Home improvements

re-read yesterday. yep. pretty much feel the same way.

I've been a busy bee already today, and yet, I still feel like not enough is accomplished. Went to the bank to deposit an insurance check from the flood, bought my furbabies some food (they get pissed when you don't feed them, went to sutherlands and bought beadboard paneling (more on that in a min) and went to the PO to mail a box. Mail is too expensive. bleh. Now I see why ppl prefer gift cards.

Because the issue with the plumbing was a recall on our plumbing like, 15 years ago.... we have to replumb the house before the foundation goes up this fall. It just so happened, that gene was talking to his boss, and his boss just so happened to have a kit that will plumb an entire house.... at about 1/4 of what it would cost is in a store. :)

So right now, there's no water in the spare bathroom. blah. BUT, he spent the weekend under the house and it's close to being done. Water will have to be shut down for a while while he hooks everything back up. I told him, that if we're going to do that, we might as well get a sink for the spare bathroom. We'd intended to use an old cabinet and make it into a vanity, but honestly, it was turning into a lot of work and was going to cost a lot more money buying what I really wanted, which was a vessel sink.

So then while at Home Depot, I happened across this:

I've always liked this style. It's not as deep as a regular sink, but enough for a toilet brush, some TP and maybe some hand towels. And it was on CLEARANCE.

Gene and I were just saying the other day, that whenever we needed something, we just sat patiently and wait and it comes to us.... much cheaper. This has happened to us dozens of times since we found this house. I think a higher power is helping us along a bit :)

So anyway, the bathroom in question, only has tile done in it (floor), nothing else. SOOOO before we can put in that vanity this weekend, I have to get the wall behind it ready, which is the beadboard I bought. I'll be installing that tomorrow hopefully, if the weather cooperates with me. It needs to be painted, which it will be white, and then the walls above are going to be a pretttttty orange color, that amber gave me left over from her remodel. I'm hoping there's enough of that orange to paint my laundry room too.

Once we get the walls done, then we can start looking to get the shower tiled. I'm really not looking forward to that part. LOL. Who wants free beer and can tile really well????

Any takers?

LOL

Filed Under: things you should know about Lana

Preface: I'm in a growly mood, so I shall vent. That's why they call it Lana's blog right?

Things you should know about Lana 101:

1. Venting is annoying. Warn me if you just want to vent. Don't call it "seeking advice" because it's not. Seeking advice means you may potentially follow said given advice. Venting means you want to bitch about your husband/boyfriend/dog/wife/sister et al. I don't mind hearing you vent at all, just give me a heads up first.

If you do actually seek my advice, and I give it, try to actually follow it once in a while. Don't say "what would you do" then never ever do what I'd do. That's just insulting.

2. If you have a bug up your butt about me, do me a favor and tell me to my face, I will respect you a lot more than if you are nice to my face and then call me a bitch behind my back. Saying it to my face, opens the line of communication. Saying it behind my back, makes you an baby.

3. Family is important, and family isn't just family. Family includes friends that have earned the right to be as close as family. "Family" is not something I pass out willy-nilly to the first goob that calls me back. "Family" is someone that's there for me no matter what. Family is not always blood. Family is earned not bestowed.

4. I've always said that it's my job as a parent to raise a child that goes out into the world and is not a burden onto society. Sometimes you do unpopular things to make that happen (unpopular if you're a teen). Someday you'll get it... maybe you won't. Either way, mission accomplished. Parenthood is not a popularity contest. If you want to be your kids' friend, you're in the wrong game.

5. You will never be equal with your parent. Ever.... don't try. Well, I take that back, until you're *old* and the oldest living generation, then you get to be equal to them. You learn as you go along in life. What you think you know at 19, you'll figure out at 47 that you're a dumbass. Unfortunately, there's a 28 year spread there. Every day, if you open your mind, you'll learn a little more about this world than you did yesterday. What I know, is that my matriarch is my grandmother. I will never be as good or as equal as my grandmother, nor my mother. My children will never be as good or as equal as me. Don't read too much into that.. it just means that your children have something that the should look up to and shoot for.

6. Don't rattle my cage. You are warned.

OK, rant over.
Those were all things in my head today and now they're out there for posterity.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the weather was awesome. It was not too hot and there was even a cool breeze rustling through the corn. I hope that's not a sign of an early fall because I'm digging in my heels. I'm so not ready for winter. Winter last year *sucked* eggs.

Laundry, dishes, rearranging clothes to make it all fit all accomplished today. So why do I feel like I ran in circles? Blah.

