Renewed

These were
inexpensive and they
look really nice. 

Still chugging along and creating a nicer aesthetic around myself.

Still need to
add a frame
to that mirror.

Well as promised here is the final product - the bathroom! The shower stall walls are a basic kit that I got at Home Depot, the quality is OK and installation rather easy but it's not the prettiest. Then again at $75 it was a steal. If I had had the money I would have tiled the walls but maybe in a few years if I decide to stay in this house longer. The color is nice but I forget what it was called, all I know is that I got it at Ace Hardware from a color I chose at Lowes. The showerhead and faucet are a Moen piece that I got at Lowe's when they had a clearance event for about $25. The paint was a total of $35 but that doesn't include all expenses.

Wal-Mart cabinet my
sister no longer wanted.
Yay me :)

• Paint $35
• Shower Wall Kit $75
• Showerhead Kit $25
• Primer $20
• Compound $16
• Tape $2
• Paint Supplies (misc.) $20
• Shower Supplies (misc.) $40
• Lighting $20
• Towel Hooks $10
• Drywall $20
• Misc. Items $100
• Total:  $383

I love these hooks!
I found them
for $4 at Ross.

I guess final cost it was more likely more, including all the time I dedicated to this project. Things I learned, I don't mind the hard work and my father really wishes his daughters were more feminine. I don't think he completely dislikes our DIY abilities but I sometimes get the feeling he questions his choice of activities with young daughters back in the day. I think he's regretting not taking tea now, even if most of the time he just thinks it's cool we can do these type of projects. Although without his help that bathroom would have been a week long or 2-week long project for me alone. Likely more expensive too because I would have gone through quite a bit of trial and error.

Grateful in Texas

What an eventful year this has been, so many changes for good and bad. The last time I wrote something I had been thinking about myself mostly, focusing on my future and my needs. A lot of "my" and "I" thinking but not very much of anything else. Mind you I feel that we are all entitled to a little bit of that thinking from time to time but sometimes it is difficult to not let it take over. However, today I will not share anything related to politics, groups affected by recent politics, or anything that can lead to negative thoughts. I need a break from the world and its very confusing environment, I will concentrate instead on the positive!

Well, the best news I can possibly share is this:

I HAVE A JOB!!!!!!!!

Wait it gets better! I have a job doing something I actually wanted to do! I know, I told you it only got better. Yes, I am working as a Research Administrator and although it is a steep learning curve - I LOVE IT! It is not the most exciting or glamorous job in the world but it is a change that I wanted and needed in my life. You could call me a glorified paper pusher but after years of dealing with bio-hazardous waste (literally & metaphorically), I'm enjoying wearing something other than bleach-stained jeans. I'm sure that not everyone is nice and that I am bound to have some run-ins with a few "characters" but on the whole I am happy of having an 8-to-5 job. Believe me it is not a small thing to have this type of job because let me tell you that the life of laboratory people is hard work and long hours. The work can be rewarding but the sacrifice made in the lab is no small feat and for me it was no longer one I wanted to continue. I think as great as all of that is, the best is that it is no longer grant funded. You have no idea the stability and comfort I now feel and how absolutely grateful I am for those two things.

As of my last post I had promised a post on the finished product in my bathroom but honestly I feel quite superficial writing about a silly bathroom when so much has happened. I still need to take the pictures, maybe I'll do that tonight being as I have free evenings and I leave work early.

Re-Building Identities

Well hello, today I want to write something a little more positive and something that brings me great joy. I have spoken about this before - I process sadness or grief through hard manual labor. I always have, probably always will. I hadn't realized that I needed to mourn the loss of my job, the loss of love I felt for research, especially the loss of identity that came with the first loss. How did I work it out? Well first I focused on my garden and made several changes to my yard and second I focused on my guest bathroom. The garden I have kept everyone up-to-date on and you all know the bad luck pictures brought but the bathroom that was another thing!



Here we go with the bathroom. What you need to know is that my bathrooms had the most horrible wallpaper in the world! First of all it was an ugly pastel rendition of a southwestern pattern from the 80's that was then painted over with an uglier beige color. What it made it absolutely horrible was the fact that it wasn't installed correctly and you could see every single panel individually, where it either wasn't matched correctly or it overlapped panels. Yeah. Blah.



Okay so again I thought that I had before pictures but once more I have remembered half way through that I wanted pictures. Well to the left there you can see the old wallpaper but you can't see the raised texture or the old pattern, I only discovered that when we removed the bathroom mirror. The whole reason I decided to get this done was because that particular faucet started leaking and I was loosing a lot of water. A previous hack job on the faucet caused that leak and they had superglued that tile square around the faucets together and I actually had to break it apart with a hammer for the tile to come off. You'll see what I mean in a bit.



