It's 1991 All Over Again

We decided to re-enact the Halloween Ice Storm of '91 that hit MN for its 20th anniversary. Except in NJ this time. No power since Sat afternoon...it should be restored by Friday...MAYBE. So I'm typing this on my phone & I'm not so sure it'll work. In the meantime, Happy Halloween everyone! (unless you're in Summit, NJ, where it's been postponed.)

Follower Features Friday

Firsts things first...

IF you are reading this on your iPad while driving...STOP IT (you know who you are & don't think I won't badger you about this in real life).

Second of all, be sure to pop on over to see what Lauren is WILD about at Our Big Fat Farm Wedding: Crazy Ever After...especially if you looooooooove the movie Dirty Dancing. (And we all know EVERYONE loves the movie Dirty Dancing...oh you don't?  Ok, then.  You & me--we're fighting.)  We're hoping that everyone will join in & get Wild On Wednesday with us! Plus, Lauren is hilarious & who doesn't like to laugh?

Third of all, if you feel yourself starting to get a cold & decide you want to have some Airborne...but the tablet is too big for the opening in your water bottle...DON'T use your teeth to bite it in half.  UNLESS you want it to disappear in your mouth just like Pop Rocks.  (It was kinda, sorta amazing...)

Ok, then...time for Follower Features!

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Miss Multitasker is another lovely gal I went to high school with!  Again...I haven't seen her in FOREVER, so I looooooove that I can see what she's been up to in the 100 years since our graduation (ok...fine...it hasn't been that long since high school).  Her blog title...is no lie.  She IS Miss Multitasker...

photo from Miss Multitasker

photos from Miss Multitasker

she has a gorgeous family...and she finds time to plan parties (a LEGO party!! For awesome.), cooks/bakes up a storm (I haven't haven't had Rhubarb Jam...well...probably since high school), builds herself some pretty great shelves/garden boxes/etc...she's a regular old Martha Stewart!  And I'm happy to report that her littlest guy is doing well after his recent stay in the hospital (Miss Multitasker has the scoop over on her blog).

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And now we have ANOTHER high school pal...it's H (or sometimes Aych). (hi H!)  I have seen H since I roamed the halls of NRHEG.  I always seem to find her at weddings that I go home for.  And H designs tee shirts that CRACK.ME.UP.

photos from Humanimal Kingdom Apparel

Are you reading those right there?  Cross stitched Criss Cross will make you Jump Jump!?!?!  Mathemagical!?!?!  MN and WI hugging!?!?!  I die.  She has more SUPER designs & you can get the shirts in just about every color...stop by Humanimal Kingdom Apparel to see what I'm going on & on about.  It's my sweetie's birthday soon...I see a MATHEMAGICAL surprise in his future!

Wild On Wednesdays

I must admit...the title was not my idea...I got it from My Pal Lauren at OBFFW:CEA.  After she read last Wednesday's Wild About post, she said it reminded her of that show that used to be on E!, Wild On & she thought we should do a Wild On Wednesdays...& I'm wild about quite a few things (my wild list changes like the weather) & I thought it was a great idea...so, here we go...

• Red Solo Cup

image found via google

I was not wild about this until this morning.  In fact, I had this post prewritten and ready to go...buuuuuuuut the morning got off to a rocky start and it put me into a FOUL mood (the dog wouldn't even come near me).  So, I was pretty sure it was going to be one of those days...until the song Red Solo Cup by Toby Keith came on the radio while I was driving to work...I mean, HOW could anyone possibly stay ornery while listening to these lyrics...

Red Solo Cup, I fill you up

Let's have a party, let's have a party

Red Solo Cup, I lift you up

Proceed to party, proceed to party

or these (my favorite part)...

Now, I've seen you in blue, and I've seen you in yellow

But only you, red, will do for this fellow

'Cause you are the Abbot to my Costello

And you are the fruit...to my loom

THE FRUIT TO MY LOOM...haaaaaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaa! And...my rotten mood has passed.

BRAVO, Red Solo Cup, BRAVO.

