I Heart My Porch

Wanna see my new favorite spot in the house? Finally, right? I know, I know. You've all been dying to know which rug I chose. LOL! Well, for those who were wondering... here it is. I chose the one that looks like a wrought iron fence design. It's really very pretty and goes perfectly with the new chairs. The rug makes this space feel so much more like just another room in my house.... instead of "outside".I love sitting out here now. The chairs are so comfortable. The perfect spot for reading a book. I added a few new things to make the space even more relaxing. A little side table to hold my cocktail.Some candle light for those romantic evenings. I mean, who wants to have that bright glaring porch light on? Attracting moths to circle your head. Plus we all look way hotter in candle light, right? LOL! The blue tile in this votive holder matches my new mosaic house number plaque.Which I love love love! The pic doesn't even do it justice. It's really gorgeous. I found a wonderful artist on Etsy who custom made this plaque. I can't say enough great things about her! If anyone is interested, you can find Kristin's shop, Pear Tree Mosaics, through the link. She was so easy to work with and will design your plaque in the color of your choosing. Tell her Krista sent ya. It's a great investment and adds some major curb appeal.A new lemon leaf wreath for the front door. Fake, of course.But my flowers are real. And still hanging in there considering it's so late in the season.I'm kinda surprised I still have so much color. Even with the new blue theme I had to get some hot pink in there somehow. The rockers ended up over on the end of the porch. I just don't have a spot for them anywhere else and I didn't want to get rid of them. Luckily, there's just enough room for them to not be in the traffic path of the front door. And it'll be nice to have the extra seating when friends come by. Especially since Griffey has claimed this chair as his.

Sucky McSuck Fest

Pardon me while I whine.

It seems the "ruin my weekend" fairies are at it again. Last weekend I spent laid up on the couch with a pinched nerve in my back. Not sure how I did it but there I lay. I ended up taking Monday and Tuesday off work since I couldn't stand up straight until sometime mid-afternoon Tuesday. The only thing I achieved during my 4 days on the couch was an unhealthy addiction to "Real Housewives~of~Atlanta". The TV choices were slim and Brav0 had a marathon going.... what can I say? LOL!

Well, Saturday morning I woke up with a throat so swollen that my uvula was laying on my tongue. And yes... I had to look up the word for that little thing that hangs down between your tonsils.It's not a pleasant feeling. I've had to fight the urge to constantly gag over it. Lovely, no? Do you know that when I g0ogled for an image of "uvula" I found that there are people in the world who actually pierce theirs? Seriously. G0ogle it for yourself. I can't even imagine how a person could think a piece of metal constantly tickling the back of their throat sounds like a good idea. WTF?

I was awakened several times last night probably with some type of "my uvula is choking me" sleep apnea thing. And every time I woke up I realized that the mere act of swallowing my own saliva felt like someone had poured broken glass down my throat. Niiii-ce.

So yeah... the last 2 weekends have pretty much sucked for me. But it could always be worse, right? Not that I'm tempting fate or anything. Hopefully, things will be back to normal in a few days.

Deals Galore

Y'all know I love a good bargain. This is one of my new favorite cheap deal sites. It's called Bargain Hunting Moms. It's updated daily with new deals, sales, coupons, etc. They always have a TON of links to all different kinds of stuff. Vera-Bradley bags, restaurant coupons, clothes, Seph0ra make up, baby stuff, toys, magazines. You name it and I bet there's a link to a deal for one somewhere on this site. I even saw some .... ahem... Adam and Eve products on there the other day. Dude, I'm not linking to it. Just go0gle and you'll find out what it is. LOL!

Anyhoo.... about a month ago, I saw a link to a site that had this Br-itax car seat on sale. I've long coveted this seat. The reason should be obvious.
The Boulevard style is usually $309 everywhere you look. I got this ~the car seat of my dreams~ for $219!! No tax and free shipping. Score!!! And yes... this is my 2nd car seat for anyone keeping track. Mia's nanny (aka grandma) will be needing one, too. This beauty, however, will be residing in momma's back seat. :)

So anyone have any other favorite bargain hunting, coupon, cheap deal sites they want to share?

Projects Update

A few people have asked about the marshmallow shooters. I got them on sale at this site but I don't see the exact kind I bought anymore. These are the guns on a different site. However... if you go0gle "marshmallow shooter" you'll find them all over. The only complaint I had with the kind I bought was that the 4 yr old didn't have the strength to make the pump action work. So he got frustrated with it. Also the marshmallows start to gunk up and jam after awhile so the kids would have to pop off the end of the gun and either dig out sticky marshmallows with a stick or blow them out with their mouth. It didn't seem to slow them down much though and judging from what I saw last weekend they were a big hit with the kids.

I promised a project update for anyone who might be keeping track. Here's a couple things I completed in my 20 day blog hiatus. LOL!

I knew I wanted a P0tteryBarn-esque hot pink Williamsburg style chandelier for the nursery. But I didn't want to pay the inflated $199 PB price tag.I searched and searched for a chandelier that was a decent price. I looked on Craig$Li$t for the longest knowing that with one trusty can of spray paint I could make anything the color of my choosing. I finally gave up when I found one at an online discount lighting store for $50 with free shipping. I thought that was a fare price. Especially for a brand new one. If you look real close in the below pic, you'll also see a plate rack that got transformed from it's original white color. I have something really interesting planned for that.
The chandelier started out silver in color but is now a happy hot pink. I've still gotta buy some shades which will be re-covered in one of the fabrics used for the crib bedding. You'll see it again when it's all done and hanging in Mia's room. Whatcha think? $150 dollar savings! Can you tell the difference between mine and PB's? Gawd I love being thrifty!!By the way... when I went to pull the pic of the chandelier off the PB site for this blog post I saw that they've now marked them down to $49.99! Figures, right? They only have yellow or turquoise. But there's always spray paint! I just wish they'd been clearanced a little sooner. PB charges tax and their shipping charges are a little high... so I guess I can reassure myself with the knowledge that I still made out with the better deal. LOL!

