WWW #2

Sorry this is a tad bit late, but like they say better late than pregnant right?  ha ha ha

If you are new to this, this post will explain it all to you.  So, without further delay, here we go with week number 2.  First up…Monday…

I’m wearing my reddish/brown shorter slacks, with the cream colored cami from American Eagle with my cream colored jacket from Coldwater Creek.  I’m also wearing my brown Sperry loafers along with the white and gold jewelry from Premier.  A very comfy outfit!

Tuesday, I decided to dress up a little…or rather a lot!

The skirt is a brocade skirt from Ann Taylor I got last year.  I’ve paired it with a nice crisp white blouse and a metallic sheen scarf.  The boots are new, also from Ann Taylor and I’m wearing them with white tights.  The jewelry is a pretty gray and pearl set from Avon.

Wednesday I decided to wear something a little shorter since I don’t have physical therapy on Wednesdays.

This is my navy blue suit from Dillards.  I’ve paired it with my cream colored ruffled sleeveless blouse, navy tights, and my navy suede heels.  I’m also wearing my pearls with it.

Thursday, it was back to comfort…

I’m wearing my black corduroy skinny jeans with black knee high boots.  The blouse is from Ralph Lauren and I’m wearing a simple white tank top under it.  I’ve jazzed it up with red accessories: a red belt, red jewelry, and a red headband.

Woo Hoo!  It’s Friday again! 

 

I’m going for comfort again today.  I’m wearing my charcoal knit pants with a gold and gray blouse and matching gold sweater.  The jewelry is from Brighton and the shoes are my patent black Sperry loafers.  I’ve also straightened my hair today!  (Can you tell?)  Now that was a challenge I tell you!  Have you ever tried to straighten hair as long and as thick as mine with only one hand? 

OK, so 2 weeks down, not a repeat yet!  Only 50 more weeks to go! 

A New Investment?????

Well, it looks like Hot Rod and I might be taking on a new investment.  The man that owns the house at the end of our block died recently and his children then put their mother in a nursing home as she is not able to care for herself.  The son approached us and asked us if we were interested in buying the house from them.  I think we are going to do it.  We got our first really good look at the house last Saturday so I thought I would post the pictures I took.  Man, it needs some work but I really think it will be a good investment and it definitely has some potential.  So, let’s take a tour of our new soon to be project shall we?

This is the outside of the house.  It is at the end of our dead end street and it flanked by the cotton field on the one side and my sister’s house on the other side. 

It definitely needs a new roof and some updated paint on the outside along with some landscaping.

When you walk in the front door, you walk into a living room.  Very dated…very old.

Directly to the left of the living room is the kitchen and dining room.  It is actually a really good sized kitchen.  The counter tops have been replaced recently even.  The cabinets are old and dingy but I think a coat of paint and new hardware is really all they will need to make them livable.

Along with the kitchen is an eat-in dining room.

Don’t you just LOVE that cabinet on the left there?   I told him if they are going to sell that to please let me know.  I WANT it!

Now, you can see 2 and a small piece of a 3rd door there.  The small piece of a door goes back into the living room.  The door next to that goes into a bedroom.  The door in the back goes to the laundry room and then back door.

Now, going back to the living room, as you go down the hallway on the far right the first thing you see is a bedroom to the right.

It’s actually not a bad sized room, and has a normal size closet.

On the other side of that hallway is another door to a smaller hallway that leads to the master bedroom, the hall bathroom, and the third bedroom…which has a 2nd door that we saw in the dining room.

Now the hall bathroom is HORRIBLE!  It will have to be completely gutted and started over.  It is just so weird how it’s set up!

It’s hard to see in these pictures but there is a space between the door and where the shower starts and it’s just plain weird!

The 3rd bedroom was apparently their hoarding room.  It is a huge MESS!

The master bedroom is actually a nice size with a nice walk-in closet.

Now, this part is a little weird too.  There is a new bathroom they built off of the master, but it’s a Jack and Jill bathroom and shared with the add-on den they built.  It needs work.  If I was going to live in the house I would close it off to the new den and make it one large master bathroom…but since I’m not going to live in it I guess we’ll probably keep it like it is.

This is the sink and toilet on the den side of the bathroom (strange huh?)

This is the sink and toilet on the bedroom side of the bathroom.

In between them both is a full tub.

Now, back to the main hallway.  If you continue down that hallway past that 2nd bedroom on the right you get to the new den.

I really like this room.  It has tons of potential! 

So, that is essentially the house.  I know, I know…it needs tons of work.  Oh yay…more projects!  Like I said in my goals post we may have to forgo some of our projects in our house to get this one up and running but I really think we are going to go for it.  We are going to buy it by taking a loan out for only 5 years so it will be tough for the next 5 years.  We are thinking we will be able to rent it for about half of the loan payment so we will be coming up with the rest of it.  But, once that 5 years is over then we will have income forever.  With the state of the economy we are looking at ways to boost our retirement income and I think this may just be the ticket.  In the meantime my daughter and her husband are seriously considering moving into the house while they save for their dream house.  Now that I would love!  I would love to have her closer to me.  This house is just 2 doors down from my own so that is another good thing about it.  Whew…I’m tired already just thinking about it though. 

