knock knock ding dong

I hate when people knock on the door. I get all nervous, like who could possibly be knocking on my door, and for what? And for a split second before I open it, I always wonder if it's someone coming to rape and murder me. I blame that bit of paranoia 100% on my father.

Only a few times has it been good- like when Suzy dropped by, or when the neighbor came by to introduce herself and give me an Avon catalog. Or the tamale lady.

Other than that, it's been my meddling neighbors, the lawn guy, or, tonight, two dudes who looked like they wanted to talk to me about God. It was already dark so I thought that was weird. They asked if a previous tenant was home and I said that he doesn't live here anymore. Then I paused, and they just stood there looking at me. So I smiled and said, "Have a nice night!" and they barely moved to leave. By then I was already closing the door.

I think I'll feel better about answering the door when Chris comes home. I'll just feel safer overall.

We can start a fire to sit around

Those Whole Foods frozen GF vanilla cupcakes always remind me of Jessica, probably because she loves them as much as I do.

That being said, I don't want dinner now because I'm full on cupcake.

OHMYGODILAUGHEDSOHARD

cap again

I've been home for 40 minutes. The pants already came off-- WHY am I still wearing a bra??

Shit, that's better.

Came home starving. The menu was for cold tuna salad, but I was craving something warm and cheesy. Tuna mac & cheese would have been ideal, but I do not have the ingredients for cheese sauce. Tuna melts it was. I love the extra sharp cheddar combined with the tuna & the relish.

I'm tired. Another day of trying to solve this problem that's been going on since go-live, and it's getting ridiculous. It's not something that I can fix- as usual, I have to rely on others and that's fun. My boss is out today & tomorrow and I'd love to have it fixed when she comes back and wow her with my competency. Or at least have made some progress. I don't think that's going to happen.

Had a good talk with my newest coworker today. Nothing particular- just about life. She's got a good head on her shoulders and I'm glad she's on our team. It's so nice to be working with competent professionals instead of bumbling idiots with their heads up their asses.

ruffle me up

This weekend's project involved curtains! I've coveted the look of ruffled curtains since I discovered Anthropolgie's ruffled ombre $120 shower curtain. Not to mention these "energy-saving" curtains I hung in my guest/craft room were seriously fugly. See? Yuck. They were just a cheap quick fix so no one could see inside-- they barely even fit the window.

Since every window in the house has these type of window treatments, I went with it and hooked the pretty curtains in front of the ugly ones on the same hook like I did with the master bedroom and the living room. They're still "energy-saving" & light-blocking for sleeping guests, but wayyy more attractive. One side done:

Total cost for these ruffle curtains was $12. TWELVE DOLLARS. Three twin sheets at only 4 bucks a pop. The cheapest ruffle curtains I've seen are nowhere near as cute, and are $20 for each panel. Pottery Barn has incredibly similar ones, same size, for $90 a panel. Holy cow.

I got the idea of using bedsheets from this chick. Although I did not use her measurements because I needed mine to be a different size, the concept was similar. Since the fabric was limited and I didn't want to make another trip to Walmart, I had to make darn sure I didn't make a wrong cut and ruin the whole thing. After coming up slightly short, I improvised and used the 'scrap' fabric to add a different kind of ruffle to the top. In the end, there was not a single piece of scrap fabric. Ballerrrr.

I thought about not hemming the edges, letting the ruffles fray, and going the shabby(er) chic route. It would have cut the labor way down and given me a few extra inches of fabric to work with.

I eventually decided to stick with the clean & polished look and hem all of the raw edges. I'm glad I did, because they do look more polished, and because I have a feeling that they will eventually need a go in the washing machine... I'm looking at you, cat who loves windowsills. P.S My newly made-over nightstand makes a cameo appearance in the above picture. I'm still letting the paint fully cure before setting anything on it.

I love these curtains. They're light and airy and pretty. They give the room a whole new feel. Plus, I think it's fun making ruffles on the sewing machine. [Longest stitch length + highest tension = instant ruffle.]

