He began a new journey

back in april during one of the coolest and longest Houston springs I can remember

I happened to notice a cocoon in a bed of bamboo in our backyard. It had likely fallen from a near by honeysuckle. He wiggled when I picked him up so I knew he was alive.

He stayed in the safety of his cocoon for just a few days. Howard H. Moth lived in a little tupperware container nestled in a cinder block placed under the eve of the house. (Mom found me a mesh onion bag to secure over his home)

Little Tersa Sphyx hatched in the middle of the night
emerged on a chilly morning

clung to a bamboo stalk in the wind and posed for at least 200 photos
and eventually flew away
beginning a new journey

He is gorgeous.

I was a bit jealous of his transformation, his freedom, his new world and life
leaving it all behind

 *look at that little smile in the center photo!

14 B 14 - Everything in its place

#3 Everything In Its Place

What: get organized, make a plan to stay organized and get my life in order. really really learn how to manage the onslaught of clutter

Why: I'm noticing how interconnected all of my 14 goals are. Holding onto skinny clothes (of which I had an entire closet devoted) clutters my life which leads to stress and anxiety because of the clutter and shame that I can't keep a clean house.

Last year my mom saved me an article from Good Housekeeping. It wasn't a ten tips for a more organized life, or 50 ordinary household items used to create an organized pantry. Those are great articles and pins but lets face it unless a professional comes in and figures out my pantry it is going to be a constant mess. This article, Everything in Place, had 3 tips - an ah ha! moment for me.

Like I said, this issue is connected to so much of my dissatisfaction in life. I woke up one Saturday last month and shook David awake and said: "We are taking the closet doors off today."

I have hated our closet doors from day one in this house. They were so heavy I have to use a shoulder shove to push them open. In a marital compromise we decided to leave them in the middle of the closet so neither one of us has to heave them open. This solved that problem but left us both with just a tiny opening to reach any of our clothes and rendered the center most 2.5 feet of the closet a black hole.

Easy solution is to just take the dang doors down. Yes. I guess 50 years ago sliding closet doors weren't going anywhere and to get them down we'd have to take off the door jam and risk damaging sheetrock. Three years is all it takes to say to hell with the sheetrock, I need a closet!

And so they went.

Yes. That is unedited - and see the giant mound of crap in the floor that comes up to dp's knee? That is real life. (in this real life moment, dp does home improvement work in pjs and flip flops)

LIFE CHANGING MOMENT.

our room feels bigger

our closet doubled in size and in visibility

we finally got the dirty clothes hamper into the closet

we have a closet floor

it is phenomenally easy to get ready in the morning

and it has stayed this way for about a month!

On the same day as the closet door removal, big day, I did this.

That would be The Skinny Clothes. I don't know this picture doesn't do the 3 ft tall pile any justice. It was a lot of clothes. And it was hard. But I had to let go.

I still have a few things I just couldn't get rid of yet, and I'm allowing myself those things until the end of the year.


Neither of those goals are officially achieved but set in motion. Motion is a fantastic feeling.



ps- i weighed the doors. one door weighed 35 lbs. to open our closet i had to move SEVENTY FIVE POUNDS of door. ridiculousness

before and after marathon

Every year the Scentsy party comes to my house and pushes me to put up all of the Christmas decorations and power thru the stacks of projects waiting to be finished.

Last year we had been on the hunt for a piece to go over the couch. We randomly walked into Kirkland's and here was this perfect mirror, on sale, and the last one in the store. And we have been happy with it ever since.

Mom used to rearrange the furniture all the time. We'd come home from school and the living room would be different. Our rooms are shapped in a way that allows for 1 good placement of furniture and I can't "rearrange", not that I haven't tried. But I do have a can of spray paint and that does me just fine.

First project was the rug. I started it weeks ago and knew I needed to add stripes. David didn't trust several of my designs and finally I said, these are your two choices and if you don't like any of these my woman'y design sense over rules your idesisiveness. So he picked the design with the least amount of work. I'm ok with that.

I like to think it looks like the flag for the United States of Me. Turqoise and Citron. Yup those are my countries colors.

    BEFORE

A gross sunbleached *free* rug

AFTER

Turquoise

Cost- $0.00

Every house needs a gnome. Mel gave me our knome when we moved in and poor little guy was dusty and faded and sad. Homeboy needed some sparkle. He got some spray paint and a gliter hat & belt.

Sparkle gnome

Cost- $0.00

In February we found a garage sale closing up and they were flinging things at me for free. It is hard to say no to free. So I picked up this little lamp. I intended for it to be faux mercury glass but the technique backfired. Woof. A little sandpaper and a recovered shade and she is pretty cute.

*mom recovered the lampshade while I played Beatles Rock Band.

** seriously if you need anything stuck down, you have to get Fabritac. hot glue failed, spray adhesive worked ok, but Fabritac finished the recovering.

