Photo 2013: Thirsty?

Bloody Mary for breakfast.  Awesome.  And because we are in Minnesota....it comes with a beer back.  But it's breakfast so ya gotta order a coffee too.  Then ask the waiter to bring a glass of water because you obviously don't have enough beverages already!

The Chess Table

According to the hubby, I would be the most perfect wife if I learned to play chess and video games.  To which I asked, "Soooooo you want to be married to a dude?"

Hubby:   What? Huh? NOOOOO.  
Me:  Ohhhhhh...I get it.  YOU want to be married to YOU.
Hubby:  That's not what I said.  You.  Ugh.  Nevermind.

Think before ya speak o' lil grasshopper...you're wayyyyy outta your league.

And it's moments like this that make me appreciate every single penny I spent on getting my communications degree.  Totally priceless when communicating with those from the planet Mars!

Anyway...the hubby loves chess...and I love the hubby so I wanted to make him a chess board.  And coincidentally...our small mosaic tile table was due for a makeover.  So I started looking to see how the table was put together.  And once I started dismantling in my head, I knew that another project was getting added to my to-do-to-decorate list.

Somehow these two ideas collided and I created a chess board table.  I replaced the tile top with a precut pine wood 24" round piece that I found at the orange box.  This allowed for a 16" chess board.  I outlined the 2" squares in pencil on the top.

Then painted the alternating squares with white primer.  I taped off the edges of the board and stained the board (including the painted squares) with Jacobean stain.  Then I removed the tape and stained the whole table (including the chess board) with American Chestnut stain.

The stain tinted the painted primer squares to look "aged" and the darker Jacobean provides a contrast between the chess board squares and the stained table.  And I have to say this table is one of my favorite creations!

But...sorry to the hubby...'cause as cute as this table is...I still have no desire to learn anything about the game of chess!

Snowflake = Snowball = Avalanche

I blame this mess on the never ending winter.  Last year's of course!  Yep...I started this 9 months ago!!

Back in April (2013) I was still stuck inside ('cause the white stuff refused to go away) so the resulting avalanche was totally NOT my fault.

Ya see...I was in the guest room giving it the hotel flip...ya know...clean bedding, towels, etc.  And I stayed in there for a few minutes too long.  Lingering.  Looking around a little too closely.  Realizing I no longer liked the way it looked.  It was okay but I felt like it could be better.

So I started considering my furniture placement options.  Then broke out the measuring tape.  And next thing I know...I'm in the midst of a full-on guest room redo!

Seriously...how is it possible that I go into the room just to put clean sheets on the bed and end up with Ziggy climbing to the top of the propped up mattress???

That kitty is lightening fast and was staring down at me before I could even blink!

Then my snowball starting rolling...getting bigger and bigger...

With the old furniture placement, there wasn't enough room to fully put the whole bed together.  So I was storing the partially disassembled footboard and side boards under the bed.  Which bugged me.  Since I moved the bed to the other wall, there was now room for the whole bed.

In order to reassemble the bed, the side boards needed to be cut down a few inches. Which required breaking out 'ol miter bob.  Which was hiding under winter gear in the garage.

So the following avalanche ensued....

Gain access to 'ol miter bob.
Move cars outta garage.
Cut a few inches off side boards.
Reassemble footboard pieces.
Find nails/tools/glue to reassemble footboard.
Wait on wood glue to thaw out.  (Stop storing wood glue in frozen garage.)
Find brackets/screws to attach side boards.
Reassemble the whole bed.
Spackle/fill/sand/touchup paint the whole bed.

And while I had the paint out...I decided to repaint the dresser to match.  Which required some minor disassembly and 3 coats of paint.  Of course the side tables ended up being too big for the smaller space.  So I needed to buy or build new ones.  As a compromise, I opted to keep the same bases and attach smaller wood tops.  Which required staining.  Of course.  Anything less would be waaayyyyyy too easy!

Lesson learned from this adventure:
Next time...I'm sending the hubby in to change the sheets!!!

Batter Up!

"Hey...nice mailbox...they are really devoted fans!"  I'm guessing that's what normal people think when driving by.  Of course...my first thought was nothing like that.

Me:  "Wow...you are some brave people.  Where's a baseball bat when you need one!"

(And my urge to smack it has nothing to do with the specific sports team and everything to do with it being a helmet-shaped mailbox.  It just screams take a swing at me!)

So...yes...it's disturbing to realize how much of a criminal I am at heart.  Good thing I don't act on these thoughts.  Besides...I'm guessing the hubby would frown upon bailing me out of jail.  Of course my excuse would totally be legitimate..."I don't know why I was arrested...I was just practicing my swing and that mailbox got in the way!"

Happy New Year!

Happy 2014!

The little bads are still recovering from their New Year's Eve shenanigans!