So yesterday I shared my vanity.

Today I'm sharing some finishing ideas that I like for it.

So the first idea is this wonderful mirror mosaic table. I don't remember where I saw this table, but if any of you do, could you please let me know! I really love the mirror!

I love the maps on these drawers, but I don't know that this would fit into my bedroom decor. Still love this look though!

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Miss Mustard seed has a gorgeous French dresser in White and Walnut stain.

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I actually originally planned on doing this treatment to the vanity, but I'm not sure now.

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So there are some of the ideas I have for the vanity. Tomorrow I plan on sanding down the vanity, and hopefully it goes ok.

I really should listen to myself more often. Well not the self that talked itself out of bringing her running shoes with her to the gym today. I'm only planning on doing a mile today. My cross trainers will be fine for that. They have insoles. I wear them all the time for zumba. A mile will be fine. 

So if you guys follow the Straight Stitches Facebook page the you'll know that I started working on a vanity to replace the one that had been in our master bedroom. I gave the desk that I had been using as a vanity to Devlin so that he could have a computer desk in his room.

The vanity that I'm working on was in my grandparents' shed and was somewhat exposed to the elements. Luckily, the piece was veneered and it seems that the only real damage was to the veneer.

So out comes a cruddy iron ($6.50 at Walmart, baby!) and lots of water for the steamy action that commenced.

Removing the veneer with the iron was a fairly painless process, but it also didn't hurt that it was already humid outside because of the thunderstorms that were passing through the area.

I had the iron set to wool or linen with steam and it probably only required about 60 seconds of steam on a section to loosen the glue. Then came my trusty putty knife. I actually ended up leaving the iron on a section while working on a different section and then moving the iron to yet another section and the working on the section that the iron had just been resting on. I don't know of that's the correct way but it's the way that I did it and it worked for me.

So after removing all of the veneer, I stopped. I'm still stopped. Why? Because I don't know how to finish off this thing. I have pinned a few ideas which I'll share later, but the main problem is that idk renown if the top is going to be stainable. I don't even know that I want to stain it. I may just paint it and then distress it. Or I could tile it, but the problem with that is the cost associated with that. I would love to finish it all in mirrors but unless I win the lottery tonight there's no way I can justify that expense. So the poor thing sits.

Tomorrow I should at least take a sanding block to her to see exactly what I'm working with. Oh, I also found some errant notes from either my mom's or aunt's time in school. Apparently page 366 was homework. :)

My posting has been waning in recent weeks, and I apologize for that, but in reality I don't have anything to share. Not really.

I've finished my spring mantle so I could share that, but that would require me to remember to take some  pictures. I need to remember to do that.

The truth is though; that I just don't have any  motivation. Or any cash to spend on extras.

The hubs was laid off on Jan. 9th, and we figured that we'd be ok for a bit, but here it is the end of March, and while he does have some possibilities, nothing firm has crossed our doorstep.

It also doesn't help that Virginia is having some trouble getting their ducks in a row to pay us his  unemployment. Oh it's coming.......but when is the big question.

So we've been conserving. A lot.

But when it rains it pours, right?

I'm just feeling blue. I haven't been in my sewing room in weeks. I should. I've been more regular about the gym, and that's  making me feel awesome, but I need to get out of this  funk. I'd feel better.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get in  there, and finally finish my mom's Christmas gift. Nothing says I love you like a gift that's 3 months late. ;-)

Anyways...that's all that is going on with me.

I'm borrowing today's post from my other blog, Muffin Top. Its from Saturday. Dana and I participated in a non-crafty endeavor!

Today started very early. 6:30 early.

Today started very early. 6:30 early.

Hey guys!

I've been busy around here lately, but have neglected to take pictures. I know.....I'm horrible.

Here's the dining room and message center in the house right now.

I moved stuff  around and I'm really loving all of it.

