How to Blow up a Pyrex Dish and Other Fun Summer Activities

  Let me start by saying that so far, our Summer has been an absolute whirlwind.  Mostly not in a bad way, just lots of crazy busyness.  Whew!
  It started a week before school let out when my wonderful SIL and her hubby came to stay for about a week.  It was so great to have them here, as they live in ID and we don't really get to see them much.  They arrived on the Saturday that my upstairs neighbor's water heater ruptured and caused for it to rain in my bathroom and hallway.  LOL  Welcome to the neighborhood!  The trip for them, however, was not as much fun as it should have been since they seemed to have one problem after another with their Jeep.  The long and complicated mess ended with them having to have one of my other SIL tow their Jeep back to Elko from Winnemucca to hang out at our place until Alex can get it fixed.  They had to go back to Fallon and get a friend from ID to come and pick them up to take them home.  Much later than they had originally planned.  But thankfully they are back home safely, and the Jeep is in good hands.
  About 3 days after Siddie and Ryan left, my Auntie and nephews came to stay for a little over a week.  We checked out museums while they were here, spent some time at the park,  and blew up a Pyrex baking dish.  And broke a window.  I should probably start with how I blew up the Pyrex since that's the first of a series of strange chaotic events that occurred while my Auntie was here.  The night prior, I baked a delicious Wacky Cake and left the leftover portion in the Pyrex on the back burner of the stove.  In preparing to cook the beautiful giant artichokes I paid an insane price for the next evening, I accidentally turned on the burner under the Pyrex dish instead of the one under the artichokes. We noticed a strange smell and that the Pyrex dish was smoking.  Realizing what I had done, I grabbed the dish and went to put it in the dishwater in the sink (yes, I really was going to do that).  At this point, my Auntie stopped me and pointed out that it would be much safer to set the dish on the back porch in case it exploded when it started to cool off.  I agreed and turned to walk to the back door only to have the dish in question explode violently in my hands.  Yup.  Covered me in glass, blew it clear into the living room, under the stove, under the table, and, you guessed it, all over those beautiful artichokes which were now rendered inedible.  Yay.  So no artichokes for dinner that night.   A couple of days after the Exploding Pyrex, my curious 5 year old son decided to see if he could bounce a rock off the cement in our back yard.  Yup.  And right through his bedroom window.  While I was standing in front of it stripping the sheets off his bed to wash them.  After I finally calmed down, I called the rental company, who would not, by the way, pay for the window (thankfully our renter's insurance did) and was instructed to cover the window with something to keep people from getting hurt on it (???) and call someone to fix it.  I reached under the sink to grab a trash bag (the first cover I thought of) only to find that everything under my sink was VERY wet, due to the fact that the sink was leaking.  I called the rental company again.  While I was outside with my Auntie duck taping trash bags over the broken window (thankfully it was a double paned window and he only broke the outside pane) the maintenance guy showed up.  Not to fix my sink, but to (finally) look at my ceiling where it had rained from my upstairs neighbors apartment more than a week prior.  He poked at it, looked at my sink and told me he would be back the next day to cut some holes in my ceiling and assess the damage, and also to fix my sink.  At 4:50pm the next day, he called to say he wouldn't make it, but would be by at 8:00 a.m. the following day.  Okay.  He came in, cut a 12x12 hole in the ceiling in my hallway and in my bathroom, and fixed my kitchen sink after 2 trips to the Home Depot and several hours.  Haven't seen him since.  I had to talk to the rental company today because I thought we had a gas leak (turns out we are just smelling the rotting insulation and wood through the holes in our ceiling) and was assured we are a priority this week.  This week?
  In the midst of all this chaos, we did manage to mark 5 or 6 things off our Summer Bucket list, and start some others.  And laugh.  We have to laugh.  Or go crazy.

Bringing a Bedroom Together on the Cheap

Miss Leelah came to live with us full time in February.  On the 3rd to be precise.  Her bedroom was...well, kind of a catch all to be honest.  Because no one used it full time before she came, I had my craft stuff in it, and used the closet as extra storage space.  It had a bed, but the bed set was about 10 years old, and looked it.  The only other piece of bedroom furniture in the room was one of a set of nightstands that my Aunt had given us.  Yep, just the one.  LOL  And not a dresser in site.

