Update: I'm still here.

Okay. So. It has now been almost a month since the whole spyware situation arose. And my laptop still isn't fixed. Actually, I don't even have it anymore. Long story, which I may or may not get into someday. Let's just say, I wish spyware was the worst of my problems right now.

The unfortunate events of this past month have almost made me decide to quit blogging altogether. But dammit, I'm not going down that easy! Even Luke still wants me to keep doing it, and that's certainly worth something.

I just wanted my few blog buddies to know that I haven't disappeared. And, in my best Ah-nuld impersonation... "I'll be back."  Soon!

Thanks for sticking with me.

Bad News

So, my laptop has once again been infected with some sort of spyware. *Angry face* Until I get the problem fixed, I won't be able to post for awhile (I'm writing this from work... shhhhhh). That means I also haven't had a chance to read everyone else's blogs. *Sad face*

I'm not sure if I'll completely re-format my computer like I did last time, or just take it somewhere to get fixed. I'm not very good at this stuff. So if anyone has any spyware solutions (or preventative actions for future reference), feel free to pass them along!

Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm back in business. 'Cuz I know you're all waiting to see photos of our (almost) finished sidewalk!!!

Caught in the act

As it turns out, Luke is not the only one in the household who's a fan of Ryobi power tools.

Is this the face of guilt, or what?

She didn't feel guilty for long...

Luke wasn't around when this happened, or he would have shoo'ed her out immediately while grumbling about cat hair. I, however, was quick to grab the camera instead. :) As far as I'm concerned, this is what he gets for leaving his tools around the house, no?

Guest Bedroom: Please, come in

After painting the walls, painting some fugly furniture, rearranging, and tinkering, our guest bedroom is finally open for business! Just to refresh your memory, here’s the before:

The walls were kind of an aqua color, which was fine, but it’s the same color as the other two bedrooms in the house, so I wanted something different. This room was essentially used as a storage room for extra college furniture and odds-and-ends that didn’t have a place anywhere else in the house. Basically, it’s the room that you keep the door closed all the time so no one sees it unless they have to stay there.

One “powder blue” incident and a coat of Valspar Metropolis later, we had a gray room. Much better already! It’s kind of a chameleon gray that has a bluish tinge in certain lighting. I think it’s a very calm, soothing color. Perfect for a guest room, right?

And now, I present to you the done-enough-for-now after:

I bought the dark gray “blackout” curtain for the large north window last year, because it gets drafty and also lets a lot of light in. Now the room stays nice and dark in the mornings, although I don’t know if it’s really helping that much as an insulator.

Unfortunately, the east window still has the oh-so-lovely “temporary” paper shade – the same kind that currently covers most of the other windows in our house. And yes, we’ve had all these shades for over two years now. Oy…yet another project on the list… but I digress.

I found this queen bedding set on sale at Target for only $65!

I decorated with a few accents, which I either grabbed from other rooms in the house or found at Goodwill/garage sales (more on those some sweet finds some other time). Other than a couple pops of orange and blue, the room is primarily gray and white. Ideally, there would be something on the big empty wall above the dresser, but I haven’t figured that out yet. Maybe it’ll be a DIY art project someday. There is a vanity mirror that attaches to the dresser, but I didn’t like how it looked, so I nixed it. 

Although it’s an eyesore, I kept our old 13" TV in here just so guests have the option of watching a little tube in bed. (Except we only have a few channels on our limited cable, so this is certainly not high up on the amenity list.)

Bedroom budget breakdown:

Wall paint (Valspar Metropolis) - $30

Furniture – free from neighbor

Furniture paint (Valspar Satin White latex enamel and Rustoleum Crystal Clear Gloss) - $20

Bedding from Target - $65

Curtain - $50

Accents – Under $10

Total: About $175

So there you have it! I could spend a lot more time and money decorating in here, but considering we have overnight guests only a handful of times a year, it’s probably not worth the effort right now. The main thing is that I don’t have to keep this room an ugly, hidden secret anymore. In fact, I find myself wandering in here every once in awhile just to gaze around and pat myself on the back.

