Water, Water, Everywhere.

Hello.

Just a quick post to let you know it has been crazy here. . . again.  Aside from the leak in the master shower (that is now fixed), fixing other grout cracks we have found in the other bathrooms, getting our ducts cleaned and installing a whole house air filter, I am still having an allergic reaction to something. While my hives have lessened a lot (I can finally sleep at night) there is still something that is causing my skin to itch like crazy. It goes away completely when I open the windows in the house or go outside. This whole ordeal has been completely frustrating and mentally exhausting. 

While getting my latest post (sneak peak at k's room) ready last Wednesday, the washing machine started gushing water from underneath! Baseboards around that area separated from the wall, the base of a cabinet has water damage and is warped and water dripped down into the basement. Needless to say, I was no longer in the writing mood that day.

Last Friday afternoon (while getting a drink from the fridge) I stepped into a puddle of water. The fridge was leaking! There was a sheet of ice at the base of the fridge, under the freezer drawer (freezer drawer is located on the bottom). Aside from the mental scream I had, growls and a couple of colorful words I muttered, I am dumbfounded as to why we keep having water issues. H has checked the attic to make sure water is not leaking there. It is not.

Today, the washing machine got fixed (hose came loose and had to be re-clamped) and so did the refrigerator (water drain was clogged). Next, we plan on having the air tested in the house to try and figure out what is causing my hives. If it is mold, we will have to start making holes in the walls to locate it.

I am so done with all this water craziness! Let's not even talk about how much this has cost us. . . so far. I am trying to get some projects done, but I feel out of steam (bad pun). I still plan on posting, but I am half bracing myself for the next water leak. Is it karma? Poseidon upset with me? Aquaman turned evil? Do I need to do a water dance? *sigh*

Unless there is another water incident, I am going to try and be back later this week to show a couple of things I have done in k's room. Wish me luck.

Be well and stay dry. ;)

Julie

Childhood Chair Makeover

Holla. Holla!

I am super excited to finally be posting about a project. This chair has been sitting in my garage for over a year. My mom had the chair in her garage for many years prior. It is a kiddie chair that my grandfather gave to me when I was a toddler. Not sure where he picked it up. Garage sale? I knew I did not want to throw it away or give to a thrift store, but I also knew that it would not go well in k's room. Last weekend I finally realized that I could refinish the chair and use it as a step stool / accent piece. I am 5' 1" so this will come in handy. ;)

Because I am stoked with how it turned out, let's jump ahead and take a look at the after shot.

Childhood Chair Makeover - After

What do you think? My goodness that chair needed some work. The chair is very well made, but there was definitely some damage. Here are some before shots and part of the makeover process.

Childhood Chair - Before

Underneath chair. Cracks, expanded wood and rusty nails.

Wood had separated severely. Used Loctite power grab and clamps to bring wood back together.

More seat damaged. Cracks / grooves were filled in using spackling compound and then sanded until seamless.

Deep crack. Lots of filling, sanding, filling, sanding.

Seat back after much sanding.

These minor cracks would have been very noticeable once painted. They were filled and sanded smooth.

Chair legs. Lost of sanding and smoothing, primed and then painted.

I am really loving the spray paint color stone gray, by Rustoleum, so I knew that would be the color I would paint the chair. I pondered for a couple of days on what else I could put on the chair. I almost did a quarter foil design, but something just did not feel right. While starring at the chair one day (yes, I stare at things I am working on until I get inspired or I dream about it) I had an image of where the chair came from and where it is today. I knew instantly that I wanted to put birth dates of my grandfather, mother, my husband and children on the seat of the chair.  And while I love Pottery Barns numbered canvas, I kept my numbers in the same direction. However, I did use the same font called Didot.

Getting numbers on the seat was the most difficult part of the project. I mentioned on Friday that I was having some difficulties with my latest project. Trying to put numbers on this chair was the most difficult part of the whole process. You see, when I started this project I had no way of making beautiful numbers that could adhere to the chair. My first attempt was buying some stickers at Michaels, painting the chair seat black, placing the stickers on chair seat, painting the seat gray, and then removing stickers. Bleh! I did not like how it turned out. The numbers were too small. I was unable to find large number stickers, except ones that would go on a mailbox. I wanted a fancier font. I did not take any pictures of this process. Not sure why.

Stickers Used.

I tried again. This time I printed some numbers (Didot font) using Word, cut them out, traced them onto contact paper, cut those out, sanded the seat down to get rid of previous number attempt, painted the seat black again and placed the contact paper numbers on seat and spray painted the seat gray. Argh! FAIL! While I liked the placement, my numbers looked a mess. It was obvious I had used scissors and an exacto knife to cut them. There was just no way I was going to cut out those Didot font numbers perfectly. No pictures of how it turned out. I was very annoyed and placed the seat back in the garage. lol

This was a tedious process.

