Exterior painting. The 65 brick rancher.

My house is so ugly on the outside. I mean it really is.

There is not a whole lot you can do to a 60's brick ranch on a low budget. I mean, let's face it, they offer no architectural elements. They are rectangular and chances are every other house in your neighborhood looks close to the same. :)

I decided (being on a limited budget) I had to atleast make her look some what more appealing. I mean she's had these red shutters and iron railing FOREVER.  Then the siding and trim is all white on white. BLEH. no contrast. :(

Also being on a strict budget means, NO pressure washer. It is a MUST to wash siding before painting. SO, believe it - or not - I got on a ladder and conquered my fear of heights and HAND washed all the siding and shutters with a bucket of dawn dishsoap and a sponge and spray hose.

Sometimes, it's amazing what a little soap and water does to a house haha (it was filthy).
See the before:

This is part of the after:

It's not much, but $40 bucks in paint goes a long way to make it look a lot better. I used some birthday money my sister sent me to do this project. I used Valspar paint. The burgundy color was $16 for a small can (yikes). But I got the $20 gallon can for the siding. I used Cliveden Stone as the siding color and Royal Garnet for the shutters. I promise it looks better in person.

My next task is to sand the old iron railings and spray them oil rubbed bronze. I wish it was in the budget to do wood railing, but it's not. I plan to build a bench seat for the porch to give it more curb appeal, but as money becomes available of course:)

Exterior Painting.

Yesterday I turned 29. Seriously. Where did my twenties go?? Kids :) Literally. I don't even remember anytime in my twenties really prior to my kids. I spent just about every ounce of my twenties with my kids.

2...9...sounds so old. Some one once said, "You're only as old as you feel". In that case, I will take the 29, since I feel like a much older person these days. :) haha.

I recieved a little bit of birthday money from my sister & parents. What I didn't spent on the kids, I used $50 bucks in quality Valspar exterior paint. I have wanted to paint my exterior since the day I moved in in late November of 2004.

So for my house's 7th year of having us (yes, I say having us). We are treating the old girl to a fresh coat of exterior charm.  All this white on white trim and siding and red on red shutters and iron porch railing really lends no dimension to the old girl..but..I hope to change that.

Today I climbed on a raggedy wooden ladder and with a soap bucket and sponge, CAREFULLY hand scrubbed the front of the house and housed her down. Windows and all. She is sparklin'!!

I've never seen the front storm doors look so great and bright white. hmm, who knew a little elbow grease and cleaning could make her look so youthful ;) ?? haha.

In the end, I did have Doug remove the exterior shutters for me (all four of them) to clean them better.

YOU NEVERRRR want to see what your shutters harbor BEHIND them. SO GROSS. I mean really..it's pretty filthy. The only cute thing I found was a family of 4 lizard/salamander things.

I scrubbed and sprayed those down and they are now air drying.

Tomorrow I hope to paint them.

Previously they were red. I played in photoshop and thought burgandy looked great, so I picked out "royal garnet" by valspar in semi gloss for the shutter color.

The small bit of siding between the bedroom windows will be "Cliveden Sandstone". And the trim? Bright white.

In actuallity the fascia boards need replacing, but I wanted to spruce the front up a little before the big overhaul in the summer.  The siding is salvageable so I wantd to go ahead and paint it.

I guess we'll see tomorrow if this is a hit or miss. Personally - I think ANYTHING will look better than the house looks now.

I even have plans to sand the rod iron railings on the porch and paint them black. I KNOW that will be a mundane and very aggrivating task, but it MUST be done.  The red paint the previous owners globbed on is bubbling and falling off since day one.

Before and after pictures in due time :) Wish me luck. I love the 65 rancher and I want to desperately for her outside to match the inside:)

100% FREE book page wreath (Photo Tutorial to follow tomorrow)..

I have been eyeing the book wreaths online for a year now. I was going to attempt one last week, but forgot to buy the foam wreath form at wal mart when I went with my daughter. (my memory is so bad these days).

After sitting around and trying to google a way to make a book wreath with JUST a wire hanger to NO avail, I decided I can do this on my own with a little creativity. I grabbed an old wire hanger and had Doug bend it into a circle for me (they are seriously not easy to bend into a perfect circle).

Once he did that I found an old car manual (my sister's ex boyfriends chevy s-10 to be exact). It was a good ten years old and the pages already had that aged yellow tint to the edges. YAY !!

I started to roll the pages and punch them onto the hanger one by one. TONS of pages later I bunched them all together and then carefully folded the wire to overlap. At the moment an ugly ribbon holds it up, but I will buy a thicker nicer one on my next craft store rendevous (spell?).

I love it! but best off all? it's 100% F R E E !! everyone has an old wire hanger and book (you can use newspaper also if need be.

Tomorrow I will post the step by step photo tutorial here:) So check back tomorrow night!! :)

Happy Fall-O-Ween!!

I've finally (2 days shy of Halloween) gotten the kids fall pics done. I figured it'd be too much work to do the traditional Halloween costume photo, so I just wanted some fun fall ones.

My son is still not much for posing, he'd rather poke his sissy in her face or run around screaming and laughing. *haha*. But I managed a few.

MiMi's outfit is all gymboree. I am far too cheap to EVER buy gymboree full price, The sweater dress I got for 13 bucks one year when it was summer and on fall clearance. The tights were on sale too - they probably weren't even for this line, but I figured they'd match and I picked them up.  The boots are from the Panda Academy line, and I got them paired with the plaid Panda Academy jacket when they were marked down with a coupon for 15 each. I LOVE the colors.  Ethan's outfit? the pants and shoes were from ThredUp. The old navy cable knit sweater I bought off ebay for 99 cent, and the green polo? Also ThredUp :) I love being a frugal mama!