• Labels

My love affair with labels is not limited to Apartment 20-i...

I've started labeling everything at work too.  I LOVE LABELS!  They're fantastic.

And that's it for now...I've got to get some work done.  What are YOU wild about this week?

Visit NJ: Woods Edition

I feel like NJ gets a bad rap...I mean...it's known as Dirty Jersey.  And then you have the folks from Jersey Shore (no not everyone looks/acts like a guido/guidette, but I've seen more than my fair share of Shore wannabe's) and the Real Housewives (which...OH.EM.GEE., Teresa is bat s*** crazy, but I really want to find her and become her frienemy so I can watch how awesomely awful she is LIVE and IN PERSON)...so it's hard for people tho think of NJ as a "nice" place.

It really is though.  Take for example the woods behind our apartment...

no table flippin' or fist pumpin' out here.

P.S. You'll have to excuse my iPhone pictures...I don't have the steadiest hands...something to work on, I guess.

White Paint Fixes Everything

So...I solved the problem (that I created in my own mind) that I was having with the books.  I covered them in three different colors of craft paper and made some labels so I don't have to look at my messy handwriting (I'll show you just how I did it as soon as I figure out how to make the labels a printable sheet for everyone).  I like it soooooooooooooooo much better than this...

Buuuuuuuut, my book makeover project kinda, sorta turned into a "thing."  Know what I mean, Vern? 

Oh...you don't? 

Well, you know how you start working on one little project and as you go along you say to yourself, "these books are looking FAN-TASTIC, but the shelf they're one...not so much," and then you say, "leave it alone, Kelly...the shelf is just fine," and you do leave it alone...for about an hour...and THEN it turns into a "thing," & at the end of the day you have this...

please ignore the radio & the subwoofer behind the sticks
they along with the recliner are considered "untouchable"
(I still don't even understand what a subwoofer is/does)

 White paint really does make everything better ('cept for the radio & the subwoofer...UGH).

And here's a little before & after of the books for you:

Much. Better.  Annnnnnnnd I think I'm starting a love affair with labels.

please excuse our technical difficulties

The internet has turned against me again.  I'm having some troubles loading pictures today.  And while I could musically describe everything I wanted to show you--

SIDE NOTE...you should hear/see me perform Weather Report: The Musical (I just wrote and premiered it last night--to a standing ovation for Val & my sweetie...while they gave me the stink eye).  I'll give you a sneak peak of the ending..."THUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH-RET of RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN (threat of rain)!"  Amazing, right?  Right.

Anyway, it's no fun to read about a bookshelf transformation or feature the projects of one of my followers without pictures...so it shall have to wait.  Until then, tell all your friends about Weather Report: The Musical...it's fantastic.

What I'm Wild About This Wednesday

Hey! Hey! Hey!

Good news...I found a solution for my book troubles!  However, it's going to take me longer than I first anticipated (shocker, I know).  So in the meantime, I'm going to let you in on a few of my favorite things (kinda, sorta like Oprah...but not really at all).  Here is what I'm WILD about this Wednesday (totally copy catted Lauren & her Wild About Windows post on this one):



chapstick lip balm (all lip balms are chapstick to me...even if they're Burt's Bees brand)...
these are just the ones I could find...I have at least sixteen more



apples from the orchard...
these are from the grocery store...but the sign said they're Jersey fresh from a local orchard



New York Jersey style pizza...
mmmmm



lavender & linen scent dryer sheets...
I'm thinking about pinning them ALL OVER the walls...the smell is heavenly



my Pink (Victoria Secret) Gators sweatshirt...
it's warm & cozy without being huge & bulky

 Something I'm not so wild about...

and this eight hours later...

Yeah, the dog spent the day on and messed up, my freshly washed bedding...thanks Val.

Book It!

Remeber Pizza Hut's Book It Program?  Just me?  They gave you a sweet hologram pin that said "book it," and had spots for stickers on it & after you read a book you got a sticker & after you got 6 stickers you got a FREE personal pan pizza!!!!!  I'm pretty sure I had about 1900 6 of those pins (I LOVED personal pan pizzas) and nerdily proudly displayed them on my jean jacket (yes it WAS stonewashed for those of you wondering).

