Spring Mantel

Some of my favorite bloggers have recently posted stories of updating their fireplace mantel for spring, and it really inspired me.  Especially after I considered that I had not changed my mantel decor in over two years (except for Christmas).  I had in mind to scout out a silver and glass lantern and light blue candles.  So, on a recent shopping trip with my mom, I hit up T.J. Maxx.  I found some lanterns, but they all had fake plastic candles built into them.  That just didn't appeal to me.  What did appeal to me was this SUPER CUTE turquoise filigree metal lantern.  And it even has a little bird on top! Don't you just love little birds? Also, there was a wooden "Peace" sign that spoke to me.   Our home is our refuge from the hectic pace of our work world, and most of the time it is a very peaceful place to relax.  I like think my decorating style is a reflection of my personality; comfortable and cozy, peaceful and relaxing, but with playful punches of color and a little whimsy here and there! 

What do you think?

The rest of the items on the mantel, the pottery and picture frame, were shopped from around the house. It all didn't really seem to come together for me until I added the old window frame.  I've had a couple of those things hanging around in my basement for several years just waiting for me to get the right idea of what to do with them.  I think eventually this one will become a picture frame to hold old black and white photos, but it's found a good home for now.  (The other window frame got sold at my antiques booth; it also found a good home!)

(P.S. - Don't look too close at the picture in the frame, it's still got the model's photo in it.  I've been lazy about developing my photos! :)

My New Dishwasher

I don't always have the best luck buying appliances.  In the past my modus operandi was to purchase the least expensive model.  However, I've learned my lesson on getting what you pay for when it comes to appliances.  If you go cheap, you're usually going to get a cheaply made product that will break down after a year or two and you'll be spending even more money on a replacement.  Nope, it's better to pay a little more up front to get the middle-of-the-line model that will work just as well as the top-of-the-line model, but just doesn't have all the bells and whistles. 


Recently when Lowe's had an advertised sale on appliances, I researched the dishwashers, read the reviews, and made my choice.  I went with the Samsung 24-in built-in dishwasher with hard food disposer and stainless steel tub; Model #: DW7933LRASR.  It had the best reviews overall, and got very good ratings for being quiet. The quietness factor was big on my priority list.

Ain't it purdy?

The last time I bought a dishwasher (only 5 years ago) I went with the cheapest one they had at Lowe's and I have never been happy with it.  I had to practically wash my dishes in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher, otherwise there would be food particles or a dirty film left all over everything.  And the old dishwasher was very loud.  Also, after only 5 years, the racks had a significant amount of rust, which was my main reason for buying a replacement.  With my new Samsung, I only have to rinse the food off the dishes; I don't have to scrub them with soap and a brush before loading.  I have noticed that if I choose the auto select cycle as opposed to the heavy or normal wash cycle, one or two items don't get completely clean.  Otherwise, the Samsung is working like a charm! A very quiet charm!  

The only negative thing I have to say is that the bottom rack was not designed very well for loading lots of dishes.  Maybe it was their goal for the consumer to load lots of plates, however, the plate slots are either too close together or the tines need to be altered slightly.  My plates tend to fall forward after I load them, and I find myself skipping spaces in between the plates to compensate for this dysfunction.  Otherwise, I'm very pleased with my purchase.   


Maybe Samsung needs to hire me to help them design a bottom rack for their new models.  :)

Do you have a name for you car?

Do you have a name for you car? I do.

This is Libby.

My 2006 Jeep Liberty.

Libby wasn't exactly my first choice when I bought her.  I was really in the market for a two seat convertible, but I couldn't find one that met all my criteria at that time.  And usually, God's choice for me is better than what I have in mind.

What were my criteria, you may ask...

Number 1: It had to be an automatic.  No, I can't drive a stick shift.  After years of trying to learn and being yelled at by everyone who tried to teach me, I decided I was done with that whole experience.  Automatic transmissions were invented for people like me in the first place.  But I digress.

