Friday, November 10, 2017

What I am wearing Friday November 10, 2017

Friday is normally a pretty busy day for me and today is no exception. I have an appointment with the chiropractor to get adjusted and I have to have my nails done, they are a mess! I had planned to also have my roots done but I am putting that off until tomorrow morning. Too much waiting around in salons irritates me and the stylist who does my hair works in a salon that doesn't do appointments so I have to get there when they open and be one of the first clients of the day if I don't want to wait too long to be seen. It's a pain but finding a stylist that I like is worse and luckily I found one! 

Today I am once again wearing black leggings. It's funny because until this week I hadn't worn them but maybe once a week. I guess it just works out that way sometimes. I do love wearing leggings because I can move around freely and rarely have to worry about pulling them up unlike jeans. Even some of my jeggings will slide down throughout the day. I know it's because my lower part is bigger proportionally to my waist. I am hoping that walking and eating healthy will slim down that area. 


Looks details:
Boots Baretraps from Carson's
Cowlneck Sweater Apt. 9 from Kohl's 
Leggings Chaps Stretch Ponte Skinny Pant from Kohl's 
Hat Apt. 9 from Kohl's (about 7 years ago)

Yes, today is another day of wearing a hat to cover my roots. lol With Ed's work schedule it's hard for me to find time to do much outside the house. I am hoping once he changes schedules in December things will get easier but I am not counting on it. His job has always been demanding of his time. I wish it were a 8-5 Monday-Friday deal but rarely has it ever been that way. At least he is home every day now unlike years past when he traveled for weeks at a time. I am thankful for that. 

Thanks for stopping by! 
Chris

Thursday, November 9, 2017

New Shutters, paint, lighting and some bling!

When we bought this house we knew there would be a lot of things we would want to change and some that just needed to be done. One of the things that NEEDED to be done was exterior paint. The house was 11-12 years old when we bought it and the exterior paint was showing serious wear. I also did not care for the shutters as they were pretty faded and the lighting was kinda blah.

Here are before pictures of the house. They are from the listings before we bought it. 




We had the house painted (changing the accent door color to red and shutter color to black) then hired someone to clean the siding. White siding gets dirty. Very, very dirty. I do love the brick color but could do without the white siding. After all was painted and cleaned Ed installed the new shutters. We ordered them online from Home Depot and love them.  The lighting came from Menard's. We had to go to 2 stores and order the rest online so I am pretty sure it was a closeout. I love the lighting although it is a pain to change the bulbs. 



I went out and took these pictures just a few minutes ago with my phone. I thought I had taken pictures when Ed was done but I can't find them. Here you can see our Autumn decor and mums that have bloomed twice now and will bloom no more. 

Here are pictures from the side of the house. We added the faux windows because there was just too much white on the side of the house. I think we ordered those from Amazon. We have yet to add the carriage handles and hinges. I keep forgetting to pick them up.  

Please ignore my daughters car parked in the driveway. lol



I believe everyone should add their own touches to their homes. I try to stick with things I know are pretty and also not too faddish. I fear things like barn doors . I love them but when we sell this house would it be a turn off for a potential buyer? And I don't love them THAT much. lol I like to keep things pretty neutral and add color and style with accessories. That's just me though. 

You probably noticed the bare flower beds. We ripped everything out that we could last month. The plan is to only keep a few of the things that were planted by the previous owner and to add things that require less attention. Most of the things were Spring and Summer flowers which leaves a bare bed in Autumn and Winter. I would like to add some things that will be pretty all year round. That is for another time though. 

Thanks for stopping by!
Chris

*Red door paint is Poinsettia from Sherwin Williams. 

What I'm wearing Tuesday November 9, 2017

Today I have a doctors appointment so I wanted to make sure I wore something easy to get on and off. The weather isn't going to be overly cool, high of 53 and sunny skies. One thing I have learned living in Indiana is that if the sun is out it will feel a lot warmer than it actually is. I have no idea why. It's weird. If it is cloudy it will feel colder and even worse if it is windy. I am no fan of the wind. A slight breeze on a summer day is great but wind that blows my hat off or makes my hair look like I have been in a vortex is no friend of mine. 


Look details:
Boots Baretraps from Carson's 
Cami Apt. 9 from Kohl's
Leggins Utopia by HUE from Kohl's 
Shirt Chaps from Kohl's 
Hat Apt. 9 from Kohl's

I know most people don't wear hats anymore. I''m not sure if it's because they don't like them or just don't think about it. I love hats. I wear them because I like to and sometimes to cover for a bad hair day or because I haven't had time to get my roots done. That is the case right now. Life gets in the way of getting my hair and nails done so I find ways to hide or disguise it when I can. One day I will go gray but at 46 I am just not yet ready. Maybe in 10 years. Or 20. lol 

Thanks for stopping by!
Chris

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Something different

Today I am going to write about my first passion. From around 10 years old on I have LOVED clothes. Not necessarily high fashion but clothes. And shoes. And purses. Anything fashion related. When I was in high school I was mistaken for a teacher more times than I can remember by those who didn't know me. I grew up in the 80's and clothes were my thing. What did I ask for at Christmas and my birthday? Clothes or money to buy clothes. Seriously. 

