Just Expressive

As a reminder, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is this Saturday October the 4th. Currently I am at 80% of my goal, which is now $400 (up from the original $300) I would love to hit that goal and if at all possible go over it. The race as a whole is about 39% of its $3 million dollar goal, every little bit helps!

Wills is walking with me and we’ve just combined our fund-raising efforts into one page here ; if you are interested in donating, they have extended the donation window until November because of Hurricane Ike. Anyone that donates is eligible for a fabulous prize! Just leave me a comment letting me know that you’ve donated (not everyone’s blog name is the same as their real name) and I’ll put you into the drawing.

Thank you again for all of you that have already donated! I am so stoked to have raised more this year than last and to be participating again having such a personal connection to this cause.

As October is breast cancer awareness month, and is soon approaching, don’t forget your self exams! You can use the Komen Screening Tool which includes a link to a video tool and even printable cards for further information.

Save the boobies!

So there’s a lot of dramz going on right now around The Girls Next Door and their futures. Kendra is supposedly dating an NFL football player and is in lurve. Miss Bridget (who just turned 35 yesterday, Happy Birthday!) is focusing on her career and upcoming show on the Travel Channel ‘Bridget’s Beaches’. Which of course leaves Holly, Hefs #1; I’ve already reported that she’s left Hef for Criss Angel. Now there are reports that was a lie, maybe originally put out by Criss’s camp, and that they “are just friends right about now” which is totally not an actual denial of anything further. E online has a video interview of Hef and the girls speaking of the transition. It’s obvious that the relationships have moved on, Kendra even talks about Hef giving her away as the “father of the bride” Um does anyone else find that GROSS if you believe that she was actually sleeping with the geezer? Hef and the girls talk transition

In news that’s shocking only because he finally admitted it, Gayken finally came out of the closet. He’s on the cover of People magazine talking fatherhood and being gay. Unfortunately, owing to our shiteous economy or the fact that he’s in the bottom ranks as a successful AI alumnus, he only pulled $500,000 for this “breaking news” story. Aww. Poor Clay, I don’t know how many of Barry Manilow’s suits he can buy for that amount. Kathy Griffin is going to have things to say about this, I’m sure!

So in this episode of you be the judge, we have the story of Jamie Lynn’s baby daddy and the Wal-mart. I hear tell, that he took a roll a pictures to the local Wal-mart to be developed, a roll of pictures that included her breastfeeding their spawn. Now that is his woman’s breast that is exposed feeding his young, so what could be wrong with that? Well need I remind y’all that his woman is UNDERAGE and that people are greedy fucktards? Some Wal-mart employee stole them pics and wanted to sell copies. Hello Federal Offense! So now we get to the you be the judge part of the story. Even without the whole Federal Offense stuff, I can’t think of too many women that want the local Wal-mart photo idiot looking at pictures of them breastfeeding, haven’t they ever heard of a DIGITAL CAMERA? So is young Casey: just that stupid, trying to get his ass bounced to the curb before the shotgun weddin or so backwards and southern he just doesn’t get it? You be the judge!*

Once a crack-ho always a crack-ho. Poor George just can’t say no and apparently loves to get arrested in public restrooms. He was picked up again September 19th for possession of crack cocaine. Soon after he and his partner were seen packing up and leaving their flat hopefully he’s headed back to rehab again.

Travis Barker and Dj Am were both critically injured in a plane crash Saturday in South Carolina. They were both transferred to the burn unit with 2nd and 3rd degree burns and are undergoing treatment. Of the 6 passengers, they are the sole survivors. The accident seems to be the result of a tire blow-out on take off. The sprog wanted to be a drummer because of Travis, our thoughts for a speedy recovery are with them, as well as condolences for the families of those that were lost.

Hi. I’m Meg Ryan, did you know I’m starring in a movie? I know, it’s been a while, right? Well not many people saw that last movie I was in and I know you don’t like it when I try to do serious stuff, like that last movie I was in…at least judging from the horrible box office. So anyway, America, I’m listening to you! I’m back! I’m in a comedy! My lips are somewhat normal in size! See? I take your notes to heart and to prove it I’m dishing all about how Dennis cheated on me in the latest InStyle, because as America’s Sweetheart, I know how you love that sort of thing. So come see my movie, there is not even a man in it anywhere! But Deborah Messing is in it, I even know how much the gays love her, I’m covering ALL my bases!

