The Truth Behind Pinterest Projects - Paint Chip Dry Erase Calendar

I'm way behind on blogging in general but I'm also behind on blogging about my Pinterest Projects so I guess I will continue to try and get caught up.

I'm a very organized person and I love using calendars to keep everything straight. I know it's totally weird I get it. For years I have been using one of those plain white and black dry erase calendars but I was getting really tired of it. So imagine my excitment when I was scrolling through Pinterest one day and found the pin where you can make a dry erase calendar out of a frame with glass, scrapbooking paper, paint chips (I borrowed mine from Wal-Mart, they were so sweet to let me use them!) and some tape! This is probably one of the easiest projects I have done, but then again my OCD took over making it take longer than it probably needed to.

The first thing to do is to decided how big you want yours to be, I made mine 12" x 16". First things first and I had to get my supplies. I got two 12" x 12" scrapbook paper to use as the background and my frame, for 40% off, at Hobby Lobby, and about 20 of each paint chip of the color I wanted to use from Wal-Mart. You can do as many colors as you want so they more colors you use the less of each paint chip you will need.

First I cut all the paint chips down to 2" x 2", my OCD started to kick in a bit here but it wasn't terrible. Of course I was trying to make everything perfect. This was probably the most time consuming part of the project. After cutting down the scrapbooking paper to fit inside my frame I started to lay out where the squares would go on the background.

 

 

After figuring out where all the squares would go on the background I used regualar wrapping tape to secure all the squares.

 



The last step is to just put it in the frame and hang it up on the wall. I would caution anyone that is going to try this project to be aware of the way it will hang on the wall. Mine had those little triangle things on the back and it was a pain in the you know what to actually get hung up.

I took this project one step further and since I had some scrapbooking paper left over and a few black frames I put the paper in the frames and hung the frames next to the calendar. I use mine for a To Do list and a place to write items I will need at the grocery store

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The Truth Behind Pinterest Projects - Towel Shag Rug

Most everyone is on Pinterest and we all have created these boards that have such amazing and great ideas on them. They look so cool, and of course have to be easy to do... Right? If only that was true. I have started doing some of these projects and at the encouragement of my friend Andrea I have decided to start blogging about my experiences with them. Maybe this will give some people a couple of laughs, or give up the truth about these projects, who knows.

Two weekends ago, Andrea and I were hanging out watching a movie and doing what we always do, looking at Pinterest. She showed me this pin about a rug that was made out of towels, and it was the same pin I had just pinned earlier that day. So we got the bright idea that we would try it out. And I got the even brighter idea that I would make two, a brown one for my bathroom and a black one for my kitchen. Let me just take a moment right here and say that this is not my finest moment is my crafting history. I mean come on I'm the girl that my friends won't let use a glue gun!

The following day Andrea and I set out to gather the supplies and make the rug. We had no doubt in our minds that we would be able to get it done in one day. Boy were we mistaken! We first went to the west Hobby Lobby to find the rubber mat part to create the base. Well of course they didn't have it, so we decided to head over to JoAnn's fabric. SCORE!!! We were able to get it for by the yard there for $3.99 a yeard with a 50% off coupon. (Jenna would be so proud of us!) Next we headed to the first Wal-Mart, yes thats right the first Wal-Mart. We were able to find the towels that we wanted and they were on sale for $2.33!!!! But of course they only had three, and since both of use were going to be making brown rugs we would need more than 3 total. Hence the trip to the second Wal-Mart, where we got VERY lucky and I was able to get the 3 brown towels and 3 black towels that I needed and Andrea was able to get the 5 brown towels that she needed since her rug was going to be bigger. Happily we grabbed some lunch and headed back to Andreas house to wash and dry the towels so we could get started.

Note: Terry cloth sheads like NONE OTHER!!! Be prepaired, if you do this project, it will make a mess! A very big one and you will be finding piece of the fuzzy from your towels for weeks after in places that you have no idea how it got there.

The pin called for the towels to be cut into strips 5-6 inches long and about 3/4 of an inche thick. We quickly found out that this is going to be VERY time consuming. In the time it took us to watch, The Hunger Games, Thor, Captian America, And Iron Man 2 we were only able to cut up 6 towels, and that is with both of us doing it. By myself it takes about an hour and a half to cut one towel up. When we started to tie a few of the strips on we qucikly found that that 3/4 of an inche thick is was way to thick for the base we were using. So we ended up cutting them in half.

When it finally came time to tie the strips on I found that since the towel is so thick that I was able to skip every other row on the base which cut down the amount of towel I would need. I also, found that when I make the one for my kitchen I will skip two rows in between, as well as skipping everyother square. The one for my bathroom ended up being VERY thick and heavy. So I figure that I won't want the one for my kitchen to be as thick.

