Wordless Wendesday - Yoda at 9 days old, she was so tiny!!

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And for the not so wordless part of today's post!

☜We go Yoda one of these comfort halters this past weekend. The vet recomended one since Yoda gets irritation and infections from her other halter rubbing her little arm pits.  Yes, my dog gets pit infections and need special arm pit only baths with special arm pit soap (we tell her it's because she has stinky pits).  So, what, doesn't every dog need this?!?!?!  That's not weird at all.  Stop judging!      

Anyway, her new halter is probably the funniest thing in the world.  She looks like she's got a little pink tank top on.  I can't wait to get some pictures to share with you.  It really is adorable (even if J said he refuses to take her for a walk wearing it).  

We're Getting There

So this past weekend was sort of productive.  I was still sick, so very sick.  I made the stupid decision of going to J's show last Thursday and paid greatly.  I felt so much like shit on Friday that I stayed in bed all day even skipping work.  Blah, it sucked.  Being sick sucks in general.  Luckily I seem to be feeling a lot better, I only need to use my neti pot once or twice a day right now!  ;-)

Ignore the laundry everywhere!!

I was feeling better on Saturday so I started painting the trim in the bedroom. Yeah, that didn't go quite as planned.  I was hoping to be done with all the trim work and check that off my list.  Instead I only got the two coats of primer up.  Yup, it took me all weekend to just get the primer up, on the windows only.  Primer that is fast dry and ready for the next coat in 2 hours.  Hey, I felt like crap.  Fortunatly as I start to feel better, I've gotten the energy to finish up the bedroom trim.  Well by trim I mean the windows, but I'm getting there.  The bedroom already looks so good.  I'm so happy with our choice to go with the white trim. 

I picked up some Floetrol paint conditioner stuff for the trim paint.  I'm hoping that it works as well as everyone says it does.  I don't want any of those damn brush strokes to be visible.  I was going to go with some foam brushes too, but forgot changed my mind.  Maybe I'll still go pick some of those up tonight before I start with the actual painting.  This is a new thing for me, I've never used a paint conditioner before.  Okay, I'll admit it, I didn't even know it existed.  Thank god for all the great DIY blogs I read.  I really have been learning a lot from them.  I'm hoping all the trim in the rest of the house will be brush stroke free.

On Sunday, J wanted to go to Ikea and pick up our entertainment center.  I think he got that new tv, and wants to properly display it.  I was feeling better, so I agreed.  Unfortunately, he wanted me to drive and the closest Ikea to us is in Schaumburg, IL.  So a fun two hour ride ensued, only to get to Ikea and see that it was an absolute mad house.  The parking lot was almost completely full and there were crazy people everywhere.  I guess that's what happens when the weather gets warm here in the Midwest, everyone goes and enjoys a day out.  Luckily, we had our list all printed out and didn't have to spend a lot of time among the masses.

Huge mess, but at least Yoda's coon is supervising!

And after fitting all the boxes in my little car like tetris pieces we headed back home to put our ridiculously large purchase together.  And this is what our living room looks like right now.  Random boxes everywhere.  Random Furniture everywhere.  Random tools and hardware everywhere.  It's a fun time right now.  I'm hoping we J can get this together asap.  I feel like it's a mad house enough around here without all of this everywhere.  I'll have to post a picture of the crap catch-all 3-season porch sometime, now that's a crazy mess.

And a side note I wanted to share.  J and I have been to Ikea many, many times.  Any excuse to go to Chicago (and surrounding areas) we take.  On all of our trips, we've never ever ventured into their little dining area.  It always smells pretty good, but we would just make fun of it and continue on our way.  Yesterday we were feeling famished brave, and we actually had lunch there.  It wasn't that bad.  I had a chicken wrap with fries and J had a panini with mac and cheese.  We enjoyed our little meal a lot.  The only complaint was with the mac and cheese, which J described as passable.  My favorite part of my meal, the triple layer chocolate cake I downed.  Now that was fantastic.  I guess if you're there and are looking for something quick to eat, it's perfect.  This wasn't an ad for their food, just a note of interest.  :-)       

Career Change???

