Z Gallerie

This is seriously one of THE coolest things I have ever seen.

But where in the world would you put it?

Before and After

Mister's Great-Aunts chair. (and my baby monkey all cozy... awww...)

Before:

Mr.'s ex-wife's mother recovered the chair sometime in the late 80's, I think. Why would you put such a dull, blah color on such a dynamic frame? Besides the yucky color, there was a large hole about where Gidget's head is from him never using the cushion, some of the springs had sprung, and one of the wooden bracers on the bottom was broken. It was time.

After:

See the seat in the left of the first picture? Mr. likes to be as low to the ground as possible, so he always took the seat off. Drove me nuts! So we had our upholstery lady, Vivian, make the seat pad as slim as she could and still be aesthetically pleasing. It looks a little weird and flat in the photo, but it must be the angle. I was amazed at how it turned out for the price she charged us. I let him pick the fabric, since it is his chair, and I think he did a pretty good job. It is actually a patterned cut-velvet with a mod circles-in-squares design. It clashed a bit with our old walls, but oh well. It will look nice with the paint in the new house!

Fabric Question.

Can I wash Dry Clean Only 100% cotton fabric? Like if I want to make my cafe curtains out of this:



But it says:

• 100% Cotton
• Dry Clean, Do Not Wash

Can I wash it? On delicate? In cold water?

Dining Room Paint

So here is a sneak peek at the paint for the dining room. It turned out even better than I thought it would and the color brightens up the room by leap and bounds! It is amazing what a little paint can do...



Can you believe my grandfather actually liked that blue/gray? Thought it was "a friendly color". Maybe for an office or a bedroom with a lot of white detailing, but not with the wood we have...

Bandwagon

I think I want the Chaing Mai Dragon fabric for my cafe curtains in the kitchen. I want something bold and colorful that has some red in it. I think it will work in either the Laquer (red) or the Alabaster colorway. Although the Alabaster looks like it may be more pinky or coral than red.

I just realized there is a Schumacher showroom in St. Louis. Anybody know someone in the area who could escort me there? Or where I can check out the fabrics in person without an Interior Decorator in tow?

Engan Underbed Storage

I am loving my new Engan Underbed Storage! It is awesome. I also got some Kompliment boxes, which make everything that much better!



Cause it all looked like this before:

Ok, so I am a little behind on technology. I know YouTube exists, but the most exposure I get to it is from my younger cousins. I got on today to see this Taylor Swift video that is supposed to be the greatest of the year (don't have cable, so I hadn't seen it, or the VMA's) and I found out they have 80's cartoons available!!
I love David the Gnome! I used to watch it religiously. Super awesome.
Apparently My Little Ponies is a lot weirder than I remembered. I watched the Bright Lights Episodes 1 and 2 and they're just creeptacular. And their human friend in the overall looks a lot like the girl from the Care Bears movie.
And I seriously started clapping with glee when I found the Gummi Bears!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Insert off-key musical singing here* "Gummi Bears, bouncing here and there and everywhere... High adventures are beyond compare... These are the Gummi Bears...." yay

Sewing Class

I am taking my first sewing class this evening. There are four classes total. I hope by the end of the month I will have gained the knowledge and ability to fashion my very own cafe curtains!
No one seems to have the size I need to purchase them "off-the-rack" and Ikea was out of the fabric I wanted. }:p

So my mother met me at the fabric store Monday in an attempt to help pick out something else I like.



I like the one to the far left, which actually looks like this in reality:



It is the only one that doesn't make the tile look dingy in comparison and kinda looks like it goes. Mister doesn't like it though, "Too busy".

I said "I picked up some fabric for the kitchen windows today, could you give me an opinion?"

He says "I don't care what they look like as long as we have curtains!"

Then he gets up there and says "I don't like any of them".

Thanks. That's helpful. 'Cause I don't either.

Hilarity

Ok, so I totally stole this from the lovely ladies over at Sweet Nothings.

It was just so funny I couldn't resist sharing it with whomever might actually be reading my blog...

Random thoughts from people 25-35 years old…

-More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

-I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-That's enough, Nickelback.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know"feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no Internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.

-I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone is laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

-How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

- A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

-Was learning cursive really necessary?

- LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart",all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a someone from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)... ummm... Goonies"

-What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...

thanks Mario Kart.

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

-Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Bad decisions make good stories

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

- Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

- While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA . No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don’t win, they are executed.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to Voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

-When I meet a new guy, I'm terrified of mentioning something he hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light Internet stalking.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle,then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

- As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers,but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
-My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

-I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

-I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

-I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

-The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words,someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fatty before dinner.

Ikea Madness!

I have been planning a trip to Ikea for about a month now, but hadn't nailed down a date. The closest one to our house in St. Louis is Bollingbrook, IL, which is about 300 miles away. My cousin was supposed to join me, but attempting to work around both our weekend schedules was a bit of a hassle. So Friday I decided I was just going to go on my own. Ha! I am apparently slightly delusional when it comes to stuff like this. I thought I would leave first thing Saturday morning, get there around noon, and drive home Saturday night.

