I'm going to write a book...

And I'm going to title it "The only thing I ever finished was the last bite of pasta" and include a bunch of pictures of my nearly completed projects. The garage is filled with unfinished projects, the basement is too and my the guest room is a jumbled mess at this point as well. I'm going to show you pictures of all 3 spaces. I need someone to hold me accountable to get this shit done. And hey, I've got 13 followers so who better than to nag me about wanting to see how cool everything is going to look when it's done besides you, right??

So, here is the garage....

How many unfinished projects can you count?

and here is the guest room....

Yeah, that's pink bedding. It's fit for a 4 year-old. I can have a pink guest room. Don't mind the mess, still unpacking!

and my soon to be craft room...

This is seriously the safest place in the neighborhood. It's under a one car garage, steel I-beams run every 16 inches or so.

You know, I feel okay showing everyone these pictures. It gave me a chance to get all the "before" pictures done before I actually start the project and realize I hadn't taken the before shot.

In 8th grade, each classmate drew a name and wrote a prophecy for that person. Mine was "Traci will write a book titled "Cheerleading, Turtles and Politics." I haven't quite made it into politics, it was one of those things I said I wanted to learn more about after I was done with college...just didn't quite finish that though....gosh that pasta was delicious though!

My Opinion Monday - The Hangover edition

Between family, friends and way too much booze this weekend, I'm totally speechless. Probably because I'm afraid if I open my mouth, I might puke. That was what kept going through my mind all day yesterday after partaking in waaayyy toooo maannnyyy shots and drinks on Saturday night.

We started our night at a local watering hole where I was greeted with a very large, $5.25 margarita. Followed by an orange and basil Mojito (mo-gee-toe is how I like to pronounce that, I know I know, it's not correct but I can say it however I want!). Followed then by a couple Vanilla Creme ale's at a brewery, mixed in with a lemon drop shot and a quick drive (not me) to another bar. I am not quite sure what I drank there, but I do know that it consisted of one and a half shots. I had to give the other half to my other half.

When I got home, my inner child was all but screaming to get out so I devoured a bowl of Honey Combs, followed by a bowl of Fruit Loops and I think I went back for a few more Fruit Loops since I had milk leftover in my bowl. (Do you drink the leftover milk? I do, I've heard some people don't...let's discuss). After that I made a b-line to the bathroom, kicked the bf out and threw up. So naturally, I was hungry again. I grabbed the box of Fruit Loops and took them to bed with me and proceeded to stuff my face until I passed out, not before I cried a little bit (oh wait, that was last night, yes I was drunk again).

Sunday morning was awful. I had forgotten about the 24 oz Bud Light I drank before we actually went anywhere until I saw it on the counter. bah, what was I thinking last night? I had plans to be productive today, this blows. I forced myself to go to Target, TJMaxx and Hy-Vee all before noon. The bf so lovingly went to Little Ceasar's to grab me some crazy bread, I managed to eat half of it and then tried for a nap. No dice.

The rest of the afternoon I played horrible hostess to Tyler's parents who were there ready to work. I was not. I managed to find my way to Ace, say some inappropriate things to an unsuspecting worker, put a coat of stripper on a dresser, scrape that off, sweat some booze out because it was so friggin hot out, thank god that Tyler didn't break up me up (he actually brought me fresh ice water and a Popsicle), make some pasta salad and consume more booze at a family BBQ.

Let this be a lesson to myself - no one likes a hungover Traci, no one hates her more than I do. I wish I'd written this before I started drinking last night...2 hangovers in a row sucks. Even worse than The Hangover: 2 (from what I hear).....

My Opinion Monday - What if we did things men expected half assed?

If you read my blog or know me, you know that I recently moved in with the bf. It's been a full 3 weeks now and it's going well. He'd probably tell you I am too particular when it comes to painting and have an obsession with keeping doors closed, but hey, I wasn't born in a barn (a famous quote from my dad, referencing shutting doors, perhaps where I got that from).

Anyways, so as I was making dinner and doing dishes the other night (stupid broken dishwasher) I realized that I hadn't actually done the dishes from my most awesome, orange chicken dinner. I thoughtto myself oh yeah, I think he cleaned up after that dinner :) Unfortunately, at the bottom of the dishes pile was the pan, with some water and what use to be soapy bubbles. A mere 2 days later it still sat in the sink, unwashed. I rolled my eyes and thought "what if I did things that he expects of me half-assed?"

As I got to thinking about this, the only thing that I think guys expect of us women is sex. They could care less if we do their laundry (we all know they'll wear dirty until they smell so bad we give in and do it for them), clean the house (they're boys remember? they're use to living with other boys who do not care for a clean place either), or shut a damn door. Yeah yeah they love us and all, but let's face it, at the end of every the day,   they want to have sex with us. Which is completely fine and normal - if he doesn't, you should be concerned.

