I am sorry I am busy that Saturday... That Saturday doesn't work either. Actually I am busy the first Saturday of every month for the rest of my life

Okay. So I love a thrift store. I know, it is not some peoples thing. I am not one of those people. I love the hunt. I don't mind digging. People get rid of some pretty amazing stuff. However, every time I go past a Goodwill and that yellow and blue "50% off the entire store this Saturday" sign is in the window I make a mental note NOT to go to Goodwill on Saturday. I am not a big fan of hoards of people, especially if the kids are with me. Especially if the boy child is with me. He is sure to go hide under some clothes rack and get swept away in the discount shopping mob. People who left the house with the intent to go find deals and spend money are crazy (this morning I heard a woman in Goodwill yelling at another woman "I am 72 years old! It doesn't matter if it is black or brown or where I got it from! If people like you would mind their business the world would be a better place"! Crazy much? As she walked away the woman she was yelling at said "I wasn't even talking to her". That makes it crazier.). Battling the crowds, squeezing around people, tripping over stuff that's all over the floor, old ladies yelling. Those of you who are irritated by other peoples screaming kids, this is not a good time for you...not worth saving $5.

I don't know what came over me this morning. I didn't leave my house intending to go to Goodwill. Maybe it's because a friend hog tied me and dragged me to hot yoga 2 weeks ago (if you know me you are aware of the fact that I don't appreciate the act of sweating and I certainly don't do it on purpose.). Turns out...I LOVE it. That's another blog. So maybe now I am feeling like trying things I wouldn't normally do. Maybe it is because the kids weren't with me...whatever it was I found myself pulling in the parking lot fully aware that it was half price Saturday, parking my car, getting out, and walking in. And that is where I spent the next hour of my life. I needed to get back home or I might have spent much more time. Had the day not already been planned I might have gone to multiple Goodwill's. About 30 minutes in I realized "This is a blog waiting to happen". Here is like 1% of the amazing things I saw that I left at Goodwill for someone else to find.


Seriously? Adorable. I want a couch in this pattern. If you are wondering if it is possible for a size 9 to squeeze into a size 7... it isn't. I tried. $2


Who doesn't need a pair of rainbow ballet flats? $2.50


If you are going to have rainbow ones you might as well have sparkly ones. $2.50


So these are Carlos Santana and I happen to know they are $80 shoes because I tried them on for a wedding I was in this summer. Today at Goodwill $2.50


I am not a sneaker person. But I hope someone who is found these. $2.50


It's hard to tell from the crappy picture but these are adorable flared denim corduroys that looked like they had never been worn. $3.50


If you don't love a gray tunic length wide cropped sleeve sweater there is something wrong with you. $3


I am sorry. Someone crochet that. It's Thanksgiving themed and $1. I am still not sure why I didn't buy it.


Forever 21 ruched sleeve shirt. Tags still on it. $2


That is just cute. $2


um...yea. These would be True Religion Jeans. Yes. $175 jeans. But for you on half price Goodwill Saturday $4.


I love a blanket. I really love that blanket. I might want it. If its still there I might own it soon. If I can hold out until the first Saturday of December and it is still there it will only be $2.50


Can we have a moment of silence and then discuss this skirt for a minute...okay. Its fabulous. Its plaid. Its wool. Its vintage. Its the perfect length and this picture does it no justice. It rode around in my cart for 45 minutes. I put it back. My internal dialogue went something like this- This is the best thing ever. This doesn't fit me. You burn up to 1,000 calories in every hot yoga class. It will fit. Someday. It will look amazing with the perfect brown knee high boots. I don't have knee high brown boots. Maybe I can find some at Goodwill next month. People don't give away brown knee high boots. But someone gave away this skirt and that crochet turkey...miracles happen.- I put it back. I imagined the joy it would bring someone who would find it that day and it would fit them. That day. $3.50 (ouch)

I left behind tons of vintage levis, things that will never fit me, things that might fit after a couple months of hot yoga, things that might possibly fit someone I know...here is the stuff I did leave with...



