Messy Business

Mulching Around

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

One of the most challenging things in the home ownership process for me has been working on my yard. It seems like this year all of the exterior issues I've been putting off or babying along have finally started to break and die. Dang it.

For example all the grass that I planted totally fried in the yard as you can see in the next two pictures:

And it even died over in the side yard. Totally stinks. Starting over again this year is what has to be done but it's not really all that much fun.

One area that actually did get some improvement was in the "backyard!" It is actually starting to look way better! Here's a picture of it before:

{Ignore the weeds... every time I try to get out there with RoundUp it randomly starts raining. Weed killing is this weekend.} Here's the random not cement section. I used to wonder if maybe this was a dog run in it's former life? Who knows.

Sebastian likes to run around in this section so instead of buying rock that would only attract heat (it gets NO shade in the summer) and burn his little baby puppy paws I scored a great deal on mulch at my second job. 3 large bags for only $10.00 plus my discount. Not bad! I would say if you're doing a large area it wouldn't be a good deal to buy bags but I was only covering some smaller spaces.

Here's the new view from farther back. I think it looks way better! Especially once I get the weeds totally taken care of. Try not to look at the neighbor's yard. Two years ago they covered the whole thing in brand new sod and then let it die. Seems like a waste. It looks awful now.

I also added mulch around this beautiful old tree in my yard. I love the view of the park. However I am jealous of the grass at the park... #yardenvy.

I still have some other major projects to get worked out in terms of the exterior of the house. Porches still need repair plus I found out I have to totally replace my entire skylight because it is leaking. Joy.

How are your yard projects coming along?

Baby Sister Room Re-Do Reveal-ish

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:36:00 +0000

Well I have finally gotten my sister all moved in to the house. She did the long drive from South Dakota to Colorado all in one day. Crazy kid. She got in at about 5am. I feel like I am way to old for all that sort of stuff but she was glad to be home I think. However all the things on her bedroom to do list didn't quite get done but I think it still ended up looking pretty good.

Here's the mood board that we first started a few weeks ago when I announced that Ally would be moving in:

Sister's Room by megmcd on Polyvore

The original to-do list consisted of and what managed to get marked off:

paint over grey and carry over into closet
~~paint desk from Habitat coral~~
buy cheap dresser (also paint, coral drawers, white outer)
~~move full sized bed from striped room to Ally's room~~
make/find headboard
~~move side tables from my room to Ally's room~~
~~put IKEA rug in room~~
~~hang floating shelves on funky wall for storage~~
~~hang hook rack~~
full length mirror behind door
~~accessorize!~~

I definitely ran out of time to get that much painting done. Working 70 hours a week puts a damper on painting time. I do still plan on fixing the trim and the closet but it won't be until later this summer, you know. When I have an entire day off from work.

Here's a few pictures of what I managed to get done in her room before she got here though! The only thing I bought was the dresser:

Looks so awesome in the space! The rest is fairly neutral but this adds a fun shock of color, which is a direct reflection of my sister's vibrant personality.

So far it has been pretty destroyed with all of her boxes and bags and such being brought in. We're working on getting it organized and functional for her soon. I am very glad to have her back! My parents are also back from New Mexico this week to help with the swamp cooler set up (it's starting to hit in the 80s around here).

Happy Monday!

HomeOwnIversary

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

This is the official anniversary of owning my home. It has been just about five years since we stumbled upon this beauty back in 2008. It certainly wasn't much to look at back then. It was the height of the market, I was young, we were eager. But I think owning a home has been one of the greatest learning experiences of my life.

5 Tips for Single Lady Homeowner's

You can do it. Don't be afraid to get dirty.
Experiment with style, you never know what you will like.
Paint makes everything prettier.
Always know someone with a truck.
Make a blog!

Here's just a glimpse of where this place started I have so many plans for where else it can go!

.Before we did all of our renovations the house was pretty nasty. I must say that I am very proud of how far the place has come and the fact that I was able to do it with the help of my wonderful friends and family. I look forward to being able to make the exterior even more wonderful and am excited to reveal to everyone the big changes from the living room remodel. It is almost done!