Last Thursday evening while sitting at my desk, I searched everywhere online to find some vinyl decals I could place on the chair. I soon found some nice and very inexpensive ones on Etsy (love that place). My husband knew how frustrated I was and heard me mention that I wish I knew someone who had a Silhouette Cameo. I told him what little I knew about the machine and what it could do. I had never thought about getting one because I was not sure how much I would use it. I was going to order the decals from Etsy, when suddenly I hear H announce, "DONE!" My response, "Huh? What do you mean?" Yep, H went and ordered a Silhouette Cameo (and two rolls of vinyl) via Amazon Thursday evening. It arrived by noon on Saturday. I received an early Mothers day gift. Woo-Hoo! :D By the way, I can see how people who own a Silhouette Cameo get addicted to it. My goodness this thing can do crazy beautiful stuff! I have LOTS to learn about this machine and even watched some Youtube videos. lol Needless to say, I was able to print out some vinyl numbers in the font I wanted. . .finally. THANK YOU, H!

Here is another after picture.

Chair Makeover - After

Let's do a side by side shot.

Before and After

I like this one.

Chair Makeover - After

It felt so nice to complete this project and no longer have it in the garage. I am currently debating whether or not to print a decal that reads Family and place it on the seat back. What do you think? Yes, I want to use my Silhouette Cameo. ;)

Have any of you tackled a project that has been sitting in your garage or basement? I wanna see. :) Hope all of you are having a grand Monday. I will be back on Wednesday for a sneak peak of k's room.

Linking this post to:

TheDedicatedHouse , DIYShowOff , AlderberryHill , ThriftDecorChick , BloomingHomestead

NotJustAHousewife , Today'sCreativeBlog , DIYByDesign , DomesticallySpeaking , SomedayCrafts BeyondThePicketFence , HouseOfHepworths , BecomingMartha

Pay it Forward Friday #1

Well folks, the air ducts have been cleaned and a mega ultra supreme (that will eat 99.98 of the crap in your air) filtration system has been installed. I think my hives are already starting to subside. Yay! Did I mention I look like I have chicken pox? Yeah, it got that bad. I need to slather myself in vitamin E oil and scar creams. :(

Any hoo, I was hoping to have my latest project posted today (I was having some very frustrating difficulties), so it will be up on Monday. In the meantime, I would like to share a blog I have been reading for a few weeks.

Liz over at Smart Girls DIY has some amazing and exhausting projects! For instance, she has completely redone her staircase. The transformation and all the hard work she has done on this thing, makes me want to take a nap. lol She has numerous gardens and check out her basement remodel!

Why Paying it Forward Friday? Well, Liz replied to my comment the other day thanking me for reading her blog, for commenting and being her first and only follower. I was very surprised to learn I was her only follower. So many of you have been incredibly kind and supportive to me, that it is important (a must) that I pay it forward. I love seeing what other bloggers are doing. So much so, that sometimes I forget to do my own projects. Oooops. I think we all like to see other people's work and get motivation and inspiration from it all. It is fun to support one another! If you hava a moment, please check out Liz's blog.

By the way, I plan on posting the Pay it Forward series twice a month.

Have a super de duper weekend and may you have sunshine wherever you are. See you Monday!


Julie

And the Culprit is . . . MOLD!

Yep! We are pretty much sure that mold has been causing my hives and unbearable itching! My son also has a minor sore throat. 

Last week I mentioned that I have been breaking out in hives.  It all started at the beginning of March. About four weeks ago, it was noticeably getting worse and my skin started getting little red bumps all over. After testing out many theories, I soon realized that my hives would subside and the itching would go away whenever I left the house. That is when I knew I was living in a sick house! I knew I had to start the process of elimination and try to pin point what is giving me an allergic reaction. Last Friday, I (we) narrowed it down to two things. We are pretty sure it is mold in two areas of the house.