BEFORE 

Brassy and Sad

AFTER

Springy Lamp

Cost- $0.00

The Free Garage sale also gifted us a frame. I had no plans for it but whipped up this using my Charlie Harper memory game cards. 

Happy Wildlife Collage

Cost -$0.00 

I am working on a watercolor for over the TV, but I haven't finished started yet. So for the party I slapped some paper in the frame. David is gagging with all the florals I'm forcing on him, don't care one bit. :)

In my feverish crafting binge I tried something I saw on pinterest. I hate it. I used this sad old print my mom had in the garage. I stuck down letter, painted over it, removed the letters to reveal the ugly. It needs a frame? or... a trashcan.

Cruelest of all, I spent money on this one. I thought I had letters but I didn't and decided to just buy some.

Ugly Print turned Uglier

Cost - $3.00

And I'm spent. 

the smell of dirt

Saturday I dropped dp off for his play date with men, sweat, tools and insulation. Apparently that is a weekend men like. Plus he had an excuse to pull out his coveralls, which was an excuse to make fun of him for wearing coveralls. We were all happy.

I met my mom for our monthly pedi and we came back to my house for lunch. I made fresh pimento cheese (it makes a difference, do it! my mouth just watered) on nice dark rye.

and then we gardened

in the unbelievable spring weather
mulched my struggling magnolia

And then I took a little nap on the porch.

Post Script -
mommy talks about the smell of dirt as therapeutic and restorative. i agree. birds, tickle of grass, rustle of leaves and the clean smell of dirt is good for the soul. eve must have enjoyed mulching her magnolias.

favorite things- gift review!

I was supposed to have my thank you notes written by Feburary and noticed yesterday I did not achieve that goal. I'm seriously going to be writing all my correspondence this weekend. On my honor.

Favorite things this Friday are inspired by thank you notes!

Kitty Water Fountain

Yes I am a crazy nut and asked Santa for a water fountain for my kitties. And they like it. I guess I thought they'd love it and invite all their kitty friends to a fountain party then I'd come home to cats in bikinis passed out with one paw in the fountain.
They don't love it that much, but they get fresh running, filtered water which can't be THAT bad, right?

Kitty Window Seat

I used some Christmas money to buy my kitties a window seat. I have mentioned how Michmansion doesn't have window sills, it is weird, but we don't. We had been using an old dish barrel box from a move. But it really only had space for 1 kitty and they had some trouble sharing. Until I found the TROFAST at Ikea and some carpet remnant in my mom's garage.
Kitties are in LOVE. Abbey particularly loves taunting the scary pitbulls next door. ;)

Urban Decay Eye Pencil Set

I have never worn eyeliner. It is scary and scratchy and smudgy. I am intimidated.
But, I figured I am almost 30 years old and I should be able apply a little liner. I research and purchased this Urban Decay set and have been "wearing" eyeliner everyday since (ha!), but not very well. I think I still need lessons, but the colors are cool.

Aerolatte Frother

Like hot chocolate? Coffee? Hate stirring?

But seriously, I didn't really have a problem with the stirring but thought hey, a gadget! It is pretty nice. We always have clean spoons now, mostly because David uses my frother more than I do. He likes a gadget too.

My mom also got me an immersion blender! Woo! I haven't used it yet. In the months leading up to Christmas I would say to my self, oh an ib would be great for this... and now that I have one I can't think of anything to immersion blend. Suggestions?

One more for the road, cause we all wish we could nap in the sun.

do over

A couple years ago David and I were deciding what we wanted to paint the bedroom and we decided, or so I thought, on a color.
Dark.
Cozy.

We struggled for weeks to decide on the right color.

I really liked what we picked.

David doesn't.

He just informed me that he is over the bedroom color. I'm not sure if he just never liked it or what. So we are on the hunt again for a new bedroom color.

Normally I would say, "tough beans sugar lump, let's just leave well enough alone." But with the settling of the house some rather enormous cracks have reappeared and it might be a decent time to just repair them and either touch up the paint or pick something new.

THE HUNT

:: Pinterest

:: Design Sponge

:: Little Green Notebook

:: Design Seeds -  Aren't we loving these?

plop plop fizz fizz

Oh what a relief.

Meet our two 60 foot pines trees.

Yeah, they are dead. And looming over my house, and my neighbors house. And for the past year I've been terrified every time I felt a breeze. (The drought didn't get them, they found pine beetles) Can you see Dp lurking? :)

Those were the pine twins last week.

And this week?

G.O.N.E. Just pine mulch.

A big empty space in the back yard.

Yesterday it stormed and I didn't break a sweat.

Bring on the rain!!

still in the car

Not sure how to sum up the last month.

There is a scene in Jurassic Park-
(um... is it weird that I compare my life to a dinosaur movie? is it weird it is my favorite movie to watch when I am sick?)

