As some of you (might) know, I love this whole blog design thing. I taught myself how to do HTML, CSS, and have been learning how to do the more complicated stuff so that you can get the most out of navigating this site (I’m just like you; I get frustrated trying to navigate cumbersome websites too, even when they are my own!).

Truth be told, I love the challenge, and I’m pretty darn proud of myself when I’m victorious.  Which brings me to the latest: after three years and a transfer of this blog to self-hosting, things have gotten jumbled, old formatting was replaced with newer stuff, and I’m on an endless game of playing catch-up to get the older posts to match the new.  But more importantly, the time it takes to get all three years compiled into a workable, user-friendly project gallery will take more time (it’s in the works – I started with one that I’m ok with, but it’s not working exactly as I’d like, so I’ll be changing things up in the next month or so).

And all the while, I’m still trying to add new tutorials!  For now, I’ve created a better, customized organized Archives page for you with plenty of links to help you find your way around.  You can find items by date, by category, and also a list of some of my favorite tutorials.

And speaking of small victories, just a few weeks ago, I snapped this quick picture of my front garden and mentioned that the snapdragons hadn’t bloomed again yet:

They’re not doing as strongly as the petunias yet, but they are definitely showing more color!

And the pots in the back yard took a beating a few weeks ago thanks to the rain, but are still growing strong and hopefully will re-bloom soon:

Given my notorious black thumb, I am pretty proud of myself for keeping these guys alive.  I know more of it has to do with simply choosing the right plants for the area, the season, and my ability (or lack of) to care for them, and they sort of do the rest.  But I’ve tried growing things for years, and managed to kill most things (even succulents!).  Funny to me that neglect is probably the best thing I can do for most of the plants around the house (considering that I pick them for exactly that reason).

How about you?  What are you proud of this week?

(Psst: To create the new page, I used a combination of several tutorials like this one, but I had to further customize it for my site.  If you’re on a WordPress blog – using the Genesis framework – and are interested in getting your own similar Archives page but aren’t comfortable attempting this yourself, feel free to reach out to me through the contact page – choose “Blog Help/Design” in the drop-down menu.  I’ll charge a small fee for the file, but this takes the guesswork out of it.  With the file, I’ll also include instructions for how to add it to your child theme and how to add posts to the Favorites section).

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Yum.  It has summer snack written all over it.

I mentioned before that I managed to book myself a vacation this month, and I’m really looking forward to hitting the road for a few days.  We recently lost two people on my team at work (one quit, one went on leave), which means the three people who were once handling our clients is now down to one… as in, me.  I like being busy, and also consider it a compliment when someone says, “I don’t know how you do all of that!”, but this latest development has me feeling a little dizzy.  “Challenge” seems to be an insufficient word to describe what it’s like.  Hence the even spottier than usual posting these last couple of weeks.  I’m also still waiting on a new tool to arrive in the mail, which is preventing me from sanding down the dining room walls.  I suppose I could sand them down the way that I always have, but this promises to be far less messy, and based on the reviews I read, it will be well worth the wait.  So, I’m waiting.  But during lunch today, I’m planning on picking up more molding for the windows and doorways, so I’ll at least have a few items to attack with a saw.  It’s the best kind of stress relief.

But, back to the eyes-bugging-out thing.  I found a tutorial for what appears to be exactly the kind of lighting I want for the dining room:

It’s modern, and brass, and nerdy… and now I know how to make it myself.  Sweet.  I’m already hunting down all of the components to make it.

And one last item that I can’t help but want: these bookends from Anthro.  I think it’s the nerdy thing.  Bookends just always seem to catch my eye.

What has your eyes wide open (great song by Gotye, btw) lately?

