Makeover Monday~ Laundry Room

Makeover Monday

THE LAUNDRY ROOM

A little background for today's post. 

We have been in this house five years. For the 25 years before that I lived in houses I knew I would be moving from. The houses I remember growing up were rent houses. My parents bought a house after I went to college, but I never officially lived there. 

My husband and I moved from a townhouse to a rent house to a starter house to a rented trailer (yeah, I post pictures of that place some day. Nothing like original 1982 wallpaper to make you appreciate how far you've come.) to here. 

So, even though we've been here a while, it took me some time to get used to the idea that I could do whatever I wanted to this house. 

Before my houses were all about function.

Did it work? Fine, no need to make it pretty. 

It's not going to stay mine anyway. 

When I started researching how I wanted to organize the laundry room, I found all these pictures of people who I thought had been sniffing too much Tide.

It's a LAUNDRY room. You have framed pictures of your kids on the shelves with a decorative glass jar to house your soap? REALLY? 

How deeply do you inhale when you're pouring in that Clorox? 

So, I did this. 

(Sorry for the crooked picture. We really don't live in a house built by Dr. Seuss.)

Nice. Clean. Functional. What more does it need? 

Except...

The laundry room is right off the kitchen. 

The door is never closed. 

I go into this room several times a day.

I walk by it even more times a day.

I can even see into it from where I sit on the couch. 

UGH. 

It was still bugging me. 

So, I made a decision. 

It is my house. 

My laundry room.

And, I'm going to make it pretty. 

I may have gone slightly nuts. 

Or at least, that's probably what my husband was thinking to himself as he install the new shelving.  He was kind enough not to mutter it under his breath or anything. 

I even hung a picture! 

It says "The stars at night are big and bright..."

(Those of you from Texas just clapped in your heads, I know you did.)

Before

After

You don't think I've been sniffing the stain remover too much, do you? 

Friday Plot Swap: Primitive Style

Dawn's Plot Swap

Have a plot? Leave one.

Need a plot ? Take one.

What could you do with these?

Couple has been living under a rock,quite literally

The man decided he wanted to make his home under the boulder when he was 8 years old. He saved his money, bought the land and has lived there with his wife for 30 years, raising seven children.  What would their life be like? What if one of their children was accepted into a prestigious school and left home? What kind of culture shock would he/she experience?  

A Harvard professor says that by injecting Stone Age genes into a human embryo — and then implanting the embryo into a human surrogate mother — it will soon be possible to create a living Neanderthal.

In the past few days, the scientist has come out saying he isn't actively searching for a woman for this experiment. But, the science fiction implications of that kind of procedure are endless. What if the baby disproved everything we know about primitive man? What if the woman was meant only to be a surrogate and give up the baby to some scientific organization, but decides she can't. Then, takes the baby and runs? 

Explorer's rare Scotch returned to Antarctic stash

This is my favorite this week. Scotch, bottled in 1898 and left behind during a failed expedition in 1907 was found perfectly preserved in frozen crates during 2010. After extracting a sample to be used to recreate the formula, the bottles are being returned to where they were found as a tribute to the explorers.  

Stories, stories everywhere!

The story of the expedition. 

The story of finding the bottles

The story of the team recreating the formula.

What if someone wanted to steal it? 

The story of the team returning the bottles.

So many different plots! LOVE IT!

So, swap with me!

Read any good plots lately? 

Have any abandoned plots you want to drop off for adoption?
We accept all kinds. 

Musical Misunderstandings

Tell Me Your Story

Musical Misunderstandings

    On a recent car trip, I decided if I had to hear Taylor Swift croon one more I'm-his-best-friend-but-secretly-in-love-with-him-let-me-cry-on-my-guitar-oh-he-loves-me-too! ballad, I was going to throw myself on the pavement at 75 mph. 

    To save me from highway suicide, my husband put in some  more mature, yet kid-friendly music. That's when this song came on. 

Love to Lay You Down 

My girls started singing along and Scott and I exchanged a look. 

This was going to be one of "those songs."

One of those songs you sing as a kid and have no clue they are any thing but innocent. One of those songs that make you call your mother when you're older and say,

 "Do you know what this song is about?" 

Yep, it's happen to me. I was exposed to a variety of music growing up. My parents were never into oldies. They listened to Hank Jr., The Eagles,  and people like Joe Ely. My uncle liked to show me off  (and win bets with his friends) because before I was in elementary school, I could identify songs by The Who, Peter Frampton and Little Feat.

 He did get reprimanded by mom when I was belting out Angel in the Centerfold in the middle of Pizza Hut. 

But, my AH HA moment came driving home from college. I hit an old country station and a great song from my childhood poured from the speakers. 

Send Me Down To Tucson ~ Mel Tillis

No one wants to go down to Tucson in the summer

So this time the boss chose me 

(See, he's a hard-working man who's ready to do a job no one else wants.)

