Details Details

Being that I wanted to make my new place ALL mine, I went all out (Goodwill/DIY style) making all the personal touches personal to ME.
I took a few pictures of things that I have done and wanted to share. I began gathering things for my new place 2 months before I even moved out. I hid all the loot in the back of my closet, at friends' homes, in my trunk, or at work. It was kind of like Christmas when moving day finally had come because I couldn't quite remember all of the things I had been stowing.

While I was visiting Whatcom County once I ran into a shop in Fairhaven that sold light switch covers with random pictures. I loved them but I didn't love them enough to pay $10 each. I thought for a moment - went home, broke out all of my favorite magazines, scissors, and Mod Podge! Ta-Dah! Each switch cover and outlet cover has been podged with random pages I cut out of magazines. This particular one of the Golden Gate Bridge is in my "World Travel/ZEN Room".

Brand new shadow boxes were a happy find for me one day. I have never done a shadow box type thing. Auntie Helen happened to be over while I was trying to figure out what to do and she gave me a stellar idea. I kinda like how they turned out. Seashells just roll around in the box with the cruise ship background. The really awesome floating shelf I spray painted awesome the cool plum color.

Of course I had to make an "M" pillow for Michelle's House. I plan on making a couple of 76 smaller pillows now too.

I have a LOT of natural light in my bedroom - at really early hours of the morning even. So, I have made my room just as bright and cheerful!

A really nice silk curtain panel I picked up at Walmart & cut in half to make two panels perfect size for my window. It has embroidered vines and flowers which go awesome with...

My bright and shiny bedding. The pillows are all amazing little throws with cool designs and textures. The bedskirt was born yesterday! Yep I did.

It is perfect (to me) for a first attempt at a bedskirt! It is a taffeta like fabric that I picked up at Goodwill - 4 yards ( $1.50 )!

Just to give you an idea of what else I am working on to make my happy home even happier....

YIKES

What I love ..

...about living the single life in a house with just my two dogs and I is:

Peace and quiet. My dogs aren't the most peaceful couple of lunatics but they are only dogs. They don't yell, they don't watch television with the volume up so high your thoughts escape you. 

My mess. My house is only messy when I am lazy. I try to keep the laziness down to a low roar. I read in a book someplace that if a task only takes less than a minute to complete - complete it immediately. Things like doing the dishes and taking out the garbage are the two things that I struggle with the most. However, I much prefer just cleaning up after myself than cleaning up after a houseful!

Bathroom time - ummm - welcome back body! Once again I am able to get ready for the day in minimal clothing. If need be I can go back and forth throughout my house in the bare necessities! I love it, I love taking as long in the shower as I feel like - even if I feel like draining the hot water tank. 

Decorating. Everything in this house has a meaning or a purpose to ME. Everything in this house says a little about me and who I am. I have purposefully placed something at almost every vantage point that makes me smile. So as I am passing through in a rush I catch a sliver of what my soul loves. 

Movies. I watch a movie almost every night (pretty much every night). This is mostly so the boogie man still thinks there are people awake. If I wake up and it feels too early to do anything else - I put on a pot of water for tea and a movie and sit in bed with the doggies and watch the movie. I have watched some movies 15 times or more since I moved in. I can program the sleep feature by remote without the lights on now. 

Scripture Study and working through the 12 Steps. Anyone who is not all that familiar with me and my life needs to know that I recently (within the past year) became an active member of the LDS church ( read more HERE). I also am a recovering addict and about to begin my third round of the the Addiction Recovery Program through the said church. It is AMAZING!! Anyone suffering from an addiction ANY addiction - even if you have been clean, sober, or non practicing for a time being it is THE BEST.
(off my soap box)... Anywho, I am able to really study my scriptures and do the work in my ARP handbook without interruption. LOVELY!

Last but not least - I just discovered this one....

FIREWORKS. I have a perfect view of the City's firework display from my front yard. I am like 16 blocks away from the madhouse where the fireworks are being shot off. I heard the sounds a moment ago and ran out to my front yard and sure enough - the trees part just right between here and there I was able to watch the show while sitting in my front yard! HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Introducing - Mi Casa!!

Okay, so I will have to work on my photography skills but .... here we go. Please keep in mind 90% of the decor is either donated, garage sale scores, or Goodwill purchases ( I am an addict of Goodwill ).

The bathroom view from the door - complete with a washer and dryer. I left out the toilet view and tub view (I can post upon request).