Number 2:  It HAD to be a convertible.  I have always wanted a convertible.  I LOVE the sun and wind in my face! The closest I ever came to owning a convertible was a Nissan Maxima that had a sun roof.  I drove with that thing open all the time.  

Number 3: The payments had to fit into my budget (which is always tight).

Number 4: It could not be more than 5 years old.  And,

Number 5: It could not be white.  I've had a white car, and I never want another one.  I know people who will only buy white vehicles.  I don't get it.  I'm not a vanilla kind of person.  And please don't get me wrong; I'm not knocking you if you like white cars or vanilla ice cream.  They just aren't for me.  But ain't it cool that we're all different and that there are so many choices for all of us?!

Okay, where was I?  Oh yeah, . . .

After searching for a couple of months, I was not having any luck.  I had to do something quick because the car I was driving at the time (Maxie, my Nissan Maxima) was starting to have issues that were going to cost more than she was worth.  And then one day, I happened to see this cute little Jeep on a car lot on my way to work.  Something about it spoke to me and I decided that if I couldn't find my convertible, I was going to buy a Jeep.  I researched it, and then I test drove one.  And I LOVED the way it drove!  And so one Saturday as the Hubs and I were perusing every car dealership within a 60 mile radius, we happened upon Libby.  She met all my criteria (except for the being a convertible).   And while she was really supposed to be priced just outside my budget, we got her at a steal of a deal!  The newspaper had made a mistake in printing the sales price and the dealer was having to honor that advertised price.  The car lot was reimbursed the difference by the newspaper in free advertising.  Anyway, we wouldn't have known about it if we had not heard one of the salesmen talking about it to another man who was looking to buy it for his wife, but couldn't make up his mind.  As soon as he left, we asked if we could get the same deal - we were ready to buy.  And just like that Libby was mine!

She's an awesome vehicle! You can park her almost anywhere.  She turns on a dime.  She has great get-up-and-go.  A true work-horse! And a great friend!  Yes, I said it.  Libby is my friend.  I depend on her everyday.  She takes care of getting me (and all my stuff) where I need to go.  She's great to take shopping!  We have driven Libby on most of our vacations that we have taken since we bought her.  We have had some great times together. She has heard me singing, laughing, yelling, and crying.  She has given me the best years of her existence.  (She just recently rolled over 100,000 on her odometer.)  If that's not a friend, I don't know what is.  And so, I say she deserves a name.

  And right now, she deserves a good detailing.

 

Purses are my Achilles Heel

At the beginning of March, I decided that because I was getting ready to spend a whole lot of money on updating my kitchen, I would challenge myself to refrain from spending money on anything other than gas and groceries. My March Madness. The only exceptions to this no-buy challenge were items for the kitchen update and going out for lunch.  Going out for lunch is something I do a couple of times a week, because I would go completely crazy if I didn't get out of that office every now and then.  I was really hoping to save some money and learn a few things about my spending habits.  This is what I learned:

1. I'm more of a shopaholic than I thought.
2. I spend a lot more money on going out for lunch than I should. 
3. While I have accomplished a lot of my financial goals over the last couple of years, like paying off my debts and building up my savings, I really need to implement a written budget.
4. If anything was going to make me fail on this challenge, it would be would be a purse.  What can I say?  They are my Achilles' Heel.

 In all fairness, the purse I bought only cost $17.00.  And I bought it to replace the purse that I was using that I absolutely LOVED!!  In fact, I LOVED it so much that I had been using it pretty much every day for the last 8 months.  That is rare for me.  I currently own over 20 purses.  And I'm apt to switch them out with the season, or with my outfits, or for different occasions, or with my mood.  There is no rhyme or reason with me.  Ask my Hubs, once you think you got me figured out, I go and do something completely out of character.  Ooops, got of track there. Anyway, I bought it to replace a purse that I had been using for the past 8 months.  I had used it so much that the vinyl was wearing off of the corners.  And heaven knows any self-respecting fashionista would never be seen with a ragged purse!  

This was my old purse. 

