Makeover in bedroom

We are still working on the makeover in the bedroom.  To give you an idea of what we want to do, let me show you our  inspiration

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Rozette on Pinterest

and this:

Source: pinklemonade-blog.com via Rozette on Pinterest

 We have a huge bedroom (note to self: still need to measure room) with a bay window.  We have removed everything from the bedroom and toiletries from the master bath.  So my house looks like this:

My new bed arrived so we set it up in the guest bedroom, moved the guest bedroom mattress to the dining room( we are taking it to my mom's house) and my daughter's old mattress is in the living room waiting to go in the guestroom when we move our mattress to our room.

I have painted nightstands and dresser white but I think I am going to change the dresser to either Spa from Sherwin Williams or Swimming from Sherwin Williams.

I found this duvet from West Elm

Source: westelm.com via Rozette on Pinterest

Here is my thinking.  Anything that I want to last forever or is hard to change (wall colors, bedding, floor) will stay a neutral palette.  I will use colors on those things that can be easily painted or purchased (frames, accent pillows, anything on nightstands or hung on wall.

So I will do the opposite of the first picture. I will have white duvet with either coral blanket or blue blanket. I have frames that I am going to paint Wax Begonia  from Sherwin Williams.

Source: myperfectcolor.com via Rozette on Pinterest

Once the floors are done...oh I forgot to mention my husband and I are still discussing the floors. So we have removed the carpet and are in the process of staining our floor. There will be a post completely about that process. But here is a picture as a tease.

The Behr staining kit cost only $90.00 at Home Depot so we decided to do it in the interim.  The walls are Maison Blanche by Sherwin Williams.

On a side note:  Can I just say God is good?  We have so much to do and my husband works for UPS.  He works 60 hours/6 days a week dropping off packages.  Which means he runs up and down driveways or stairs hauling anything from book bought on Amazon to 4 new tires for a truck (I have no idea why someone would buy tires online but they do).  So he has little time or energy to help. But this past week he was able to get off at noon on Saturday and all day Monday and yesterday he was able to clock out at 5pm (totally unheard of at UPS).  When we needed him to be home, he was able to be and without having to ask for time.  I love these small blessings that just remind me that God even cares about the little details.

Go run the red carpet

I am in my last days of treating my heel and plantar fasciitis.  I must say, I have a new appreciation for stretching and doing the maintenance when it comes to physical activities.  But I am really anxious to start running again.  I want to be out in the sun. Well that's not the only reason.  It gets hot in my little town.  But not only hot, it also gets really humid.  I had hoped that I could get out there while it was still cool and low humidity and allow my body to acclimate to the increasing heat and humidity while I increased my mileage.

I am also contemplating joining a running clinic.  TriFit Galveston runs a clinic for different levels of runners.  My sister started last year and fell in love with running.  Are you getting a little anxious?  Did you just tell yourself "Oh I am not ready for that."  or "Running in front of people? No sir, I will stick to my treadmill in my basement where I can run in secret?"  Well if you did STOP IT!  If you desire to run, don't do it in the dark, it is nothing to be ashamed of desiring.  It is something to be proud of.  Most people that don't run, don't run because they think they can't.  The fact that your are even contemplating running means you already have more confidence than they do.  So put on your running shoes and get out there!

No?  Nothing? Still not doing it? Ok, then do me a favor.  Find the next 5K in your area and don't sign up.  Mark it on your calendar.  Get up that morning and go cheer on the runners. Sit on the side lines and cheer on the runner that runs like a gazelle with their fit "runner's" body.  Cheer on the preteen that is running their tenth 5K and just loves getting out there.  Cheer on the mom that runs most days with their child in a stroller. Cheer on the senior that has ran their whole life and never stopped. Cheer on the senior that discovered running a few months ago and are running their first 5K. But most importantly, cheer on the gal that is fluffy, like me.  The girl that can't buy clothes from the regular clothing section of most stores.  She shops Lane Bryant, not only for their cute styles but because they have styles she can actually fit into.  Cheer her on!  What am I saying?  There will not be just one gal that meets that criteria. There will be several gals just like her, just like you, just like me.  They are beautiful and they are strong and they are free.

