My roll covers have arrived!

"Clover Green" design

While money is way tighter than it used to be, I still have the love for beautiful design... expensive and beautiful design.  I have loved Jonathan Adler designs ever since watching him on that "so you want to be a designer" show, of which the name escapes me right now.  I'm sure many of you joined in my excitement after seeing the commercial for the cottonelle roll covers that are designed by Jonathan Adler.  I wondered what these little beauties were constructed of, a firm paperboard?  Perhaps they were more of a disposable freebie than a keepsake....  I visited respecttheroll.com to check them out.  There isn't too much information on the website, but there are three cute styles to choose from.  On a recent trip to Safeway I made sure to buy 2 of the participating packages of cottonelle.  Yup, I'm a marketing dream.  I ordered 2 roll covers, knowing that they would be the highlight of my bathrooms.  2-6 weeks for delivery?  No problem, I will surely forget and it will be like Christmas in the mail.  Less than 2 weeks later, here they are!  I wonder no longer, they are made of a hard plastic and are absolutely adorable!  I chose the clover and chevron designs, although I will probably order more since these are super cute containers that you could use for so many things.  And who doesn't love a good container?  You can even order them without even buying the toilet paper for less than $5 I think, although I do love this new toilet paper and I'm definitely switching (see?  Marketing was created for the likes of me).  Of course I will have enough for the next year after getting enough to supply all of the roll covers that I am going to be ordering.
Has anyone else gotten theirs?  Do you love it?

My bitch journal

Please excuse my poor photo quality, I'm getting there...

I got this idea from a journal cover that was pinned on pinterest (my new obsession) http://www.etsy.com/listing/61693506/people-i-want-to-punch-in-the-face
I decided to make my own.  Ok, I got a regular journal and just wrote "People I want to punch in the face"  on the cover.  Whenever someone pisses me off now I just write it down in the book and magically I feel better.  It's like writing down the "incident" makes it go away.  And you know how some people just piss you off for no reason?  Like they just irritate you but you don't know why?  Write it down and all of a sudden you are ok with them!  I can't really explain it, but maybe because writing down something so ridiculous makes you laugh, and then you think of the person and laugh instead of cringe....
My first entry:  "Jane X, because I ran into her at Starbucks and she was wearing juicy boots and made me feel fat."  Yeah, I know it's ridiculous but you know you all understand me!
I don't know why it works, but it definitely makes me feel better.  If I'm in a bad mood, I just think of someone who made me mad for whatever reason, I write it down, and get a little mood boost.  It sounds stupid, but if I didn't think it was worth blogging about trust me, I wouldn't.

Try it and tell me what you think!

Way cooler than a chalk board

I'm not such a fan of the kitchen bulletin board, mainly because the screw up whatever kind of decor you've got going on and they tend to be crap catchers.  A beautiful color scheme,  complimented by carefully chosen and strategically placed accessories are not done justice when you throw a cork board and every piece of paper that comes home in the backpacks.  "Wow, your cabinets are gorgeous!  Custom, you say?  And the tiles....oh and you're going to an Avon party this weekend I see...." 
Don't hate, I know we all have to have a kitchen command central, I just wish it didn't have to be at the cost of personal style, that's all.  One small step toward the de-crappifying of the kitchen is the popular  trending whiteboard, magnetic, and chalkboard paint.  There are tons of really cool ideas for this stuff all over the place.  It is hard to paint over though, I'm talking a major pain, which is a serious drawback to using it directly on walls.  I have still done it though and really loved it. 
I haven't gone full-on schedule on the walls, but my kids are still young and I'm sure that will change as they have more commitments.  For now though, I just wanted to make a menu board.  I was going to use chalkboard paint, but I happened to stumble upon something even easier (and cheaper).  I found chalkboard wall stickers in sheets about the size of a regular piece of paper.  I think it was like 3 pages for $3 or something like that and I got them at Michael's.  I got a picture frame (that I would normally put up on my wall) on clearance at Target.  I took out the glass and stuck the chalkboard sticker onto the backing (just like a picture, but sticky).  That was it.  Seriously took me like 3 minutes and I have gotten so many compliments on it. It started as a menu board but I actually use it for all kinds of little memos, messages, inspirational quotes (when it's been one of those days)...

By the way, I think you can buy this at Ballard Design or Pottery Barn for around $100.  Now, what to do with all that money I saved.....

The little pinch-pot that my daughter made for me for Christmas now has a very special purpose (and she loves that!)

Killer Laundry Defeated!

