Dining Room

I have slowly been working on one room at time in our home. The living room is pretty much done. I need a new rug for the living room. I will look for one during sales this year to complete that room. 

The dining room has taken the longest to get to this point.  When we left California we got rid of our dining room table. My cousin so graciously said he would build us a table. I sent him the legs that I wanted and a picture from Pinterest. He made the table exactly like the picture I sent! The table turned out AMAZING! I love it! 

We picked up the table in February. I had plans to buy chairs, but Covid happened. Overstock was having a sale over Memorial Day on chairs I have been watching. I finally pulled the trigger on them. It took about 2.5 weeks to get them. 

The entire room looks so much better!!! I absolutely love these chairs. I am so happy with the look and quality of the chairs! 

Table: custom made by cousin

Chairs: Overstock

Clock: TJ Maxx

Gather lazy susan: Nutcracker Market 

Cash sit at the right end of the table, so I keep that chair to the side under the light switches. There is plenty of room to keep the chair there until he is done with his high chair. We eat breakfast and lunch by the island in the kitchen. We just move the high chair to the table for dinner and put it back by the kitchen for the rest of the meals. Cash can move it himself and puts it in his spot for dinner. All I have to say is time to eat, off he runs to get the high chair and he stands there yelling for us to put him in. That boy doesn't mess around when it's time for a meal. 

What do you do when a product breaks or stops working?

What do you do when a product breaks or stops working?

My friend Jen was telling me one day how she contacts companies anytime a product stops working, breaks or might need to be fixed. She does this even on older items over a year old. A lot of times they will send a replacement for free, charge for shipping or have a small fee to replace the item. 

I found this so fascinating and mind boggling as to why I hadn't thought to do it in the past lol I am the queen of bargains as Siri calls me. Usually when things break I just toss them and I am done with it. Some times if the product was great, I had it a long time I will replace it with a new one or I move on to a completely different brand if it was terrible.

I decided I was going to start trying this. Good thing she told me this within 2-3 months of our conversation I had some stuff break. 

I bought the Shark Robot Vacuum during the black Friday sales in 2018. This thing gets it's use around our house. I have it going at least once a day. It has helped tremendously keep the dog hair under control and all the crumbs from 2 kids picked up. If you have kids or an animal a robot vacuum is a MUST! 

My robot vacuum stopped working in October. I called up Shark, talked with technical support and we tried a bunch of things. The tech said something was wrong with the electronic part of the vacuum. They would send me an entire new one if I covered shipping. I said sure depending how much you charge for shipping....get this....they charged $25 to send me an entire new vacuum. The old one I just had to toss in the trash. I was completely shocked. I had the new one within 10 days! 

I bought the Revlon 1875W Smooth Brilliance AC Motor Hair Dryer during the Amazon Prime Days in July 2019. I needed a new hair dryer. I had the same one for 10ish years. I barely ever used a hair dryer before moving to Texas. See my hair post HERE for more info on that. Well I bought the hair dryer in July, but didn't pull it out of the box until around October. I used it two times. The second time I used it there were sparks, burnt smell and it stopped working. GOOOOOOOD LORD!!!!

I contacted Amazon, but they said since it was over 90 days I had to contact Revlon. I was expecting to fight with them. I called up Revlon, told them what happened and they send me out a brand new one at no cost. 

I have been using the hair dryer since I received my replacement every 7-10 days. I haven't had any issues with it. I honestly think that was a fluke with that one dryer. This one is amazing and I would happily buy it again. 

I will be contacting companies in the future any time products stop working before I replace them. Have you ever contacted companies to replace something that stopped working? I am curious if others have done this and what your experience has been! 

Hair Issues from Well Water

When we moved into our house in Texas we went from city water in California to a well in Texas. I grew up on well water, so I never thought I would have issues with my hair. I was in for a surprise between the humidity of South Texas and the well water. 

In California I used conditioner once or twice a month after I washed my hair. I have been using BeautyCounter Daily Shampoo to wash my hair twice and then I use Maple Holistic Sage Shampoo. I started using the Maple Holistic Sage Shampoo when I was pregnant with Cash and experienced ridiculous dandruff. The dandruff was definitely a pregnancy thing because once Cash was born it all went away.  Danielle Walker from Against All Grain had mentioned she used this shampoo when she was pregnant with her daughter.  It was a game changer for me. It helped my dry scalp and took the dandruff away. I have continued to use it ever since to help with my dry scalp. 