 She isn't worried about people laughing at her or judging her.  She doesn't have time for that nonsense.  She is in awe of the strength in her body.  She has pushed it and it responded.  She rewards herself with a run down the red carpet.  Only this isn't just any red carpet.  This carpet comes in many colors and forms.  Sometimes it is a trail through the woods but most of the time it is a gray path that winds through the streets.  Her attire is not a little black dress and heels. No, she is dressed in fitted running shoes, wicking top and bottom and a number across her chest.  Oh how she loves her fans.  They line up for miles (3.1 to be exact) to cheer her to the finish.  She can hear them yelling, "we are proud of you" and "you can do it"!  She is the star and they are her fans and nothing else feels as good as this moment for her.

So if you are in your basement or guest room or living room and running on a treadmill, get out there and run with the other runners.  Go run your red carpet.  You are a star and stars are meant to shine, not flicker in the dark.  So if you aren't ready or don't believe me, be a cheerleader at the next 5K, you'll be glad that you did.

How I eat an Elephant called DIY

Well if you were to ask me, you would open wide and try to fit the whole thing in your mouth.  You would remain lady like and not choke.  Oh, you know you will choke but you try anyway.  That is how my "Yippee! I am finally getting a new mattress became "Oh no, what have I done?"

You see, 17 years ago, before I was a mother or a wife, I purchased a queen size mattress.  Oh, how life has changed since that first night I slept on it.  The things we have shared.  Those late night prayer sessions when I was looking for guidance.  A soft place to lie when my daughter was little and slept with me because of the monsters under her bed.  The late night conversations I shared with my husband. Yes, it has served me well.  But time has not been nice to queen.  She has become lumpy and unreliable.  She gives me pain at night and no rest.  So after many years of debating on whether or not we should get a new bed, we finally take the plunge and buy a king bed.  And that is the start of my horror story of how to eat an elephant.

Let me set the scene and  introduce you to the main characters in my story:

The old  mattress:

My old bed frame:

The wall in my daughter's room:

The master bedroom

The dining room

The bedroom furniture

Do you see where I am going with this?  Do you see the elephant in the room?  Over the next few weeks I will introduce you to each character individually.  I will share the good, the bad and the ugly...and there is plenty of ugly.

And remember, it all started with one mattress purchase.

Lollipop Topiary

Pinterest has been a lifesaver. Well maybe not a lifesaver but definitely it has added flavor to my life.  I saw this lollipop topiary on Pinterest and had to try it.

You can see the original pin HERE.  But it didn't give any directions on how to do it, so I thought I would create one.  Here is a list of items you will need:

• 6 inch styrofoam ball
• big bag of dum dums or other lollipops ( I bought mine at Sams)
• a chunky candlestick (mine came from Goodwill and that I switched candle holders)
• hot glue

Insert lollipops into stryrofoam ball.  Leave room at the bottom to hot glue ball to candle holder. (I just kept inserting lollipops and then every once and a while I placed it on top of candle holder to see if I needed more lollipops)

Once you have all the lollipops inserted in the ball, hot glue ball to candle holder.  You may have to hold it for 30 seconds just to make sure it holds.  

It is extremely easy to make and took very little time.  I watched TV while I made mine. I would have spray painted my candle holder white but my daughter wants it in her room and wants it to remain black.

Out for repairs

Well it looks like the start of my new running adventures is suspended for repairs.  I went to see my doctor yesterday because I was experiencing discomfort in my right heel.  It felt as if I was stepping on a small pebble in one area of my heel.   It was not constant and it seemed to be at it's worse in the AM.  If you haven't guessed it, based on the symptoms, it is plantar fasciitis and a heel spur.  I have to admit, I have heard the term before and knew it was an injury but that is all I knew. But apparently, my running friends knew what it was based on my symptoms. 

Side note:  If you don't have any local running friends...find some.  Don't be discouraged by your size. You will find that runners are the nicest people and full of encouragement.  Two of my best friends are runners/triathletes/duathletes.