Below is the back wall of the shower, behind the faucets and you can see the water damage caused by the previous hack job and probably old leak, I also tore that out. On this wall you can also see all of the glue on the walls, that was so difficult to remove! I used a 50/50 mixture of water and Downy Softener, notice I was specific of the brand because towards the end I ran out of Downy and I figured dollar store brand would work the same. It didn't. I had to use a lot more of the dollar store brand for it to remove the glue from the walls versus Downy. Don't use the special scents, just the regular old type in the original blue bottle is what you need. The Downy mixture, a scraper, and a sponge to wipe of remaining residue/mixture is all you need, plus some elbow grease. I was able to remove that in a day.



Now after all this I had to tear out walls and put up sheet rock plus primer, compound on corners and edges, plus texturing of the walls, and then paint over the texture. Yes an extremely long process, or so it sounds it took me about 4 days total including prep time. I chose a white with a blue undertone that changes a lot with lighting. I still have to paint the cabinet, replace the sink faucet, and maybe replace the counter top but I'm not sure about the last one yet. Within the shower stall I ended up removing all of the brown area because it was ripped off by the tile. Once I added texturing to the new walls I also had to prime but I suggest using an oil based primer because it will seal any glue you may have missed. If you don't use an oil based primer the glue will absorb moisture from the air and start lifting the paint and anything else you put on the walls. My preferred primer is Zinsser primers, I have to say that they are the best, the oil based primer even works on laminate surfaces.




Next come the after images and although it's not completely done, you'll see why I say that the paint changes colors with the lighting. I don't mind it, I really like it but it might not be everyone's cup of tea. However, that will be for the next post because this has gotten out of hand!

The take away from this process is the following:

1. Wallpaper glue removal involves a 50/50 Downy Softener and water mixture because it does a great job!
2. Prime your walls with an oil based primer for the best results. My personal preference is Zinsser Primer, I do not receive any money or product for this endorsement. This is based on personal use and my personal opinion.
3. I might suggest clean as you go. At the end of each day I would pick up items and sweep the floors and the day we put up the compound texturing I also mopped. This helped keep the mess localized and helped me feel more at ease with the whole process.

Grateful Friday

This week being grateful is going to be very difficult. There were a lot of things that didn't work out for me and a deadline I did not meet. The latter has thrown a shadow over all of the week. I know I shouldn't define myself by my work because it's just a job, it is not all of me but it is very difficult to see myself or circumstances in any type of positive light. However, the point of being nicer to myself and these posts is to find the positive in my life and myself, so here goes.

• I have woken up every single morning this week, albeit with the help of an alarm but it counts.
• I took a positive step on Tuesday towards better mental and emotional well-being. I'm not quite ready to disclose details yet but it actually made the rest of the week much more bearable.
• I have written some kick-ass cover letters this week. Details to come.
• I have not killed any plants despite my lack of attention this week. 
• I had lunch with my bestie and have weekend plans with her.
• I let go of an issue that was bothering me, it was a nasty email and I let it go. 
• I watched a cool movie - "Man Up" a british comedy.
• Finally had some good results at work, even if the deadline was missed.

Outside of work I didn't have a whole lot of interactions with other people. My bestie works on a different floor now and I don't get to see her as often, just at lunch and not always. Currently my only human interactions involve co-workers, my sister is out of town so I'm on my own. Although my co-workers are nice, but they're co-workers. We do the friend thing outside of work but I think all of us sometimes just don't want to see each others faces. 

As for the deadline, I am disappointed in myself but there's nothing I can do now except keep on working and improve my situation. I tend to be very hard on myself and this has really brought me down. I hope I can move on from this funk soon.

Well there you have it, my list on the positive. If you think it's sparse it might be because I have been working extra hours, not a lot of other stuff going on at the moment. Hopefully, next week will be better.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Setting Summer Sun

OK a dry well here of late but I'm back!

Actually I've had quite an exciting month or little more. At the end of August I won tickets to an ACLTV concert for one of the guys from the Eagles and then about 2 weeks ago I won tickets again to Alabama Shakes! Yeah I know right?! Well I didn't go to the first concert because my concert buddy was out of town and part of the reason I actually go to the concerts is so I get to visit her and her family. Mind you in my 20's I would have probably just gone on my own but age has made me realize that the Eiffel Tower is prettier with a friend. Yup good times :) I also got to meet her son for the first time and he is adorable! The sweetest smile you have ever seen and quite the charmer. It was a really good weekend but that was almost 3 weeks ago!