When we moved to our Texas home I was struggling so bad with an itchy scalp. I felt within 2 days my head had build up even though I wasn't using any hair products. A blogger Lauren McBride mentioned she had started using Living Proof Triple Detox Shampoo to help the build up she was experiencing from her well water. I bought some to try because I was desperate. This helped my hair for a little while. 

I was still having issues with build up on my scalp. I did some research and found out it was most likely from the minerals in our water. I bought a water system to filter our drinking water and a shower filter. My scalp and hair GREATLY improved by adding the detox shampoo and the filter. 

I mentioned early I rarely used conditioner in California. My hair was very healthy. Between the well water and climate changes my hair over the past year has become dry. I had started to notice it was more difficult to comb my hair our after I washed it. I had my hair trimmed and the lady told I would need to use a hydrating conditioner every time I washed my hair. I went back to using the Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Mask. I use this each time I wash my hair now. I only wash my hair about every 6-10 days. 

I have started using the Honest Company Detangler Spray before I brush my hair out with a Wet brush. The detangler spray really helps condition my hair as it is a lightweight leave in conditioner too. I love the smell of the wild orange vanilla scent the detangler spray has too! My hair spells amazing for a few days from it!  My hair has greatly improved by making all these changes. It took me over a year to figure all this out. 

The hair products I use to wash my hair:

BeautyCounter Daily Shampoo

Maple Holistic Sage Shampoo

Living Proof Triple Detox Shampoo

Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Mask

Honest Company Detangler Spray 

Shower Filter

When I was trying to figure out what shower filter to buy I did a search on Amazon. I found the one with a lot of reviews for hard water. The title of the shower filter I went with was 

AquaBliss High Output Revitalizing Shower Filter - Reduces Dry Itchy Skin, Dandruff, Eczema, and Dramatically Improves The Condition of Your Skin, Hair and Nails. Well that covered all of it right there! It has worked great for us. I replace the filters every 3-4 months. By the end of month 3 I can start to see a difference with my scalp and I know it's time to replace it. 

Hopefully this post will help someone who is struggling with water changes to find some products that will work for them.

Gallery Wall on a Budget

One of my favorite bloggers Veronika's Blushing did this AMAZING gallery wall in her home. You can find her blog post HERE. When she posted the gallery wall it was around the time we were listing our house and planning to move to Texas. I decided in my next house this was the type of gallery wall I wanted to do. It was clean, crisp and beautiful!!! 

When we looked at our house I immediately thought of 2 places to do the gallery wall. I started planning to do one. I loved the frames Veronika used. She got hers at Target HERE. I put a lot of thought into those frames. I have all silver or brushed nickel hardware in my house. I love the gold frames, but I was concerned with having large statement gold frames with silver every where else. Also the cost was another reason I just wasn't sure I could go for them. 

Walmart has REALLY stepped up their game with their home items. I have bought a few things from them for the new house. I bought this bench for my mud room. It is very sturdy and adorable! I also bought this desk which matches the bench. We have the desk in the mud room too. The mud room is very large, so I wanted the items to match. The colors of both items are gray and they go together well. The description of the names isn't the same online. I feel they might have had a different option for the desk when I bought it months back. Anyhow these items are great quality! 

I started looking for frames all over the internet. Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kohls etc. I read a lot of reviews to see what people were saying. I wanted to keep the gallery under $150. The size of the frames I wanted to use if I went with the Target frames it would cost me around $300. Walmart had THESE frames for $10.99. I was able to get all 9 frames for under $100. The frames I bought from Walmart are AMAZING quality! If you bought them from any other retailer you would spend $25 and up on them. 

The frames sat in an enormous box in our guest room for a month. The thought of measuring and hanging them was daunting. I ordered all the pictures except one. I had Cash's pictures taken, so I wanted to put one of his new pictures in a frame. I was talking with my friend Krystal and she mentioned using these Command Strips to hang pictures. Using the strips no longer sounded like a daunting task trying to hang 9 frames. I ordered the strips from Amazon. Then I came down with strep throat and the project got pushed back another week or so. 

One day during nap time I decided it was time to just bite the bullet and hang the pictures. The huge box kept George entertained while I took all the frames out of their packaging, put the pictures in the frame, adding the command strips and arranged them how I wanted them to be on the wall. Laying them out of the floor really helped give me a visual of how I wanted them on the wall. I moved certain pictures around and was able to determine the order before applying the strips on the wall. 

