Happy 101 Award

Thanks Sara from Russet St. Reno for giving me this happy award. It was just what I needed to make my Monday happy.

As directed, I am listing ten things I like (in no particular order):

My awesome friends

Note: not *all* of my awesome friends are pictured here

Need I say more?

The men in my life

I was lucky enough to be raised by a half-genius, half-insane, all-awesome father.

Growing up I idolized my brothers (still do).

Stan and his twin, Duncan, do a lot to help me around this joint.

This is an old pic- check out that badass hair!

Food

Cooking it, eating it, ordering it, eating it, planning it, eating it…

Ipod touch

I never got the “There’s an app for that” jokes before. My world has changed.

Running

Admittedly this one is love/hate. Sometimes I genuinely love the feeling of running down the street blasting Daft Punk in my headphones and feeling invincible, and other times I hate putting right in front of left yet again with salty sweat running into my eyes, my shoulders slumped, my enchiladas creeping up my throat (sick, I know, I’m sorry) and people driving by probably wondering if I’m going to make it. I am 100% sure that I will cry during/after the marathon in April.

Home improvement blogs

Duh!

Biggest Loser/LOST/30 Rock

These are my shows. (Oh and I may or may not have a schoolgirl crush on Alec Baldwin. Gross I know.)

Camping and the outdoors

Backpacking in The Uintahs

Come onnnnn summer!

Parodies

They always make me laugh! From Naked Gun to Spaceballs to Mystery Science Theater 3000 to my favorite spoof blog, Seriously, so blessed! If “my life is perfect” blogs make you want to puke, and particularly if you live in Utah, then definitely check this one out!

Thrift store shopping

15 minutes to kill? Perfect, I’ll just swing by the DI/Goodwill/Salvation Army real quick. I head straight for glassware, furniture, decor, and fabric. I’m nothing compared to my sister though- I have been known to turn into a skeleton while she’s perusing women’s blue-striped shirts.

So there ya go! It’s a pretty generic list, but then again you probably don’t want to hear about all the really personal things I like, like sock-flossing. You know what I’m talking about. (Oh, you don’t? Then you’re less gross than me.)

Now for 10 blogs that I feel deserve the Happy 101 Award:

Aubrey and Lindsay’s blog

Little Red Roost

Thrifty Little Blog

Little House on the Corner

Recycled Lovelies

My brother’s blog

Yellow Brick Home

DC Rowhouse

This Old Crack House

Just Beachy

 

Creating a “before”

This weekend Stan and I spent hours in the yard. No, not sipping Pellegrino with lime in a hammock while watching the Superbowl on our outdoor big screen (Superbowl- that’s football, right? -Stan), but raking and cutting and burning. But it was actually pretty fun- I got to use my birthday present from Jonny:

(Check out that huge pile of dead things in the background- that’s nothing compared to how much we actually got rid of.) Isn’t that a sweet little burn barrel? Look at the bike cog, and the motorcycle chain around the top! Soon I hope to use the present for leisurely marshmallow roasting and not just utilitarian branch burning.

And we made some important discoveries throughout the day, such as how Misty manages to escape over the fence without getting a running start. I tried to get it on camera, but she is very sneaky. I did see her do it though- she just jumps straight up and pushes off the house and goes straight over the fence. We also discovered some of her old favorite toys that had been buried in the snow.

I love her face in this one- boy did we tucker her out.

And boy can that dog jump! She jumps like this every time I get home.

So yes, we spent the day trying to create a “before” for the yard. After raking up 4- or 5 bags of leaves, filling up 2 city trash cans, and burning a whole lot more, we’re getting close to seeing a blank canvas of a yard, in which I can put all of the things I talked about in this post. Aaahh.

PS I totally look like Napoleon Dynamite in the one where I’m throwing the toy.

 

Cha cha cha chimney

If I have to have a useless, awkward chimney jutting out into the kitchen and getting all up in my grill, it should at least showcase some cool-looking exposed brick. Which is why I am devoting hours of my life to chipping away the paint, wallpaper, and plaster from this old thing.

Yep, slow going. And as you can see I did not adequately cover up the stove to protect it from whoknowswhat from the walls, nor did I wear a dust mask. A concerned Stan got quite irritated with me at that and hauled the Shop vac up from the basement to fix my inadequate cleaning up job (admittedly I was planning on just leaving the mess and working on it a little more every day, but then I had a serious hankering for some huevos rancheros and had no choice but to clean off the stove, which is probably for the best anyhow). That was a long sentence.

