Sunday, November 24, 2013

Home Improvements

Do you guys remember that show? I think it was one of the few shows that my parents and my sister and I all agreed on watching. Of course my sister only watched it for Jonathan Taylor Thomas...any other JTT fans out there?

So, I have finally put together a few pictures of the stuff we've been doing around the house. A lot of the things (the most time consuming things) you can't really see in pictures-like the baseboards, repainting some walls, etc.-but just take my word for it, it looks a lot better.

Here is the before picture of our entry way:


Not too shabby, but it lacked some thing.....so here is the after:


We repainted the ledge on the half wall on the left, hung a mirror instead of the hooks, and then got a small cabinet to put there. I was really looking for a table, but a lot off them were either too small, or in one case on the one I really like, one little inch too big. (Jeeesh!) All in all, I am pretty please with this little area. I just don't know what I am going to put in those cabinets. Ideas?

This picture is the before of our first little room once you walk in the house. I think you could use it for either a formal dinning area or a living room. You can see we originally had it as a dinning area:


But we hardly ever ate there unless we had people over. Plus, it wasn't even our table, so....we changed it into a living room:


That chair is actually going back into the office, we thought we could incorporate it in this room but it didn't fit. Please notice the shelves on the wall behind the sofa-the ones my hubby made and I sanded, stained, sanded again, and then sealed. Phew! But really, with all that work, we saved over $100!! Plus, I also got the exact size shelves I was looking for.

As far as the family room, the couch, chair, and coffee table in the above picture was there since we moved in, but I had always wanted a sectional sofa. After four years, and many frustrations, I finally got my couch!


We're still looking for another small table for the right side of the sofa, or possibly a floor lamp with a little ledge, but the main stuff has been completed!

Oh, and one last thing I put together for the laundry room:


I really wanted hooks in the laundry room for hanging up things that are still wet and need to dry (like towels or sweaty gym clothes) so this works out well.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving and to see everyone's reactions to our home improvements. We are expecting about 14 people....a good amount, right? I am definitely looking forward to spending time with my mom and brother, since they will be out from Wednesday to Sunday....whoo hoo!!  :)

Until next time, have a great Sunday!

Questions...

1. What are your Thanksgiving plans?

2. What is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Introducing: Workout Wednesdays!!

I know, I know.....I'm finally doing my new Wednesday posts!

I've decided that every Wednesday I will recap my workouts from the previous week. So for this week, here is what I did from 11/14/13 to 11/20/13:

Thursday: Incline walked on the treadmill for 3 miles

Friday: Nothing

Saturday: House work (that should count as a workout)

Sunday: More house work

Monday: Walk with the Hubby on the "hill of death" (what he has named it) for 3 miles

Tuesday: Walk in neighborhood for 2.5 miles

Wednesday: Run on treadmill for 3 miles

I know it isn't anything spectacular, but its my first week so give me a break, okay? I'm not going to include the times on my walks or runs because 1.) They are embarrassingly slow and 2.) I can't remember them.

I am happy to say that the house is really coming together. After four years, it is really starting to feel like a home. I will make sure to post the before and after pics for you soon!

This weekend something came over me, and not only did I make homemade butternut squash soup but I also made homemade breadsticks. They were delish! I calculated the calories for the soup and it came down to about 113 calories per serving. Not too shabby, especially considering they are decent size servings.



And on Monday night I made turkey tacos....


It sounds odd, but the salsa from Albertsons that they make and package themselves is so, so good! It made this dinner. Their guacamole is pretty tasty too!

I guess after all that cooking (haha!) I was needing a break because Tuesday I was really feeling like we needed to go out. So, to Yardhouse we went....

The Hubby and I shared chips and guacamole, Thai chicken pizza, boneless firecracker wings, and the chopped salad. It was pretty tasty! We did take most of the pizza home, and I ate most of the salad, but those wings are too good to eat one or two.....





Now tonight I am back to cooking...grilled chicken and spaghetti squash au gratin. Smells pretty good, so I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

Questions...

1. What is your favorite restaurant?

2. What is your favorite meal at home?

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Something Exciting and a Story...

Hi all! Sorry for such a HUGE gap in my posts. We've been extremely busy fixing up the house and trying to get ready for the holidays.