I used a level to make sure each picture was level and to measure the space between each frame. It was so easy to do! It took longer to take them all out of the packaging then it did to hang them. It took me maybe 10 minutes max to hang them even with letting G climb up and down the step ladder a couple times. The entire project took me around an hour and a half from start to finish. I was able to sit down for about 10 minutes to enjoy the amazing gallery wall before Cashy woke up from his nap. 

I absolutely LOVE the final results!!!! I sit in my living room and love look at the gallery wall at least once a day. This is one of my favorite projects I have done in any of my homes. I love the white frames! I think it really lightens up the wall and makes the pictures pop more! 

Frames: Walmart 

Photo Credits:

Photography by Chelsea Lynn Bulik 

Sparkle Photography by Ashley 

I ordered all my pictures from Costco.Com  I have always used Costco to print my pictures. I find their quality to be great! I have pictures from them from 11 years ago that still are great quality and crisp. I spent maybe $10-$15 on the pictures. 

Total cost of the project was around $132. 

Frames were $98.91

Pictures were $15.00ish

Command Strips $18.00

Endangered Rocks!

Art has been working hard to get the front yard in better shape. He has raked up all the rocks, sifted through them to get rid of the dirt, laid a tarp down so the weeds can't go through. We needed additional rocks to fill in a bare area, so we went to buy some rocks. We have Ginger Rocks or something along that name. I feel like some of these things only happen in California. The rock guy told us the quarry was shut down. He has no idea how long the quarry will be shut down because they found an endangered lizard. 

We possibly might be able to get the rocks we need in a month or in 3 months. No one has any idea when the quarry will open again. Unbelievable! Lesson learned again. Stop procrastinating and get a stinkin job done!

These rocks are available, but they are NOT the right color!

I have no idea what these machines are, but Art wanted a picture of them! I guess they had something to do with yard work or rocks. 

Pinterest Knockoffs

I found the picture below on Pinterest. I LOVE IT!!!! I really like Fall and decorating for Fall. I decided to use what I had already and do my own version. 

Here is what I came up with from my Fall stash. 

I need to add something else.....I am sure I have another frame laying around I could throw into the mix. I also have some books I might add. 

Stay turned I might have a revision......

Craft Room Organized!

My craft room has been a NIGHTMARE!!!  It looks like a 7.5 earthquake shook the room apart!  I keep the door shut every.single.day! I only go in there to find something I desperately need or to iron.  It causes me stress just thinking about it.  On Sunday I had some free time & energy so I decided to tackle the room head first!

First thing I did was take pictures of the chaos like any good blogger!

Then I emptied the entire room out. I wiped everything down, swept & mopped the floors.  Then I stood back & tried to figure out where I wanted to put everything.

I took off this light switch plate and tried to wash it.  No such luck!  Well there is NOTHING a can of spray paint can't fix! I took the bugger outside & got busy!

WA-LA!!!!  Doesn't that look a TON better!

Here is the room put back together!  I really want to paint this room, but I am not sure what color.  I am thinking of putting of board & batten and painting the top a green color.  That is a project for this Fall/Winter.

I hung up some decorations!  I hung the thread holder in the center of the wall, next to it is a sewing machine iron cut out and on the other side I hung a shelf.  I hung the shelf with nails & it started to fall off the wall.  I had Art hang it up screws & it stayed!  I put a little metal basket & a picture frame.  I need to put something in the wire basket.



Here is the other side of the room.

I made this thread holder last year.

Christmas 2009 we took old fashion pictures. I love this picture of us! 

There you have it!!!! My organized craft room! I just love the fact it is so organized & I can find everything! I have been going in there every single day AND I keep the door open now.

Lounge Chair

I have been looking for furniture for our bedroom for the past year.  I never can find something I really love.  I need something that will be comfy to lounge in and also look nice.  I think I might have found the perfect chair!  I am thinking about buying 2 of them.  Target sells these sleeper lounge chairs for $149 each.  I wish I could try them out before buying them.

One year ago on May 3 we received the keys to our house, this week one year ago we were moving into our new house and the weekend before we moved in we painted 80% of the entire inside of the house.  I look at our house & I still can't believe all the painting we did in one weekend.  I have only painted one additional room in the year we have lived in our house.  I can't bring myself to finish painting the one last room.  One I can't decide on a paint color and two I can't even think about picking up a paint roller without my hands cramping! 

We have accomplished so much with making our house a home.  We have decorated most of the rooms and have a list a mile long of things we still want to do.  This summer we want to rip out our back deck & replace it. We are also going to finish decorating the man cave this summer!  Art wants to put up some bead board in the room, finish building a cabinet, put up curtains and replace the tile around the fireplace. 