WWW #1

My first Weekend Wardrobe Wrap-up  (aka WWW) post is here as promised.  So far so good on my promise.  So, let’s go ahead and get started.  My first day back to work after my shoulder surgery was Monday.  I wanted to dress nice for a change. 

I’m wearing a new dress I just bought on the sale after Christmas at New York and Company.  This dress was only $20.  I wore it along with a black shrug, a wide black belt, black tights, and my high heeled black boots.  I wore black and silver Brighton jewelry along with it. 

Tuesday’s outfit was a little warmer because it turned cold on Monday night.

I’m wearing a long tunic that is a base of cream with a bunch of other colors.  I’m wearing it with my brown corduroy skinny jeans, my brown flat boots, and a mesh and sequin vest.   I wore it with my Tiffany’s silver heart necklace and bracelet. 

Wednesday’s outfit was a little dressier with higher heels.

 

I’m wearing my navy blue suit that I got at Ann Taylor.  The blouse is a coral sleeveless shell I bought on sale at New York and Company after Christmas.  You can’t see them here (bummer) but I’m wearing nude pumps with the outfit.  The jewelry is gold and bling with lots of large cubic zirconias and pearls.  I also have a gold headband in my hair.

Thursday I went for comfort again, it was really cold on Thursday morning (like 19 degrees!) which meant I really needed to figure out how to wear a coat with my sling.  And, yes I know you don’t see my sling in any of these pictures.  I wanted to take my pictures without the sling on but I promise I have been putting it on after taking these pictures every morning!

 

I’m wearing my heather gray pants with a gray, pink, and orange sweater with a gray turtleneck shell underneath.  I’m also wearing my gray suede shoes.  The necklace I’m wearing is a clear locket that I made several inserts to go inside.  It has a pink and orange insert in it.  In addition to that I’m wearing other silver jewelry and my hair is in a clippy (well, spell check doesn’t like that word but that’s what I call them!  ha ha ha)

Yippee Skippy!  It’s finally Friday and I’ve made it through the entire week on my first week back to work after surgery.  I have to admit, I was tired and worn out but I’m proud of myself for making it through the week.  I went for comfort again on Friday.

 

I’m wearing black knit pants that I bought at the big sale at New York and Company after Christmas.  (They were only $11!!!!  SWEET!)  The purple sweater was my Christmas present from my mom.  I’m also wearing my black patent leather Sperry flats.  The jewelry for the day is a long Brighton heart necklace with matching bracelet and earrings.  I wore my hair a little different as well by pinning my bangs back.

So, one week down!  Like I said this first post is pretty boring and probably they will be for awhile but soon it is going to be a challenge to wear something different each day.  Stay tuned!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

Well, it is now 2012…actually it has been for 8 days now but who’s counting right?  I wanted to start my first “real” post of the New Year by actually posting my goals for the year here, out in the blogisphere where I can be held accountable.  This is that post.  I have been thinking about my goals for this year and subdividing them into categories.  These are subject to change at any time though due to unforeseen circumstances but at least I will have them documented.   Oh, and these goals all pertain to what will be shared here on the blog.  These do not necessarily encompass all of my goals as some things I want to keep private.  So, here goes…

1.  One of my main goals this year is to really watch expenses.  I have been OOC as my husband has deemed it.  OOC stands for Out of Control!  He is right in some respects so in order to get things back under control my goal this year is to spend NO money on myself for the entire year.  This is going to be super difficult for me as anyone that knows me knows I do love clothes, and shoes, and handbags, and jewelry…but none of those will be purchased this year.  This leads to my next goal.

2.  I have been seriously neglecting my fashion posts so I am going to do one post a week with a picture of every outfit I’ve worn that week to work.  In addition to this, I will NOT wear the same thing twice to work all year.  I have a few addendums to this one.  First of all this doesn’t mean that I won’t wear the same thing twice, it just means I won’t wear the EXACT same thing twice.  And, an outfit must vary by more than just jewelry to count as a new outfit.  This also does not apply to after work or weekend wear.  Make sense?  So, I am obviously going to wear the same pair of pants more than once but I won’t wear the same pants, blouse, sweater, scarf, shoes, and jewelry.  I will change up at least 1 thing and that 1 thing must be more than just the jewelry.  As time marches on this is going to be harder and harder to do so I think that is when the blog posts will become more interesting as I struggle to figure out something that I haven’t worn before while not buying anything new.  Stay tuned!  I think these posts are going to be fun.  I will be posting the weeks worth of clothes on either Saturday or Sunday of every week.  This will also mean that at a minimum I will have at least one post a week this entire year.

