Re-stuffing the Couch – Project

In case you are wondering…based on my posts, yes I really do really, do it all!

About four years ago The Husband and I purchased a couch and love seat set. Part of the selection process included the importance of zippers on the couch. Our goal, was to find a nice couch, great price, great quality, and the ability to re-stuff and refill it when needed, to avoid having to purchase a new couch when it wore out.

With the addition of Awesome to the family, it has taken much abuse.

The couch’s back was lacking the support it had when we first bought it, the stuffing had gone flat and it has not been as comfortable to relax with the back “fluff-less.”

This is where I come in. And it was not an easy task.

My original pain was to buy stuffing and just unzip and shove it up there and re-zip…call it good. Does anything ever go according to plan? Nope.

So I gently yanked the case of filling out and cut slits on the side of each second, then shoved new filing in, adding to the old filling, as it did not need replacing. (At $4.49 a bag, with a total of 4 bags need, this is a great idea!) Then gently shoved the case back up into the couch, ughhhhhhh.

Not so easily done. Think of a doctor telling a new mother that her baby, which she just birthed is not ready to come out yet and he will have to shove the baby back in where it came from. YEP!

Alas…I accomplished my goal. The couch looks and feels brand spanking new! For a grand total of $17.96.

My advise, other than having a small arm for this project is…

When you purchase furniture make sure it is versatile. Is it real wood that you can paint or stain or add new hardware to? Can you re- stuff it or re-fabric the piece? Our styles and moods change, and things wear out…so why not make them something to last forever, versus just a few years, and a lot of money out of your pocket.

The Cell Phone Project – Day 4 and Day 5

Day 4: Okay, I changed my mind.

HELP!

I miss it sooooooooo much. Maybe it is not that I miss it on my phone, but I miss not being able to check it on the computer without having another reason to get on.

Day 5: I spend the entire day in a seminar (which I will discuss at a later time) and I think this made it easy and difficult. The reason being that EVERYONE was on their email and the internet at breaks, and I couldn’t be!! Yet, I was busy meeting and talking with new people who it didn’t leave me with much time to get on my cell phone in the first place.

So what did I learn????

It turns out that because of my cell phone plan it is cheaper to have it then to not have the internet services…something like that, with the ancient plan I have. Pretty soon there will not be another option but to either have no cell or an expensive cell phone plan that makes you have pricey plan packages.

In the past I have asked if we can cancel it from The Husband and mine’s cell phone, but The Husband protested that he liked having it…even though he uses email and Facebook less than I do on his cell.

I am more than happy that the Cell Phone Project is ending!!!! I will admit I have an addiction, but at least I am not alone.

I think the real question is…can I go without any internet 5 days??? Let’s not push it…

*UPDATE: I no longer have my email set to alert on my cell phone, which has allowed me to control how and when I use it.

The Cell Phone Project – Day 3

It is going very well….surprise!!!

I am enjoying all the extra time I have to get homework done and write, but yet I realize I need that certain break for my brain, so that is when the email and internet on my phone come into pay…just like when I am on the computer, I take those breaks to check email.

We will see how tonight goes though…

The Cell Phone Project – Day 1 and 2

Monday morning, I started off…distraught.

I was determined to feel that I was missing out on important email. Not Facebook, I learned that during the Facebook Project, just email.

When I went to start on my homework, all I could think about was my email. Of course by the time I got on the computer, I learned I had not missed a single important thing. Yet I didn’t like the detachment feeling it brought.

Now Awesome was happy that I was not on my cell phone constantly! I have spoken before about how much he detests cell phones.

As day one continued on, I was surprised to realize I had all but forgotten that my phone was not going to alert me about emails, so I simply worked away…not even bothering to check, even though I was online.

The evening was the most difficult, as the house seemed so quiet without me checking into anything via my cell phone.

Day 2, this morning, was a lot more difficult than Day 1, most likely because I had not been online since five o’clock the night before. Time ticked by, hour after hour, and I had no real reason to get on the computer to check my email, until I finished the reading part of my homework.