Annnnd, I've distracted myself again.  I'm experiencing a made up in my own mind dilema.  I do NOT care for the way my books look in my book shelf.  This has long been a problem...you see I dislike that the books don't match each other (not the same color or the same size).  My sweetie thinks I should get rid of them and just store all my books on an e-reader (which is probably the smart solution), but I kinda, sorta like being able to turn an actual page when I'm reading...I guess I'm old fashioned.

I've tried aranging them by color, like this:

photo from Apartment Therapy

but I don't have enough space for that in my lil' apartment....so that's out. 

When we were in FL, I made book covers from Kraft paper (you can see a few of them in the picture of my bookshelf above)...kinda, sorta like these:

photo from Apartment Therapy

that worked...but I'm not a big fan of my messy hand written titles/authors (plus I can't really see them either)...annnnnnd since we've moved I haven't done any book covering. 

Pretty sure this isn't that big of a problem, but in my old age I'm getting a bit more neurotic about things being clean/simple/uniform/lovely...so I'm off to find myself a solution.  I'll keep you posted (I know y'all won't be able to sleep until I find the answer...so I'll try to be quick)!

Later Gator.

Life is Good

Well...maybe it's not quite as good if you're a Vikings Fan.  Uftda.  We were pretty excited to watch our favorite football team on the tv last night (sinced we moved away we don't get to watch them too often), but I'm thinking we maybe should have skipped it.  They're the WORST...but they're our team so, I'm choosing to believe they're putting on an awful show just to punk the Packers next week...we'll see.

Anyway, enough of the Bad News Vikings...as you can see,I finished up the cork board project I was working on.  This is what they looked like before...

Friday Follower Features

Oh. Em. Gee.  Val Stel and I have come down with something...we were a bit like the walking dead yesterday.  We're slightly livelier today...so hopefully things are lookin' up...maybe we can finish the cork board project we started (and by started I mean, I printed out some letters, put them on the floor next to the dog, took a picture of her with my phone, & left it there until...well it may or may not still be there)...

or maybe not...time will tell.

Anyway, on to the exciting things...Follower Features!

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First we have This Home of Ours...ooooh la!  She's been making over her home and everything she's done is GORGEOUS.  For example, her Master Bedroom Makeover:

photos from This Home of Ours

Here's a closer look at the SPECTACULAR wainscotting she and her husband did all by themselves:

photo from This Home of Ours

Unfortunately, there was a fire in her garage.  Thankfully no one was injured and from her pictures most of the house seems to be ok.  The kitchen "melted" and there appears to be a lot of smoke damage...but after looking through all her previous makeovers, there is no doubt she'll have her home back to its gorgeous self as soon as possible!

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Next up is Heather from Inspire Me Heather...oh how I LOVE her blog!  As she says, "This blog is about linking projects. It's like a scrapbook of do-it-yourself ideas in the hopes of inspiring you to be creative."  For SMART!   Here's a look...

screen cap from Inspire Me Heather

Want to make yourself a shelf?  Just click on one of the links for the perfect tutorial!  Have enough shelves and want to make a chicken coop (not sure why ANYONE would ever want to create a home for chickens, but...whatev)?  Click on project: chicken coop for all the great links!  Dare I say, I prefer this virtual filing cabinet to Pinterest?  Don't get me wrong...I love Pinterest...but I'm easily distracted...and all the pictures really make me lose my focus and I may or may not spend hours looking at EVERYTHING instead of working on the dog house/quilt/wall art/etc. that I pinned two weeks ago.  Inspire Me Heather allows me to focus my attention (and keeps me from being a Pinterest bum--not that there's anything wrong with that).  Thanks Heather!