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We arrived to the race early, and hopped in line soon after registration (waiting for the heat we were supposed to be in meant spending another half hour potentially psyching ourselves out, so sometimes it’s better just to jump right in an get the adrenaline flowing).  The first obstacle (I lost count, but there were at least 15) is called the Shriveled Richard.  Awesome name for something that is pure torture.  It’s an ice bath that requires diving under wooden boards to navigate to the next ice chamber.  My muscles were so shocked, my brain couldn’t process what I needed to do to get out of it for a second.  I was a little terrified that if I dove under, I’d find no room on the other side (from competitors who jumped in before me), and I’d be stuck underneath with nowhere to go.  Obviously that didn’t happen, but this obstacle was definitely more about sensory overload than a true physical challenge.

On the race website, the site mentions that the course is “5+ miles”.  The plus being another two whole miles, as we found out on the morning of the race.  By “race”, at least in my case, I mean “get through alive without breaking something”.  Because yes, there were people who broke things.  I witnessed one guy land on his wrist diving under the Tazed obstacle.   What’s the Tazed obstacle, you ask?  Oh, just this:

Those are hanging electrified wires.  It’s kind of like the jellyfish scene in Finding Nemo, without the cute fish.  I got shocked.  In the EAR, like Fight Club.  I was definitely dazed.  And then I realized we had to leap over a fire line (which wasn’t so bad) and then we had to crawl under another set.

A large majority of the race isn’t really the obstacles – it’s running up and down wooded terrain.  My lungs definitely reached their limitations at a few points, but I was lucky to have a few friends in the race with me to keep me moving.  Because eventually, after you get through the hills to another obstacle, you get to do something fun, too.  Like after climbing the rope wall from Davy Jones’ Locker (aren’t these obstacle names fun?), you get to face your fear of heights and jump into a water pit a couple of stories below.

This isn’t a race you should do alone.  Friends encouraging each other are the best part.  I brought my friend Brian along, who had done similar races like this in the past.  I told myself not to push too hard, and just getting through the race without severe injury was enough, considering I’ve never run 7 miles of anything ever.  Now I wish I had pushed myself a little harder, and was in awe of some of the other hardcore athletes competing in the race.

Speaking of the other runners, in my past experiences with M.O.B. (mud, obstacles, beer) courses, groups often dressed up in costumes and used gimmicks (Warrior Dash was full of entertaining characters, including people dressed up for a wedding, full body suits, and Oompa Loompas.  Wasn’t really popular in this race.  Most of the people who showed up were ready for a serious obstacle challenge!

The very last obstacle was a barbed wire crawl through a very long stretch of mud.  It was like trying to make my way through peanut butter.  Or you know when you have those dreams where you’re running but don’t really get anywhere?  Like that.  Every inch was a struggle.  And then we all got to cross the finish line and rinse off in the lake.  As usual, there was mud everywhere, and then it was time to change and grab a beer (the first one is complementary with finishing the race, as well as a t-shirt and medal).  Because my phone was packaged with my clean gear, I didn’t snag a muddy pic before we were cleaned off (my advice – pack something loose and comfy, and something you don’t mind getting mud on; no matter what, you’ll won’t get everything off before you change).  Oh well – I’m still a savage anyway!

I have barbed wire scratches, injuries from landing on rocks, and bruises from hoisting myself over walls.  Rolling out of bed has been a chore for the last two days.  So has laughing, putting a cup of coffee to my lips, crossing my legs, etc.  And holy hell, going down stairs.  Wow.  Ow.  Hobbling down them is more like it!  As you can imagine, not much in terms of DIY was done after putting my muscles through this kind of torture, but I have big plans for this week!

P.S. I am totally doing it again next year.

(Images that aren’t from my iPhone are from the Savage Race website.  The race day pics aren’t available yet, but I’ll snag some if there is one of me I like!)

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This is the one I’m doing this weekend:

It’s going to be the longest and hardest one I’ve ever done.  This time around, I’m going to buy some gloves.  Because I don’t think I can handle this without ‘em:

As always, I’m not doing it for time.  Just to prove to myself that I’m a badass and can finish a race as hard as this.  I think finishing is accomplishment enough.  And the obvious super-hot look of a gal exhausted, dehydrated, and covered in mud, right?