I came to this realization:  throwing a pan into the sink with some water and soap is the equivalent of  you getting blue balls. It's like us turning you on, showing some nip and throwing you the lotion as we walk out of the room. You've practically washed the pan man, about 30 seconds more and it'd be completely done! And we all know that 30 more seconds with you and you'd be completely done too :)

So guys,  the next time you're helping out after your woman made you a freakin spectacular dinner, go ahead and finish the job. After all, that is what you expect from us (even after making dinner)!




(And Mom, don't show this to dad, that would be weird. Just tell him I wrote about cleaning the toilet or something...love you, thanks!)

I just have to chair....

Get it, like share, but chair...say it faster, you'll get it...right?? ...anyone??

Okay whatever. I just wanted to chair share with you a couple pics of a new project. And before you ask, no the other 40 projects that I've picked up are not finished yet, those can wait. This one is my new favorite.

I frequent Goodwill. I actually go to Goodwill, the Salvation Army and the DAV more often that I go to the mall. I seriously haven't been to a mall in months. They're so clean and nice and bah, I like using a little hand sanitizer  after shopping...okay really I don't, I think it's gross at some points (like digging through bins at the Goodwill Outlet) but as with any hoarder second hand store enthusiast, finding that one special piece makes it all worth while!

On a recent trip to the ol Goodwill, I spied this:

$4.99 - wouldn't it be nice if you could deduct your purchases from Goodwill and not just the items you donate! Obama, you there? That sounds like a super awesome stimulus package to me....and a credit card interest deduction too, thanks!

A super old, in decent condition chair. Something you would have seen in the janitor's closet back in the day in school. While I love the vibe of the chair, the seat coverings have out lived their precious brown crushed velvet days and I'll be refinishing that. It'll go on the list of "things I don't know how to do but will figure out."

What's even cooler about this chair is when I flipped it over to put it in the trunk, this is what I saw:

A date. 2.4.65. If that's correct, which why would anyone just scribble a random date on the bottom of the chair if it wasn't the actual date, then this chair is a ripe 46 years old. My mom was still in school when this chair was rolling around the hallways. School hallways I don't know, Goodwill stuff comes with your own history. You make it up, people believe it because heck, they don't know either! Maybe this was in prison somewhere and some uber famous creep-o set....ummmm I'll go back to the days of school hallways, much less creepy.

I don't plan on painting this chair. The age that is on it is just too good to cover up I think, at this point anyways. This is going to look super cool in our little office area on the wall opposite the fireplace. I'm hoping for this to be done asap. But I'm probably going boating tomorrow so I guess this will have to sit in the garage for a few more days.

Anyone else have a chair obsession? I'm like shoes, purses, coats and chairs right now. I've actually purchased more chairs than shoes in the past few months...not sure what that says about me but if I end up with as many chairs as I do shoes, we're going to have a problem...if we don't already :)

These are better than the color swatches I hope...

So I posted some color samples the other day when contemplating keeping the McDonald's decor or switching it out for something a little more fresh and thought I'd get some actual (cell phone) pictures of what we've got done so far. As with most of my photos, please excuse the quality - I have an older cell phone, circa 2009, with only a 3.0 mega pixel option. Maybe someday I'll have a 'big girl' camera... hint hint mom if you're wondering what to get me for my birthday in 4 months. even though we need a deep freeze, a camera would be way more fun. 


So, here is a shot of the living room with the accent wall....

Shout out to myself: notice the tgdesigns pillow that pretty much set the tone for the entire space thus far :) and the chair that I picked out fabric for and redid prior to any of this happening. I thought this was going to be a summer of drunken love, not moving in and getting all serious and stuff....

But anyways, I just noticed that you can see the extension cord running the length of the room so that we can plug the TV in. Guess what though - there's a plug in ON THE BLUE WALL RIGHT NEXT TO THE COUCH! Not sure how we didn't notice that sooner. There must have been some other stuff going on.

Like this maybe:

I can't wait to take some newer pictures...ones without a shop vac, extension cords, and red paper on the floor. If I took it from this angle today, there would be a queen size bed in the way. It's hot up here and hot in the house. We got new window treatments too and are getting a new AC this weekend - no central air peeps, kicking it Amish style for a while, no cable as of yet either. Oh and no dryer or dishwasher either, they both went kaput the other day. And then the replacement dryer I picked up on Craigslist for what I thought was steal went kaput about 5 seconds after hooking it up. I confronted the seller about a 4 or 6 beers into the evening. Went over well from what I remember. We're still stuck with 2 broken dryers but new washer and dryer are being delivered on Thursday :)

Once I we I get it all decorated, I'll be posting more pictures. I just wanted to let everyone know that it's okay to use bold colors. They really do work out. Do not be afraid of paint - it can always be redone, just ask Val.