10 Things I've Learned Owning a House

Water doesn't magically appear out of a faucet, you have to pay for that.
If you put a tractor tire on your porch it is highly likely it will collapse and your Dad won't like that.
It is worthwhile to invest in doing maintenance work, such as painting, cleaning, watering, etc. It feels good when people walk into your home and are impressed.
Just because it's a manufactured home doesn't mean it's trash, just means it requires more creativity.
Caulk is always going to be a funny word.
DIY is a ton of fun but it's better to get a job done right. Leave the hard stuff to the pros (like roofs, major plumbing, etc.)
Don't over spend on your house. For example as much as I love my house, it's still a manufactered home. Meaning that it's value will only ever be so much. Knowing where to make smart budget choices is key. You wouldn't buy granite for a trailer because it's probably too heavy and you'd never see any return.
Thrift stores are your friend for furniture. Don't go into debt for a table, refabulous it.
Know your own limits and when to ask for help.
Your homeowner's insurance agent should be your friend. :)

My house isn't perfect, but I'm proud of it. I will continue to try and take my house from trailer trash to fabulous still . At this point I will probably be here for another year at least. My next place will be even more amazing and creative because I have learned so much from this experience in my life, all before the age of 25. I think that's pretty great.

Living Single: Monthly Update

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Back in March I started talking about how I wanted to start working towards financial freedom, especially since I'm now out of college and don't have that extra interest backed cash coming in every few months. (High five to those student loans!) What is starting to become a challenge is the fact that those student loans have to be paid back.

I know. Crazy. I don't remember being told that. Damnit.

So I have heard a lot of buzz around about Dave Ramsey and even recall my parents following his lead when I was a kid. I found his website {here} and found a lot of great advice. I wanted to know more! So I used my fabulous Google Chrome set up, seriously, I heart the Googlie; and found a ton of videos online.

I spent all morning on Sunday watching these videos and getting some great tips and steps to success. One thing that I noticed is that though a lot of his info is tailored to families and people in relationships (#singleladyfun) there's some things that I can incorporate into the single lady life I'm living.

For instance setting up a budget. My new favorite thing is Google Drive. You can create all kinds of documents just through Google without having to buy expensive software that if you're like me, you can't really afford at the moment. Plus it's fairly dumdum proof which I appreciate.

In my Google drive I set up a folder for all my "budget" goodies. Everything from paying off student loans, car, credit card debt, monthly budget, and a spending register. However I have no clue how to use or set up a spreadsheet.... I'm an English teacher... numbers are not me friend.

So in the truest nature of Google... I googled it! Managed to find some great resources and even found a preloaded spreadsheet that you can modify and fill in the blanks with your amounts, etc. (Shown in screenshot above) Here's the link if you want to try it out for yourself: Budget Spreadsheet

This page explains how to use the budget planner and even gives a pretty thorough tutorial if you need it. Plus it's just a great website for people like me who are starting out and want to get ahead in this money game. Check it out here: 20somethingfinance.com

For my debt repayment spreadsheets (sorry no screenshot) I used this one: Cardan Avalanche Spreadsheet. It was great because it allowed you to put in the interest rates and see how paying extra has an IMMEDIATE impact. For example if I pay even an extra $100-$200 on my student loans each month I end up saving a couple THOUSAND dollars in interest over the life of all of my student loans which is roughly 15 years for the federal loans.

Plus the handy thing about Google Drive... They've got an app for that! This is what it looks like on my Samsung Galaxy SIII. Of course my phone is an android or Google based phone which makes it easier but the app is free and easy to use, the larger documents take longer to load if you're not on WiFi but it you are using the register to track your purchases it's handy so you can just get on it, add it in, done.

I am a girl that loves clothes, shoes, nail polish, purses, and buying dog treats and toys. So for me the hardest part of this whole process has been just simply doing this:

I think if I can demonstrate enough discipline I can do it. I know I can do it, but it's not going to be easy. If you have any tips/tricks/words of wisdom or advice. Please feel free to share! I'm all ears.

*PS. Google didn't ask me to do any of this. I was just sharing awesome things I found, for free, that work. :)

Faded by Seven

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I've been trying to update little things around my house and outside. You know those little things that you've been putting off for... like ever? Well one of mine is the mailbox outside. Currently it looks like this:

I haven't figured out exactly why the only number that faded was the "7" but I guess it wasn't so lucky in the sunshine department. For just a few cents (even less with my work discount, chicachicayeahhh) I changed out the number on both sides! Now it looks fresh and inviting. Not so trashy. Yay.

I painted this bench my parents gave me a couple of years ago... looks like I need to get after that again since it is peeling and fading. No one actually sits on it, but it looks less dumpy when it's freshened up. Who knows? Maybe someone will sit on it once it looks pretty!

I need to get around to changing out the light fixture and cleaning up the porch area. Including painting the deck and replacing the faux carpet. Probably taking off the ramp too since it's suffering and starting to collapse. Not safe.