My hilarious brother (and Stan too) always talks about leaving things half finished around your house and not cleaning up messes as you go and how that’s no way to live. I know they’re right but I’m just so laaaaazy sometimes. I’ll do better I swear!

Anyway, maybe I can look forward to something with this kind of charm

I know some people hate exposed brick, but I happen to love it.

 

Dough. Or lack thereof

Just a quick gripe post- Bank of America sucks. They really do. I was so excited about my house and loan, but they have totally dropped the ball, numerous times.

You see, the 203(k) loan is a really cool idea- it enables someone like me, without a ton of cash, to buy a fixer-upper and, well fix it up! I knew that I could comfortably afford to spend $120k tops,  but I only had enough for a down payment, and not for remodel expenses. (What’s that you ask? Why didn’t I just buy a house that was already fixed up? Because I’m a Moore!) So the loan let me borrow extra money on top of the $93k price of the house for repairs, so I still came in well within my budget. AND I got the added bonus of getting to pick everything out myself.

The PROBLEM is that the bank is all wacked. They took FOREVER to give my the first half of the money, and luckily it was my bro who I owed all the money to for the painting, bathroom remodel, etc. and he is a pretty nice creditor. No threatening calls or letters. But still, it’s not cool that it took them so long. If it were a contractor who is not my blood relative, they probably would have charged me all kinds of interest.

Anyway, so now I’m waiting on the second half so I can get on with it. The phone lines at BoA are a joke, and once you finally get through to someone, there’s about a 1 in 6 chance you’ll get someone who knows what the hell is going on (PARDON MY FRENCH).

Still don’t regret the purchase, but it would be nice if they would give me the dough that I’m making payments for. I should charge them interest.

Has anyone else done a 203(k) loan and lived to tell about it?

 

Help again? Incredible shrinking living room floor plans

I got so many good ideas from you guys- to think I only had Option 1 and Option 2- sheesh! Now I have a bazillion!

RC Willey has this nifty floor planning tool which is lots of fun to play around with.

The items in red are static and I was too lazy to put them on every drawing so just refer back to this one if you please.

Kasey sent me this picture and suggested a chaise

which could be set up this way:

Since there’s no back on it, it wouldn’t block the view of the fireplace, and would join dining room and living room (you could face either way sitting on it).

Or I could get one with more of a back and one arm and arrange it like this:

Or like this:

My sis sent me this picture

which could look cool arranged like this:

and it would still seat quite a few people and not block the fireplace as much.

I could also just forgo the love seat/chaise and do three chairs:

although that would only seat… three people (plus the ottomans I guess).

I like this idea, but it’s just a bit too crowded. That’s not a very big space on either side of the love seat (or apt sofa) and it probably isn’t very inviting:

This one might work too (or the opposite, with the love seat under the window) but it still feels a bit cramped.

Kim gave me the idea of a sectional, which had never crossed my mind as that’s normally something you would put in a large room. But then I saw this thing at Ikea

which may be the right mix of sectional couch and chaise. It’s small, but offers a lot of seating and I like how you could sit on it facing the dining room.

But what if I wanted to rearrange, like this?

For less of a commitment (to which side of the love seat the chaise is on) it might make sense to buy a love seat and a matching ottoman that is the same look and height, so it just looks like the Ikea one but you can still change it up. Something like this (except not this exact one):

but obviously just a love seat and ottoman, and push them together to make it look like a love seat/chaise.

Then there is always the idea of switching the LR and DR, but I’m just not sure about that because I feel like I wouldn’t fully get to enjoy the fireplace, and plus it’s kind of awkward because the natural pathway is from the front door to the kitchen and hall, and it cuts right through the middle of the living room:

Thanks again for all your ideas! Has anyone’s opinion changed? What seems to be the best “flow”? I am kind of leaning toward the love seat + ottoman = love seat chaise thing, but as always I’m open to suggestions!

 

You oughta be in pictures

Okay, so no one has ever actually said that to me. But my dear friend Ingrid’s little sister Adriana needed some subjects for a music video she was making for a contest, and I said yes. Oh and Stan said yes too. The contest is for the band Owl City, and if her video is one of the top ten, she’ll need your vote to be a winner! I’ll post the link to vote on Feb 5 but if you’d like to watch the video now, here it is:

I feel a little dumb for posting it since Stan and I are the subjects, but I  think she did a great job so I’ll get over it. She is a rather talented and ambitious young’un and deserves some recognition!

 

Help! The incredible shrunken living room!

