The good and the bad

I love kids. One day when I am good and married I want as many as God will bless me with. I have a big extended family and I love it! For now I am satisfying my want for kids by spending time with my many precious cousins and my three dog-children. My dogs are spoiled. I had Zoey first and because she has a human name, people often think that I have an actual human child named Zoey when I talk about her. Nope, she's canine. They Zoey got lonely so along came Mr. Mr. is a great dog and a very big boy who ranges from about 90-100lbs! I adopted him from a local rescue group that I now volunteer with; Praying for Paws. He is very affectionate and has many human like qualities; he likes to hug and dance! Featured below is Mr. hugging my sweet cousin Erica.


I also need to say that this is the panelling in the den and kitchen that I hate. It's dark. It's dreary. It so isn't my style. I am working up the energy to sand, prime and put at least two coats of paint on it. The task feels daunting! I know I need to because I will feel much better when I do. And yes, that is a daybed in the den. It belongs in the basement, but I don't have furniture for the den yet. Usually it is fixed up nicely like a couch, but I had four little cousins over the day this picture was taken and they ran amok. Oh well. Now you know.

After Mr, I got a little crazy and thought I needed one more. I knew that dogs are not collectibles, so I wasn't collecting them... I honestly don't know what I was doing. But, along came Pickle. Her name says it all. She has me in a pickle. She drives me crazy, but I love her. She did give me a white Christmas, as you can see in the picture below.

Yep, Pickle destroyed a silk bolster pillow. I left her alone in the sun room for about fifteen minutes last week and this is what I came back to. FLUFF! She is still alive and well. I believe that pets are yours for life and you need to fix behavior problems. Kind of like kids. What can I say, I'm devoted. Or crazy, you decide.

TAT- How about some homemade cleaner and reupholstered chairs?

This is a dual-purpose post. I originally intended to blog about my favorite homemade cleaner recipe. However, I didn't have pictures of it and I think that pictures make a blog even better! So, I am still going to give you the recipe, but I am also going to blog about my newly upholstered chairs!

Unattractive chair before

Much more attractive chair after

The fabric is actually a light green zebra print linen. When the panelling is painted white, I think it will really be beautiful. This is the only animal print that will be in the kitchen. I think that people can get carried away with themes. I like accents, not themes. I don't think I will ever be one of those people with a themed kitchen. I think themes are cute for kids, but adults with a Pillsbury Dough boy kitchen, no. It's just my opinion, don't dislike me! I have received many a compliment on the chairs and I think they will be perfect to sit in and drink lemonade once spring and summer roll around.

On to the best cleaner in the whole world. For starters, I try to be green. Just call me Kermit. Green is good. I bring my own bags to the grocery store. I try to eat organic. When I eat meat, I try to make sure that it is free range, antibiotic free. I eat cage free eggs from grain fed hens. (I really want my own egg laying hens.) So, I make all of our cleaning supplies. For starters, they are really safe for kids and pets. They also smell great and don't irritate skin. They are even antibacterial! Did you know that tea tree oil, peppermint essential oil and many others have natural antibacterial properties? They do. I order all of my essential oils from http://www.aromatherapywebsite.com/, I find that they have great customer service and a great product. My liquid castile soap is lavender Dr. Bronner's.

1/8 cup white vinegar

1 t. Borax

1 t. washing soda

2 T. concentrated castile soap

16 ounces hot water

10 drops peppermint essential oil

10 drops tea tree essential oil

Mix it all up in spray bottle and shake before using. This is honestly the best stuff! We use it on our carpets. I would test a small area before you spray, my carpet is light colored, I wouldn't want it to bleach your carpet! We use it in the bathrooms, kitchen counters, spills on the floor, pet areas, ANYWHERE! It smells so good... I use it to pretreat white clothes/undergarments that have stains! It is also very cheap!

Essential oils are great to have. I made an $80 investment in about 12 different oils. Most of them will keep for quite awhile (years) if stored in a cool, dark place like a cabinet. You also use very little at a time. It is important to make sure you are buying pure essential oils and not a fragrance blend. Check health food stores and natural stores online. My home smells fresh and not chemically clean. Try it and let me know what you think!

For more great TAT posts, visit http://www.lazyorganizer.com/blog/?p=2869

Oh the chaos!