So the painting in the living room has been put on hold for a little while.  We had a few areas that were in need of patches when we moved in.  One was an old outlet box.  There was no wiring in the box, just a cover over it.  So we took the box out and patched the hole.  Why look at an ugly cover when you can just patch it? 

We picked up a patch kit at the local hardware store (just down the road from us, how fantastic is that).  J's dad gave us the basics on how to use it and we now have a patched hole.  This picture is before I've sanded, so it's a little rough, but pretty impressive.  I think I'll only need to put one more layer on and sand it a bit and this wall will be ready to prime and paint.  Hell yeah, I can't wait to get the red paint up on the walls.  That's gonna be awesome.  Then we'll need to pick up a dining room table at some point, but we already have arts for this part of the room.  So that's something.  And anyway, I'm more excited about my ability to do home improvement crap, maybe I should consider a career change.

Then we have the large patch work.  We took out a half wall when we moved in to open up the living room.  Well we had to patch the large hole in the wall that this created, so here is how it looks as of right now.  I know, I'm pretty damn awesome at this stuff.  And yes, I did all the mudding, not J.  Though he did tell me that he would do the last layer so that he could say he had to fix my mess and finish it up.  Well here is the proof that I'm more awesome then him.  Okay, so he did install that great new switch, that was hanging out of the wall when I took the picture (well I had to mud around it, what else was I going to do).

We still have the hole in the floor to deal with (you can see a little bit of it at the bottom of the picture).  But I seem to be a little bit more picky when it comes to tile then I thought I would be.  As of right now we're just stepping over it and trying to avoid it.  Hopefully I'll find something I like soon.

So I'm really going to try and get the last coat of mud up on the walls tonight while J and his band mates work on the studio downstairs.  My plan is to finish painting this weekend because I really want to cross the living room off my list.  God knows I have a shit ton more painting to do in the rest of the house.  Damn, this whole owning a house thing can get exhausting at times ;-)

By god, I think that's a living room!

Holy crap, it actually looks like people live here.

Well look at that.  That looks like and actual living room.  With furniture and everything.  As you can see our new couch fits so well in our new living room.  And look at that pretty rug.  We picked that up last weekend and it goes so well.  It's a nice shag rug that adds texture and color to the room, which was much needed.  It's soft on the feet and Yoda loves to lay on it and chew on her bone.  She also loves to bite it, but we're trying to curb that habit, fast.  I don't need that little tiny dog ruining our new carpet (and she can do it, don't judge her based on size). 

Never thought I'd own a shag rug!!

And if you can see in the picture that we put up some blinds on the bay window.  Much needed there.  I went to Menards and picked up some custom cut blinds.  I'm extremely happy with them.  They look much better then the forest green aluminum blinds that were up there when we moved in.  I'll elaborate more on the blinds and the pain in the ass "fun" time putting them up later in the week.

You'll have to ignore the background of this picture.  I'm almost done mudding our wall, so that means paint soon.  I think I'll only have to put one more coat of drywall mud up and sand one more time and it will be ready.  Then trim and this room will be done.  Yay!!!

J also picked up a TV last Saturday.  Boy was that fun trying to buy a TV the day before the Superbowl.  I had no idea they would be so busy.  But we eventually bought one.  Now we need a trip to Ikea to pick up the entertainment center and the living room will actually be completed.  Oh, we need some arts up on the wall and a larger, square coffee table (you can see how our current one just isn't doing it.  But for the most part our house is starting to look like people actually live in it, not just dwell in the basement.   

Paint Colors!

I received a message the other day requesting my room colors and where I got my paint.  And I realized that I don't know if I ever came out and told everyone what colors I went with.  Sorry about that.

Our living room ceilings were just painted using a generic flat white ceiling paint that we picked up at Sherwin Williams.  It was actually two different colors that we just mixed together.  It was so much brighter in the room as soon as we did this.

Then our walls are painted in the absolutely wonderful color of Latte.  I'm in love with this color.  It's so warm and welcoming.  It works so well with the white trim and dark furniture as well as our deep rich red wall (in my mind it does).  J wanted to go lighter for the walls, much, much lighter.  But, with the help of our friend at Sherwin Williams, we talked him out of it.  I wanted walls that were brown, not just off white.  But he's happy he listened to me.