Since then it's been work, work, work, and sister, sister, sister. Yes I may have a case of sisteritis, spending all of my free time at her house because now my sister lives less than 5 minutes away. I could walk to her house - could, not will. However, I can't even complain about work because it has really been good lately, lots of good results and progress. I haven't had much time to be introspective or look for issues to solve in the personal realm. Obviously I have no dating life and Match.com was a complete bust, so I say with complete confidence romantic relationships are now off the table. Obviously it's not going to happen thus I will employ my time and mind in the pursuit of something equally entertaining. I will let you know when I figure that part out myself. Maybe I'll be better at blogging if I stop thinking about romance? Maybe.

Well other than that life has been hectic with work, family moving closer, friends, and obviously random ticket wins like the past month! Life has been good, over all a good way to close down the summer.  I hope everyone has had a good time of late. A bit of the Alabama Shakes for your enjoyment, who knows you might like their music :)

Gratitude

I really don't have much to talk about lately. Mostly everything has been about my garden and my ongoing struggles with weeds. The struggles are ongoing, the weeds are not going quietly. Perhaps I need to be a little more introspective.

Well one thought I've had lately is that I have been much happier this year. I have to say that I feel like I've come a long way from 2  years ago. I'm not saying it's been easy or all that enjoyable on some days but I am in a much better place. I have left behind a lot of negativity, it has been difficult to do that because it is so easy to hold on to the bad things in one's life. However, there is still work to be done on that, letting go of past hurts feels impossible some days but every day is an opportunity to forgive - whoever needs the forgiveness. You see this month has brought its very own "drama", nothing that is absolutely horrible but frustrating. I have had to concentrate on letting go of the bad this month. June brought with it a broken AC unit unfortunately. Yes it finally died. The compressor died in the condenser and that is equivalent to the whole HVAC breaking down. It seems my unit is so old that I have to replace the furnace along with the condenser because I need to change the coil. If you don't know what all that means it's OK, I didn't either I had to ask questions and look it up as well. The heat - not too bad actually - coupled with "friendly advice" from some family has been extremely frustrating.

Frustrating situation plus a less than stellar work week last week have forced me to take stock of what I can be grateful for this month. If I do not remind myself on a daily basis that there are things to be grateful for I fear for the life of some people. Here goes then a list of things I can at least be grateful for:

• It has been a surprisingly cool spring, with lots of rain and low temperatures. I am extremely grateful for this weekend and the wonderful rain. I needed a couple of nights of good sleep.
• I woke up.
• I am able to exercise.
• I am still trying to master swimming and every time it gets easier and better.
• Wonderful friends who listen to me rant about the "drama", which I think is mostly me frustrated with hot days and nights. Hopefully I will get the AC thing sorted this week.
• Netflix. 
• A working vehicle.
• Beautiful garden :) Yes that is looking incredible but those weeds are killing me! No matter it is all worth it to feel such a sense of accomplishment and pride.
• Food to eat.
• Having a job.
• Did I mention incredible friends?

That is all I can think of right now and I also have to get back to work; just needed a break and to be grateful for a bit :) I leave you with a picture of some of my flowers.

Brown Thumb to Yellow-Lime Thumb

Alright I am not going to jinx myself by saying that I have a green thumb just yet but I am well on my way to a green thumb!  Check out the back yard!

Yes if you compare to other pics the grass has really filled in the back yard. There are still a few bare spots but we are gaining ground. All of my flowers are doing quite nicely as well :) You have no idea how happy I am this year with my garden. Mind you none of this would have been possible without all of the rain we've had this year.

You can see in this picture how much bigger all of my plants are and where the grass has really filled in the yard. Still have all of the stumps but hey I feel that what has been achieved compensates for the stumps. The front yard still has a lot of work that it needs and most of the plants are seedlings at the moment but as you can see there are a lot of blooms as well. The one with the pink flowers has survived many years of my neglect and now that it has full sun it is incredibly lush and beautiful. In the distance there you can see a row of plants growing at the edge of the neighbors grass - those are sunflowers! Yup a medley of stuff in the front yard but next year it will take on a more organized look. This year I wanted to clean it up and make sure that I made the major changes. I feel it has been achieved. 

Not fully green but approaching a yellow-lime color :)

Brown Thumb

I am glad I chose a different career path than that of waitress, I would have starved to death. I cannot walk and carry a cup of coffee to save my life. I'm amazed some days I can tie my own shoes but then I remember that I can purify difficult membrane proteins and I am a little more forgiving towards myself. According to the brain there must be sacrifices made, carrying a cup of coffee is not the end goal. The brain is a little full of itself most days.

