Author: Yarrowhouse

Chalkboard progress report

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Okay wonderers, there’s no turning back now! First coat of chalk paint is on the wall. I have to wait 24 hours for the next coat.

Here’s what I learned today.

You really should wear plastic gloves when your painting. It makes cleaning your hands up so much easier.

Concentrated 2x Dawn dish liquid is the new all purpose cleaner. Adding vinegar only increases the power.

Dream big, live bigger! I decided to go full scale on my board. I kept thinking I wasn’t going to need all the space I had taped out but hey, what’s a few inches between need and want. 🙂

This is what I got.

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Stow away, go away

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Good evening fellow wonderers:

First, let me tell you my progress on my magnetic chalkboard wall. It’s magnetic!!!!! For some reason I didn’t think it was going to work. I was expecting the wall to crumble or something drastic to happen for my hubby to get angry about. But so far, so good. The magnets are sticking. Now I am at a crossroad. The sales girl at Lowes had to mention I could use any kind of paint over the magnetic primer so now I’m wavering between chalk paint and wall paint to minimize the chalkboard look. I’m gonna sleep on it. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Now for my go away story.

I used to live in the country side of York county where I would see an occasional deer, rabbit, maybe a turtle or two during the twenty something years I lived out there but now that I’m in the city side of the country I have seen a crawfish in my yard, a black snake, a mole and today I don’t know what to call it but a creature I hope to never stow away with me again ever! That was a long sentence I know but I couldn’t break my chain of thought for fear.

I was driving to a school meeting, windows down, breeze blowing in my hair. (Yea, I signed up for celebration parent.) I was thinking on the way there how to NOT volunteer for too many things at once, you know, getting my excuses together when up popped the head of a monster at my driver’s window. I was trying desperately to close the window without killing myself in the process. It’s a new car and I don’t know how to work everything yet and under pressure I was pushing all the buttons on the door trying to keep my eyes on it and on the road. I yelled at it thinking I was going to scare it to jump off. I closed the window and sped up hoping it would blow off my car. He was riding like he was wind surfing. When I pulled into the parking lot I said to him, “Okay, you stowed away but I know where your not going back!” I got out the car and took his picture because my husband would never believe how big this thing was.

I feel like I need a body guard. Almost everyday something is lurking around my house but this villain has been removed. I hope his family doesn’t come looking for me! If I am missing, here is your number one suspect:

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Until next time, keep wondering!

Location Approved

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Good morning fellow wonderers:

A location has been approved by hubby
for my magnetic chalkboard wall. Drum roll please – The mud room!

Why there you might be wondering?

It is right off the kitchen where Lil J can play while I’m cooking.

It is right near a bathroom.

It has doors on both sides of the room and if it is an unsightly mess, I can close it off from the rest of the house.

That’s where I got the husband’s interest and finally approval. I had to go the long way of course by suggesting the kitchen first, which is really funny, because I don’t have a whole wall in the kitchen except the wall that hangs the canvas I brought back from Aruba and if you knew how I struggled for a location for that picture, you’ll understand it will never be moved. 🙂

Here are my before pictures and proof that the kitchen wouldn’t do. Heheehe.

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My husband built the shelving in last year so that part of the mud room just needs some adjusting. Here are the tools I will be using.

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High density foam roller
Rust-oleum magnetic primer (thank you stitching grandma)
Valspar chalkboard paint
Painter’s tape

Can you guess what I’ll be doing today?

Thank you for perusing.

Until next time, keep wondering.

Magnetic chalk paint

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I need a gallon of magnetic chalkboard paint to keep up with all the homework and class assignments. I may be smarter than a 5th grader but 6th grade is wearing me out and this is only the 2nd full week. My frig is full of notes and magnets. I need a whole wall or small room to keep up with all the demands. I just need somebody to dare me to do it. I need a real excuse to chalkboard paint. 🙂

Home Shopping

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Hello Wonderers:

It’s a three day weekend and my husband has to work. So what’s a girl to do, you might be wondering? Shop of course. Unfortunately for me I have to shop at home because September is my anniversary and my birthday month so I dare not tamper with the budget in case there is a diamond on the horizon. Hint, hint.. 🙂 My friend salpal1 at whatimuptotoday.wordpress.com taught me how to create that smiley face.

So shopping at home means room update. This room is a clean slate because I have been conflicted about what colors to use. One of my favorite colors is red but I promised the hubby that I would not paint a room in the new house red since he allowed me to do it at the old house. The family room and dining room.

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So here I am with all these beige walls. I was thinking blue but the inner me says RED.

Remember this table?

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I have not done anything to it yet except I put a knob on the drawer and I moved it into the bathroom next to the mud room. I also gathered up some Liz Jardine poster prints I brought back in 2004 that have been rolled up on top of the china closet since. I didn’t remember them until we moved and they were discovered. I framed them about six months ago but they have been in the closet waiting for me to give up on blue. There is also a Charles Bibb calendar page I framed and hung in the room.