There ya go, my son in full action, being his random self. Hugging his sister - well - on her head hehe:)  I love the totally random moments a camera can capture <3 I so love them!! The kids had a great Saturday. First Ethan had a much needed hair cut.  Then we went to a local produce / farm to pick those mini pumpkins (in above photos).  The kids each got a pony ride and then we went to Wal Mart, so I could spend some coupons.  Nothing super, but Wal Mart DID have the best deals on Mr. Clean for the buy 2 get one free coupon. the 48 ounce bottles are $2.48, so two for 4.96.  Then throw in the freebie and it's 3 for $4.96 :) I got two of the original gain scents (freaking heaven by the way, my house smells super, I use it on everything! counters, fridge, floors, moulding and trim, doors etc). And a fabreeze sent (not sure which).  I also used the $1.50 mars candy printables to score two bags of candy bars for a buck each (hi, trick or treaters, you will love me this year!) hehe!

Here's an indoor photo I took of my daughter. Sometimes indoor lighting works better. - I need to get one indoors of my son also, but he totally passed out when we went to another pumpkin patch to get larger pumpkins. Daddy decided he wanted to carve some biggun's and so...the rest was history..

Target has also had some great online deals here lately. I picked up a 5 piece lip gloss set for 99 cents (s&h included) and a squinkies gum ball set for $3.55 (s&h included). Steals!!! :) both will be used as stocking stuffers, just not sure for whom yet.  My next post will have more photos from the day.  As for now? I am just entirely drained & need sleep - desperately. Sleep well, loves!!! I hope your fall is going as lovely as mine!!

I am a slacker..

It's finally SEMI starting to feel like Fall around these parts. I bought these mums for sale at wal mart a few weeks ago. Big pots on sale for under 5 bucks. I transfered them into my hanging baskets on the porch. Of course, they don't look this good anymore. I swear I have been feeding them. I don't know what I did wrong. If anyone knows how to keep them alive, please message me:) I will be so thankful haha. No, really, I want to know:)

I have been sick ALL week. I rarely get so ill that I just have no desire to do anything. I mean, of course I have two kids, which means no rest in my buns. Yep, even when I am all out sick. First it was an annoying sinus infection. Then it was a headache every day for the last 3 days. Now I just feel so worn out.

EVEN after kicking my insomnia to the curb and getting a full 8 hours of sleep a night. INSANE!

I have managed to be so sick, I have just now gotten the kids costumes (MiMi chose a devil, Ethan chose scooby doo). I STILL need to list their old costumes on craigslist (I am all too sure no one wants them last minute, but I'm selling them so cheap (5 bucks a pop, even the home made kitty one) that I hope they get picked :)

It hurts to breath. Mostly at night. I feel like someone is closing their fist on my wind pipe. (I am sure it has a fancier medical name but I have no clue what that is) Trachia? Spell? Maybe?

I still want to get the kids to the farm to pick out a pumpkin. I still want to dress them in fall attire and do my traditional repeat Fall photo infront of the double maple trees that make my front porch view beautiful.

I really need to find time to feel better and figure this out.

I know what I will dress MiMi in - A orange sweater jumper dress with hot pink, orange and green argyle tights from gymboree and her hot pink boots. And Ethan? I am thinking his repeat old navy sweater I got off ebay for 99 cent:) I'll layer it with a fall shirt of some sort.

I really hope he'll pose with "sissy" and get me a nice sibling photo. He is so unpredictable.

I am more and likely having to skip out on my daughter's field trip this week, because I just feel horrible. I feel bad about it, but I am sure other parents will appreciate me more for not spreading my disgusting sick germs to thier babies:)

I have so much to do. Doug's parents will be here for Thanksgiving:) The kids are so excited. I hope to give the front of the house a facelift of some sort. all this red on red on red in my house is disturbing. If I can atleast paint the front a little I will be a happy girl. This could be great or disasterous. Something tells me ANYTHING will look better than it does now. Seriously. The fascia boards have orange staining from the roof run off.

UGH this old house is SO gorgeous inside, but from the outside you COULDN'T tell :( so sad! I will make this happen, even if it's the most ghetto quick fix until money is more available. IT will be nicer hehe.

I LOVE the new Lowe's commercial!!

Okay, random - I know. But, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Lowe's 2011 commercial!!

Love is an understatement.

The first thing that caught my attention was the song. Then the whole whimsical feel of it, along with the decades in transition within a family. I mean c'mon, WHO doesn't LOVE that?!

As you may (or may not, but NOW know)..I am a HUGE fan of the Mad Men television series.

AND I would LOVE to know who the Mad Men (ad man/woman/group) was on this commercial.

FANTASTIC JOB. :)

I promise no one asked me to write this, haha, I just seriously can't stop watching it on youtube, it's just too stinking cute, especially seeing the young couple as an elderly couple in the end:) Great job, Lowe's but even more wonderful job to the creative mind behind this one! It's touching, fun and worth watching - over and over. :)

Long time..no blog

I haven't blogged in a while..you see, what happened was...

No, really, my TWC modem had issues and for some reason would only load the almighty facebook and yahoo. So I was unable to even read other blogs or post to my own. *bummer*

I have kept myself busy with photo sessions though.

First I did a smash cake session for a 1 year old gorgeous baby girl:

Then I did some headshots/model shots for a friends little girl for talent agencies:

I have a ton more I would like to share, but think this will do:) I hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend!!
As always, if you are in the area, please feel free to email me if you'd like to schedule a photo session, I am CHEAP:) and SUPER nice! girlxmom@yahoo.com