Day 4 of the January Cure

First off, I would like to note that I have done 3 of my 20 list items! And the January Cure didn't mention most of them yet. So that's fairly brilliant, really.

Day 4 (really 6, but the weekends count as one day, I guess) of the January Cure was to sit somewhere in your apartment that you generally don't sit and look around. For 10 minutes. I felt like I was on time-out, and the hubs asked me what in the world I was doing, but I did notice a few things. Like the fact that our walls are seriously bare. And that I have GOT to sort out the shelf situation.

See, I like this shelf. I like all the red and black and this and that. Except for the candle in the frosted glass, I would keep every item on this shelf. I might move the smaller frame elsewhere, but the rest is great. The shelf, however, is not. And see the screws above the shelf? There was supposed to be another shelf. But it fell off the wall. A lot, actually. So I got rid of the kamikaze shelf long ago, but the screws remain. And this shelf still looks lonely all by itself (itshelf? no?).

Also, I need to get some curtains up. Honestly, you'd think some college kids with better than average taste lived here.Except I'm a grown up. Technically. So........................... guess I'd better sort this out.

This post was kind of depressing. Know what wasn't? This great bit of street art/graffiti that I managed to capture before they painted it over.

Day 3 of the January Cure: Floors & Flowers

Continuing on in this January Cure, this weekend was dedicated to cleaning the floors and buying flowers. Buying cut flowers is apparently important. They bought several bunches. In true “perfect” fashion, I bought the cheapest fresh-looking ones available and supplemented with a stolen palm branch (thanks, apartment!).  But my vase matches my cake stand, so I get points for that, right? Right. 

I was also supposed to buy green cleaners but I HAVE baking soda and a gallon jug of vinegar, and I didn’t make it to the green grocer and this girl does NOT pay 60 cents for a lemon unless it’s an emergency. Especially if I need several. No way, jose. So I got some carpet cleaner (not on their list), toilet cleaner with bleach (not on their list), some dawn dish soap (not the biodegradable soap on their list), and some sponges (hey! That one’s actually on the list!). 

Natural cleaners are great in the kitchen. Natural cleaners are great in general. I myself use a damp cloth to dust with. Natural cleaners do not fly in the bathroom with me.  You know what’s natural? Germs. You know what germs occur naturally in? Bathroom things. So I bring bleach, and nature can suck it. Yeah, you heard me.

Oreo liked the tree. He was not pleased when it went away.

Anyway, it was a rough weekend, so real cleaning didn’t happen until Sunday when we took down the Christmas tree.

So…. the floors maybe aren’t mopped yet?  And I maybe just did a basic vacuuming of the living room? But the hallway, den, and bedroom floors are CLEAN. Like, roll on the floor clean. 

Plus, I reorganized the kitchen (finally) to reclaim some counter space. When the brother-in-law lived with us, he reorganized the kitchen so that my KitchenAid mixer wouldn’t have to be pulled forward every time we used it. Which is good. But it meant that the microwave moved from its happy little microwave hutch onto the counter and ate all the counter space.

And then there was extra space on the hutch, and you know how random crap is attracted to empty space. 

So, the (red) toaster oven moved over next to the (red) KitchenAid mixer and the microwave moseyed into the unused corner at an angle, and it’s making me fairly happy right now. 

Except I don’t know where to put my adorable Anthro-like measuring cups now, but maybe some hook installation is in order. We’ll see. Now if I could just repaint the cabinets and install my red knobs and maybe put in a backsplash, I’d be one rapturous camper. (Happy +40)

Actually from Pier1

Day 1 & 2 of the January Cure: Making a List and Creating an Out Box

So, in accordance with the January Cure I mentioned in my big re-start post, I have Made a List of the Major Things I want to Change in my Apartment and Set up an Outbox AND Put One Thing In It.

Ok, starting with step 2 (‘cuz it’s shorter), I re-appropriated a drawer of a plastic crate that I got when the Hub’s brother lived with us for a bit and put several things in it.

