Look Out!

Not even kidding, about a month ago, when I got home from work I parked in my driveway like always. Somehow magically my car door and my face collided mid-air. I was in a hurry to get to a bonfire, so I just rushed in to the house. My mother asked why my eye was bleeding, so I explained the freak accident, she got me a bag of ice. I changed for the bonfire, called a friend to pick me up, and finally sat down so my mother could "mother" me. The conversation went about like this:

Dad: Wow. Yeah, you'll probably have a black eye tomorrow.

Me: Noooo!!! I can't! I have to work tomorrow! I can't have a **** black eye! I'll call in sick before I go to work and have to explain what happened!

Mom: That should be interesting. You can't call out stupid.

Dad: (laughs hysterically)

Me: (laughs, then cries a bit because my face hurts)

I leave for some fun, my friend driving, and stop at the convenience store to get some supplies (read: alcohol). I had a single sip of vodka on the drive out, and explained the last minute chauffeuring, and the bag of ice on my temple. We get to the party, and somewhere on the drive I started getting a little, um, fuzzy. Like one too many drinks fuzzy. On one sip of vodka. People thought I'd been hitting the sauce pretty hard, until a brilliant friend got out a flashlight and tried to get me to follow it.... No go.
Turns out I didn't get to have a drink at the bonfire, as I had a mild concussion and didn't need beer to act like the crazy person I already was.

I slept like crap later on that night, as I'd roll over on my face and wake myself up. But I didn't have a black eye, thank goodness, just a headache and a blue-ish tinted eyelid for a week...

I'm still alive! (Honest!)

I will post a real bit soon, but I have been busy being on vacation, then working, judging (a parade, that is) and working some more, not to mention digging holes and baking like a crazy person, to get to my computer long enough to write anything down! I will soon, promise!!

Murder on the Bookshelf

A quick side note: I returned to my Juneau home last week, and haven't gotten a new post up yet as I had a surprise welcome home party, two dinners, and The Avengers to catch up on! Oh! And changes to the house made in my absence.


I had another bathroom post in the works, when my dear old dad called me into the front room to look at something. Quick, and crime were uttered somewhere in there. And this is what I beheld:

Oh No! Not Mr. Mann!!

E. Quin is running from the scene of the crime!!!

So we called in the CSI team. And they took photos:

The Scene

(Mother wouldn't let us use real chalk)

BLOOD!

The victim looks as though he was in pain.

After the body was moved.

The worst part of it all, they looked as though they were such good friends, Mr. Mann and E. Quin. I mean, they played so well together up until E kicked him off the shelf. These pictures were taken in happier times:

Playing Tag.

E. Quin and Mr. Mann's humble abode.

Shower Curtain Love

I'm in love with West Elm. I found the greatest shower curtain EVER there. It looks fantastic in my bathroom. Amazing really. A little feminine, but not frilly. Here, I'll show you. (I must apologize though, as I took this photo on my cell phone, as my camera got a bit chilly when I was in Barrow, you know, on top of the world.)

I love my shower curtain!

Wait a minute, is that the same bathroom as before? Why yes, yes it is.

I came across West Elm when I was searching for a paint color for my bedroom. I saw a series they did with Benjamin Moore, and the perfect, most amazing paint color for my room (more on that later!). But I also found their shower curtains. And their bedding. I just knew I had to go to one of their stores.

In Portland after New Year's this year, I sought out West Elm. And my mother and I explored the store for a couple hours. And I found this most perfect shower curtain. I'd been using a fabric liner before, and it was lonely. It desperately needed a friend. (I used double-sided rings so I could hang the liner and the curtain on the same rod and they have a smidgen of breathing room.) So I brought it some flowers, and butterflies. Everyone likes flowers and butterflies. Even shower curtain liners.


Turns out, this shower curtain inspired the entire look of my bathroom. I'll show you more, later.

Check out West Elm here.

M's bathroom, Part I

We fell in love with this house in large part because we have two master bedrooms. One has a tub in one closet. The other has an awkward doorway. And a door off the garage. That one became mine. Yay! The tub in the closet is in my parents' room.

I love that I had an en suite (look at me and my fancy french!) but it only had one outlet. And no windows. Or I thought is had no windows, but if you looked at the outside of the house you soon realized there was an extra window. It had been covered by the mirror. Which was in front of the rickety pedestal sink. That was a little shorter than usual. And I'm 5'10", a little taller than usual. 

This put a bathroom remodel at the top of my To-Do list. This was last August.

The toilet. Really.

The teeny-tiny sink. And the window-hiding mirror

View from the door. Note the awkward placement of my ONLY outlet.

I bought a shower curtain rod. A hotel-style outwardly curving shower curtain rod. And it makes my shower feel huge, even though it isn't. EVERYONE needs one of them. And I really needed one because I lacked the ability to take a shower. I bought a fancy shower-head while I was at it. The first new things I bought for my new house. (I bought a bed next.)

I next began searching for a vanity that I could love. I considered a recycled kitchen cabinet, (my Mumsy was pushing for that one) and a traditional vanity from my local hardware store. But none of them really fit my personality. Or my bathroom's personality. And so the quest for the perfect vanity continued...

I live at home

About a year ago I started house hunting. I wanted to take my hard-earned money and put it down on a nice little two-bedroom condo, if I could find one I could afford in my exceedingly expensive housing market, or one bedroom if I couldn't.
Then I started travelling for work. Well, travelling is a bit much. More like, spending months working in one location, far, far from home.
If I wanted to buy a condo I was going to have to find someone to watch it while I was gone. Enter Mom and Dad. They were considering moving back to the real world and buying a home after five years of rent-free but laborious living.
So why not combine our awesomeness and buy a home together?
Frustrating searching and offering ensued. On a fluke, using my smart phone one day after getting news that we lost yet another property we thought was perfect, I pulled up a foreclosure listing that was on the same street my family had lived on when we first moved to Juneau. Kismet? Maybe. After driving by and window shopping, we called our wonderful Realtor, and took a tour. And then proceeded to put an offer on it that day.
And being a foreclosure, we finally closed two months later, and I moved in right away.
Did I mention it needed some work? Oh boy. It is a work in progress. But not just the house. My learning to be a responsible homeowner, fix the big things, and get dinner on the table when my parents come home (seems backwards...hmmmm) is in progress too. I've learned to make a couple of casseroles! And how to replace a toilet! And remodel a bathroom in 2 weeks, before I headed off for 3 months!

Anyways, follow along as I figure it out.

Mi Casa needs a weed eater.