Since I moved all my rocks I planted some pretty flowers, I put pots over them to keep Sebastian from messing with them. Plus we had a random freeze one night. They're doing well now! Yay!

I am so ready for spring time and summer time! At this point I only have 12 more days left of school! That's pretty exciting! I can't wait to have some adventures over the summer and get things done around the house. Yay for that. :)

Summer Blog Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Now that the school year is finally over and I have a couple months before we start back up I really want to focus on getting some things done on the blog. Not just doing projects for posts but actually doing a few things for the bloggy itself.

For example once I have my #totallyfly new blog look custom made by Jess at JWDesign I feel like the rest of the blog needs to represent, so the pages need a total overhaul.

The project page isn't the best at this point, right now it sort of looks like this still:

That is totally boring. Terribly uninformative. The links are all there but I feel as though adding in pictures would make a huge difference. Especially if those pictures are the links. What do you think?

Another thing that I want to do is expand my readership base. Obviously I can do that by linking up all over the place for various projects especially now that I've been posting consistently for a couple of months. I love love love meeting people like Sam at the Junk House and Brie at Breezy Pink Daisies. I just feel as though there are so many more people out there I would love to meet.

The house tour page also needs some updating:

What are some of your favorite things, as readers, about looking at House Tour pages? What sort of layout would be best for you? I hope to make that the "thing" about my blog is something that really works for the readers as well as for me.

What other suggestions would you make for updating the blog over the next few months? What would make your experience better overall? More Facebook or other social media interaction?

Tell me what you think, and as always, thank you so much for reading my lil blog. :)

A Little Less Mess, A Lot More Fabulous!

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:45:00 +0000

I am super excited to show everyone my new wonderful and amazing bloggy! I had it custom designed by Jessica at JW Design. To be honest I'm not sure why I put it off for so long. It was so easy. We just emailed back and forth and she was super fabulous and super fast. She also put up with me saying things like "Can we make a 1 and 4 baby?" I mean... I hadn't even boughten her dinner yet. hehe. jk.

Check out all the amazing new updates! I plan on working on the pages individually as well to get them up to par.

My favorite thing is the play on font and color in the title. For instance the "messy" being a messy font and the "b" standing out... so it's sort of like "this messy B." Love that!

Oh! And don't forget to go over to my side bar to update my button on your blog if you want! It's pretty adorable also.

I hope that you all love my blog as much as I do and have a fabulous week! I have a bunch of updates headed your way. :)

Living & Dining Phase II: Greiging.

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I've been working hard at balancing teaching and working my second job, thankfully I've gotten some time to really work on my living and dining room re-do plan. I've got all of the walls painted! Yay! I actually managed to do it all in one day over Spring Break. I was quite tired after that however.

Remember what it looked like before?

Peanut butter, peanut butter on my walls.

Before I could really break out the rollers and paint brushes I had to patch all the nail holes I could in the walls.... um there was a lot...

Here's just one spot in the dining room... hehe. oops.

I just used this spackling paste that I had on hand. I prefer to not buy things if I don't have to.

I also tried to finish up our patching of the cracks in the wall. My dad always does a better job but here's the best "before" color and "after" new color picture that I took. I freakin love it.

Sebastian not a big fan of all the changing around... the house was destroyed the entire time.... he no like that.

The ceiling looks so dingy after the new color was in place (notice that I even painted the fire alarm by the doorway so it blends in?? It's AWESOME.)

Did I mention it was destroyed in the house? The walls take on different colors throughout the day. It's a greige so it has grey and neutral tan tones in it. I love it because it's just so versatile.

I started to put a few things back together the other day but here's the progress so far.... The ceilings have been killer to paint, same with the trim, but once the whole thing is done and updated it will be so completely worth it!

Phew! Hopefully within a few weeks I can get you the ceiling updates as well as start doing bigger projects in the dining room and living room. But no lie this has been pretty epic. I think it totally modernizes and changes the look and feel of my house. Love it!

Two-Toned Stools!

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

During Spring Break I went on a crazy painting everything in the house spree. One thing that I have wanted to paint for a long time is these cheap stools. They are from Target and Wal-Mart.... clearly.

The first thing that I did is take the stools outside (spray painting inside is a bad no good bad idea) and I primed the bottom of the legs with spray paint primer after I sanded and wiped them down. I only sprayed the bottoms because I bought paint and primer paint for the rest so it would just take a little sanding to prep.

The color paint that I had was from my parent's spray paint stash when they moved back in January. The lid was yellow... the wet paint was really yellow...

