Someone, Please Pinch Me!

Prepared to be Wowed!  FawnDear finally completed another milestone in my De-hoarding.  The Dining room is DONE!!!  Happy Dance.  I know it seems like forever since I’ve last shared a completed room in my recovery from hoarding.  Honestly it’s because our family has stretched out to be working on 4-5 rooms at the same time.  But we are progressing.

Because it’s taken just that long, let me remind you of the abysmal state of the dining room last November.

Every surface so cluttered you could barely see the table from the front room.

So sit back and relax, this is a long, picture heavy post.

Remember how I de-cluttered in time for Thanksgiving.  Switched the wall that the China Cabinet went on… with reservations.  Ms. Passion told me to trust her and I did.  Now I’m so glad that I listened.  Are you ready???

 

From that to this…

And yes, it is the same house.  It’s amazing what a lot of hard work can do.  I know blue might not be most people’s first choice of color, but it’s mine.  I need the calm it brings.

Many thanks to my big boys for wielding the poles of paint rollers.  Painting cathedral ceilings are not fun.

So the Tall Wall went from this mayhem of mess…

To this…

Say it with me, ‘Ahhhhhh.  So refreshing, Yes?’  Ms. Passion helped me find my voice and style.  It’s been there all along.  I love antique linens and the color blue.  The wall however we painted a Mt. Rainier Grey (True Value), but it looks blue all the same.

The large framed doily was made by my talented Mom.  It had been sitting in a drawer because I was too afraid of my kids damaging it.  But I’ve pulled out the best linen’s.  I’m going to live in my Dream home today and not wait for a someday home that may never happen.  In the Movie ‘Knight and Day’ the comment is made about Someday being the code word for Never.  That struck a nerve with me.  So I’m redefining my Dreams.  My Someday is Today.

 

In deciding on an arrangement of plates, Ms. Passion and myself tried out several different configurations on the floor.

Then, when we finally settled on the one we liked the best we laid it out on the back side of some old wrapping paper I had stashed away in my closet. 

You mark where the plates are positioned by outlining them on the paper.  Then tape the paper to your wall, adjust the height if necessary.   Then without removing the paper, add your nails, or whatever means you decided to use, to hang your art.  Then once they are all in place, slowly tear away the paper.  Ms. Passion and my neighbor Ethel kindly helped with this part.

It’s the easiest way, I believe to hang a collage, and make sure you get  the positioning you want, right the first time.

I wanted more doily art but until my mom sends me more (hint, hint), or better yet until she comes to visit and can teach me how to do them, I settled for filling a couple of my frames with $1 store doilies.  I took a frame and  lined it with blue material from a thrift store T-shirt dress that I found that matched (nearly exactly) my accent wall. I folded the material over the cardboard that came with the frame and taped it onto the back side.   On the large doily display I actually laid the material on a piece of cardboard that had been treated with a spray adhesive.  Trying to insure that the weight of the crochet wouldn’t cause the knit material to sag.  It turned out beautiful.

I used an acid-free glue stick in a couple of places on the back of the doilies to have them stick better to the knit material background.  I also tried to do something a bit different and cut the $1 store crocheted find in pieces.  Yes, I hacked up a doily.  So one doily was used in two different frames.

And the all the coordinating dishes I’ve found over the past few months (super cheap) at the Thrift store or the local antique mall.  It required a lot of patience and multiple trips.

My favorite one, the top platter, I did get on EBay.  I love that it’s of Washington Crossing the Delaware.  And another plate pays homage to my pioneer heritage.  Go Wagon Train!

I love my new Stitch and Dish Wall.

“Each decision we make becomes a stitch in the pattern of our life.”  ~My Mom

Okay, onto another dreadful before view.  Here’s another Clutter War Zone before photo.

 

And here’s the after.

This wall run’s the length of my dining room/family room and is a much darker blue.  ‘Blue Dusk’ from True Value, is the name of this paint.  It isn’t too overwhelming because the huge China Cabinet helps break up the color nicely.  You’ll have to wait to see what it amazingly does to my front room.