View of the Zen Room from the door - Please note all doors are off the kitchen. Entry way door, bathroom door, my bedroom door, Zen Room door. The walls are a hot chocolate brown which the paint store liked to call "Beef Broth" - I prefer Hot Chocolate.

Like how the pictures all came out so dark? Yeah, me too - NOT.  My curtains in this room are a story in themselves - I will post later with all of my craftiness in detail.

The fan - seriously $5.00 at St Vincents!! The real deal too!

Chair came with the house - all else - Goodwill!

Now for the kitchen - landlord's only stipulation? I don't paint over the very ugly wooden cupboards. They aren't so bad until you notice the Royal Blue 1/2 inch counter top! I have made the best of it though and am kinda loving the color scheme.

My fridge with quotable quotes, pictures of cool people, and my ode to Oliv-i-derci on top. Have I mentioned I miss her much? Well, I miss her more than much.

Now, we have made our way from the kitchen into the living room. You can see the back door, bathroom, bedroom (kinda). I like the little bar area, not for drinking but for filling my cobalt blue bottles with fake flowers and calling it LOVELY!

Living room, see the "M" pillow? That will be part of the next blog on crafty Michelle. Auntie Helen, you know her right? She came to visit and "helped" me redecorate and arrange pictures - thank goodness!! That is a real honest to goodness fireplace. It will be replaced with a new one by Thanksgiving.

The other view of my living room. I promise to take some better pictures with a little more detail later. Maybe.

There you have it! Good night!

Slight Delay

Sooooo.... I am sorry to say that there will be a small delay in picture sharing - I am searching for a way to get them from my camera, to my laptop, and then to my BIG desktop (the only one in the house with internet).
In the meantime, I will tell you that I am in love with my new single life at my "new to me" home. I have been living here since the 9th of April-ish. When I first moved in with the amazing help of two high school besties and my dad the place was a little worse for the wear. No one had occupied the residence for a little over nine months. YIKES. My poor yard had suffered dearly.
I have since repainted my bedroom and the spare bedroom - which has now been dubbed the ZEN room (you will soon find out why).
New things to experience as a single person living on their own for the first time - a washing machine that rocks the ENTIRE house on the rinse cycle, a bunch of free furniture that the previous tenants/landlord have left behind (craters of the moon bed, cool end tables, really cool chairs for the living room, and last but not least - the neighbors who think they live in the country - chickens, roosters, baby chicks, and barking dogs.
My neighbors are pretty rough around the edges and to this day I have avoided contact, let alone eye contact.
I have a huge back yard completely fenced in for my dogs - LOVE.
I have plenty of flowerbeds - LOVE.
The house came with a washer/dryer AND microwave - TRIPLE LOVE.

I am off to work on the picture portion of this blog.

Dear SIL

Be still thy heart... I am on my way to the store to purchase batteries for my camera.  Tomorrow you shall have pictures of my humble abode.
Within a month I moved and so did you. Blogging seems to be the only way to go! I will commence blogging tomorrow and we will be like peas in a pod once again!

What I am up to

This is what I am going to work on the next couple of days...  I found it on Frou-FruGal Projects :

 

www.froufrugal.blogspot.com

I will let you know how it turns out. I am on my way to the store to get the beads I want.  :) 

Hope....

Hope is a very tough concept for me to grasp. I gave up on "hoping" for things a year or three ago - a combination of my expectations from time to time being referred to as 'too high' or 'ridiculous' and other people's priorities not aligning with mine = me settling for someone else's dreams and thus far not my own.
These are things that I have come to terms with and have taken responsibility for my faults.  I am not a good communicator, I would much rather have the world read my mind than tell them what I want out of life.
I have chosen to remain in situations that prevent me from reaching my full potential.  I like many other bloggers do not share my "low" points for sympathy or any other reason than to share...

So many of us are out there "trying" which wouldn't impress Yoda in the least. I saw on another blog - do or don't do - it isn't about trying. I am staying sober with every OUNCE of my being at the moment. 

I had found that place of my own and I was so so so excited and on Thursday of last week it fell through. The potential buyers are no longer the potential buyers. 

I so need to move out of the environment that I am currently living in.  It is  not at all condusive to the live I have chosen to return to. It is prison to be honest - moral prison. I have been trying to be the best I can be ... but just trying not doing. That is what I came to terms with today.  It isn't that my Heavenly Father is letting me down and doesn't want this good thing to happen to me.  It is that I am still struggling with whether or not I have made the right choice to return to His church. 

I could very easily drink until I was drunk right now.  I have been dreaming vividly about doing so the past three nights.  I have for a moment lost hope that I am going to be able to free myself.