Once they were dry I took them inside one at a time to pain the remaining part of the stool. While watching "He's Just Not That Into You." My favorite movie ever. I love it. It's #bombdotcom.

My neighbors probably thought I had been negatively effected by all the spray paint fumes since I lined all my stools up in the front yard. haha.

Since I now work at Lowe's as one of my secondary jobs I found this fabulous quart of paint for only $7.00 plus 10% employee discount. Pretty sweet right?

I used painters tape to make a straight line for the grey at the bottom of the stools. The yellow spray paint definitely became very orange by the time it was dry which at first I was peeved about but now that I've been around it I actually really like em! Plus Pouka on top of the cabinet is always funny. If you follow me on Instagram (right side bar above my picture) you can see all the funny pictures of "Captive Pouka" that I post.

Here's another angle! Aren't they amazing??? I did take a clear spray paint and seal the top of the seats as well as the rungs just to make them last as long as possible. Ignore the destruction in the background. You'll see why soon!

I feel like it really upgraded the whole look of the area and made the stools way less.... well... cheap, even though the project itself totally was! Only $7.00! Had all the paint on hand and only bought the gray! Boom. My kinda stools.

Yay! It's been a super crazy and exciting month around here lately but also a lot of fun. I'm still working on getting the rest of my sister's room put together. Still have a few more weeks to get that going so I will get you all the deets once it is put together.

Linked to: Thrifty Decor Chick Motivate Me Mondays I Gotta Try That

Insta-ness

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

This has been a pretty wild month and I thought that I would send out a little shout to my favorite app of all time... Instagram! I love it totally. I'm constantly snapping pictures with my doggie and kittans. Here's a grid of just a few of my favorites:

I know it's a little crazy that I included a picture of a boy up there at the top but he's really nice and I like him. So we'll see. But my birthday celebration was a total blast... I ended up having a better time at that then at my 21st birthday party! Pretty fabulous. Pouka has been working on her bloggy skills while I've been teaching and working on some major house projects!

Here's a picture from my birthday of my awesome-somewhat-inappropriate-tiara...

This is how we spend late nights at our house... painting nails and napping...

More pup pictures!

Hope everyone is having a happy Wednesday so far! Feel free to follow me on the ole instagram action (user name @missmcds) Yay!

It Always Gets Worse...

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:21:00 +0000

It's official. The house is destroyed. It looks awful. Terrible awful. Horrendous.

But it always looks worse before it looks better... At least that's what I'm told because damn... this is #craycray. Sebastian refused to go into the living room for the first two hours that it looked like... well... this...

Things were only worse in my roommate Jenn's room.... That's a lot of beds in one space...

Looks totally messy... it's hard to believe someone will be living in there. I love when rooms are empty at my house so that I have a chance to sit and actually enjoy the space that I own before someone moves in and takes it over.

.
One last parting shot of the living room... Also one of the last times you'll see the colors painted in a peanut butter hue! Bye bye for like... ever. Yay!

You'll be seeing the new paint color here soon, I can't wait to show it to you since it is going to be fabulous. I moved my yard sale up to this weekend so that maybe I can get farther along with my living room/dining room update lists.

My Favorite Day

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's sort of weird to think that I am now 23 years old. I know for some people that's not a big deal but it seems a strange age to me. I feel pretty good about it though, I own my house, have a cute dog, great career, fun friends. Life is good!

To celebrate another year in life on the blog I decided to share with you 23 things about me you may not know, unless you're my mom, then she knows everything.

I loathe styrofoam. I don't wanna touch it. I don't wanna eat off of it. I hate it.
I have to have my nails painted, it's like my thing. I am also a total nail polish snob. I love Essie and OPI polish.
I have worn the same size pants since I was 17... I guess that's cool.
I haven't gotten my hair cut since August, as I am afraid of scissors.
I have 14 pillows just in my bedroom. :) heh.
My middle name is Lynn.
There is a tattoo on the top of my foot of the Celtic tree of life. It's a more pagan version. That crap hurt real bad.
I love taking long showers in the mornings. It's my vice, I need a solid 20 to 30 minutes. I wish I was one of those awesome people that just hops out of bed in the morning, goes on a jog with the dog, and goes to work and leads a healthly successful career. No. Not me. Never will be.
I like to play beach volleyball, even though I suck at it horribly.
I would love to run in a Color Run kind of thing... so I need to get into better shape.
Favorite wine: Moscato right now
Favorite movie at the moment is "He's Just Not That Into You." I watch it a lot.
I am an Aries....
My best friend's name is Christie and we have been best buds since we were 11, her birthday is also today! Happy Birthday friend!
I wear a belt every day. I just have to. It's a thing.
My ideal outfit is a white V-neck tee that fits well, a pair of dark indigo skinny jeans, a camel toned belt, flippy floppies, and a braid. It's sort of like my summer uniform.
I own 6 swim suits. Only 1 has ever been in the water.
I don't know how to swim very well, like at all.
My doggy's full name is Sebastian Lee Harold
My eldest cat's full name is Pouka Lynn
I typically don't like other redheads... especially if their name is Megan. Meaghan. Mayghan, Meagan, or Magan.
I have this idea in my brain that I will marry a guy that looks like Prince Eric. Therefore it should have to happen.
One of my biggest goals in life is to eventually publish a novel.