Notice how my huge sagging rectangle table is gone.  We replaced it with a Thrift Store treasure.  Ms. Passion found me this solid wood, Diamond-In-The-Rough, oval table, with two inserts, last October for just $43.  But it needed a lot of help.  Stripping the stain and varnish, then sanding, and re-staining to match the dining room chairs and finally applying nearly 6 coats of varnish.  Yes, my kids are that tough on tables.

We decided that the new oval shape would help simplify the room.  Not only is it simple and beautiful, but it’s shape actually gives us more room in which to move around.  And we didn’t lose any seating.

Once again T-rev and Abner were major Elbow-Grease contributors.

Sanding the little crevices are not too much fun.  Special thanks to my little Dremel tool for getting all the nooks and crannies for me.

I also went the extra step and recovered the Dining room tables chairs.  Good-bye brown.

Hello Beautiful.

Love it.

We also, took down the bronze colored ceiling fan and replaced it with a craigslist find.  I nearly jumped for joy when I found this on Craigslist, as it matches (style- wise) a smaller one that I found for the entry way. 

However the old brass didn’t really fit the new rooms color scheme. So, I taped up the candle sticks and pulled out the metal friendly Spray Paint.

I did spray a Primer on first, then followed that up with a couple coats of Silver. 

Now it fit’s the room perfectly.

I also made my first ever woodworking project. I love doing FawnDear firsts.  This first was attempting wood cornices to go over the windows.

The molding was a little tricky, so I must say thank you to whomever invented Wood Putty, sanding and a couple coats of good thick paint to hide my little flaws.

Oh, and another kudos to Prince Erik for mounting the heavy sucker’s on the wall.  Thanks Stud for being such a Stud Finder.  I ended up making a total of three box Cornices in total for the two rooms.

It took me a couple of months to find the curtain material.  But I finally went with a Waverly Toile Print from JoAnn’s.  Home Decorating Fabric can be a jaw dropper at times, but I made sure to only buy it after it reached the 50% off.  I then scored with another 20% off total purchase coupon so ended up getting nearly 70% off regular price.  The lining for the curtains was… can you guess??? Thrifted White flat sheets.  The rods… cheapo Electrical Pipe from Home Depot hung on Closet Rod Holders.  I punched grommets through the top of my curtain material and hung them on the pipe with shower curtain hooks.  So they slide open and shut so easily.  And you would never know about the unconventional assembly because it’s hidden up in the cornice.

 

The white cornice box was beautiful, but adding a stripe of my accent ‘Blue Dusk’ really made the molding stand out. 

Not only am I decorating with colors I love but I’m adding more of me.

The yellow roses remind me of the wild yellow rose bush that flanked the small walkway to the farmhouse I grew up in.

And if you look closely… you might spy something magical.

My wee little friends have picked little play spots all over the room.

The wire bird cages I found super cheap at the local antique mall.  I did spray them with an heirloom white to match.

And they provide even more play space for my pixie and wee feathered friends.

My whole starting point for this room lies with the china that my Grandmother gave me when I got married.

My fairies have their own personality.  Some are more shy and only peak out at you if you’re very patient.

Others dance in the open, loving the spotlight of my mix & match china.

It feels so good to finally express me, in the decorating of my home.  I know it might not be what is most current in the design world, but it’s calming,peaceful, magical and downright perfect for me.  For the first time in my married life I finally feel like this is my home.

Surrounded with items reminding me of my contributing heritage…

As well as my love of Imagination.

There you have it.  My new dining room.  The bonus is our family has had dinner at this table every night for the past two weeks and ‘Glory Be’ we are keeping it this nice all the time.  I’m not even tempted to bring clutter in this magical space.  Thank you Ms. Passion.  You are my Angel.

Stick out your Tongue…

And catch some rain.

Hope and I got stuck in a little shower during our walk today. 

Absolutely refreshing.

So in addition to me moving a bit faster (Go Cardio), we caught raindrops on our tongues.  Had there been any puddles we might have stopped and splashed around a bit.  See I am movin’ again. 

After my last whiney post (sorry, it was a downer), I realized that sure, UnBlogAbles happen and they can throw you for a loop, mess with your mental and all.  However, I was also allowing it to be a crutch for allowing prior emotional eating, lack of exercise  bad habits to sneak back into my life.  No crutch today – ate right, got off my duff and went for a walk with my little munchkin.  We were loving the brisk air and changing colors, and yes even the rain.

