Stuff For Sale! Knitting Books and Oil Paint

I have some knitting books for sale on Amazon.com if anyone is interested.

Click me

I am also selling 31 tubes or Winton Oil Paint, set of plastic mixing knives and a plastic palate. Everything is used but the tubes of paint are 3/4 full. Everything for $35.

Apartment Therapy Week 4, Part 2

Wow! Isn't that a huge difference! It still has a lot of work to go.

I never realized how much stuff we accumulate. I collect big useless stuff. Why cant I collect shoes, jewelry, or stock? I buy knickknacks, lots and lots of knickknacks.

I figure, everyone needs another polished stone or a candle holder. I have so much stuff. Its okay though because I am getting rid of it all.

If you haven't started Apartment Therapy yet you have to try it! It will help you love your home.

Apartment Therapy Week 3 and 4

Apartment Therapy's Cure is such a great program for your house! I am really doing the deep clean this time. I am getting rid of the old me and starting fresh. Since we are moving in about 6 months (or less) I am really focused on eliminating rather then decorating. I have been absolutely addicted to the Apartment Therapy Flickr Pool.

Week 3: Before












Week 3: After
What a difference!











Now for this week I have the biggest job. I really need to just dig in tomorrow and see what I can get done. I am certain I can do it. My dining room is the worst. Here is the before picture I took today.

OMG! Is my dining room really that dirty! Where did all this stuff come from? Well regardless of where it came from , I know where it is going.

I am planning on getting rid of half the books. Almost all of the fiction novels, If I can get away with it. You cant see it but everywhere that there isn't furniture there are books on the floor. I don't need these!

There are lots of things that I had as a teenager that I am still holding onto because they have memories. But I am letting these memories go... along with the item.

The artwork on the wall was drawn by a friend of mine in high school. I cant believe I still have it! I am going to Email him on myspace to see if he wants it. If not I will sell it. Its a great piece, but not really my style. I am going to paint the table legs white and I am hoping to give away the plastic storage bin. The top has caved in a bit making it hard to open and close. I don't know what I was thinking when I painted that bookshelf. It is an ugly color. I am going to paint it white.

Here is a photo of the living room.


My thoughts: More Color, an area rug, take the native stuff down and put it somewhere else, Slipcover the couches. I am thinking of changing to ocean colors for my home. Aqua and Turquoise with brown and white. When I move up north I will find an apartment that will work with my design.

What do you think?

Apartment Therapy -Week 2

Yes, I know I never posted a week one, but honestly I wasn't planning on following Apartment Therapy right now.

Week Two is the kitchen. Here are some before pics of my kitchen. The kitchen is actually a lot messier then usual.











This is the pantry. Really a mess. I can never find anything. I want to get some of those wire shelves that fit right in there. That will double some of my space.












The cupboards are all unorganized and they are full of things that need to go in the trash.
I am moving in September and I cant take all of this stuff with me.

I Am So Excited!

Isn't she cute?

I haven't been able to stop thinking about Santa Cruz. In case you missed out on the news, I was accepted to UC Santa Cruz. I am going to miss my family and some of my friends but honestly I cannot wait to move away from here. I was born in this town. I know so many people here and I have had to many experiences, good and bad. But this place is my childhood and I am not a child anymore. I need to grab life by the horns and embrace it. That's what I am going to do! I have never moved to a place where no one knew me. It is a fresh start. To prepare I am loosing weight. I have already gone from 175 to 159. Its still coming off too! Yeah!

When we move we are going to have to get rid of a lot of stuff. I cant wait to go through my things with a fine toothed comb. I have so much stuff that I don't need. I really like that clean simple look. Its very relaxing. We are looking for a two bedroom apartment in Santa Cruz so we will have more space. Pumpkin will have her own room for her bed and her toys. She is already sleeping out on the couch. Right now her bed is in our room but she falls asleep every night on the couch and then we move her to her bed, but in the middle of the night she is moving back to the couch. I hope to put her in her own room when we move.

That photo is one of the beaches in Santa Cruz. Isnt it beautiful? I am so happy to be moving there. Its a dream city to live in. Hey, I grew up in the desert!

Fall House Cleansing

Ever feel like your house is a never ending clutter box? No matter what you do with it, the clutter is always coming back?
Well its driving me nuts. I inherited my fathers white glove cleaning habits, but since I had Pumpkin and moved to my apartment its been a huge project to clear out. Cowboy and I would like to do a little entertaining this holiday season but there is no way I am inviting people over with the house like this.

I just don't know where to start! I mean the kitchen needs organization. I cant fit the microwave anywhere except where the phone has to be, so its shoved next to the fridge and its a huge pain to use it.

My dining room/library is horribly ugly. The books are piled on plastic white utility shelves. The only thing available when we moved in. I do have one good bookcase that I painted wine and shabby chic green. Wine is on the inside of the shelves. Now I am not sure if I like it. My tastes change quickly.

There is a window in the dining room/library that is covered with a book shelf. Besides the fact that its bad juju to block windows, I would like to have the light.
There is also a bunch of crap piled up under the table. The table has no chairs and I also use this room as my craft room so all of that stuff is in there too.