Dianne and Kelly are amazing people both off and on the course.  When I did Couch to 5K for the first time a few years ago (yes I have done it more than once), I saw them the day before my first 5K.  I had so many questions.  Should I carb up the night before?  Should I take energy bars with me?  How much water should I expect to drink?  Should I take Gatorade instead of water?  You would think I was running a marathon.  But at the time, it was a marathon to me.  Remember I was going from the couch to running.  But these two are actually marathon runners, triathletes, duathletes.  And they answered my questions with as much seriousness and concern as they would if I was in fact running a marathon.  They never giggled or said, 'Rozette it is just a 5K".  They just answered the questions and encouraged me on my run.  Dianne even offered to run back and run with me on the day of the race.   Good people and I guarantee you that if you find some runners around you and befriend them, they will be awesome also. 

Ok, where was I?  Oh yes, my  injury.  Ok, the information I am sharing is from my doctor.  I am NOT a doctor or physical therapist.  I am a fluffy runner sharing what was shared with me.  According to my doctor, this injury can be caused by sudden increase of activity; such as running, sudden increase in weight gain, flat feet,  poor stretching of calves and family tendency.  I am positive for running, flat feet, poor stretching and family tendency.  Apparently, the feeling of it worse in the morning than through out the day is a classic symptom.  Unlike many injuries that are caused by a pulled muscle.  This is actually a constricted muscle or ligament, which is why it is more painful in the morning.  The plantar fascia is a thick material, not sure if ligament, that stretches from the heel of the foot towards the toes.   If a part of the fascia experiences strain due to any of the reasons listed above, it can aggravate the fascia at the point where it is attached to the heel bone.  She explained that while we sleep, we point our toes and this constricts the ligament.  Then when we wake up and try to walk on it, the ligament is tight and painful to stretch, especially when it is inflamed. She noted that doing the towel exercise while still in bed will decrease the discomfort I may feel when I get out of bed.    So the doctor gave me a set of exercises to do and told me to take an anti-inflammatory.  My drug of choice is Alleve gel caps. She said if I do these exercises twice a day for a two weeks, I should be able to get back to running/jogging/walking/wogging. 

Towel curls:
Place towel on the floor and curl it toward you, using only the toes of your injured foot.  Resistance can be increased with weight on the end of the towel.  Relax, then repeat the towel curl.  Repeat 20 times, 2 times a day.

Shin curls:
Run your injured foot slowly up an down the shin of the other leg as you try to grab the shin with your toes. (Do this one sitting down). A similar exercise can done curing your toes around a tin can.  Repeat 20 times, 2 times a day.

Ice roll
Freeze a bottle of water or tin can.  Place the frozen item on the floor and roll your injured foot over it.  Do this for about 15 minutes then place the bottle back in your freezer for your next treatment.  Repeat 2 times a day.

Stretches
Stand at arm's length from a counter or table with your back knee locked and your front knee bent.  Slowly lean toward the table, pressing forward until a moderate stretch is felt in the cal muscles of your straight leg.  Hold 15 seconds. Keep both heels on the floor, bend the knee of your straight leg until a moderate stretch is felt in your Achilles tendon.  (Tendons attach muscles to bones; the Achilles tendon attached the muscles of the calf to the heel pull in your muscles and tendon, but no pain.  Changing legs and stretch the other leg.  Repeat 20 times, 2 times a day.

Towel Stretch (done before you get out of bed)
Take a towel or other material and wrap it around the middle of your toes.  (Keep your leg straight and toes pointed up.)  Pull your toes toward you by pulling the ends of the towels.  You should feel it in the bottom of your foot and back of your leg.

I should be able to return to running after two weeks. She emphasized that I MUST do them twice a day everyday.  So I will.  Here's to a speedy recovery.

How to host a scrapbook crop

In the world of scrapbook crops, the people attending are made of two separate, but equally important groups, the attendees and the hostess. This is their story. ( Cue the Law and Order theme music)

 Last weekend I did what I would have considered unthinkable about two months ago. I opened my home to people and hosted my first scrapbook crop. Up until now, the only crops I ever hosted were at the library. That seemed like a piece of cake. Book the room, set up when the library opens and start cleaning up 45 minutes before the library closed. They had the tables, the chairs and the announcement on their calendar. All I had to do was show up with my bags. It was a pretty easy gig. But then something happened. All of a sudden, no one was showing up. People were RSVPing yes but not coming. After a few crops with zero turn out, the library said we couldn’t book the room anymore. So it was moved to the local scrapbook store. But even that one was getting a low turnout. It seemed our scrapbook group was dying a slow death. Even the activity at meetup.com was down.