In went :

• the feather pen from our wedding guest book (because really, it just takes up space wherever I put it and honestly, who uses a ball-point quill?)
• our first block of knives that has been living next to our newer, better block of knives for 3 years for no apparent reason (ok, because I’m a packrat)
• some perfume I have never used and never will

Step 1, the list:

The gist of the list is that you go around your house and jot down every little thing that needs help. THEN you pick 2-5 per room to put on the real list and work on.The real list consists of your proposed SOLUTIONS to those problems.
Living Room:

1. Create a cord-wrangling system of a box and ties to take care of the rabbit's warren of cords in the TV area.
2. Get a chair-cover for KC's cracked leather office chair (or replace it?).
3. Re-edge the area rug (Rayne the cat has taken to fraying the hell out of it).
4. Put folding tables in the back room (possibly give away).
5. Sort out shelf situation.

Dining Room/Kitchen:

1. Put up shadow boxes you made last year.
2. Find a home for the printer (maybe somewhere where it could plug in....)
3. Put the toaster oven on the microwave hutch.Put the crockpot on the lower hutch shelf for easy storage.
4. Replace the stove hood light bulb.
5. Clean off the fridge.
6. Organize the cabinets and drawers.

Bathroom:

1. Touch up the paint.
2. Add drawer liners.
3. Clean tub & shower curtain.

Bedroom:

1. Clear off desk
2. Pick up floor
3. Organize closet shelves

Den:

1. Put up window film (clean windows)
2. Remove random shelf anchors/shelves/patch wall
3. Organize craft closet

Are You There, Readers? It’s Me, Blogger.

Apparently, I’ve neglected my blog for pretty much all of 2012. Bad! But, as Jenny Lawson has so beautifully put it, this year is the Library, and so, I shall write my blog. In the Library. I have so many things to share. I finally covered those damn dining chairs. I painted my bathroom walls turquoise ombre! I got all the extra shit out of the second room!  I have plans for the outdoor dining set! I’ve even managed to keep a few plants alive! I am blossoming! But… um…. I’ve been ignoring you. And that’s no good. So here’s the deal. I’ll check in at least once a week if you will. We’ll meet up, drink coffee in our pajamas, and catch up. Hell, you can even tell me what you’re up to in the comment if you want, I don’t mind. We’re in the Library. For January, anyway, other than posting projects I’ve already done, I’ll be writing about my participation in Apartment Therapy’s January Cure. In true “perfect” style, I’m already a day behind, but there’s still hope, gentle reader. There’s still hope.  Today, I will be making a list of all the projects to be done this month (year) and sharing that with you! 

The Outbox 

As I am a day late and a dollar short (as per usual) I will also be setting up an Outbox today. What is an Outbox, you ask? It is a box (or closet, or room or drawer or corner or whatever) where you put things that seem like they could find their way “out” of your life. I actually kind of have one set up right now. It’s going to become the official Outbox.  

My Outbox is a white plastic set of drawers in the back room, but yours could be whatever you like. The point is, you put things in there, then once a week, consider if you need them. If the answer is yes, they must immediately find a home. If the answer is maybe, it goes back in the box another week. If the answer is no? Off it goes to be donated, regifted, or recycled, depending on the condition that it is in. Look, I made you a flow chart!

Project: Living Room

 

I have a confession. My couch is trying to kill me. I haven’t reported it because, well, it’s a couch, and the police tend to look at you funny when you report things like that. Or look at the phone funny. Whatever, the point is, it makes me sound crazy. BUT I’M NOT. 

This couch, it is the most uncomfortable couch in the world. It’s like the Marquis de Sade was reincarnated as a sleeper sofa. You cannot sit on it for more than an hour without your spine hurting. If you would like to watch a movie, you may do so on the floor in front of the couch,  but not on the couch, because the couch will rearrange your vertebrae. I even tried putting some floor pillows I had on TOP of the cushions on the sofa to make it more comfortable. It just made it messier.

I have, as you may have guessed, been looking for a replacement for some time now, hindered only by

1. a tiny budget and 
2. same tiny budget and 
3. did I mention that sofas  are expensive?

But help in on the way!! My mom went and bought herself a new sofa and loveseat. Guess who gets the old ones?!? (It’ meee!) So I have not one but 2 new couch/sofa/settees/things coming my way and… I still haven’t painted the living room. Oh, and at some point, my husband’s desk came out into the living room, too. It’s a nice desk and I want it there, because it means he’s there, but it does present something of a design challenge. Also, computer towers are ugly. 

Anyway, back to the point, on Saturday, I get new seating! But I don’t know what color the living room should be. I’d like to repaint it Sunday so everything could be nice and new and glorious all at once. 

