static cling

Today is the Man's birthday and in order to surprise him, I did a little early morning celebrating in the form of a cheesy homemade banner:

And blowing up 28 balloons and scattering them all over the floor. 

It wasn't much, but sometimes in our home-- it's the simple things that amuse us the most. 

This evening was a perfect example of that.

Meet Loki-- my 7 year old orange tabby (who is just slightly spoiled rotten):

Loki, meet balloon:

Then inspiration struck.

Static electricity + over sized tabby cat  + balloons =

I was highly entertained.  He's normally a fussy cat, but he just purred while the Man and I cracked up.

He was probably just plotting his revenge. 

Oh well, at least the Man had a happy birthday filled with all the things he loves the most:

video games, hi-def movies, cupcakes, crayfish (more on that later) and mildly annoying the cats.

I'd say it was a good day.

flour & sugar-- found!

In my last post I was talking about pantry envy. Since we clearly don’t have a pantry, and are now down about 8 feet (or two massive upper cabinets) of storage, I’ve been trying to put my pantry envy to good use—organization inspiration!

Are you ready for chaos? I am so embarrased by this... but I figured through sharing it will motivate me to get a good "After" picture to prove my tidy gene still exists.

Try not to judge me-- the before:

Right now everything that once was in our kitchen is scattered all over the house.

Microwave, Tupperware, and spices (along with the kitchen table) in the living room

Assorted foods, pots, and pans also living in the corner of our living room

Moving over to our third bedroom you find baking supplies and glassware

And also in the 3rd bedroom closet—my long lost flour and sugar

Hmm..maybe some organization is in order. I’m trying to figure out the best way to divvy all this up among our 7 usable cabinets (along with any other inventive storage solutions I can think of for all the things that don’t fit in my little cabs).

One way to help with organization is little kitchen bins and baskets like this:

They are pretty inexpensive compared to some storage solutions.. but we're on a tight budget. 

I've seen these before at yardsales and when out thrifting.  I usually pick them up when I see them and over time I've amassed a bit of a collection.  I wanted a few specifics (like a spice rack) so I stopped by a few of my favorite thrifting spots.  I found some great pieces and all for around $1 each. 

Here what we have to work with so far:

I still haven't raided all my closets for baskets, and I'm hoping to find a few cute pieces to mix in for fun. 

Now back to priming trim, painting the rest of the cabinet doors, and the rest of my Sunday chores.  Hopefully before too long we'll have clean, organized cabinets --

and no more random food stuffs in the living room!

pantry raid!

I amuse myself sometimes :)

As we get closer to having usable kitchen cabinets, I've been researching and brainstorming how to organize all of our kitchen goodies. In the process, I've been battling a little green monster-- who just seems to grow with every new pantry I see.  I love a pantry-- the idea of so much storage.. *sigh* and these organized spaces make my little semi-OCD heart go aflutter.

I a bit of a  basket case and Dana's pantry over at House*Tweaking has me drooling..

I love her baskets and bins!  They are one of the my favorite ways to "pretty up" storage and make for easy to use organization. I love the mix of natural baskets with metal wire.. a good idea for my mix and match space.

Then I ran across Sarah's over at Thrifty Decor Chick.  I love how she used taller containers on their sides to stack in a not so tall space... so smart!

I also love how she labeled her shelves by category, such a good idea to help keep things neat and tidy!

And then there was the pantry that seems to have been *everywhere* in blogland.  Shelly over at House of Smith's did an amazing job on her pantry makeover and really captured a lot of great ideas into one space.

Love, love, love her labels!  Apparently I'm not the only one-- as I've seen her mentioned in a number of other blogs and she's been filling tons of orders.  Vinyl seems to be the latest trend and I haven't tried it yet.  I'm anxious to as the idea of using vinyl seems so appealing to me.  She used it on her container labels as well as the quatrefoil design on the wall. 

 Also, who doesn't love cute glass jars, pretty baskets, and cute bins and boxes.

 

Speaking of cute bins and containers, Chris over at Just A Girl recently finished reworking her laundry room cabinets.  It's not a pantry, but my kitchen is a kitchen+laundry nook.. so that's close enough.