Speaking of the career path, today was a good day. I like days where I have neat results with beautiful images and it all makes sense. I'm trying out some new protocols this week and I'm a little hesitant to do them. I always feel like if I mess them up I'm wasting money, mainly because I am wasting a lot of money. However, failure in science can be our best friend but not always, sometimes it's just a colossal waste of time and modest loss of money.

In other news this weekend was a good one, as I have moved some of my yard projects along! As you can see the walkway is expanding and it is looking rather spiffy if I do say so myself. I had a few rosebuds this year, a whole decade and this rose bush has produced exactly 8 buds. Eight. Buds. Yup. This year it was going to be torn out but then I noticed the rosebuds and I gave it a 10th chance. I mean come on 10 years and this is the only time it bloomed! The rest of the garden is coming along nicely thanks to some lovely rain, OK not lovely because it was rather destructive. We had a really bad storm last week on Monday but that pushed my sunflowers through the ground in record time. It takes about 14 days to germinate with constant watering but that mini-monsoon we had got them there in less than 7 days! We're expecting another mini-monsoon tomorrow so hopefully that will help the other seeds I planted in the back. Today if weather permits I'm putting down some more seed, I just got my wildflower mixes! I'm excited because a lot are perennials and the annuals self-seed after the season is over blooming all summer well into fall. As for the backyard the moon has a bunch of seeds that should really benefit from the rain and the little fruit garden has all sprouted! I have lots of corn coming up, lots of watermelon, and lots of cantaloupe sprouting. I also added to chile plants to the set because the seed I had put down did not come up. This whole black thumb is looking significantly browner, who knows by the end of the summer it may be green.

Satisfying

Life moves way too quickly in my opinion, even if it is sometimes beautiful to see it pass us by. I think that's why we never notice the passage of time, it's a beatiful tapestry. Then we look up and a decade has gone by or a year or an hour. Weird but I find it difficult to reconcile the years with the course of life sometimes. I'm sure everyone feels that way sometimes, if not all of the time. Why so philosophical? Well this month has the 1 year birthday of a good friends daughter (today actually! Happy Birthday A!) and my nephew's 5th birthday in a few days! My time goes by quickly. A little too quickly sometimes. I feel like he's still a baby and I am just thankful that he loves hugs, cuddles, and kisses. I feel bad for my sister sometimes, imagine how she feels seeing her baby grow up!

Cleared walkway.

Test run with mold.

Well besides contemplating my mortality, I have also been busy working on my yard and I have quite a bit of progress. The back yard is about as good as it's going to get but the front yard has been my main focus for the past 2 weekends. The backyard now has a sun and a moon, with tons of lovely fruits and grains coming forth. Yes for once I may not kill my whole yard! Let's not jinx myself and just put in the work. The front yard has had quite a transformation truthfully. A tree is gone, 3 bushes have been moved, sunflower seeds have been planted, bermuda grass seed was distributed in desired areas, and all weeds/crabgrass have been cleared! Well most of the yard has been cleared. I have maybe 10% that needs to be cleared but that is part of a larger project so that may take a few more weekends. I have cleared an area next to the walkway to make it wider and plan to place some lovely stones in the midst. I also created some drainage for the rain gutter. Moved more lemon balm into the area too. Love that stuff! Did a test run with the mold that I bought last summer and never used because volunteering. I was satisfied but i think I may have a friend or two help because that was a lot of work to mix and pour by myself. This is only part of what has happened in the past 2 weeks, there is so much more to do in the coming weeks but this weekend it will be temporarily halted because I have Mother's Day coming up. Yup been busy but happy about the progress. Although with all this work I will say I have not been good about doing the piano playing like I had promised. I may have to pace myself a little better. I will show a better picture as soon as I take one of the full yard.

Moon to the left; sun to the right.

Rain Gutter drainage.

Amor & DIY

I am behind in my goals, feeling like I keep on falling behind but not so. I have actually accomplished quite a bit this year already. Truthfully I have done more than can be expected but always the perfectionist nothing is done to my liking. Anyway that is the current state of affairs, a feeling of lagging but when analyzed not so bad.

The garden is a slow go and right now a little difficult because it's been crazy weather. Freezing threats prevent me from fully believing I can put seedlings out. Some of my seeds are not cooperating and that is irksome. Otherwise it's been pretty good. I also managed to kill my rosemary. It had survived this long and then last month I thought hey let me clean up it's base. Next thing I know we had a frost and the roots were not as protected as they had been and it died. I checked the branches by pruning and it is dry as bone :( I was sad. I will go look for one this weekend, I really like rosemary and this time I will not trust warm weather!