Junior thinks I have a problem and has posted a sign on his closet door just for me. 


He makes me laugh. 😆 He even counts my shoes. I can't remember how many I had last time he counted or how many I have bought since. He can't understand why anyone would need so many clothes or shoes. Not many people get it. I get it. I love clothes. 

I haven't always dressed the way I wanted to for different reasons. Money and my weight issues have been the biggest problems. Right now I am in a place that I can afford to buy nice things, although I do try to buy things on sale and/or with a discount and my weight is on it's way down. 

I recently discovered that there are apps that you can log all of the items in your closet on. I was so happy! I tried a couple different ones and settled on Stylebook. To me it's easy to use and I love the editing tool that comes with it. I try to find my new pieces online and use those pictures but that was harder to do with my older pieces so I had to take pictures and edit them. I'm still working on logging all of my shoes but most of my clothes have been logged. I am thinking of sharing my outfits from my Stylebook every day. Like today I am wearing this:


The sweater is Simply Vera Vera Wang from Kohls with basic black yoga pants. The boots are Rampage. 

The editing tool doesn't work great on white or light colored items if the background is also white or light colored but it works well enough that I can see what things look like together. It also has a calendar feature so I can keep up with when I have worn an outfit or piece. I can also keep notes so I don't have to try to remember details after having worn an item. Is it really warm? Cool? Itchy? Should I wear a cami under it because it's see through in the sunlight? I have been using this app now for well over a month and it has been a great help. I wish I had had something like this when I was in high school! Yes, I was THAT person in high school. lol 

Thanks for stopping by! 
Chris

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Crazy life update

My last post was June of 2016. I posted about us painting the living room in our house in Georgia. I loved that house. July 12, 2016 my husband was told that beginning the following Monday he would no longer have a position in Georgia, one day after having gutters installed. The company had to scramble to find him something to do and they sent him on travel until a job came available where we wanted to go. We decided to return to Indiana although central Indiana instead of Northeast. That was the beginning of one of the craziest times of our lives. My in laws passed one day apart in October after finding out in July that one had late stage dementia and the other had inoperable brain cancer. We found this out days after finding out we had to leave Georgia. So we spent July, August, September and October dealing with finding a new job and house, selling the house in Georgia plus parent illnesses and end of life issues. That meant trips to Texas and Indiana. Hubby was working in the Northeast until the end of September and I was living in Georgia until the end of October. We did a lot of traveling.

This blog was actually started as a way for Ed's parents to keep up with what was going on in our lives.  They passed October 1 and 2, about 12 hours apart.

We went to Indiana twice looking at houses. The first one we put an offer on we backed out of due to some issues found in the inspection and the owners wanting to do repairs on their own. The house we ended up with we closed on in mid October. Our house in Georgia had 2 offers come in on one day. We accepted one and they backed out a few days before closing in November because they thought the appraisal was too high. It appraised for slightly more than they were paying. Our realtor tells us she thinks they were hoping it would appraise lower so they could come back and lower their offer. Jerks. So the house went back on the market and we had 2 more offers that same day. We accepted the one that was the best offer and it closed about a month later.

I loved the house in Georgia. To me it was perfect for our lifestyle. Unfortunately we couldn't find anything like it here in Indiana. Fall is not a good time to try to buy a house to begin with and housing prices are higher here. The house we chose is fine but not great, it's also smaller. We do miss all the space we had in the last house. And it needed/needs some serious updating. So far we have ripped out all of the flooring on the second floor. There was full carpet except the hall bath which had tile. We replaced everything with Pergo laminate flooring which we love. Who puts carpet in the (master)  bathroom? That was crazy to us. And gross. We painted the bathroom vanities a dark gray and added wall tile in both upstairs bathrooms plus replaced all of the old builder grade toilets. Hubby took out the shelving in the master and guest room closets and replaced with adjustable shelving. The entire second floor also got a fresh coat of paint. We discovered after moving in that some of the rooms only had primer on the walls. I thought it was white paint when we looked at the house but we were only in here briefly. So the second floor was done less than a year after moving in.

We have begun working on the main floor. Hubby painted the room we use as a classroom before we moved in because the color was horrible. He just recently painted the entry and the formal dining room as well. Last weekend he tore apart the pantry, painted the walls and trim and installed adjustable shelving similar to what he installed in the closets upstairs. Next up is the half bath and laundry room. After the first of the year we are ripping out some built in shelving in the living room we think looks cheap and is way too deep and replacing it with cabinets and open shelving that is almost half the depth. It will help free up some space in the living room. Next summer we are doing a total remodel of the kitchen. I hate the cabinets and the island orientation. And we will be replacing all of the flooring with the same Pergo we installed upstairs. The stairs will also get a makeover when we rip out the carpet. I will post pics when we get to that point. We have already replaced all of the appliances and we love them. I plan to do a post about each room eventually.

Thanks for stopping by!
Chris