Thank you, Pottery Barn, for letting me steal another project of yours...

...so that I can make my own affordable version...

Haha, mine still looks like crap.

For some reason, I couldn't find steel wool! I ended up with those copper ones instead.

I should have used black spray paint, too.

Oh well, maybe I'll try it again some other day.

Trial and error....

Imposters!

I was happily paging through Better Homes & Garden's 100 decorating ideas under $100 magazine, when I found this!
I stared in shock.
I guess I wasn't as original as I had thought! ;)

If you want to check out my oh-so-cooler version, click here.

Back to the drawing board!

Mailbox Redo

I redid my mailbox a few days ago. No "before" picture. Sorry, I'm lazy. But let's just say that it was a floral abomonation that I had thought was soooo cute only 3 years ago. It....was....ugly. Anyways, here's my new mailbox redone. I'm not good at freehand, so I WILL be painting over the lettering and getting myself some stencils. Things are smeared for obvious reasons. But I'm just in love with this "wine" color. I'm smitten <3

Sorry for the picture quality. This emormous "bush" on the side of my house is apparently a walnut tree. Someone planted too many seeds next to each other (or mabye Mother Nature did this) and now my tree won't grow upwards. It's now a walnut "bush." Commical, no?

P.S.-----100th Post Today!!!

FIB's

As you know, I've been commuting a lot lately. For some reason, yesterday all the planets aligned and there was an incredible amount of FIB's on the road. (F-ing Illinois Bastard). Around my parts, that's what we call them. They are notorious for their driving:

FIB's:
-APPARENTLY all have cars with broken blinkers
-APPARENTLY don't have speed limits in Illinois. Only speed "windows" from 42-94mph on a highway.
-APPARENTLY don't have dotten lines on their roads in Illinois and they think they can take up two lanes.
-APPARENTLY don't have cruise control in their cars.
-APPARENTLY think that cars should look like space ships.
-APPARENTLY are so used to the bumper-to-bumper traffic in Chicago that they think it's okay to be bumper-to-bumper on highways with NO traffic. Argh
-APPARENTLY weren't taught that when you merge from the right, it's NOT OKAY to continue merging all the way to the left on a 5 lane highways in one continuous motion.
-APPARENTLY weren't taught that when someone is merging from the right, it's only curteous to move to the next lane to make room.
-APPARENTLY think that everyone else wants to hear their crappy music. (If they are wearing flannel and their car is rusted, don't mistake them for someone from Peshtigo!)


I hope my commute is better today =P

Gotta love the West End

So I FINALLY made my silverware windchime, and it's already broken! I didn't even get to take pictures.
APPARENTLY my neighbor doesn't like windchimes. I hung two of them yesterday, and it happened to be a very windy day. My neighbor started staring me down.
I can tell the string was cut. And she's the only person who knew I hung it. I'm just doing the math.
But I will prevail. I just need to go to the thrift store and pick up another saucer. The teacup survived the damage

Anyways, ya know what really scares me? The fact that this woman is a sex offender....and she was IN MY YARD! I think I would have just cause to take a baseball bat to her spine or knees if I EVER caught her in my yard.

So...today:
-Bring Will to dr. appt in a few minutes to get his meds HE NEEDS THEM! (done)
-Pick up his meds, then drop him off at school. (done)
-Pick up neccesities for our trip this weekend to Milwaukee. (done)
-Fix the windchime
-Give Will a haircut
-Give Hailey a bath.
-Start packing for the trip
-Go shopping with my mother-in-law for my nephew's birthday
-Wrap the present
-Find someone to come and let the dog out this weekend
-Go to Will's baseball game
-Watch a movie with the fam

Camera Fair is a joke

I have such a headache.....
My husband gave me the green light on getting a new camera. I have an older Olympus Sylus. And I absolutely hate it. I was thinking about getting an SLR camera. Better quality photos, right?
Well, I went to the local camera store. (Anyone in the area will know which one). I told the person that I needed something with a fast shutter speed and high ISO. I need to take pictures of the kids' sports, and my husband's band. These are two really possitive things about getting an SLR camera. But the guy basically told me that I have no idea what I'm talking about, and that I need ANOTHER Olympus Stylus!!!! What?!?!

Look, I understand that an SLR is bigger, bulkier, and probably doesn't have the same zoom capabilities (unless I want to pay a lot on a slew of lenses) as a compact camera. That's fine. I still HAVE A STUPID COMPACT, I DO NOT WANT A NEW F-ING VERSION OF SOMETHING I ALREADY HAVE!!!

But my compact, if I want to shoot without the flash in the dark, it takes nearly 15 seconds on the shutter, so EVERYTHING turns out blurry. Yes, compacts you can now use manual settings. Awesome. Mine does to. But it likes to override ALL my decisions.