Portulaca grandiflora

This past weekend we had a bachelorette party for a friend (guess who was volunteered to plan it?) and it was tons of fun. I had to recover on Sunday. All. Day. Sunday. I know, I know, it was also Easter but we have discussed the not so religious thing. I did go to an Easter BBQ if that counts, I know it doesn't. Anyway as a gift to all the guests, I turned some mugs into planters and put Portulaca into them! I know Portulaca does not sound good at all but let me translate for  you. My mother calls it Amor, (aka Love) and in some places here in the USA it's called Moss Rose. It's quite beautiful. It requires full sun and very little water. It produces tons of seeds so I would not recommend that it be put in the ground, keep it contained. It is a relative of common purslane, bane of my life but it is much prettier in my opinion. At the actual party the seeds were only just starting to sprout but I'm sure that if everybody takes care of it, it will do quite well. I thought it was fitting to give out a plant that is called Love :) As for the mugs I also did a little special thing there. I drilled holes in the bottoms so that it would drain properly and then I marbled them!

mycraftyspot.com

It's a simple process really. In a bowl or any container you don't mind ruining you place some warm water, not boiling just warm. Drop in a few drops of nail polish - multiple colors or one single color - and quickly dunk your mug into the area where the nail polish has spread. This is a quick process because the nail polish will begin to either dry and create a film or bead up and sink to the bottom. Using glittery nail polish is a pain, you need more than a couple of drops and it has to be layered on top of other colors or bottom, as long as that is the last polish you add to the water. Otherwise have fun with this! Also once you drop in dark colors if you don't do enough of the color it will thin out and be a very pale version of what's in the bottle. Put it somewhere to dry and in an hour or two you have a marbled mug. It is not dishwasher safe, the polish will come off in there. Also do not scrub very hard, use a soft sponge because you can rub it off with a brillo pad.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

#HomeOwner Problems

So many pinterest crafts to do and so little life to do them all. Sigh. I was scrolling through my craft board last night on Pinterest. I am so over my head on that list! I think I need a pintervention at this point. Well speaking of pinterest, I have completely removed the branches from my front yard but there is one little problem with that. I have a huge tree trunk and I refuse to pay to dispose of it, I'm trying to convince my brother in law that if we slice it in half and let it fall where it may we can turn it into a planter but he remains circumspect. I know it's very scrooge of me but I have great difficulty separating from my money for things I find superfluous. Like gym clothes. I buy clothes to specifically sweat in them and not be able to wear them anywhere else. Does anyone else find that a superfluous purchase? Anyway, that is not the point, point is that I really don't want to have to pay for removal of the trunk but I guess I will eventually cave.

Add 2 augurs, another plunger, and bottles of acid.

Something you do need to pay for - plumbing issues. Monday I caved and finally called the plumber. Oh yeah, my bathtub had a clog; just the tub. I have 2 augurs, I used both but to no avail. I tried the vinegar & baking soda trick that has worked before - nothing. I even tried chemicals, something I don't like and still nothing. I even tried to vacuum it out but nope. The guy came out on Wednesday (good thing I have a second bath) and couldn't remove the item clogging the tub so he pushed it through the main line. Hopefully I no longer have issues with that tub because I hated paying the $95.

Throwing Shade

Front yard

Well hello there! Look at this! I have chopped down (aka killed) 3 trees! Well not by myself but this still happened. All three trees were mulberry trees and yes they deserved this. You see their roots are very invasive my driveway is all cracked, along with sidewalks. The 2 trees in the back have already given me problems with my plumbing. Therefore, they joined the fishies. Metaphorically. This actually happened 2 weeks ago but I had forgotten to share. Cutting these down was also about my redoing the landscaping at my home because all the shade did not permit anything to grow under the shade. Talk about throwing shade. I am still trying to get rid of all this stuff, so far I have 1/4 of it cleaned up. Although I'll take any suggestions on how to get rid of that huge trunk you can see on the right hand side there. I have no idea how to hollow it out and I find it very irritating to have to pay to have it picked up. Thankfully some people were very interested in some of the larger logs and have picked them up themselves. Yay for people who like free firewood. I would actually keep some of it but my father spent a whole day telling me how bad this wood was for chimneys. I really don't want to deal with visits that involve him moaning about how I'm going to burn down my house with that wood. Who knows perhaps he's right and fireguards don't work and I will burn down my house. 

