Kitchen Update

Since the floors were finished, the next thing we were supposed to

do was repaint the entire kitchen.

Since I cant' decide on a color, we decided to go ahead and

at least purchase a new above the range microwave.

Hubby tried to install it himself....

but then we realized sometimes you just have to call in the pros.

So one phone call and a $100 later...

Voila!

Home Renovations

This past weekend we had tile installed in our kitchen.

This was a long overdue project,

When we bought the house in 2005 it

already had linoleum in the kitchen.

I'm pretty sure it has been there since the house was built.

Here is the before:

And this isn't the final after picture, because

this was taken before the grout was put in.

Plus we're planning to paint this week, and get a new 

dishwasher and vent hood...

and eventually paint the cabinets.

We had a friend install this for us and

he did a really great job!

Today he's coming back to finish up a few things so hopefully I'll

have some better After pics to post.

Conspiracy?

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Mine was spent relaxing (sort of). 

The best way to spend it of course.

Friday the hubby and I stayed in.
He had a "friend" come over who got me all riled up talking politics.

I wouldn't even really call what he said a political discussion.

Somehow I brought up Obama's name & he went OFF.

He started saying Obama's the anti-Christ & Martin Luther King ain't sh!t!

He said they were in the Illuminati.

CRAZY!

This guy thinks every famous person is in the "Illuminati."

He started going on & on about the "books" & the Bible says Obama is the anti-Christ.

I asked him to please show me where in the Bible those words were &

who wrote these "books" that he's getting his info from.

Look, I don't care who you like or don't like as president, but that type of behavior is just extreme.

I was mad! We were both literally yelling at the tops of our lungs!

We weren't even arguing politics, we were arguing the conspiracy crap that he believes in.

Then he went on & on about Whitney Houston, Jay Z, P Diddy, & almost every other famous person being in it.

He started talking about Pepsi being the anti-Christ too.

He got mad because I just refused to believe what he was saying, without proof.

He stormed out & the hubby's other friends who were there just busted out laughing

& said I was too rough on him.

How was I being rough?

I just said show me the proof.

I'm sure the government knows thing that they don't tell us,  that religious groups have secrets, &

that there are secret societies out there- but I am not going to start lining my roof with tin foil, storing water, & buying weapons.

This "friend" actually stockpiles food, is building a bunker on his property, & has gas masks, etc.

That's just crazy in my opinion.

I feel like if God wants to the end the world, then it's my time to go.

I wouldn't want to be the last man standing anyways.

I'm not Will Smith, and this aint "I am Legend."

Moving along...

Saturday I intended to get a mani/pedi, get my taxes together, and do some shopping...

and then I got stuck watch Whitney Houston's 4 hour funeral.

How I allowed myself to sit there for 4 hours is beyond me!

It was a very nice service, but I know those people were hungry as hell after 4 hours.

It rained here Saturday so hubby & I went out to eat at Red Robin...Yummm.
Afterwards we popped into TJ Maxx.
As we were leaving I saw my ex-bff. I hadn't seen her in 11 years.
We locked eyes and it didn't hit me til after she passed me who she was.
AWKWARD.

She is now happily married to the douchebad that I dated in college.
They were screwing behind my back.

In hindsight, I am very thankful they did that because
 I wouldn't have met the wonderful man I am married to now!
Funny how things work out.

Yesterday we went to Lowe's to buy the last faceplate to complete the living room.
Those suckers add up once you start replacing them.
I am SO glad we finally finished that.

Being in Lowe's is bad...it makes you start thinking about all the things you want to fix or replace.
Home renovations aren't in the budget this year, unless it's minor, like painting.
Yall I am sad to admit that we still haven't finished are floors and we installed them in 2010.
We have red tape all over the place & it drives me crazy.

Hubby forgot to budget the cost of trim originally, so we left the red tape down to secure the floors
until the trim was installed.
I've been secretly peeling off the tape...
although I know it needs to be there.
Everytime we have an extra $500 to spare something comes up.
Now we've got to pay off this Hawaii cruise by July 30 so we might be seeing another year of red tape.
(I'll update this post later with a pic of the "red tape.")

And I still have no curtains or pics on the wall!
I haven't found the perfect piece and now I am thinking about repainting the living room-
hubby will die if I tell him I want to repaint! Ha!

