A sticky situation

Do you have drawers that stick?  We do.  Most of the built-in drawers in our house are all wood on wood, no runners, no 'tracks'.  Our built-in dresser in the closet was a pain because the drawers were massive and when they stuck, they stuck hard.  So, I was trolling the web for a quick fix after everything was painted and before I put them back into the frame.  And I came upon a thrifty tip...

Candle wax!  You may recall that I am psycho over the 'Fresh Balsam' candles from Bath and Body Works and want to douse my body with the home fragrance oil.  Well, when the candles dwindled down to nothing after burning them every night, I couldn't bear to just throw them away.  So, I would pop them in the freezer overnight and then go all Sharon-Stone-in-Basic-Instinct on the wax until it was all chopped up.  And into a baggie the wax would go, to later be used in this wax warmer thingy....what the heck are these things called, anyway? 

This way I still get to enjoy the fragrance of the wax, even though the candle itself is long gone.  Oh, and of course I use the leftover glass jar for other things, like holding our acrylics in the art room:

 

Anyway, this is not the point of my post. The POINT is that the wax, while deliciously scented, is also a practical way to help your drawers slide more freely.  I grabbed my baggie, took out the largest wax pieces, and started giving the wood drawer supports inside the frame a rubdown they would not soon forget.  Boom chicka bow wow!  I also rubbed some on the bottom of the drawers themselves. 

 

Then I put the drawers in and opened and closed them a few times.  Do not be alarmed if they seem to stick even worse, once the wax is 'rubbed smooth' over a few days, those drawers will slide like a knife through butta!

Problem solved!  And that is why I love to chop up candles.  It has nothing to do with my repressed aggression. 

Are we smart or crazy?

Last night, Shaun and I dropped 3k on a Tempur-pedic 'DeluxeBed' queen mattress set.  It is two steps above the bottom of the line, and a few steps below the 'top' bed, so it's right in the middle of the pack.  Now, after the purchase, I'm seeing all kinds of bad reviews about Tempur mattresses online.  And I'm sweating about it, literally.  The biggest complaints are that you get really hot while sleeping on it because of the way it cradles you, and that after a couple years the material sags and gets really soft underneath you, and the company won't honor the warranty unless there is a visible dip when you're NOT laying on it.  Do any of you have a Tempur-pedic, and what has your experience been?  Did anyone go for the organic latex mattress that John and Sherry at Young House Love picked out from Savvy Rest?  I must say that the only reason we would ever drop this kind of money on a mattress is because we were in absolute heaven when we tested out the Tempur-pedic mattress at the store.  For about 30 minutes we monopolized the display bed.  No joke.  He is a side sleeper, and I am a back sleeper, but both of us felt like we were being cradled in Salma Hayak's cleavage a cloud.  We were rolling around exclaiming things like, "Oh man, turn this way!"  "I know, it's so awesome!"  "Ahhh, I feel like I'm in heaven!"  "I feel like I'm floating on air!"  "This mattress set is the same price as our entire patio project!"  "I know, we're crazy!"  "We'll take it, oh and throw in two of these $100 pillows, too!" 

I figured, why would we spend 3k on a patio we will only be able to use three months out of the year, but not spend the same amount on something we will sleep on every night for the next 15+ years? 

Ugh, it is a ton of cash.  So now, I'm having buyers remorse and wondering if I should cancel this order before it gets delivered next Friday.  Please help me if you have any insight/opinions on the merits of Tempur-pedic!!

They like me, they really like me!

In September, I blogged about a little contest I entered in this post.  I am very excited to say that I was chosen as a FINALIST in the Old House Blogger Contest!  Someone else actually thinks I know what I'm doing!  Someone else liked our stairway and entry remodel enough to say I may deserve to win a $250 gift card to Lowes and an opportunity to be a paid contributor to the Old House Blog!!!  I am officially not just blogging to see myself type!!!  I am worthy!  I am worthy!

