upcycle

my newest addiction?  spray painting little treasures from the thrift stores.

last summer i had this amazing (psychotic) idea to sell all of our stuff... you remember.   after suffering a panic attack 3 mos. later, i came up with this grand idea to "build our own farmhouse table"...and by that i meant, "grady build me a farmhouse table".  he did.  what a little handyman.  it turned out super fab.
 
 (we spent less than $200 for all lumber, hardware, etc.  but grady's time... priceless)




 am i the only person who loves those "imperfections" in the wood?  i think the people at lowe's thought i was crazy, i kept saying, "NO!  i want the boards with knots!  this one doesn't have enough knots!!!" grady wanted to pretend he didn't know me.   (he has pretended not to know me before...)

i also demanded i get carriage bolts.  it's this idea that it'll look more "farm-house-y-ish"...we'll see.





no he didn't turn the legs.  although, we like to tell people that! ha!



OK.  so i'm going to stain the table gray.  yep, i wrote gray.  i haven't found a gray stain that is "just right"  but i think i'll just try charcoal gray.

so back to my "brilliant idea" i decided it would be super cool to thrift some random chairs and "upcycle" them into the same color and fabric.  sweet.  i found 8 chairs and have started spray-painting them all white.  i found the following fabric on here for really cheap and started re-upholstering them all.  btw, i ordered 6 yards, they sent me 18.  no complaints.  SO... here are the sick-nasty chairs i bought:

 (chair: $12.00)

 (chair: $7.50)

 (chair: $8.00)

 (chair: $10.00)

(chair: $7.00)

 (chair $12.00)

 (chair: $5.00)


i know.  there's only seven.  i'll get to the 8th one in a min.  here's my fabric that i now have a plethora of:

 
 (fabric: $30.00)


 fab right?!

ok so here's the deal on the 8th chair.  it was a desk chair.  and very weathered.  i love the natural distress from people's butt cheeks and arm skin.  i don't want to paint it now.  what do i do?!  i think i'm going to buy a different chair for the dining room table and put this one in a corner somewhere with a cute pillow. 

 (chair $15.00)

 

cool right? 
ideas and opinions welcomed.
after pictures to come.
(((***side note:  this was my idea of saving money...in the end we probably are going to spend more than if we purchased brand new, but it'll be a one and only***)))

so i spent around $300, which seems a little higher than i wanted, but i'm getting excited to have something that is only in my house and is EXACTLY what i want.

i'm going to blog again about the other $0.50, $0.75 and $1.00 items that i'm currently spray painting.

gratitude attitude

  this last week... well, month has been hard.  last month i accepted a job at costco.  love my costco job, kept my other job.  i worked 2 jobs for a month.  out of the blue, the dealership offered me a higher paying, better hours, full-time job.  i accepted.  i quit costco.  i'm working my last two weeks, life is still crazy.  my costco badge reads:  employed since May 3rd, 2012.   my last day will be June 10th, 2012.  how pathetic hahahahahaha!  i've been blessed with the dealership job.  i can fulfill my calling in our ward now.  we might actually be able to go home and see family now.  i have days off now.  i'm happier now.

i can't help but think back on our time in rexburg. think about how different it was.  not better or worse, just different.

• in rexburg i found myself jealous of grady's time.  upset if he studied too much.  sad if he spent time at school, rather than come home.  now, i try my best to allow him to study.   i'm grateful for every minute he spends prepping for school, quizzing himself for a test.  it means he cares and that we're in the right place.
• in rexburg the workload of keeping up the house was very shared.  i was happy to come home to a spotless little apartment after a long day of tanning in the sun outside the office.  somedays i would take the 13 steps to our apartment and spend 30 minutes picking up the place before grady got home from school.  he was happy to come home to a spotless little apartment because he found it impossible to study in a mess.  life is different now.   i try to keep the apartment up, clean, cook, etc.  i'm not doing a great job.  fingers crossed, getting down to one job will help in that department.
• in rexburg we were very social.  having all of our dear friends live a few footsteps away was so easy.  and perfect.  now, my time with grady is so precious.  yesterday we had 15 minutes together.  today grady will be in bed before i get home.  its hard for me to lose moments grady and i can have alone together to be overly social.  my hope is that our schedules will change and allow for more time building friendships in the future.
• in rexburg having one car was easy.  grady was within walking distance of the school (not that it mattered, i dropped him off and picked him up most days).  with my two jobs, the car situation has been a challenge.  poor grady bums rides off everyone who will allow.  i feel terrible about it.  next week i'll be at the dealership most days and should be able to walk there, hopefully that change will free up our vehicle so grady can have a little freedom.