This Fall or next Spring I hope to work on our kitchen.  I want to repaint all the cabinets, replace the counter top, redo the back splash and install a couple additional cabinets we bought.  I also want to add crown molding to a couple of the rooms.

Home ownership never lacks work!

Weekend Project

See the picture below of the lovely orangy brown room???? I HATE the paint color in that room. When we were getting our house ready to move into our house we painted the living, dining, bedroom, hallway, bathroom, kitchen and family room all in TWO days. How the heck did we do all that? No wonder we couldn't walk or hold a pen on Monday.

Needless to say the 2 spare bedrooms did not get painted. I decided at that point I liked the ugly orangy brown paint. Well it has finally gotten to the point I HATE it again. I decided to take advantage of the 3 day weekend and do some house projects.

Here is my inspiration for the bedroom. The inspiration picture is from Three Men & a Lady blog. Check out her blog she is amazing!!!! Right now the entire room is painted white. It looks HUGE and so bright! Tomorrow the stripes will come. :) I am soooo very excited. I scored a bunch of stuff at the thrift store Friday night to decorate the space.

Veteran's

Today I read Pioneer Woman's blog called Coming Home. It is dedicated to pictures of military men & women coming home. Such a moving post! The first few pictures made me smile thinking of families who felt such relief their loved ones made it home safely. Then I saw the fifth picture of the wife hugging her husband and the coffin draped in an American flag and I lost it.

My husband has taught me what a huge sacrifice veterans make for our country. Coming home from war can be a soldiers biggest struggle. Panic, nightmares, post traumatic stress disorder, friends they left behind, a war that still needs them, along with many other issues that follow these soldiers home.

When we first started dating my husband made it very clear there could be a chance he would have to go back to Iraq. I was scared for 2 years that he would have go to back to Iraq. He was lucky to make it out of there once alive and my biggest fear is would he come home safe again. The day he retired was a HUGE relief!

I feel so proud to have such a dedicated and wonderful veteran I call my husband!

Purchases

The last 2 days we have been looking for a new refrigerator. I wanted a bargain, so I was willing to go to 100 places. We looked at a place near where we live that sells used appliances. They were out of control with their prices. They wanted $500 for a used 25 cubic foot side by side fridge. Today we went to Fry's, Best Buy and Lowe's.

Art started to tell the guy at Best Buy we wanted to order a fridge, but his cheap wife stopped him. I said can we please go look at Lowe's first. Best Buy had a white side by side 25 cubic foot fridge on sale for $809.00. They wouldn't allow us to use our 10% off coupon because it was already 10% off. They wanted to charge us $30 to deliver the fridge on Monday.

Off we went to Lowe's. I had a 10% off coupon for Lowe's too. We needed to pick up some yard stuff for it wasn't a wasted trip. We found the exact same fridge for $799. I asked the sales woman if I could use my coupon, when it could be delivered and how much the delivery fee was. I could use my coupon, we would get the fridge the next day and the delivery fee is FREE. Plus they would take away our old fridge. SOLD! She rings it up and it's $719....IT'S ON SALE! We walked out of there buying the fridge for $647. I was soooo excited! I felt we got an awesome deal!

Earlier in the day we went to Macy's Outlet store. I was soooo overwhelmed walking into this place. It's like furniture heaven! Couches, chairs, area rugs, millions of mattresses, beds, dressers etc. I would like to buy a sectional couch for our living room. I am in no rush, but just wanted to look. Of course I found one I love. I just don't feel I can justify it right now since we bought a fridge. The fridge was in the budget, but I want to be careful with our money.

I did purchase this little beauty below. I spent $31 bucks for this runner. It was previously $100. I put it by our front door. I like it there, but I can't open the closet. :( I am not sure what I will do, but for now it's staying put!

I put Art to work tonight. We put up our towel racks in both bathrooms. Finally at 10:30 Art said it's bedtime I am done drilling holes. lol I am close to being done with the bathrooms. Below is the hand towel holder I bought at Home Good's for $5.

HOUSE!!!

Here are some pictures from the house. This is what 30 years of debt looks like! =)

Front of House

Kitchen

Back Yard

Back Yard

my walk in closet!!!!!!!!!!!

Art's closets

master bathroom

master bedroom

guest room

craft room

main bathroom

hallway

looking from the family room into the living/dining room

family room

family room

living room