By the way, I don't think I've introduced you all to my guest room/ craft room. It's still a work in progress. Here's a shot with the rug. I love that rug. I think it was 40 bucks or so at Garden Ridge.

On that note, it's after midnight and I have no idea how it got so late. I'm going to go stand in that room and admire my curtains for a minute. :o)

pain,projects,pants

-I'm having these daily sinus headaches again and there's no pollen so I can't figure out why. Barometric pressure? No clue. Not only are they annoying, at times they get so bad that I feel nauseous. It's getting quite* annoying. All I want to do is close my eyes until they go away.

-Started working on another project last night and stayed up late. I hate stopping; I like to keep going until it's done! However, this one wasn't going to be completed in an evening. I'm really excited to see how it's going to look.

-Made some perfect pancakes for breakfast. Seriously, they were pretty. I haven't made pancakes in a while; just haven't been in the mood.

-Funny- as soon as we ordered a new modem, the internet stopped going out. Not a single problem since it was ordered. I think I have to go pick it up today.

-I got a gift card from work for being a badass, and I decided to buy non-ill-fitting pants with it. Then I found out that Old Navy is discontinuing my favorite pants! I did get one pair in blue, because they don't have the other colors in my size. That just figures; I find a pair of pants that fit perfect and they stop making them. I got some in a similar style and I hope they fit. I'm so tired of pants that don't fit right! P.S. The blue is my first pair of "colored" pants. I'm excited!

-Merh I have to pay bills. That's no fun.

-It's impossible to think that I might possibly have my husband back by year's end. Like, BACK. For good. As usual I say I'm not keeping my hopes up, because it's all rumors and hearsay and nothing's final. But Oh, that would be nice. So nice.

*I've recently learned that while Americans use the word to mean "very," the British use the word to mean "fairly/slightly."

Nightstand

Got that weird "hungry but belly is upset" feeling. Don't know if I should eat, or if it will make me feel worse. Merh.

Finished up my project. Here's a little before & after:

This was purchased at Goodwill for $15 several years ago. For a long time it was used for kitchen storage. Since I have real kitchen storage now, I decided to use it for a nightstand in the guest bedroom.

I chose grey & white because it matches my rug and we happen to have grey bedsheets for the guest bed. I was thinking about mint or teal, but I figured I'd leave it a neutral color and look for a pop of color somewhere else. I sanded the top a little because there were water rings, then applied 4 thin coats of Zinsser primer. [It's so hot & humid out that I didn't want to do anything too thick and risk forever-sticky paint.]
Then, I applied 2 coats of white eggshell interior paint. The grey was the same type, but I got the tester size tinted since I only needed a small amount. Spray-painted the existing handles black.

With all this extra primer & paint, I think my next project will be that orange bookshelf, which is currently acting as a bar. I never did like that orange color, and the paint never cured right so everything sticks to it.

fish oil

When I worked at my last job, there was an employee of the hospital that would come to the lab to get some tests ran.

The first time I ran the test, his serum was so cloudy with fat that I had to dilute it twice to obtain a triglyceride result. Of course, I didn't need a machine to tell me it was off the charts.
When I handed him the results, I reminded him that he should be fasting and those results were probably not accurate, and to lay off the burgers and fries and sticks of butter right before having blood drawn. He replied that he was indeed fasting, for about 12 hours. Holy crap. I'd never seen anything like it.

I imagine he had some sort of serious hereditary lipid issue; he was a trim man who ate decently and exercised.

A few months later, he came by and had us run some more tests. This time, his blood was still a little lipemic, but I was able to obtain a result without dilution. His test result was less than 1/4 of what it had previously been.

I asked him what he'd done differently, and he said that he had not changed one thing, except he started taking fish oil supplements. That's it. That's all he did. No drugs, nothing else.

I was amazed. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, and performed the tests myself, I probably would not have believed it.

I personally have had some struggles with blood lipids. Nothing as dramatic as that, but it could stand to improve. So today I saw some supplements on sale and decided to give it a go. I should probably get my blood drawn before starting them, but I don't want to come into work fasting.

I figure it couldn't hurt to try them.