So, I was going to start something on Wednesdays-I know I keep promising this, and it WILL happen-but this week isn't a good week for it. In any case, I have some nerdy, blogger related news. If you know Julie over at PB Fingers then you may be excited too! I've read her blog, and a few others consistently (more than I post, that's for sure!) and Julie was saying how she's been looking for the super cute pullover she bought at Old Navy last year so she can buy another one this year. Well, my last trip to Old Navy I happen to wonder across it! You better believe I went back to work-after buying one-(yes, I go to the mall on my lunch, my to my husband's dismay) and commented on her blog. Imagine my surprise when she not only commented back but mentioned me in one of her posts! I was so excited I even took a picture of my name online...such a nerd! :)

Believe it or not, that wasn't the story! I'll start that now: Our couch finally arrived!!


The Hubby and I went to the furniture store at about 5pm last night to get it. I was really excited, plus it took two weeks longer than what I was quoted, so I was just relieved to have before Thanksgiving. In any case, since they're right around the corner from us we decided to get it ourselves rather than pay $50 for delivery. The two of us muscled two of the sections off the truck and into the house, and the Hubby was on his way back for the last piece when I started unwrapping it.

So, I'm unwrapping and once I finally catch the first glimpse of the fabric I thought, "Wow! This is light fabric!!" (My brain was already thinking, scotch guard, sheets, blankets, etc. to keep it clean.) Well, I finally pull out the pillows and realize this wasn't our couch! We brought someone else's couch home. Luckily the first piece was ours. So the hubby goes and picks up what we think are the last two smaller pieces. Wouldn't you know he gets home and as we're unloading it, one of those wasn't ours either!! At this point, it was pretty comical, especially looking back. Fortunately enough the furniture store sent their delivery guys to come pick up the two wrong pieces and deliver the last piece of ours. We were done at 8pm, that's right folks, three hours!!

I was pretty happy to have it all said and done,


and it looks good too! Now just a new accent table and we'll be all set...oh, and a rug, and..... :)


So glad we are done with that furniture store! It's really good stuff and the prices are reasonable, but man-o-man that customer service is crap-tastic.

Hope you guys are having a good week!

Questions...

1.) What is your worst customer service experience?

2.) If you work in retail or a service job (haven't we all) what's a horrible encounter you recall?
I remember when I had my first job working as the 1 Hour Photo girl inside Target-I was probably 16 or 17-and the machine that processes the film (gosh....that sounds so old!) broke and it ruined a lady's pictures. I had to explain to her what happened and she started crying....it was the last pictures she had of a family member that had just passed away. I felt so horrible!! I went home, told my mom, and cried.


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Halloween and Home Improvements

Happy Belated Halloween! I hope everyone had a good and safe Halloween. We didn't do too much-dinner with the in-laws and passing out candy to the little (and not so little) trick-or-treaters.

We did have some contests at work for both costume and pumpkin. We were trying to convince my co-worker to do the Grumpy Cat pumpkin, but she is anti-cat and wouldn't hear of it. So instead we did Medusa-which I thought was pretty creative:

 
 
Apparently those who voted enjoyed Mickey Mouse a little more. Not sure how Mickey competes with Medusa, Miley Cyrus, Duck Dynasty, and even the crazy "Ain't nobody has time for that?" lady. Mickey was the only carved pumpkin (the rest were painted or dressed up) so maybe people are too traditional-or, maybe the department that did Mickey was the largest and the supervisor sent an email to everyone telling them to vote for it. Just saying.... 
 
In any case, I did my own pumpkin for our departmental entertainment...
 


Turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

The husband did dress up a little and tried to scare the little ones on Halloween. Unfortunately they didn't find Larry King in a sombrero all too frightening....


The weekend passed in a blur-a blur of paint, furniture set ups, and all that fun stuff. We finally got our table in and put it together-which took most of the day Saturday. (This includes going back to the furniture store since they forgot to give us a piece of the table.)


We were able to eat our first dinner on the table Saturday night-KFC....classy!

We're still waiting on the couch and ottoman. I'm also working on dinning room décor, so if you have any ideas, shoot them my way. Next weekend is the laundry room-can't wait to show you how it turns out!

Wednesday I will be starting my new weekly traditional blog post...stay tuned for the excitement. (Not really, but who knows....) Hint: it actually has to deal with fitness and not the randomness that is my life.

On one last note-did anyone happen to notice what is back?!


What does it say about America that this gives us warm fuzzies (unless that is just me) because it means Christmas is right around the corner. YAY!

Questions...

1. What were your Halloween festivities?

2. What makes you feel like the holidays are near?