a few things

I've learned this week:

1.  Spend the money and buy a better paint brush.  There is a difference.

2.  Sanding and wiping down isn't that bad when someone is helping.

3.  Manual labor makes me frustrated to the point of crying.

Well, it's not just the manual labor.  Let's face it, if someone said they needed me to bake x amount of cakes, that's different.  I'd much rather bake than paint.  Also, to add to my painting frustration is how out of order the entire house is.  That throws me off to a freak out.  It puts me in a foul mood, then I stew over it while I paint all day and by the end of the day I'm angry and have a meltdown.

As it ends up, a good chicken fried steak can help a meltdown.  So here's one more

4.  Food does make it better.

Today I'm starting off differently.  Instead of waking up to paint at 5:30, I'm getting some of my normal stuff done.  I've already started laundry and plan to do more than the one load I accomplished yesterday.  I'm about to make my bed and iron while I catch up on dvr (assuming I can work around the chair and end table at the foot of my bed).  After that I'll probably head out to look at a chair and buy some bougainvilleas for the backyard.  Then, when all my stuff is done, and I don't feel like I've left anything neglected, I'll paint.  And if a pit stop at Taco Cabana falls in there somewhere along the way... Well, let's just call it meltdown prevention. 

after a few years of not

having our floor finished, I had it done last week.  There were several things holding us up.  It was mainly decisions on what to do in odd places.  So yesterday morning I was bored and started painting the new trim.  When Cosme woke up I told him I had an idea for one of our odd spots.  We've been wanting to paint the built in stuff and kitchen cabinets for a while but just haven't done it.  So, I had the bright idea of painting all the built-ins and cabinets now.  The guy who put the floors in told me to let him know if I need him to do anything else.  PERFECT.  There was only one problem.  Cosme's idea was to do it ourselves.  First you should know that I HATE painting.  I'm messy and I'm not good at it.  I'm way to impatient to paint.  When it comes to painting, Shortcut is my middle name.  I hate it.  I despise it.  I loathe it.  Whatever.  Yesterday we went and bought wall paint, cabinet paint and island/mantle/bar paint.  Here's what we got:

This is the trim

This is the kitchen cabinets and entertainment center

This is the kitchen island, mantle and bar (which happened approximately two minutes after opening the can).  And FYI, the dark stuff stinks.  I'm pretty sure I'll need to crack a window today.

I don't have a sample of the wall because that wasn't part of my duties.  But here's a picture of Strat I took on a little break yesterday.

So I started painting yesterday morning around 8:00 and stopped around 8:30pm.  I'm sore and tired.  It's 6:30 and I've already put a second coat on part of the island and a first coat on another section.  Oh, I've also got laundry going.  Today is already making me want to cry.  On the plus side, I am determined to take a break and get a pedicure today.

ps- I hate projects not only because everything is out of order around here (like furniture in the middle of the room and stashed in other rooms) but it's just the act of getting from point A to point B.  It's so much better to have someone else do it.  Work sucks.

once upon a time

I started designing a table after seeing several similar to it on Pinterest.  My goal was to get one for a fraction of the price.  Don't ask me what that fraction is because they've never been my strong point.  Anyway, I knew I wanted a metal frame with a wood top so we went to Lowe's.  (Funny little story: we started off at Home Depot but we knew Lowe's had the material and figured HD would as well.  We couldn't find it so we asked.  

     Cosme: Can you tell me where your angle iron is?

     Worker dude: The what?

     Cosme: Angle iron (insert brief description here).  I know Lowe's has it, figured you would too.

     Worker dude: Oh, we don't have that.  You'll need to check with a specialty store.

     Cosme: Like Lowe's?

It was funny.  It was a laugh, eye roll and shaking of the head all in one... at least it was for me.  Anyway, back to my coffee table.  We started with this.

 And worked our way (and I use "we" and "our" loosely)

 Up to this.

I sampled a few stains before going with the mahogany.  Can you imagine what was going through my head when I thought I was getting the stain on the left and out came the one on the right.  I'm pretty sure I sampled the correct one and didn't use a different can.  I didn't stir the sample and only shook it but I just don't see how that could be the same.  Oh well, it's a good thing I like mahogany, I mean a lot of my furniture is mahogany after all...

 And here it is with my stuff back on it.

 My plan is to put a couple of little storage ottoman's underneath.  In the meantime, Cosme is going to cut it down some, maybe 2 inches.  Since that involves cutting the casters off, I bought four more today but this time I bought bronze ones.  I haven't held them up to the table so we'll see what makes it on.

Here's what I asked for next.  It's going in the spot where my broken wine refrigerator is.  This will store liquor bottles and stuff of that nature.  (That's all my wine refrigerator is doing, serving as a work/storage surface.)  This just got a coat of mahogany stain this morning.

I've learned two things from this: 1. I'm way to impatient and messy to stain and 2. if you get stain on your hands, it comes off SUPER fast and easy with vegetable oil (just remember to turn the water on before you start).

Yesterday while Cosme was building my shelf unit, I was rearranging a few things inside.  I cleaned out a cabinet went to get the new things to put in it.  I got on the floor and went to put the stuff in when I saw Strat looking back at me.  I SCREAMED.  He was all the way in the back and I was NOT expecting that.  By the time I got my phone to the camera, he had turned around and was checking everything out.