My sister Em and I – after Warrior Dash

Want to see a few more of the obstacles?  (these are also from the race website)

This one’s called the “Nutt Smasher”

Then, once I’m done, I’ll get a beer to celebrate.

I would probably write more today, but I’m too busy conserving my energy.  I think I’m going to start “hydrating” (why did we switch to calling it this when “drinking water” was perfectly acceptable?) now!  Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

(P.S. Images that aren’t from my iPhone from previous races are from the Savage Race website)

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Well, technically I guess that’s not true.  I’m still working around them.  But in a way that actually makes them an appealing feature of the back yard instead of an eyesore that’s too expensive to remove (there is no room for the trees to fall without damage to someone’s house or taking out a fence, so in order to cut them down, I would have to hire someone who would cut them in pieces from the top, and then haul away each heavy chunk – we’re talking major $$$ and hiring a licensed/insured professional and then spending even more money on creating the back yard entertainment area; dough that I’d rather spend on the kitchen).  Check out my inspiration:

The idea is simple enough: create a floating deck that has space for each tree.  Sure, there’s a lot of work that will need to be done between now and then (so much yard cleanup to do!), but the floating deck idea appeals to me because 1) I probably don’t have to dig near the house, and worry as much about utilities and 2) I make use of an area that would otherwise stay completely neglected.  This is the first time in a long, long while that I’ve gotten so excited about the back yard that I am really looking forward to getting started.  Of course, this isn’t going to replace the current priority list of exterior projects, but it’s certainly something that’s making me seal clap over the thought.  Can you imagine how awesome it will be to have a large platform, with lights wrapped around the trunks?  I’ve found some basic plans and have already started doodling the layout.  I can’t wait!

The post Make It Work appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

But let’s back up for one quick sec.  My doors have trim (aka “casing”).  My windows and some of the interior door frames don’t.  While this may not bother most some people, it bothers me.  It’s like my house played with a chemistry set and blew its eyebrows off.  It’s odd-looking.  Not odd enough that you notice right away… but something is definitely off.

From seeing pictures of others doing this, I already know that adding trim to windows has a pretty big payoff without spending a lot of dough.  For example (from Pretty Handy Girl):

See how light and bright that looks?  So much better.  So, last night, I spent a little while looking around my sad, unpainted dining room and realized that with the chair rail in place, I wouldn’t be able to properly fit trim around the large window.  Simple problem, simple fix: I marked off the area that would fit the new trim (which is very simple trim; for the neighborhood I live in, nothing needs to be too fancy for this house, and the type I bought matches the existing trim around the doorways).

Then, I used an oscillating tool to separate the piece I don’t need from the rest of the existing molding (which prevents me from having to take down, cut, and put the chair rail back up).

Then, it was a few blows of a hammer and a small pry bar to get the piece off the wall.

And the new window casing will fit quite nicely.

I haven’t yet nailed the new pieces up since the rest of the drywall still needs to be sanded a little (and I’m waiting on a new helper tool to arrive in the mail before I can finish it off).  But prepping all of these pieces ahead of time will make the entire room come together that much quicker.  P.S. Those blinds are the very last in this house original to the day I moved in.  They will be trashed soon (yuck!).

I’m told that adding trim around things can be very addicting.  Luckily, I have about a billion bare windows in this house, so it will be a while before anyone needs to host an intervention.  Onward!

The post Casing the Joint: The Dining Room, Part 1 appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Well, the weekend didn’t turn out quite like I’d planned.  It was mostly because of the rain (pouring all. weekend. long. with big, fat, chilly droplets that only made me want to curl up in bed).  But my Dad and our neighborhood handyman, Tony, also had to cancel their trip over to the house, so all of my outdoor improvement plans have to wait another week or so.  No matter, though.  I spent a long time simply standing in my dining room and contemplating the order of my to-do list.

