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Archives for May 2013

the end of Alzheimer’s disease starts here

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The hardest thing you will do as a daughter or a wife is watch as your parent or spouse lose a parent. Suffering that loss at the hand of Alzheimer’s is even tougher. The toughest part about Alzheimer’s in my opinion is that it robs you of conversation not time. You may have plenty of time after the diagnosis but the conversations you took for granted won’t be the same.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to talk to my grandmother about some of the things we would now have in common. Things that she enjoyed that I have now found I enjoy as well and I wish I could ask her about them. She loved gardening and as I start my first large garden it would be great if I could call and ask her why my bean plants aren’t doing well. She wasn’t the easiest lady to connect with but she would have enjoyed emailing me suggestions and pictures about what to do to get a better crop. There are lots of things I will remember about her and I had many summer vacations getting to know her. I will always remember her old orange Volkswagen Beetle, the way she wrinkled with deep wrinkles that never seemed to sag, the way her house creaked when she woke up at 6 every morning we were there and how she read her mystery books with her feet propped on the table next to her wine glass of white zin and ice cubes and the Yankees game on TV. She cooked a mean ham that lasted the entire week for sandwiches on tiny Pepperidge Farm bread. I will cherish her cookbooks as a part of my culinary history.

grandma and me when I was almost 2

I sadly didn’t get the chance to get to know my mother-in-law. I shared a great visit with her early on and watched as she smiled big every time my husband came to see her. I have been told she would have liked me and I can tell by the stories I would have liked her. I will alway miss that I didn’t get to hear her tell stories about Tom. Mom’s tell stories different than any other person in the family. There are so many things I could have learned from her. Sewing Christmas ornaments, how to make so many different foods and a variety of other interests we share the largest being her amazing son.

Anita lived in an amazing place called Harry’s Haven. Harry’s Haven is part of the Motion Picture and Television Community where my father-in-law, Frank lives. It takes special people to care for the patients with Alzheimer’s and Harry’s Haven is full of them. Those caregivers are really something special and were so kind to us when we visited.

my in-laws in Mexico

Frank has been part of the Harry’s Haven team at the San Fernando Valley Walk to end Alzheimer’s for years now. The team was the largest fundraisers last year and we are hoping for a repeat in that category.

He was recently quoted in an email: “After recently experiencing the tremendous loss of Anita, my wonderful wife of almost 59 years, I am more adamant then ever to raise funds and awareness to help find a cure to this terrible disease that not only deprives the person that is affected, but also robs their family of sharing their golden years together.”

Check out this great video to see more about the accomplishments from last year.

In case you don’t know much about the disease you can read more about it at alz.org Currently, there are 5 million people living with Alzheimer’s and it is the 6th leading cause of death. There is nothing easy about the progression of Alzheimer’s and it will effect millions more. We will all benefit from more research to end Alzheimer’s

Tom and I have joined the Harry’s Haven team this year to raise funds and walk in the memory of our loved ones. Join us and help raise funds so that progress can be made to limit the people it effects.

No donation is too small.
If you can’t give this time keep us in your thoughts June 9th as we walk in memory of my grandmother, Frances and my mother-in-law, Anita.

spray paint rug

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The final challenge of DIY May-nia has arrived. To all of you that have participated, stopped by and checked out the projects thank you. I hope you found some fun new blogs to follow. I know I have.

Let’s get to the spray painting shall we…
I was late to the spray paint party. I didn’t appreciate the allure and then I made some christmas decorations and caught the spray paint bug. I now want to spray paint everything. That is how I thought outside the box to come up with this project.

I really want to make the laundry area in the garage look like a laundry room. Again, I blame too much time on Pinterest for my desire for a decorated laundry room. It made it on to my 2013 DIY list of projects so now I am committed. I wanted to do something to the floor and thought about a duct tape project but you can’t wash that so I moved on to spray paint. One 5×7 canvas drop cloth and some spray paint later this is my new “rug”.

On 5×7 canvas drop cloth and a couple rolls of frog tape. I tried the blue brand of tape but it didn’t stick to the canvas as well as the frog tape.

