Bar? I don't think so.

Just look at this.  Seriously, when did these things get so small??  I do appreciate the fact that someone was kind enough to put them in a dish on their desk but c'mon Nestle.  There is no reason to even make this size of a candy "bar".  Speaking of...I don't even think you are legally allowed to call this a "bar".  I can think of four things off the top of my head that are referred to as "bars" and this is not one of them.  A bar of soap, a barbell, a bar that you drink at and the uneven bar(s) in gymnastics.  Ok, that last one was a stretch, but you get the point.  None of the items listed above even come close to resembling the size of this puny little excuse for chocolate goodness.  At best it should be called a "nugget" and even that's a stretch.  When people say drinking regular pop is just wasting calories, this is how I feel about this candy.  What's the point.  Yes, it gives you that glimpse of after-lunch-chocolate that people sometimes craze but it by no means satisfies.  I love the part on the back of the wrapper that says:  THIS UNIT IS NOT LABELED FOR RETAIL SALE.  No shit, Sherlock.  Can you imagine a mom with her 5 year old in the checkout line at the gas station and the mom tells the child he can pick out a candy bar and you have the King Size, the Regular Size and then the size shown here sitting on the shelf...which one is the kid going to pick?  Yeah, I am sure these babies would fly out of their cardboard cases if they were individually sold.  NOT!
Yes, i just used the phrase NOT! Yes, I took two Butterfinger's from the dish.  And yes, it was a total of two bites.

Bathroom finds

Stuff I forgot to show during the bathroom process: Two matchbooks and two empty packs of cigarettes behind the wall. The putty knife I just threw in for fun. It was used so much during the demo that it looks like Andy DuFresnes rounded off rock hammer in The Shawshank Redemption.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.6

Highlights

Highlights from the weekend:

Friday:  Babyville.

Visited Caitlin's new baby Dario.  To describe him as precious would be an understatement!  What a sweetheart!  Congratulations to Cait and Tom!

 

More baby time...this time with Niall.  He's getting so big and so very handsome!

 

 Saturday/Sunday:  Mud Volleyball Tournament.

We lost our first match, won our next three and lost our last one.  So much fun.  So much mud!

Grocery shopping because my fridge has looked like this for about two weeks:

I went to Rainbow instead of Cub this time.  This was my first time "big" grocery shopping at Rainbow.  It was OK.  Do you ever get the feeling when you go into a new place that people know that you don't belong there?  It's like you have a big sign above your head that says "I don't usually shop here".  Maybe it's just me, but I felt that way.  I was totally out of my comfort zone and I think people could tell.

Houston, we have a bathroom.

Well, I couldn't have one more "bathroom" thing go on without a glitch.  I literally just spent an hour writing this awesome bathroom post and I went to publish it and everything disappeared!!!  If I wasn't so excited about this bathroom reveal, I'd say forget it and write a different one tomorrow!  I am going to do my best to re-write, but it's hard to duplicate a masterpiece.  :)  Anyway, let's try this again...

250 days, 700+ pictures and a few emotional breakdowns later, the bathroom is done!!!

 

Last time I left you with a bathroom post was back in May.  The sink and toilet were getting installed and the shower leak issue was solved.  I was waiting on trim, blinds, a medicine cabinet and some sort of storage for above the toilet.  I am not going to bore you with all the nitty gritty details, but over the span of the two and a half months it's been since I blogged about my bathroom, all of those things have gotten solved.

I decided to forgo the "storage" above my toilet.  The space was too small to force something in there that didn't belong.  I decided I could keep my face wash and other things in my future old/new medicine cabinet or the linen closet outside the bathroom.  I also knew that I needed somewhere to put the two decorative items I bought months and months ago, knowing they would someday call the bathroom "home".  And the little owl my dad got me while out of town that he thought would look good in the new bathroom also needed a little perch to sit on.  I am SO glad I did it this way instead of a clunky storage thing.
 The shelves were actually a box/crate thing that I got from the Container Store.  I planned on flipping the shallow box/create and screwing the bottom to the wall and using the edge as the "shelf".  It ended up being too big, but between my mom and I, we decided that the length and thickness of the box edges would be the perfect size for shelves.  I asked my grandpa take the box apart with his table saw and I took two of the sides, sanded them, put a coat of primer on to give them a washed out look and created shelves.  I figured finding delicate brackets would be simple, but of course  I was wrong.  Then one day I came across these old, paint-covered hinges in an antique store and had an idea. I asked my grandpa weld them at a 90 degree angle so they could be used as brackets.  I planned on leaving the cracked, thick paint as is, but after the welding I realized how gunky the paint actually was and stripped it off.  I was so glad I did because I love the dark color of the hinges and the delicate detail that was uncovered under all that paint!

 

While we're not on the storage subject anymore....my original medicine cabinet is back!  I am not sure if I mentioned this before in a different post, but my plan was always to keep the medicine cabinet/mirror and the lights on either side, original.  That almost came true. There was a minor mishap when trying to get the mirror back into its frame.  I won't mention any names, but hopefully my brothers 7 years of bad luck won't start anytime soon.  Luckily we have a family friend with a mirror business so he was able to make me a replica, sans the etched flower on the top.  And my friend Nick who did the drywall also graciously took the old, rusted, paint covered cabinet portion and made it look brand new!  He put bondo in places I never thought possible and gave it a few fresh coats of paint.  I swear, you would never know that that "box" had a stamp on the back that's dated 1952!  There were some rust spots on the back of the door that wouldn't come off so I decided to jazz it up with some patterned contact paper from Target.  As for the lights on either side of the cabinet, those guys are still original and add that "vintage" touch along with the faucet handles, medicine cabinet and hinges-turned-brackets.