Wow, it was a crazy busy weekend. It began with a trip to Augusta, GA for the wedding of the handsome Daniel and the beautiful Katherine, seen in the picture below. Could they be any cuter? I didn't think so. See how nice they look? They really are that sweet and nice in person. I wish them the absolute best. Now that you know that everything ended happily ever after, let me tell you my weekend up to that point began....


It all started with the shoes. Daniel and Katherine's wedding was a formal evening one. I felt that I should wear closed toe shoes being that this is winter and formal and all that jazz. I started looking Friday night for shoes. I looked in at least ten stores and could not find any! I went home and thought that I could look for shoes on Saturday as we left town for the wedding. Well, JD and I woke up late on Saturday, packed in a hurry and left. We stopped at TJ Maxx to look at shoes and found nothing. I spotted a Burlington Coat Factory across the street so we headed there. I am not a usual Burlington shopper and after this experience, I don't think I will be. The parking lot was a disaster; trash was on the ground, debris scattered everywhere. Inside, it was just as bad. We headed towards the shoes and I will be honest with you when I say that I have never seen anything like it! There were shoes all over the ground and not in boxes! It kicked the OCD in me into overdrive! It was all I could do to not crouch on the ground (you can't sit on a dirty store floor) and start sorting the shoes. It looked like an earthquake had happened and knocked everything off of the shelves. It took us 30 minutes to find us each a pair. I am usually a size ten shoe, but I compromised on a 9 1/2 when I could only find one shoe in a size ten. Notice I only said ONE shoe; it's mate was missing. These beautiful Nine West leather pumps felt pretty good in the store, so I thought I would be okay wearing them for the evening. We proceeded to the register... IT WAS PACKED. We stood in line for forty-five minutes waiting to buy two pairs of shoes!

We finally got on the road and headed to Augusta. It's about a 2 hour drive that consists of foggy weather and road construction. We got off the exist and proceeded to the hotel. We made it exactly 1/2 mile from the hotel when BAM!!!! a 21 year old kid on his cell phone runs a red light and hits us! Actually, I slammed on my brakes to avoid him hitting us, so I actually hit him. However, he caused the accident. Luckily, no one was hurt and we had family in town for Daniel and Katherine's wedding so they were on the scene minutes later. (Actually, they were quicker than the police). The car accident left us little time to spare for getting ready for the wedding so we ran to the hotel, changed clothes and headed to the church.

MY FEET WERE KILLING ME! Each time we had to stand during the ceremony, I prayed that it wouldn't be for long. To be honest, I wasn't sure how I was going to make it from the church to the parish house where the reception was being held. Those shoes were honestly the most uncomfortable pair of shoes ever! JD and I actually ended up trading shoes at the reception, which was good except that she wears a 6 1/2 and I am a ten. So she went barefoot and I wore shoes that were way too small. These too small shoes were actually more comfortable than my shoes!

After the wedding, the rest of the family gathered at the hotel veranda and hung out. I texted something to someone and I now regret it very much. Embarrassment doesn't even begin to cover how I feel today. I just want to kick myself!

Merry Christmas!

Whew! I feel like this past week has been a whirlwind! I am actually struggling to keep my eyes open as I type this. I had a wonderful Christmas and learned a lot about myself during the past few days. Before I share, I just wanted to say that I personally feel that you learn the most about yourself during the most stressful times. Anyone can be kind when it is easy to do so. Being kind and hospitable when you are running on four to six hours of sleep isn't very easy to do.



Things I know about myself now and may or may not wish to change:

1. I am a perfectionist. It doesn't matter if you think it doesn't have to be perfect, I do and I probably won't be content and able to relax until it is.

2. I need at least 7-8 hours of sleep at night.

3. I am an early bird, not a night owl.

4. Once I am asleep, please do not wake me unless you are a small child, or a bleeding, sick or injured adult. A family emergency/crisis/ national-local crisis is OK. Surprise birthday parties for JD at 3am with air horns, fire and silly string are not. I am not in college anymore and this is no longer fun and enjoyable to me.

5. When I am hosting an event at my house and you ask me what you can bring, please stick to your assigned item. For instance, when you are assigned "bacon", I really appreciate you wanting to help and bring more food, but bringing a waffle maker and mix and needing space to prepare them while I am already trying to get everything ready is not nice.