When they say “don’t drink the water” in regards to getting pregnant, apparently they should also say don’t swim in it either. Nicole Kidman is crediting her pregnancy with Sunday Rose to swimming in the Kununurra waters in Australia while filming her latest movie. Six other women working on the film also are sporting bumps as a result. Sounds like the tourist flow to that area is soon going to be bangin with women looking to get preggers! I think it’s more likely that she got out of a relationship with that couch jumping alien ex-husband and moved on to someone better, viola baby!

Couples:
Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson finally admitting they have been dating a long time

Hooking up:
Drew Barrymore seen mugging down with 12 years her junior Gossip Boy Ed Westwick

Final item of note. If you haven’t seen Sharon Osborne on Ellen speaking of she who must not be named, I recommend you check it out. It made me want to give Sharon a sloppy wet kiss. She also said that she wants to have sex with Anderson Cooper and they showed that bit of the clip on CNN last night, oh Anderson, you are such a tart!

*this story is exaggerated. it was actually a digital camera card but WHY would you go to wal-mart to make copies? buy a damn printer for home. jeez

After all the great feedback yesterday on my kitchen, my plan for today’s post has changed; I’d rather do a before and after post about the kitchen instead for all the recent-comers.

Some of you have seen these pics already and know the kitchen from whence it came but for those that don’t, I hope you enjoy!

We have lived in this house a little over a year now and from the first time I looked at it, I knew what I wanted to do to the kitchen, of course it’s still not finished but it’s MUCH better than it used to be…at least IMHO.

This is the kitchen as it looked when we walked through. Please note the stove, microwave SHELF-it’s not even a built in microwave and hideous lightbox.

This is after we finished most everything. I still want to replace the counter tops, sink, floors and add hardware.

Painting the cabinets was more work than either of us bargained for as the wood was old and not in the best shape so the prep stages: sanding and priming, took a long time. I think it’s totally worth all the effort though. They look SO MUCH BETTER black than they did before and play off the green paint so well.

The backsplash we did ourselves as well.

Here is a closer shot of it

The square tiles come together on a backer sheet but I wanted more interest so I came up with the idea of adding the brushed nickel rounded tile and then adding additional tile above it. We also had to cut off of sheets, add more rows of tile and around outlets where necessary so spacers are your friend. Tiling really isn’t that hard but grouting this sort of tile is a pain in the ass because they are all uneven so working the grout in with a grout float is difficult, as is getting it all evenly cleaned off. Definitely use the pre-sealer before the grout step; it will save you a lot of headaches when dealing with porous natural stone. In between the accent tile and the field tiles (the squares) and for all the squares above the accent tile, I used a piping bag that I bought at the grocery store to make it easier on myself and OMG did that help immensely.

To cut the accent tile we used a dremmel tool and we tucked the cut tiles in the opposite corners so they would be less noticeable.

On to the lighting. We removed the lightbox and replaced it with a more stylish retro looking one. It’s also fluorescent which is energy efficient but looks a hell of a lot better. Originally I wanted a different fixture but our ceilings (in the kitchen, in other spaces they are vaulted) are too low to accommodate anything that isn’t flush mounted. In place of the outdated can lights, I found some pendant fixtures that retro-fit directly, they screw in like light bulbs. We put compact fluorescent bulbs in these as well so hooray, more energy savings.

When you do any renovation or DIY project, there is always the possibility that you will encounter something you aren’t prepared for; the picture above is what lurked behind the microwave shelf. Hello, what the hell kind of wiring is that? Gah! Willy had to totally rewire the whole thing and make his own outlet for the microwave through the cabinet above. He is very proud of the wiring job he did from that mess of crap.

When we moved the stainless steel fridge was unfortunately dented and though it’s a small dent it’s very noticeable, because the light bounces off. I’ve come up with a plan for dealing with that issue but I just haven’t purchased them yet.