There's also some sneak peeks here and there too. :)

 So here's the message center - complete with awards and artwork and school announcements. I moved the tall branches that framed our front door in the foyer to over here to help connect the whole vignette. Its also safer  for  them here. Boys are destructive. :)

 So here's a look from the foyer into the dining room. You can see that I have fabric in the extra chairs. Its all the same fabric, but I only felt like folding 3 yards of the 15 yards  in there. Oh well. You can also see some paint chips on the wall. Yep, I want to paint the dining room again. This  room has been such a PITA to get right. I don't hate the way it looks right now, but I think the dining and living rooms need freshning, hence the new fabric. I have many, many plans for this room. You're going away in May, right honey? ;-)

 I  don't know if you guys remember this mirror from when I moved it out of the butler's pantry area (now the message center) and when I moved it out that area I propped it  up against the wall in the dining room and left  it there for about a month. H had great fun watching himself be a goofball in the mirror, and was quite displeased with me when I decided that I was going to prop it up against the wall on the buffet. I love how the mirror helps  open up that wall visually. I even like that it doesn't match the buffet.


Here's the table. I pulled out the denim runner that I made years ago and then topped it off with my pewter pitcher, dogwood branches and all of my glass and crystal candlesticks and hurricanes. I love how everything comes together. What I don't love  is that my candles don't seem to want to stay in said candlesticks. Oh well.


 Here are just some pretty shots of the table. I'm just playing with the camera. :)

And here are the color swatches. Which color do  you think I'm going to go with? I received my free Valspar paint sample today, and I can't wait to see how it looks on the wall!

See you guys later!

I have gotten a workout in every day this week so far, and I'm really feeling good about it. I mean I feel the workouts too, which is not as good but hey it all works out in the end.

I've also been hovering around 260 for about the last week, so I'm going to go ahead and officially say that I'm down 35 pounds and 10 pounds from my first goal! YAY!!!

I cannot remember the last time I was 250 pounds. Hell I  can't remember the last time I was 260....it must've been when I was pregnant with Devlin or maybe that was 250 pounds. Who cares. I'm 10 pounds from being 250 again!

Oh and I've also dropped several bra sizes. No longer am I a 42F, but  I do believe I've meandered down to a 42DD. My 42DDD fit, but are a little large in the cup area.

Now since most believe that a DD is the same as an E and a DDD is  the same as a F, let  me tell you they're not.

Yes, measurement around wise they are technically the same, but they're not. The difference in those measurements is side boob. Yes, side boob makes a difference.

Before I didn't have side boob and I was happy because I still had full range of my arms and I never, NEVER, chaffed my upper arm on my boob. Then side boob appeared, and it made me sad.

I also believe that side boob makes your boobs in pictures look HUMONGOUS, like how in the hell are you still standing upright and not hunched over with a hunchback huge.

Now that I've lost my side boob and have made it back down to a DD, which by the way I have  not been since before Dev was born, in pictures I still have a lot of boob, but its all up front and not crowding my arms. Pictures look a little more balanced, I think.

Of course, this is coming from a slightly neurotic girl who's still self conscious about how tall she is. The only time my height really bothers me is in zumba. I usually try to stand next to a friend who is 5'10" or so. I will probably never get over my height issues, as they have been with me for a very long time. It's hard to be 5' 10" in the 4th grade. It's harder to be 6' 2" throughout your middle and high school years. No one is as  tall as you. There were maybe 2 of us that were that tall, but its not a big deal for guys to be bigger than their peers. It makes a big difference when you're a girl. Especially when said girl loves  shoes with a 3" heel.

Yes, I wear said shoes, and no I don't give a crap  how tall I am or that I tower over my hubs. Isn't that odd...I don't care when I go out how tall I am, but in zumba, with all those other ladies (and gents, sometimes!) I feel as if I'm a 4th grader again, whose trying to grow into herself and her height and god-willing not going to trip over anything, because its a long way down. Oh well. Its not a big enough issue that I stop going to class. The only thing I do is I don't look in the mirror at the front of the class. Ever. If I do - I look at everyone else. Never myself. No one wants to see the Jolly Green Giant (such a horrible nick name).

Oh well. Its my neurosis and I'll deal with it how I want. Oh and this is coming from a girl who's now 6' 3". Yay for the extra inch I gained after turning 30!

I think I'm going to have to take some new measurements on myself and share them here soon. I need new capris. None of my old ones fit, which is never a bad thing. :) It'll also help with the other goal I have, which I've talked extensively about on Straight Stitches - no more buying fabric. Use what I have. So I'm going to dig through my hoard and hopefully come up with 3 pairs of capris. :)

See you guys later!

Do you remember that for Lent I gave up my Oreo late night snack?

Well, I've been good. I have not had any Oreos at all. I've been so good in that regard.

What I've not been good at is night time snacking. And I say this as I munch on a plate of the hub's so delicious nachos. Mmmmmmm...Nachos.