Click HERE & HERE to see my living & dining room area.
I need to do an updated post because I've moved the living room furniture around.
And I have some pillows & a mirror.
I need to bring in some color other than brown!

I hope you enjoyed this random post.
I just realzied it's a bit all over the place.

Home Decor

So as promised here are the few items I purchased lately to decorate our home.First up is my favorite. It's a mirror I found at TJ Maxx for $40.  I love that is has a silver tone to it, but it's not a bright shiny metal. The size is perfect for the space. Now I'm working on having some curtains made for the windows.

I love the texture in the frame!

For the living room I bought 4 pillows.

It is amazing what a difference that pillows can make!

These I found at another local TJ Maxx. 

The brown ones were $12 each and the white ones were $16.99 each.

What do yall think?

Now if I could just find something to go on these large empty walls!

New Phone

I got a new phone yesterday. My poor blackberry had been dropped 1 too many times and wasn't funtioning properly. It kept dying each time I accessed the internet. Luckily my friend was ready to upgrade & sold me his Samsung Galaxy S for $50.  Can't beat that price with a stick! And I didn't have to renew my contract, woot woot!

So here she is:

I hate her.  I love the apps, the vibrancy, etc etc. But I can't stand the touchscreen. Maybe I am the only one who feels this way. But I loved my BB keyboard. It's gonna take some getting used to, but so far that is my one & only major complaint.

I FINALLY did a little decorating. We repainted the living/dining room last year and since then our walls have been bare. When it comes to interior design, my mind just doesn't function. I didn't want to just buy anything so I'm taking babay steps. I bought 1 mirror for the dining room and 2 pillows for the couch. That's it! I still have 2 huge blank walls in our living room. I have no idea what to do! And I still don't have curtains for all the windows which is driving me crazy. I do know I want navy blue and white chevron print curtains for the dining room to offset the stripes.

I'll post pics in my weekend recap of the few items I have bought. I'm going to go out and look some more today. AGHH!

Have a great weekend!

Dining Room Makeover (Part 2)

Well here's the finished product! I am SO in love with the stripes!

Starting the first stripe!
We went with an off white.

First coat on wall one

First coat on second wall

Painting the top stripe


Time to peel off the frog tape!
(I know it looks like the hubby did everything, but I assure you I helped!)

TADA!
I am loving the stripes!

close up of wall 1
close up of wall 2

looking into the kitchen- we almost left the entry way beige.
glad we chose to add stripes!

So what do yall think?

Now I need to find some chevron curtains. I have NO idea what color to use though. As seen in my inspiration image from yesterday's post they had orange & white stripes on the walls & black & white chevron curtains. I am clueless as to what color to use! Suggestions please!

Should we replace the light fixture? I'm thinking yes. We changed out all of the wall plates to bronze, the light fixture is silver tone, and the furniture & floors are brown. We need some color now. The hubby wants to add GOLD but I'm not sure about that. I want an electric look throughout the house instead of everything being a total match.

Help! Seriously- I need suggestions!

Dining Room Makeover (Part 1)

I'm sure everyone has seen the striped walls in various blogs....well I've debated jumping on this bandwagon for some time and finally decided to do it.

Our dining room has been taped off (thanks to hubby & Vu) & we'll be painting it this afternoon! The walls are already beige so we'll just be adding white stripes. We chose to go with thicker stripes, 12" to be exact.

And as I was typing this blog, I happened to learn that starting April 1st, Frog Tape is starting a contest called "Earn Your Stripes"! The grand prize is $5000! woo hoo! I started this project at the right time! So if any of you were thinking of doing stripes, now's the time!
(I was not paid to promote this, as stated above I just came across it!)

My only problem now is I don't have a pic of the dining room without the frog tape! DANG IT! Do I remove the tape & take a before picture for a chance at the $5000?
Decisions, Decisions!

Anyways, here are the before pictures or should I say the during the taping pictures...

Vu & hubby making sure the stripes are straight!

Frog Tape of course!

This area was a little tricky.

Done with the second wall.

The room already looks different!

All taped & ready for paint.

My inspiration!
Now to find some affordable chevron curtains!
image via.