Well, I think those are relatively random. Hope that satisfied a bit of curiosity out there. Also if you follow me on Instagram, you will likely see some birthday #craycray-ness on there today.

Ye have been warned.

Bestiality: Painting Laminate

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

There is just a little bit of time left (3 weeks) before my sister moves in with me at the beginning of May! I am super excited for her to be here but there's SO much to do to get her room ready. I have officially knocked one major project off of her bedroom to-do list, which you can see in this post.

Here's the desk I found at Habitat for Humanity for only $15.00.

And here's what it looks like with it's drawers out!

First step with laminate furniture is to try and sand some of the film off the top and then scrubbing it with a mild abrasive to remove any film and get the dust off.

I always use some sort of bonding primer on this type of material otherwise the paint does not stick to the wood at all and ends up just peeling off. I let mine sit over night to make sure that it really bonded but I don't recommend waiting any longer than that otherwise you'll have to do a second coat of the primer.

Here's the primed product:

I thought it'd be glam to mix the coral with some gold handles and to also make the legs gold. I found this light gold color on sale at WalMart super cheap.

Spray painted handles in a box lid to make it easier to carry them and paint:

And here's the finished product! I love it! I have it covered right now since it's just hanging out in the living room with the rest of her furniture but sometimes I lift the cover off of it just to appreciate it's awesomeness....

Once I get Ally's room set up you'll see just how fabulous it looks in action! It's sort of pinker than I thought it would be but I think it's pretty awesome.

Total investment: $28.00

So now for the overall to-do list for Ally's room to be done by the first of May:

paint over grey and carry over into closet
~~paint desk from Habitat coral~~
buy cheap dresser (also paint, coral drawers, white outer)
move full sized bed from striped room to Ally's room
make/find headboard
move side tables from my room to Ally's room
put IKEA rug in room
hang floating shelves on funky wall for storage
hang hook rack
full length mirror behind door
accessorize!

Linked this blog project up to: The Dedicated House DIY Showoff Mod Mix Monday

Blog News: Upgrades Pending

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Since I am approaching my fifth anniversary of home ownership I decided that I should reward myself with something awesome that is house related.

A new blog set up! Yay! I usually try to save cash and do things myself but it is so hard to do with teaching and completing the house projects, one just has to admit when they need help. Plus now that I have more time to invest in the blog as well as a much stronger financial standing than I did in the past it will be great to have something to show for it. The goal is to have the bloggy be more "user-friendly" and look crisp and professional but reflect who I am.

Sam at The Junk House just had her blog remodeled:

And it looks totally fabulous! (Hi Sam! Stole your pictures again. hehe.) So it really motivated me to reach out to the same lovely lady, Jess, that did Sam's blog and see if she could help me out with mine as well. She totally agreed! It is in progress but I am very excited to be giving my blog (and thereby my readers) a much better life and experience. Yay!

Keep an eye out for the change, and as always I appreciate everyone who has ever followed my blog and read a post. :)

Back from Black

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Recently I have announced that there are going to be a lot of furniture switcheroos at the Mess. My bedroom is no exception! I have had these dinky night stands since I moved in back in 2008 and let's just say that do not have enough storage for my needs, plus they look teeny tiny compared to the bed and sofa at the end.

So with the roommate moving around happening my sister is going to need furniture but the dresser in that room now is not going to be big enough and my other new roommate doesn't need a furnished room so I am going to empty it out. Here's the dressers that are going to replace the night stands in my room...

Obviously they are currently in use by my other roommates but since both roommates are going to be moving out by the end of April and my sister and friend Jenn will be moving in it is a perfect time to take them back and give them a new job. I know that one is black and is going to require a great deal of painting and patience, it's still something I don't have to buy and that is always super duper.

Once they are white they will match the rest of the furniture that is in my room plus they will store a lot more of my clothing, I'm single so my cash is spent on home projects, furbabies, food, and clothes. I love it.