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And finally, we have Mindy (Hi Mindy!) from A Family on the Move!  I'm kinda, sorta super excited about this one...why, you ask?  Well, I'll tell you...Mindy went to high school with me (& my pal Al) and I haven't seen her since forever (I didn't go to the 10 year reunion--for SHAME) and I did not know she had a blog and that she's an Air Force Wife with the cuuuuuuuutest family...

photo from A Family on the Move

See?? (You should see the pictures of her three boys in their mini Air Force gear...SO cute!)  Annnnnd, she's super organized and pretty awesome at decorating...

photo from A Family on the Move

Told you.  This is the PERFECT example of making practical pretty...those sweet bins are hiding toys.  And the Fall decor... I.WANT.  I'm SOOOOOOO excited that I can pop in and see what she's up to!

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All done for today...tune in on Monday and I'll show you what Val Stel and I ended up doing with those letters...

7 Things I Bet You Didn't Know & 15 Blogs You Should Get to Know

Heather at Inspire Me Heather was nice enough to include me in her Versatile Blogger award list!  Thank you Heather...I'm so honored!

There are a couple of rules that go along with this...here they are:

• thank and link back to the person who gave you the award
• share seven things about yourself
• send it on to fifteen other bloggers & let them know you've awarded them

Seven Things:

• my phone is too smart for me...not.even.kidding. (it took me a week to figure out how to turn it on/off & during that time my sweetie convinced me that it could only be turned on/off by voice command--his voice)
• I could (& probably would) watch Dateline and/or 48 Hours Mystery on ID channel every single minute of every single day forever...but luckily they show reruns quite often & I don't care for reruns
• I kinda, sorta wish I lived in an RV & could just show up at my friends' and relatives' homes and park in their driveways for indefinite amounts of time...ala Cousin Eddie
• I don't like to hold infants...I'm VERY nervous that I'll drop or break them in some way...I prefer children who can support their own heads
• back in the day...for about two years...I could only fall asleep if the movie Top Gun was playing on my VCR
• I do NOT drink enough water each day (I'm trying to remedy that)
• I DESPISE chickens...well most birds in general...but especially chickens

That's enough about me...here is my list of great blogs you should know about (go on and check them out...I do):

• Blissfully Ever After
• Chef In Training
• do.think.wear.see.love.dream
• Hammers & High Heels
• Lavender & Lemon Drops
• Little Katie on the Prairie
• Our Big Fat Farm Wedding: Crazy Ever After
• Our Dailey Life
• The Bold Abode
• The Borrowed Abode
• The Corson Cottage
• The Salvage Collection
• Three Buns
• Urban Farmgirl
• West Furniture Revival

P.S.  To all the blogs I pass this along to...I will not be offended if you do not wish to participate...I just love your blogs & wanted to give them a mention.

A Columbus Day in the Life

It was Columbus Day yesterday...apparently it's a big deal around here.  Must be a NY/NJ thing...because honestly, I don't EVER remember Columbus Day is a holiday...let alone a day for celebrations and parades and according to one lady on the news "the whole country" being Italian.  Maybe it's because I'm not even a little bit Italian and I grew up in the second most Scandinavian (behind the actual Scandinavia) place on the planet and we didn't even get the day off from school, but I just don't remember it being that big of a deal...I guess I lived a sheltered life. 

Anyway, I thought about starting a couple of projects, but the news convinced me it was a holiday and I should take it easy...so I did.  Plus it was SO nice outside, so...you know.  Here are a few snap shots of my Columbus Day in the Life (via instagram):

 my sweetie got a rare picture of me (I'm trying to block the shot)
looking a bit rough in the morning

Val Stella & I spent some time outside
when we came in, she pretended to die from heat stroke
(she's more of a cooler weather dog...I guess)

a cleaning streak hit me
including sorting out all our change...

watching Dateline on ID channel
(this one was about a married beauty queen with seven kids who got one
lover to kill her other lover while she attended a wedding with her husband)
I LOVE Dateline on ID

and the day ended with supper
I made the EASIEST pulled pork in the crock pot and it was SO good...
you can find the recipe here at Chef in Training...I don't like the taste of
BBQ sauce so I didn't add it in, but E did and he seemed to like it

Before & After -- Blog Edition

You may or may not have noticed I made a few changes round these parts.  I don't know what got into me, but I decided it was time for a change...and changed it that very second...I'm wild like that. 