I’m going to get these wall graphics in two sets: black and yellow or maybe gray and yellow and layer them to cover the dent. Um. Sans hearts, obviously.

Possibly one set of these swirly things and one damask

I need to decide.

I have really loved decorating our kitchen and think that it has turned out as well in real life as in my head. It is quite a bit smaller than the kitchen I had in my rent house, so it was important to me to have it at least look the way I wanted it to. I will be a lot happier when we can finish the final things that need be done to it but counters and floors are expensive so they will wait a bit longer.

I love this stuff so if you have any decorating questions or anything, feel free to hit me up.

Halloween Pics! The house is mostly done. I have some minor things to add like moss and spider-webbing, but that all collects dust like crazy so it will wait until closer to Halloween. The outside I have more things to buy yet (and we still have debris problems) so those pictures will be forthcoming…you know once I actually do that decorating.

In the kitchen, I have filled some of the space above my cabinets with various Halloween odds and ends. I think all the orange pops off the green walls. You can’t see it very well but to the far right is a “spell” book from Hallmark that talks when you open it and a small cauldron. Also not pictured to the left: a witch hand candlestick holder, metal witch head thingo and another pumpkin.

This is a display of Department 56 items on the bar between the kitchen and dining room areas. Also pictured: rubber spiders, various skulls and a wooden menu sign.

This is my skull centerpiece on my dining table. I think the red candle needs to be white but other than that, I love it.

New placemats for the table

Some pumpkins on top of the bookcase. The other side of this is my witches…but they are up year-round so I didn’t take a pic of them.

On the liquor cabinet: a tavern sign, skeleton candle holder and a bottle of Dead Red (Jerry Garcia’s wine).

On the entertainment center: spooky trees with raven accent and three metal houses. I’ll add some moss and mini tombstones to this display soon.

This is the left side of the mantle, the middle hand-carved skeleton came from my fellow Halloween freak Katie while she was in Mexico. Thank you Katie!

More Department 56 on the right side of the mantle

A couple of gargoyles on the fireplace hearth

A blurry pic of my skull chandelier. Yes, this has been up since last year and I have yet to put candles on it. I must get to that this year.

This is in our guest bathroom and I had to turn him off when my nephew was here last time. He’s motion activated and talks and I guess is just a little too scary. Oops!

and finally

My resin bust. She’s on top of a tall metal candle holder than I covered with some black gauze.

Have I mentioned lately that I am from Arizona? We don’t have hurricanes in Arizona. An Arizona native doesn’t exactly come naturally programmed for hurricane survival, which made me think that other people might not either. As I find tips and tricks interesting, I thought I might share some with y’all. These are tips for people not evacuating. Of course if you are in an evacuation zone or close to an evacuation zone… go.