I'm looking forward to this summer with two new roommates, new decorating, a good job, and my yard sale craziness. Wooo! 2013 is turning into a good year!

PS: Here's the heap of stuff I've already accumulated for my sister's room. lol

Sunday Review: Paradise of the Blind

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 01:21:00 +0000

Another book review this week for you! I read this book along with some of the student's at the high school I am currently working at. They are part of an IB program which is a high level, advanced placement class.

This book was absolutely beautiful. I can't believe how wonderful it was. It had a sort of poetic fluidity to it that really made you stop and think. I also found that there was a lot of deeper content to it that really made you do some great brain work. The setting is in a small village in Vietnam as well as the city of Hanoi and follows the journey of Hang, the main character. Hang is a female caught between two extremes, in fact in the novel you will find extremes are a constant and almost like their own characters. It's one of the most interesting books I've ever read since it doesn't follow a traditional fiction novel but I HIGHLY recommend it because it was fabulous!

You guys gave me some great suggestions last week that I'm going to be digging into! Thank you and keep 'em coming! Reading fast is a blessing and challenge since I can bust through books and am forced back into reality faster. lol.

Homemade Laundry Soap

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:51:00 +0000

With my new found vow to start living smart and single I've been trying to find ways to really save some cash, every little bit helps I think. One thing that I've always wondered about is making my own laundry soap. My Mom tried it once awhile back but she didn't like the recipe she used.

I found this awesome recipe on Pinterest. The author lays out the directions very specifically and I can't stress enough that following those directions closely and exactly makes a huge difference. The recipe calls for three main ingredients (well four if you count water but that's sort of obvious):

20 Mule Borax ($6)
Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (NOT baking soda, very different) ($3)
1 bar of Fels Naptha soap ($1)

(all pictures from Google search, mine sucked lol)

I found all of these ingredients at WalMart except for the Borax, that was at Albertson's for me but they are all in the laundry area. Should be a total of about $10 dollars. Not bad considering a regular size thing of Tide is $12.00.

I am going to suggest you just go directly to the recipe site{here} because the directions are very long and specific and I don't want to mess them up.

I will tell you that grating the Fels Naptha soap was the biggest pain in the hinny. I just used a grater that I got at the thrift store so that if it got nasty it wouldn't hurt my feelings. I sat and grated the entire bar and watched about 2 and a half episodes of "The United States of Tara" on NetFlix. So it took a little time but I think it was worth it.

The mason jar on the blender trick was freakin' fabulous and I will be using it again! I didn't buy lids for my jars (whoops) but here's how mine looked in the end:

I put plastic over the tops and tightened a rubber band around them. So far I've washed a load of whites and a load of colors using this soap and they came out smelling good and looked nice and fresh! I will still use my Woolite Dark on my denim jeans because I love them as dark as possible but so far I have been impressed and I think I will keep making this stuff! Especially since all I would have to buy next time is the Fels Naptha, $1 vs. $12. Easy math even for an English teacher.

Baby Sister's Room To-Do:

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I am obviously very excited to have my baby sister move in with me next month. I want to get her room all prettied up and ready to go for when she gets here! I am trying to use what I already have for her room to make it as magical as possible.

I think having a cozy personalized room will make her feel more at home, especially since she went to college when my parents moved out of the house we grew up in and to New Mexico.

Here's my inspiration for her room:

Sister's Room by megmcd on Polyvore

Now add teal in between the grey chevron stripes and put the mirror above the desk. The desk is going to get a coral fabulous face lift. I picked it up at Habitat for Humanity for the lovely price of $15.00! It is a laminate which requires a little bit more specific painting but then again, most of the cabinets in my kitchen were laminate so I'm an old hat at it nowadays. I'll do a full post on that lovely process soon.

It'll be fabulous! Just a reminder of what it looks like now:

Essentially my plan at this point is to buy a gallon of grey paint that is as close to the original color that's there now as possible and paint it into the closet. Then I am thinking to go ahead and do some chevron stripes over the single teal wall since that's where the head of the bed is going to go.

Imagine chevron.... beautiful!

Here's the desk that is a beast but I'm going to make super beautiful:

Here's what I imagine it will look like, or at least the color I want to use for both the desk and dresser I will get for my sister:

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So now for the overall to-do list for Ally's room to be done by the first of May:

paint over grey and carry over into closet
paint desk from Habitat coral
buy cheap dresser (also paint, coral drawers, white outer)
move full sized bed from striped room to Ally's room
make/find headboard
move side tables from my room to Ally's room
put IKEA rug in room
hang floating shelves on funky wall for storage
hang hook rack
full length mirror behind door
accessorize!