Okay. Vintage yellow fabulous sweater $3, black long sleeve tee $1, never worn jeggings (I hate that word) $1.75... you do the math.



Striped hoodie sweater tunic thingy $1.75, Flared levis $1.75


Vintage blouse that I am pretty sure I bought because I swear my grandma has the same one. Also, because I pictured the girl child wearing it with hair all big, with leggings and boots. Ugh...I can't take it. I am jealous of my own child. $2


Plaid tank that needs like a 3 minute alteration $1.75

Lately the boy is into this whole smart hip hop look, I am thinking about getting him a GQ subscription for Christmas...picture this







Tshirt $1, Cardigan (that I rescued from be worn by some boy sporting plaid shorts, knee high socks, and white patent leather shoes...you know its true) $1.50


This was purchased simply for blogging purposes. I have wanted to do a blog for awhile about dying things that you think you ruined because of a stain. So someday in the next...oh I don't know, 5 years? I will dye and blog about this stained wool Gap bag. $2

I mean...its a teal and brown clutch. $2

I feel really bad for the person who gave this away, Their life must be terribly boring. $2

I need to preface the next two pictures by saying I am not really a fan of used shoes. Its kind if like a step up from used underwear for me. I don't care if you wear them. But as for me and my house...However, I actually needed shoes, these appeared to be new and/or barely worn, and $2.50 a pair. I had no choice. I will just put them in the freezer overnight and anything still living in them will die. Except I wore them for the pictures...so...bring on the athletes foot!



See...this is why I can't hang out the first Saturday of every month. For the rest of my life. Unless, you are coming with me!

The lesson I learned while in labor...

This is an old blog...Somethings are worth repeating.
As most of you know by now Andre was born Wed. morning (5-10-2006) at 5:26am. He weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. I am sure you will all hear "the story" very soon (its actually a really short story since my labor and delivery was 2 hours). However, I learned a very important lesson that I felt I should share with all my sisters.
So early Wednesday morning, about 1:30am, I began "nesting". I was having what I thought to be braxton hicks contractions and thought I would probably have a baby sometime in the next few days, and I really wanted to get stuff done! I also was thinking about how I wanted to be cute when I was on labor (dont we all?) and how pale I was looking. You know you are in not the most flattering position when in delivery and I wanted to do everything I could to make my legs look as good as they can when you are 9 months pregnant. So at about 3:20am I busted out the self tanner. I was happily spraying away making sure not to over or under spray so they would look as hot as possible! Those of you who have used self tanner know that its a good idea to let it dry for at least 5 minutes. The second I finished spraying I turned around and my water broke! Not a trickle, a gush, that's right, right down my freshly "tanned" legs. Well, needless to say I probably would have been better off pale, then nice and "tan" with streaks running down both legs. I had bought the really good self tanner, which unlike some of the other, stuff shows up within the hour and since my labor was only 2 hours long I was nice and streaky just in time for my midwife, and the nurses to get a good look at my lovely attempt at cuteness. I, of course, had to explain myself and everyone thought it was hysterical (then I got the run down of everyone's spray tan horror stories...I won.) . I think it was God just dealing with my vanity. Anyway, moral of the story is don't self tan if you could possibly be in labor or even think you are days away!!!!! Oh, I have included a picture for your enjoyment!

Being a grown up means having a bookshelf.

I have a confession...I have never in my adult life had a book shelf. There is something wrong with that. It maybe wouldn't be such a big deal, except I love books and I love to read. This situation needed to be remedied immediately. And so the hunt began...

We recently moved (recently is relative...its been a few months), and are trying to fit into our new space. 3 of us. 2 bedrooms. 950 square feet. It has been, and continues to be a challenge. A good challenge. I really think God began prepping my heart some time ago as he began to deal with me and the issue of "stuff" (having it, "needing" it, wanting it...). That is a blog post all in itself. This downsize forced me to actually act on one of things that I had spent much of the last couple years thinking about...mind you, I say that as I still have boxes of "stuff" to go through...but much has made its way out (after a failed yard sale Goodwill got dumped on) and much more will.