1. The air ducts have drywall and sawdust in them. LOTS! Our house was built in the winter and of course the workers needed to keep warm and had the furnace on. When we moved in, there was a lot of drywall dust that would come up through the vents and cover everything. Yuck. H even stuck the shop vac hose into the ducts and cleaned as best as he could. Chunks of stuff could be heard getting sucked up. In December, H installed a humidifier since it can be very dry here. We were told last week by a mold expert that all the drywall and saw dust makes a perfect breeding ground for mold. All it needed was some moisture - a.k.a. the humidifier. Needless to say, we are having the air ducts cleaned next week and getting a whole house HEPA filter system installed. This filter will catch stuff down to .1 microns!
2. Last week I happened to look up at the ceiling in the guest bedroom and noticed that it was wet! Right above the wet ceiling is the master shower. Yes, there was was leaking from the master shower to the guest room below. Grrrr! We had a whole crew out here last Friday. We have since tested the shower and the leak has been fixed. There was some mold found on the drywall and some I beams were wet. We even found a little bit of mold underneath some carpet. This carpet is located on the other side of the back wall of the shower, where the leak was. A telescopic mirror with LED lights was also used to look into small crevices, etc. This proved very helpful in seeing mold or places that had gotten wet. Everything that got wet has been sprayed with Simple Green D anti-fungal spray. This stuff kills everything!

And because we all like pictures, here are some showing what was done in regards to the shower leak.

Master bathroom shower.

Opposite side of shower faucet wall.

Other side of the back shower wall.

Guest room ceiling. Isn't it lovely? :(

For those wondering, the water went through the crack, down the wall and in between the shower liner and floor boards and then puddled at the bottom of the support beams (on the left on the above picture).

Oh, here is the Simple Green stuff we used to kill everything.

Simple Green D = I kill just about everything.

We were even told by the mold expert to spray this stuff into the air ducts to kill any mold spores before we had the vents cleaned. Using the paint sprayer and label recommended dosage, H sprayed Simple Green D via the furnace with only the fan on and of course the pilot light OFF. We opened up the windows in the house during this process.

There ya go! This has been my past week. I have been tired due to being itchy at night. If it was warmer I would sleep with the bedroom windows open. This helps my hives subside. My poor skin! I wish I could find a cream that would soothe. Most creams only aggravate my skin instead of providing relief. :(

I am going to try and get my latest project up on Friday. I am working on two, so we will see which one gets done first. lol

I hope all of you are doing well and you do not have any frustrating things happening in your lives or home.

Happy Six Months and Random Things About Me

Hello, folks!

Thank you for all the kind words in regards to my dental surgery.  I am doing much better. 

However, I am now dealing with hives. lol In all seriousness, it started around the beginning of March and has gotten worse. I thought it might had been due to my tooth infection, but it is not. I have narrowed it down to a few things and will hopefully find out more this week.

Three years ago, I broke out with severe hives on my hands (I had to wear band aids and gloves because they were so bad) and was told I had ringworm (what the !&*&&^%!), atopic dermatitis and some other thing I can not remember. After crazy drugs and lotions (that did NOT help and only aggravated the problem) I went to my happy place (meditated) and realized what was causing my severe hives. After testing my theory off and on for a couple of weeks and finally implementing my findings permanently, I no longer had hives and my hands healed completely. My findings; my crazy addiction to chai tea. I would have at least one or two everyday. It was the black tea that I was having an allergic reaction to. Why were only my hands affected? I have no idea. To this day, if I have black tea (I love me some southern sweet tea!) my hands will start to itch. Needless to say, I only have sweet tea once or twice a year. 

A n y w a y . . . today is my six month anniversary for my blog. I know it is only six months, but I have enjoyed all the people I have met, the new blogs I have discovered, all your super kind comments / emails and of course trying out new decorating / building ideas. THANK YOU for sharring this journey with me. :D

The other day, I was reading a post at Thirty Handmade Days and very much enjoyed what Mickey had posted about herself. It was nice to learn a little more about the beautiful and kind woman behind the blog.  Her post inspired me to do the same. Here we go; 25 Random Things About Me. Oh, dear. . .

