Flower Power

Stephen and I took advantage of Memorial Day weekend and decided to get started on the huge project that is our landscaping. We tore out all of the bushes that were in the front beds which included two large holly bushes that had become the home of a swarm of bees that we had to evict first. The bushes were so big that we decided the fastest way to get rid of them was to tie a chain around them and haul them out with the truck. That move probably saved us an entire day of trying to dig those babies out. We planted a few hostas and some other smaller plants that have yet to fill out. Here is the before meets after.

 

 

 

It's still obviously a work in progress. We plan to dig out other bed to the right and plant a small tree and some more pretty plants there. If you look closely enough you might also be able to tell that we painted our shutters. They were a faded blue and now that are a crisp black. Looking better all the time!

Hair update

So it's been a couple weeks since I have been using baking soda and apple cider vinegar as my shampoo and conditioner and so far I see no reason to ever switch back to the traditional store-bought items. I have had good hair days and bad hair days like I normally do, but I believe that I am still in the transition period. I feel like my hair is just as clean, if not cleaner, than when it was washed traditionally. I also feel like I don't have as much hair falling out as I usually do. Losing hair was never a problem for me since I always have so much of it, but it does get annoying when it gets everywhere. I also feel like some of my baby hairs are getting longer, which would definitely be a plus because that is where most of my frizz seems to come from. My hair also seems a little curlier as well. Whether or not that is going to be a good thing, I haven't decided yet.

Cheap Art

There are a few things that I am lacking in the supplies/decorating area. Those things are picture frames, flower pots, and candles. I already have a plan to help solve my dilemma and that involves a birthday trip to Ikea. Yes, I actually want to get up in the morning and drive two hours to Northern Virginia on my birthday so that I can go to Ikea. I also plan to start the day at the Smithsonian and then go to Ikea on our way back. I know that I will be able to score some pretty white flower pots and picture frames at Ikea without breaking the bank. I'm sure I will get a few candles as well while we are there with some other goodies that I know we will be bringing home even if I don't know what it is yet. Anyways, the reason for this post was to show you the cute, but extremely cheap (as in zero dollars) art that I made in all of about three minutes. I found an old picture frame (which is the reason for my above tangent) that needed a little something special in it. I decided that I wanted something besides a picture of myself and Stephen in this particular frame and as I was brainstorming I came across an old Anthropologie catalog and found a cute picture of an owl. I cute it out and popped it in the frame, and I love it! Maybe I will put it in the laundry room so it can be friends with my owl hook.

Let me know what you think....

Another cheap plant score

So I went to Lowes the other day to get the hooks for the bathroom and I couldn't stop myself from checking out their clearance plant section. I knew I had a few empty flower pots at home so I figured that I might be able to score a cute little plant for one of them....and it just so happens that I did! The fact that we have had some unusually warm days here in RVA (which I have been loving) makes me want to bring more of the outdoors in. I even had the windows open for awhile and it was AWESOME! I can't wait for spring and I hope that this spring brings a nice change to my life.

Anyways, back to the plant. I found a nice leafy plant that had a few brown leaves for get this, only $1.50! Score! I brought that little guy home and gave him a spot on the dresser in our bedroom. Hurray for cleaner air and something pretty to look at. Mia has already attacked him but he stood his ground and will live to see another day, and I am keeping a closer eye on that little monster. Here he is in all his glory! It may sound strange, but it makes me happy to think that I gave this little guy a home when most people wouldn't want him. What can I say, I'm a sucker for adopting cute creatures.

Octopuses in the bathroom!?

Okay, so they obviously aren't real octopuses, they aren't even supposed to resemble octopuses, but that is what I think of when I look at the new hooks that I put up in the hall bathroom. They are the same type of hooks that I put in the master bath and since they only cost $3.28 buckaroos for two and they work great in our bathroom, I decided to go ahead a purchase two more for the hall bathroom. The hall bathroom already has a towel bar along the wall but I figured that when we do have the occasional guest it will be nicer for them to be able to grab the pretty clean, folded towel from the towel rack and then hang the used towel on the hook. They are easy to put up and hold towels quite well so I think that my little project was a success. Here are the pics....

Before

 

After

Does anyone else think of an octopus when they see these types of hooks?

Hang it Up!

 So I have had a few pictures that I have wanted to put in frames and hang up just lying around the house for months now. Last night I decided that it was time to spend literally 3 minutes and hang up two pictures that I took awhile ago. I decided that the hall bath was going to be the home of these two lucky photographs because the hall bath was in need of some attention since it really hasn't gotten any since I hung the shower curtain when we moved in. Here are my two pictures. I took the one on the left when I was volunteering at an archaeology dig a few summers ago and the picture of the bird on the right was when Stephen and I went to Gator Land in Orlando, FL for our honeymoon.

Globe Trotters (More like State Trotter for Me)

So Stephen has been working on a little surprise for me the past couple of days and he got the final piece of the puzzle in the mail yesterday and was able to put it all together for me last night. A few weeks ago I showed him something similar and told him that I wanted to make one for ourselves so he decided to go ahead and make it without telling me. The best part is that we can keep on adding to it for the rest of our lives. And here is the final product and all his work. I am very excited to hang it in the office.