Ahem, also chosen as finalists are the lovely ladies at Oh! Apostrophe and DIY Diva.  But please vote for ME instead!  I'm kidding.  Kind of.  Ok, I'm not kidding.  Yes I am.  Uh, moving on....please check out my contest entry post here and the official voting (rating) page here.  If you like my stairway renovation, please rate it 5 stars and share the page with your blog friends, it would mean the world to me!

XXOO,

Sara

Public Service Announcement

What gets me through my constant house projects?  Is it gallons of coffee?  The love of peeling paint off my fingers?  A constant fear of having an ugly house?  An egotistical need to be the best?  NAY, new music on my iPod is what I need to get through boring un-glamorous projects.  Which is why I stalk Amazon.com's MP3 section daily for FREE albums and songs.  I get so much good tunage for free just by checking it every day.  Well, today they started offering a little freebie that can be used on any MP3, not just specific albums and songs.  If you go here and enter this promo code before Nov 30th, you will get three bones to use on music!  Yayah!

MP34FREE

You're welcome.

I'm leaving on several jet planes

My company is sending me to Sacramento, CA to conduct an all day training session tomorrow.  I am not looking forward to the three (3) flights I will have to take down there today, and the two (2) flights I will have to take back home on Thursday.  We're talking 16 hours of travel, people!  For one day of work.  Le sigh.  The only good thing is that I have a fresh Sookie Stackhouse novel to read....I seriously love those books. 

Anywho, I will have a new post somewhere in there, and maybe I will find something blog-worthy on my trip.  Hey, do celebrities hang out in Sacramento??!  I also hope there is a good vegetarian restaurant near my hotel.  When I get back, I will share what I did to avoid checking a bag with a laptop, projector, clothes and toiletries along for the ride. That's if I actually figure out how to do it!  Do you have a story about how you packed light for a very short trip? 

Why so fickle?

I feel like Blogger is a mean mean boy that sometimes likes me, and other times acts like I am Jessica Simpson a sad desperate cow that is clingy and annoying. 

(for the record, I think Jessica Simpson is lovely and desirable, but that is a story for a different day regarding the unfair way the media portrays celebrities)

Why does it have to be so difficult?  Why can't I do my thing and have everything work as beautifully as it did yesterday?  It reminds me of my first 'real' boyfriend, during the summer before my sophomore year of high school.  I was all of 15 so this was a totally PG relationship, but it still counts.  We had a great time: movie nights, group hangs, trips to Six Flags, Fourth of July fireworks, we really liked each other.  Fall of my sophomore year, he left my house after some pleasant tv watching and a goodnight kiss, then called me that night to say he wanted to break up.  Wha?  Come again?  I was so confused.  He had just been talking about the upcoming Winter Formal dance future!  But it didn't really hit me until the next day when he sailed on down the hallway instead of stopping at my locker like he did every morning, leaving me standing there in teary-eyed shock.  It completely hurt my feelings that he was serious and I had been DUMPED by a guy that was not even as high on the social ladder as I was. 

Much like Blogger hurts my feelings.  Why does it hate me and put my photos all over the place even though I have dutifully centered them?  Why does it put unnatural spaces in between lines, even though I have painstakingly spaced them the way I want them?  Haven't I made it happy by widening my columns to showcase how lovely posts can look?  Haven't I increased the size of my photos so people will say "OOOOH, AAAAAH, what lovely photos!" ??  Haven't I googled absolutely everything out there for guidance and read up on HTML codes??  Well, Blogger, HAVEN'T I??  You are a fickle partner to be sure.  I love and hate you.  You are my John Mayer.  And Tony Romo.  And maybe Nick Lachey, too...jury is kinda out on that one.  Any Blogger advice is welcome people!!   

Technical update including cat hair

Hi, everyone!  Thanks to some advice from the lovely lady at Oh! Apostrophe, I will be doing some maintenance to my blogger template today to get bigger, better pics on here.  I want you to see every cat hair, speck of dust and blemished wall.  So, please excuse me if some of my posts end up looking kind of wonky throughout the weeks it will take me to figure it out day.  In celebration of my future blogging prowess, and since I mentioned cats, here are my boys doing the two things they do best:

 

1.  Looking adorable

2.  While getting cat hair all over everything 

Lucius is the grey and white, cute, friendly (and uh..'open') guy, and Maximus is the dark, mysterious (yet suprisingly clingy) one.  And yes, I have leopard print sheets.  Don't act like you don't have any!  