Do you ever do that?  Standing around the unfinished room doesn’t really feel like much is being accomplished, but it helps me to get my thoughts together.  I was gathering a full list of activities:

• add casing/molding around the doorways that lead to the kitchen and living rooms
• add casing around the large picture window
• repair any draft/old caulk issues from the same window
• add picture frame molding to the lower half of the walls (below the chair rail that already sits in place)
• find a light fixture for the room
• switch out the old dimmer
• switch out the old thermostat (can anyone tell me more about the Nest thermostats?  I’m a bit of a review freak)
• hang plastic sheeting around the doors and sand down the walls (I’m sort of dreading this, sort of excited about it)
• paint the walls
• move the furniture back in
• hang the 2″ white blinds and curtains
• etc. etc.

Not in the correct order, of course.  But during that time, I also managed to re-organize all of the furniture so that the living room couch, chairs, and dining room table/chairs fit into the living room (since everything has to go somewhere while I finish the dining room).  For the longest time, I’ve simply been walking around the poor placement (under the false assumption that this would be a quick makeover), but now that I know I have to hang plastic sheeting and clear the doorways in order to sand down the walls, I got my butt into gear.

I’m diving back into the dining room project mainly for two reasons: in order to go any further with the living room repainting, I have to get all of the dining room furniture out of the way, and there simply isn’t anywhere else to put it.  I don’t want to move it back into its rightful place until the room is ready to finish because I know myself too well; if I just move it back, the room will never get done.  And since I’d really like to have my graduation celebration this December at my home (reason #2), the dining room has to be finished by then in order to welcome guests.  Besides, I have a break off from school this month, and it seems like exactly the kind of motivation I need to get home tonight and hang that sheeting:  a deadline.

I guess getting rained out isn’t necessarily a bad thing when you already have too much to do for one weekend.  How was yours?

The post Ain’t No Need to Go Outside appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

I still want a crazy, kooky rug for the entryway.  Haven’t found one yet.  But this Jonathan Adler rug I spotted a few months ago during an Atlanta blogger shopping trip is still dancing around in my head.  I know I’ll find the right one (and for the right price) eventually.  Maybe I’ll just paint a piece of drop cloth until then.

Speaking of bloggers, Amy from ModPodgeRocks (who also lives in Atlanta) and I went on a trip to a local “hackerspace”.  It happened over a month ago and I still haven’t finished the post on it yet.  As a peace offering, here is an unbelievably flattering picture of us both from that trip:

I have a huge pile of laundry and dishes to clean (though not the same pile).  And now, thanks to Merrypad, I’m also realizing I need to clean my washer, too.  This business of cleaning the stuff we use to clean other things just seems so fundamentally wrong.  Like washing soap with toothpaste.

And speaking of washers, I’ve been saving up to buy a new washer and dryer set that doesn’t look like it’s been scrubbed with dirt.  Why, oh why, do appliances ever come in ivory?  As if slightly yellowed is ever a good look?  I am very grateful that I’m getting close to being able to cross this large purchase off my list (there are other things, like a new TV that doesn’t have a broken screen and a grill for cooking food somewhere other than the kitchen – but that’s for when I start that remodel project somewhere later this year).  The money is coming from something else I haven’t shared with you yet, but that’s only because school was sucking up all of the organization brain cells.  Now that I have a month off from school to concentrate on this, I’ll share it the second it’s ready to launch.

The azaleas in my back yard have now exploded with pink all over the place (this photo was taken about a week before all of them popped).  I still love the photos I took of them last year.  And with that, my creepy back yard now looks like a little enchanted.  I’m thinking of taking some extra funds (whenever they appear out of nowhere) and paying the neighborhood kids who ask to cut my grass to help me get this place looking more purposeful.

