The Writings (Pictures) on the Wall

Okay, so we have this huge wall in our living room that has been blank pretty much since we moved in our house last June. Yes I know, but we wanted the wall to be just our family (Tim, Max, the puppies, and I). Tim finally got sick of looking at it and we went and bought two templates from Michael's to use as a guide. We had one photo (the one in the middle) that spells out Raponi using everyday objects. I bought this not made it but can find similar ideas here for this. So we had to do some adjusting to how we were going to lay our photos.
My big thing in doing this is that I didn't want to put any nails in the wall. There is a new way to hang pictures, even BIG pictures. You can use Velcro. We used the Command Velcro picture hanging stripes. I read about these on Becky's blog here. Tim and I know this is not the "forever house" but we are slowly updating it so when we go to sell it we don't have to do any major repairs, like fill holes and repaint the whole wall again. So before we could hang the pictures I wanted the wall painted. It is color call Bavarian Cream (Behr) from Home Depot. A nice neutral color and it looks 10x better than the peachy color that was there. So the wall was painted last weekend and you have to wait one week to hang the pictures up. Once we laid out how the pictures were going to look on the template on the floor we hung it on the wall. Now this template shows you exactly where to put the nails in the wall and then the hooks are already on the back of the frames. Very easy if you are using nails. But we didn't, so on the wall with the tape. I suggest using masking tape as it won't take the paint off the wall like scotch tape will.

Since we were using velcro we had to cut out all of the pictures because the velcro goes in the corners of the frames. So we got an xacto knife and some scissors and started cutting. I suggest using a cutting mat under the template so you don't scratch the wall.

After everything is cut out you are ready to hang your pictures, well sorta. You put the velcro on the frame and press the frame on the wall for 30 seconds to a minute. Then you take the frame off the wall and there should be 2 pieces of velcro in the corners. The velcro has to sit on the wall for 1 hour before you can actually hang your pictures up there. The velcro is made in different strengths for the different size and shapes of the frames. The large velcro can hold up to 16lbs or 24 x 36 frame. Pretty awesome huh?

After all the picture frames have been "hung" and taken down again, the waiting begins. There was one piece of paper left up there because we were one frame short in our layout. The final picture shows all the frames.

And there you have it, a pretty even photo collage of our family. There are still a few things left that I want to put up there, just some accessories and such but for the most part it will stay like this. And when it is time time to go, I just pull the velcro off, pull the tab, and not mark left on the wall and thus no filling holes or repainting/touching up the wall.

They makes these templates for going up stairs as well. We only have a one story house. But I am starting to slowly replace all the frames in the house with this kind of frame and with this kind of hanging. No more nail holes if I can help it. Of course for the really really heavy frames, we will still use nail but for the most part the extra money for the velcro is worth it when it is time to go. This would a be good thing to do if you are renting a house. Wish I knew about these when I was stationed over in England.

Who's Jealous??

It has finally arrived, the new frig. We bought it in Black Friday but since Home Depot sold so many of them we had to wait over 2 months for the deliver of the new refrigerator. There is the only one going Bye-Bye. And....wait for it.....(drum roll please)
The new frig. Can you hear the angels singing now. It's AWESOME!! And I'm not afraid to tell you how much we paid for it. It was about $1300 with a 3 year service plan. Yeah I know, that's all. How awesome are we?? I know you are jealous. Okay, enough of rubbing it in.

Why so cheap you ask? Well mainly because it doesn't have all the whistles. It has some bells but not all the whistles. For example, we have stationary shelves, the kick ass version has collapsible shelves. Our frig does not have an extra holder going around the ice maker on the inside of the door, it only has one below it. We do not have the extra frig drawer. Both bottom drawers are freezers. But for the price and how shiny it is, I think it was worth the price. Now to get the rest of the appliances. Next appliance, the dishwasher.

We have kept the old frig, we are going to sell it. It still works (well the ice machine doesn't but it still has water) and we are going to put the money towards the new deck (which will go on this summer) or just put it down to pay off the new frig. Just for some FYI, I believe that Home Depot is still running this deal or something similar. Ours is an LG. We get the Home Depot card with 18 months no interest on it so we just have to pay $75 a month to get it paid off by May 2012. Awesome!!!

