Archives for June 2009

Four Things

4 June 2009 by

– The kitchen cabinet painting is coming along nicely. I was going to post some pictures tonight, but the batteries in my camera died. Again. So I’m charging my reliably unreliable batteries right now and hopefully will have some pictures tomorrow. Because I’m sure you care.

– I wrote a post over at AllAccess today. I keep telling myself that I need to do a better job of telling y’all when I write something over there, but then I forget.

– This stuff is my new favorite product in the whole world. It completely transformed my kitchen cabinet hardware for $5.44 (at Walmarts).

– Speaking of Walmarts, ours is remodeling. I have been in there three times this week and every single time I am like a cat in a room where the furniture has been rearranged. I can’t find a thing. Today the cookware was by the crayons, the shoes were by the cleaning supplies and the mascara was by the produce. I’ve never been more confused.

Filed Under: Rambling

Lately I’m Having The Hardest Time With Titles

4 June 2009 by

Now y’all know that I am not generally a fan of anything crafty. I mean, I’ll happily support other people in their craftiness, and occasionally I get the urge to cross-stitch because I used to cross-stitch when I was a teenager and I seem to experience bouts of cross-stitch nostalgia, which, by the way, is TOTALLY A LEGITIMATE MEDICAL CONDITION. But as a general rule I stay far, far away from the following:

– glue
– specialty scissors
– specialty papers
– beads
– Modge Podge

I just don’t like projects that involve repetitive or detailed steps. I don’t want to open up a craft kit and see 500 sequins. Because if there are 500 sequins inside a craft kit, that means those 500 sequins are supposed to BE USED FOR SOMETHING, and the thought of putting 500 sequins in their proper place makes me want to pull my ear all the way around to the front of my face so that I can then scream in my ear about HOW MUCH I HATE HAVING TO PLACE 500 SEQUINS.

Not that I have particularly strong feelings about really detailed crafts or anything.

But one artsy / crafty thing that I love to do is paint. You know why? It’s not structured. It’s loosey-goosey. It’s devil-may-care-ish. There are no rules, no steps – just colorful, happy fun. There have been MANY times over the last few years when we’ve had company and I’ve pulled out a big ole canvas (I buy them on sale at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby) and a whole bunch of paint and said, “All righty. Let’s visit and paint.” And that is exactly what we do and my walls are very grateful.

Anyway, this past Saturday morning I was in the mood to paint, so I covered the kitchen table with an old sheet and told Alex to pull out the paint and I grabbed a couple of used canvases. I usually have a couple on hand because 1) they are playdate GOLD and 2) inevitably somebody from said playdate will start painting and not finish or have to go home or whatever. Which is why my canvas looked like this on Saturday.

I’ve tried to figure out how many different kids have painted on this particular canvas. I believe the number is three. Maybe four. And in case you’re wondering, my favorite part is where it says “KIKI.”

Here’s my painting partner-in-crime.

I like the way he thinks he has to wear a tool pouch when he paints. And after I took this picture, I said, “Why did you pose like that?” and he said, I KID YOU NOT, “Because this is what Travis does when he sings.”

For the record, he has never in his whole life ever seen Travis sing. And yet he was oddly DEAD-ON.

It made me so happy.

Long story impossibly endless, I poured several different shades of blue and green onto a plastic plate because, well, I love those colors. And then we painted and we painted and we painted (Alex also had a canvas, and he painted a loopy caterpillar that also looks like a rollercoaster, but he’s not finished yet), and after about an hour, I decided that the painting, it was done.

It wasn’t good, mind you, but it was done.

And here’s the best part: there’s been a nail in on particular part of the wall of our living room ever since we moved here, and I’ve never found the right thing to hang there. But after I finished painting some stripes of some colors that I really like on a used canvas with a whole bunch of cheap acrylic paint, I walked in my living room to see if the impromptu stripe-y painting would work.

And lo and behold, it did.

Fun, inexpensive, relaxing – it was a crafty win, internets!

And it didn’t even require any sequins.

Filed Under: Family Fun

Crystal Light Challenge – Day 3

3 June 2009 by

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

I’ve been painting my kitchen cabinets for most of the afternoon and night, and when I realized that I was really thirsty a few minutes ago, I had the strangest realization:

I am craving water and/or Crystal Light.

I am not craving a Diet Coke.

And I’m not saying I’m “cured,” mind you – but I think I’m making progress. That encourages me!

So I’m off to fix a big glass of strawberry orange banana CL.

Finally, thanks so much for all of your encouraging comments about the challenge – y’all have passed along some great tips, and I appreciate it so much!

Filed Under: Rambling

Some News And Also Notes

3 June 2009 by

– Thanks to the folks at BlogHer, I’m participating in a campaign with Crystal Light to replace two of my regular beverages with water / Crystal Light for the next three weeks. And I think y’all know what my “regular beverage” is. It starts with “Di” and ends with “ke” and has the letters “et Co” in between.

Anyway, I’m blogging about the whole experience over on my reviews page. For the next three weeks, I’ll update the page daily with the latest news on my progress.

Or as I like to call it: my detox.

– Anne Jackson is a wise, wise woman.

– I have to decided to paint my kitchen cabinets. They’re a lovely 80s two-tone (creme on the cabinet frame, white on the doors), and they’ve seen better days for sure (sidenote: I cannot seem to use the expression “better days” without singing “So take these words / and sing out loud / for everyone / is forgiven now” – just FYI). Anyway, after a couple of months of trying to decide on a color, I finally found my color at Sherwin-Williams. Which was much more enjoyable than when I left my heart in San Francisco.

(WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?)

(DOES THE CRAZY GET WORSE WHEN YOU DRINK MORE WATER?)

Anyway, if you’ve been reading here for awhile, you know that with me, there’s no frenzy quite like a painting frenzy. So get ready, people, because I’m going to BORE YOU TO PIECES with mundane painting pictures and the accompanying mind-numbing details.

I can hardly wait!

Filed Under: Rambling

Crystal Light Challenge – Day 2

2 June 2009 by

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

This morning I got home from dropping off my little boy at Vacation Bible School, and even though everything in me was screaming for some ice cold caffeine, I replaced my usual mid-morning diet Coke with Crystal Light lemonade. I was a little bit hesitant, because I really do think I’m more dependent on that 10AM-ish diet Coke than I am on my early morning coffee.

But do you know what? I lived.

Now granted, I missed the fizz a little bit, but the lemonade was totally refreshing – especially on this hot day. I also realized that I was REALLY thirsty and so I had a second glass, something I wouldn’t normally do with diet Coke because I feel a little guilty about the back-to-back mid-morning caffeine consumption.

What about y’all? What’s your go-to drink? Do you think you drink enough water?

Filed Under: Rambling

Imagine My Musical Delight

2 June 2009 by

Oh, internets.

This?

And this?

ON THE SAME DAY?

It’s just too much goodness.

I mean, they’re even sittin’ next to each other all purty-like on iTunes.

picture-1

It’s a mighty fine day for all of our iPods.

And if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just be cranking mine up again, oh thank you.

Filed Under: Jesus Music
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