Don't you just LOVE it?!! It was perfect for me! It was just the right size.  I loved the buckle detailing; so cute!  It was just the right color.  I love my purses to be bright and colorful.  It had outside pouches that were perfect for my iPhone and lipsticks.  It had four inside compartments; one side for my wallet and checkbook; one side for my note book and pen; the zipper pouch in the middle was great for my lotion, hand sanitizer, tissue, and pill box; and there was a small zipper pouch on one side that was easy access to my keys and pocket knife.  (Yes, I carry a pocket knife.  Every woman should.)  This purse was an organized woman's dream purse.  So you could see why I was reluctant to part with it, even if it had a couple of worn spots on the corners. 

This is my new purse.

It's as close a match as I was gonna get, unless by some miracle the outlet store where I bought the first one would stock an identical coral shoulder bag. (It wasn't happening; I had already checked.)  So, when I walked into my favorite thrift store and saw this coral Liz&Co purse staring at me from the racks, I just had to snatch it up!  It looked like it had never been used, and like I said, it only cost $17.00.  In some ways, this purse is even better than the one I was replacing.  It cost less, and it's a quality name brand.  It has one more outside pocket that provides even better access to my keys, and it has more inside compartments as well.  And even though it doesn't have the cute buckle detailing on the handles, I Love this purse too!!

There you have it; the results of My March Madness challenge.  I saved a bunch.  I learned a bunch.  And I only went off the wagon once.  For a purse.   

Okay, now you know my dirty little spending secret; purses are my Achilles Heel.  Do you have any spending weaknesses?  Come on; share! Confession is good for the soul!  

Kitchen Progess Report #2

So much has happened since my last kitchen update, and yet, so little work has actually been done.  Decisions have been made.  We decided to keep the sink in the island instead of moving it to the counter under the window.  What seemed like such a logical request to make my kitchen more functional was going to be a very complicated and expensive change.  To facilitate my request, I would have had to purchase a new sink base cabinet.  They do not make a standard sink base cabinet to fit the dimensions of the existing cabinets on that wall.  I could have bought a stock sink base cabinet, but it would have been 9 inches shorter than my existing cabinets.  The options were to have a 9-inch custom cabinet built for that space, or to redo the floor tiles to fill in the 9-inch gap after the other cabinets were removed.  I didn't think I would have enough spare tiles to redo the floor to make it match, and the other alternative was too expensive for my budget at this time.  Also, I would have lost a large upper cabinet because part of it would have hung over my sink.  The decision to leave my sink in its current position also put a kibosh on my plans to turn my island into a breakfast bar with stools. Because as my painter/design consultant put it, "Who wants to eat that close to the sink?"


The only structural change that has taken place (or will take place) in this re-model is that the one-foot lower cabinets on either side of the refrigerator were removed.  The refrigerator and the cabinets above it were moved one foot to the left and a two-foot lower cabinet with drawers was installed between the stove and refrigerator.  This will allow me to have a two-foot counter top next to my stove.  This kinda makes up for loosing the extra large work area I was hoping to gain with the breakfast bar.  (Kinda, but not really.) Also, the upper cabinet that was to the left of the refrigerator was moved over and joined with the upper cabinet to the right of the refrigerator.

BEFORE

AFTER

(Notice the cabinet drawer to the right of the stove.  It can't be opened all the way unless the oven door is open.  What a pain!!)

Like I said, so much has happened, and yet it seems that so little has been done.  After the decision was made about the cabinets, I went to Home Depot to purchase the only cabinet I would need.  The kitchen design consultant advised me to wait about two weeks before I made my purchase because the stock cabinets were scheduled to go on sale and would be 20% cheaper.  I'm all about saving money, so I waited.  And it's a good thing, cause when I went back and bought my cabinet, not only was it on sale, but they had a sale on installed counter tops.  So I was able to get an additional 10% off my granite counter tops! That was an overall saving of $350!  SCORE!!  I ordered the Uba Tuba granite counter tops and the company doing the installation came and made a template of my kitchen layout.  The installation date has been scheduled for May 9th.  I'm getting a little bit excited!