I’m pretty sure that my living room is smaller than many people’s bedrooms. And it’s not really an open room either- so I need some help positioning furniture.

I suppose I might want to buy some furniture and some point… but that comes later.

Sadly I’m afraid that this tiny room is not big enough for my couch (which I scored for $110 from ksl.com!) so I will need to sell it and possibly get a love seat. So, can we all just pretend that the couch is a love seat for now? Couch = love seat. Couch = love seat. Ready? OK.

Option 1

(The little triangle table on the left will one day be replaced by an entryway bench.)

Option 2

Now there actually is a reason there is a sock draped over the couch, other than I am a slob with laundry lying around everywhere (which I won’t deny). It’s to show you where 60″ is (the smallest love seats I’ve seen). The couch itself is 88″. Obviously Option 2 leaves too narrow a space to walk into the living room if I keep the couch. But that’s why we’re pretending that the couch is a love seat.

So what do you think? I like Option 1 because it’s more open, but I like Option 2 because it’s cozier.

And how much other crap can I fit in there? Love seat and one chair? Love seat and two chairs? Coffee table? Storage ottoman(s)?

Is it weird to not own a couch?

Don’t be shy!

 

Celebrity Sighting

We went to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City this weekend. We did, in fact, see a celebrity. It was Colin Hanks! Tom Hanks’ son! He was in Orange County!! And HOUSE BUNNY!!!

And of course we saw our hot selves:

We also saw some firsthand work by another “celebrity”. His name is Banksy. Anyone heard of him? You can check out his site here. He’s an anonymous street artist, and his pieces are pretty satirical and poke fun at bits and pieces of our society. They are really pretty cool. He “hit” the side of the Java Cow in downtown Park City just a few days before. It’s a reporter taking an image of a flower that he’s pulled out of the ground (in case you didn’t get it):

I love it. Too bad there’s a picture of me by it but I’m making a really dumb face. But I like how this one has the snow and everything. Maybe I’ll have it printed and hang it up in my house somewhere (there, now this post is house-related).

 

Let’s all hug a tree today

It’s true that I am a bit of a treehugger. I mean, I still shave my armpits and bathe regularly, but I also engage in such activities as recycling, driving a small fuel-efficient car, and consuming things secondhand as often as I can (it helps that I’m cheap- er, frugal).

One treehugger thing that I do is subscribe to Mother Earth News. We always made fun of my dad for getting this magazine because the title sounds so… so… treehuggerish! But as with many things, I have grown up and realized that my dad may have been on to something.

The article that tickled my fancy in the latest edition was about a middle-aged couple who lives in a 480 sq ft house. How cool is that? I particularly like the article because they didn’t act all pious about it. In fact, it was more of a financial decision- they could no longer afford to build the “real” house they’d been planning on. But with some great design, an open floor plan, and a clutter-free policy, they have really learned to love living small.

I love small houses, mostly because there is less to clean. But there’s also less to heat and cool, less to furnish, and less to worry about in general. Now, I’m not judging you if you live in a big house (unless you live in a McMansion on the east bench of Salt Lake with a Hummer or two parked in the driveway, then I might judge you a little bit ). I’m just expressing my delight at creatively using small spaces to meet your needs. I stumbled upon this blog called Yellow Brick Home and really fell in love. They really know how to work 650 square feet, and with plenty of color to boot! Call me crazy, but I honestly believe that if I won the lottery tomorrow, I would live in something like that before I’d live in a big ol’ nasty house. I am also a big fan of this awesome Airstream.

One last small space idea. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m really excited to try Square Foot Gardening this spring. It’s just what it sounds like- you can grow as small or as big a garden you like- all in increments of square foots. You could even grow a 1 sq ft garden if you have very limited space or only have a patio! I realize it might be a bit ambitious to tackle a garden with all my other projects, but supposedly these kinds of gardens are extremely easy to maintain once you have them going. I think it would be cool to do one or two 2×5 gardens.

Treehuggers unite!

 

Black n’ white n’ fiery all over

I finished it! The fireplace, that is. The one that used to look like this:

First I painted it white, which I talked about in this post.

But the brass was all nasty looking so I decided to just spray paint it with some heat-tolerant spray paint. So I masked it all off with blue painter’s tape

then used cheaper masking tape to put newspaper all around so I wouldn’t get black overspray all over my beautiful white.

Then I went to town! I thought about doing white but I quite  like how the black turned out. Validate me.

I still have yet to light a fire. But I did bring some firewood in and set it next to the fireplace, so that’s a start.

Oh yeah and I ran ten miles on Saturday.