That is until it came time to pay the 6 month dues again. All of a sudden I was receiving emails from meetup.com stating we were going to be dismantled unless someone stepped up. Every time I received one of those emails, I just opened it and shook my head. I would glance at the email, shake my head and say “that’s a shame.” And then hours before we were going to be shut down, my brain lost control of my hand and before I knew it, I paid the dues and was assigned as organizer. It was at that point I panicked. What the heck did I do that for? What was I thinking? Why would I pay to keep a group going when the group had no where to meet and I did not know how to look for a place?

If I wanted to get my money’s worth for the meetup.com dues, I would have to host a crop…somewhere. Prior to this moment, I never considered having a crop in my home. I had tons of excuses for not inviting people over. My home was not ready for public viewing. The walls were not painted the “right” color. The blinds in the living room were ratty and the curtains were non existent. The carpet needed to be removed and replaced with hardwood in the bedrooms and hallway. The walls were naked and lacked frames or some sort of decor. My kitchen longed for stainless steel and granite countertops. No, I had to protect her. I couldn't let her be seen like this. She wasn't ready.

But, in my eyes, she will never be ready. And I had to face the reality that if I didn’t want that due money to go to waste, then I had to invite people into my home. Hopefully I can share some ideas here that will help you with your crop.

First thing is to relax.  You are hosting a crop and not on a Home Tour.  People are coming to scrap and not to get decor tips.  When it comes to your home and the state that it is in right now, just make sure it is clean.  Well make sure the the areas you will be using are clean.  (My bedroom was a disaster during my crop.  I shoved everything that didn't belong at the crop into my room.) Don't buy new curtains, bathroom accessories or any home decor items for that matter.  Trust me, once you set up for the crop, all of the little things you bought are just background noise and won't take center stage at the crop.  So , if you have the room in your home to host a crop, take advantage of the convenience for you and open your home.  And besides, it saves you the hassle of packing up and taking your stuff to another location or trying to explain why it is not central to everyone invited.  People are not going to expect you to move so that the crop is in a centralized location.  They will just be glad you invited them to the crop.  Ok, if I haven't convinced you to host it at your place then read the section titled Venue to help you decide on another location.

SET DATE AND TIME Everyone is busy and so are you. If you ask those you are going to invite, what day they would prefer for a crop then you will probably get several different answers. Pick a date (or several), time and duration of the crop that first meets your needs. Then review your choices to make sure you are not stumbling over any important holidays. For example, Easter Sunday is probably not a good idea. People like to spend that day with family. However, Superbowl Sunday can be a great day. Some women don't like football and their husband's love it. He watches the game with his friends and she scraps with her friends. It is the best of both worlds. Just make sure whatever date you pick that you give people enough time to prepare for it. I try to give at least a month notice. This gives people time to move things around, put it on the books before anything else comes up or find a babysitter. As for duration, people prefer for a crop to last more than eight hours. Most scrappers do not travel light. You want to make it worth the effort to pack up all their things and haul it to your event.

VENUE Decide if you want to have it in your home or somewhere else. If you decide to do it away from home, you may have to be flexible on your dates because you will need to see what the venue has available. Libraries, churches, and community centers may offer free or low cost rooms. Guestimate how many people you believe are coming, determine how many tables you need (see next point) and make sure the venue has enough space. Whatever you choose try to make it central to your guests, especially if it is a one day event. Find out if they have tables and chairs available and if so, is there an extra cost for them. Do you have to set them up and/or take them down? When can you go in to set up? If there are several outlets throughout the room, ask if you can use them or if there is a fee? Is there a place to keep food cold/warm? What are the hours of availability? Is there good lighting?