   

Hope was convinced that the leaves were touched by fall fairies, and she had to collect her favorites.  How else could leaves change into such vibrant colors.  To a  kid, fairies seem much more logical than air temperatures and light cycles affecting seasonal change.

We must have interrupted the fairies because they had just began their work on this tree.

And I think it’s time to pick this beauty out of our garden and put the patch to rest for the winter.

Had another FawnDear first this week.  Saw a Black Bear in the wild about 1 mile from my home.  Tried to take a picture but he scampered into the tall grass. 

The furry guy was sitting under this ancient apple tree two nights in a row.  The first night I was so in shock from seeing a bear in the wild so close to home, I just parked the car and watched him watch me.  Silly camera was in my purse the whole time but I was too in awe to think of it.  Abner and Evo-man were with me and they were as wowed as I was.   The next night Prince Erik told me Fuzzy-Wuzzy was back (same evening time, same place) and so I flew there in the car this time with the camera ready.  However, he didn’t wait around.  I saw him scurry over to the tall grass - Just missed him.  I guess he likes apples and is filling up for his hibernation nap.  For the short time being I’m not taking any walks through the neighborhood in that direction.  Still was magnificent to see him.  Viewing these amazing creatures in the wild so buries the zoo experience, and gives you a little thrill.  Love the Pacific Northwest for showing me Bald Eagles, Orca’s and now Bears in the wild.  Not too sure yet that I want to see a cougar – but hey, if' I’m in my car like I was with the Bear it might be okay.

Our Month of Nothing Wrap-Up!

Wow, such an eye-opening month. So much so that we are making permanent several of the new things that we tried. And making more regular other experiments we tried as well. No we were not perfect; in fact, I was astounded by just how bad we were before. What? I know you think I’m all that and more, this hot, intensely farm-girl witty, dream chasing & catching chick that I am. But I’ve got some major issues to work on and I’m constantly finding new issues. That and I want to tackle my issues so my kids don’t have to grow up with the same ones that I fight.

So things we did well...

• 
  We cut our grocery bill almost 50% (not quite but almost) I think we saved over $575 on food and eating out over our regular month.
• 
  We cut our auto fuel bill by more than 50%. Many thanks to Prince Erik who only drove to work 5 days during September and they were all super good excuses like Dr. Appointments or off work-site meetings. The other days he cycled motorbike or rode the company bus.
• 
  I won’t know the difference in our monthly utilities until next month but I can only assume our water bill will be down.
• 
  Yes we decluttered a bit more, even took another load to the dump.
• 
  We made bread from scratch once or twice a week.
• 
  Cut our milk consumption from 9 gallons a week to 4.
• 
  And the kids took healthy homemade lunches to school every day.

Every one of those awesome changes I’m going to try my darndest to keep in place.

And through the whole month I had another FawnDear First. It’s not something I’m proud of. In fact I’m down right ashamed. It’s something I’ve known I’ve needed to do for more than a decade but haven’t quite figured out just how. I’ve given it the good old try several times over and nothing has worked. So what was that first??? For the first time that I can remember we spent less than we made. There I’ve said it. And it really stinks. Usually we spend and then rely on Tax Returns and work bonus’s to get us even or out of the money hole we constantly dig for ourselves and so far we’ve lucked out. But with a kid going to college in less than two years it won’t be as easy to walk that tightrope. I told you how budgets and I have a bad relationship. But I felt so good and felt some real power in the process of pondering true needs, I think this approach might be the one to take.

Things I still want to work on…

• 
  I’m still going to try and live by needs only. I quit our month of needs six hours early and took the kids out to a nice but inexpensive sit down restaurant and then asked them how badly they wanted to go to Disneyland? Then we talked about what it would take to get there. So sorry McDonalds but you didn’t fit into the equation. You won’t be seeing us anytime soon. The holidays will be much more frugal and thrifty as well. Christmas gifts will be more thought out and we’re skipping all the little knick-knacks that usually break one or two days after Christmas. The kids are on board and I’m determined to make this change permanent.
• 
  I still take too many little trips to the grocery store during the week. I think I averaged at least four times a week because I would run out of something. So I need to work on a more detailed menu and list.
• 
  I was so inspired by Owlhaven and all the canning she did this month and how her grocery bill budget was only $50 a week and she has 10 kids. Well she has inspired me to really give the large garden a good old honest try. I grew up with a huge garden so I know what I’m getting into. So we’ve started winter prepping our huge backyard so that come spring we can make our garden three times as big. I figure with the economy as wacked out as it is it really doesn’t hurt to acquire some new self-sufficient lifestyle habits.