The original pin said that it would only take two to three towels to make an 18" by 2' rug. Let me say that I had to clue what size of rug I was actually making and had underestimated the amount of time it would take to make this and how many towels it would take. I had to be go out to a third Wal-Mart and get three more towels. I think the only person that actually enjoyed making this project was my dog Nikita. Who kept bringing her toys over and laying on it while I was cutting up strips.

By the time I finally completed this project I was over joyed it was finally over! I ended up running it throught the dryer about 4 times for a 30 minuted to get the majority of the fuzz off the rug. What is nice about it is that since it is made out of towels I will be able to wash it when ever it needs it.

I will tell you if you do want to make this rug prepair for it to take over your life and for it make a huge mess!!! But I do think that it was worth it in the end.

Let's Try This Again -- An Update

Wow, so it has been a very long time since I have updated this thing. Well good news is that I am still alive and my life has changed a lot since my last blog in September. It's been a long time since I have been able to say this but for the first time in four years, I can say with all honesty that the changes this past year have been for the better. Last December I made the decision to go back to school. This wasn't an easy decision since I didn't enjoy school the first time I did it. Well let me clairify that. I didn't enjoy the school part of it, I LOVED every minute of the social aspect of it! With a lot of pushing from Andrea, who actually did A LOT of research for me, and even more praying I made the decision to just do it. The weirdest part was that it all fell into place very easily, which I know in my heart was a complete God thing. It goes with out saying that I had my fears about doing this, and at times it has been hard and very stressful but I am very happy that I made the decision to do it. I took a full load in the spring semester and ended up with the best grades I have ever had in college. This summer I am enrolled in 7 hours and it is going to be a lot of work. I got an A in my pre-session so I am beyond happy about that. Currently I'm taking Econ 232, which I hate, and Cognitive Pshycology. After this summer I will have only 3 classes left to take and then I will be done!!! YAY ME!!! Before going back to school I never thought I would even consider going to grad school, but the closer I get to being done the more and more I started considering it. So after a lot of reserach done by Andrea, again, I think I have found the school that I am going to apply to. This is such an huge step for me. I don't have to apply until the end of this summer so I think that I am going to continue to pray about it and talk with my friend and family before I make the final decision. The thing that is hard for is that I'm not getting the support from my mom that I wish I was getting. Which had made the decision even harder for me. I am just going to have to trust that God has a plan for me and I will have to trust in that plan! I, also, have some how found my way back to the pool. Which is weird for me to say since after State my senior year I was very much over it and never wanted to go near trainiing again. Well ten years later it feels like I am home again. Don't get me wrong I still hate dragging myself there but once I am in the pool I am just so comfortable. There is this feeling of freedom I get when I am swimming, that I think only someone who swims can understand. It has been a very rough start and I definitly am not in the shape I use to be in, but I am starting to feel stronger each day and that is what matters in the end! It has taken me ten years to get this out of shape so I guess I can't expect to be back in shape like I was in two weeks! I would like to say that I would keep this up more than I have but your never know so I will try but no promises! Untill then...

One Interesting Afternoon

Yesterday started out as any other flex day. I didn't have much planned except for a doctors appointment which has become a pretty normal occurance on my days off. After the appointmen I went for a long workout since the night before I had only been able to get half of mine in and then was suppose to meet up with Andrea to watch a movie and hang out while Austin and Avery took their afternoon naps. Notice that I suppose to there.

I think I should have known something was up when Andrea got off work late. Although in all fairness this wasn't anything new. The poor girl hardly ever gets off on time, so I really didn't think much about it at the time. But I'm pretty sure this should have been the first sign that something was a miss.

The second sign came while I was at OT trying to rent a movie from the Blockbuster machine there. It took me three times, yes that right THREE times, to the darn movie! First it told me I had the wrong zip code, ummmm... pretty sure I know where I live, the second time it told me the movie couldn't be dispensed, and finally the third time it came out. Recently Andrea, Adam and I had watched Adjustment Bureau. (For those of you who haven't seen the movie it's basically about a group of people who have decided te path you are "suppose" to be on and if you start to get off that path they will throw an obstacles in your way to get back on that path. Nothing major just stuff like someone spilling coffee on you or a bus being late) Looking back it realy seems like the Adjustment Bureau may be something more than just a movie made up by Hollywood.

