Holy Macaroni!

the last several days are a BLUR! we have a trip coming up and darling needed an american passport. i should have sent for one as soon as she came home from china, but i didn't because i am the queen of procrastination, especially if there is paperwork involved.  so anyway, getting an american passport for a child adopted from china is not super easy and you may, or may not, get a variety of information from the "help" line.  you might spend a lot of time downtown, needing cash to get paperwork, paying for parking, and running to 2 different buildings in the rain to get paperwork that you possibly won't need in the end.  yippeee, for super fun days like that!! then add in an unplanned snow day, a planned day off school, a day of skiing, a day of trying to figure out certain charges on your paypal account which includes having forgotten and resetting a variety of passwords and that would be me the last several days!  but.... i did start that project i found on pinterest, the subway art sign with this saying:

i took a large canvas and pretended to do some math on it so i knew how big to cut my letters. i made sure to get a canvas that was rectangle like the original sign since i wanted it to read the same.

 i painted the background a couple colors of turquoise but now wish i would have made this the top color, trust me, it is WAY too late to turn back!  i found one tip on getting the paint on a large canvas- use an old (unwanted) debit/credit card! i just squeezed a bunch of paint on the canvas and then smeared back and fourth with the card, soooooooooo much faster than the foam brush i was using.

 i am still in the process of sticking my contact paper letters down, this is the hard part! i started with the first word on the left, then the last word in the line on the right and worked into the middle. does that make sense?  i found it a bit easier to know how much space you were going to have in the middle rather than get to the end and have no room.  this is trial and error and is a bit tedious but i am nearing the finish line and it's looking so cute i can't wait to finish it!

if you want to know the details: i used a canvas that is 24"X36".  i drew the lines with a charcoal pencil and spaced them 2" apart.  the letters are made with contact paper and cut with my cricut using the alphalicious cartridge.  

xoxo

10 Random Things Friday...

Really??  It's Friday?  This week has just FLOWN by here... I'm not even sure I remember Monday!

1. I just heard that American has gone soccer crazy... We have?  Something about a World Cup fever?  I wondered what everyone on Facebook was talking about... Are you watching or are you like me and have NO clue what's going on in the world of Sports (besides me and my running, of course!)

2. Wait, I just remembered Monday! I had my boobs smashed in a machine and YOU SHOULD TOO!  Mammograms, not great fun, but a GREAT way to help keep you healthy!!! 

get your mug HERE

I know the mug really doesn't have to do with a mammogram, but googling anything to do with boobs (to get a picture of a mammogram machine) is NEVER a good idea...

3. Also our power went out from sometime after 10 AM until 10:01 PM.  Do you know what this means?? It means I missed this crazy gal!!  Are you watching too?

sweepstakes-enter HERE

I've been trying to watch my missed episode online but without wearing a helmet made of tin foil I can't get the whole show to play.... Let's hope all the neighbors sign the paper going around so we can get super-power internet!

4. I have a friend with some.... ahemm, "hair issues", apparently the circus is trying to woo her for a sideshow (her words, NOT mine), so she's trying to figure out a way to get one of these, the NoNo.

check it out HERE!

Has anyone tried this? Would you? It runs under $300 but gets RAVE reviews-you can even try it FREE!!!  I WANT it, I WANT it!!! Hey NoNo, I'd LOVE to review this for you and Yes, I want the PINK one!!  I had the epilady in the late 80's.  Remember that torture machine? I wanted one so bad and got one for Christmas back in '88.  I was so excited I let the hair on my legs grows for weeks!  I'll never forget the excitement I felt on Christmas morning when I opened, what I thought, was the solution to my shaving problems!!!  The excitement turned to horror when my brother held me down and my BF (at the time) started running that baby over my hair leg!!!  It was HORRIBLE!  I ran from the room, grabbed a razor and shaved my weeks of hard work off as fast as I could!

5. The Mister cleaned out his "man shed" last night

Remember the show

Sanford and Son?

6. What mornings look like at my house this summer

7.  Why Yes, we are President of each other's fan clubs

What Darling and I painted for each other at the Naked Plate place.

8. Some things I bought for my etsy shop but have decided to keep and hang on my wall...

9. A Granny Square blanket that I'm crocheting for Darling.

I'm pretty sure she'll change the colors in her room before I finish it...

10. Last but NOT least...

The 2nd annual Baby/Kid hat drive for the kids in China.

Please see all information under the tab at the top!  If you'd rather donate $, there is a paypal donate button at the top on the LEFT, you can donate ANY amount, even $1!!  Honestly, ANY amount is very much appreciated and ALL $$ goes to this drive!!!  Just to re-cap: I collect *NEW* winter hats in ALL sizes for kiddo's that are living in an orphanage in China.  I get the name of a needy orphanage from the agency I used to adopt my darling daughter from.  Handmade or store bought, pink, blue, or purple- these kids don't care!! Please feel free to tweet this, post it to facebook or blog about it!  If you have ANY questions at all, email me at:

chinamommy_04@yahoo.com

Thank you!!

Have a great weekend and get ready to crank up your A/C!!

Goodbye Cave Dwelling!

This was our living room 

(of course I started tearing it apart before I snapped a picture and yes, that is "Deliverance" on the TV- "you got a purty mouth, boy").  

On Saturday morning I said to the Mister "Could we PLEASE get the new trim put up today?" and that started the whole ball rolling.  He said he really wanted to paint the walls before he nailed the new trim up and then...

he said he really wanted new carpet and so we might as well do new tile around the fireplace before we had new carpet installed!

Here's a picture of the fireplace before the tile was removed:

after the tile was removed...so creepy!  I was afraid a critter was going to crawl down the chimney and run loose in our house!  But then again, isn't a wild possum lose in the house a bloggers DREAM?

I was never a huge fan of this wall color, it was SO dark in here!  

The kitchen after the cabinets got re-painted, but pre granite and tile backsplash.

I get a little crazy about picking paint colors, I always 2nd guess myself.  After my hideous entry way disaster I've been shell shocked and afraid to pick a color for the great room because it's a huge area with no real breaks, so I had to pick 1 main color.  I went with Tobacco Leaf, which is just that, kind of a khaki color.  With the 1st swipe of the brush, I knew I didn't know if I liked it- I saw the panic on the Mister's face but I had 3 full gallons of this color... Now that it's up, it's so much brighter in here!  

There's still a LOT to do: trim, fireplace, new carpet, new lights and someday...

new furniture! Don't ya know when you freshen up one thing, it makes everything else start to look ratty.  I'm talking to you faded red couch!

Anything you're working on in your home?

Anything you need to do but want to avoid (like me and my entry?!)?

Happy Tuesday friends!!!