My little Houdini...

My goods from Home Depot

Last Friday night I was leaving right after work to go on an overnight retreat with my community group. It had been raining that day, so Doc (the dog) was covered in mud by the time I got home. He was furious that I wouldn't let him in, and as my friends pulled up into the driveway to leave for the retreat, Doc found a tiny hole in the fence and met us on the front stoop. Dang that dog. I ran back to the backyard and blocked the hole up with the trashcan, wheelbarrow, logs, and anything else I could find... we left, and a short 1-2 hours later I got a call from a neighbor, "I think we have your dog." Ugh. Thankfully, my dear friend Dani Ray went and picked him up and took Doc home for the evening - mud and all. What a lifesaver!

Doc and his escape-proof fence!

As a results, my new home improvement project - fix the fence! I put on a little makeup, some cute clothes and headed to Home Depot Saturday morning (lots of handsome fellas can be found in Home Depot:) where I stalked up and down the aisles for almost an hour to get the 4 items on my list. You read it right - FOUR items... For some reason, I feel that asking for assistance at Home Depot is admitting defeat. I'm always determined that I can find what I'm looking for by myself. It usually doesn't work. After walking up and down each outdoor aisle (it was 20-something degrees outside) and most of the indoor aisles looking for fencing materials, I finally asked a sweet old man to direct me to the fencing. It was on the last aisle on the opposite end of the store - the one place I had NOT looked. I found what I was looking for within a few minutes, then went to find the u-shaped nails. After walking up and down the nail aisle about 5 times, I gave up and went to the paint section. I got my paint then went back to the nail aisle where I finally asked a sweet lady where to find my "u" nails... 5 seconds later I had the nails in my hand. Now I had been in the store for close to an hour, so I immediately asked a good looking guy where to get "a wire cutter thingy." The fella found what I needed in a minute or so, and I headed home! Why don't I just ask for help?

Love!

Today my favorite friend Nick (I tell him he's my favorite when I need help with home projects) came by to help put up the fence. It was so easy! I'm a terrible hammer-er, so many dents were left in the fenceposts, but we all survived! Now my little Houdini is safe again in the backyard...

Home improvements!

So I was lazing on my couch this morning perusing Pinterest. My first mistake.

Suddenly, I saw a GREAT idea for a little fun with my front door. I already had all the paint, so I quickly sprang into action - A few minutes later, here was my finished product!All I did was take some leftover blue paint from my TV stand and paint the edges of the front door. Adds a little extra fun:) I shouldn't be so excited, but I LOVE it!

As long as I'm sharing home improvements, here's a few more that I've finished lately... First was my "Meagan's Wall O' Stuff". I've been collecting fun pictures and painting and stuff to fill up an empty wall of the house. I figured that it only took me a year to get things up on the wall... I'm a serious procrastinator.

Some of the "stuff"? A cross-stitched frog that says "When things aren't going your way... PANIC!" My mama made it years ago when she was going through her sewing phase. There's the cork "M" that was another Pinterest idea; some pics of vacations, family and friends; and a couple of oil paintings that were given to Mama and Daddy as wedding gifts. The great part is as I find other treasures or great pictures, I can just add to the wall o' stuff! And don't judge me - I'm not very good at hanging things evenly. I'm more of a "just eyeball it" kind of person when hanging pictures:)

Lastly, when I moved into my house a year ago, one of my favorite things was the fireplace. I have NEVER lived in a house with a fireplace... however, during the home inspection I was told to never burn wood in it or I might burn down the house. I didn't ask questions, just said "Yessir" and vowed to not burn my house down to the ground. So my first significant addition to the house was gas logs for the fireplace.

I began the process a couple of months ago by shopping around for the logs. A salesman told me how to go about getting a gas line run, who to call, getting an inspection, installation of the logs, etc... So I began by measuring for the logs, getting an estimate from the plumbers for the gas line installation, shopping for and purchasing the logs, then calling again to get the plumbers to come to my house for the installation. What was supposed to be a one day job turned into a 3 week long ordeal of frantic work schedule rearrangements, 4 plumber visits, 2 inspections, a couple of calls to the log manufacturers, and 2 new holes in the walls of my home!  It wasn't as easy as I had hoped it would be, but in the end I am ridiculously happy to turn my fire on each evening (even on those 60 degree winter days). And on a side note, my team of two young plumbers showed up the first day to begin running the gas line into the fireplace. I saw a butt crack within the first 5 minutes of their time in the house. Seriously, guys?! Don't we want to battle the stereotypes?! Heavens. Wear a belt.

Here's the finished product...

Fire in the hole!

Painting night

So this is embarrassing... In November, the book club girls and I decided to go crazy on a Thursday night and attend a painting party at a nearby restaurant. It's one of those deals where you take your own food and wine and follow the instructor's steps until each person has completed her very own work of art (I use the term "art" loosely).

Ladies, start your engines!

Notice the hysterical laughing going on...

We arrived at Buckley's Lunchbox with bottles of wine, platters of goodies, and our "inner artists" primed and ready to go! We quickly poured our glasses full of vino and picked out an easel. On each easel was an artist's apron, a blank canvas on which newspaper fenceposts were glued, and a styrofoam plate filled with a rainbow of acrylic paints.  We sat nervously at our spots and waited for the class to start. Most of us girls are NOT the artistic type - among the girls we have lawyers, medical professionals, financial professionals, teachers... and ONE art therapist. She just showed up to make us look badly!


The teacher, Lisa, stepped in front of the room and immediately jumped right in. She just started slathering blue and white paint onto the canvas. I looked around and all of us gingerly began dabbing paint on the canvases. It's hard for people who are used to being "perfect" in their work to just let loose and smear paint on the canvas! We soon began giggling and didn't really stop until the class was over. I finally realized that you can't mess it up - you just go with it... The greatest part of the evening was seeing how everyone's final product was totally different from the others.

Meagan

Emily

Catherine (dang her!)

 Most everyone else deviated from the instructor's template, but I realized I'm much more of a "copier" rather than an "artist". In the end, my painting looked exactly like hers. Even down to the color of the flowers. Oh, well. Maybe my artist's eye will develop with more practice!

Patti, Jackie, me, Emily, and Catherine

We had a GREAT time and will definitely be going back soon!

My "work" proudly displayed in the dining room!