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Some white towels from an upstairs bathroom and a plant from the livingroom and ta da I’ve done something with this space. Maybe my husband will like it and encourage me to paint the room red. But not this weekend!

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Until next time, keep wondering and enjoy the weekend.

My Award nominees

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BambiLeigh.wordpress.com

I will have to change the criteria a little. I only follow about 10 bloggers at this point and I’m not sure if you can nominate anyone who has already been nominated or if the nominees have more than 200 followers, so I am going to nominate the blogs I love and you guys will need to govern yourselves accordingly. Here goes……

My nominations are:

Contoursoflife, A journey called life in first person because writes so eloquently and honest.
contours office.wordpress.com

Passing down crazy. Love her projects.
passingdowncrazy.wordpress.com

Yoonanimous. She tells the best stories with such detail and I love her sense of humor.
yoonanimous.wordpress.com

Whatimuptotoday. Here you will find the best Friday lists and gorgeous pictures to go with the blog.
whatimuptotoday.wordpress.com

House of 34. The best DIY projects. She is very creative and detail oriented.
houseof34.wordpress.com

Pretty Little Things in a box. Just because she has pretty little things that she makes. I enjoyed her reading list also. She’s been nominated before I know and if I can’t nominate you again, just know I enjoy your blog
prettylittlethingsinabox.wordpress.com

Feed Your Head. Very thought provoking. ”
feedyourhead.wordpress.com

Girl on the contrary. She is so quirky.
GirlontheContrary.wordpress.com

Pretty lady baby. Because she’s my baby. I got my first PrettyLadyBaby bag. She’s really getting good. She might one day be my favorite high end store BambiLeigh.
prettyladybaby.wordpress.com

Daycare Chronicles. She just deep in her writing. I aspire to write so well.
Daycarechronicles.wordpress.com

Here are my questions.

What is your favorite word?

What is the one word that describes you the most?

What do you consider your strongest belief?

What is your secret indulgence?

What brings you peace?

What senses do you cherish the most?

If you could be a superhero what would your power be?

Why do you blog about your topic?

What’s one thing that you desire to have everyday?

What defines love to you?

Hope I did you proud BambiLeigh. Thanks again!

Until next time, keep wondering

Award Nomination

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I’ve been nominated for Liebster Award via BambiLeigh. Thank you BambiLeigh for the nomination. You can check out her site here. http://BambiLeigh.wordpress.com/
She is quirky and humorous with an Esty Store of handmade minions.

Okay BambiLeigh, I hope I can do this right.

I was nominated for this award because she likes my blogs!!!! I have under 200 followers and she has 10 questions for me to answer. Let me tell you why it took me so long to snswer the questions first. If you read Comporium, I Holler At You, you know my Internet was down. Not the whole thing, just the download and streaming speed and my cable was out. Comporium came out yesterday and fixed everything in two minutes but I had to suffer for 5 days. Now on with the questions.

1) What is your main reason for blogging? I blog to get out of my own head. I have so much going on and I like talking to people. I am always thinking up new things and My daughter suggested I blog. Probably so I could stop calling her so much but it turns out, I like it.

2) Your favorite high street store? I’m afraid to answer that one. It would really tell you how low scale I am.

3) My inspiration? Peace, to create peace and maintain peace.

4) The best thing that’s happened since you started blogging? I’ve met new people with new discoveries. I’ve got friends in England, Singapore and Maine, Oregon and other places close to home. All of the bloggers are crafty and have great stories to tell.

5) Your favorite holiday destination? My favorite is Pennsylvania at Christmas. No matter how far you roam or for how long, there’s no place like home for christmas. It’s the only time I get together with all my family.

6) Your all time favorite song? Lean on Me by Bill Withers.

7) Your “go to” outfit? All off-white linen in warm weather, wool in cold weather. It shakes up everybody who is use to seeing me in black.

8) The most you ever spent on clothing/footwear/accessories? Wow. I bought a pair or orange shoes for $300 that only matched an orange dress I owned. I just had to have them. My dog went through my closet of about 200 pairs of shoes and tore just them apart. A valuable lesson learned.

9) What’s your biggest quirk? That I fine. Humor in everything! Most people don’t think everything is funny.

10) The blogger that inspires you the most? Yoonanimous. She is soooo funny. She patiently tells her story in full detail. It like your talking to her and she anticipates your reaction.

Now I have to nominate 10 bloggers and ask them 10 questions. But I’m going to publish this now and I will add my nominees after I get back from the playground. BambiLeigh let me know if this did not link back to you. Truth is, I need Prettyladybaby to tell me how to do all this tech stuff and she’s at school today.

Comporium Cable – I Holler at You

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I didn’t want to say the other “H” word but I’m really feeling it today. How’s about I upgraded my cable just to have my Internet knocked out. Oh I can get access it but it just keeps loading so I can’t go anywhere anytime soon. I was nominated for a blogger award by way of Bambileigh and can’t answer it. My first nomination at that. Let me tell you why I upgraded.

