Its RANT Wednesday...

Yep. You got it- its Rant Wednesday...and it couldn't come at a better time. Does anyone else say Wed-nes-day, when they are trying to type/write it? No? Ohhh okay, sure you don't.

Rant-it-out:

Know these guys? Well I am sick of them. And their stupid nozzle noses that suck on me and make me itch like a youknowwhat. I was outside for 2.2 minutes and have 6 new bites. Really?!

Insert Rude people. Am I wrong or are they everywhere? Literally. You might even want to check under your bed.

I.despise.you. Not you- the laundry. And not just any laundry. The laundry that comes out of the dryer that expects to be put into a new home, nicely folded and tucked in. Ha laundry. How about I let you sit in your basket for a WHOLE week before I even look at you? Nice husband who complainsunderhisbreathaboutwrinkles doesn't say anything about it. Smart man.

No, I am not ranting against the bright invention of the dishwasher. What I want to know is who dropped the ball when it came to also inventing the matching put-er-away-er that should come as an accessory to said dishwasher? Where is my Rosie from the Jetsons? I see the "I'm Clean!" light glaring at me from the panel on the dishwasher. Maybe it should be friends with the laundry basket who still holds the clothes?

This actually happened this morning. 2 rolls, side by side...empty. No toidy paper anywhere. Seriously? {I had to post this for my friend LC- who admitted to this criminal act and got a smack on the hand. I kid, I kid. But not really.} Take a minute, replace the paper. The person after you who is stuck with their pants around their ankles will thank you.

This is actually someone I would like my hubsy to meet. For whatever reason he has trouble becoming friends with this guy- we'll call him Hampie- and the clothes end up in a pile, in front of the hamper. We're working on this. H- are you reading? Wait, you don't even know that I blog? Oh.

Well there you have it. I am officially out of rants. But don't worry- there is only 6 days between Rant Wednesday's so I promise I'll be back with more! What about you? Do you have Rants that you need to talk about?

Sweet Monday er Tuesday

I know I'm late with this post, but this week so far has started out with a bang... SO here is your cuteness for yesterday- since it was DEFINITELY a Monday!

Thanks for the cuteness!



Sweet Monday

Since Monday is usually anything but sweet, I leave you with this.

Hello sweet, earless munchkin.
Thanks Overload of Cuteness.

If that didn't make you smile and improve your Monday by atleast 47%, something may be wrong with you. I would suggest a visit to your health care professional.

Hugs,

S

Hiatus.

Its true. Much to my dismay, I have been on a hiatus from running. You know I love to work out and when I don't, I feel like I am slipping down a slippery slope of nothingness. Might seem obsessive to some, but for me its like breathing. As you know, last year I ran. And ran like I never thought I would. Coming back from a horrendous half marathon the end of 2009- taking a 6 month break and coming back April 2010 with the though it my head to try another half and then a Full marathon. So I did it- I avoided injury,pounded the pavement and completed 4 other half marathons and my full in December. I ran one more Half in March and that was the last time I trained for anything. Over the past 5 months I would run here and there, go back to Insanity (love it!) and just try to mix it up. The one issue I had was that I kept eating like I was logging 30+miles a week. Yep- not the best idea. So, I decided put the box of Nilla wafers down and walked away. I kept waiting for the desire to come back. The need for putting on my shoes and sweating out all my thoughts and worries. {One thing to know is that this summer, starting in May has been pushing the 100's + humidity=not most motivating weather}.

So during my hiatus I started golfing. Ya- Tiger better watch it. Hub and I play now almost every weekend. It was last weekend, the weather was actually kind to us in terms of humidity) and I was taking a jaunt across the green in search of my hot pink golf ball, that for some reason had gone into the woods. No- I feel sure that it wasn't my golf swing that caused it. I was sweating and huffing up the hill when it hit me. I miss this. No, not chasing after my untrained golf ball. But I miss the sweating, the work, the planning, the schedule. Okay, and I miss the ability to not care too much about my Nilla wafers. Yes, I may admit that I have a problem when it comes to the Nillies. Whatev.
So, I knew {in my head} that I was going to ramp it up on Monday with my rekindled love & motivation.

And then this happened.

no, this isn't me

Meet my new friend, Bronchitis. Yep- started over the weekend {love weekending-it sick} and I reported to work Monday...only to struggle. Decided to leave early and go to the doc. I knew this wasn't a normal cold- 1) I rarely  get sick- not even once a year. 2) my trusty liquid echinacea wasn't cutting it. And sure enough- I was kicking it with bronchitis. Talk about a huge damper on my newly found motivation. le sigh.

We are on the mend over here though. So far I didn't give it to any coworkers, furbabies or hubly. Fingers crossed.

Hoping to a snot, cough and tissue free weekend!

Much love my peeps!

Hugs
S

DIY

Just in case you weren't aware (which if you recently started following, I wouldn't think you would be) me and the hubsy are big DIYers. I wouldn't say because we love to do it or are extremely good at it- insert YoungHouseLove (they litteraly are DIYer extraordinaries). In our 7.5years of maritalness I can't say that we have ever paid a single soul to come into our home and do any kind of remodel work on our home. We have been in our current home for almost 6 years now, and have done several improvements. Namely our Kitchen, fireplace, entryway, powder room, wet bar, office and dining room. So, today I will show you one of my all time fav's. Now this was a game changer- seriously.

Lets meet le kitchen...
                                                                            Before

Jealous much of those turquoise green laminate countertops?

The hubsy and I are huge fans of dark furniture/cabinets/accessories, etc. SO, we went completely opposite with our cabinets and said au revoir to our white cabinets. For the countertops- we would have loved to call up our neighborhood granite man, but we didn't have several thousands to drop on our countertops...besides, didn't you catch the title of this post? So, we took a jaunt (of about 3 for this one job) to Lowe's and found what we wanted to do with our countertops.

Meet our Kitchen in reno-mode...
     Step One: Cabinets

This would be the appropriate time to tell you this was a HUGE pain. Taking off all of the doors, in which there are about 25+ doors and drawers to sand, prime and paint. But never the less we forged ahead and finished it in a weekend.

       Step 2: The countertops

 Here are happy cabinets after painting

 And you'll also notice that we were simultaneously switching out our appliances for stainless steel. Meet our $175 oven. Though he was a bit dirty- he was in awesome shape- and I found him for $175 thanks to Craig and his List. Something else to know about me? I always get things on sale or clearance. Always.

 And who could ignore a tiny fluff who would help if she could?

 For our countertops we used Tavy to prep our laminate. Yep- you got it right, we tiled right over that fugly laminate. Here are the counters with the layer of tavy (that you can't see), a layer of fiberglass paper and a thin layer of mortar. This had to set overnight.

PS- fiberglass paper + bare hands= bad news.

 Hellllloooo, my gorgeous tile!

Are you getting the picture? So lets recap:

Repainted all cabinets and doors
Swapped out our appliances for stainless steel
Replaced all hardware for brushed nickle (shoutout to Ebay for 35knobs for $30. A steal I tell you!)
Tiled our countertops
Replaced sink
Replaced kitchen faucet
Repainted walls with the help of Behr and Eiffel Tower

And here my friends, is Mr. Gorgeous afterwards...

What do ya think?
We are extremely pleased with how it turned out- and I'm so happy to see NO MORE green laminate. Though that will come back to haunt me in one other project- stay tuned!

Have you guys done any recent remodels? Any DIYers out there? I have many more projects to share- so check back soon!

Hugs!
S