SET UP Table space Whether you have this at your home or another venue, real estate is important. I try to give people at least 3'x3' of table room. The way I see it, a layout is 12" or 1' square foot. Your guests will need some room for their tools and to actually work on items for their layout. And if they are working on a double page spread, well there goes all their room if the space is any smaller. You don’t want your guests to feel like sardines for 8 hours or more. If the chairs don't look comfy then you may want to suggest to your guest to bring some cushion for their tushy. I also go to the dollar store and buy white table covers. Watch the sizes. You may not need one for each table. They are pretty big. But the table cover will help protect your table and also give your guests a nice light, neutral background for their workspace. I would stick with white table covers. Colored covers may be distracting to a scrapper. Just imagine scrapping at a pink /blue/green desk at home. I also put a small brown lunch bag on the table in front of every chair. Guests can use it for their trash/scraps. Some may come with scrap-a–ma-bobs but not everyone has one of those.

FLOOR SPACE Scrappers are not light packers. Let’s face it, we are teetering on being hoarders. And for those who attend crops, well we are hoarders on the go. But I like what Ikea says about hoarding, “If it’s organized, it’s not hoarding.” Sure you may have a one show up at the crop with one bag over the shoulder and a dish of food in their hand, but they are a rare species. With 88 members in our meetup, I have only seen it once or twice. Usually we carry so much stuff that it takes several people several trips to a car to get one person’s bags out of their car. So make sure to try to leave people enough space to wheel their bags to their spot and enough room to park their stuff near them. I gave them 2 1/2 ' by 3' (the width of their workspace) to put their stuff and chair. That was the minimum. I actually gave them more room because I strategically placed the tables so that tables were facing eachother rather than back to back. This required less floor space and people could chat with people across from them and beside them.

FOOD/BEVERAGE It is nice if you can have snacks close by but not so close that if someone has an accident it will spill on someone close by that is scrapping. If you have the room, have a separate eating area (especially at long crops where they may actually eat lunch and dinner), then your guests won't have to worry about dropping something in their own work area or (gasp) in their neighbor's work area. Try to make it finger foods and offer a variety. Or if it a potluck you can offer people to sign up under certain categories of food (desserts, drinks, breads, fruits and vegetables, small snacks, utensils and table ware) or just keep a close eye on what people say they are going to be so that you can make adjustments. There is nothing worse than having twelve people show up with cupcakes.

LIGHTING Make sure there is enough lighting. There is nothing more frustrating that trying to scrap in the dark. If you don't think you have enough lighting, make sure you have outlets available and let people know they are welcome to bring their table lamps (if the venue allows it).

AMBIENCE I love Pandora. It is a phone app that allows you to play music for free. You can create a station by artiste, genre or song. My group ranges in age from their 20's to 50's so music preference varied. I created a Frank Sinatra station and everyone seemed pleased. I set it up away from all the scrap areas and played it loud enough to hear but low enough to not drown out any conversations. By setting it up away from the scrap area, you prevent it from blaring or becoming annoying to someone sitting by the speakers. Just think of going to a Mexican restaurant on a Saturday night trying to enjoy your meal with your loved one and the Mariachi band decides to play right next to you for the duration of your meal. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Mariachi music but I prefer it to be at least two tables away so that I can still enjoy conversation with my beloved. I wanted to make sure no one felt like they had a Mariachi band playing next to them all day.

OPTIONAL ITEMS

 DECOR  As for any decorative item, well I'll leave this to your discretion. It is not necessary to decorate. Your guests are there to scrap. However, I have pinned hundreds of party decor ideas and I was dying to use some, so I did. But if it stresses you out, don't do it. I plan to do a few theme parties, Breakfast at Tiffany's (decor blue and white), Mad Hatters Tea Party (serve several types of tea), Christmas in July (yes I will decorate with Christmas items in July), Breast Friends (all pink for breast cancer awareness). Well you get the idea.
GAMES Games are always fun. You can play scrap bingo (create your own custom bingo cards at Print Bingo) and ask your guests to check off items as they use them throughout the day. This allows them to play a game but doesn't take them away from scrapping. This is the only game I play. It is just my preference. I didn't like participating in games while I scrapped. It was hard enough for me to get things done when all I wanted to do was talk to everyone. Adding another thing for me to do was a guarantee that I was not going to get any done.
TOOL STATION If you have tools that you are willing to share such as an embossing machine or die cut machine, you can set up a small work area with those tools. (This way your tools all stay in one area.)
DONATE TABLE: Invite people to bring things they don't use or want to get rid of and have a donation table. Encourage everyone to browse through those items and take what they want. At the end of the day, if any items are left on the table, pack them up and take them to a local church, nursing home, school or Goodwill.
ALCOHOL You can open this event to alcohol. I suggest cutting off the alcohol about two hours before the end of the crop and if there are children around, clearly mark the items that have alcohol.
CHILDREN Which brings me to the last option, children. Some people are SAHM (stay at home moms) and they see scrap time as mommy time. They prefer to scrap without children around. Or sometimes, the conversations among adult women can be inappropriate for young ears. I am not talking cursing or pornographic but the subject matter may not be well suited for young children. You know the people you are going to invite and their preferences. Some don't mind children and others will not come if there are children. Either way, I would make it clear on your invitation if children are allowed or not. Hopefully this will prevent any awkward moments of "Oh Jenny I see you brought your toddler Joey. I am sorry this is an adult only crop." or "Really? If I had known there would be children here, I would have stayed at home."