Living and Dining Phase I

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Happy April Fool's Day!

Did anyone pull off some good tricks today?

Phase I of the living room and dining room redo! First thing was taking down all of the wall art so that I can start patching the little nail and thumb tack holes in the walls as well as where the texture is separating. Here's what the walls look like all kinds of naked!

Sorry it was a little messy that day in the house...

I stripped down the hallway leading to the two bedrooms and guest bathroom...

I will obviously have to move the big shelving unit but I figured that could wait until I actually start painting since the space is rather limited.

Dining Room:

Here's the beginnings of my Yard Sale stack. I am going to be selling quite a bit of furniture also but here's some of the odds and ends. I am going to do it the first weekend of May (weather permitting) because I'll have a four day weekend from the school and that's the weekend before my sister moves in so I can hopefully make some extra cash for the redo projects in her room.

Next step is finishing up the patching and then the painting shall commence! Wooo!

Dirty Rockin.

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

This year I made a pledge to myself to really make some changes to the yard outside of my little house. I outlined some of what I wanted to do in this post awhile back.

I started out by shoveling all the rock in this triangle... (ouch....) I love the fact that Sebastian's in the background mid run. Haha.

I wanted to put it in the back by the little pathway thing because nothing grows there and it's typically a mud puddle. First I had to clean up all the leaves from the last two seasons. My neighbor's kids like to throw their broken toys over the fence which is super frustrating. They also built this atrocious looking shed. It's directly in front of my kitchen window. Grrr.

My Dad left me a bunch of his landscape tools when he moved to New Mexico so I used this fancy rake to start pulling the rocks out of the flower bed. I also broke it. Conveniently Dad also left me duct tape! :)

My neighbor gave me a huge pile of iris and tiger lily bulbs to plant so I put them all into the ground trying to space them out so that they have room to get way bigger.

I need to get some mulch to put around the tree (can't plant anything there because there is a whole nest of carpenter ants that kill everything) and then I will fill in around the new plants with the mulch as well. I think it will look way cleaner. I will sweep the sidewalk. But it was supposed to rain the day that I did the whole planting thing so I decided to hold off. In case the rain washed it away for me.

And the big thing of rocks was transported to the back....

Also needs to be swept but it looks wayyyy better! I'm just hoping I can find some more rocks that are the same color to fill in the other side and way back by the gate. Then the "back yard" would be totally done, with the exception of replacing the steps though Jennifer (my new roomie) has an uncle that is a carpenter so we are hoping that he will accept payment of beer and dinner to help us out.

Phew. Way more yard work to go but a little free DIY headway is good for the soul!

Colorado Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

The most amazing part of being graduated is that even with two jobs I finally have time to enjoy the beautiful country I live in! My roommate Jennifer and I decided to go on a hike one day to a trail called "Devil's Kitchen" on the Colorado National Monument.

This is as you go up towards what we dubbed as the "oven."

The wide sweeping view of the valley that I call home!

Jennifer likes to get all up in and around the rocks.

I climbed up on top of this big ole sandstone rock (notice the difference in our clothing choices? haha)

Wow. So beautiful. I love it!

My "I love Colorado" moment... haha

Rock climbing with no make up on. We named that rock Steve, you had to love Steve to get up to the next point.

There's definitely a reason they call it colorful Colorado.

It is so glorious to live in a place like this where I can have an active lifestyle and a natural jungle gym just outside my door.

Sisterhood of the Trailer Park

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Some exciting news to share with the class! My roommate situation has been resolved! My baby sister is going to be moving in with me in May! She had originally moved to South Dakota to go to college and have some time with our extended family out there but has since found that, though she loves being around family, the climate and school aren't really the experience she's looking for. She's a Colorado native and can't help it. So she's coming back! Yay!

Here's a picture of Ally and little Sebastian.

She's going to be taking over this room:

Right now the painting job has potential but the grey not going all the way through the closet looks super bad so I have to at least paint the grey part. The colors my sister wants to decorate with are coral, teal, and grey. A really fun color scheme I think! Speaking of schemes...

That's the furniture my old roommate had (they used to be gorgeous vintage wood but she spray painted them with metallic paint. kinda cool but sad in a way too.) I want to get Ally a dresser that's a similar size as well as a desk. But! I want to get them and paint them coral for her! I think that it would be fabulous.

Like this one I found on Pinterest:

I think it would be super awesome! The one wall is already teal so I will leave it up to my sister if she wants to keep it or change it to all the same color. I do need to paint some trim white and that sort of thing but I think it will be a good fit for her.