Tomorrow, we finish cleaning up the guest room, and then going back into the dreaded scrapbook room, which when we emptied storage, anything sort of scrap related was sent to that room for me to sort and put away or purge. *I just did this*. YUCK. At least under the boxes, it's clean... and it's still easier to be in there.

bedlam manor

If you want to spend almost an entire weekend rearranging your house.. buy one of these:

My new oak highboy. Got it for a steal! Of course we couldn't just put one in, and take one out, I spent hours rearranging 3 rooms to get this piece in. LOL. Been doing a bunch of cleaning in the process because that storage pod is now gone, and the things that were in it, I wanted put away, and not just stacked up in the spare bedroom like lincoln logs.

Don't tell gene, but I think all my clothes can fit in that one dresser LOL. I'm scared to give up my 2 other drawers in the other dresser.

So anyway, my dresser got moved to gene's side of the bed, and his old dresser got moved to the spare bedroom, where the mirror could be put back on it. It looks *so much better now*.

I'm going to store some of our extra sheets in here. Right now I've been sticking them in Tanner's closet - which there's plenty room in there - it just makes sense to put in the empty dresser. First tho, I need to take the belt sander to the drawer. That thing has been sticking for *years*. grr.

So the cute little perfect yellow dresser that was in here ($15 garage sale find) is going to be moved temporarily to the living room to use as an end table. I think it will be a good place to store magazines and books as I no longer have a book case (i store fabric in it now).

Then the old end table will be moved to the loveseat, so you can put a drink someplace when sitting there.

Sigh. All that moving around for *one piece* of furniture. LOL.

Most of the stuff that was in storage is put away. I "inherited" about 50 storage tubs (for the record, if you find yourself needing to buy more storage stuff to put your crap in, that means you need to get rid of some of your CRAP instead of just stacking them up higher to the ceiling). Anyway, so these tubs, I don't know what to do with them as most of them are empty. I think I'll dump them in the storage unit for now, and after the storage unit gets cleaned out (which will be soon), I'll donate them all. I hate having too many storage tubs and laundry baskets. It promotes CLUTTER!

And on that topic... I still haev all the office stuff that has to be sorted and put away. That is a priority for this week. But in the meantime. Please revel in the love that is my new oak highboy. Lol.

Makes me think of my mom and dad.. they love oak.

Sharing our wedding....

Finally got a chance to get some old pics burned onto dvd's so I could get enough room on my computer to start messing with the wedding pics.

Here are some of my favorites from the wedding... not in chronological order as I'm tired and I was ready to go to bed about an hour ago lol.


This is us out in the trees at the park, on a bridge having some photos done.

This is the gown I made. I wanted something more comfy to change into, so I made this. I love it. It's *so comfortable* as it's made from red jersey knit. I learned to sew on jersey for this dress. It's really fun once you get the hang of it.

A good from behind shot of my dress so you can see all the pretty stripes! I made the jacket for it too.

I love this picture. it's of me, holding the paper I'd written my vows on. I had to write it down because I was so scared I'd get nervous and forget.

Here you can kinda see how pretty the lodge is with all the stonework.

I love this picture of laura. It's *so her*. And this picture is also funny, as you can see everyone is praying.. except amber. whats up with that? lol



The kiss.


Best gal and ring girl.


This is Me hugging Carol. She's saying to me here "welcome to the family"... :) Gene's family are great. I adore them all.

Me tromping through the dirt to get to the bridge and not caring :)

Me and the eldest. I really love this pic of us.

I made 70 custom sparkler folders that we gave as favors. the kids loved them.

This is our "guestbook". Instead of a book, we had each person sign a canvas tile that I'd painted with our last inital. The each go on a peg and then we're going to hang them in the house, but I've not hung it yet because I can't decide where.

The family shot.

We set up croquet for the guest to play and many people did. Gene and I did not play a full round but about 1/2 for the camera.

Non-traditional cake. We had homemade individual cheesecakes and one cutting cake.

Our cake with the topper... which I made. I bought the letter on ebay and covered it with Martha Stewart glitter. I *love* it.

The groom's cake. LOL. If I were to do it all over again, I'd just have this cake. It makes me laugh and we had way too much cake!!!

Getting ready for the toast.

I laughed hard when I saw this. Amy (pink) looks 9 feet tall. LOL. It's a trick of the lense but man, she's freakishly huge here.

This is the bracelet I wore. It was my mom's when she was a little girl.

Gene and I with Gene's oldest, Chris. He's in the army. Doesn't he look handsome and dapper in his uniform!?

That's it. Sorry it's not more clever and witty, I'm seriously so tired.

Next, it's time to work on a photo slideshow of our wedding photos. Tanner and I bought an external dvd burner and the software to make them. super fun.

good bye! *sniffles*.... NOT

I know it seems crazy to make a big deal out of it, but approximately 1/3 of the time we've lived here, we shared with this STUPID POD. I was so sick of looking at it (but it was nice to have stuff out of the house). I get my driveway back!

I'd double my housepayment right now, for a double car garage tho :)