I love nachos. A whole bunch.

Should I be eating them at 9 at night. Nope, probably not.

Do I care? Not really.

Why don't I care? Well I don't have a good reason.

I know I should have a healthier late night snack, but that's not what I'm craving. The hubs got up and made himself some nachos and asked if I wanted in on that action. Um....Hell yea I do.

This is why the hubs and I are not great health cheerleaders for each other. This is also why the hubs and I are not gym buddies.

Today I logged my 2nd under 13:00/mile run today. It was 1.01 miles and I clocked a 12:59/mile. It counts!

I thought I'd be more  pleased with myself, but I'm not. I was frustrated at the gym today.

People were sitting on the machines! Not using them, granted some of them were being used, but most of them were occupied by people waiting for the next class to start. SO AGGRAVATING.

So I didn't get my weights in. No matter - I'll just get my run in and call it a day.

I don't usually go to the gym in the afternoon, but Dev wanted to go to the gym with me and H. So I pushed off my regularly scheduled morning gym routine for the afternoon. The boys had a great time at the gym, which was great and I'm glad that they had time together at the gym and with their friends, but I wish my experience had been better.

My shoe decided to munch on my sock about 1/2 mile into my run, and then caused a blister. The blister encompasses most of my heel and hurts so bad. It was so bad that I had to take off my shoe to drive. Sigh.

At least I powered through and finished the mile, even though I wanted to do 2. Tomorrow I'm going to do 2.

Oh and Dev said he wanted to go running with me, so I may ask him tomorrow if he still wants to run with me and maybe he and I will do 2 miles or so tomorrow.

So I'm going to enjoy my nacho-eating-night and get back to the healthy tomorrow morning with some oatmeal in the morning. :)

Last week I showed you the completed medicine cabinet, and I still can't accurately describe how much I love the addition of that wall storage.

So today I figured I'd show you the rest of what I've done to the bathroom. Its not done yet. There are still projects  to do, but Dana comes in on Wednesday and I'm hoping that I can get her help with some of them. :)

So here's the view of our bathroom from  the door. The sink and mirror are to the right of the door. Don't you just love our pink and blue loofahs? :)

This poster is from World  Market. I wanted to find a peacock print that I liked, but when I went out I found this charming print and it had all the right colors so I got it instead. Better yet, I had the frames so all I had to do was add some Silver Rub n Buff to the frames to antique them a bit and then add the poster.

I still can't get a good picture of the bathtub corner. It looks so nice in the morning, because those windows let in so much light. I hung up some wasp catchers from the ceiling and then added  some yellow poppy bushes from AC Moore and some white grass/filler flower to the center to kind of obscure the chain that's holding them. I really love the bright yellow of the flowers against the green. I  guess when I'm all done I'll have to take some pictures at night so that you can actually see that corner.

And of course, here's the sink and mirror area. Apparently I didn't take a picture of the hub's sink, but it looks just like mine, with a razor in the corner. :)
I can't wait to finish the bathroom, because I love how its turning out. I just need to buckle down and get  the remaining projects done.

Thanks for stopping by today guys!

Who knew that putting holes in your bathroom wall would be so much fun?

Who knew that this would make me so happy?

Not me. I was scared. Then I did it and it was a lot of fun. :)

Then the hole got a little too big. Then the hubs had to get involved.

Cue normal home dec/repair argument here.

Then the hole got fixed and the hubs and I are thoroughly enjoying the new $60 medicine cabinet that I got on clearance at our local Lowe's.

Love! So here's the process and the finished product!
 So there's the starter hole, just to figure out how much space was between the joists, and there's the first hole, and my helper.

 There's the hole right before I cut it all the way open between the studs, to make it simpler for framing. The medicine cabinet is fairly large. 25" x 19" with two adjustable shelves. Love!
 There's the framing and the drywall (fitted into place). I was chomping at the bit by this step because we were so close to being done!

 There's the mud and some sanding done. Isn't that the prettiest box you've ever seen?

And here's the finished product with somewhat wet paint. I was impatient. I love this cabinet. My counters have never looked so organized!

Oh and here's a little helper I had while I was cutting said holes
Isn't he goofy?

Tomorrow I think I'm going to share with you guys what the bathroom looks like right now. I have more projects, but this poor bathroom has come a ways from what it started out as. :)