Back yard

This weekend I spent some time picking up branches and throwing them in the dumpster because I no longer had access to a truck. At times like this I really wish I had a truck. I also wish we had better city employees. There is a service center close to my home and the attendant is a real jack-ass. According to him I can only use the center 4X per year and that the rules were clearly stated online. I checked, that's a lie. I'm not quite sure why he lied to me but I thought it was very rude. I have a very suspicious mind and the only other thing that comes to mind is that he was helping out a business friend and didn't want me to fill up the extra-large bin. Seriously, even with all the branches you see there in the second picture it really isn't that much, they're just not placed correctly. Due to my center limitations I still have 3 piles in the front yard and all the stuff in the back yard :(

Retro New

As this year is a year of action, I have been giving my home quite a bit of thought as to what I like and I don't like. Turns out I don't like a lot and I like very little. Especially right now that my sister is searching for a house in town and I'm seeing all of these nice homes. This in turn has spurred a desire in me to update my kitchen. I thought to myself, I should keep the house in the period it was built (too much Rehab Addict). Then I looked up kitchens from 1972. I found the following:

I just can't. Full sentences could not describe the horror I felt at seeing what a 1970's kitchen was supposed to look like. See that edge above the sink in the yellow kitchen? My kitchen has that all the way around the top of the cabinets in an overhang-like thing that sticks out. Can you say ugh? I can. Ugh. I also have a yellow/white marble-like laminate counter, at least the yellow kitchen has tile instead; to say that my kitchen is retro would be a gross misuse of the word. After seeing what I'm up against if I keep the "style" (I don't think the 1970s had style or understood the word), I have decided to opt out of the 1970s. I know I was born in the decade but I am not claiming any of it! 

Instead I am going to keep a slight retro feel with some accents but I need to redo my kitchen. Besides the fact that it is truly not functional it could use a bit of plastic surgery. I have a lot of unused space because the cabinets are set into deep corners, lots of lost space because I can never reach anything back there. Also the previous owners cut into the cabinets to put in a dishwasher and it looks so ugly where they did that. Recently my father helped put in a new stove and we had to cut out part of the cabinets because my old stove was a built-in stove top/oven. Now I have ugly lines everywhere and I do not like it at all. The top cabinets can be saved and just moved but the bottom is pretty bad. The drawers stick and for some reason the rollers they are on rub on the wood so I always have little pieces of wood over everything, then I have to rinse/wash my pots/pans again to remove the wood splinters. I need to reimagine that kitchen but that is a long-term project, may not even happen this year. Who knows, it might but only if I have the time. And money. Pics of my dirty kitchen will come soon :)

My Sunshine

Well, hello everyone. I have been writing a little more consistently and I'm glad, writing always makes me feel better. With that in mind, I have some sad news.

Marshmallow 2004 - 2014

My Marshmallow passed away. On Monday she passed in her sleep. We went down to Carlsbad and my sister was going to take her in for euthanization because it was that time but she decided to go on her own terms. I do not think she suffered greatly, my Mother spent the whole day with her and said that she had breakfast but her auto-immune disease had returned. I knew it was a matter of time before that caught up to us. I felt like a coward for having my sister do it but I would start crying each time I even thought of that moment. However, I'm glad she went on her own terms. My brain still thinks of her as being at home, yesterday I thought to myself, "I wonder if she finished her water" and then it hit me she wasn't there anymore. Since I found out she passed in her sleep I have used every euphemism for death possible but I haven't said it, written it, or honestly thought it - Marshmallow died. I think everyone avoids that phrase until they're ready to admit it to themselves. For weeks now I have been spoiling her and just trying to avoid thinking or seeing what was about to happen. I couldn't imagine my life without her, I still can't. In the past few days I find myself thinking of things for her, checking on her, of seeing her very mischievous face in the mornings. Eventually I will be OK but for now I'm pretty sad and I miss her a lot. There are things that keep me occupied but my brain/heart aren't really present. I think I'll just be sad for a while.

One funny story about her. She learned Spanish as her first language so she would only listen to me if I was speaking in Spanish. English? What? Are you crazy?!