6. When you are assigned "bacon", I meant cooked bacon. As in bacon that you prepared at your house and brought to mine. It's not like you don't live on the compound as well. :-) Not 4lbs of raw bacon that you end up cooking in my garage on a George Foreman grill.

7. Yes, I shower twice a day. They are quick showers of about 3-4 minutes each. That is less time total than most people's daily ten minute shower. Please don't tell me that I am wasting water and killing our beautiful earth.

8. I enjoy both showering and using the bathroom without an audience. This also means that I prefer for you to use the restroom and shower without me being in the same room with you talking to you to keep you company. Just because we did everything together when we were little girls , does not mean that I enjoy the same behavior at 28.

9. I love my family dearly. They are loving, kind, generous and very funny. I wouldn't be who I am today without them. Thank you for loving me for the obsessed, controlling, neat freak that I am.

Family is family, no matter what

Yesterday was so busy that I didn't stop going from 8am-6pm! The good news is that I am very close to finishing up all of my Christmas shopping. That's a good thing too because Christmas is only 5 days away!

The family compound is quite abuzz right now because nearly all of the cousins are coming in from all over the country for Christmas! For those of you who don't know, I live on a family compound. I reside in my maternal grandparent's former home, my aunt and uncle live next door, and another set of grandparents live on the other side of them. In between all of us we have seven dogs, five cats and a horse. I also have two more aunts who live about 1/2 mile away from the compound. I love living next door to my family, especially around the holidays.

Jacob R. arrived late Thursday night from Colorado. Daniel N. should be here today or tomorrow from South Georgia. Amanda K. (formerly N.) and her husband Ryan K. should be here by tomorrow, bringing with them Matthew N. and their 3 dogs. They are driving straight through from Fort Collins, Colorado. I asked Jacob last night if he knew when Amanda and her crew would be here and he said "well, they haven't left yet, when they do leave, add 24 hours and they will be here". I can't do 24 hour drives!

No one has any clue who will be sleeping where, so I really need to get on the ball and straighten up the guest bedrooms because more than likely, some of them will end up in my house. My cousins are all outdoorsy types who could sleep in a mud hole and not be bothered one bit. I DON'T WORK THAT WAY. In fact, when I was a little girl, I would "mother" everyone and make sure that they bathed and had on clean clothes and ate balanced meals. Some things never change! I still feel embarrassed because my house isn't as unpacked and clean as I want it to be. J.D. and I had a conversation this morning that we just need to buckle down and do it and then we will all feel much better. I am buying curtains today for my living room and dining room and I will take pictures and post them when they are hung. I really need to post pictures of my house now that it has furniture in it, but I am still too embarrassed about the state that it is in.

Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Creed

I found the following online today. I was searching for something to hand out at my Christmas brunch on the 25th and I think that this is perfect. Read for yourself!

A Christmas Creed

I believe in Jesus Christ and in the beauty of the

gospel begun in Bethlehem.

I believe in the one whose spirit glorified a little town; and whose spirit still brings music to persons all over the world, in towns both large and small.

I believe in the one for whom the crowded inn could find no room, and I confess that my heart still sometimes wants to exclude Christ from my life today.

I believe in the one who the rulers of the earth ignored and the proud could never understand; whose life was among common people, whose welcome came from persons of hungry hearts.

I believe in the one who proclaimed the love of God to be invincible:

I believe in the one whose cradle was a mother's arms, whose modest home in Nazareth had love for its only wealth, who looked at persons and made them see what God's love saw in them, who by love brought sinners back to purity, and lifted human weakness up to meet the strength of God. I confess my ever-lasting need of God: The need of forgiveness for our selfishness and greed, the need of new life for empty souls, the need of love for hearts grown cold.

I believe in God who gives us the best of Himself. I believe in Jesus, the Son of the living God, born in Bethlehem this night, for me and for the world.



This pretty much sums it up for me. At Christmas we (I really do) get caught up in buying gifts for people and decorating and hitting all the sales and trying to be Martha Stewart that we forget what it is all about. This creed made me remember, and for that I am grateful. I found it at a great website http://www.christmas-day.org/ .

Merry Christmas!