Finally with the movie, drinks, two very yummy cookies, and Nikita in hand I made it to Andreas. For a bit it was just a normal afternoon, we talked while she did some laundry and then just hung out for a bit before going to pick up the kids from the sitter. One of the best parts of my day came when we picked Austin and Avery up. Austin was so excited to see me and it just melted my heart! That child really knows how to work me and get pretty much anything he wants.

Nothing was to exciting on the drive home, Austin sang to us a bit and Andrea and I just talked. We got back to Andrea's and I took Austin outside to play while I tried to get Nikita to go potty. At some point I looked over to the fence and noticed that on the other side there were two dogs that weren't nomally there. I asked Andrea about it and she was a little confussed because she thought the people had moved out. But really neither one of us had a second thought about it. We went inside got Austin a snack and sat down to watch the movie.

We probably weren't more han 20 minutes into the movie when Ausitn came in and said "The neighbors dogs are in the house". Andrea and I just looked at each other and thought Austin was just playing with us. But he said it again a little more forcefully and if someone has been watching us you would have been able to see us process what he was saying and then jump off the couch. Andrea grabbed Avey, I grabbed Austin, we put our shoes on and walked to the kitchen. And sure enough there were two dogs eating Al's food and a third one in the bathroon head frst in the toilet trying to drink as much water as he could.

For a few minutes there was some serious chaos. We didn't know if the dogs were nice, which it turned out they were really sweet, we wanted to make sure the kids were safe, as well as blocking Al and Nikita away from the new dogs. Andrea was on the phone with the landord for the house next door, who said they weren't his and didn't care what we did with them. I tried to get the three new dogs into the back yard so we could get them away from the kids.

It turne out that the dogs belongs to the people the landlord just evicted. So these terrible people just moved out and left these three very sweet dogs there with out any food or water. By this time Andrea and I are both fuming about this. I looked down and noticed that two of the dogs had tags from their vet. We called the vet who told just the would contact the owners they had in the system and then get back to us.

While waiting for the vet to call us back we gave the three dogs some food and water. It broke our hearts to watch how fast they scarfed the food down. It had to have been days since they were last feed. The whole time I was just getting more and more frutrated with these people for leaving these dogs. I kept asking myself how some one could be so selfish that they would just leave three small dogs who really couldn't take care of themselves there to starve. I would then look at Nikita, who is basically my child, and just get more upset.

Andrea has started dinner while we waited to for the vet to call us back. I was holding Avery, and this is then the time that Austin decided he wanted my undivided attention. If I sat down Avery would start to cry, but I'm also convinced that she hates me, so there was lot of walking going on. The phone was ringing off the hook as we tried to fill Adam in, as well as Andrea's sister in law, Amy and nephew Brian that were on they're way over for dinner. So of course at the point the girls across the street over to sell Andrea some stuff for their school.

When the vet finally called us back we learned that the owner the vet had on file had given the dogs away and the phone number they gave the vet for those people was disconnected. However, we could bring the dogs in to them and they would take them to the human society if they weren't claimed in 24 hours. We also learned that we could have called animal control and that animal control could charge the people with a felony for abandoning the dogs. As soon as Amy and Brian got there we put the three dogs in Al's kennel and they took them to the vet.

To say the least it wa a crazy night. Once the dogs were at the vet we sat down and had a very yummy dinner, talked a bit and then it was time to put the kids to bed Austin yet again found a way to melt my heart by asking me to pick out his movie, and letting me read his bed time books to him. We then said our prayers and he was off to bed. Let me tell you there is nothing sweeter in the world than having a three year old tell you he wanted to pray for you. It really was a moment that filled my heart.

It was about 8:30, only about six hours later, that we finally were able to sit down and watch our movie. Needless to say by the times I got home last night I was exhausted and realized that through out all of this I didn't take any pictures. And this would have been one of those situations that really should have been documented!

Jury Duty... It really isn't all that bad!

So like most people when I got the letter in the mail saying that I was picked to be in a jury pool I had that moment of oh great, I really don't want to do this. To be honest it wasn't coming at the best time. I would have to report one week after I returned back to work from having surgery. I was pretty sure that this would go over like a lead balloon with my boss also, but what are you going to do?

So Tuesday morning I show up to the jury assembly room a tad late, found a seat, pulled out my book and prepared to be there for a while. With in a few minutes they started calling out numbers and I was in the first group to be called. We were herded like cattle out of the room and upstairs to a large court room. After getting our assigned seats we waited for the lawyers to come in. At this point I wasn't sure what to expect.

After a few minutes the lawters for the prosecution came in, it was a little uncomfortable, they sat in their chairs a stared at us,looked at the seating charts and the stared some more. What do you then? Stare at them back? Look away? I honeslty wasn't sure! After a few minutes of this the lawyer for the defense came in and so did the defendant. This really took me by surprise, I really wasn't prepared for him to be there.