My desk is a mess of papers, office supplies, Cd's, pictures, and other assorted things that don't have a home elsewhere.

I have a lot of work to do! Wish me luck. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know! I may be putting stuff up here that I want to get rid of so keep a lookout for it.

Cleaning the Closet of Life

Yesterday Pumpkin and I went to my mom's house. Yes voluntarily. I didn't want to spend another day trapped in our apartment. You cant imagine how boring it is here. I am so sick of watching TV and surfing the net. Anyway my mom is a packrat. You could dress have the starving children in the world with the amount of clothes she has in that house.
So she said that she is finally ready to clean everything out. Yeah!!!! I have been trying to get her to do this for YEARS! I love to clean so I was all for it. My mom has little fashion sense. Sorry mom, but you know this. We first went through all the clothes piled on her dressers and then piece by piece we attacked all her clothes in her closet. You would not believe some of the stuff she had in there! We can start out with those horrible bulky yarn weight acrylic sweaters in cherry red and green with Christmas bears on them. I those went into the burn pile. There were the 80s tee shirts with puffy paint and fake mirror disks. LOTS of shirt and pant sets. Let me put it this way. Everything was outdated. But she did really well. I even think she got rid of the silver pumps that I have hated since I was 10. By the time we were done not only could she fit all of her clothes in her closet, but my stepdad could fit his clothes in the closet too!!

Ok so here is what you do when you want to clean out your closet.
Clear off your bed and pick up all the dirty clothes and put them in a hamper. You need a clean working area. A full length mirror comes in handy as well as a friend who will tell you whether the shirt you just tried on make you look like a chic London model or a blue whale.
As you take each item of clothing out of your closet there are several things to consider.

1. Does it fit you right now at this very minute? Don't keep those size 5 jeans if you are a size 9. If you are ever a size 5 again you deserve to go shopping for a new pair of pants.

2. Is it in style? Toss out those tie die tees and jeans with holes in them. Unless you really love these things then wear them in the house.

3. Does it make you look like a hooker when you wear it? Can you see more bra then shirt? If you were walking down the strip would you be mistaken for a hooker wearing this?

4. Is it torn, stained or missing buttons? Just toss these unless you are truly going to fix them. If you still haven't fixed them by the following week toss them or take them to a trusted seamstress (a great person to know well).

5. Have you worn the item in the last 2 years? If not, you probably wont wear it again.

6. Are you keeping it because someone gave it to you as a gift but its not your style, or because you have an emotional attachment to it? OkI believe that if you have a perfectly good article of clothing that someone gave you, but you don't like it and you are guilty to give it up that you should take it as quickly as possible to the nearest Goodwill or women's shelter and let someone else love it. Your friend will never know. Now, if you still have your first boyfriends sweater decide honestly whether you really need to keep it or if you can give it away to a thrift store. Don't feel guilty about keeping a few items that are meaningful to you. If you just cant part with it then don't.

7. Do you LOVE it? Do you even like it? Recently I bought a shirt from a certain worldwide retailer of everything, this was at a time when I had just had a baby, nothing fit, and I had to go to a wedding. I was in a huge hurry and I bought the first shirt that fit. After the wedding and I was home I looked at this shirt and realized that I hated it. I have never worn this shirt again even though I have had occations when it would have been nice. My mom was at my house and I told her how much I hated the shirt and she (of course) said she liked it. So I insisted that she take it. She loves it and wears it often. I am happy that it can be worn and loved by someone instead of despised and hidden away in the dark recesses of my closet. I actually have a few shirts like this. They were all bought in a hurry and I never wore any of them again. I plan on getting rid of them as soon as I have money to buy shirts I love to replace them. Only wear what makes you feel good and makes you look good.

Make 5 piles- Keep, throw away, give away, mend, maybe
~The keep pile is for the clothes that fit, look good, and you love them.
~The throw away pile is for the clothes that are torn, stained, or stretched beyond repair. Or for clothes that you wouldn't give your worst enemy (like those acrylic Christmas sweaters).
~The give away pile is for those clothes that are going to a second hand store or a charity.
~The mend pile you are taking right over to your seamstress. You can also add clothes that are too big for you and need to be taken in or clothes that need a little adjusting, a seamstress can turn an ok dress to a wow dress with a few pins and tucks.
~The maybe pile is for those items that you just cant throw away but they just don't belong in the keep pile. Usually if you go through this pile when you are all finished most will go to the give away pile.

After the sorting is finished, clean and vacuum out all the cobwebs and dust. Then put your keep clothes on PLASTIC (no wire please) hangers or fabric hangers. Hang them properly. Those little annoying strings on the insides of your nice shirts and dresses are there for a reason.

Separate summer and winter if your closet is big enough. Put the appropriate season away in plastic vacuum seal garment bags. These are great!

Separate the shirts, skirts, pants, sweaters, evening wear, work clothes and hang each group together. Its much easier to find things this way. Color code if you want to. Keep outfits separate. You will have 3 times the outfits that way.

After everything is put away you are done. Be proud of your work. Load everything up in your car and take it all to goodwill or the seamstress tomorrow. Then take a bath and read a sexy book you deserve it.