My Opinion Monday - am I getting too old for this??

That was the question I asked myself several times while at a wedding reception this past weekend. The wedding was for a friend from high school, someone that was only a year behind me but still hung out with the older, more cooler peeps - the Class of 2002 (slight freakout realizing our class reunion is in like, well, less than a year? like shouldn't it be this homecoming season, or do I have that all wrong??)!

The wedding was great - the BEST, most INCREDIBLE music at the ceremony hands down. A violinist played "Love Story" by Taylor Swift and a girl sang two very appropriate country songs and killed it, she was great. I can't help but think that the violinist could actually get me to marry back in the hometown, so long as she agreed to played at the ceremony. I sat next to a guy that we all had a crush on when he was in High School and we were in Jr High. Sadly I did not recognize him because, um, he'd gained some weight and was unrecognizable to me. Maybe it's because I hadn't seen him for, well, 10 years or more too that contributed to that lack of recognition?? Anyway, Joni and I gushed at the reception about him and all the other boys we thought were just soooo dreamy when they were in High School and we in Jr High.

The reception was full of people my age, my brother's age (class of '99) and people my parent's age. This is probably why when I got on the dance floor and saw some girls that I knew were younger than me....oh my god they're drinking?!?! They can't be old enough for this! I'm only like...oh that's right, I'm 27. Which if they're at least 21 would have put them in 6th/7th grade when I was a senior. Suddenly, I was tired, my legs hurt, the beer wasn't tasting quite so good and I needed a water. Straight to the bar I go for..a Mt. Dew. Yes, this will do it, some caffeine is all I need. That decongestant I just took must be making me sleepy....I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. Chug, chug, chug...oh that's cold on my teeth, they're so sensitive...and done...


So back to the dance floor I go, bound and determined to show these youngsters that I, in fact, do still have it. They were all dancing on one of my friends so I showed them up - one of them even told me that too!!! Oh I was riding high on this. I could probably tell you who they were based on facebook pictures but I had no idea how old they were. So I go "so how old are you girls, 21, 22??" ...drunk off free beer they're like "nope, 20!"...

And that's when I realized.....I am getting too old for this. My dad came and picked us up at 11:30PM and we went home rather than to the bar with the rest of the youngsters (which were mostly people my age, I was consoling my wounded ego here people). I was in bed by 12:30AM. on a Saturday night. After a pretty good wedding reception.  The only plus of this, I was not hungover on Sunday. Since when did not being hungover become a plus??

Bah, whatever. I'm totally over it.


**Note to self: do NOT invite people younger to your wedding Traci, we wouldn't want them showing you up on your day. Oh and include no picture frames please on the invite. **

Would you like fries with that??

*************bleeeppp, errrrrrrr, eeeeeeee....WE INTERUPT THIS SILENCE TO BRING YOU A MUCH NEED BLOG POST....READ BELOW FOR AN UPDATE ON THE HOUSE...bleeeppppp, errrrr...eeeeeeeeeee*********************

I hope everyone read that in their best "this is a test of the emergency broadcasting system" voice....

So the house is coming along, slowly but surely. We talked about not having to do everything at once, but turns out my personality just doesn't really go for that. It's been two weeks, we have yet to have a weekend at the house (other than the weekend when we moved in) so we still have tape on the floor and the bedrooms, hallway and kitchen are in need of a fresh coat of paint.

Also in need of a fresh coat of paint was the foyer...that's french for entryway I do believe. When we moved in, this was the only room that didn't have the standard, sell your house tan color. It was like the sellers just stopped at the most colorful area and went "um, yeah, that looks okay right?? We painted everything else this  nice, neutral tan color, let's go ahead and leave the entryway red...Okay yep, let's do that." And then they put the For Sale sign in the yard.

We bought a gallon of paint from the 'Oops' section in a nice yellow color. I actually hate yellow paint, but for some reason, I liked this paint. I thought it would go well with the other colors we'd already put in the house. After slaving away on the trimming, I started rolling. I got about this far:



Excuse the picture quality, cell phone cameras have come a long way...but not on older phones.



And Tyler says "You may as well stop. I hate it. I hated it before you started."

Okay, thanks for that time waster there babe. I stepped back and thought "gawd, this looks a lot like a McDonald's...would you like fries with that shake?"

I would have liked to actually see the yellow on all four walls, but Tyler has actually asked that it be painted the same color the kitchen is going to be.  Something like this:

Here's hoping to this color working out much better than the yellow! Thoughts on the color? ...other suggestions? The other colors in our house so far are:

Indigo Batik (HGTV color from Sherwin Williams)

and

Parakeet (Sherwin Williams)

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