• Hey, gas is going to be wicked scarce. Heed any and all “top off” warnings. When gas stations had gas, lines were over an hour in length and cops were called in for at least one dispute. Don’t, however, hoard gas. Your hoarding is going to cause the running out of gas problem and make it hard for all of us in the days after the storm passes, get only what you need and then MOVE ALONG.
• Ice! Ice is going to be like freaking gold. I’m not even kidding. Do what I did and use your ice maker. Fill ziploc freezer bags with ice for as many days as you can leading up to the storm. I promise it will come in handy. You can pack your freezer with ice and it will act as a giant cooler when you lose power. You will most likely lose power; over 2 million people lost power.
• Speaking of no power, you can’t charge your cell phones without it. Charge them before hand and get car chargers for them so that you can charge them when needed if your power doesn’t come back on in a relatively soonish amount of time.
• Your kids will likely be out of school for a long ass time. If you can’t evacuate figure out a way to keep them entertained. Puzzles, board games, charge hand-held gaming devices (like a DS) and batteries ahead of time-it will help your sanity; if you can get your hands on a portable DVD player, I recommend it.
• Fill one bathtub (if you have more than one) or a large bucket with water in case they shut yours off. You can use this water until your water is deemed potable. To do dishes, to give to the animals and even to drink or flush toilets if necessary. I boiled water from the tap and mixed it with cool water sitting in the tub and did the dishes that way.
• Buy bottled water. You never know how badly the water supply will be contaminated and it’s good to have more than just the tub water to live on.
• Camping lanterns are good for nighttime. It lights up a bigger area than candles and propane lasts a long time.
• Try to have multiple boxes of matches. Place matches and candles in every room before the storm. That way when you lose power everything is already where it needs to be and you don’t have to scramble.
• Having a gas stove is a good thing. I always look for that in any house I live in. I can always cook even without power. If for some reason I lose gas, there is always the grill. Make sure you have charcoal and matches before the storm.
  Another tip for the grill, move it to a covered area BEFORE the storm; it won’t do you any good being out in the torrential downpour.
• Clean out your fridge before the storm. Any old leftovers are only going to smell worse and grow funk faster when the power goes out and your fridge begins to heat up. Try to catch the last round your trash crew runs because you have no idea when they will start up again afterward.
• Make sure you have food for not only your family but all your animals as well, it’s going to be just as hard to feed them as yourselves after.
• When buying rations, buy snacks as well as regular food. People tend to snack when they are bored as all hell and TRUST you are going to be bored, you may as well eat well. Having peanut m&m’s and pudding cups around greatly eased the boy’s suffering.
• Try to have batteries for a radio so you know what the hell is going on in the outside world (I forgot this and was clueless except for what I could get on the iPhone). In a pinch, you can get in your car and listen to the radio for news, our city has the tv news funneled to the radio stations during a disaster. Find out if your city does the same thing.
• Set up your sleeping situation away from windows as much as possible. You don’t want to be in the path of where trees are going to come down. I watched them sway during the storm and you wouldn’t believe how much they move. It’s really rather amazing.
• Help whoever you can whenever you can. Give ice. Mend fences. Cut up felled trees. Patch roofs. Karma can be your friend or a hateful bitch, it’s your opportunity to choose.
• Have extra fence pickets, nails, a chainsaw and other tools available for clean-up and repair. You are going to need them.
• A  sense of humor is a valuable commodity; arguably the most valuable. When your down the street neighbors start turning into chainsaw wielding idiots that think they are champion loggers and that pulling down a huge ass tree with the bumper of their truck is a GOOD DAMN IDEA, laughing at them will keep you from killing them.

I’m sure this is not an exhaustive list but these are things that I have first-hand experience with. If you have any that you would like to add, please feel free to share!

to get going after a hurricane, a lot longer than people expect. You never know what restaurant is going to have power, what store is up and running, what traffic signals are working. Our gas station just now got gas after not having any for over 4 days. The sprog’s school has pushed back their re-opening twice now; supposedly he returns tomorrow and we have no word on when/how much of the missed school he has to make up.

Home Depot’s are without any generators and daily are sold out of all fence materials. Did you also know that they have ONE truck available for rent and the guys at the tool counter have no idea at any given time if it’s there? I guess it’d be hard to keep track of…only having ONE and all.

We are still under curfew and will be for the foreseeable future.

The HOV lane is closed which means that Willy will most likely have another over 2 hour commute home on the bus tonight.

The debris from downed trees hasn’t been picked up and is all dry and brown in front of the house. It’s a lovely fire hazard while we wait for the trucks to come and fetch it all. They do have drop off points for you to use, in the meantime, but you are only allowed ONE TRUCK LOAD. Um. Right. We still have two felled trees in the back that we haven’t even been able to cut up and put out front yet because there is no room. How the hell do you expect us to put it in one truck load?

We are expected to lose power again when they come back to get neighbor’s on the grid. No idea how long it will take to do that but I’m trying to prepare myself for that to happen. We have taken bags of ice across the street to help them out while they wait. Willy’s parent’s still don’t have power either. I think the last report was 803,000 people without.

We have fences propped up on both sides now so the dogs have small amounts of yard to potty in without a leash, with all the trees down back there it’s a sticky situation either way.

The flood waters brought mold spores out the ass so I am DYING from my allergies. I feel like I am breathing water and my head is sloshing about; I have no motivation to do anything but lay on a couch with a blankie today. LAME!