I put my sewing supplies to good use and measured from the center of the cloth and made stripes in equal measurements all the way around. I then spent a good amount of time trying to tape off the straightest lines possible.

I picked out my colors of spray paint. The choices were inspired by a Kate Spade box.

And then to the spray painting. I had a little bit of bleeding on some of the lines. Which I later learned is solved by spray painting parallel to cloth and not at an angle. At an angle some paint got under the areas of tape that weren’t as secure to the cloth.

I was originally going to leave some of the sections natural but because some of the paint did seep under and bleed I decided to paint all the sections. So back to taping and another roll of frog tape later I was back in the yard painting again.

I of course busted out my graph paper and colored pencils so I could see which colors would look the best.

I think it adds a nice bit of color to my gray garage. We were so proud of our purchase of this washer and dryer when we moved to the ‘burbs. Laundry was one our requirements when we left the city and it has been great to have it just off the kitchen.

Also linking up to 52 Mantles and Chic on a Shoestring and Organized 31

Now for the audience participation part of the the post. Link up and show us your great spray paint projects.
The Rules:
- please link back to one or all of our blogs (handy button add to make that easier)
- no linking to shops, stores, giveaways or other link parties
- link directly to the specific post
- make a point of checking out other blogs and giving out comments. This is a party after all and if an introvert like myself can mingle so can you.
Feel free to use this button during the link-ups, for easy linking back to your host. Just copy the text in the box below, and then paste it into your blog post.


DIY_Maynia_Button
Wit Wisdom and Food | The HumberHome Project | Corner of Main | Mailbox Journey



renter solution: brightening your patio

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It is DIY May-nia Monday again. I wish it was Sunday cause that’s my fun day! Sorry, cheesy reference to the Bangles aside are you ready to see what I came up with to help you enjoy your Memorial Day BBQ that much more? A little mood lighting anyone?

I love outdoor lights strung over a patio. We had to go for around the patio because hanging them from the roof to the posts would have probably gotten in Tom’s way. He is significantly taller than my 5 foot 7 self. I love how it turned out. It gives just enough light to sit outside and not be overtaken by bugs flying to the light.

We are renters so this solution needed to be easily removable and cause no damage when we remove it. That was my biggest challenge in trying to figure this out. Zip ties to the rescue. These things are like duct tape they solve almost any problem. I only added the picture on the right because I love the little ladybug hanging out on the post.

I bought 7 1ft x1ft pine boards that are 8 feet tall. Since they are going to be outdoors I wanted them to blend into the scenery. So as much as I wanted to paint them red I held off and went for a nice green. It is called Ponderosa Green. Which I picked because a) I liked it b) Tom is a Bonanza fan so I thought it would be funny. I have a wicked sense of humor can’t you tell? I didn’t paint the tops or bottom because I am not really that concerned with them lasting since this is a temporary home for us. The small can of Behr stain and sealer got me one coat. If you are going to do this and want it to last you will need two coats to protect the wood better.
After the posts were up I simply stapled the strands to the posts and there was light. I went around the eaves of the house as well to get the strands to the outlet. That is basic christmas light hanging stuff I am sure you already know how to do without my help. Don’t you love how they blend into the tree. It is like camouflage. Ok maybe not quite but it is better than if I had gone with red.

I did the all before the tree grew in and I think that the way the tree has grown in makes the lights look even better.

So let’s see what you are bringing to the party this week. Do you have a great recipe for us or some outdoor decorating tips? Maybe you have a serving tray or a table setting idea. It is all welcome here as long as you can use it at your Memorial day BBQ.

I am also linking up at
The DIY'ers

The Rules:
- please link back to one or all of our blogs (handy button add to make that easier)
- no linking to shops, stores, giveaways or other link parties
- link directly to the specific post
- make a point of checking out other blogs and giving out comments. This is a party after all and if an introvert like myself can mingle so can you.
On Thursday we will all be featuring our favorite projects so come back and check it out.
Next week we will showing off outdoor and BBQ projects I hope you come back and link up again.
Feel free to use this button during the link-ups, for easy linking back to your host. Just copy the text in the box below, and then paste it into your blog post.