I used to use a film SLR in college. I absolutely loved it. My mom still uses it. Her camera is 5 years old, mine is 3. Her pictures rock, mine suck. And I've taken photography in college! I KNOW how to take awesome pictures. She can just point and click, and they still look better than mine. Totally not fair.

But he proceded to tell me that I need yet another compact. So I ask, then why does every professional photographer use SLR's??? Quoting him----"Because they don't know any better."
Seriously???? People that are professionals know nothing about cameras???? How is that even f-ing possible?

I'm seriously going to get my family photo done this summer, and I'm asking the photographer why they are so dumb as to use their SLR, then I'm going to hand them my awesome compact and insist they use it.....yeah....

The worst part is this camera guy is a relative of mine. How cute.....

So I'm not heeding his advice, and I'll probably get a beginner's DSLR camera from Walmart or something. I'm ripping out my hair. I just know that I'm not going to get my same f-ing camera, just a bit newer. F-ing genius....

Meds, Cinderella, growing up

An easy Sunday.
I need to take a shower yet. It's 2pm. That's gross. Lol.

Soooo....I don't think Will's meds are working. Then again, his doctor always puts him on the lowest dose whenever we switch brands. There hasn't been much of a change from when he wasn't on meds and now. Today he got caught sneaking toys to sunday school. Then he decided to start making paper airplanes during the sermon. At least we stopped it before he started throwing them...lol

And I took the boys to the play "Cinderella" last night. Well, Hailey didn't go. But Will was definately the worse of the two boys.

I'm working on a picture collage for my daughter. Unfortunately my good photo editing software is on my actual computer, and this stupid laptop has crap. So it's not turning out the greatest. But next week I am going out and purchasing some crappy Walmart photo editing software, lol.

And I've been going through kids' clothes today. I realized something. Within the next 2 years, give or take, John will be about in the same size clothes as Will. He's closing the gap. John is in size 4 pants, which is normal. But his shirts are around 5-6. He's not even a little chubby. He's just so big!! And Will is STILL in a size 8. I've noticed my "little boy" storage is growing smaller and smaller. But Will's petite, and John's an ox.

Well, I need to finish cleaning. We are (yes again) having a bbq. So I must prepare. Our friend is bringing a new "chickie" here supposedly. So off I go!

Menards is a joke

I have a love/hate relationship with Menards. Period.
I have to reupholster a bench today. Maybe spray-paint some baskets.
Tomorrow I will tackle the daunting tast of finishing my bathroom. Just not today.

And I'm starting a new fitness routine starting Monday, since my membership expired to a local fitness center. I'm going to hate it, lol. But I REALLY hate being a fatty-boom-batty. My son said that I have another baby in my tummy. ouch....

So if anyone sees me out running/walking/biking/passing out on sidewalks, feel free to say hi!

CNA Certification

Ya know when you have 1000 things up in the air, and the ball is in someone else's court to get things done? Geez I hate that. I like doing things myself so that I know they will get done and done right. But I'm waiting for sooooo many important letters/phone calls to come in, and it's literally making me so ornery (is that how you spell that?) that I'm actually picking fights with my husband, lol. So if I seem a little negative in most of my posts, that's why.

I've been waiting FOREVER to take my CNA certification test, but nothing came in the mail yet. So my instructor gave me the # to call. The American Red Cross just mailed it late. I suppose, they have more important stuff to do, like save lives. Teehee.

So once I pass this, I get to apply for Certified Ass-wiper jobs. Yay!! But thankfully this will only be temporary. I don't know how long "temporary" is, but soon I can apply for my RN class, and I will need a new rake for all the dough I will be making =). And I'll actually have a job that I may enjoy for once! Yay!

So now there's only 999 things up in the air that I can't do anything about buy wait. But I sure can call people to inquire about progress until they actually want to drop what they are doing to wait on me.......yeah.....

Stupid window

It's a beautiful Sunday!

We went to church, and the kids behaved for the most part. Hailey's taken to singing along with the congregation. So cute =)

And since today was so warm and lovely, I've decided to start my deck projects, as listed previously. I spent all afternoon trying to get our kitchen window open. Taking out the old single pane storm window wasn't that bad at all. But the previous owners of our house not only painted the window shut. They also GLUED AND CAULKED it shut!! Oh man, I was sweating and swearing. "What would possess someone to do something so stupid?" "Figgin idiots..." "Why the hell would this EVER be a good idea?" That's some of my comical rants as I take a chisel to the window.

So we got the stupid thing open. It's still in rough shape. It's still hard to open and close, but that's what I have a man around the house for =). I'm golf waxing the crap out of it, and hopefull it will help. I have 3-4 weeks to wait for my new storm window to come in anyways. So I can putz with it some more. $15 more just because I have a retarded sized window. Rip-off....

Then I go check out the solar deck lights. Yeah, I'm not making that decision without my husband. So I'm trying, yes I'm trying to get these projects done before the major grilling season hits. We've already cooked out 3 times, and tonight will be our 4th. So I really need to get in gear.