There is a scene in JP when you first meet T-Rex, he pushes the Jeep (with Tim inside) over an embankment and it lands in a tree. Grant comes to get Tim and they have to race the Jeep down the tree. The scene ends at the monstrous roots of the tree.

Tim: Well... we're back... in the car again.
Grant: Well, as least you're out of the tree.

That has been the last month- still in the car but out of the tree.

In other news.... unrelated to dinosaurs

:: I got a snail and a shrimp. (that's weird too isn't it?)
Meet Pickles and Mike Schnail. Pickles has even molted once!

:: Remember those plants?
David dug me some holes. There they be in all their glory... er soon to be glory.

:: Got some poinsettias for the front porch. They look good against the white. I don't hate the porch anymore. It's growing on me.

:: I broke some one's head off. :/

And when it all seems too much, and the days too long, and when I think I couldn't possible take another step or breath...

her sweet face makes it easier.

the opposite of rest

Are you tired? I am.
I think it should be Thanksgiving next weekend. I’m very excited about the days off, the smell of cooking (God smiles when he smells onions and celery cooking), the break from go-go-going...

Maybe if I am this tired I should take a weekend to just relax. That would be smart. I’m not.

Project Green MonsterGoal: Backyard privacy
Status: Ongoing
I live in an older neighborhood with chain link fences and backyard neighbors. I’m tired of watching their fire pit and being shy about having our windows open. I took my horticulturist (mom) to Houston Garden Center for privacy shrubs. Houston Plant Centers is having a great sale, 70% off. If David could dig me a bunch of beds I would have gone nuts. Instead I got 8 large shrubs for under $50. Still working on getting them in the ground.

Project Deck
Goal: De-Scuz the deck
Status: Complete
I spontaneously decided I wanted to stain the deck. So we did. I don’t like it. It is going to take some serious getting used to. We went with an opaque white stain. I guess I was envisioning Tom Sawyer and instead got white paint. The jury is still out.

Haunted MichMansion

Happy Halloween

They love me. ;)

a spoonful of sugar

We were a little late with the spring cleaning... more like fall cleaning.

To make my study corner more conducive to actual studying and not storing crap we worked very hard to clean up the office and its closet. Now I have a happy little corner. (David fully consumes the office- he is a spreader-outer.) All my stationary has a place, my art supplies are easily found, my gift wrapping funness is stored happily in tubs. I can't believe our front bedroom and closet are for real clean. It only took a year. Pretty right?

AND we organized my pantry which has been a complete disaster ever since we moved in; I always said that we would get around to it. We actually did this time- and everything has a place with like items AND we have so much more space.

I totally outdid myself and gave myself a week-long migraine. I'm allergic to organizing. :D

mich-a-versary

Michmansion has turned 1. What a long way the little house has come.

We’ve been working non-stop on the house to get ready for our first overnight house guests! Chris, Jeni and Logan are coming to see me this weekend! But the house was NOT guest ready, nor 1 year old proof.

You ready for the list?
-Paint touch ups
-Painted shutters
-Fixed attic stairs
-Sealed ductwork in attic
-Caulked bathtub
-Hung curtain tie backs
-Painted sunroom
-HUNG ART!

Uh but haven’t finished laundry from the cruise. I guess that is just how it goes.

two turtles in a turquoise bed

I've been looking for a bed/headboard for many many years now, like 5. (I say headboard because David is super picky with beds he can actually use, I guess if my feet dangled off the bed I would be picky too, but this is about the only time my feet don't dangle, I do have to vault into bed and have a nice dismount in the morning)

My search is over! My mom and Tia Kay went garage sailing (he he, ok sale-ing) a few weeks ago, I just mentioned I was looking for a headboard and a headboard was out there looking for me! Five dollars brought it home.

I decided to paint it turqouise. Maybe I will take pictures of Michmansion one day. I like bright colors. I have a bright kitchen, bright office and dying to paint our pink bedroom orange (but what would we call it?)

Personal Flaw-- I can not buy a quart of paint. I start to, then think "no no it will soak up way more than a quart and who buys two quarts? a gallon it is" And after using less than a quart I have a mostly full gallon of bright yellow or in this case turquoise paint. The real reason my office ended up the same yellow as my front door!

Here she is!

And my bed.

(pretend I have actually hung things on the walls... its coming I swear)

ps- I mentioned I wish I wrote down all the sayings my meemaw comes up with. the title is straight from her lips.

2880/120/4

After 2880 hours (approximately), that's 120 days (approximately), that's 4 months (appro... you get the point) it- is- here!

Welcome to my home couchy.

Thank you for being the right size for my little legs, and t-rex tiny arms. Thank you for being just big enough to satisfy my enormous husband.


Little MichMansion is really coming together. I think it might be time for a little update. Maybe I will be motivated to take after pictures this weekend, and then again maybe not.