The Write Stuff

So things have been pretty crazy 'round here. Work has been pretty busy, especially with Valentine's Day on Friday. Also, we got keys to the new house and moved some essential items so I don't have to commute as much this week. My next post will be about the house. However, right now, let's talk about that Valentine's Day at work I was talking about.

I decided to make Valentines for all of my speech kiddos. I usually see them when they are writing and they always, I mean always need better/new pencils. So I knew that I wanted to give pencils (especially since the last person who had my office left a bunch) as part of the Valentine. I bought some more pencils and found this printable. I printed it off on some colored paper, used my scissors, and handed them out. Here is what they looked like:

I hope you liked it! The kiddos loved it and gave me a bunch of candy (which I totally need right?). I thought I would share this with you while we try to get situated at the house and get some Internet set up there.

Tuxedo dresser

Since we are moving, we tried to pack our booth full. That way, we didn't have to move the pieces from our house to the new house. This time around, we put three new pieces in the booth: an antique sideboard dresser, a teal vanity, and a tuxedo dresser. Here is the before of the vanity:

We got it at Goodwill, a place I love to buy furniture. It was pretty cute before, but it was a little too shabby chic for us. Here is what it looks like teal:

The chair is one that we painted and reupholstered. I think the teal makes it so much more fun! Here is a picture of the antique sideboard dresser:

My favorite part is the little mirror on top! And finally, here is the tuxedo dresser:

The dresser was completely blond wood when we bought it. At first, we were going to paint it all black, but we just loved the details. So this is what we came up with.

 Kyle calls it a tuxedo dresser because the knobs look like buttons down the middle and it's black color. I think it looks pretty awesome! Stay tuned for a DIY project!

A Fresh Start

Before we put our house for sale, we spent some time fixing some things up and freshening things. One of the things we had meant to do from the beginning, but hadn't gotten around to was the bathtub. As soon as we moved, we immediately put down a bath mat. The paint was chipping and dirty on the floor. Therefore, we knew we had to fix it before we left. Here are pictures of the tub before:

A new bathtub can cost tons of money and we didn't have a ton to spend. So we looked into other methods. We ended up buying two bottles of bath spray paint/resealer from the hardware store. They were about $20 each. We also had to get some CLR, goggles and a mask. This stuff reseals the tub and is water proof. That means it has some serious fumes.

Here are the directions:
1. Scrub the tub with CLR and rinse.
2. Take off all of the handles and such on the bathtub. Make sure you keep all of the parts when you do this.
3. Take some old sheets and cover anything in the bathroom that you don't want sprayed. We cut holes in a sheet and put it on the shower curtain so we didn't have to cover the other half of the bath. We also used aluminum foil:

4. Put the mask on and start spraying the bath and shower evenly. Make sure everything is completely coated. We used two bottles of the spray. Here is me in the lovely mask:

5. Let the paint dry for a couple of days. This is when you beg your friends or neighbors to take a shower at their house. Thanks Mina! Here are pictures of the bath after:

It looks so much better and it only cost us about $60. That is so much cheaper than replacing it! And our house sold quickly, so I call it a success. Let me know if you have any questions and stay tuned for a booth update!

Holly Hobby

This polar vortex, winter break, and snow days have turned me into Mrs. Holly Hobby. I have spent more times on the hobbies I already enjoy, such as working on pieces for our booth. I have also started on new ones. I have been reading books for my New Year's Resolution #Read26Indy, which you can read about in this post. I am half way through my third break of the year and I am loving substituting trashy TV for reading. I have read The Interestings and Eleanor and Park (which was awesome and will remind you of your first love). Now I am reading Dark Places:

This book is by the author of Gone Girl, a book I read and loved. Both Gone Girl and Dark Places will be movies this year. So far, I love this as much as I loved Gone Girl!

I have also started knitting! My awesome friend Mina taught me how to knit recently and I have been obsessed ever since. I went to the craft store and stocked up on knitting supplies. I have knitted one scarf already and have started another one. I mean in this cold, who doesn't love a hand-knitted scarf? Here are some pictures of my knitting projects:

I loved this yarn when I saw it and knew I wanted to use it for my first scarf. It goes with everything!