She spray painted a mixture of Dollar Store bins in a pretty bright blue for a cohesive look. 

Why haven't I thought of that? I'm always so concerned with finding things that match and this is a great way to dress up that perfect size bargain find.

Plus her ribbon labels are adorable! It's all so bright and happy.

 

Another non-pantry that's surely worthy of envy...John and Sherry's kitchen cabinets.

 It's just one of the many lovelies over at the Youngster's kitchen.  They did a "Tackle it Together" series a while back that focused on kitchen cabinets at YoungHouseLove.

And tackle they did.  Look how clean.. and neat!

As if I wasn't enamored enough as it is.  I love, love, love these shelf labels.  The fact that they were just scrapbooking notions is genius to me.

If you haven't noticed lately, I've also developed a bit of a thing for glass jars.  I have a grouping similar to this (I used the smallest one recently to hold strawberry spoon cake.)  The Dad also gifted a cluster of cuties with black metal lids for my birthday.  I'll be using them to hold flour, sugar and the like... as soon as I can find my flour and sugar... I think they're in the closet of the guest bedroom.  Maybe?

Obviously, I have a lot of re-organizing ahead of me, along with a lot more work on even getting the kitchen closer to a finished product.  In the meantime, I'm still on the hunt for great kitchen storage ideas... pantry or not.

I think I'll always be on the hunt for great storage ideas...

there's just something about an organized space that makes this nerdy bird sing.

lucky thirteen?

I am so antsy for a grand reveal of the kitchen.. but it is quite a few projects away.  I spent this weekend applying a lot of coats.. 10 to be exact on these puppies:

The thirteen cabinet doors we painted..and that's not even all of them.

Granted, it wouldn't be a weekend of home renovation with out a few mishaps and emotional breakdowns.  After shedding a few tears over some unexpected issues (thanks Humidity for botching layers 7-10) the Man calmed me down and reinforced my resolve.

A little before and after to see how far we've come couldn't hurt either:

before-ish

getting closer

Ah.. a little motivation.... now for reward?

Too bad I don't have any more lemon cupcakes left over from  my co-workers baby shower. I could have used one of those at about 4:00pm today.

Oh, and on a off-topic note.. at least off-topic from lemon cream cheese frosted cupcakes... *sigh*

  I was thinking today about the soundtrack of my life and I've concluded that this chapter would certainly be underscored with various beeps, pew pew pews, mouse clicks, battle sounds, and various other gaming noises peppered with

 the Man's laughter and general exclamations of badassery.

I love it...some of the best background noise ever.

And finally, it's Shark Week. 

"I've always been intrigued by other religions.... but not as much as sharks."

- the Man during a long theological discussion one night

cupcake fail..

The other night I finally attempted to use one of my Christmas presents from the Man's folks, a giant cupcake pan.  It's become a "thing" for me to make cupcakes for the guys at the Man's shop, the girls at my office, or just for fun.  I love cupcakes-- they're fun and cute and festive.  How could they be better?  I've made mini-cakes-- my next quest was giant cupcakes.  The Man's folks picked up on this and ordered me a giant silicone cupcake pan like this one from Collections Etc.

It all started off pretty well.  The thing I love about silicone bakeware is how easy it is to remove cakes from the forms. I made a strawberry cake (which was probably my first mistake-- it's a bit moist and doesn't really take well to shaping).  But I still saw potential and visions of cute giant cupcakes danced through my head.

When I started to assemble everything, things slowly started to go wrong:

The base of the cupcake, already swelling out from it's initial shape

When I put the top of the cupcake on, it began to look more like a ball.  Within a minute, the sides of the base cracked open and frosting came pouring out like hot magma.  I knew we had to regroup.  Thankfully the Man was helping me out and was on the ready.  We attempted to revive the cake but it didn't help.

So instead, I made a spoon cake.  I remember my grandmother doing that before when her cakes fell and frosting spackle couldn't repair the damaged layers.  She would just crumble the cake into a casserole dish and spread the frosting on top.  At about 11:00 at night, I thought it was worth a try. 