ALL that to say, my bookshelf space options were limited. I didn't want it in one of the bedrooms, and between floor vents that couldn't be covered and space that people need to, well, walk through, there was one not so big corner of the house for a bookshelf. I hit up every thrift store in 2 counties. Nada. Then one day while driving through my little neighborhood I spotted it...right up the street from me we have this little used furniture store (One may call a store like this a "junk store". It may also be the kind of store where you go INSIDE and one of the owners is smoking a cigarette while spray painting a dresser and then approaches you to touch your hair and tell you how beautiful it is, with the cigarette and spray paint now in the same hand. Clearly she was unaware that between her burning cigarette, open can of spray paint, and massive amounts dry shampoo in my hair her business was in danger of going up in flames. Luckily we all made it out alive). On days when it isn't raining they will put a few pieces outside. So one not raining day there it was. Black. Particle Board. $10. Only one of those three things makes for a good piece of furniture in my house. Luckily the other two could be altered.


I brought it home and put it in its new corner. I had to live with it for a few days...then it came to me ;) Brown with paper doilies modge podged on. That's. It.

Lets talk for a minute about my new found love of Behr paint samples. Its 7.25 fl. oz. of paint and is the perfect size for projects like this. You can get it mixed in any color, not just Behr, and it's less than $3. Awesome. I tend to be drawn to paint colors that sound edible, so for this I used Behr's Chocolate Coco.

Black lacquer isn't really ideal for painting over and I really enjoy a good opportunity to bust out the power sander...painting finished particle board is one of those opportunities. I didn't sand all the black off but just enough to give the paint something to cling to.


Around here no shirt, no shoes, you paint. So I enlisted the help of the man who was digging in the dirt in my backyard for the next part.



After two coats it was already looking much better. And very chocolate coco I might add...


Next Modge Podge and doilies...two of my favorite things! No matter how much I modge podge I will never get used to this-

I KNOW it dries clear. But I always have this "I ruined it" moment.

The Modge Podge dried and the "I ruined it" moment didn't pass. It was wrong. There is nothing inherently wrong with polka-dots, I am just not a fan. And it looked a little polka-dotty to me.



Then...Big Lots to the rescue? Yes, that's right. Big Lots and their very cool scrap booking section where they had these amazing laser cut green doilies.


I knew that getting the white doilies off was going to mean some heavy duty sanding and possibly stripping and then repainting... so the green doilies where just going to have to go on top of the white ones. And they all lived happily ever after...The End. Well, not quite...I still need to find which boxes have the books in them.

Oh that old thing...

I have a problem (are we seeing a trend here? I should just change the name of the blog to "I have a problem")...I take pictures. A LOT of them. Its not normal. And to make matters worse I have some amazing photographer friends who, at least once a year, take amazing pictures of my bambinos. While most of the pictures I take are in drawers or are saved on hard drives...some pictures need to be seen. Since we just moved I figured there was no better time to change up our black picture frame collage wall (which I was totally over). So I started searching for something unique to do with the millions of frames we already have. I found this at Pier One



And I thought about it for awhile. It would be so easy to pop the glass and the backs out of all of our frames and string them with wire... but it just wasn't right. Then it hit me one day when I was driving (which is usually when things "hit me", which seems kind of dangerous. Note to self- think more about driving and less about other things while driving). There is a crib mattress spring rusting away in the driveway! Its perfect. Perfect. So this-





Became this



It became slightly more of a project then it should have been. I was thinking a little steel wool to get the rust off and some silver spray paint...well, after spraying it silver I stared at it for several days and realized I liked it. But not in my house. It was super industrial looking. Which is what you get when you take something metal and paint it silver. It was sweet and would be great...in someone else's house. Someone with a modern house. A house with clean lines and neutral colors. None of those things are my house at all. Not even close.

So in the hunt for the perfect green to paint my kitchen (see, not neutral) I have accumulated several green paint samples. So I figured I would just paint it green! Its my favorite color and I love green with our mustard walls. Well, it was awful. Worse than the silver. It would have been perfect. In someones playroom. To display their kids art. It was so wrong I decided I would just go back to silver.