I've been sort of restless yes he thought it might help if

I got away from my wife and family

(He's been stressed. Needs a break. I can respect that.)

There's been no other woman since the mother of my 

children

And in each and every way she's a lady

(He's faithful. Loves and honors his wife)

Now there's one that I'll remember a sultry night we spent

 together

(Remembering an old flame. Playing the "highlight" reel. It happens.)

And she satisfied the love inside of me

Go on and send me down to Tucson and I'll get the job done

(Good man. Send me down, Boss. I'll take care of it!)

And call up the one whose love is free

(Huh?)
She may be easy and I love my lady

(Whaa?)

But the lady don't satisfy the love inside of me

(He's CHEATING?!?!?! *Insert sound of childhood

 innocence shattering here.*)

So, tell me your story.

Ever had a song you loved but were clueless about the meaning? 

Ever had a "What?" moment like me? 

Makeover Monday~ Showing My Drawers

Makeover Monday

Showing My Drawers

My youngest, age 2. 

She would kill me if she knew this was on here!

So, this week I decided to tackle an area that's haunted me for months. 

This is our "Family Command Center".

All the organizational blogs suggest you have one.

A place where family members can find basic supplies, information, etc. 

Somehow, I don't think this is what they have in mind. 

This picture was taken after I'd spent a good ten minutes cleaning out the drawer. *Hangs head in shame.*

You don't even want to know what all was in here. 

You don't have drawers like this in your house, right? 

It's just me. Yeah, thanks. That's what I thought. 

So, I cleaned it all up in a few minutes. 

Put everything exactly where it belonged and went skipping about my merry way. 

The End. 

What? 

No! Don't turn around! 

There's nothing to see here!

Wow, it looks even worse all spread out. 

*Sigh*

Honestly, the project took me the better part of a day. 

First, I had to come to terms with my addiction to writing instruments. No, this isn't the only place in my home that has this many pens. I have a problem. I know. I know. I am a pen hoarder.  There I said it. 

I did manage to purge it down to one container for this drawer. 

See! All pretty!

I even made labels!

I had to make sure the other drawers wouldn't be jealous. 

So, I used the liner in them, too. 

How many sets of measuring cups can you count in this picture? 

Want to know the best part? 

Despite the pile of cookbooks in the other picture,

I don't really cook!

I organized this drawer a while back. I really wish I had a before picture of it. If your life depended on finding medication quickly in here, you were going die. 

Ta Da!!!

All pretty!

Recap:

Before

After

The basket is a charging station for the kids electronics.

And, just so you can see I didn't cheat!

So, want to show me your drawers?

Friday Plot Swap~ Solid Gold Style

Friday Plot Swap

Dawn's Plot Swap

Have a plot? Leave one.

Need a plot ? Take one.

Have I got a story for you this week! 

Can it be a coincidence both of the stories came out within days of  each other? 

I think not. 

This just begs to written

Germany is transferring nearly 700 tons of gold bars worth $36 billion from Paris and New York to its vaults in Frankfurt.

That could be an awesome story alone. Think of all the people who have to be planning and scheming how to steal even just a little of this money right now!

But, then you have to read this!

German police say robbers dug a 30-meter (100-foot) tunnel into the safe deposit room of a Berlin bank and escaped with their haul, setting a fire as they left to cover their tracks.

You know who is plotting to steal it?

THOSE PEOPLE! Right? 

What a great plot! 

Think of these characters: 

• The reluctant thief who is only involved because he/she plans to use the loot to do something noble. 
• The daughter of a former thief who wants to pull of a heist to shed doubt on her father's conviction. 
• ooh, even better, the daughter of an former thief who infiltrates her father's old crew to pull off the heist and leave them hanging just like they did her dad. 
• The police officer who just knows the tunnel robbers are going to make a move on the gold and wants to be ready for them. 

I could do this all day!

What do you got? 

Swap with me! 

Pillow Talk

Tell Me Your Story Tuesday

Pillow Talk 

First, some old country to get you in the mood.

 Talking in Your Sleep~ Crystal Gayle

I so wanted to be her when I was 8 years old...or, at least, I wanted her hair!

One night this week, I had a rude awakening...literally. My husband yanked my pillow out from under my head, smiled at me like a loon and rolled over.  Okay, technically, this--> 

is a loon and he looked nothing like that. 

But, that's not the point. 

The point is this happens frequently. 

It's worse when he's been playing hockey. He's "windmill" saved my pillow in the middle of the night, "kick" saved a two-liter bottle of Coke off the coffee table while he was sleeping on the couch, and carried on complete, if incoherent, conversations with me of which he later had no memory. 

The most interesting happened right after we were married. 

I woke in the middle of the night to him petting my hair like I was a Cocker Spaniel and laughing manically. 