i'm happy for change.  i've recognized the importance of gratitude in our marriage.  i'm grateful for the stacks of papers piled up all over our living room, it means grady is taking advantage of his time here.  i'm grateful for the nights when i actually get a meal prepared, it means i'm not working until 11 pm and will get to spend dinner with grady.  i'm grateful for days when we can get together with some friends.  i'm grateful for the means to be able to afford our vehicle.  life is good.

next to godliness

per Kiya's request:

my last job being an apartment manager, i learned a lot of quick and efficient ways to clean.  (also, i am OCD about cleaning)  here's a list of tips, tricks, and my favorite cleaning products.

all around best cleaner:

simple green is the best.  it's only sold in the automotive section.  non-toxic, safe for pets and kids. 

floors:  a stiff brush and a little higher dilution of simple green to water.  it's awesome for grout and tile.
baseboards/walls: i use the 10 to 1 dilution on this.  just be super gentle because cheap paint WILL come off (first hand experience speaking here). 
 ****This is not a disinfectant, so after i use this product, sometimes i'll do a once over with lysol disinfectant wipes or Clorox Clean-up with bleach.  which brings me to my next fav. product.

great disinfectant:

it smells exactly like bleach, but i love the smell of bleach.  kinda reminds me of the baptistry at the temple.

counter tops, inside of the microwave, inside the fridge, bathroom.  love it.

hard water/rust/lime/etc. stains:

pumice stones are my fav.  they even make them in cool shapes now that are more ergonomic (big word alert). great for toilets and rings around the sink.  not in that order. gross.

CLR is awesome for nasty soap scum on the showers.  i like to spray this stuff all around the shower, let it sit while cleaning something else.  come back 20 minutes later, scrub a little, rinse, then use that clorox clean-up once over.  if the toilet is super nasty, i'll spray this stuff in the bowl, let it sit, flush, then scrub up with the pumice stone.


tips and tricks:

• kitchen
• sink:  i use that clorox clean-up in my sink and thanks to my friend brock, i've started using a TINY amount of baby oil on my stainless steel to make it shine.  works like a charm.
• oven:  for those without self cleaning ovens (i'm included in this sad group), i think steel wool works best.  all that oven spray crap leaves the most frustrating residue and makes me gag (literally) from the smell.  sometimes i'll boil a pot of water, turn the oven on to low and set the pot of water inside.  it'll help loosen the grime a bit.    also, fyi, all oven doors lift off.  PLEASE don't bend over the door.  it makes me sad when people don't know this.
• ****side note, every few months i like to pull my oven knobs off, soak them and clean the nasty grease that lurks behind them.***
• microwave:  might be common knowledge, but oh well.  put a glass bowl with water inside, turn on high for like 3 minutes, everything will wipe clean.  i do a quick once-over with clorox clean-up.
• drawers & cabinets.  vacuum everything out first.  you'll love me for it.  once you get crumbs, dirt or hair wet... you'll never get it out.
• fridge:  my biggest OCD.  i hate dirty fridges.  i like to clean my fridge every time i grocery shop.  i wipe everything down (inside and out) with the clorox clean-up.  if you have serious issues, you can use q-tips in those little crevices...i might do that...
• bathroom
• chrome:  i clean all my chrome first with the clorox stuff, then windex.  i just like it to look shiny and streak-free. :D
• ***also, i clean my toilet paper holder A LOT.  it gets super dusty and people forget about it. ***
•  toilet:  the hinges are super nasty.  i use qtips and straight bleach.  hahahahaha!  i may or may not have spent more time than i would like to admit cleaning toilet hinges.  i also like to take qtips around the caulk line around the base.  that's SUPER gross.
• everything else
• baseboards:  i vacuum all baseboards before cleaning them.  it's just 1000 times easier getting the dust up.  i use simple green on the base boards because i think it works best.  i personally like to clean my baseboards once a month.  i think clean baseboards make your house look so much cleaner.
• dust:  i use the vacuum for this too.  i vacuum ceiling fans, air vents, light fixtures, etc.  so much easier.
• windows:  i vacuum blinds and the track of windows first (see a recurring theme?).  i'm all about simple green in the tracks with qtips. i also spot clean blinds with a rag and simple green.
• light switches/outlets:  qtips and simple green.  finish with clorox clean-up.

as far as smells go, i Febreeze A LOT.