There was a lot of show boating from the lawyers and the same questions asked over and over and over again in 40 different ways. Picking on this person or that person for one reason or another. Finally they let us break for lunch while they picked the jury. I wasn't expecting to be picked but was fascinated by the process so far. There were thirteen of us picked to sit on the jury. Twelve would actually end up serving and one would be an alternate but we wouldn't know who that person was until we were ready to deliberate.

The trial it's self was rather short, and luckily we came to a verdict pretty easily. But the really amazing part was seeing the system at work. We are so very lucky to live in a society that we have the right to a trail by a jury of our peers. So many people do not have that luxury.

I want to encourage people to embrace jury duty if they get called for it. Yes it can be a pain, and yes it can come at the wrong time, but it is part of being a citizen of our great nation. Most people would want the right if they were in the position of needing it so why not take a few days and embrase it.

The Hunger Games Series

As I sit here in my moms house still recovering, the windows are open, and I can hear the rain, it seems like it is the perfect day to curl up on the couch with a good book. I use to read a lot more as a child than I do now. I'm pretty sure college is to blame for that. There is so much reading that has to be done that there is very little time to read something for pleasure. Now I have the time so I have started to read again.

I have forgotten how much I love it. There is nothing better than picking up a great book that has your attention from page one and then finally tearing your self away from it and realizing that you have been reading for hours and it's now way late and you know that you will be exhausted the next day at work but at the same time you know it was worth it.


As late as I am to this party I just got done reading The Hunger Games Trilogy. There are three books, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, and I loved ever single page of them! I won't tell you a lot about the books because I don't want to give away the endings but I do think that ever single person needs to go and pick up these books and read them. However, I will warn you that the books are a tad messed up. There were several times, while reading the books, that I was like they are doing what? Can that really happen? The great thing about the book is that they aren't very long and are very easy to read. There is a little bit for everyone in these books, there's some action and adventure and even a little under tone of romance.


After I got done reading the third book I felt a little sad the series was over. To be honest I would have loved a few more books. I definitly felt that there could have been at least one more book to wrap up the series, but that would be my only negative regarding the series. The good news is that if you read these books and love them they are in the process of making them into movies. The first one, The Hunger Games is filiming right now and will be out March 23rd, 2012. There are so many things in the book that I can't wait to see come to life and I can't wait to see how they do it.

So now that I'm done reading these books I think that I am going to head out to the book store and pick up The Help. The movie is actually coming out today and it looks really good but I do think that I want to read the book before I go and see the movie. I'll keep you posted on how it is.

New Found Respect

All my life I have been around people who have had a surgery for this or for that. My brother Jarrett had surgery a two days of age, and continued to have them through out his life, Mac had several on his face to remove a birthmark, and I've been with friends who have had various ones over the years. I've always tried to be there for them but never could really understand what it was like.

I started getting sick a few weeks ago and figured it was just a stomach bug, it wasn't until one Thursday, at the urging of Andrea, that I finally went to the doctor. It turned out that I was severely dehydrated and they were thinking that I may be having an issue with my gallbladder. So after a sono, I got a call from my nurse saying that they were going to have to take it out as soon as possible.

By the next Wednesday my mom and brother, Jarrett, were sitting in the waiting room with me as I waited for my name to be called. Like every time I have ever gone to the doctor they were running late. Finally my name was called and it was my turn to go back. I'm not sure what I thought it would be like but as soon as we got through the doors there were people every where. Running in this direction or that direction each one with a different responsibility.

It was a matter of minutes and I was on a bed, prepped, and waiting for the lady with the happy medicine to come in. Apprently she did come in because the next thing I know I'm waking up in recovery, a little confused as to how I got there. After talking to my mom I had a converstaion with my mom and I guess I kept trying to tell the nurse our family history. All I remember is really wanting to get dressed and getting upset that the kids got lollipops and they didn't give me one!

Recovery hasn't been as bad as I was afraid that it would be. For the first few days I spent a lot of time sleeping and in a slight daze from the pain medication. But with in 24 hours my mom had me up and taking walks up and down the street, got to love having a nurse for a mom. lthough I'm lucky that I've been able to have her around, nurses do come in handy every once in a while.

I go back to work on Wednesday of this week and I'm not sure how up to it I'm going to be. Staying a wake all day is still a bit difficult and so is standing for long periods of time. I guess eventually I will have to find out. I just want to say thank you to all my friends and family who have come by to visit or sent flowers. It means a ton of to me!!!