I hope all you that played along had a great experience as well, and if things didn’t go as planned at least you’re more educated, and can have a better game plan on what worked and didn’t work for the next time you try.

My Oily First

I did it. Another Fawndear first.

And once I made it through the foreign land know as the GUY’s Auto Store it was all, should I say this, – EASY!. Well I saved approximately $7 by changing the oil filter on the Excursion myself. To be honest I broke even. Because I used that $7 to buy a funnel and a filter wrench. But when it comes down to it – I saved a bunch more because I acquired a new skill and still have half a large case of oil that hasn’t been used. So my next oil change should cost approximately $4.95 or just the cost of a new filter.

Of course when I went to the auto supply store the guys there were rolling their eyeballs as I utterly demonstrated my amazing knowledge of the vehicle that I drive.

‘I’m looking for an oil filter for my Gas Sucker out there in the parking lot,’ (It was in full view by the way.)

‘What’s your vehicles make, year and engine size?’

‘Well, heck it’s the biggest thing I think Ford makes, and we bought it eight years ago – new. The engine’s real big.’

‘Is it a V6 or a V8?’

‘I dunno? Ahhhhh, where would I find that out?’

‘You have to go look at the engine and it says on it what size it is.’

‘So I just have to go look at the engine and it will say?’

‘Yep,’

So I went out popped the hood on the tank and looked at the engine. No where on it did it say what size it was. Fortunately for me there was a kind soul from my church in the store at the same time.

‘Oh that’s a V8 engine.’

‘How can you tell?’

‘It just is,’

How in the heck can you tell the size of an engine just by looking at it?

So I go back into the store and mumbled my way through the engine size. Instead of pointing me to the aisle I needed, I think the employee was so embarrassed by my lack of auto language he just went and picked out the filter for me.

I think they purposely make you feel so stupid about not knowing auto terms that you’ll be too intimidated to try and actually work on the vehicle. That’s their secret weapon. They don’t want you to know how blasted easy it is to actually change the oil filter on your car.

So once I got down to it. I had to shimmy a little but found that I could actually fit under the big beast. It might be harder to change the oil on my husbands little commute car. Might have to lose a few more lbs. to fit under it.

At first I thought this looked like the oil pan. Kind of looks like what I'd expect it to look like. But it's too clean.

Then I remembered what Susanne said about her husband draining the transmission on accident. I guess that’s the expensive, typical rookie mistake. You think they could help you out and have the word Oil next to the nut you’re supposed to unscrew. I mean they tell you up top where the oil goes in. Wouldn't it make sense to tell you where it comes out?

So after some looking I guessed that this messy drippy area was the oil pan.

And when I unscrewed the nut – well, let’s just say, good thing I had a dishpan under the nut .
So I followed the instructions that I ‘Googled’ and Easy-Peasy! I was done with the whole gooey experience in less than ½ hour.

And other than my hands – I remained spot free. Next time I'll wear my cleaning gloves. Eat your heart out Jiffy Lube!



I can’t tell you how easy it was for me. You bet I’ll be changing it myself and saving that extra $15. And I won’t be pressuring myself to buy an extra this or that like the good boys down at the garage. Maybe once a year I’ll give them the simple honor of doing it for me – just so I won’t have to crawl through ice or snow and they can vacuum up my kids crumbs too. And I’ll put my Mommy Lube sticker in the front window too. With the Return Date of ‘ ‘Whenever I darn well feel like it!’ and the recommended mileage.

Prince Erik had a look of horror on his face when I told him that I’d done it. He had known I was going to do it but I think he was surprised that I attempted it while he wasn’t around to hold my hand. What with him being the expert of changing it once or twice in his life, and all. He’s probably afraid that I did something wrong and the road is going to be getting a new oil slick soon.

But, By-Golly I did it and I did it correctly! And I’m pleased as punch with how easily I figured it out. Hummm, what do I attempt next???