2 Hour Delay = A Clean Frig

Today wasn't quite a snow day as much as it was a 2 hour delay day. I got to go into work later than usually because I was suppose to move furniture around because we are having construction done on our building. I still got up at the normal time and I called to find out what time I had to go into work today. I didn't have to go in till 11. Great I thought, what am I going to do till then? There is never anything on TV so I figured I would mark off one of my cleaning projects that I have listed to do before I go to Germany.

I chose cleaning the frig. While this isn't a hard task, it can be interesting at times. You find the Tupperware container containing....well who really knows?? You actually look at the expiration date on items and, you finally throw away that salad dressing that might have just enough dressing in it for a salad sized for a 4 year old (very small). Now I know all of us at one point or another has found the mystery item, was it a casserole or some sort of potato dish. You know you don't want to taste it because in reality you don't honestly know how long it has been in there.

Today I found my ham....left over from New Year's. Yes that's right, New Years. Now don't act all innocent, I knew my mother kept things in the frig for way longer than they should have been in there. I remember this one time she make something....it was cheese potato of some sort, don't really know. It was in a very large casserole dish. At the time my Uncle Kris was living with us and we had 3 dogs, 2 of which lived outside. Sheba was the dumbest dog you would have ever met. She loved everyone and she rarely barked and when she did, she didn't do it for long. She would also eat anything. My uncle decided that he didn't want to smell up the house with throwing this casserole of sorts out in the trash. So he brought it outside and sure enough, Sheba ate the whole thing, licked the dish clean.

I also find once I take everything out like the shelves and such that I can never remember exactly where they were. I put it where I think it goes and then I realize when I start to put all of my stuff back in the frig that the juice is now hitting the top of the frig because I didn't put the shelf in the right slot. Go figure. They you get use to this arrangement and adjust where you put your food, that is until you clean you frig again and it end up a different way again.

Now that my frig is clean, there is nothing in it. There are always condiments of sorts but not really any food. I was going to make spinach stuffed chicken with feta cheese. It is really good, made the recipe up all by myself, although I'm sure it can be found some where in the Wild world of the Internet. I opted for pizza, will make the chicken tomorrow.

Snow Day!!!!

I'm taking a snow day, so I'm home. Not sure what I'm going to do, probably finish up one of my many projects/chores that I need to do. I cleaned the kitchen really well the other day and did everything except the floor. I have to steam clean it, I have carpet in my kitchen. Don't ask, I'll just say it is England. I also have carpet in all of my bathrooms, again, it is how they do stuff over here. I was sewing last night, need to finish a project there too before I start another one, as bad as I want to start another one. I can probably get that one finished, at least most of the way done till I have to go down to my sewing group to have them help me put it together. It is easier with more hands.

Something about the Birds...

So I have this thing about birds. When I buy fabric and there are birds on it, I have to buy it. Not sure why cause I would never have birds in my house, like real ones but there is something about these kinda birds, in art form I guess. Now I can't draw and/or paint worth a shit so I buy most of my art. I'm creative but the best I can draw are stick figures. Anyways, I'm trying to make my house more comfortable and relaxing. They really are the same word but whatever. Here are a few things that I have been looking at...keep in mind that my birthday is coming up (hint hint and *wink*)

This is one of my favorites, can be found here on Etsy. Wish we had a frame shop around here so I can frame these myself. I have about 6 things that need frames now. After framing on my own, I struggle to pay someone else to do it for me now.


I like this one too. The one below it is from the same artist. Again, here on Etsy.

Same artist found here.

I like this one too but not as much as the others.

Thought this would be cool for scrapbooking....have an idea to use for this stuff.

I think this is one of the neatest things I have ever seen. Go and read the description and I think it will explain the price. This would be a cool thing to build a room around.

This is in Ali's new baby's room. This is very simple and that is my word for the year, Simplify. I have this thing about trees right now too...don't ask, I don't have an answer for you.

At The Current Moment...

