iphones are the bomb

Not that I have one.
Or am planning on getting one.
But Dad and Nina each have gotten one and guess what they send me?

*LOVE*

Practically a new color every month...

Gosh it's fun to play with my hair.


This week I went from this...

...to this (don't freak out, this is with the stripping solution still in my hair getting the brown out)...

This is the stripped hair, isn't it cool? I would have kept it till Halloween, but I did this last weekend and a full week of hair looking like this is just not something I can do when I like to think of myself as professional.

...and this is the end result...
I've never been a red head before. I like it a lot.

Fall Decor

So, I ran across this post on waxing fall leaves the other day and thought to myself, self, that looks like a lot of fun.
And I sure love the fall colors, so bringing them inside is a clever and (nearly) free decor idea.

Step 1) Gather leaves

I'm sure I have some sort of compulsive disorder. I wiped off the leaves and then sorted by color/coolness.

Step 2) you need some wax.
Yeah, I didn't know where to get it either.
The post said to get wax from the canning area of your local grocery store.
Well, I was seriously unsure if my local grocery store had a canning section.
Turns out it did.

It came in this little box. $2.99, not bad.
There were 4 blocks in the box. I melted 3, should have done only 2.

Step 3) Melt in disposable pan on stove.

Step 4) dip leaf into melted wax.

I shook it off a little after, but don't get too crazy or you will have little droplets of wax to clean off in the most unlikely places. Not that I speak from experience or anything.

Step 5) put on wax paper.
Shoot, no wax paper.
Improvise....yes. Enter tin foil. Works like a charm.

Spiffy leaves, huh?

Step 6) sprinkle at random throughout the house.

I made my dining light into a leaf mobile, sweet.



Step 7) look at leaves inside, get happy. Look at leaves outside, get happy.

may I present.....FALL LEAVES 2009

As much as Michigan and I do not get along, I have to admit that the fall colors are absolutely glorious.

Don't you agree?

Dressers Redo: Part III

Parts I and II of this series can be found here and here.

I'm wanting to give a distressed look to all of these pieces, so wherever the sanding took the finish off of the wood...

...is where I want to use this...

...to cover it up.

This will insure that I get some brown peaking through the final paint color when I lightly sand the finish.

I put some brown paint wherever there was an edge.

And then I primed over it.

And that is the end of Part III.

Foliage

While we are talking about plants in the yard, let me introduce you to our new beauty.

I love hydrangeas, and this one should grow into a large bush...

...the better to hide the un-aesthetically-pleasing transformer box which sits to one side of the front yard.


And while we're talking about things that I love...

...how cool is the variety of plant life at our back property line?

Beautiful, no?

It makes me happy that we chose this lot.

Trees!

We came home the other night and found some unfamiliar shapes in the darkness of our yard.
The builder had come and planted two {very large} trees!

Look at how puny Curt is compared to these things.
They are no twigs stuck in the dirt.

I'm a tree nut, so I was so excited to see them.

Here's tree #1 in the daylight.

And both trees . This is just awesome.
The yard looks so much better with some vertical vegetation.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Happy Birthday Mom
(on Sept. 30th)

Me and Mom just chillin.

Me, Mom, and Melynda
This must have been taken by Dad...I can never keep my eyes open in front of his camera.

Mommy at Leatherby's after Shane's baptism.

Mom and Shane

Me, Mom, and Melynda

Me and Mom.
Yeah, we had rockin' green colors in our house.
And Mom had the stylin' poofy hair.

Me zonkered out at the Hogle Zoo.
Mom was expecting Melynda at this time.

This is what happens when we all come home and mom is sleeping...
...dog pile on mom's bed!

Me and Mom in Mexico.

Happy Birthday Mom...sorry it took so long to get your post up.
Love you!

Our new(ish) toy

For a long time, we've been trying to figure out a good solution for storing all of our digital media. To simplify things, and for organization purposes we have been using one of our computers for most everything, and then those folders were accessible from other computers via the wireless home network. The problems with this set-up were these: the main computer is a desktop, so if we want to look at pictures or video, we would need to have two computers powered on, also, with the addition of an HD video camera, the 250GB drive would be filling up rather quickly. So, I began to research our options.

I decided that it was time for us to get a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. You see, the problem for me with a USB external hard drive is that it can only be connected to one computer, and if you want to access the drive from another computer, then you either have to move the USB hard drive, or turn on the other computer. As I did my research, I settled upon the Linksys NAS 200 device (pictured below).

There are many options out there, but this seemed to be the most versatile and cost effective way for me to up our home storage capacity. Some may argue that this is not a 'true' NAS device, but it suits our purposes well. For those who have a Linksys router, this box is the same dimensions as the WRT54G (what we have, although now I am strongly considering an 'N' network...), so they are stackable. The way this guy works is that it hooks up to your router via ethernet connection (RJ-45), and then you can access the hard drives from your home network (note - be sure to have good network security...check). As far as capacity? The sky is the limit! There is actually no built in capacity, you add your own hard drives. There is room for 2 regular EIDE hard drives, and two USB external hard drives (more with a USB hub). Currently, we only are using one of the two slots, and are using a new Western Digital 1 TB hard drive (yes, you read it right, Terabyte).

So, for the past few days/weeks we've been transferring things over to the new drive. We've had it for a few weeks now, but I've been so busy with school that I still haven't gotten everything transferred to it, or the configurations just right, but so far, I am very pleased with the new toy.

Dressers Redo: Part II

The intro to this project was here, explaining that I am redoing 4 dressers, a mirror frame, and a bookshelf to go in my house.

To get started I wiped everything down really good with a damp rag and then let it dry.

Remember this antique beauty, my favorite of finds?

Well, half of its little rolly wheel bottoms were broken, plus I didn't like the look of them...

...so, I popped them off...

...and put on some real dresser feet.


And remember its matching mirror frame?



Well, it had part of the top decorative piece knocked off...


...so I took one of my saws to the other side...

...you won't even notice once it's painted.



Then we sanded away, scuffing up all of the surfaces.

I didn't like most of the hardware (drawer pulls), so I took all of them off.
Since I am painting these instead of staining, I just filled the holes with spackle, waited for it to dry, and sanded it down.

And now, my friends, we are ready for primer.