Honestly, I'm flattered

The adorable Carrie from Brick City Love just awarded me my VERY FIRST blog award, the 'Honest Scrap' award!

I’m so flattered and excited that Carrie chose me, because this is what I found out about the Honest Scrap award after googling various other blogs for the dirty details:

• This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant. Wow, me? Neato!
• When accepting this award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the person who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real. Done and done.
• Choose a minimum of seven blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends (that would be me). Show the blog names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with the Honest Scrap award.
• List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

Alrighty, this sounds as easy as airbrushing abs onto Robert Pattinson. Here are my 10 Honest Things:

1. My license plates say LUVBUFF because when I got my car I was obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In related news, congrats to SMG and Freddy Prinze Jr. on their new baby friend!

2. I hate the way I painted/decorated two rooms that I rushed to finish less than a year ago. Do. Not. Rush.

3. I already need to replace my 5-year-old mattress and boxspring because me and my dad accidentally let both (brand new) pieces fly out of his truck onto the busy freeway on the ride home - the mattress was lumpy and ruined from the get-go. Just enjoy that mental picture, ok? And if any of you have mattress suggestions, I'm all ears!

4. I am obsessed with chocolate brown (and chocolate in general), I have it in the decor of pretty much every room in our house.

5. I am a 'lazy' vegetarian, which means I eat a lot of cereal, cheese pizza and prepackaged foods like Morningstar and Boca. But not, uh, vegetables.

6. I play the piano, but have not gotten the poor thing tuned in years....so it is un-playable and is currently holding up candles and mirrors in my dining room. For SHAME.

7. The best vacuum I've ever owned is a big metal Kirby that was manufactured the year I was born (1979). This silly young dude gave it away for $25 bucks on Craigslist. Sucka!

8. I don't want to plan my wedding because I hate 'bride' stuff...and I'm cheap. There, I said it.

9. I want my kitchen done incredibly bad, but I'm too scared to start it.

10. I haven't photographed the master bedroom yet because I'm obsessing over finding the perfect bed pillows. Yeah, it sounds as stupid typed out as it does in my head.

and a bonus:

11. Half of the windows in our house are still painted shut, and we broke the two windows in the living room right after we moved in but haven't replaced them yet. For SHAME.

And there you go!  I would like to share this award with the following eight creative bloggers:
Mabel's House - what an incredible writer! Totally hilarious mix of posts.
Thrifty Little Blog - great projects, and extra props for picking me as a contest winner :)
Freckles Chick - cute, funny, beautifully decorated home.
The Brick House - awesome style beat the pants off the 'weird baby in the bathroom' in the Rejuvenation contest. Yes, I voted!
Centsational Girl- just too crafty for words, her projects keep me motivated!
Just Beachy - the 'queen of beautiful molding' never disappoints, and is supportive to a new blogger as well.
Nuestra Vida Dulce - stunning room makeovers abound. Seriously.
Jeremy and Kathleen - this blog makes me want to have my wedding at home SO BAD. Lovely!

For those of you that I have never talked to before, hi!  I'm Sara, and I happily stalk your blog on a daily basis. Thanks for inspiring me every day!

Old House Blog Contest!

Well blog friends, I've entered a contest.  It is the Old House Web Blogger Contest and all entrants are competing for a chance to win a $250 Lowe’s gift certificate and the opportunity to be a paid contributor to the Old House Blog.  How RAD would that be?  Better than Neal Patrick Harris saving the Emmys, for sure!  I'm currently working on a post about the back yard, but in the meantime click the link above and check out the details of this awesome contest.  And if when I get selected as a finalist, you will all have the opportunity to vote for my little stairway renovation that I posted about here. 
What was that?  You need a reminder of how gorg my stairs look now?  Well, how can I resist another photo.....

I love you, stairs!