This is my first major room “re-do” in the house, so I’d love to know what you think. And if you have any other (inexpensive) decorating suggestions, lemme hear ‘em!

Today I made...

It's been a pretty productive Saturday, and it's only noon! This morning I woke up at 6:30 to go to the farmers market (where I picked up our usual tomatoes and giant cucumbers), came back to pull some weeds (thrilling), and did some housecleaning (double thrilling).

Somewhere in there I also found myself kind of bored and craving something sweet (which is not out of the ordinary for me). Ihad some coconut and white chocolate chips I wanted to use up, so I found a recipe for Coconut Oatmeal Cookies at All Recipes (thank goodness for the ingredient search!). I also used my brand new--and might I add, quite lovely--measuring cups that I won from Mrs. Chic's giveaway!

Before - gooey goodness

After - crispy, chewy, and coconutty

I finally upgraded recently from my measly single cooling rack to this new space-saving, 3-tiered rack. (By the way, this recipe made more like 4 dozen, not 2 dozen like it says.)

Anyway, the cookies are very sweet and very dee-licious. Next time I'd probably try them with regular chocolate chips for something different. There's nothing quite like a glass of cold milk with a warm cookie right out of the oven, am I right people? Luke probably won't eat many of them, because he has a "thing" about coconut and its texture (I, on the other hand, love coconut). Did I take this into consideration when I chose the recipe? You betcha. :)

On a completely unrelated note, I'm also excited to say that I think I'll be ready to reveal our made-over guest bedroom this week! Woot woot!

Currently in progress...

These clay pavers (all 750 of them)

are going here (next to our limestone border):

Luke has been working diligently on our sidewalk every chance he gets, and it's coming along really well -- just a little slow (because he's really anal, which is a good thing in this case). I'm hoping for a full reveal in the next few weeks... but for now -- because I just can't help myself -- here is the sneak preview!

 I can't freakin' wait til it's done!!!

One down, two to go.

Well, I did it. I've already managed to kill one of the house plants I bought earlier this spring. I'd never really had a real house plant before, so I thought I'd "branch out" (ha) and give it a try. I bought three on a whim when they were on sale at Lowe's.

I watered them enough to keep the soil damp, but tried to avoid over-watering them. I even found some pretty pots for them at Tuesday Morning (only $10 each!). I thought, surely I can manage to keep them alive. How hard can it be?

Apparently, pretty hard.

Here's what this Cordyline plant looked like in its glory days. As you can see, it boasted lush, glossy, green foliage with tinges of reddish-purple. This one was Luke's favorite.

The little tag on it said it needed "high light" and to be fertilized every other month. I set it in our dining room, which I thought had enough light when our patio blinds were open. I also recently bought some fertilizer from the garden center to be mixed in with its water, but that was probably too little too late. By then, the damage had already been done.

Over the past couple of weeks, Cordyline seemed to be losing more and more color, and some of its leaves would fall off at the slightest touch. Earlier this week, I thought foolishly that maybe if I set it out in the sunlight for a few hours, it would magically be revived. Well, a stiff breeze blew off half of its brittle leaves, leaving behind this sad sight:

R.I.P. Cordyline (Sorry, Luke.)

However, after further inspection of the original plastic pot, I saw some gross little wormy insects coming out of the holes in the bottom. Not the earthworm variety. The creepy-crawly kind with legs. Disgusting. I don't know if this is normal or not, but I do know that I don't want this in my house anymore.

As for the other two survivors, a Mass Cane and an Anita, they may meet their fate under my watch soon, too. Mass Cane is also started to look a little wilted and it's getting a couple brown leaves. Only Anita, which says "high light or low light," seems to be faring okay...so far.

I'm not sure exactly where I went wrong, or if it was a combination of factors that contributed to Cordyline's untimely death. Maybe I'm just not cut out for house plants, and I can accept that.

Honestly, after seeing those worms, I'm not sure that I care if the other two plants live much longer or not. I also think that the plants have been the source of some annoying fruit fly-like insects that started appearing around the time we brought them home. Coincidence?  I think not.

See? This is why I stick to the fake stuff.