The rug was from Talking Squid on Etsy.  I had seen a rug made from T-shirts months and months ago on Pinterest.  I attempted to make one myself but realized after I started that the project would take longer than the entire bathroom renovation itself, so I turned to the internet.  I love the way it turned out and would highly recommend this girl if you ever decide to get one for yourself!

The shower curtain, although not what I orginally planned, is from Target and the tray and containers that sit on the back of the toilet are also from the Container Store.

 

The blinds are from Menards and are white wood.  I decided to go with black fabric strips as accents for a little more pizazz.

 

And last but not least, this is a little something I created in honor of my Grampy.  He didn't make it to see the final reveal but was extremly excited when he saw the tiles and fixtures in their boxes.  I hope he likes how it turned out!  He always said "Be Good", so Grampy, this is for you.

There you have it!  For Old Time's sake, let's take one last before/after glance, shall we?  Oh hell, I'll even throw in some never-before-seen footage for you!

 

 

Wow, after looking back at all these pictures, posts, excuse my French, but Holy Shit!  I can't believe how much was accomplished!  Thank You to everyone who helped with this project, both physically or if I just ever needed an ear to talk or vent to!  I owe you one!

 

 

 And one final glance....

Artsy Fartsy

This past weekend, my friend Kari and I got our paint groove on.  We busted out the paints and canvases just like the days back at 308 Ave. in St. Cloud.  It was almost like old times.  I spread out some very old sheets-turned-paint throws, a folding table, chairs, paints and we watched the Olympics, painted to our hearts content and chatted away.  It was a lot UN like our last painting experience where were getting "advice" on how to paint from tree hugging art "instructors".  This time we were free to paint whatever we wanted and however we wanted.  Kari chose to make a silhouette of her dog, Mason and I was inspired by this post on a blog I read to do some putty knife/textured artwork.  After I finished my painting, Kari was still working on her Mason Masterpiece, so I took another stab at a smaller canvas.  Both aren't perfect and probably won't sell for millions until long after I kick the bucket and can reap any of the profit, but hey, they'll do for now.

This table looks so inviting, even the girl on TV wants in on the fun!

Painting number two.

Painting number one.

Caved.

Well...I've done it.  I've caved to the Twitter craze and I'm lovin' it.  Twitter is my new Pinterest.  Scary, isn't it?  Now I have yet to actually "tweet" and understand all the ins and outs of it, but I still love it.  I actually got myself a screen name (screen name: such an old school, AOL term, isn't it??) and started an account a couple months ago.  My friend told me that she's on it just so she can follow celebrities.  So I took the plunge and did the same thing and have yet to regret it. Well, maybe I regret the half hour of sleep I am losing at night while checking my Twitter feed instead of going to bed, but still, it's addicting.  Did I know who was singing next at the CMA awards because they were an hour ahead of us and I was following them on Twitter while watching the awards?  Yes.  Did I know about the fan at the Twins game last week who shaved a Mauer "jersey" into his back hair and I hadn't even seen any of the game or news that night?  Yes.  Why?  Because I follow CMT and MLB on Twitter so I know every move, instantly!  It really is a sickness.
A few of my favorite celebrities that I follow:  Ryan Seacrest, Joan Rivers and Ellen DeGeneres.  Ryan for the ins and outs on what he's doing in the world.  The guy is probably the busiest guy in Hollywood, yet you feel like you could be his best buddy.  Right now he's in London prepping for Olympic coverage for the Today Show.  He's an awesome one to follow becasue I truly believe it's him that's tweeting, not some PR person doing it for him.  He snaps pictures of himself, him with his interviewees and then types a little blurb about it.  It's like I'm right there with him, getting the inside scoop on whether Mihael Phelps thinks he will be back in 2016.
Joan Rivers for her hilarious comments on whatever Hollywood scandal is currently happening and also that she too, gives us an inside look on her personal life.  This week she must be hanging out with her grandson becasue she is tweeting non-stop pictures of him and her hanging out at all these fun places.  Of course I have yet to see her in some "regular, fair-going, hot dog-eating clothing", but still, it's cool that although she can be a nasty, harsh B on the red carpet, she seems like she's a great, hands-on Grandma.
And Ellen for her basic humor of course.  She has "classic joke Monday" where she tweets jokes that a nine year old would tell, but they still give me a chuckle.  Like: "Why can't you push an envelope?"..."Becasue it's stationary."  :)
And let's not forget about my favorite, "regular joe" Tweeter.  Declan Goff, my friend Caitlin's brother.  This guy is 19 years old and knows more about sports than anyone I know.  He is going to school to be sports announcer and as a freshman in college, already is interning (as an on air commentator) for the St. Paul Saints.  This guy's going places...mark my words.  Following him on Twitter lets me know how Mauer batted for the night or that so-and-so from whatever team threw a no-hitter.  He also throws in random comments about life in general that crack me up.
Anyway, there you have it.  I'm a Twitter junkie.  Don't judge.

Oh, Crop!

Looks like my garden is once again pretty much a lost cause.  I think I just have to face the music that I don't get enough hot sun back there to get the plants up to their full ability.  I picked all of my "crops" the other day and here's what I came in with:  Two jalapenos, a really pathetic "red" pepper and a pretty sorry excuse for a cucumber.

Next year if I feel the need to grow food again, I will stick a potted something on my back patio where the sun beats all day.  Until then, I will have to deal with the fact that my dreams of having full bell peppers and a boatload of cucumbers by summers end, are shattered.
I have managed to make a couple kick ass wraps with my cucumber however, so the cause wasn't totally lost.
In case you want to try it at home:  Cucumbers (duh), onion, mayo, butter, salt and pepper.  If I'm feeling extra spunky, I'll throw a Kraft Single on there as well.