I am constantly overwhelmed by the laundry.  Even if I manage to have the house spic and span, sink free of dishes, and dinner on the table, I am always haunted by the clothes and sheets that overflow from several strategically placed hampers throughout the house. I absolutely hate doing laundry and in spite of many attempts to stay on top of it a bit at a time, I always seem to put it off until the kids are screaming that they don’t have any more underwear.  Then I start to dig out of laundry hell and spend 3 days focusing on getting every single item washed and put away, vowing to never let this happen again and start to do a load every day.  Of course I am so sick of doing laundry once this mad dash has ended that I put off doing that 1 load the next day.  And the next… and so on.  I have done countless google searches hoping to find the mommy out there who has come up with some magical solution to my problem, but every suggestion has always included actually doing the laundry at some point.  This is the part that I have a problem with :)
Last night, after realizing that the piles of clothes and towels have once again hit epic proportions, I decided that there simply has to be an answer out there.  I started my search where I always do, google.  Come on homemaking queens of cyberspace, give me the secret to full drawers of neatly folded sweaters and closets of fluffy white towels that smell of spring rain.  I want to conquer the laundry beast once and for all.  After just a few clicks, there it was: http://housekeeping.about.com/od/timesavingideas/a/shortcutsclean.htm.  Angels were singing “Hallelujah” and the clouds above parted to reveal a bright stream of light that highlighted the never before seen words on the page: “If you get truly overwhelmed by your laundry, check out a local Laundromat that will wash, dry, and fold your loads for you. These services frequently charge by the pound for laundry and aren’t inexpensive, but may save you time and energy when life starts to overwhelm.” HELLO!  I realize that this can not be my regular solution to the laundry crisis, especially since money is tight for us (and the rest of the world right?) but this could be the lifesaver that gets thrown out when I am truly drowning in the sea of dirty clothes.  And off to google I go again, to see if there is any place near me that does this and if it is astronomically expensive.  I did find a place that charges $1.95/lb and they pick up and deliver for free.  Delivery!  This just keeps getting better!  I have no idea how much the laundry weighs.  I would believe 5 pounds as easily as I would believe 80.  Since that’s kind of an important part of my decision, I better figure that out.  But holy cannoli I am super duper excited about this find!  I’m going to find a scale (add to to-do list) and see if I can get a rough idea of how much this could cost.  I actually don’t mind doing the towels, and those are probably the heaviest items, so I will do those myself.  No one can fold towels exactly the way you like anyway, right?  Thank you laundry goddess, you have answered my prayers!

I have a dream....board

So I hear that vision boards are a hot new thing now, ever since Oprah put “The Secret” at the top of the best seller list.  I recently told someone about this and she said she has one but calls it a dream board, which I thought was pretty cute.  Tomato, tomahto, the idea is that by physically displaying your goals (hopes, dreams, and all that good stuff) in a place that you will regularly see them will help you to visualize them, stay focused on them and attain them. It is basically like one of those collages we all made in high school, with pictures clipped from magazines arranged on a poster board. There is no structure that needs to be followed, the idea is to make it just for yourself, however you want it. Since I’m really trying to stick to my resolution to follow through on things, I figured this was worth a try.

I basically just flipped through about a years worth of magazines that I have been meaning to read and cut out pictures having to do with my personal goals, both short and long term. I cut out pictures of happy families (who doesn’t want that?), ultra-organized pantries and rooms (I have an obsession with organizing systems)… Lots of different things that evoked feelings of the blissful calm that I’m missing. Calm has been an antonym for my life.  I happened to be at A.C.Moore the day I was starting this and there were a bunch of huge die cuts in the clearance aisle. There weren’t too many that I could use but I found the cute wedding images and a few others. I would love to get married again some day, and while it seems to be a large part of my “vision,” it really isn't any bigger or more important than anything else . I just liked all of the wedding die cuts and couldn't decide which one to use so I bought them all, and they look so nice together don't they?  I loved those cowboy boots too, which represent the all-American kind of guy I might love :)
I used foam core board instead of poster board so I could lean it against a wall and not have to tape it or anything.  I used a glue stick, but I just thought of using a re-positionable adhesive, I have seen some in the scrapbook section at Michael's. It would easy to add and take away stuff if you wanted to later.  If, like me,  you have kids who constantly need to "help" with everything it would be nice to let them help but then fix it later much easier.
  According to many things Google, it should be displayed in a prominent place in your home where you will see it often.  One person said that she hung it above her bed on the ceiling so it was the first thing she saw in the morning and the last thing she saw at night.  While this sounds like a nice idea, it makes me thing of a college dorm room and drunken sorority pictures.  Besides, I sleep on my side so there goes that.  I'm not really big on the idea of hanging it "somewhere prominent" either.  I love home decor much too much.  I move it around when I feel especially dreamy, lean it on a dresser or table sometimes but usually I tuck it behind a hutch in the dining room.  I should probably look at it more often.... added to mental to-do list.