i also love Scentsy products.  i change my scentsys all the time and i think it keeps the scent strong.

there ya go kiya!

can i see your membership card please?

recently:

• i was offered a job at Costco
• i was told it was "part time".... evidently this means 32-38 hours per week.
• i am continuing to work at the Toyota dealership
• i'm pretty sure my boss wants to kill me.  calling in 3 out of 5 days in a work week because i have work at Costco probably is not helping anything
•  my normal lunch consists of one of the following:  berry smoothie, berry yogurt, a hotdog  and soda.  on some Saturdays i will cruise the store and check out the samples.  pretty sweet.
• my arm muscles are toning up and despite the daily berry smoothies i've lost a few lbs.  i lift everything out of member's carts and then place it back into a new cart.  i am also personally responsible for running back EVERY SINGLE individual item that a member either chooses to not purchase, gets a broken/rotten/not up to par item, or the item has no tag on it.   and when i say running... i literally mean running. plus side?  i no longer need a gym membership.
• in a few months grady and i will again have health insurance.  and it is thee best health insurance.  medical, dental, vision that will run us about $100 a month.  i know.

here are some Costco secrets that i will share with the 4 people that read my super secret blog:

• for every dollar spent at Costco, the company profits only $0.02.  insane.  the company chooses to make less money in order to show the staff their appreciation for hard work.  in turn, the employees are usually top notch.  if someone is not busily working every second of their shift, they probably won't make it.
• they start pay out higher than any other competitor in their category, and give consistent raises.  so, that person who is on their hands and knees cleaning the coffin cooler holding the pork loins, they are probably making like $18.00 an hour.  the same with the person pushing carts, cleaning the toilets, and wiping up the tables covered in pizza sauce and loose strings of melted cheese.
• the cleanliness of the store is top priority.  there is a "procedure" for how granola bar boxes are stacked, how they face the aisle, etc.  it's actually really stressful.  also, not a single droplet of condensation on the floor can be left, a loose petal off a plant stomped into the concrete or a nut off those dang hand dipped ice cream bars not be swept up.  it's dramatic how important the upkeep of the store is.
• all managers of Costco are promoted from within the company.  every manager has had to load and unload carts, push carts, clean up messes, etc.  it's been nice for me to know that my manager had to do the same stuff i'm doing.
• if they are sampling it, i'm willing to wager over 80% of the customers will have at least one of those items in their cart.  samples work.

here are some annoying things.  please don't do the following:

• when they ask for your membership... they actually need it.  we can't start a transaction without it and it hold up the line.  it's really annoying.
• when they ask for your coupons... they actually need them.  the manufacturers are threatening to pull coupons from Costco because they don't have the physical coupons back.
• don't be annoyed when you pick up 1 pack of muffins, but they come in packs of two.  it's not our fault you were willing to pay double what we are willing to charge.
• please don't randomly throw/knock/move every single book in the ridiculously high piled book stacks.  it does take me and hour and a half to sort through the stacks at the end of the day.
• please don't try to pack your own cart when there are people there to help you.  it is the most intricate game of tetris, and we do it for 8 hours a day.  i'm pretty sure i know how to pack those boxes 1000x better than you can.
• don't complain when we are trying to upgrade your membership.  it is not a credit card.  it's not a gimmick.  it's not a commission based job.  Costco is actually trying to thank you for purchasing a ridiculous amount of mayonnaise and wet wipes, they want to send you a check so you can spend MORE money on an above ground pool and 4 bottles of 600 count ibuprofen.  if you spend enough money, the executive membership is a killer deal.

here are some items we are currently carrying that you should try out:

• organic carrot juice.  comes in a 3 pack.  in the refrigerated section.  it's bomb.
• chicken kabobs in the freezer section.  they come in these weird vacuum sealed plastic packages.  pre-cooked and sell like hot cakes...er sell like kabobs?
• teriyaki pineapple meatballs.  freezer section.  they are amazing.
• notebook packages.  if you are stocking up for work or school, the binder packages are ridiculously cheap.
• blintzes.  they are sooooo good.  deli section.

i think i was made for this job.