DIY_Maynia_Button
Wit Wisdom and Food | The HumberHome Project | Corner of Main | Mailbox Journey



happy anniversary

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To paraphrase a line from Sleepless in Seattle, it isn’t one thing it is many tiny things and I just new. It was like magic. I have mentioned before that I knew early I would marry my husband. By early I mean about a month maybe two months after I met him. I never felt as comfortable around some one the way I do with him. I realized that again the other night.

When I was in high school I was hanging out with some friends and singing came up. I don’t remember exactly what was said, maybe Gillian remembers, the gist was that I am not a good singer. I was told by a music teacher that I just wasn’t trying hard enough to sing on key. Nope I was giving it my all I just don’t have it. I can’t clap on beat unless I watch someone else do it and then I can usually pick it up only because friend taught me years ago.

Wonder what that has to has to do with my husband? Tonight on the way to dinner we were listening to our wedding playlist and a few songs came on that I love to sing and with him in the car I sang every word and was happy and not at all self-concious. For the curious, it was The Jackson 5, Goin’ Back to Indiana. He is the only person I sing in front of with no concern about how it sounds. It is how I know I married the right man on this day, one year ago.

He is every corny line you can come up with. The yin to my yang, the romeo to my juliet…I am just so glad he is mine. That he puts up with my moods, my first-born stubbornness and my anxiety attacks at inconvenient times. I can’t imagine things without him. He has taught me so much already and I know whatever comes next will be amazing.

Thanks Tom for making me the luckiest girl a year ago. I can’t wait to see what this year holds for us.

lucky penny or pennies

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Welcome back to the second week of DIY May-nia. This week we are showing off our garage sale or thrift store finds. I have had my find for months. So long that it was on my DIY list for the year. So not only did I get the challenge done I also got to cross something off my list.

I am beyond excited about this one. I have been itching to share this all week. Even posted a few sneak peeks on instagram just to cure the itch to spill the beans. Truth be told I was so excited that if it had been done for the pinterst challenge last wednesday I might have put it there and found something else to do for our challenge.

We bought the table at a Urban Ore which is a salvage place in Berkeley. The sell everything from doorknobs to toilets. I have purchased a few items there over the years. When we bought this piece it was because we like bi-level side tables. It was obvious by the linoleum type material set into the table that this wasn’t a collectors item so I knew we would be fixing it up. Problem was I just didn’t know how. I wanted a solution that would allow us to just set our drinks on it and not worry about coasters. We have had this table for about 6 months without any progress.

I thought about grouting some thin tile in the area. Even went as far as buying all the supplies. Guess that will go to another project now. We really couldn’t figure out anything we loved. The inset isn’t very thick so it had to be something the would lay in there and be some what level. After hours and hours of pinterest I realized pennies might be the answer. I laid out the pennies to check the spacing before I did anything else.

Tom thought the blue color that is in our living room rug would be a great color for the table. I brought home a bunch of blue paint chips and I thought that Martha Stewart Plumage was the closest. I think it came out pretty close.

The process is pretty simple. I sanded the table and put a quick coat of paint on. Then came the gorilla glue and the pennies. Learned a couple things here. 1. gorilla glue gets air bubbles 2. a little goes a long way 3. when the glue seeps out around the edges either clean it immediately or just leave it to dry clear. I tried to fix some of the glue mistakes and it made it look very messy and I worried I had messed it up. Luckily once I put the resin on you couldn’t see the blemishes any more.

I taped around the pennies before pouring the resin to protect the table. The resin was very easy to work with. I poured in the center and used my grouting tools to spread the resin so it was a level thickness. Use all the patience you have to not move the tape until the resin sets for a few hours but don’t leave it until it is completely hardened or your tape might be part of the table.

The Super Glaze was super easy to use (couldn’t resist that one). I had read some reviews that weren’t as favorable as I hoped but this is the only one Home Depot sold so I went with it. I followed the instructions and had no problems at all.