I already have a full-sized bed as well as a white bed set and white curtains that she's going to use, plus my grey IKEA rug. So it will really be just accessorizing and personalizing the whole room to make it feel like home for her.

It also gives me another excuse to decorate, and a good home for my vintage mirror (small bathroom so we'll set up a vanity area in her room. Plus I have some shelves for the little doinky wall on the right side there.)

I am super excited that my sister and I will have this opportunity to spend some real time together and grow as individuals. She's fun and spunky and always reminds me to take things a little less seriously. Love my sister!

Sunday Review: Memoirs of a Geisha

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Since I have graduated from college I have had the opportunity to actually spend time doing things I enjoy. Three specifically? Cook, read, wine. Sometimes beer since it's nearly summertime. So I decided that I will start doing a review of something or other every Sunday. No guarantee that it will be a book but that's pretty likely.

My first review is going to be on the novel Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

The book came out quite awhile ago but this is my first time reading it and I am glad I did! Totally loved it! It was awesome! Everything about it was simple but purposeful and I really felt connected to the culture just by the way that the novel was written. I also feel as though the author did a good job making sure to give some cultural explanation to certain elements without making it into a text book.

The story is about one girl's journey from a poor orphan (her dad dies soon after her joining the geisha community) to one of the most powerful geisha around. It was quite powerful and heart wrenching at times.

At the beginning of the book the narrator tells the readers, "I wasn't born and raised to be a Kyoto geisha. I wasn't even born in Kyoto. I'm a fisherman's daughter from a little town called Yoroido on the Sea of Japan" (Golden 7). The author's simple sentences are easy to follow and reflect the time and era that the story is based during. I thought it was a beautiful book and I highly recommend you read it before watching the film!

Does anyone have any other books they recommend? Leave it in the comments or tell me on Facebook. I am a freaky fast reader so I am up to suggestions!

So far on my list I have:

Paradise of the Blind
Love in the Time of Cholera
Inkheart
The Book Thief
Marley and Me
My Sister's Keeper
My Antonia

I think that's a pretty decent list so far but I love reading (English teacher up in here) plus it's something I learned from my Momma.

Critter Art

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

*I used to have a picture of this while I was in progress... now I can't find it... sorry!*

This is my furbaby art! The whole project only cost me about $8.00 to create, and that was all just buying the canvases in a three pack at Michael's. I decided that since I don't have any children I could make some cool silhouette art, like I've seen on Pinterest to honor my precious babyfurries.

I'm pretty good at free hand drawing just from seeing something, like the animals moving around the house. But you can google search black and white images of cats and dogs and find some good silhouettes. At that point you could then cut them out and trace them and just fill in the space with black paint. They would also look really cool on a color. I just can't commit to more than black and white (maybe why I'm single? haha).

The living/dining area currently. They'll be changed to a different location once the whole redo action starts happening but they look pretty good right now I think!

Does anyone else do tribute art to their animals?

Happy Friday!! It's Spring Break for us next week and I start my second job working at Lowe's (uhmmm can you say... diy discount?!) but I am sure I will be starting to make some headway on the walls and painting. Bye peach beach walls!

Linked to: I Should Be Mopping the Floor Savvy Southern Style House of Hepworths Liz Marie Blog

The Lost Graduation Post

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan McDowell) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I have been looking through my past posts and discovered that I had never done a real graduation post! It was saved as a draft and then long forgotten. So here is the grad post that almost wasn't....

On the morning of our graduation several education majors, my best friend, and myself of course assembled in the parking lot of Albertson's across the street from the location of our graduation. We were clearly having some pre-graduation beverages. aka. mimosa. The young lovely lady in the beanie is my BFF Christie. We've been best friends since we were 11.

Cheers!

After that moment we went inside to assemble and Christie took my camera to capture the day for me. Such a good friend!

She got a good picture of my parents while they waited for the ceremony to start.

Approaching the seat that would hold my bum as an undergrad student for the last time.
WHOOOOOO!!!!!

This one is blurry but this is me with the president of the college, Tim Foster. My mom was up in the stands with her cow bell ringer and she started blasting it when I was shaking hands with the president. He simply looked over at me and said: "Cow bell, huh?" "Yeah, that's my mom!" He shakes his head and laughs, "Nice!"

Here's my lovely decorated hat and the certificate of my graduation! Or at least the holder... still haven't gotten the actual paper. But! It was amazing. So glad I get to start the next chapter in my life. Bye bye college!