1. That edit button in my head does not work sometimes and I speak out loud what I am thinking. Oooops. ;) This usually only happens when I get annoyed with someone or when zombies (dazed people) and idiots are around me. 
2. My favorite super hero is Wonder Woman. Don't hate. Yes, I am upset that Hollywood can not seem to implement a new version of Wonder Woman. Boo.
3. I am a vegetarian. Don't hate. Ha! I only say that because there are still some people that I encounter that treat me differently (in a weird way) because of my diet. Please look at my character and not what I decide to put (or not to put) into my stomach. Having said that, I am not one of those vegetarian extremist that will try and shove my view point down your throat.
4. My favorite scents are vanilla and plumeria.
5. I love nature. 
6. I am 5' 1". Yes, I like my height. No, I am not vertically challenged. That is what ladders and a husband who is 6' 2" are for. lol ;)
7. I have had many hair colors. I have been a blond, had reddish copper hair, black hair, foils upon foils and did all kinds of other stupid stuff to my hair. Currently, my hair is medium and dark brown (natural is dark brown). I do not use styling products except for every once in a while.
8. Fudge! :P
9. I love action movies. I do not like gore and horror stuff, but the choreography that goes into making a good action or hand to hand combat scene.  Good action choreography does not need to be full of blood and guts. Gross. 
10. I am a science fiction geek. But, NOT to the point of dressing up and going to Comic Con. lol
11. Please put the shopping cart in the return cart coral or back in the store. Please do not put it next to a car, on the curb or somewhere by the return carts because you did not want to walk another 15-20 feet. Yes, I know there are employees who will come and get the cart. Lets be considerate and put the cart where it goes so someone can have a parking space and the wind will not roll the cart into someones car. Thank you. Sometimes, it is the little things.
12. I am a former gymnast and gymnastics coach.
13. I am strong in will and spirit. Can you tell? ;)
14. I am extremely visual. This can be a blessing and a curse. 
15. I used to want to be an astronaut. I still love anything dealing with space and flight. If I could go into space, I would, provided the technology was sound. My son asked me today in a very serious manner, "Mom, have you been in a rocket ship and gone to space?" I wish I could have said, "Yes." :(  I think he and I need to go indoor skydiving. We can pretend to fly. Heck, that should be a family play date!
16. I love books. I could spend all day in a used book store looking at old and rare books. No kindle for me. I prefer the printed word. One of my many projects is to transform our small loft into a mini library. Because of my (our) love for books, our daughter was an early and very advanced reader. Weekly trips to the library is the norm.
17. Gelato! :p
18. I am a believer in natural healing / alternatives. Too many pills are being prescribed. I am not saying that medication does not have it's place, but there should be a balance. I have encountered too many people that changed their health by living, thinking and eating differently. They started listening to their bodies and adjusted their lifestyle accordingly. Sometimes they were ill due to trauma in their psyche / spirit. Once they faced their trauma, the illness went away. As I always tell my friends or family, do what feels right and healthy for your body. Everyone reacts differently to different methods of healing / medication. There is not always a right or wrong way, but a way that works for that particular individual. No judgement. Just support in doing what works, what is healthy for you and your body and what will give you the quality of life you deserve.
19. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! I should get a mug with that saying. I also need to learn how to say that word back words. lol Yes, I like Mary Poppins.
20. I would love to find more clothes in teal. I actually love teal. It has to be a certain shade of teal though. 
21. My trademark clothing is my sweater coat. Anyone who knows me knows that Julie always has a sweater coat on. I have long sleeved ones for the winter. Short sleeved ones for the fall and spring. And sleeveless sweater coats for the summer. I know that last sentence seems like an oxymoron. lol  My family and friends are shocked when I am not wearing one. I have one on now. No, I do not own a snuggie.
22. I have a fascination with ancient cultures. Especially, ancient Egypt. 
23. When my son was born, he did not cry. He made one sound during his first breath and started looking at everything in the room. I gave birth to him at a midwife facility and had a beautifully decorated and serene room and private bathroom. The room only had a very faint light similar to candle light. It is too much of a shock for a baby to come form darkness and warmth to bright florescence lights. This is why he had his eyes wide open. The look in his eyes when he was looking around and at me and my husband, spoke volumes. He basically was announcing,  "I have arrived." To this day, k still has that presence. It is not arrogance, but a desire to help and assist. 
24. I do not care for social media. There will not be all those media buttons on my blog. While I have many reasons why I do not care for social media, the main one is time. Time is something I cherish. I do not wished to be plugged in all the time. Heck, I struggle with this blog sometimes, because I do not wish to be on the computer. I try and find balance by having a set time I check my blog and emails. I also put aside time to look at other blogs (which I love to do) and get inspiration on Pinterest. Pinterest is different because it is like a big virtual cork board full of ideas. My pin count is very small compared to most. lol I try and pin only ideas that I probably will implement myself or for someone else. Otherwise, I think I would overload.
25. I do not like to cook. I will if I have to, but I become bored and have no attention span. lol I am one of those people that become easily distracted in the kitchen. I have to stay in the kitchen to cook, otherwise something will burn because I started another load of laundry or I went in the garage to spray paint something. Yes, I have burned water because I got on a phone call and forgot about the pot of water on the stove. Thank goodness the pan did not melt on the element. Luckily, my husband is the chef of the house. He loves to cook and calls it his zen time. He cooks, I do laundry. He does not enjoy doing laundry. lol

Well, there ya go. You know a little more about me. Hopefully, I will have something to post about later this week. Still working on k's room and the laundry / mudroom. One day they will (must) be finished. Argh!

I still struggle with blogging and finding the balance with everything else. Thank you all for making this first six months of blogging an enjoyable one. Have a super, fantastic and out of this world, kind of week! :D