Hmm… I also need a new lamp (see this post on why we can’t have nice things). Ok, it looks like I’ve got a mission here. Better map it out.

Mission: New Living Room in One Weekend
Budget: $170.00

Target: New sofa
Status:  Requires rental of truck to acquire
Cost: free!

Target: Take Old, Evil Couch to Landfill
Status: Researched.
Cost: $35 (and now I understand why there is so much crap in the alley behind my apartment.)

Target: Rent Truck
Status: Working on it
Cost: $30

Target: Purchase New Ceiling-Mounted Lamp
Status: Still Dicking Around
Cost: up to $45

Target: Have Husband Install Ceiling Lamp
Status: Taken for Granted.
Cost: The love of a good woman. (Well, me.)

Target: Rearrange Furniture
Status: Floor Plan Acquired. Ready for Implementation.
Cost: $0

Target: Paint the room some other color than tarstain ivory.
Status: How long have I been planning this bit? I may just be lying to myself now.
Cost: $60

Ok, got the mission plan! But um….. I don’t know what color to paint my living-room. So…. I made a moodboard-thing to show you what is going in there and maybe you could help me out? 

Obviously, there are a few things in the room I didn't put on here. There' a TV, and a short entertainment center console thing it sits on. There's a coffee table I can't find a photo of anywhere. There's a shoe cubby, and a keyboard, and a couple of guitars on the wall (well, there should be- my brother-in-law seems to have confused "borrowing" and "burglary"). Oh, and a desk and computer chair. But, look, I didn't want to confuse things, so let's just PRETEND that the space will be nice and simple, ok?

And I need to paint the walls a color. Name a color. Seriously. Any color. 

Any. Damn. Color.

Bedbugs. (insert shudder here)

In case you’ve missed all the headlines, and the footlines and the in-between lines, there’s been a resurgence of bedbugs in this country. In the cheap motels, in the 5-star hotels, in the apartment complex I call home. What? Yes. I almost inadvertently adopted bedbugs. Don’t look at me like that!

You see, there was this abandoned chaise lounge in the common area of my apartment complex. Now, usually, I follow the law of “Thou shalt not adopt upholstered roadside furniture. Yea, there liest a path of deep regret and foul smells”.

 But this was a chaise lounge. I’ve ALWAYS wanted a chaise lounge. And it hadn’t been out long. So, I gave the hubs my very best “we need this” pitch and he rolled his eyes and gamely grabbed one end, and I grabbed the other and into the apartment it came. 

Not being COMPLETELY foolhardy, I decided it should sit next to the couch for a bit to see if it would play well with the rest of the furniture. So, we sat on the couch, the chaise sat next to us, and we watched television for a bit, me stealing giddy glances at my new chaise every now and then. 

And that’s when I saw it.  Looking like the ugliest miniscule penny-with-a-head-type-creature ever, a little bedbug poked its way out. And I screamed like a little girl. Well, ok, technically, I can’t scream. But I hollered and we hauled that thing outside double-quick (you have NEVER seen anyone move furniture that fast), then vacuumed every surface in the house, washed every stich of clothing we were wearing and showered. Because I am a good citizen, I took a marker and wrote “bedbugs” on the arm of the chaise once it was safely back outside.  It looked a little bit like “redrum” from The Shining, but I feel that’s all the better.

Why, yes, I did draw a cartoon bedbug because I'm too creeped out by them to post an actual photo of one. What?

So, in the end, boys and girls, heed the warnings given to thee by renters of yore “Thou shalt not adopt upholstered roadside furniture”. Verily, words to live by.

Shattered Dreams (or, less melodramatically, a broken lamp)

Guys? Guys? I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I ignored you for months and months on end.
I'm sorry that my last post was a rant on semantics.
I'm sorry (really sorry) that my apartment still looks the way it does.

My brother-in-law moved in for a bit, and while he helped me with some things, having another person in the house kind of curtailed my house plans.

Also, I think possibly, that this apartment may never look decorated. I can't figure out what to do with the living room, but, "At least," I thought, "I've got that damn lamp situation sorted out."

Only to come home today and find out that the cat has shattered the damn lamp.
That took 3 tries to bring home. 



THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS. 



 (because we have cats)