It's a map! But not just any ole' map. This map has pins in all the places that we have been, together and separately. The blue pins are where Stephen has lived or traveled, the purple pins are for me, and the green are for places we have been or lived together. We plan to get more maps as we eventually want to travel all over the world together, which will hopefully happen one day. Yay for such a wonderful gift from the hubster! 

My $2 score

Goodwill Finds

So I was at Lowe's the other day getting paint supplies, which we haven't used yet but it's getting closer, and I wondered into the plant and garden section and happened upon their clearance area for plants. I, for one, did not know that they had a plant clearance area. It's mainly for plants that don't look their best, i.e. yellowing or browning leaves, so they mark them down for people like me who think that the plant still has a chance and doesn't mind trying to keep it alive and well. So for $2 buckaroos I brought me home a nice little plant with a few leaves that were browning at the tips. I was super excited about this new plant because Mia had just recently demolished my biggest avocado plant that I had been growing for the past 2-3 years (tear). I was also excited because this plant was the perfect size for the edible arrangements flower pot that I scored at Goodwill a few weeks ago for just a few bucks. So here is the newest addition to the Chafee tribe. I am hoping that it will have a long and happy life here at our humble abode and that Mia keeps her paws and teeth away from it!

Plant and pot get a new life

Repurposing Empty Jars

My goal is to eventually rid my house of the ordinary packaging that everything comes in from the grocery store. I would like to have my pantry all organized and labeled and well stocked in pretty glass containers that are more attractive and healthier to keep food in. With everything that we keep in our pantries now-a-days buying a glass container for every single item will get kinda pricey. Being the cheap person that I am I have started reusing any glass jars that an item comes in from the grocery store already, some examples are pickle and olive jars, coconut oil jars, jelly jars, etc. The most difficult part of reusing these jars is to get the sticky label off the front so that you can label it yourself with whatever item you decide to put in your currently vacant jar. The easiest way I have found to do this is with regular distilled white vinegar. You can buy a huge amount at any grocery store for less than $3 buckaroos. I place enough vinegar in a container big enough to fit my jar on it's side and have the vinegar touching as much as the label as possible. After a few minutes I of the label soaking I can easily use my fingernail or a scrubber to peel the soaked part of the label off. I then turn the jar around so that any part that hasn't been soaking gets a nice vinegar bath until I have peeled the entire label off. Vinegar is also great to use to clean out the inside of the jar if it still smells like it's last occupant. If your lid happens to have the logo or info that would prefer not to see, you can spray paint the lid or even use chalkboard paint so that you can switch up the contents with having to put on a new label.
Here is my most recent jar transformation.

Before

 

 

 

After

Mia is very protective of our lovely jars, now housing cashews and shredded coconut.

Hootin Hook!

So I went to World Market for the first time ever the other day and lets just say that I told Stephen that I was going to move in and change my address! I love it! There are so many things that I could bring into my home there but most of them will have to wait. I did however "splurge" (meaning I spent about $10 bucks) on a pair of cute earrings (obviously not house related) and a cute owl hook that I decided to put in the laundry room and use for the dog's leash. Here is a little glimpse at our new wildlife addition. These pics make the walls look yellow, which they're not, but they do have a yellow undertone to the tan paint which I really hate. I can't wait to get some nice color up on our walls!

Before

After

 

So lately I have been thinking more and more about taking the plunge and tackling the laundry room. I know you are probably thinking why start with the laundry room? It's not a room people see a lot and it certainly isn't in such a sad state that it needs fixing in any way, but I thought that it was a small enough area that I could tackle everything rather quickly and for not a lot of money. I pretty much know what I want to do to the room and I think it would be a good starter room for beginner DIYers such as ourselves. It will give us a chance to see how we do with planning and sticking to our budget and also will help us work out some kinks for when we go to do some larger projects like the kitchen. So if all goes as planned (which it never does, but one can still hope) I believe that I can get most of my little laundry makeover done for around $250-300 buckaroos. Hopefully I will come in closer to $200, but that really depends on how lucky I am with finding cabinets. Let's just say I will be making quite a few trips to the Restore here in good 'ole RVA.

12 Bees, I mean B-12

I got my B-12 patches in the mail yesterday!! I am super excited about it too, if you can't already tell! For those of you who are sitting there scratching your heads and thinking what in the heck is she talking about, well...I am about to tell you. B-12 is an important vitamin that your body needs, a lack in B-12 shows itself in many different symptoms which often means that a lack in B-12 is mistaken for something else. There are also different forms of B-12, one form is called 'human active' and other forms are 'not human active'. The problem with today's medical world is that they don't differentiate between the two, so if you went to the doctor today and got a B-12 test done, you would most likely have normal results, because the test is looking for all B-12 in the body, not just what you can use so most people are deficient in this important vitamin. Human active B-12 is only found in animal products, and since I am a vegetarian I don't get a lot of B-12, if any. And that is why I am excited to finally have a great, easy source of human active B-12 in the form of patches. I got them from The Raw Food World, which is a great resource for anyone looking to improve their diet or find unusual ingredients. All you do is stick a patch behind your ear and leave it there for a day and then take it off and put another one on. It is recommended that you use two a week. Since I am probably very low in B-12 it might take a week or two for me to start feeling the affects, but I am excited to begin this regime and plan to continue it throughout my life. Yay for B-12!