Archive | September, 2023

4th Birthday

30 Sep

One of the things I looked forward to most when we bought our house was the opportunity to host events and have a place we’re proud to have our friends and family (when they visit) come and hang out at. And I think we’ve been successful in that after three Christmas’s, a rehearsal dinner, a 4th of July party and now two birthdays.

Both birthdays have been for our friend’s daughter, Felicity. Last year’s theme was mermaids and this year’s was dinosaurs. While we reeled in the party plans a little, I still really enjoyed decorating and took the opportunity to try to do better than last year.

But, first things first. If the weather’s nice, it’s always a pool party at our house, which meant the deck steps needed some attention.

We painted them last year before the wedding and we’ve just gotten some much rain this summer that the paint started chipping off and left Felicity covered in specks of blue paint last time she was over. So it’s time for a fresh coat, but first Chris power washed them to get off all of the flakes.

With the pool freshly painted and looking new again, I could now move on to the rest of the decorations.

Balloon garlands have been all the rage over the past few years, and I always think they look so nice and add so much to the décor without having to spend too much. I tried tying the balloons to each other like I’ve seen in some videos, but it just didn’t work out very well last year, although I was happy with what I was able to create.

Mermaid Banner and Balloons from Amazon

This year, I saw this tool I apparently overlooked because I found extra in my party supplies, but it made all of the difference, especially since we decided to put the garland over the door instead of moving our painting to put it above the table.

The directions are easy enough to follow, but don’t advise as to the spacing for the balloons so I originally tried filling every space in a very logical order, but it was just too big for the space and I had no way to attach it to the wall.

So, I rearranged them to be in every other space, simply removing those that were extra and then moving and adding balloons as needed. The spaces in the decorating strip were the perfect size for push pins to hold everything in place

My Version vs. Amazon

I think there’s some improvement.

The birthday girl playing with her new bead jewelry set. We had fun making rings, necklaces, bracelets and headbands.

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Closet Refresh

28 Sep

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10 years ago, Chris outdid himself with my Valentine’s gift. I have to preface this with gifts for me are not about how much money they cost, but what kind of value they bring to my life or what meaning they have to them. With that said, his amazing Valentine’s gift was a box of pink velvet wrapped wooden clip hangers from a yard sale. It cost him $10 but it was something that I had been wanting, in the quality I wanted and in PINK! Everything else that I found was the plastic type like they have in the store that always gets tangled with whatever’s around it.

These have been amazing. With the wooden structure, they’re as thick as the metal clips, preventing them from getting tangled with other clothes and hangers. And sturdy enough to stand up to Chris or I pulling our clothes out of the clips instead of doing what we’re supposed to and using the clips properly. However, it has now been 10 years, and we have lost a few to normal wear and tear. So while I am not getting rid of my pink hangers, we do not have enough to manage both my Chris and I’s wardrobes, so it is time to get him some of his own and maybe a little less girly 😜.

I found the ones below on Amazon in the Mahogany color. They do have the wooden structure and and metal clips, but I can tell that mine are sturdier. But for $1.50 per hanger, we might be able to sacrifice a little quality and replace them more often. Makes me curious as to how much mine cost 10 (+) years ago though 🤔.

Chris’s new Hangers

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Expanding Our Family

26 Sep

At the end of last year, I was approached with a job offer that I had actually proposed years before, and had always thought to be a long shot.  But as we all know, COVID changed the corporate landscape and ideas that were once thought to be impossible, like working from home, not only became a possibility, but a reality for thousands. When my chance finally came, I jumped for it.  December was an adjustment period rearranging my office to make it more conducive to accommodate both my work and my personal projects.  But it also brought up a conversation that Chris and I have been having for years – the possibility of getting a dog.

We’ve always been in agreement that we want one, but had two major barriers.  We first wanted to own a house with a yard (especially important since we want a BIG dog, an Alaskan Malamute to be specific) and we needed to be home.  We bought our house 5 years ago taking care of the first barrier, but we had still been working long hours focusing on climbing up the corporate ladder.  Having a remote job finally took care of the remaining challenge.

We began looking immediately and I was excited!  I’d have the new puppy to keep me company while I was home and working while Chris was away at work. We found one that we were excited about but ultimately decided it still wasn’t the right time with just starting a new job in an environment that was so different from what I had been used to.  We thought it would be wise to give me more time to adjust and then reevaluate after a few months.

I continued searching, and finally found another possibility in July, although it still was not the best time due to other circumstances.  But it was the closest I had come so far.  While some of the other searches presented challenges with the distance to travel or their restrictions on where a potential owner could live, this one was not concerned about our living in Florida and had accommodations to make the travel manageable. While it is disappointing that it again did not work out, it did make me focus more on what we need to do to get our house ready for a possible addition – the cords in my office still need to be tidied, things need to be better organized around the house, the yard and pool need some work, and a million other little things.

So a furry addition is still a possibility for us, but it looks like we have some things to take care of first.

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