I guess I don't realize just how far 300 miles is. My mom decided to come with me. She thought we should drive to the Schaumberg location instead and hit Nordstroms rack Saturday evening and then hit Ikea first thing Sunday. Much better plan. My budget was $2,000 and I ended up with two carts and a flat cart totally full to overflowing. And I left without any rug, planters, and home accessories...

I went home with:

White Bergsbo Cabinet for the Living Room



White 72" Expedit for the Office


2 Black/Brown Billy/ Byom combinations with the height extender for the Master bedroom


Black/Brown Hemnes Storage Bench for the end of the bed in the Master Bedroom

Black/Brown Malm 6-drawer dresser for the Master Bedroom

Plus, 2 Engan under-the-bed storage drawers in black/brown and a cartload of the Kassette organization boxes and mag. storage in black and white.

The bed of my truck was full to overflowing with the furniture boxes and the backseat was jam-packed!

I want to go back next month or November for some accessories, frames, and rugs. I love Ikea!

Lovely.

Mmmm....


Wish we needed a new bed. I think I would like it better in black or white, though.

I need "cafe curtains" for my kitchen windows.


(Pardon the mess, please)

When we first moved in there were curtains and the first thing I did (literally) was take down the ugly, faded, stained, flowered-y panels of ancient fabric. Now I can not find any that will fit. I found a fabric I like in the Ikea catalog:

But we don't have an Ikea anywhere near us. And shipping is astronomical. I have checked all the fabric stores around here and I can't find anything I like. Plus, buying fabric would involve me sewing, which I have not done in about 10 years. I have a sewing machine. My mom bought me a lovely white Singer for Christmas two years ago, but I tend to make excuses and I never learned to use the silly thing. I want them to be nice from outside, as well, so they would need to be double-faced. The windows are an awkward size, 21"L x 27"H and I would want two 15" panels per window(there are 5 windows). Does anyone know someone who can make me curtains? Preferably someone near an Ikea who is willing to take a custom order?

Dozer Update

I am just going to start at the start. This is going to be a long one. A Dozer Doozie, if you will.

Mister saw a post on Craigslist on Sat., Aug. 22. Free Male Pit Bull is need of good home (or something to that effect) with this picture:



How can you not fall in love with that face? I had been on him to get another dog for Gidget for about a year and he finally found one he liked, so I emailed the people. The guy called us almost immediately(red flag?). The dog is 6 years old, had him since he was born, new baby in the house, no time for dog. Really? No time for a dog you have had for 6 years? Sounds fishy to me, but I'm a doggie freak...

So we make an appointment to drive down(an hour away, in the boonies) and see the dog the next day. We spent six hours with these people on Sunday. Their friends came over and we stayed for BBQ. No one mentioned any issues besides these two: he may potentially have a male dog aggression problem and he may, if you do not lock him up, may "mark" something(which is polite doggie terminology for peeing all over the place with his stinky, pungent man-dog pee). So we took him home. He got along well with Gidge(at least he didn't try to hump her or eat her), he did well with the oodles of babies they had flying around the place, and Mr. liked him. He did well in the truck on the way home (Bonus Point: he rides well in cars), he pretty much went right to sleep when we got home (which is really impressive considering he didn't know us from god and he had slept with the same guy for 6 years), and he was very affectionate.

Monday

We locked him up in the "fruit cellar" which is just a room in the basement with canning shelves. Looks like this:



Nothing fancy, but it has a door and window. Mister thought it was important that he have "natural light". Weirdo. So Monday he was fine. No problem, no hint at the disaster to come.

Tuesday

He did well in the morning apparently. Mister came home, let them out, then left again to go work on his motorcycle. I came home an hour later and he had scratched the door, busted it open, and peed on like three boxes in the basement. Luckily he did not pee on anything important.



That mess on the wall in the background was already there. We need to strip the mortar paste off the walls. Ick.

Wednesday

We locked him in the other room we have in the basement, which was initially supposed to be an exercise room, but the stationary bike never quite made it in there. He scratched the door up, but no big deal, doors are replaceable, at least he was contained.

Thursday

We put him back in the "exercise room". Mister came home and he had chewed on the door frame. Still fixable, still minimal. Meanwhile, at lunch that day, I bought an x-large airplane crate.

Friday

We put him in the crate. Mr. came home at lunch and he had busted the door open. So Mr. tied him in with a big rope. I came home and he was still blessedly contained. Unfortunately, I still had to clean up the pee residue from his earlier breakout. Mr. had wiped it up, but had not had time to mop it.

Saturday

Went to see a guy about one of those outdoor chain-link doggie runs, 10' x 10' with 6' walls. Mr. decided he didn't like it. Went home. Dog had gotten out by pulling the gate IN this time.
Mister bowed out of the work picnic we had planned for the day, because he was pissed about being outsmarted by the dog, so Gidge and I went by ourselves. Had mucho fun, went to two bars afterwards with co-workers. First had a patio, Saint Louis has a "doggie allowed" patio law, so I asked, the host asked, then came and said I could bring her in. She laid down and went to sleep. Then the manager came and said they don't allow dogs on their patio. So who the hell did the host ask in the first place? I took her back to the car, we finished our beers, and we left. Jerks.
Next place said I could have her, but had to keep her on the opposite side of the decorative iron fence. Fine, whatever. I guess I should research what exactly the patio/doggie law is.