I let it cure long enough that it wasn’t oozing out when I pulled up the tape.Then taped off the resin so I could sand some of the resin that got on the table because I wasn’t patient and checked to see if it had dried a little too early. I put on a second coat of paint and it was complete.

The copper against the blue is the perfect combination.

Now I have a place to put my current sewing project, some magazines and I can set my favorite Kate Spade coffee cup right on top sans coaster.

Plus, I think it looks great in the living room and is a good spot to display my fantasy football trophy from this past season.

I also linked up at Inspiration party and Liz Marie Inspire Me Linky Party and 52 Mantels and Chic on a Shoestring Decorating and Organized 31

Now for the audience participation part of the the post. Link up and show us your great finds and transformations.
The Rules:
- please link back to one or all of our blogs (handy button add to make that easier)
- no linking to shops, stores, giveaways or other link parties
- link directly to the specific post
- make a point of checking out other blogs and giving out comments. This is a party after all and if an introvert like myself can mingle so can you.
On Thursday we will all be featuring our favorite projects so come back and check it out.
Next week we will showing off outdoor and BBQ projects I hope you come back and link up again.
Feel free to use this button during the link-ups, for easy linking back to your host. Just copy the text in the box below, and then paste it into your blog post.


DIY_Maynia_Button
Wit Wisdom and Food | The HumberHome Project | Corner of Main | Mailbox Journey



DIY May-nia Mother’s Day Feature

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Crystal from 29 Rue House gets the trooper award this week for getting her post up even though this animal lover had to say goodbye to one of her cats Monday morning. She posted about a homemade pizza sauce that sounds like it would make a great weeknight meal. As a bonus if you follow the link for shredded cheese you can learn how to save some money in the kitchen. Some of the math blew me away.

If you haven’t been to her blog before you should check it out. I only just found it myself but I already have a few favorite posts.

A peacock named Pablo - this one gets me because she named the peacock and it is from Mexico. I am a sucker for naming things.

Butterfly and currency art - if you liked Katja’s butterfly art from the Mother’s Day link you are going to want to see this

periodic element art - I haven’t seen this on pinterest but I love what she did for last summer’s pinterest challenge

Hope you are coming back to the party next week Crystal.

Thanks to everyone that linked up on Monday!
Check out the other features at happening today:

For those of you that might not have had something ready or didn’t get inspired for Mother’s day there are still 3 more challenges to participate in. Hope to see you at one of the next links.


May 13th - Garage Sale and Thrift Store Finds
May 20th - Memorial Day/BBQ
May 27th - Spray paint challenge


california dreamin’ powerball style

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Winning the lottery is a common conversation for us. We have a plan. The recent arrival of Powerball to California just made this daydreaming more entertaining. Someone has to win it right? $5 well spent in my opinion because it is fun to sit and talk about what it would be like if money was no option. Wanna know what we would do if we win $222 million tonight?

1 house, a flat, a condo and a loft. 4 cities. When asked we would just tell people we live in California and vacation to Indiana during the football season.
The house would be in San Diego because the weather is always nice. Nothing over the top just a nice house that would be our main place.

Tom would have the Cadillac Convertible he has always wanted

And a truck for projects and my antique store finds

I think I would go with an old Volkswagen beetle convertible for my everyday vehicle

Our flat would be in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. Just a short walk to Washington Square park and the pier we got engaged at.

The city car would have to be the mini cooper

Our condo will be our Los Angeles home. It will actually be in Pasadena. Right on Colorado Blvd so I would wake up on New Years day and watch the Rose Parade from my balcony. This will also be convenient place when we come into town for the UCLA football games. This would actually be the most expensive but with a penthouse view we would get to see the parade in style.

The loft will be right in downtown Indianapolis blocks from Lucas Oil stadium. Season tickets to the Colts so I can make it to any game I want. Plus I could head out for some Pacers games and the Indianapolis 500.

Aside from a lot more travel I doubt much would change. I would still do the cooking, my ingredients will just improve. Tom’s free time will still be sporting events and golf.
What would you do if you won the lottery?

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