3.  I will redecorate the guest room to create a truly inviting space that welcomes guests in our home.  This room is the next on our agenda and I want to get it finished by the end of the first quarter of the year.  The project will include:  re-texturing the ceiling, painting, installing hard wood floors, updating furniture, replacing linens, and decorating and accessorizing the space. 

4.  I will clean and re-organize my scrapbook room to make it a much more functional easy to work in space.  I do not want to spend any money on this project though. This room is going to have to wait until later to get it’s turn at a full makeover.

5.  Clean out the laundry room – organize.  My laundry room is really a great room but you could never tell that by looking at it now.  It’s a giant bundle of mess!  I want to change that this year along with the storage room to organize both spaces to maximize the usefulness of both rooms.  This will be another no money spent room.  It also has to wait its turn for a full makeover.

6.  Redecorate/redesign the gameroom/bar.  This is going to be one of our biggest projects of the year I believe.  I want to completely redo the entire room.  I want to build a custom bar, remove the pool table, purchase a new sectional, purchase a big screen TV and mount to the wall, paint, remove the popcorn ceiling, and do some sort of concrete treatment for the floor.

7.  Redecorate the living room.  Our living room is really lacking identity right now.  I just recently threw away our area rug and I just purchased a new one online and I’m waiting for it to come in.  Once that rug comes in I plan on building the room around the rug.  Projects will include removing the popcorn from the ceiling, repainting the ceiling to accentuate the different levels of the design we have in the ceiling, repainting the walls, installing a large crown molding, replacing all curtains, and redesigning all accessories.

So, that is it for now.  I’m sure there will be other things that come up over the course of the year but for now these are my goals.  I just need this shoulder of mine to heal so I can get started and boy howdy am I ready for that to happen.

In the meantime though, I’ve removed all of my Christmas décor and I’m trying to redecorate my living areas by replacing my non-Christmas stuff but trying to change it all up and put things together differently while not buying anything new.    Here is one of my new arrangements.  I had all of this but I never put them all together like this before.  I’m really into cloches right now so I “made” this one.

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The glass part of this cloche is actually an upside down candle holder I had that used to sit in an iron stand.  The base is a lazy susan that I bought at the Salvation Army Thrift Store for $2.00.  It started like this:

I spray painted it in heirloom white and just set the dome on top of it.  For the insides, I used a fleur-de-lis that I had already.  It came in a set of 3 little doo-dads from one of those discount catalogs (LTD Commodities) about 5 or more years ago.  The ball is from a set of 3 that I bought at Target I think about 3 or so years ago.  The block with our initial I got at an Estate Sale for $2.00.  The key I got at another Estate Sale a few months ago as well.  Together I think they make a great little vignette.  Here it is again, all put together.

I have this sitting on my coffee table in my living room.  I’ll post some more of my other new vignette arrangements soon.  I’m still working on most of them and doing all of them without buying anything new.  Like I said, this OOC Chick is getting her groove on and making do with what I have!  So, what are your project goals for the coming year?  Please share with everyone in the comments!  I would love to hear what everyone else wants to get done in 2012!

Lucy, you have some splainin’ to do…

 

II had such plans this Christmas.  I was going to do a bunch of posts on gifts, decorating, wrapping, etc.  Well, needless to say not many of those posts ever found their way to this blog or even to a draft form.  As you can see from the picture above I have a broken wing!  It’s not really a broke arm or anything like that, it is actually my left shoulder that underwent repair on December 20th.  I’ve been having a lot of pain there for quite awhile.  They did an MRI and it showed a possible tear and a bone spur.  After having my gall bladder out this year I had reached my out of pocket maximum on my insurance so it was really a good time to go ahead and get it fixed.  I was able to have the surgery at absolutely no cost to myself at all.  I couldn’t pass that up.  So, I needed to get the surgery done before the end of the year while still managing a major upgrade at work so I had to plan it to the exact day.  Turns out that day was December 20.  The upgrade was complete and it was still prior to the end of the year so that was the day.  Before that day I worked my little tail off to get all of our gifts bought and wrapped.  I had so many projects that I wanted to do that didn’t get done.  Oh well, there is always next year, right?  I’m doing good though.  There was a tear in the rotator cuff so my recovery is going to be longer than I wanted but eventually it will be all better and quit hurting.  In the meantime I’m pretty much a lame duck.  I haven’t returned to work quite yet (going back on Monday) but I’m going to physical therapy 3 days a week and slowly trying to put up my Christmas decorations.  It is quite the challenge when you have just one arm!  Anyway, I thought I needed to give an explanation as to what happened to me and why I didn’t share all my wonderful Christmas décor this year.  Let’s hope next year is better!

On the plus side, I had a wonderful Christmas and New Years.  My wonderful, fabulous, amazing hubby bought me a new camera!  I now own my very own Canon Rebel!!!!!  Woop Woop!  I can’t wait to share projects now with great pictures.  Here’s hoping that happens soon…come on shoulder…HEAL!