A year ago when we moved to Rock Hill and I was devastated to learn that my Uverse cable wouldn’t transfer (almost a deal breaker) we joined up with Comporium. The only cable company in York County. I could have gone with Direct tv except that we are feuding from 2009 and I swore I would never use them again. I realize now that I hurt myself with that one! Reminder, never say never.

Anyway, Comporium told me that video on demand was coming. A year later after I get a message that my cable was increasing because we are getting HBO on demand I was pissed but excited it was finally coming even with an extra price. I waited for the start and when it didn’t happen I called Comporium. Their response, ” You have to upgrade your box because you have fiber optic and you can’t get video on demand”. Well boshieky mostafa as my sister would say. When were they gonna tell me that bit of information. I hung up the phone. Two weeks later I go to them and ask that question again and because I wasn’t speaking the lingo of technology they tried to act like I I didn’t know what I was talking about. Somehow that sounds accurate but they knew what I was trying to say.

Anyway I got down to the bottom line by saying, “I want more bang for my bucks!!” That was understood. Enters the new home DVR device. Which is my old Uverse system, almost. I’m ranting but I’m a serious tv watcher, it’s all I got. Anyway, the new system is supposed to allow me to record on any tv and watch what I recorded on any tv up to five recordings at any given time. Okay now we are talking. The new system is supposed to let me selected videos from a massive library of prerecorded video. Okay, but it is not as massive as they claim, but okay. And guess what? The new system is less expensive than what I had. Why don’t companies advise their clients when they add new programs that might help are advanced. Maybe I need to watch the comporium solutions channel sometimes. Okay so I order the new system and have it installed. As the technician is demonstrating all that the new system can do I ask about HBO on demand that I might add I’m paying for. He calls Comporium because we can’t seem to find the channel. You know what they said, ” It’s coming!”

And my Internet is out!!!!!!!

Comporium I holler at you !!!!!

Until next time, keep wondering.

Love/hate kinda thing

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First day of school. I hate it for them but I love having the house to myself for a moment. I love listening to all the goings on in their day but I hate the homework they bring home, for them that is. I hate that the days are getting shorter but I love that bedtime comes sooner. I love the cooler weather but I hate that I’ll need my coat soon. I hate that it seems to be fall as soon as you say school starts but I lovvvvvvve fall. It’s my favorite time of year.

Geocaching, not for chickens

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Hello fellow wonderers:

Back from our great explorations from over the weekend add one day of rest and another day to get in my head how to explain our road trip.

First I would like to thank Bilo Supermarket for having fuel perk points because gas was only $2.30 a gallon. That’s means a lot when your driving around wasting gas.

Second, let me thank my husband for eating leftovers for dinner Friday. He called them leftovers because I cooked dinner on Thursday but I didn’t think that was left overs because I cooked it Thursday, he didn’t eat any of it Thursday. Technically I just cooked dinner 12 hours earlier than usual. But that’s another story for another day.

Our trip went like this, at least my version that is.

For the remainder of summer, ( 10 days that is), I decided Alex and I would try geo caching. It is supposed to be one word but my correction thingy keeps separating it so I’m going to go with it. Caching is an GPS/Internet game where you are given coordinates and you go there and find the cache and log you were there and/or take a trinket and leave one for the next person. Got it?
It’s free to sign up for a basic membership if you are interested at http://www.geocaching.com.

We were given the coordinates of N34• 58.778 W 081• 03.959 which after a fair amount of time lead us to a field outside of Bryant Airport. We get out of the car and start pacing in the direction the GPS advised when Alex notices the grass is getting taller and he promptly asked me, “Did you bring bug spray?”

Of course I didn’t, I didn’t know where we were going either. We walk a few feet further when he states, “I’m not going in there Mom Mom. There might be snakes. We banter back and forth for a few minutes trying to decide who is going first in the wild unknown. I say, “Alex, your supposed to be a boy. Boys like to explore in tall grass and swamps and things like that. I know your not afraid. He replies, “And your supposed to be a grown up and not be afraid. Good point!

We stand around for a few minutes looking to see if we can see the cache from where the invisible lines are cautioning us not to cross when an airport employee in a golf cart asks us if we needed help. I explain to him what we are doing and why we are stalling when he tell us the grass cutting schedule.

Did we find our cache? No not yet, we will go back Tuesday after the grass is cut Monday.

So what do chickens do while on a road trip you might wonder? We go shopping! We hit Old Navy, GameStop, Target, Office Depot. I even got into the GoodWill Store in North Carolina where another lady took a table I wanted. But there’s always another good buy somewhere in the world.

But Alex and I are not giving up. We are going to go out again tomorrow with all the required gear. Long sleeves and long pants, hat, gloves, sunscreen, insect repellent, a stick and Grandpop to go first!

Until next time, keep wondering.