We still have kitchen stuff scattered all through the house, and after a scavenger hunt for my giant cupcake pan earlier in the evening (it was in the guest bedroom closet), I knew the Man and I weren't feeling up to tearing the house apart again.

I like to keep our "snacky" foods in glass jars and the smallest one seemed like a perfect fit.

I layered in the crumbled strawberry cake and cream cheese frosting and a few fun sprinkles.

I wanted to make it a little more festive, so I added some of my favorite faux raffia and a tag or two.

I'm pretty happy with the results. 

I really like the idea, it travels so much better and is a lot easier to carry. 

True, I failed in making my first giant cupcake.  However, I did create my first jarcake.

Cupcake fail....Jarcake WIN!

summer lovin'

Dear Alabama Summer,
When we first met, things were nice. I enjoyed pool parties, and sprinklers, cold watermelons and homemade ice cream. I loved time off from school, free time with friends, and going to the beach. I even did my best to attempt your likeness in my kindergarten play and everyone sang a song welcoming you. I don't remember much of the lyrics, but I was very proud to wave and smile and I even wore a dress for you, Summer. I liked you that much.  A dress!  With flowers and lace and ribbons...and everything.

As I got older, I still relished in the carefree feeling that summer inspired. I spent many late breezy summer nights on the porch swing at college apartment number three, and I can't count the number of fruity fresh drinks imbibed in your name.

I mean, who doesn't love an icy margarita and a few lazy hours to kick back and relax?

Even still, at first I'm happy to see you with your birthdays (mine in July and the Man's in August) and your allure of fun and free time.

However, dear Alabama Summer..

I am officially over you.

One too many hundred degree days with high humidity do not a free-wheeling mellow summer make. Saturday equaled a four shower day for me.. four ice cold, holy-cow-i-can't-take-it-i'm-disgusting showers.

I can deal with brown grass, and baked cars, and even melted chocolate but this is just ridiculous. It was 95 degrees at ten o'clock last night!

We need to break up, we need some distance, we don't need to talk, we do not need to pass in the aisles of Target and politely wave hello, we need a complete and total break.

Please don't call me, text me, e-mail or facebook me until at least June of 2011. K?

...

Alright, I admit. That was a bit harsh. I blame heatstroke and a dash of dehydration. Sooo, let's maybe still be friends. A little.

Just because I know one day when I'm freezing cold in the middle of January and it's rainy and dreary outside I'm going to wish for a pretty, bright, sun filled day.

So here's a suggestion: Let's just try and cut back a little on the take your breath, melt your shoes, wilt your plants, sticky sweaty heat.. please, I'm begging you.

 

In conclusion: thank you, Summer, for the sunshine and the promises of everything's beautiful days, lounge on the porch afternoons, wash it all away thunderstorms, throw it on the grill dinners, and the occasional

perfect summer night.

Now that's settled, please excuse me while I go take another shower.

blinded by the light..

You can sing along with me if you want.. just click here for some theme music.

So we have two awesome windows in our kitchen, but one BIG problem has come to our attention.  Now that there is not a wall dividing the rooms, a glare has reared it's ugly head.

We have a lovely shiny glare across the television-- which will not fly for much longer with the Man. 

I've been hunting for something to replace the pitiful blinds we removed and I'm falling for bamboo shades.   In a few of my apartments during my college days, I used matchstick blinds and I really like the natural texture it can bring into a room.  So first off some inspiration:

Light and bright from the Youngsters:

Comfy and cozy from Sarah, the queen of thrifty and "cauuute"

And even more inspiration from one of my favorite local-ish bloggers, Layla:

 

Look familiar?

All these are beautiful to me and I think it would look so fresh to have the natural shades with the breezy white sheers I picked up last yardsale weekend.

However, I checked my usual haunts for some textured shades and none were to be found.  I had been fawning over some from Target, but apparently they only carry them online now. I was hoping for an affordable option so we could put them up ASAP. I guess I need to do some "window shopping" first.  

Haha.. window shopping, for blinds... that's almost as bad as my music intro.

 Oh well, since my usual spots didn't have it-- I guess this birdie will have to check out World Market and maybe a little Home Depot excursion is in order.

I know, poor pitiful me.. having to roam World Market all alone...

I think I'll survive.