Shortly after she came to live with us, my Grandmother gave us a dresser that had belonged to my Pop's mom, my Great-granny Fern, long before I was even born.  It was a very sturdy dresser, but in need of a make over.

Both pieces were varnished, or lacquered, or whatever they used to make them slick and shiny.  I remembered pinning a tip on Pinterest (who doesn't love Pinterest?) about a primer that would make anything ready to paint.  Enter the miracle primer Zinsser Cover Stain.  The best part is that I found a quart of this liquid gold on clearance at WalMart for about half price.  Score for me!  It seriously covers and sticks to ANYTHING.  But be warned.  It's an oil-base primer, so if you don't wear gloves when you use it, and you happen to get it on your hands, you may as well remove your skin to get it off.  Or that's what I've heard anyway.  I would NEVER not pay attention to the fact that is was oil-based and use it without gloves.  Nope, not me.

So, I took all the hardware off both pieces of furniture and used a small foam roller to primer them. Not too bad.  I didn't put it on extra thick or try to have perfect coverage.  I sort of just played it by ear and hoped for the best.

The primer was dry in about half an hour.  I then used the WalMart brand paint in Tribal Smokestone to paint both the dresser and nightstand.  Leelah picked the color, and it is very catching.  And the WalMart brand of paint only ran me about $10 for a quart.  Again, I didn't put it on super thick or try for perfect coverage.  I went over the places that I felt needed it with a second coat, and everything was dry in about half and hour again.  The primer underneath gives it sort of a rough texture, and I don't know if it's because I only lightly primered or because that's just how the primer is, but I like it.

On to the hardware.  Of course the furniture wasn't from a matching set, so the hardware was different on each piece.  The dresser had gold colored knobs, and the nightstand had a bronze toned knobs.  Hmmm.  Back to Walmart to buy some Krylon Colormaster Brushed Metallic spray paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze.  I had never used it before now, but what the heck.  It's really watery.  I mean really watery, and it took 2 coats to cover the knobs well, but it is beautiful, and it dries in 10 minutes or less.  Perfect. 

Once everything was dry, I put all the knobs and drawers back in their places, and voila! a matching bedroom set, complete with new bed set, for less than $100.  Not too shabby.  The best part is, however, that Leelah loves it.

A Thought (or Two) on New Year's Resolutions...

It’s a New Year!  Hello to 2013, a new chance full of a hundred thousand promises and ways to make life even better. 

I wonder to myself why it is that the New Year makes us all want to put into effect those changes we have been putting off for months or even years.  Maybe it’s because it gives us the sense of starting over, or starting fresh.  That’s what I’m doing with this New Year, starting fresh.  I’ve set myself some specific New Year’s Resolutions, in hopes that by being less vague I make them a little more obtainable.  I’m setting up a system of support, people and things to help me achieve these personal goals, and I’m excited like I’ve never been excited before.

My overall goal this year is to simplify my life.  By simplify, I mean to take out all the unneccessary and unhealthy baggage, so to speak.  I signed up to join in the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, and I’m purging and organizing like crazy!  I’m actually ahead on the January Declutter calendar, and I have been using Pinterest as a guide for crafty storage solutions (the possibilities are endless!)

The simplification doesn’t stop there, however.  I’m also simplifying the way we eat.  Not to say that our meals will be simple, but more along the lines of the ingredients will be simpler and fresher. I’m planning for leaner proteins, more fruits and vegies and a goal to only eat out once a month.  Thanks to Bountiful Baskets, I can do all of this and still stay within my budget, which is also being simplified.  I’m FINALLY making myself stick out a fitness routine.  No excuses to be had!  I joined an 8 week challenge with a friend of mine via The Six Sister’s Stuff (these ladies have a fantastic blog!).  I’ve picked back up on the Weight Watchers program (which, BTW, you can follow for free if you don’t mind not having the new 360 program).  My goals are within reach.

I guess what I’m really doing is taking a good hard look at the things that matter most in my life; my family, my health and my happiness.  How can I make these things better and enjoy them more?  The possibilities are endless!  So take a minute to slow down in this crazy thing we call life, and enjoy the simple things.  May 2013 bring you many things to celebrate and smile about.