Sunday

We had to go to my cousins graduation party. Mister put a metal rod through the front of the crate and tied a rope to the door and the rod, so (theoretically) he couldn't push or pull the door. He managed to untie the rope, not chew through it, untie it. And proceeded to pee some more. yay.

Monday

We put him in the exercise room, in the cage, door against the wall, with a 2 x 4 wedged against the lip of the crate and another against the wall. He got out. But at least he was still in the room.

Tuesday

Mr. called ex-daddy Monday evening and was told a hand-built wooden crate was the only thing able to contain the demon spawn. So Mon. evening he built a wooden door for the plastic crate. We put him in the new, improved crate, inside the room. And ex-daddy agreed to meet me Thursday afternoon with said existing hand-built crate. He broke the entire side of the crate open. See below.



Wednesday

We left him in the exercise room. Period. No extra fancy ideas left. He did this to the door.



That is a hollow core door, obviously. He then proceeded to push the remainder of the door until he was back in the basement again. So the door looked closed, but he was staring at me through the glass. This time he peed in the bookshelf.



Boxes I can handle. Books, not so much. Books are my hobby. All I do is read. It's a disease really. I called Mr. in hysterics: Tired of this, can't do it anymore, too stressful, tired... etc. Told him to call ex-daddy, we were bringing him back. Now I am not one to give up on animals, so while I can't continue stressing out while at work and cleaning up after him, I really didn't want to get rid of him. He is perfect in every other way. Cuddly, gets along with Gidge, friendly, gorgeous. So Mr. calls and ex-daddy says "ok, let me call my wife and I'll call you back". He doesn't. We agree the dog cannot remain in the house for another day. We decide he will be an outside dog. We will chain him up. I am not comfortable with this idea as we live on a busy road and he is not chipped, but I go to Lowe's and get 10' chain, and farm rated hardware to keep him chained. Then I go to Petco for a collar that won't choke him or let him slip out. Lady says it doesn't exist, the only thing that can contain a pit bull is more chain. It's illegal. "Hire a babysitter for the day". Can't, Mister won't allow people in the house when we're not home. "Take him to a kennel". Can't, he doesn't have his Bordatella shot. "Bring him in for grooming". Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. I go home, tell Mr. he is going in for grooming the next day, get chewed out, get my way. hehe. I talked to ex-daddy while at Lowe's and he agrees, again, to meet me with the wooden crate Thursday.

Thursday

I drop Doze off at Petco. I meet ex-daddy, get the crate. Pick him up after work, "Oh, he was just excellent in the crate all day. Have you tried giving him something to keep him busy?" Uh, yeah. We tried that. You take him home, lock him up tomorrow, give him a Kong, and see how you like coming home to a disaster and an untouched Kong.

Friday

Ahh. The crate worked. All is well. Yayyy!



But now I have this monstrosity in my basement.

Monday

Went to the park. Let Doze off the leash at the river. He decides he wants a big log bobbing on the other side OF THE MERAMEC. Takes off, current gets him, he swims strong against the current for about 2 heart-stopping minutes, then does a flip and goes under. Mister says "I'm not dying for that stupid dog. Let nature take it's course." How did I end up with such a heartless beast? So I take my shoes and socks off and start in. Gidge tries to follow me, but I shoved her back around and told her to stay. She actually listens. Luckily, after almost drowning, he too decides to start listening to me screaming myself hoarse. Starts back towards us and I managed to grab him.

After all that effort to contain him just so we could keep him, he almost drowns. Stupid fucking dog.

I commend you on your attention span if you are still reading this...



On the home front:

I got a new washer and dryer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stainless-look Samsung Steam fanciness. Cost waaaayyy too much money, but I can do more than one load of laundry a day now.

And I painted the dining room. Pics to come. Maybe.

See how productive we can be when the dog is not demolishing the house and peeing all over everything? Hoorah!

BTW: Yes, he does have separation anxiety. And yes, all of this could have been avoided had they told us and send the crate home with us the first day.

New Dog Update

Last last Monday I posted about our new dog, Dozer. He is a prince, when we are home. He wants to snuggle and thinks he is a lap dog. He is good with Gidget, although he doesn't really want to play with her, which I think confuses her... She spins and butt bumps him, runs and bounces off him, and jumps on top of him... Sometimes he'll give in and it looks like he is trying to play, but maybe he just doesn't know how.
But then we leave....
I am not a seasoned blogger yet, so my camera is not attached to my hand at all times, but I wish I could show you what he has done to the doors of the rooms we put him in for the first few days. Thursday I bought an XL airplane crate, which is what Gidge stays in. He busted the door out Friday morning. Mr. went home at lunch and he had gotten out and peed on three boxes. So he tied him in. And that was just the beginning...