I also spent several days ripping out the carpet in the nursery. All by myself. That job really sucked! I cut the carpet in 2 foot strips so it'd be easier to roll and handle. I still have some stuff in that room so I had to move it all to one side while I cut and ripped carpet, then the padding. Then I switched it to the other side and did it all again. What a pain in the ass that was...But I finally exposed the wood underneath. Then came pulling out the tack strips and what seemed like a gazillion staples.Until I was all finished. Yay! The wood is not a good enough quality to warrant the cost and work to re-finish it. It's too soft to be sanded and would have to be chemically treated to make it beautiful. So this weekend my brother-in-law is coming to lay a laminate over the top of it. More durable, much faster and easier to complete the floor project, and waaaay cheaper. I can't wait to see it all done!Actually I can't wait to see the whole danged room done!! Remember when I said it'd be finished by the end of summer? Well, I may have been a little off in my calculations. Kind of like the CC-AA.
;)

Sticky Combat

Unfortunately, marshmallow shooters are not some fun little cocktail. They're actually toy guns that use mini-marshmallows as ammunition.I'd bought four of them early in the summer and then forgotten to give them to the T's. Shame on me, I know.Since my mom was way outnumbered and calling for back-up during her 3 day babysitting stint while the T's parents were out of town, I figured now was a good time to unleash the weapons.The kids were entertained for a good hour.... or maybe even a little more. Which I would call a great success in this group of short attention spans. But it gets better.They played together. All of them. Wait.... let that soak in. All Of The T's Playing Together. From 12 yrs old down to 4. Seriously. I think this might be a first. And yes... Tanner is running around with no shirt and penguin pajama pants. A fashion statement, I guess? Tess just thought they were all crazy. Which they are. Notice the homemade sniper tower in the background. Somehow beach towels provided both protection from the marshmallow projectiles as well as good cover and concealment for surprise ambush.Quote of the day: "This is funner than video games!!!" ~ Tatum (1st grader)
I stopped and bought marshmallows on the way to the T's house. While standing in line at the checkout I saw Pop R0cks. Remember those? I hadn't seen them in forever. So I decided to pick some up to share with the younger generation.
They were a big hit. You can see the evidence on Travis' face. Stray Pop R0cks and marshmallow powder from eating his ammo. LOL! That's what I call a good time!The dog loved the game, too. She was like a bloodhound with her nose to the ground searching out stray marshmallows in the grass. Luckily, she only threw up once after the war had ended. Poor baby.

20 days later....

I'm still alive and kicking. Thanks to those who sent e-mails and made phone calls asking if I was okay. Didn't mean to worry anyone with my unexpected bloggy break. Life has just been ridiculous these last couple of weeks. Ridiculous good and ridiculous bad. But that's life, I guess. So how have I spent my time the last 20 days? Not blogging. That's apparent, right? LOL!

I've worked on a few projects. The nursery is coming along. Although slowly. I'll share that progress and some pics in another post later this week.

I've spent time with friends. A long time friend is back in town for awhile and has been around quite a bit. He's been out of state for a few years so it's been nice having him back. We've spent several cool, breezy nights sitting around the firepit or in my comfy new porch chairs, sipping cocktails and getting reacquainted. It's been exactly what I needed.

I've hit a snag with my I-600a renewal and that has taken some time to fix. They wanted my social worker to repeat things that were included in my homestudy because it was older than 6 mths. Even though she sent an update with my application stating basically "here's the homestudy which is good for 2 yrs in this state and NOTHING has changed with the info included." I've had to run around getting some new references, a new police background check, and some other crap so that my social worker can document what they want addressed. And they only gave me 30 days to get it back to them "or my application will be considered abandoned". Nice. I think they're just screwing with people who are still grandfathered under the old I-600a in the hopes that it will cause them to have to switch to the I-800a. I think USCIS wants to only have to deal with one form and one set of rules. Just my theory because my social worker said she has only one other I-600a family..... and they've had the same issues.

I finally got approval to have surgery for my on duty knee injury that happened last October. Way to be efficient worker's comp. Almost a year later..... but it should hopefully be resolved soon.

I also had to qualify last week with my firearm. Which normally causes me a bit of stress. Even though I know I can shoot there's something about being put front and center and made to perform for a score that puts a lot of pressure on a girl. LOL! Especially with the knee injury. This was a moving and shooting course that required several kneeling shots. I powered through it but not without feeling some pain. And my overall score suffered because of it. But as long as I passed I didn't really care at this point.

Work has been all consuming. Reading back through some recent posts, it seems to be a theme lately. But there are internal struggles going on within the department that has morale at an all time low. I love my job but the mood lately makes it hard to enjoy coming to work some days.

Usually I'm working many cases at once. Some I know as soon as I read the report that it's not solveable. Those I make a call to the victim but then set aside cuz there's just nothing to do on them. But sometimes I get a case that requires most of my focus and attention. The week before last was spent with one of those. I even made some extra money working overtime a couple nights as the investigation progressed. I know some of y'all like to hear my police stories so I'll post about it later this week.

But for today I'm heading out to spend some time with the T's. My sister and her husband went out of town for the weekend and my mom is babysitting. She just called for some back up. LOL! Plus it's way too gorgeous of a day to sit in front of this computer. So I'll catch up more a little later..... but definitely not 20 days later. :)