So out came the power sander (which by the way, nothing makes me feel more like a woman than using a power sander. It brings me great joy.) I power sanded away several layers of green and silver and it started looking kind of right...Not to industrial. Not to preschool. Just right.





We can't wrap this blog up without talking about the pictures! They were taken by my good friend Chrissy over at MagnifyU Photography. She is wonderful wonderful wonderful. I adore her as a friend and a photographer (not to mention her photoshop skills are ridiculous). If you are local check her out!

ps- don't forget if you click on the pictures you can see them a lot bigger!

Hyperosmia

Hi, my name is Liz and I have hyperosmia.

Self diagnosed, of course.

hy·per·os·mi·a [hahy-per-oz-mee-uh]
n.
An exaggerated or abnormally acute sense of smell.

Pretty sure it started in my pregnancy with my daughter and just never went away. Plug-ins, sense and sprays, scented oil candles...they all make me a little nauseous. Some more than others.

I have never been much of a perfume girl. I have tried. It never works out. The idea of smelling like vanilla, musk, gardenias, and lavender all at the same time makes my head hurt. Not to mention the overwhelming smell of alcohol in all perfumes and colognes. I recognize there are less offensive options...body sprays, lotions...but smelling like a sun ripened raspberry is not very appealing to me either. While I do often love fall scents I don't think its okay to be a grown woman and smell like a fall harvest pumpkin (the jury is still out on the status of me being a grown woman). The day that I find a perfume that allows me to smell like I bathed in Hawaiian Tropic Tanning Oil is the day I become a scent girl. According to this blog they exist. Believe me I will be investigating.

But this isn't a blog about perfume. Its about my house. Every house has a smell. Mine is pretty much void of one (except for the occasional musty smell...one of the joys of living in an older house where the basement floods at just the thought of rain). I have tried all kinds of things that plug-in, things that burn, smelly oils, smelly papers...you name it I have done it. Nothing ever seems right. Nothing fits. The smell never lasts for very long and for that I have been grateful.

I walked into my friend Jessica's new house (new to her) a couple weeks ago and it smelled like my house should smell. Its was clean. Not alcoholy. It was consistent through the house and not only in concentrated areas...I really liked it. When I asked she pointed to a diffuser on the kitchen counter. Um, yea. Been there, done that. Doesn't work (apparently only in my house because it was clearly working in her house). Then she explained and my life would never again be the same (okay thats a bit dramatic. But the smell in my house would never be the same.).



That's right. Good old Mrs. Myers All Purpose Cleaner poured in a glass with some skewers. Genius. Before we go on lets give credit where credit is due. Jessica found this amazing tip on a great blog called Young House Love. You NEED to check this blog out.

I could and probably should do an entire blog on indoor air pollution. The air inside the average American home is four to ten times more polluted that the air outside. The ingredients in many of your common home fragrances contain things like formaldehyde, petrochemicals, p-dichlorobenzene and aerosol pollutants. Yea, not great to be breathing that stuff in. All of Mrs. Myers cleaners are made with natural essential oils, are biodegradable and phosphate-free.

They come in 4 fragrances. Basil, lavender, lemon verbena, and geranium. Basil is for sure my favorite! But you can't really go wrong. Locally you can purchase Mrs. Myers products at Whole Foods, Target, Kroger, Publix, and Wal-Mart. Be sure to visit their website, it makes me happy.

If you have never used a fragrance diffuser all you have to do is pour your oil in a glass container (you don't want to use plastic because it will absorb the oils and you will never get the smell out!), throw in some skewers (which, by the way, you can purchase at any grocery store.) and let them soak. The bamboo will begin to soak up the oil. After a few days of letting your skewers soak flip them over. BAM! Loveliness.

Every week or so give your skewers a flip.

Get creative with your display! You can get glassware uber cheap at dollar stores (I guess "dollar store" implies "uber cheap"). We have these cute little juice glasses so I bought the small skewers and placed them on the buffet table. I used the larger skewers in this amazing vase that hangs on the wall that I got at a flea market for $3.

Happy (and healthy) smelling!!!!!