, July 20, 2009

Well, Hm.


There's something very odd about being congratulated for filing unemployment. Here's how I interpret it:

Congratulations! You're only 26 and you've been laid off!!

Congratulations! You've got lots of school debt for a degree that can't get you a job!!

Congratulations! You're back at square one!!

Congratulations! If it wasn't for your husband, you'd either be living with your parents or in a gutter with feces on your face!!

Clearly, this calls for a celebration. I'm going straight to my backyard with a bottle of wine and a good book. Come on over!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

All Because of the Kitchen Blinds

Last week, I was cleaning the kitchen and quite suddenly I became totally disgusted with our blinds. I spent a good portion of my afternoon attempting to clean them, but FAIL.

So of course, OF COURSE, I couldn't stop thinking about them. Seriously, who knew I could become nauseous over blinds? We had a gift card to Ikea, so we went to get some nice, new blinds (Am I really writing about blinds? God help me.) Only, Ikea didn't have what we wanted for the kitchen, but they did have some nice curtains for the dining area! And we should go ahead and replace those blinds, too! I'm sure they're nasty!

We came for blinds, but we left with three different types of curtains to choose from, a salad spinner, and a floor mat (spending only $20 of our own!). Matt put up the new curtains, and while we loved them, it suddenly threw off our decor in the living area. Those curtains were too green now. But how convenient! We had also purchased some light green curtains that we were going to take back, but why not use them!

So Matt then replaced our living room curtains. Only, those blinds started to disgust us, too. An hour later and we had new wood blinds from Home Depot. We had planned on doing this some day; we just didn't realize it would be THAT day.



We had these bright green square tile things from West Elm that hung on the wall connecting the dining area to the living area. The pattern on them, though, looked terrible next to the new dining curtains. We took them down and stared at the huge empty wall space. It needed something. Two days later, and we found three large shutter doors to rest against the wall. Reused from The Rebuilding Center, they were only $25 (compared to $200 at Pottery Barn).



Next home improvement project? I need to paint that armoire. I love the wood shutters, but it's too much next to the wood armoire. It was cheap, and we're not crazy about it, so next week I'm going to paint. What color do you think it should be?

Also, the dark furniture is an espresso color, not black like the picture makes it look.

And one more thing. Those beautiful flowers? Those are from our garden. Matt picked them, which is all sorts of special. My dad does the same thing for my mama.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

And I Have Another Pair At Home!

Today I met my sweet friend Jessica for lunch. It was kind of a last minute thing, so I scrambled around to get ready and get out the door. Because Matt is out of town, I’ve accumulated a few pairs of flip-flops next to the couch. I got dressed in my bedroom, did a once-over in the mirror, slipped on my shoes in the other room, and scooted out the door.

I was about five minutes away from the restaurant when it dawned on me that I didn’t actually pay attention to my shoes. I thought, "now wouldn’t that be something if…" I looked to my left and saw my brown leather flip-flop with gold trim. I looked to my right and saw my black leather flip-flop with a flower on top.

Well, DAMN.

My pair of shoes didn't match. I’ve always wondered how the hell people do this sort of thing, and looky-here. I managed to pull it off without explanation. I ran through a list of scenarios that could have made it worse: could’ve worn my skinny jeans, could’ve worn a dress, could’ve worn a flat and a flop. Thankfully, I was wearing a pair of jeans that, if I walk carefully, I can hide most of my feet and show off just my toes.

(Also, this is the same pair of jeans I bought with Amber, who, after putting them on and realizing they’re a bit snug, I called to ask if we bought them last year or the year before. She said last year. DOUBLE DAMN!)

Anyway, I walked into the restaurant and slid into my chair without anyone noticing. I confessed to Jess the truth, and as she looked under the table we shared a good, long laugh.

Honestly, I think my brain is turning to mush. I have a lot of free time on my hands; I clean, I run errands, I cook, I read… and there’s still a lot of free time. It’s not too difficult managing a two-person household. So, uh… suggestions? How can I keep my brain from sloshing out my ears? Suggest things to blog, hobbies to pick up, places to go, things to do. My brain clearly needs a kick-start. HELP.