You would think this provided a relaxing time to study, sure, if I was not so consumed with wondering what emails were waiting for me in my in-box!

And as Day 2 comes to a close…as far as getting off the computer…I look forward to Day 3, 4, and 5…or at least the ending of Day 3, 4, and 5!!! haha

The Cell Phone Project

A while back I did a five-day Facebook project, which my constant followers will remember. If you missed out, please check under the PROJECTS tab on the top of my blog.

This week I have decided to start, the Cell Phone Project.

The idea came about while I was reading Deborah Coonts’s Wanna Get Lucky. As the character was always attached to her Nextel cell phone. It seems to me that I am always attached to my cell phone too. But my constant connection is in regards to receiving and sending emails and getting on Facebook. So below are the project rules I will adhere to.

Rule #1

I will not received alerts on my cell phone when emails come in (I receive my Facebook updates via email as well as knowledge to comments on my blog). This system will be shut off from today, Monday, day 1, till late Friday (i.e Saturday morning), day 5.

Rule #2

I will not check Facebook via my cell phone to comment on statuses, reply, send messages, or post any personal statuses. Because of this I will also not be replying to comments here on my blog unless I am on the computer…which leads to Rule #3.

Rule #3

I will not get on the computer simply to check my email or Facebook unless I have other work to do on the computer such as writing, homework or posting on my blog.

Rule #4

I will still be allowed to text and make calls on my cell phone. Because people may need to reach me, and I don’t receive a lot of texts or phone calls.

And so my torment begins!!!!

And off comes the wallpaper…sorta

Awesome is always around to help. Don't worry I watched him and kept him safe, no toxic smell.

If you have not contemplated suicide, then you have not had to remove wallpaper.

Don’t laugh, or shake your head! It’s true!

I have taken a class in interior design, and have spent a few too many weekends watching HGTV for hours at a time. So, I am pretty sure in my statement that the wallpaper on the walls was from the late 1980′s or very early 1990′s. It had that shell trim border and those white and blue-jean blue strips. It…was half ripped off from the past occupants, and it’s ability to grow mold and trap it when the swap cooler was on meant I needed to remove it sooner rather than later.

You start with, somehow, pealing the top section off, leaving just the paper backing. This…didn’t work!  Then you are supposed to score the paper backing (to help the spray go through better), this worked, but duh! Then spray with a store bought wallpaper remover or part water/part fabric softener, then scrap. This…didn’t work.

Nope, Awesome never leaves my side! lol

I am not sure if things didn’t work as well as they do on TV, because the wallpaper was stuck to drywall hung back in 1979 or because I just was doing it wrong. I did manage to dig a few holes in the wall with the scraper in the process, but this might have been out of anger.

I think the most upsetting was how long it took me on one day in particular.  I was doing the entire wall under the bedroom window, and I looked out and saw the neighbors getting a new roof. Those workers took a longer lunch than me, and finished removing an old roof and adding a new one in the time it took me to do one wall!!

Off white on top, pure white in the middle, cream on the bottom. Sounds like a pie!

So now the wallpaper is removed and the wall is three colors. LOL

Yet because I used lavender fabric softener there is a calming smell to the room. Of course it wasn’t very calming when I was scraping and struggling through four days of wallpaper removal.

So I should warn you, anyone that needs to remove wallpaper. Hire outside help. Really. It’s horrible! And for those of you considering putting up wallpaper…you better take it down before you move out!

Words to Remember

There have been many projects going on at the new place, all of which Puppy has been more than helpful trying to stick his nose in…thank goodness Puppy stayed out of this one…

The Toilet Project

Nothing with this new place has gone right, and if something actually has, I’ve been too frustrated to notice…moving on…the toilet project.

I will leave the yelling and arguing, name calling, and fit throwing out of this post, but I am sure, if any of you out there have dealt with home improvement projects…you can imagine.