My Christmas Card

Does this picture not crack you up? Please tell me that I am not the only individual with a weird sense of humor! I found this picture in a stack of pictures; once again "when we were cleaning out my grandmother's house". I find it funny because what 9-12 year old boy wants to pose on roller skates in a dress pants, bow tie and cummerbund? I don't know the Bob Tucker's, don't believe that I am related to the Bob Tucker's and I don't think the Bob Tucker's are on my Christmas card list. Whew... I can use this as material for my Christmas cards.

I scanned the picture, went to snapfish and had a bunch of pictures printed. I bought white card stock cards and envelopes, came up with a funny saying and slapped the picture on the front of the card. They turned out great! I think the whole thing cost me about $10.00! When I find a spare card that has what I wrote on the inside I will post it online. Also, they just went in the mail yesterday and I want to give my friends and family a chance to see the cards before they see them online.

Merry Christmas!

TAT- Oh Christmas Tree!

Pictures of the tree with the my Gamma's angel

One of my really special ornaments from Bubbles (my mawmaw)

The tree in all of it's glory

This is a realy special Christmas tree. Me, JD and my parents put it up this weekend. It's an artificial tree because JD gets sinus infections if we get a real tree. The tree was my Gamma's. We put it in our formal living room which we don't spend much time in, but I am thinking about spending more time in there now because I love this tree! I think that this tree was meant to be. The angel on the top was my Gamma's and she didn't really have a home before. There are sixteen handpainted porcelain angel ornaments on the tree that were passed down to me from my Bubbles. I found them when we moved. When we found the extra tree in my gamma's basement when we were cleaning out the house and I planned to put it up at Christmas in the formal living room. Then I found the angel topper and all of the other angels and a theme was born. My parents bought all of the gold accents that we found at Lowe's this weekend (at 50% off!!!!). I love this tree and it reminds me of my grandmothers. Merry Christmas!

For other TAT submissions, visit my friend Lazy at http://www.lazyorganizer.com/blog/?p=2803

And the award goes to.....

MY PARENTS! I seriously have the best parents in the world. They flew in at the last minute to help us with our house. I didn't even ask! My mom knew from reading my blog that I needed help and that I felt kind of alone and overwhelmed. (she's really good like that) So the parents arrived with their magic wand and things got done. Just check out the list http://obsessedinsanity.blogspot.com/2008/12/priorities.html and see all of the amazing things that have been done.

JD and I went ahead and hung all of the doors back in the house. They are still unpainted. Although my mom adamently declared that "we don't need doors, we're family", it can be awkward to use the bathroom in full view of your family, so the doors went up. I have to say that even though they don't perfectly match the trim paint because they are a different shade of white, they look good and it is nice to have doors.

All of the light switches and outlets are off white. Because they are all 45 years old they have aged and are yellowed. My wonderful dad went out and bought new outlets and switches and covers in white and began switching them out. My mom and dad bought me new ornaments or "ormanents" as my little brother Alex would say, for the tree in our formal living room. It's beautiful and has an angel theme. We took pictures, but I can't find my camera.

So much has been done and I am so grateful. I feel so much more settled. If you know anything about me, you know that me having control and feeling settled is key to me staying sane. I was really sad to return my parents to the airport last night, but if I didn't my little brother Alex was going to have maw-maw drive him to Alabama (what he calls Atlanta) and hunt me down.

To my little brothers: you better be nice and respectful to Mom and Dad or I will steal them and you can't have them back. That's how I roll. :-)

In all seriousness, God has given me an amazing family. It's been a really hard year and there were times where I really didn't know how I was going to cope but with the help of faith in God, wonderful parents and an AMAZING best friend I am not only surviving, but I am soaring!

Priorities...

Moving has not been a carnival ride. In fact, I would rank this as our toughest move ever. Moving into an unfinished house that still has someone elses belongings only further complicated the situation. I start on one project and then get distracted by something else that needs to be done. This results in projects being partially done or even worse, not done at all. I was discussing this with my friend Scott and he recommended for me to just work on ONE thing in an evening. Sounds too simple? It works! I made a to-do list and told myself that this list didn't have to be accomplished in an evening, or even before Christmas. It is a list that does not include the basement because that would have overwhelmed me even more.