I have had a couple of offers of present love, thank you! I love you! I will e-mail you guys shortly. Sorry for the delay, I have been swamped around here. Coming this week: tips for surviving hurricanes, another plea for money to save the boobies, my Halloween displays, OMFG and maybe a scan of an embarrassing tween picture I found.

Ala Katie

Ala Me

From BlogHer this year.

Friday September 19th is National Respect day. The website can be found here and the rest of the YouTube videos can be found here.

Thanks for the inspiration to participate in doing this Katie, love you girl.

I bought these yesterday along with a pair of over the knee socks that say Wicked at the top. Could they be any more adorable?

Welcome to Distraction Station! I am going to talk about something other than the damned Hurricane.

Check out this feathered headband from Love, Lulu Mae. Isn’t it gorgeous? I also really love this one:

I found these through Making It Lovely. Definitely in keeping with my “signature look”

Yesterday, the Anthropologie mini catalog for accessories arrived in the post.

See that purse with the ribbon detail? It seems somewhat twee, but I want it anyway. I also like the spat detailing on the boots the model is wearing.

This rice is very yummy. It cooks in the microwave in 90 seconds…but it’s even BETTER if you take it out of it’s pouch and cook it in a skillet. Add two tbsp of water, a couple shakes of dried thyme and a pinch of black pepper and cook over med/med-high heat depending on your stove until cooked through and soft. We ate this with chicken I grilled before it went bad the other day. Yum!

These Dept 56 mugs are adorable for Halloween. When you drink from them, they give you a creepy snout! So cute!

and finally if you haven’t seen Ellen and Portia’s wedding video then you might not be aware that Josh Radin sang for them. This is the song and it’s so beautiful, it gives me goosebumps. We will have it at our renewal in 2 years.

So hi, apparently I am fixated on being in a hurricane zone. It’s all I can talk about or think about and all of my daily function is how to get around life with this shit going on. We have power again but I don’t know for how long. Our freezer is now filled with ice and yesterday I grilled chicken for lunch and made hamburger helper for dinner before those things could go bad.

We haven’t really had any access to the news and mom has been paranoid that there is another one brewing in the gulf just waiting to slap us around again, so I was happy to see The National Hurricane Center say there are no tropical cyclones right now.

I was pretty sure I heard (and watched) a tornado from my position on the couch behind a pillow but since I have never been in one before, I didn’t know what they would sound like. I said something about that to the crazy neighbor, when she came home from Austin, yesterday and she said that I did. Apparently one was reported in our area and she was texting the christian karaoke neighbor, to that effect, with the news updates from her safety in Austin. Awesome, now at least I know what they sound like. The sliding glass door was bowing in and out and I thought for certain it was going to shatter or just rip out entirely. I think when we have the money we will be replacing it with double-paned french doors.

That’s the thing, we have come out of this one with a list of things we need to have “just in case”. We are most likely buying a generator (and FEMA might even reimburse us for it), we need a portable DVD player to occupy the sprog (he has been going CRAZY), we need more puzzles and board games, another cooler would be nice and we need a lot of batteries. I had plenty of candles and matches. We already bought a chainsaw to get through the debris but one the the trees has damaged it so we need a new chain assembly already. I did really well with saving food as I packed the freezer with a huge bag of ice and then never opened it so it kept things frozen for a long time. The cooler, I was able to save things by insulating it with a polar fleece blanket. All my years of camping do come in handy. We also bought an air mattress in anticipation of Willy’s family coming and more propane for the lantern so that helps for camping season.

Yesterday, sans power, we worked on clearing all the debris and downed limbs. My legs are all scratched to hell but we got a lot of stuff done. Here are some pictures for you.

Here are the back trees that are down, this is the area where my sagos are? They are underneath all this crap.

The backside of the downed tree (this was taken yesterday, the first pic was taken while it was still storming)

This is one side of the fence down (and the rest of it leaning)

The other side of the fence down

This is where our tree fell and hit the neighbor’s gutter

This is our neighbor’s house and all that debris? It’s from our tree except for the very front bit, that is from their own tree.

Look at how much work we did!

The other debris pile

The mail is running so if anyone wants to send me “dude that sucks!” presents, I’m not going to say no! Haha!