And our red wall is Salute.  We primed this wall with a gray primer to make the red stand out better and so we didn't have to put a billion coats on the wall.  It's pretty important to prime your walls, especially if you're doing a bold dark color.  I don't like the paint and primer combos, I just don't think they cover like they say. 

Our bedroom was painted in Meander Blue.  Oh how I love this color.  It's so soothing and pretty.  It's one of my all time favorite colors.  I love spending time in the bedroom.  And our black and white decor goes so well with this blue.  I'm working on the trim right now, so as soon as that room is completed, I'll get some pics up.  

All of our paint is the Cashmere paint from Sherwin Williams.  It was so nice to use and went up really well.  The odor was pretty low; we didn't even notice it when I did the living room.  It took us two coats of paint, but I always suggest at least two coats of paint.  That way you're coverage will be as even as possible.  Also I don't trust those one coat paints.  They don't really work in my eyes.

The red was the Durability paint from Sherwin Williams.  We haven't put the red up yet, but I'll do an update on that and how easy or hard it was to do the red.  I'm hoping with the primer and quality of paint, we'll be able to accomplish the look we're going for in two-three coats.

We got all of our wall paint from Sherwin Williams.  We are really happy with the paint from there and if you hit up on of their sales, you can get a pretty good deal on the paint.  I also feel that if you have questions, a real paint store is the best to go too.  The big box stores are better on price, but I just don't feel like they know as much as the paint stores.  But the decision is up to you where you get your paint.  There are a lot of good brands out there.

So Upset With Myself!

So yesterday was a snow day. J and I both stayed home from work.  The metro system was shut down and most roads were closed.  The city was urging everyone to stay home and not drive unless they absolutely had too.  And we did just that.  J had to work (from home) all day, but I got a true day off (I can't do lab work at home, or could I?).

I had all these plans to get stuff done.  I wanted to put up the blinds in the living room so that we could have a little bit of privacy.  Not that I don't like our neighbors, but I just would like a little bit of alone time.  I also wanted to get the trim in the bedroom started, at least the primer.  You might remember the awful photoshop job I did of what I would like our bedroom to look like, well maybe you don't, if not, here's a reminder.  All the woodwork in the bedroom is going to be painted white.  My plan was to get this all finished by the weekend.  Then all we would have had to do was make a headboard, make a bed skirt, make some roman shades, and put up some art.  Then the bedroom would be finished.  But did I do any of this?  NO.

I also wanted to get the next layer of joint compound on our drywall in the entry way.  That way I could have it all done and this weekend I'd be able to paint the last wall in the living room.  Then I could start to tackle the woodwork in there.  I'd like to get the woodwork painted before we move the very large custom entertainment center into the room.  But again, did I do this?  NO, I didn't even get one layer on there.

I was just super lazy all day.  I mean I got some housework done, but nothing I wouldn't have done if I would have gone to work.  J hooked up the projector in the living room and I watched Netflix all day.  I am so disappointed with myself.  A free day, and I did nothing.  Blah.  J told me that sometimes I need to take a day like that, a day where I'm not running around like a crazy doing nine million things.  But I still feel like I should have accomplished something.  Maybe he's right, maybe I needed a break.  Well now hopefully I'll be back to my productive self now that I had a full day to rest and I'll have some new progress pictures soon ;-)

And just because I'm not above self promotion.  You can enter to win a bead embroidered brooch on my other blog.  This little heart brooch is all hand embroidered using tiny little beads in different shades of pink, red, and white.  It's very cute and would look cute on a coat lapel or even a bag.  Check out my other blog for complete rules.  Hurry this giveaway ends February 11th at midnight (central).  Winners will be announced on Saturday, February 12th.  Good luck.

And also if you live in the Madison area and are looking for something to do tonight, check out the Great Dane.  J's band is playing there tonight with two other bands.  Stop on down and say hi, I'll be there enjoying a beer and some nachos.  It's sure to be a fun night filled with loud, rowdy music.