When I would wake up in the mornings my greeting to Marshmallow was singing this song to her, well parts of it. Only sometimes I would say Sunshine instead because she was blonde

Midnight Vacuum Sessions

Well hello people :)

As you may have noticed the whole thing around here has shifted.  I really was trying to find a totally cool, unique, pretty, captivating, enticing, etc.  blog template but you know what?  I don't have time to reinvent the wheel or rediscover fire.  I'm busy.  Instead I have chosen something that looks a little like me.  No I do not look like a wine glass but on any given weekend I may contain the same contents as a wine glass.  Fitting.  I have also been obsessed with the color orange for some time, thus orange.  You may be wondering about the new title, let me enlighten you.  While browsing pinterest on one of the few days I have time for that (stop rolling your eyes) I came upon a pin which defined Saudade.  I didn't believe it so I looked it up and turns out I like the definition Wikipedia used.  It is Portuguese, has no literal translation because it conveys an emotion.  You know there are words or phrases in any language which convey a wealth of information and emotion but it just can't be translated into another language.  It's something you have to understand and feel deep inside.  Well this roughly means a memory of a past experience, a past love, or just the past  It doesn't have to be sad but it is a way of reliving those wonderful moments.  I guess a blog to me means that, you recount the past if you haven't written for a while (me) or also imagining the feelings of the future and what that can mean to you.  The point being that I loved it and felt it captured something I've been thinking/feeling about writing.

Now let me do some recounting.

I haven't done much personally but I seem to still be busy.  I had a guest over the summer (they weren't allowed to use my tupperware because of crazy lawsuit last year) and he left the second week of August.  Actually for the week following his departure I did all the things I couldn't do while he was there.  I danced like a crazy person in my jammies while listening to deafening music.  I may or may not have walked around in my undies.  I definitely ate more junk food, the waist don't lie.  I slept in.  I went to bed late.  The TV was on way too loud the whole time and I didn't wash my dishes.  Then this weekend I cleaned up and this week have stopped eating crap food.  You know the roomie was nice, didn't complain about anything, but as he was considerate, I think it only fair I be considerate of him.  So that meant none of the above.  Yup, no midnight vacuuming in pj's.  (Don't pretend you've never vacuumed at midnight, I know you have.)

Other than that, works been rather busy and I guess I just didn't have time or energy to write.  Oh yeah, also the fact that my computer takes too long to boot up so I just browse the internet on my Kindle.  As the Kindle doesn't have a keyboard, I don't write at home very much.  Yes it has ruined me.

Nesting Duvets

I've been craving some nesting in my life as of late :)  For us ladies - or at least this lady - that means home decor and smiling at children, even the bratty ones.  I need a baby fix.  I know that 15 minutes of not being able to calm down a baby and I'm done for the month or months ahead.  Superficial I know but I why buy the cow when you get the milk for free right?  Don't get me wrong I love babies but I especially love the quiet that follows when they leave :)

I know, I know, once you have your own it's TOTALLY DIFFERENT.  However, as this particular lady doesn't have any of her own yet, I do believe I am entitled to little smack talk :)  The nesting part of this is I have been obsessed with home decor!  OK so maybe not completely nesting but this is the closest I've ever gotten.  Yeah not looking at baby furniture or stuff like that.  Right now I want a new bed and new bedcovers to go with the new bed.   Especially that green to the right there.  Love it!  I want new drapes and I would love some art work but I can never decide on anything.  I'm surprised I can say that I really want those covers to the right!  C'est la vie.

I've also been working on the yard because it rained for several days straight and the weeds are doing some serious damage.  It was days of rain and mud and the weeds are once more threatening my backyard.  So sad.  Especially after all of my hard work and the fact that I thought I was making progress.  The front yard is doing well, I guess I have kept some of it up but the rain did not help me much and yet it did.  We really needed rain and now I have flowering shrubs but I also have flowering weeds.  I guess you gotta give a little and hopefully by the end of this summer I will have all of this under control.

Well hope the weekend is decent for everyone, if not great :)   (I don't want to build it up too much and then it lets you down).

Wind, Music, and Flushing Toilets

Life is good :)

I need to say that so that I can put things in perspective.  Some times, not all of the time but some times it is necessary.  Today I found myself thinking about a very nasty woman from my near past and I decided I need to focus on something better.  What's better in my present and my nearer past? Where to begin!?