My "Mission Impossible" List

1. hang foyer light

2. hang chandelier in dining room

3. hang mirror in JD bath
4. hang mirror in LD bath
5. install outlet/lightswitch covers in all rooms*
6. paint a/c vents
7. install a/c vents
8. paint doors
9. hang doors
10. upholster kitchen chairs
11. move dining room table from basement to dining room
12. install shade on window in LD room
13. clean hall bath
14. clean LD bath
15. sweep wood floors
16. sweep and mop kitchen
17. unpack boxes in garage and put away
18. change garage lightbulb
19. change sunroom lightbulb outside doggie door
20. put armoire on craigslist
a. take picture of armoire
21. replace flood light bulb on corner of garage
22. decorate trees
23. hang stockings
24. hang pictures
25. make laundry detergent (yep, I make my own)
26. label lights
27. find label maker
28. hang clothes in JD closet
29. put clothes away in LD room
30. organize night stand in LD room
31. sand, prime and paint panelling
32. vacuum den
33. DUST
34. hang hall light
35. paint laundry room
36. paint ceiling in den, kitchen and sunroom
37. buy rug for dining room
38. buy and hang fan in den
39. buy and hang curtains for LR and DR

I think the doors may be going up tonight unpainted on account that my parents are flying into town tomorrow and they might appreciate bedroom and bathroom doors! I am very excited about them coming, YEA!!!!!

TAT- Cookie Cutter Organization

Aren't they beautiful? They usually aren't on my kitchen counter. I keep them in my baking cabinet. I couldn't take a picture of my baking cabinet because it hasn't quite recovered from my baking project on Sunday with my four cousins who range in age from 6-12 years. Anyway, I had this paper towel holder left over from when we cleaned out my grandmother's house and I thought voila... I could stack cookie cutters on it! You can easily identify each cutter, they don't get tangled and it is easy to reach in the cabinet and grab the whole stack. If I just had my lovely copper cookie cutters on it, it could even be a decoration, if you are in to that kind of thing. Personally, I like it better in the cabinet. The less stuff on the countertop the better! For lots of other TAT submissions, visit: http://www.lazyorganizer.com/blog/?p=2755

Talk about Tuesday- Mason Jar Light Fixtures

Alright, I have been talking about these light fixtures for awhile. My favorite blog, http://www.lazyorganizer.com/blog/ , does a "Talk about Tuesday" feature where you show something you have done. So here is my first TAT post. Enjoy! I am really excited about them, so please be nice. I think that they are really cool and I put a lot of research and work into them. My Uncle F is calling me a "hillbilly" and "redneck", but I don't care. Please keep in mind that my kitchen isn't done and that the knotty pine paneling will be painted a bone white/cream.

Door to garage entry light
Breakfast room entry light

Breakfast room 3 light fixture

Please let me know what you think. If you like them, I will be happy to tell you how I did it. They look really cool in the kitchen; I am going for a modern country look... if that makes any sense.

I am the taskmaster ( failure)

So, I went back and read my previous blog entires (all seven of them) and I stumbled across my to-do list from November 12, 2008 http://obsessedinsanity.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-can-see-light.html, and I realized that I had only done one and a half of the items before we moved in. #2, make and install mason jar light fixtures and #4, kill mold on stairway. #7 , install light fixture and mirror, was halfway completed last Friday, hang light fixture, exactly a week after we moved in. I feel so successful I think I should star in my own after school special!

I haven't cried in two days!

Well folks, moving is a pain in the rear. We've been in the new house for a week and a half. Thus far I have cried everyday! I walk around amidst the boxes and get overwhelmed and just start crying. Some people get angry, some people yell, I cry.

We currently don't have interior doors or air conditioning/heating vent covers. As of last Friday, we do have lights in the bathrooms. No more showering in the dark for me! We don't have interior doors, so if you plan on using the restroom or changing clothes at my house, you have to announce it loudly to everyone so you don't receive unwelcome guests. My kitchen is unpacked and 90% set up, but I don't have curtains or blinds on half the windows in my bedroom or any in my bathroom. MY WASHER AND DRYER WORK (big excitement here), but I don't have outlet or lightswitch covers, so don't turn on or off the light with wet hands unless you want the shock of your life.

I would love to decorate for Christmas, but I feel like I need to set up the rest of the house before I can haul out the Christmas trees and decorations.

JD has been a real saint. How JD tolerates me, I don't know. I know I haven't been easy lately; what with all the crying and mania, but thank you. You mean everything to me.

I am currently too ashamed to post pictures but I think I will take them and post them anyway, just don't judge me!

Where is my fairy godmother?