This is a picture of my new cabinet.  The drawers are wonderful!  I can now put all my large cooking utensils in the top drawer.  I may even be able to get organizing dividers!  Oh be still my OCD beating heart!  The old drawer I used for this purpose was much smaller; too small for dividers, so it always stayed junky, and hard to find anything.  The other disadvantage to the old drawer (which is to the right of the stove, and can be seen in the "after" picture) was that to open it all the way, the oven door had to be open.  That was a real pain, to say the least.  The other two drawers are perfect for storing my baking pans neatly.   Before, they were all crammed sideways into a one-foot cabinet and I usually had to pull everything out to get to the one pan I needed.  Did I mention that I like things to be stored neatly?

Finally, when Lowe's had an advertised sale on appliances, I researched the dishwashers, read the reviews, and made my choice.  I went with the Samsung 24-in built-in dishwasher with hard food disposer and stainless steel tub; Model #: DW7933LRASR.  It had the best reviews overall, and got very good ratings for being quiet.  So far, I'm happy with my choice.  I don't always have the best luck with appliances.  But I tried to be smarter than just buying the model that had the cheapest sales price this time.   I'll let you know in a few weeks if I'm still happy.

Well, that's all for now. My electrician (cousin) is coming tonight to install a couple of new lights.  I'll try to get that post on here for you this week. 

Searching for Perfection

Call it writer's bock, call it procrastination, call it searching for perfection.  Call it whatever you want, but whatever the label, "it" kept me from posting anything for almost four weeks now.  Wow! Four weeks! That's an eternity in Blogland!  It's not that I haven't written anything.  I have.  I have a few drafts that for one reason or another I simply haven't been comfortable posting.  I guess I call "it" finding perfection fighting perfectionism.  Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I'm trying to get over it.  And the best way that I have found to get over "it" is to remind myself that I'm not performing brain surgery or attempting rocket science.  I'm not doing anything that is earth shattering, I'm just putting myself out there in written word.  If I get a good response, I'll do a happy dance.  If I don't, what difference does it make?  I may not be a professional blogger with a huge fan base or award winning ideas that get published in magazines. I need to quit comparing myself to those ladies.  They do an awesome job, and I enjoy following them and being inspired by them.  But I am who I am, and I do what I do, and if people get me, okay.  If they don't, what difference does it make? 

I have to remind myself why I started this blog:

1. To share the life lessons that I have learned, and also the ones God is still trying to teach me.  My life is full of ups and downs and sometimes it helps me to process things by writing it all out.  That way I can see where I've been and hopefully give me some idea of where I need to go or what I need to do next.  (It's a lot cheaper than therapy.)
2. I hope to help or possibly inspire others with the stories of my successes and even my failures.  It always helps me when I hear other peoples' accounts of how they coped with some of the same issues that I am dealing with.
3. And finally, to record my family's everyday life events for our future generations.  

I also have to remind myself that only God is perfect.  And while I know that nothing I do will ever be perfect, if I keep my focus on Him, He will keep me in His perfect will.

So with all that being said, I will be retroactively posting things that I have written over the last couple of weeks.  Thanks to everybody who has asked me when was I going to post something new on my blog, or who inquired about the progress of my kitchen update or other projects.  Your loving persistence has encouraged and motivated me to get past my perfectionism funk.  I guess I do have a few fans!

Thank you for your support!
Love Evette

60 Day Goal Review

Well, it's more like a 65 day goal review, but here goes:

Home Projects: Kitchen update - I don't have anything new to report since my post And So It Begins, except that I found replacement cabinets at Home Depot that will match my existing cabinets.  However, I'm waiting until next week when they go on sale before I purchase what I need. A girl on a budget has got to save anyway she can.  GRADE - B (Bored with waiting!) 