FOLLOW UP Okay you have decided on a date, scheduled the venue, sent out the invitations, rented the tables and have mentally laid out all the tables in your head. Hey, you may have even gone out of your way and have some ideas about decorating. Now you can sit back and rest until the day of the crop, right? No, no your job is not done. Follow up is very important especially if you planned the event far enough in advance so that people could clear their calendars or pencil your event into it. But remember, life goes on. People sleep, go to work, to school or both and they forget. And before you know it, you are the only one showing up at the event. You don't think it can happen? Trust me it does. It happened to me more than two times. Gone are the days when a person's RSVP "yes" meant they were guaranteed to show up. No, now a days that "yes" means that you have to remember to add them to the group email, phone list, Facebook reminder, whatever you use, to remind them of the event. I have taken reminding them a bit further. I drum up excitement about the upcoming crop by leaking small bits of information about the party once or twice a week. By doing this, they are more inclined to read the email since it doesn't just say "Reminder that the crop is on blah blah." No, each email offers different and exciting information and because of that, they are more willing to read it and remember the crop date and time. Ok, now you are prepared to host your first fantabulous scrapbook crop. Remember to have fun and relax. You are going to do a great job. And leave me a comment on how it went. I would love to know. And if you can think of anything I may have forgotten, please leave a comment also.

How to make a Candy Jar for Candy Bar

I finally did it!  I hosted my first event in my home!  It only took 7 years but I finally did it!  Sure I have hosted family gatherings,  like Thanksgiving, and two church gatherings. But those I did when I first moved into my home.  I use to say it was because I didn't know any better.  My house wasn't decorated enough, painted enough, pretty enough etc.  But you know what?  It is never going to meet my standards and I had to come to terms with that reality...or my perception of reality. I read a blog post once about not waiting for your house to be ready for guests because it will never be ready.  That the most important part of hosting people for a gathering or for the weekend is to make them feel comfortable and at home. It was a great article.   If I find it again, I will update this one with the link.  I read it years ago, but it planted a small seed.  A seed so small that it took years for it to break through the ground and finally bear fruits.

I decided to use Pinterest for ideas and I fell in love with Candy Bars. Not like a Hershey's candy bar but a bar much like an alcohol bar but filled with candy instead of spirits.  But I knew I didn't want to break the bank so I had to improvise.In this video, I will show you how I took two vases from the dollar store and made my own candy jars for a Candy Bar.  I originally saw a similar idea on Pinterest, using mason jars. Those can be seen at http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2011/04/pickle-jar-project.html.  However, I didn't have any mason jars so I bought a few candle holders for the tops.  These candy jars are so easy to make and inexpensive.


Supplies needed:
- candle stick holder (dollar store)
-  wider candle holder jar or bowl (dollar store)
- strong liquid adhesive ( I used E6000 which can be found at  most hobby stores)
- candy (optional)
-  candy scoop (optional)
-  any items you want to use to decorate jar (optional)

Make sure both the top and bottom candle holders are clean and dry.  Put glue on both holders where they will connect. Since the glass in not porous, wait 2 minutes and then put the two items together.  Make sure the top is center.  Allow to dry for 48 to 72 hours before using.

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