Adventures In Spray Paint

Last weekend, Grace had a Girl Scout cookie booth sale at the local Goodwill superstore. Goodwill has always sort of grossed me out. It's mostly the smell and the thought of all those bedbugs under one roof. It was a 4 hour long sale though so I had to make a few trips inside. I decided to buy some things to redo because I spend too much time on Pinterest. I bought 2 things to spray paint and I would show you what bad shape they were in but I totally forgot to take "before" pictures so you'll just have to use your imagination.

This started out as a light orange terracotta jar. It's stamped "wine cooler" on it so I'm guessing it held a bottle of wine at some time. I bought dark red spray paint and, 5 coats later, turned it into my new vase.

I first sealed it inside and out with a waterproof sealant but I am still hesitant to fill it with water and flowers. I think it still might leach through and bubble up the paint. I bought some pussy willows and it looks great to me for 99 cents.

I also bought this white medal candle holder. It was sort of grimy so I put it through the dishwasher first. I had seen a similar project to this on Young House Love where they used a simple trick to spray paint it two different colors. I had to do a little bit of touch up to it because I got impatient and didn't give the coats enough time to dry. I sprayed the outside white and the inside a light green.

I just added a green candle and it was done. Again, it looks good to me for 99 cents. My only problem now is finding a spot for it.

Forty

I don't know how I allowed this to happen but I turned 40 today. I know I'm expected to be really positive and in a good place about this but I'm really not. 40 is not the new 30. 40 is the tipping point into old age. There is no going back now or pretending to be 29. The scariest part is I still feel 12 years old but I know I'm not. I also still think I weigh 110 pounds but I know I very much don't. But I digress...

Tim surprised me on Monday with flowers delivered to me at work. As much as getting flowers at work sort of embarrasses me, I also love it. I gave myself a present by taking today off work. The kids went off to school and Tim had to sleep during the day because of work. I started off my morning with cake and Mad Men then I went shopping. It was a quiet day which is always nice. We are doing the family celebration of my birthday this Sunday. I hear there is a babysitter coming that night and everything.

My oldest brother, Bob, also surprised me with a basket of wine and nibbly things all the way from Alaska. I have a lot of wine and chocolate now so that's a good thing.

My wonderful friend Heather also surprised me with a bunch of British candy and whoopie pie mix. She knows me too well. Spotted Dick is a great present to send anyone.

I got another delivery of flowers too. These are from the kids. Grace tells me I'm 40,000 million years old and Declan asked if I'm old enough to retire. My bad feeling about 40 aren't entirely my fault. I love my flowers though.

Pinterest Challenge

I have a couple of new addictions. One is Pinterest and one is Young House Love. Isn't it fun when your worlds collide? YHL announced they were holding another Pinterest challenge and I decided to join in. I have a spotty history with Pinterest. I am very good at pinning things and very bad at actually making them or making them well. Anyone remember the glitter Xmas ornaments or the paint chip coasters? The ornaments were good but the coasters...not so much.

Basically, the point of the challenge is to take something you pinned on Pinterest and interpret it for yourself. I found this frame I had pinned from TheHouse Of Smiths blog. I loved the color and the shapes and I figured I could make this quite easily.

I gathered up my coupons and went to the craft store where I bought 2 wooden mirror frames and brought them home. I spray painted them white and waited for them to dry. I have pictures of all of this but Blogger doesn't want to let me post them. I"m sure you can imagine it because its pretty self explanatory.

I also knew I would have to buy my design. A more talented person would have just painted one onto the frames but thats not me. I discovered all sorts of possibilities in the scrap booking aisles where I don't usually hang out. I bought a few options but ended up going with these felt stickers in green and black. I wanted red but they didn't have them in a design I liked.

Here are the finished products. I decided to go horizontal instead of vertical with the stripes but I can hang them either way once I find a spot for them. The good thing about these is that they are adjustable because I can see the top green stripe needs some help.

My Imaginary Friend

I watch a lot of TV. I don't think this is a big secret. I even spend my days helping to make TV. When I was little I watched a lot of reruns that I didn't understand yet were reruns. I loved the Brady Brunch, The Banana Splits, Gilligans Island, Bewitched and The Partridge Family. I didn't know they were all from the 1960's and I wasn't. When I was 4 years old, my favorite show was The Monkees. Right around that same time, I developed an imaginary friend. Of course I didn't go to the bother of using my imagination and making one up myself. I just picked Davy Jones. After that, he was with me all the time but he always walked behind me. I was always turning around to make sure he was there though. I don't remember how long this relationship lasted but it was fun while it did. Nobody else had a tiny British guy following them around and I will miss him.

Flowers Folo

A month or so ago, I wrote about deciding to buy myself flowers to brighten up my winter. I have been pleasantly surprised with my $3.99 bouquets from the supermarket. Although, there was a disappointment with some blue hydrangeas. Apparently they wilt once they are cut. I didn't know this but lesson learned and no more hydrangeas for me anymore. Right now, I seem to have a lot of flowers in the house.

I could say these were given to me on Valentines Day but they really weren't. We had a chef on our morning show at work and he left these two big roses behind. I grabbed them and the green vase they were in and brought them home for myself.

This is my latest bunch from the supermarket-some sort of white lilies. I don't remember what they are called but they make me happy. I'm not a big lily fan but I like these. I've decided I need some real vases to go along with this. I think a trip to HomeGoods is in order. I went looking for some cool ones in Goodwill that I was going to clean up and spray paint like on Pinterest but they didn't have anything good.

I've actually had this flower since last Mothers Day. Declan planted some marigold seeds for me and this was the only one that grew. Its an ugly old thing and the pot has gone all mildewy but it keeps on blooming. I keep thinking that it can't possibly produce anymore blossoms and then two more pop out. I keep watering it just to see how long it can go.

Free Samples

The extreme couponing I'm doing has a side effect. Actually, I'm not really extreme couponing. I don't really have the storage space to do that. The coupon websites though also push the free samples and I sign up for them all. Even that pink makeup bag was free and came stuffed with samples. The problem is they arrive 4-6 weeks later and my clutter OCD kicks into high gear.

I love free things but I can't stand having all these little packets around. I try to remember to use them but I also try to keep them out of sight which means I forget about them. I'll have plenty of anti-frizz serum once summer hits. If I remember I have them.

In Bloom

This is what my lilac tree looks like right now. Yes, its so cold out that I took the picture through the window. We haven't had winter around here until last week. I was actually starting to believe that we would skip Winter and go straight into Spring. I guess not. A few weeks ago, I was at The Christmas Tree Shop looking at things that I don't need at all but just had to have. I bought 2 colored glass bottles that I thought would be great for when my lilacs bloom. I came home and put them away until I would need them in a few months.

Then I had a bad day at work last week and it was snowing and I had to go to the store after work to do a full weeks shopping. I walked past the supermarket flowers and really started looking at them. They were only $4 a bunch and they weren't so awful. I mean, Martha probably wouldn't approve but so what? Before Christmas, I had mentioned to Tim that a good present for me would be to buy me a bouquet every month. I got that idea from Young House Love but I usually want to copy every idea they have.

I decided that I'm going to do it for myself and buy flowers as much as I can until Spring. I figure they will last a week or so and we need the brightness in the house. I spend more than $4 a week in the vending machine at work so maybe I can stop that and put the money towards flowers instead. They cheered me up at least.