10 percent

grady has finished his first trimester of 10. we celebrated in the following ways: ~attended our first of many St. Louis cardinals game. (side story: our good friend Steve who we were in the same married ward at byui for close to 2 years together happened to be in St. Louis the night we went to the game. He happened to be on the same street corner as us at the same time that night...so he bought a cheap seat and spent the evening with us at the game! What are the odds right?! I guess it was meant to be! We spent the game laughing a lot, talking about our friends from byui, reminiscing, and most importantly discussing how beautiful his little baby girl is born a weeks previous. We just wish his wife was there to play too!) ~after the game we went to cheesecake factory and ate some cheesecake with 2 couples who the husbands are in Grady's trimester and will be in his class through the end of school. We had never met one of the couples and it was fun to get to know them. ~ate at a terrible Mexican resturant. We have decided there just isn't good mexican food in st. Louis. ~spent Thursday evening with some newly developed friends. They just moved into our ward and are literally sent from God to be our friends. Intentionally we were going to watch a movie, but instead spent 4 hours talking about school, friends, family, church, etc. I think I enjoy talking more than a movie anyway. ~tonight (Saturday) we are going to buffalo wild wings with Grady's study group from his trimester to watch grown men beat the crap out of each other... I'm going for the wings. During Grady's three week break we plan to do the following: ~clean out or storage closet. In the three days before school started, we were so busy filling our apartment with furniture and doing the basic move-in stuff we just threw all our boxes into the closet and haven't had three seconds to clean it out. ~Grady is going to organize all of his notes/homework from the last semester and bind everything into booklets. He's hoping this will be beneficial durin his trimesters when he has to take boards. ~work out and get back to our paleo lifestyle. This first trimester here has been a learning experience. With the intensity of his workload, we struggled to build patterns, so hopefully we can get back on track this upcoming tri. I'm a really proud wife. Grady got AMAZING grades this tri. Fingers crossed his grades will continue to be this good the next nine. Due to his excellent grades, Grady was awarded an academic scholarship. I couldn't be more pleased with his hard work And dedication. Grady really cares about the classes he's taking and enjoys spending large amounts of time learning about the human body. Life is good. We have been blessed.

i choose to be humble

i have cried more this last week than at any point in my life.  i think grady is wondering how to juggle mid-terms and an overly emotional wife.  yikes!  last sunday i lay in bed in tears (yet again...) feeling sorry for myself.  wondering why we haven't meshed with anyone in our new ward.  wondering if i'm ever going to get out of the closet from hell. (my current job requires an 8 hour a day dedication to filing in a closet.  by myself.)  feeling depressed that another month goes by that i'm not pregnant.  basically the summation of my feelings are loneliness.  dear grady studies his little heart out and i'm trying so hard to not annoy the crap out of him.  (i'm at about a 40% success rate...)  monday morning rolls around and of course i'm facebook stalking (my fav.)  grady and i noticed some disheartening comments on our friend josh's page.  josh was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma a few months ago.  his wife documented his fight here.  josh passed away on monday.  the whole day i kept trying to put myself in his wife's shoes.  trying to understand what she's going through.  the thought came to me "you need to stop trying to put yourself into her shoes, and be grateful for the ones you were put in."   so here goes.

i am grateful for the following:

• my husband.  he puts up with quite a bit.  he is such a hard worker and is so dedicated to his education.  he knows when i need a hug and when i need a good shaking back into reality.  i like to joke that i'm the kite.  flailing in the wind crazily trying to soar out of reality.  grady is the string.  stabilizes me.  helps guide me through realistic expectations.
• my family.  i'm blessed with an incredible family.  i have no beef with my siblings.  isn't that great?  i know a lot of families that some of the siblings don't get along.  sad.  both of our parents are beyond helpful and supportive of our great ideas, and allow us to make mistakes in our stupid ideas.
• the gospel.  i was incredibly grateful this week specifically for the plan of salvation.  i'm happy to know that our friend josh and megan have a marriage that will last for eternity.  i'm grateful for modern day prophets that speak to us at a minimum of twice a year.  they are literally the mouthpieces of God.  i'm grateful for ward families that with take you in when you are far from home and help you feel a part of something.
• a job.  although it is not what i envisioned myself doing at 27 years of age, it's a job.  God has always blessed grady and i with jobs when we needed them at pay rates that met our needs.
• education.  in all forms.  i would never trade the knowledge grady and i gained while he was a mortgage broker and i building a clientele doing hair.  we learned a lot.  we learned about having 2 cars stolen in 6 mos.  we learned about putting car repairs on credit cards and paying them off later.  we learned about making a lot of money and then making not so much money in a very short time.  we learned how to live off of two 100% commission based careers.  we learned that eating out gets you two things: a larger waste line and a smaller savings.  and much more.  i'm grateful for my job doing hair.  i have met a lot of people and developed relationships i never would have had if i didn't do hair.  i've saved us thousands in cuts, colors, skin care, etc.  i love sharing my knowledge as well.  what's information if you don't share it?  i'm grateful for the education grady is receiving.  we're already becoming the crazy chiropractic extremists we knew we'd be.  :D
• health.  more than ever i'm grateful for my husband and i's health.  in the last year grady and i have made some serious changes in lifestyle and i'm really grateful for the education in healthy cooking we received from my brother.  i love when people hear how we eat and think we're insane.
• possibility.  although there is a lot of heartache going through infertility, i'm grateful for faith in the possibility of having children someday with my grady.  they might not be the children i carry, but i hope that at some point Heavenly Father will bless me with a family.