Last Friday I received an email that changed my whole weekend!  I won tickets to the taping of an Austin City Limits show, the artist Juanes!  OK, so I'm not a huge fan of his but the show was quite good.  I got to see a really good friend of mine and she accompanied me to the concert.  Much love for her :)  Thus I worked through the weekend, had a lab meeting on Monday, and jumped in my car and drove 6 hrs to San Antonio! The concert was on Tuesday night and I drove back on Wednesday. It may seem silly to drive 6 hours for an artist who I like but would not actually spend my own money on a ticket to see.  However, I am a huge fan of the Austin City Limits Music Festival and Live Tapings, how could I pass up the opportunity?  Also there are moments in life when steady and solid are really important adjectives.  Then there are moments in life that need to be described by free and wild.  Although not a "wild" moment, the chance to just take off and do something like this made me feel free.  I have to say that it was exciting and it made me quite happy!  While there I got to listen to local stations that play way better music than what we have in LBB.  This is the Kopecky Family Band with Heartbeat, I really like this song :)

When you have moments when you're weighed down by the nasty people from your past or your own nasty behavior - hey it happens we've all been there - those free and wild moments make you feel slightly better.  It's the silver lining to your bad day, even though I'm not going to hold on to that moment as the gold standard it brings a smile to my face.  The drive down there was beautiful, rain in TX equals green every where.  The weather was great.  I spent time with one of my fave people.  If the last thing I do in life is spend time with a great friend/family member, listening to good music, and having fun -  I can say I would die happy.

Work is going quite well and there are lots of things to just be glad for, the dog is alive, the plants are surviving, the ac works, the toilets flush, the wind on Wednesday night didn't blow down my house.  Oh yeah, we had really bad weather on Wednesday night.  Check it out below:

Yes, life is good.  Hope your's has flushing toilets and still standing houses and music - smile :)

Weekend Update

Me enjoying a chicken shawarma.

I hope SNL doesn't own the phrase "weekend update".  Actually not much to update on, this weekend I have attempted to do as little as possible.  Usually I have all these grand plans and I feel the pressure to perform for myself (apparently I'm a pretty harsh critic).   This weekend my goal was to do the minimum, I mean the minimum.  On Sunday I sat around on my fat tush all day long, it hurts from how much I sat.  On Saturday, I had made plans with someone to exchange belated birthday gifts.  I'm not gonna lie, I was not too excited about that because my goal had been to spend as much time in my pj's as possible this weekend.  However, one should never look a gift horse in the mouth.  You'll be proud (although I shouldn't be proud either) that Sunday was definitely a pj day!  Woot!  Few of those have been had since childhood, although those days were also far and few.  We have parents that don't believe you should relax, there's always something to be done.  Though I've noticed they're more fond of naps these days :)

Monday?  Well I did do some gardening but only because my dog forced the issue; she knocked over some seedlings and I figured now was as good a time as any.  Lupine.  That's what was knocked over, I hope they take.  Especially as my dog recently decided to kill all of my sunflowers.  I had 1~2 of the sunflower seedlings that had taken but my dog felt otherwise.  She let me think that she would let them live for about 2 weeks and then she dug them out.  Other than that not much.  Yup.  Goal.  Met.  Win.  Maybe.  Maybe fail. As I did nothing.  Nah, going with Win.

Now why am I so blase about all of this?  Well, that's due to the air conditioning working.  Thankfully it was fixed last week and I have been able to sleep at night.  It also made lounging around in pj's much more comfortable and doable.  Well I hope that everyone has had a great weekend :)  Have a great week!  Here's a new pic also, as this is a weekend update!

Playing Catch-Up

Life is playing catch-up with me.  A few weeks ago one of the burners had gone out on my stove and had to replace that, which is done but still a pain in my tuckus.  On Tuesday I discovered that my AC was no longer operational.  You see most of May we had such crazy weather that I saw no need to use it because it was either cold or cool enough that I was OK without AC.  Therefore when I got back on Sunday night, it was OK so I didn't turn it on - then came Monday.  I go to turn it on and nothing.  I mean nothing.  No not nothing, hot air coming through the ducts was all I got.  I have no idea what is wrong with it and I just hope it's not too expensive to fix.

WHY?!  You know if it broke in August I would be OK because it starts cooling down here by mid- to late-August.  Honestly I'm good with temperatures up to 32C (90F), it sounds hot but the house stays pretty cool  and a ceiling fan is good at that temperature.  However, above that and you might as well just end it for me - please.

Honestly, this is not the worst thing that could happen, it's just not the best time for it to happen.  I know these things happen but it is truly frustrating.  Really makes me want to sell the house, although on a brighter note, I did get the property taxes down.  My property had been valued at $103K and most of the properties around were between $80K to $90K.  I sent in my protest form and the LBB CAD called me yesterday and offered $87K instead, so I agreed!  It was either agree or go to the
hearing and try and get something lower.  I probably could have gotten it lowered by $5K more but honestly I feel it's fair and I want it to reflect the neighborhood prices in case I do sell.  That way an agent won't check the property tax and try and lower the selling price.  Hopefully I get a little money back from my mortgage company due to lower property taxes.

Well have a good rest of the week peeps!