Hangover, Barbeques, yay!

Let the barbeque's begin!! We are cooking Angus patties on the grill tonight. Nothing homemade (which is my fav thing to do!) but still yummy. I'm pretty excited to smell that grill firing up.

And I MIGHT have a breakthrough on this identity theft problem I'm having with my neighbor. Let's cross our fingers! Two can play at this game.....mwahahahaha!

But physically, I'm not doing awesome. I've been into this health kick for a while. Buying organic, drinking green tea, making everything from scratch to ensure that there's no processed junk going into my family's bodies. And I've heard that drinking a glass of red wine a night can fight off certain types of cancer. So I go out and buy two different kinds and put them up on my wine rack. An entire bottle later, I realize that drinking A LOT of red wine isn't going to fight cancer, it'll just give you liver failure, lol. So I was sick. Lesson learned.

Beat the bully's ass

I think I'm taking Sebastian on a walk today. Clear my mind a little. I think I'm going to throw a party for myself today. A pity party, lol.

Will got another detention. For fighting a kid. Then Joe took Will to his wrestling practice, where a kid, from my neighborhood of course, called him Will "Poop-quette" and Joe said "you need to stick up for yourself."

So here are my thoughts: if Will went up to that kid and punched him square between the eyes, I don't think I would be that upset. He would stick up for himself. But yet when he comes home with a detention for fighting, we ground him. So I have no idea what we are actually supposed to teach him. I don't want to condone fighting, but most of the time he fights because kids are ALWAYS picking on him.

When I was a kid, I always portrayed myself as a bad-ass. Knock out someone's tooth, and everyone leaves you alone. But that back-fired. A girl came up to me at a bar 2 years ago and said "I always wanted to talk to you, but I was always afraid you'd punch me." OUCH!

So do I tell Will to stand up to these bullies, or do I teach him to ignore? I don't want people walking all over him, yet I don't want him to think violence is the key. Ahhhh...child-raising....

There is much more for me to sort through on Sebastian's walk, but I think my 5 minute pity party is much enough. I'll throw the rest by myself =).

Gotta love the West End!

It's a beautiful, bright day today...except by my house. lol. Tough day

I was so excited to get Will back on his meds. It turns out that our new insurance won't cover his meds. So now we begin the process of fighting the insurance. Maybe next week he will have his meds. Let's hope.

AND once again, I'm dealing with my neighbor trying to steal my identity. She sits happily at her house, with cute new merchandise, as I get an angry phone call from a company that is demanding I pay $350 that I owe. What?! So now I have to send in a letter, AGAIN, showing the company that it wasn't me making those purchases. I may need to contact my lawyer, lol. Personally, if I wouldn't get in trouble, I would like to just go over there and punch her square between the eyes. She's one of those people that rides the "free money" train. Having as many kids as her body can handle, then refusing to get married b/c single mothers get TONS of cash.

In case you're wondering, this is the mother of the boy who taught my step-son some dirty language. Like I stated before....DEGENERATES!

God will eventually throw me a bone. Though it seems lately that he has a grudge against me. Nothing good has happened in the past few weeks. I need just one good hour of one day.

I think it's high time for a beer. It's past noon. And it may stop the shakes =)

Gotta love the West End!

It's before 8:00 AM and I'm already cranky. Yay.... after hearing about Will's wonderful use of language at his mother's house, I was looking forward to sending him to school. It's my chance for a break. Living with someone with Will's condition is hard. A classmate of mine had given up an adopted child because of it. But...of course...school had to be cancelled today. Marinette had only a 2-hour delay. But not Menominee, oh no, that would MAKE SENSE!

So I truck on. Knowing that on Thursday, God will give me a wonderful break. Will is back on his meds. But meds don't stop what he's been doing lately. Sailor talk. Yup, really vulgar language. Of course me and my husband swear occasionally, but never dirty talk.

And I know damn well who he's learning this stuff from. My neighbors. The first week of us living at our house, a neighbor child jumped on the roof of my car and told Will to "S++k my d++k" And ALL THE KIDS are like that around here. Such a nice house in a crap-shoot neighborhood. But there's not much I can do. I can't tell Will he's not allowed to play with anyone, and I can't tell the parents because they are JUST as bad. I hate to judge, but they are DEGENERATES!

But Will is writing an apology letter as I type, and he will be doing busy work for most of the day. Too bad I cleaned my house almost spotless yesterday, that would have given him something to do.

ON HIGHER NOTES: Will started wrestling, and I hear he is doing amazing at it! All that practice with his little brother =). Joe got hired from UW-Marinette to play drums in a play. Yay! Hailey is overcoming her fear of stairs. She's actually trying to climb them by herself. Super job! And we got rid of Oscar. No more barking, or biting people, or having the mailman stop delivering mail to our block, lol. I'll miss the little guy, but our house is sooooo much less stressful with him gone.

A tibute to Oscar---