This is my next scarf, sparkly teal. In case you can't tell, I have a soft spot for teal. 

 

Knitting is so calming and it is a great hobby to have. My next project is going to be a hat for my lovely husband (in Colts' blue as he requested). Stay tuned for future #Read26Indy updates and a DIY project we did in our house to prep it for listing. Try to stay warm (maybe with a hand-knitted scarf)!

It Was All Yellow

Recently we have been very busy packing up our house in preparation for our move. We have also been working hard on pieces to put in the booth so we don't have to move those pieces to our other house and then into the booth. We recently sold a teal dresser and very yellow vanity.

When we bought the paint, we wanted it to be mustard yellow. However, it turned out to be bright yellow. So we ended up with one very yellow vanity. Luckily, it was someone's cup of tea. This is a testament that things don't always go as planned when redoing furniture, but you just have to roll with it and paint again if needed. There have been pieces that we put in the booth and then decide that we actually do want to paint them. Then, we take them home and redo them. It could be something as small as a lamp or something as big as a vanity. Anyways, here are the during pictures of the pieces packed into our living room (due to the recent freezing temps):

This is a common scene in our house during the winter. Paint doesn't stick nearly as well or look as good when you put it on in the cold. Trust me.

Here is what the two pieces look like in the booth, starting with the teal dresser:

This dresser was missing a handle, so we bought these handles at True Value. They have a great collection of vintage-style handles for decent prices.

I told you it was seriously yellow. The stool had an ugly fabric on it, so we reupholstered it. You can find out tutorial in this old post. And here is what the booth looked like:

I hope you enjoyed a little sunshine vanity in your life! Stay tuned for a home improvement project that we did to sell our house and a new hobby of mine!

New Year, New Books

2014 is almost here! 2013 has been a crazy great year for me and I am ready to celebrate a new year! This is the time of year where resolutions always come up. Now I am not usually the type to make resolutions. However, this year, I found a resolution that caught my eye and had to do it! The Indianapolis Star has started a city-wide resolution to read 26 books in a year. That comes out to a book every two weeks and about 20 pages per day. How cool is it that a whole city will keep me accountable? I think pretty cool.

The reason I love this resolution is because I love reading. I have been trying to read more, but I end up just wasting my time watching mindless TV shows (I have fallen into a Bravo black hole this winter break). I know that if I follow this plan that holds me accountable, I will make time for something that I love to do. So, here is the first book I am going to read in 2014: "The Interestings."

I found this book by looking through Gail Werner's Goodreads list. Gail used to be my boss and she always gave me the BEST book recommendations, including my favorite book to date, The Book Thief. Whenever I need a good book, I look at her Goodreads list or her What I'm Loving lists on her blog. On that note, don't be surprised if many of my future 2014 books come from that place ;)

Another book I will be reading is "Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do About It." All of the teachers in my school are supposed to be reading a chapter before each staff meeting. So this will be a bonus book for me. I have started it and it is so eye-opening. As a person who grew up middle-class, it is so helpful as an SLP in a school of poverty to read this book.

What are some of your resolutions this year? I hope they are ones you are excited about! Look out for my #Read26Indy updates in 2014. In the meantime, stay tuned for a post about our annual New Year's Eve party and an overdue booth update. See you next year!!

Big News!!

We have some big news to share with you!! I am graduating with my Master of Arts in Speech Pathology very soon, so I have been job hunting. I am very excited to say that I officially have a job in Indianapolis and couldn't be more excited about it! I finished my school internship on Wednesday and I start my new job tomorrow.

My new job will be quite a drive from Pendleton, so we decided to sell our house and move to Irvington in Indianapolis!! We are very excited and have been working SO hard to get our house ready to sell. We met with our realtor on Wednesday (the wonderful Nathan Pfahler) and it is officially listed. We had a showing yesterday and are hoping it sells fast! You can check out our listing and spread the word for anyone looking for a historic home in Pendleton! Stay tuned for some more details on our move!