Regardless, the story on the toilet project is this: removed old toilet, gross-nasty-dirty-filthy, cleaned up, remove, reset, cleaned up, screw in new pieces, since old ones were broken (duh that’s why it’s messed up and needs fixing in the first place)…..then discover, after all the issues and trips to the store Husband made, pieces are missing from the box. End result: open hole in floor, with towels shoved in and around it (since it’s an open sewage line…duh), and my angry voice on the 1-800 number answering machine for customer service about the missing pieces in the box. (I am expecting a call at 8am sharp!)

And what does all this lead up to, other than the obvious?!?! My father’s voice, from when I was a child, reminding me….”Before you start a project, open the box, read through the directions, and make sure you have all the parts that should be in the box.”

Thanks Dad….I did remember, just a little tooooooo late.

The Facebook Project – Complete

Day 4 continued

4:03 I’m so consumed with writing, so again, I’ve completely forgotten about Facebook, but I do miss it.

8:35 excited for tomorrow, it’s like they are opening a new ride at Disneyland!

8:36 Disneyland….Ohhhh…now I want to go to Disneyland!

Day 5

7:09 it’s here, it’s here…come on noon!

7:12 totally swallowed a whole Frosted Mini-Wheat, (for my returning readers…yet again!!) Thinking about Facebook, getting excited.

12:00 I log into Facebook…kinda disapointed in the “new Disneyland ride.” I read all the old posts and…I didn’t really miss anything. I almost feel let down.

Here is what I learned….

I have self-control (still not over candy though). Life will go on and things will happen all the same, even if I don’t know what is up with everyone. If someone wishes to share something important with me, they can contact me the “old fashion way.” I learned it’s important to take a break, as it gives you time to think about other things and focus on yourself. (I discovered some great new story ideas) So in the end, now, I will probably not be on Facebook as much because I’ve realized it’s not my life and that I can become just as addicted to blogging as I can to Facebook! Excuse me I need to check my blog stats AGAIN!

P.S. If anyone reading this has any ideas of what else I should try to do/not do for one week please feel free to share with me.

The Facebook Project – Day 4

Day 3 continued…

I actually forgot about Facebook for nearly most of the afternoon and far into the night. It wasn’t until everything in life was going wrong when I remembered and couldn’t log in. Completely frustrated, I needed to vent, and to, apparently, a lot of people at once. Yet I refrained…

Day 4

7:45 seriously just want to log into Facebook so I can see what everyone is up to!

10:55 I think I feel less stressed, but miss all the drama Facebook can bring.

11:09 and I’m starting to think no one really cares that they haven’t had the joy of hearing a status update from me! Depressed almost…

2:05 trying to figure out if tomorrow, at noon, when I’m “allowed” back on, if I will go back and read all that I missed over the last 5 days…or if I should just consider it the past and not look…but how can I not look. The nagging little girl, is POKING ME, with her sticky, chewed up Tootsie Roll Pop chanting: “check, check, check!” At least I finally got poked!

The Facebook Project – Day 3

Day 2 continued…

2:37 going crazy without Facebook. I’m reading in my college textbook, about prisons and it says “people are naturally social, to confine them is unnatural.” Someone help! I’ve caused myself to be unnatural!!!

4:04 my mind is not consumed by what others are doing, leaving me with lots of time to think about myself…too much thinking about myself.

6:34 during a commercial, so tempted to just look really quick at Facebook, eat candy instead.

I’m starting to become aware of the nagging little girl who I’ve spoken about before. (The one wearing flip-flops) She is telling me no one will know if I just get on Facebook really quick and look. I find it hard to believe her as she looks preoccupied chewing her Tootsie Roll Pop.

Day 3

I wake up in the morning, and I’m so NOT “feeling like P-Diddy.” For sure he has checked his Facebook account this morning.

10:57 starting to wonder why no one has noticed I’m not on Facebook…surely one of my Facebook “Friends” must miss me…

11:00 someone POKE ME!!!!!! dang it!!!

Starting to wonder if my time stamped thoughts posted on this blog is a “form of status updates” minus Facebook?!?!

12:34 probably is