Here is what the blog looked like just a few days ago:

And (I feel like you don't need a picture, since you can see what it looks like currently, but what the heck--eh?) here is what it looks like now:

I like it better.  There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the old style...I liked that too...but it seemed a bit busy to me.  I'm probably making that up in my own mind, but it was getting to me so I changed it up.  The new style seems cleaner to me.  I'm a big fan of blues and greys/grays--I do NOT know how to spell grey/gray and the Wikipedia is telling me both spellings are acceptable, which...DOES.NOT.HELP.  Anyway, I like it and my sweetie told me it was glorious and he wasn't even looking at it or paying attention to what I was saying(that's a glowing endorsment if I've ever heard one), so I'll stick with it.

Here's a B&A comparison for you:

Oh--and did any of you NRHEGers read the tag line in my header (a little of this, a little of that) and think of Margaret Engesser and her "little bit 'o this & a little bit 'o that" column from the days when she owned the Star?  I did.

Excuse Me for a Bit

I'm giving the blog a facelift.  My decorating ADD applies to the internet as well...I guess.

Follower Features Friday

The folks at Pottery Barn were nice enough to send me their latest catalog...and while I haven't taken the time to look at the ENTIRE thing yet (I save that for curling up on the couch with a coffee on Sunday mornings), I did a quick flip through it and ended up on this this page...

photo from Pottery Barn

I spotted something I want TERRIBLY.  It's that large clock.  However, since I'm trying to be more like Scrooge McDuck these days and I have two clocks already (one just lurks under the desk--it's the perfect spot for telling time) I feel like I should just let it be.  Buuuuuuut, I don't really care for the look of my current clocks...so maybe I'll have to be thrifty about it...we'll see what's on the agenda for our Sunday-Monday Fundays.  There may or may not be a trip to Sleepy Hollow for the Jack-o-Lantern Festival in the works.  I just have to convince my sweetie that it will be the most AMAZING thing he will ever see...my convincing so far is what the kids call an epic fail.

Anyway....on to the much more interesting things.  I have a few more followers to feature, so here goes...

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First up is Gwen from The Bold Abode.  Oh my, she IS bold...for example...

photos from The Bold Abode

She painted her piano green!  Never in a million years would I have thought to do something like that...but it looks SOOOOOOO good!  AND she reclaimed some old porch columns from a friend's home renovation and created an outdoor buffet...so lovely!

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And finally we have Donna from Reno and Reorganization (I LOVE her tagline..."join me for a little R&R,"...reno & reorganization!)

photos from Reno and Reorganization

She turned that 99 cent table (first of all--WHAT.A.DEAL.) into that beautifull bedside table!  For smart!  She finds all kinds of deals and steals and turns them into the most useful things!

And that's it for today friends...thanks for stopping by!

Visit NJ: New York Harbor Edition

Bayonne Golf Club on New York Harbor

Well...technically I was in Bayonne, but since New Jersey has something against left turns and you are required to use up four hours of your time to make the 2,354 right turns that will eventually get you to the spot you WANTED to turn left at (see what I mean...I'm lost already & I'm just sitting on a chair), I chose to park the car and just lurk around the area where my sweetie works.  I always say his club is "on the Hudson," but apparently, the actual name is New York Harbor...FANCY.

New York City (behind Cape Liberty)

Anyway, it was E's employee tournament/party at the club the other day and I went with for the whole day.  I kinda, sorta felt like following him around the golf course like a groupie would be dorky (and that he would probably get made fun of) so I wandered around "the Harbor" for a while and then joined him on the last few holes.  Here are a few things I discovered on my little jaunt around the area...



What exactly is a "Towel Bar Duvet," K.Si?

It's this:

Here's how I went about making it and it's partner, the "Weird Soap Dish & Toothbrush Holder Cemented to the Wall Duvet":