And then a little later Lucille wanted to shop online with me but it wore her out.

And that's what's been going on here.  Now I need to sign into a photography thing I'm doing but I think I might do a few dishes first.  But you know, looking at Lucille's face is making me a little drowsy...

has it really

been a week since my last post?  I guess so.  I'm apologizing now because I know the next couple of months are going to be crazy and the blog-neglect will probably be pretty bad... off the charts.  I don't know for sure but just in case, I'm sorry.  It's just going to be busy for me.  I've got a LOT of photography stuff going on, not only are there a couple of major photo sessions to be done but in the middle of it all I signed up for a photography workshop.  Let's see, there's a party happening here in less than a month (and I've got to prepare for that, but with some help), I've got a couple of SERIOUS concerts to attend on August 30 (The Cult) and September 18 (Depeche Mode), a major entertaining show in Houston that takes about a week to prepare for and just as long to recover from, and then... MY BIRTHDAY. 

Here's the kicker, I should officially be able to relax on September 22 because this is how that last week will go:
Sunday 15 - last day of cooking/entertaining show and clean up
(I usually don't move for the next two days, it's THAT. MUCH. WORK.)
Wednesday 18 - Depeche Mode
(Hopefully I can stand by then)
Friday 20 - MY BIRTHDAY and a rehearsal dinner
Saturday 21 - the wedding, which will be my first to ever shoot
Sunday 22 - BREATHE.

Other than any meltdowns that will probably happen along the way, I'm golden.

Now, on to other news.  I was getting the oil changed last week.  Sitting in the waiting room were two young guys, an older man and me.  A lady walks in with a little kid and I watch as the older man gets up for her to have his seat.  I had to roll my eyes at the to young guys and hope that Eric would do the right thing in that situation.  Which I later found out that he would have been and has been the one getting up for women and kids to sit. 

I have a new coffee table coming soon.  It's one that I designed and might be finished this week.  The frame is together, now I just need to go get pieces for the top.  I'm going to try to do that today.

And last but not least, Operation Dry to Wet (for Lucille) has been going great.  No hairballs or anything else that comes along with it.  I've been letting her eat in the laundry room and then opening the door when she's done.  Strat then comes in and finishes it all off.

Lucille, isolated and enjoying her meal at the molasses-like pace she does everything.

Strat, paces and watches, paces and watches.  Here he is watching.  (I also need to clean the door.)

And Strat finishing Lucille's juicy breakfast.  yum.

 Here's a little added something.  A few weeks ago Cosme and I were watching tv.  There was a commercial for cat food and the lady put the cat's food on a plate and had a vase with a flower next to it.  We were laughing.  The other day Cosme saw me feeding Lucille and said that container was small and asked if I was going to dump it out for her.  My reply was "I can.  Would you like for me to add a flower in a vase as well?"  I guess you had to be there...

Now I'm off.  I'ts time for TCB.  Lowe's and Kroger are first on the to-do list and I don't feel like doing either.

a few years ago I

found a recipe.  I don't know where it came from and I even went out of my way emailing the food blogs where I was pretty sure it came from but I couldn't find in a search.  I searched my recipe binder, hoping I had a weak moment with time to kill and printed it out.  Nope.  I gave up on it.  I think I might have found something similar on Pinterest but that didn't matter.  I wanted my recipe that I'd used before and I had nothing to compare it to.  Fast forward.  I was cleaning out my recipe box and guess what I found.  Correct.  Luckily, I had written it down and tucked it away.  It's like I knew I'd never come across it again online.

So anyway, we'll call then Honey Bites.  We could go with Oat & Honey Bites but that's a little wordy and if wordiness didn't matter, I'd probably go with something cutesy like Bits o' Honey and Oats.  We'll go with Honey Bites.

The odd thing is, Honey Bites involve two things I do not like: coconut and honey.  I know that if I can get past that and enjoy this recipe, anyone can.

HONEY BITES
8 TBS butter
1 1/2 c quick cooking oats
1/2 c flaked coconut
1/2 c chopped walnuts
2 TBS all-purpose flour
2 TBS wheat flour
2/3 c honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a mini muffin pan with Bakers Joy.  Melt butter in a small, heavy saucepan over low heat.  In bowl, combine oats, coconut, walnuts and flour.  Add honey to the melted butter and bring to a boil, stirring often.  Pour butter mix over dry ingredients and mix well.  Scoop mixture into the muffin cups and slightly press it in.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let cool for 10 minutes.  Store in an airtight container.

So that's that.

In other news, I think Lucille figured out that I'm boss.  The whole issue of wet versus dry food seems to be working.  Now it'll probably come down to do I like having to keep them separated to eat or will I eventually give in and have them both cross over to the wet side.

On the dog front, I was out playing with Maggie yesterday and my phone kept going off with texts in my pocket.  My text tone is a line from Despicable Me.  ("IT'S SO FLUFFY!")  I finally took my camera and iPad out to catch her reaction.  Although it wasn't as dramatic as she had been doing it, you get the idea.

Now I'm off to do housework while I catch up on my full load of Sunday night dvr.