...I'm deciding what I should do. I need to finish cleaning my house from when I was gone. Is it sad that I haven't yet unpacked? I also need to get the guest room ready for when Tim's mom comes, she will be here a week from today.
I have lots of stuff planned such as

• Stonehendge
• A very LONG day in London to include but no limited to the London Eye (the big ferris wheel thing), Hard Rock London, Florence Nightingale Museum (my MIL is a nurse), a tour on the open top bus (weather permitting), and a play The Lion King to be specific.
• High Tea in Marbough
• Wales
• Cadbury World
• Oxford
• Warwick Castle
• Sewing class in Swindon
• And a few local things

I know there is more but for whatever reason I can't think of them all at the current moment. So I guess that is all for now. Tomorrow Tim and I are redeeming our gift certificates from our Bdays. We are getting massages and a facial. I can't wait, I have never had a facial before. Will let you know how all goes. Until then...

Random thought #3 - Vaccuming

A few weeks ago a friend of mine emailed me about vacuuming. He said that often times when he vacuums and sees something interesting he picks it up examines it and then puts it back on the floor. He said, "I just picked up this weird looking thing, why didn't I just go and throw it away? I did just bend down but no, I proceeded to put it back on the floor and vacuum it up."
I wrote back with many thoughts on this.

1. I don't pick anything up when I vacuum. Instead I run it over numerous times to see if the vacuum cleaner will pick it up, no matter how big. Oh that 2" diameter and 4" long stick will make it in the vacuum. And if it doesn't then we will continue to run it over until (a) the vacuum cleaner sucks it up or (b) the vacuum cleaner gets jammed and I have to stop all together to fix it.

2. When vacuuming I also do not move anything. Case in point, today (which bought this whole post on), I'm vacuuming this room and there is a basket of clean laundry that just needs to go up stairs. Do I move it to the stairs that are about 20 feet away from me? No, I just vacuum around it. Yes, I can be that lazy.

3. Everything in life is a competition, no matter if it is with yourself or someone else. I like to see which room has the most dirt. Yeah I know, I'm strange. I have a bagless vacuum cleaner (high recommend BTW), so I have the option to empty it whenever I want. The thing to do in the house is to vacuum one room then take the container out and go show the other person in the house how much dirt and dust you sucked up. It's gross but it keeps things interesting. The other person usually makes a face and says, "Gross!" and then the person vacuuming empties it and then proceeds to the next room to do the same thing seeing which room has the most dirt.

4. I have this thing that I can't put the vacuum cleaner away if it has dust/dirt in the container. I mean if it were a bag and I couldn't see it that would be one thing but the fact that I know I'm storing dirt in my house just kinda grosses me out. Yes, again, I know I'm weird.

So my random thought...I'm sure my mother is laughing her ass off when she reads this. Hi Mom!

Melting clock

I'm so getting one of these for my studio. Yeah I think I'm going to start calling it a studio, after all that is what it is. Anyways, I like the 15 x 7 one but I just need to decide on a color. My plan is to have a bunch of my favorite picutures printed in black and white and put them all over my room/studio. So I want the clock to kinda stand out so I want it to have color but not something so it takes over the whole room and that is the only thing that you see. My other disadvantage is that all my walls are white...not cream or off white, PURE white. It is slightly annoying but it is a rental and one day I will have my own house where I can paint and buy the furniture that I want and that will fit in the house that I'm living in. Anyways, that's another day to bitch about.
So far the colors that I like are the green, blue, purple, terra cotta, black and sliver, tan, pink, merlot, and cherry. I like the red too but I think it would be to much in the studio. Like I said I want something that will stick out but not over power the walls which is why I like the pastelie kinda colors but at the same time I want something different. I like the black and sliver but I think it will just blend to much with what I'm going to do. I'm kinda feeling the purple cause it is different, kinda dark but not black, and it is a color that I don't normally have around. I'm trying to diversify my color pallet around my house.
One of these days I will buy accessories for my house. I have all these kick ass paintings that I have gotten from around the world and they are just there on the wall looking slightly alone cause there isn't something cool to accent it. I need to buy some home and design books/magazines to help me out.
I have ALOT of beach pictures so I need those kinda of accessories. In time I guess. Okay, got sewing class this morning and I haven't cut or sewn a thing all weekend. I'm so bad. Wish some of my groups would close out so i can start making some stuff. Need to make a trip to Lakenheath to get some stuff from my friend.
Anyways...until next time....