Fitness: I have been just a little better than hit and miss on this goal.  I was doing good about attending class until the week of Valentine's Day when I missed both days; one due to class being cancelled, and one due to a very special date with my hubby.  And the week after that our instructor was sick one day and we had a threat of snow on the other day.  I got back on track, but missed another couple of classes due to illness.  I still haven't added a third day of working out on my own. Yet.  Did I ever mention that I'm not fond of exercise? I have also been hit and miss on taking my vitamins and I have only incorporated two or three really healthy meals into our menu the last month.  GRADE - D 

Financial:   I met with the manager of the brokerage firm where I have my IRA and we made some changes to how my investments are allocated.  But for now, I'm going to stick with just $50 a month being diverted from my paycheck to this account.  Since I am going to be dipping heavily into my savings to pay for the kitchen remodel, it makes more sense to allocate an extra $50 a month to the regular savings account than to my IRA. That way the savings account won't be completely depleted.  And after I get the savings account back up to the amount recommend by Dave Ramsey, I can revisit adding more to my IRA on a monthly basis.  So my financial goals have changed slightly, but overall, I'm still concentrating on increasing the amount I put into savings.  GRADE - A

February was not a good month for sales in my side business (antique/resale booth).  I spent more on inventory than I made in sales.  Still, I received a small commissions check even after my rent was paid.  However, this month I have challenged myself not to spend any money on anything other than groceries and gas.  See My March Madness post.  That means no new inventory purchases for the booth.  I'm just going to use things that I already have and finish a couple of my flea market flip projects to try to make a bigger profit this month.  Fingers crossed!!      

Personal:  Date nights with the Hubs have been going pretty good.  We haven't changed things up from our usual routine very much, but we have gone to the movie theater more than we normally do.  Also, we had a fantastic four course dinner at our favorite fancy restaurant for Valentines' Day.  A couple of the dates we have pulled from the date jar included going out to breakfast at a local coffee shop and spending a couple of hours shooting at an indoor gun range.  That was fun! Loud, but fun.  And I finally got to shoot my hand gun I got for Christmas a couple of years ago.  I'm excited for upcoming warm weather months, when I hope more of our dates will be outdoors.  I don't know about you, but I get a little stir crazy after a long winter.  GRADE - B+

Educational:  I have read and pinned a few things from Pinterest about photography and I actually took my Cannon out and played around with the F-Stop and ISO settings.  I tend to procrastinate when things don't come easy.  I keep praying that someday I'll have that magic light bulb moment and all the things that I don't understand about manual settings will just suddenly make sense.  Until then, I'm still having fun taking pictures with my i-phone. GRADE - L (for Lazy)

Dreams:  As for my blogging efforts, I'm happy to say that I'm on-track!  I have published at least one post for every week since January 10, the day I posted New Year - New Goals. Currently, I have six followers of my blog, and according to the stats, I have over 1,000 page views!  Many of my friends and family have linked up through Facebook and given me feedback and encouragement.  It's all very exciting!  GRADE - A

Spiritual: Something that I didn't include in my New Year - New Goals post was my spiritual goals for the year.  I told myself that it was because that was too personal.  That those goals were just between me and God.  The truth is that I was afraid.  Afraid of people thinking that I was trying to preach to them or shove Christianity down their throat.  So I hid my light under a bushel.  But today, I was reminded that fear can block the flow of God's strength into me.  I don't want fear to keep me from being whom God intends me to be.  I believe with all my heart that the main reason for this blog is for me to share what God has done and is doing in my life.  If I can share just one thing that the Lord has taught me on life's journey that will help someone else, then I will know that God's purpose for me was met.  That is how I will measure my success.  Not by how many page views I get or how many people follow this blog.  If I never make a dime from this venture it will not matter as long as I am serving Jesus Christ.  Whew! With all that said, my spiritual goal for this year is to share God's Love on a more personal level.  While I may share some of the ways God is helping me to reach this commitment, I will not be grading myself on this goal.  I tend to be critical of myself, and a critical spirit is not of God.  "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27  

How about you?  Are you still on track with your new year's resolutions/goals? Is anybody else as OCD as I am?