Shedding some light... with a hanging birdcage lamp!

I recently downsized for a few reasons, and we now live in an adorable farmhouse on a horse farm! The house is like 100+ years old and once served as the largest dairy farm in the area. It is no longer a working farm, it’s just for horses and scenery now. The inside has a lot of updates but maintains the charm that makes old houses so cool. It has been quite an adjustment from our old house, which was probably twice the size or more, but keeping in the positive I have to say that a smaller home definitely has its benefits. First, and most importantly, I can actually keep it clean!  In this house I can actually tackle a pile of whatever and get everything back in its proper place. For me, this gives me the opportunity to make small accomplishments every day. In my old house, I would start to organize one area and while putting things away all over the house I would inevitably start on another. Then another… It was too overwhelming for me to ever maintain control of. Because I’m a perfectionist, it is already tough to finish something to the degree that I think it should be. Coupled with a tendency to become easily preoccupied, perfectionism is dangerous! I end up giving up on a lot of things on my to-do list because nothing ever seems right and the list keeps getting longer.
Now that I’m living mini, there aren’t a lot of places to hide a mess or project “for now”. This has ready helped me to finish what I start. It also helps that I don’t have too far to go to put things away, lessening the chance that something else will grab my attention. Oh it still happens, don’t get me wrong, but it happens much more infrequently.

 One area of the house that has driven me crazy since day 1 is a corner in the kitchen that has no light. I need light. Darkness depresses me and just turning on a few extra lights can boost my mood instantly. So this corner has been making me nuts. It is a small corner where there is a small café table and 2 chairs. I never use this table because it is so dark, but I could really use it so I need to fix the problem. It needs a hanging lamp, and since I’m poor right now and very crafty, I have decided to make one. I have a hanging light from my daughter’s room that she is no longer using, so I took the bulb/cord thing out of the shade and decided I would just make a new shade. But out of what?

i heart you, giver of light!

 After letting my creative juices flow, and a few journeys through google, I decided to use an old birdcage I bought at a garage sale last year. When I saw it I knew it had to be mine! It is very shabby chic, all metal, and beautiful; it looks like an antique. I didn’t care how much it cost, I knew that I would find some cool way to use it someday.  I flipped the hanging tag over (of course this was too sweet to just slap a sticker on) and practically squealed- $2! I brought my beauty home and hung her on a hook in my closet, where she lived for about a year. I smiled every time I looked at her, I just knew she would be appropriately showcased one day when I could find just the right use for her. Today is the day!

You light up my life... well, my previously dark little corner

Woot woot, I got a blog!!

Welcome to my world! I'm a recently single mom of 2 charmingly obstinate children who keep me pretty busy, constantly entertained, and I'm just going to come out and say it, drive me crazy. I have a mind that works at warp speed and at any given moment I could be rearranging a room in my house, developing a brilliant new business idea, organizing a themed party, creating a recipe for homemade foot scrub and making a mental reminder to start another to do list... all in my head. I love being crafty and creative, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I wish I could turn it off! Perhaps I forgot to mention that I have ADD? If you couldn't tell already (or from my blog title), I am very easily distracted and lose focus almost as soon as I gain it. It has definitely gotten worse since having kids, as my mind seems to feel increasingly scrambled lately.
Recently however, I have tried to think of having ADD a little differently after listening to some cds by a psychiatrist specializing in the "disorder" (of all the disorders to have, this is hardly at the top of the bad list, hence the quotes...if you could see me right now, I'd be doing air quotes). Of course I can't remember the name of the doctor or the title of his book/cd, otherwise I would link it (there is another thing to add to that to do list!). Anyway, I really related to the way he described how an ADD mind works. I had no idea that many people who have ADD tend to also be incredibly creative. I guess you could say I had an "aha moment" and that was when I started to think of it more as a blessing than a curse. Instead of constantly being frustrated that I can't seem to finish many things I start, I am really trying to just be grateful for all of those great ideas (that keep me distracted from my other great ideas). I can't do it all, but maybe I can at least blog about it.  Well, probably more like half of it (I have projects that distract me from my projects and I'm not ashamed to admit it!).

To get all of my creative ideas out so I can go back and find them, an insurmountable task pre-blog world, would be a humongous accomplishment.  For me, ADD makes completing things.... Let's say "a challenge."   Ok, it's practically impossible for me to finish anything without the help of stimulants.   Don't hate.
So that's a pretty general idea of what my blog is about and why I'm starting it, but you can think of it more as a "treasure blog."  You will find all kinds of cool stuff, some unexpected little nuggets I'm sure, and even I don't know what lies ahead.  Yes, I just made up treasure blog. 


xo