If he knew I was telling you all this, he would throw in his own story about the ONE TIME I did something similar. 

He came to bed after I'd been asleep for a while and I demanded to know if he "filled up the forest". 

Yeah, I don't know. I completely remember the conversation and at the time it made perfect sense to  me. The next morning? Not so much. 

So, tell me your story.

Do you talk in your sleep? Walk in your sleep? Get up and dance the Macarena? 

For another interesting sleep story, you can read about the Cookie Monster, Marvin the Martian and why I will never do drugs. 

Makeover Monday~ The Girls' Bathroom

Makeover Monday

Makeover Monday

My Daughters' Bathroom

I've decided to add an extra feature to the blog this year.

Welcome to my first 

Makeover Monday!

 I am not, by nature, an organized person. 

Decorating and being crafty are so not in my skill set,

 but I've made a commitment to start making our house more 

"my style" and less "it-was-on-clearance" style.

This began when I decided to clean out my closet to avoid working on revisions for my current WIP. 

You can read about the closet makeover and my ensuing injury here. 

Now, that my revisions are finished and I'm out of my writing slump, I'm ready to share some other projects. 

Besides, we all love BEFORE and AFTER pictures, right? 

Before:

This is also our guest bath.  

The monkeys were cute. They were also on sale. No one in the family has a deep affection for monkeys, though I have had the two stuffed ones on the toilet since I was a little girl. 

This gives you a little more of the full effect of the shower curtain and a view of my oldest daughter's preschool artwork. Um, yeah, she's in 5th grade now. Time for a change. 

But, first, you must feast your eyes on the  wondrous organization I had going on under the sink. 

Everything you need in one big, tangled pile. 

The bathroom is a peanut butter color and I would really love to paint it a soft purple or celery green. Except that I hate painting. So, peanut butter it will stay. Maybe I'll attack that on Spring Break. 

First, we needed a cool new shower curtain. 

and a place to put the towels

The monkeys were replaced by a basket of wash clothes and 

family picture on the wall instead of the giraffe. 

*Side note*

The picture frame hung in my classroom last year. I just stuck it up there because the color matched. 

The day after I redecorated, a family friend came out  and announced,

 "I found myself in your bathroom!"

For a moment I was afraid he'd had some sort of spiritual awakening in there!

Then, he explained he was in the background of one of the pictures. 

The frame may not stay. I can't decide if it's weird to have eyes on you while you do your business or not. 

I got the pink and blue tubs at the Target $1 spot. They made me stupidly happy. The purple container above is suctioned to the mirror. Each girl has one to hold their toothbrush, toothpaste and a small cup. 

And, last, my favorite part....

UNDER THE SINK!

These are from the container store and I will freely admit I stole this idea from 

http://www.alejandra.tv/ 

So, that's the first makeover. 

I've already done a few more spaces. For every week I keep what I've already done organized, I'm rewarding myself with buying something for the next space I plan to work on. Some of the projects are small, some are entire rooms... We'll see how that works out. 

What do you think?

Would you like to see the other spaces? 

Are you as intrigued by before and after pictures as I am? 

Have you done any organizing/redecorating? 

I'd love to see it!

Friday Plot Swap~People are crazy.

Friday Plot Swap

Dawn's Plot Swap

Have a plot? Leave one.

Need a plot ? Take one.

First, a little music to inspire you today. 

The song would make a pretty good plot itself. But, 

today's swap is inspired by the chorus: 

God is great.

Beer is good.

And, people are crazy. 

Let's start with Mars, shall we? 

Mars One, a Dutch-based non-profit seeking to send people to Mars, has put up an advertisement seeking applications from interested parties. A total of 30 astronauts will eventually live on Mars, according to the plan, sent in teams of four making the journey every two years from 2023.

Definitely want to read the fine print on this one!

One note of caution: The trip is one-way, and if everything goes to plan, you will grow old and die on Mars.

So many places this story could go!

Then, we can move on to stupid crazy.

Serial Bank Robber's Love Letter Helped Convict Him

This guy's escape and crime spree could be a novel in itself. Guess he thought so, too. He wrote out every detail and sent it to a (hopefully, former) girlfriend. 

My favorite part is that at the very end of the letter, he asks her to send him $100. Run, sweetie. Run now! 

This just screams "creepy, stalker suspense!" What if the girl didn't even know him? Or if he is a long ago ex-boyfriend? Or, if all of it was a distraction so a different crime could happen? 

We'll end our swapping journey with just crazy, crazy. 

Man arrested for barking at police dog

The headline is slightly misleading. The man was already handcuffed and in the back of a cruiser when they brought a drug dog to search his car. Clearly, the man responded in the best manner possible barking and growling at the dog. 

I'm sure the officers loved that! 

Swap with me!

What kind of craziness is going on in your plot? 

Or your world?