But first, as I mentioned, it’s limb-trimming weekend.  A few of you sent me some concerned warnings about being safe when my Dad and I get crazy with the Cheez Whiz pole saw – I promise I’ll be careful!  But I am actually very excited to get these things out of the way and see more sunlight shining over the back yard.

K, enough rambling for one post.  So much to do, and I am determined not to waste my first weekend off from school – no matter how much it rains.  What are your plans?

The post Fridays are for random things. appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

After doing a little night gardening, I’ve been waiting for some of the snapdragons to deadhead and flower again to share more photos, but they are taking their sweet time (there are a ton of buds, but most of them haven’t bloomed yet).  Thankfully, we’ve been having a good mix of sunny and rainy days to keep these guys happy while I focus on a few other projects (and darn it, that grass just won’t stop growing – time to mow again!).

So, instead of waiting for the flowers to pop again, I’m just going to share the progress I’ve made so far.  The back shrubs were trimmed down a little, and the pine straw has been replaced by mulch, which makes this front area look a lot more like someone actually intended for it to look this way.  And really ties into the colors from the flowers I recently planted at the mailbox.  (The house doesn’t really lean like that; I think it’s either my iPhone or the bad photographer responsible for using the technology).

This coming weekend, dear ol’ Dad is supposed to be coming over with a pole saw and chainsaw to help me take care of a few things on my birthday wishlist.  One of them includes getting rid of limbs hanging into my yard by my neighbor’s awful, stinky tree (click here for a full rant on this pretty but disgusting thing!).

And as you’ve probably come to expect with this house (I have, anyway), things are taking two steps forward and one step back (aka “The DIYer Shuffle”).  Spring arrived, which means it’s warm enough to make these exterior improvements and give the house some added curb appeal.  But spring’s arrival also means that a new battle has begun with outdoor pests.  I found this on my front porch just a few days ago.

That ain’t sawdust (though sawdust is a typical thing to spot around here).  It’s the product of carpenter bees sneaking their way into the wooden 2x4s on my front porch.  I searched and searched for a hole in this area and couldn’t see one.  Then I ran my car keys underneath the bottom of the railing and found a perfectly round hole.  Bingo.  Thanks to my friends at DAP, I’m waiting on a product to arrive in the mail, and then the eviction notice will be served!

So there you have it; two steps forward, one step back.  The DIYer Shuffle continues.  Got any of your own pest problems or tips for how to deal with them?  Are you experiencing the shuffle too?

The post The DIYer Shuffle appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

And just to keep this post the teensiest bit home related, here are my current picks on Etsy for stuff I’d love to add to my accessories or my growing art collection (frames purchased, but the art for the gallery wall is still being collected).  Click to go to each shop.

emerald green multifaceted eco resin bangle with metallic gold flakes – RosellaResin

a little risqué, but I love the colors – Red Stockings – silverridgestudio

Kaleidoscope watercolor – YaoChengDesign

Umbrella Girl – hellosmallworld

New York watercolor – silverridgestudio

delicate cluster ring – museglass

I think one of the perks about being a single gal is that I get to still be immature about my birthday.  I get to make it my birthday week, spoil myself, and have dinner with all of my friends.  In fact, none of my friends could get together on exactly the same day, so I’m having separate birthday dinners with each of my friends for the next week and a half – for no good reason other than it will just be a nice excuse to get both of us to commit to going somewhere after work.  For some reason, turning 29 makes me want to act like I’m 19.

A couple of my friends have toddlers celebrating their birthdays this week too.  I can’t help but find that part funny – I’m getting invited to the kiddos parties, when all I want to do is celebrate like an adult.  Okay, so the stuffing my face part is still the same as toddlers do, but I’m still enjoying being childless.

Guess who else shares this week for a birthday?  My sweet pup, Charlie.  She really doesn’t care about it as long as she gets a taste of whatever it is I’m eating.

Charlie turns 2!

To anyone else who shares this popular birthday week, I hope you have a good one!

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