Kirkland's Clearance

Now save an extra 25% off clearance at Kirkland's!
These adorable flower chairs are $37.47 for a set of two:



Other deals include a set of plant stands for $37.47 and this Metal Espresso Harrison Coffee Table for $52.47 (marked down from $129.99).

Clutter

 (thanks anyway Grandma)

Deck & yard porn

Our deck is finally getting built! We have been deckless for several months. The old one had to be torn down. It was the original deck that was built along with our house. In the 1970's!  It was starting to slope and was full of dry rot. Too bad we can't put in one of these at the same time:

Our yard has a mini orchard. I think this 3 season gazebo would look nice in that area.

Unfortunately, our yard is not flat. My next project will be landscaping and making stepping stones..

and fixing up our storage shed/kids' old playhouse like this one.

Around the House

Monday Bake-off

Have a Toy Story fan? I love these disgustingly cute Hamm and Mr. Potato Head cake pops from Bakerella!

Photo Credit: Bakerella

Photo Credit: Bakerella


Cupcake Crazy, a local cupcake delivery venture has yummy looking selections! Click the widget to donate.

Try some adventurous cupcakes at Cupcake Bakeshop! The latest concoction is Yuzu White Chocolate.

I can't forget my favorite vampire cupcakes!

Photo Credit: Baking Bites

Cupcake Shopping

Week of house drama-mold, threatened electrocution, caving in floor, and fire oh my!

So our floor started sloping in under the wall in the dining room. Our master bath is on the other side of that wall. Turns out the tile in the bathroom shower was glued directly onto sheet rock. Not water resistant or waterproof sheet rock. And it leaked.

Do you see where this is going? Yes, we are in smack dab in the middle of a major remodeling project. I have almost no dining room wall and definitely no bathroom wall. The dogs were quite excited to be able to spy on me peeing. The things that amuse them...

We pulled out the painted paneling (yes we have a house built in the 70's *bow chicka wow wow!*) in the dining room and the back of the tiled sheet rock was wet and moldy. Great. Some of the wood tiles on the dining room floor were ruined. Then there was the lovely matter of the support boards for the wall studs (and oh yeah, the whole wall) being rotted out. The flooring was recently sold at Home Depot, but guess what, they discontinued it now and also at just about every place we have checked.

The wall wiring was wonky and sparked & arced and almost zapped the hubby, we had a hole in the floor w/a large drop, and sawdust hung in the air.
Then today the hot water heater shorted out and caught fire and started a fire under the house.

So now a Swine Flu oubreak is threatening the U.S. and I just read that the sprouts I bought may have salmonella. Yay!
Screw that, I am eating my sprouts!

P.S. The hubby just went to get new hoses for the new water heater because they were leaking. He came in just now and said there is another leak in a different spot

Clean sweep

Something came over me this morning. The urge to organize my deep, dark, and dangerous bathroom drawers. Yipes! I don't know if my kids are the only ones who do this but, they cannot put the cap back on the toothpaste tube to save their life. We have tried to work around that with flip caps...yep torn off right away.

So the drawers were full of flossers, cosmetics, lotions,razors, Halloween greasepaint, etc. all cemented in toothpaste. Yuck.
I am really bad at keeping things organized but one of my favorite stores is The Container Store. Go figure!

My "steamer" is a jerk

I cleaned the carpet today. It took a couple of hours just to do the living room and adjoining office! My steamer is a few years old and not really a steamer..though it says it is a steamer right on it. You have to fill it with warm tap water. One tank only lasts a few square feet and it is so freaking annoying!

Plus it started conveniently falling apart AFTER the warranty was up on it. First the hose attachment for upholstery came off, spewing water everywhere. Then it wouldn't suck up water. Now there is a crack in the dirty water tank so if the water reaches that level it leaks. The only way I can get it to actually suck up water is to hold the bottom and lean on it while sliding the steamer across the floor.

If anyone has any recommendations for real steamers that would be great.

and so it begins....

I am finally starting a new blog/journal/what have you.
Previously I had pages over at LiveJournal but deleted them in a fit of journal cleaning. If only I had as much control over my email. Unfortunately my email (and yes I have multiple ones) reflects my real life lack of organizational skills.
Delete that recipe? coupon for a haircut? Little tidbit of information that I may need someday? Oh the horror! and then I promptly forget about the "essential" messages that are filed away in my save box.

And mailing lists. I finally caved and pared down my jabillion oh so essential yahoogroups. The remaining ones are set web only or daily digest. Except Freecycle. Which I hope to be utilizing more often to get rid of my IRL crap. While not quite to the level of your crazy Aunt Matilda with the 100 cats I am nearing my clutter threshold.

Is it just me or is Freecycle amusing? For some reason the posts with the sorriest description elicit lots of responses but I have been trying to get rid of an awesome USEABLE outdoor item for several weeks with no takers.
Broken appliances missing many many parts? (and oh that electric cord? chewed off by the dog) Item of dubious origin? baby clothing that is in ok condition except that permanently set formula vomit, crap, ground in dirt, ran over by the car a few times? Somewhere a Freecycler shouts SCORE!