i have a lot to be thankful for and i'd feel pretty pathetic if i didn't recognize.  my dad said to me this week, "the Lord will have a humble people.  we can choose to be humble or the Lord will humble us."  today i choose to be humble.

Grambo

While Grady and I sat at the food court at Costco, I told him that my non-fat swirl frozen yogurt reminded me of my Grandma Turley. I told him about how my grandma would call over to my house and ask my mom if I wanted to "go to lunch with her". It always meant Costco. Now this was when Costco was Price Club and it was located off Grand Avenue. We'd "lunch" on samples. Mini quiche, deli cut meat, blueberry muffins baked that morning in their bakery, etc. I remember being very young when Price Club started a little frozen yogurt cart right outside their exit. My grandma always bought chocolate and we'd share. Eventually Price Club became Costco and my cousins and I refused to call it Costco. We protested with heart! Costco added a few foods to their food court including the hot dogs and polish sausages. At that point my grandma would get us a non-fat chocolate frozen yogurt and a polish sausage for my grandpa. What a woman! After I finished my overly detailed story of the rise and fall of Price Club (in my mind) Grady said to me, "I love hearing about your stories of your grandma. My grandmas always lived so far, it was such a different experience for me". This made me think. My whole life I lived less than a half mile from my grandma. When I started my freshman year of high school, my family moved. NEXT DOOR TO MY GRANDPARENTS! I loved it. My mom warned us during the moving process that we couldn't "bug" grandma and grandpa all the time. There were jokes thrown around that we'd knock the fence down between the two yards and just wander between houses. I wish that actually had happened, it would have saved my little brother and I the energy of having to hop the fence! In honor of Valentine's Day, I told Grady another story of my Grandma Turley. Every Valentine's Day my grandma made the HUGEST sugar cookies. I swear they we're the size of my head! She made one for every grandchild. Now, I have a large family which meant a lot of cookies. She decorated each cookie and took the time to pipe our name in cursive with white frosting. I love my grandma's cursive. We cherished those cookies. They were so pretty we almost didn't want to eat them. The older I got, the more I wanted to savor each bite of the cookie and always ate my white piped name last. Valentine's Day will forever be a giant sugar cookie with my name piped in cursive with white frosting. A few years after we moved into our house next to grandma and grandpa, we were driving past Horizon Elementary and a huge tumbleweed blew in front our car. My mom, little brother and I all died laughing. (those who are not from Arizona, tumbleweeds don't blow in front of your car everyday like they portray in the movies, it never happens) My mom said, "kids, go grab that tumbleweed and put it in the back of the van!". So we did. She drove home and said, "let's put it in front of grandma's door". So we did. Now, my grandma is the cleanest person on the earth. She is so clean, she sweeps the gutter in front of her house. The gutter. So we thought, this will be so funny! Grandma will freak! A few hours later, we had completely forgotten about the tumbleweed, but were quickly reminded by the phone ringing. I answered. The only words spoken were "Liz, get this tumbleweed out from in front of my door". I laughed for like an hour. So why do these small things have such a deep impression on me? I think it's because my grandma is my hero. She's not your typical hugs and kisses, buy you a frilly dress for your birthday grandma. She's the type that lets you eat an entire pack of her Trident wintermint gum in the first 45 seconds you've walked into her house. She's the type of grandma that knows you put on her Oil of Olay lotion in her bathroom and pretends you didn't just waste $5 of her eye creme. She's the type of grandma that pays you $20 to stop talking for an entire day, because you are annoying the crap out of her. She's the type of grandma that laughs when you tell her you need "ingredients" for a recipe you are making, and the ingredients you need are milk and chocolate milk mix...and makes you a glass of chocolate milk, because she loves you. She's the type of grandma I hope to be. I am grateful for my grandma's example of strength, hard work and Christ-like love. She is my hero and I hope to be half the woman she is.