Saturday, June 30, 2012

Pottery Barn Bulletin Board for a Fraction of the Cost…

img93o

This one is $149 + $21 shipping, hubby can make this easily with great fabric for under $50!

And since I couldn’t handle being inside any longer,  we went out this morning, and trekked to our local fabric stores in search of fabric, because I’ve decided that now is the time to put a bulletin board in the sunroom behind my computers, something I’ve wanted to do for-ever.

I found the above one from Pottery Barn that I like really well, but I don’t like the price – $149 + shipping.  It’s so simple, hubby can make this for me, no problem.  It’s big 48x36, which is what I want, a great big one so I can put all my treasures on it.  I even have a clock to go inside it, and it’s much neater than the one in the picture ;o)

But what do I need for the bulletin board base, cork maybe?  Well, thanks to online shopping, I found this Designer Tack Bulletin Board in stock at our local Menards for $12.99.  How cheap is that?  It’s 48 x 32, just a bit shorter than the Pottery Barn 48 x 36, but it will work fine.

565-1420DesignerTack

It’s great, push pins will dig into it nicely, it has no frame, which is what we want, since LC will build me a frame for it out of 1.5” boards, then we will attach the fabric by stapling it to the back of the frame, and I will end up with something looking similar to the Pottery Barn one, which is like a painting stretched on canvas, with no wood showing on the edges.

Depending on the fabric, I may need to line it with drapery fabric liner to add body, but I don’t want it puffy, so that’s yet to be determined.

And now for the fabric.  There is tons of linen at the fabric stores, the prices are cheap, but, let’s kick this up a notch.  Here are the choices that I’ve narrowed it down to.

document fabric 001

This fabric is called Document, and it comes in beige with chocolate letters, like the above picture, or…

Document-Brown

It also comes in this taupe and charcoal combination.

fabric-for-upholstery-492357

And then there is this fabric, Love Nest Cedar, which is awesome because it not only has script, but it has birds on branches, and this bulletin board will be right by  my window, where the finches feed.

So, even though I like the second fabric, and love the birds, I have to decide if I need to buy the first fabric, because the background color is similar to my walls in my living room, or the second color, which seems to match the sunroom better.  I love the birds but they are too fussy.  Oh decisions, decisions…

Okay, let’s talk money.  So far I have $13 plus tax invested in my tack bulletin board from Menard.  A yard of this fabric is $17, (it’s 55” wide, so no seams) and I can buy it at The Fabric House in Nashville.  Then LC has to buy boards to build the frame, that will cost approximately $10.  The only additional expense will be if I need to buy fabric to line this, and that’s cheap, $5.00.

So, my total cost to make this will be under $50, I’ll save at least $120 by not buying the one from Pottery Barn, and I think the french script will be a better look for my room than the plain linen.

However, you could do it with the plain linen or burlap and knock off even more money, because linen/burlap is around $5.99 a yard. 

pb-rusticwallorganizer

Now my very favorite bulletin board is this one, I just love this, it’s also from Pottery Barn but no longer available.  It’s too rustic for my sunroom, but some of you might like to try and duplicate it.  It’s just so cool! The rusty bars are just drapery dowel rods that they’ve spray painted with Old World Gold/Bronze Paint.

So that’s whats going on in my little corner of the world.  It will take a few days to accomplish this, I’ll post pictures afterwards, and we’ll see how this all shakes out.

Weather is cooling off today, it’s only 105 degrees.  Angry smile

~ Jan

Friday, June 29, 2012

Sally Field looks great without plastic surgery!

629 aa ms

Sally Field is 65, and she looks great with long hair.  No plastic surgery either she says, her neck is going a bit, but she looks amazing.

Jan, don’t even go there.  Sally Fields is a size 2, that’s why she looks good with long hair.  No way can I grow my hair out, I would just look old(er).  But I do miss it, I loved long hair.  *sigh*

However, we do both have the same necklace.  She wore this necklace all the time on Brothers & Sisters, not the longer chain, the shorter one.  I bought one that looks just like it a few years ago, and I’ve worn it all the time since.  Why can’t I just be content to have the same necklace?  I’m never going to be a size 2 and be able to grow my hair out.  The woman doesn’t even have bat winged arms, for gawds sake.  How does she do it?  The hands look old though, the hands never lie.  Oh for Pete’s sake, she looks fantastic, I need to quit picking her apart!

Cute little dress, too…

I’m such a goof-off today. Um, pretty much EVERY day…

 

My Work Day

What I should be doing…

  • Building a new header for The Dish, this one has been up too long
  • Putting on my makeup, straightening my hair
  • Organizing my jewelry drawers one.more.time, I’ve put this off forever!
  • Folding laundry from the dryer
  • Posting a blog entry to Jan CAN Cook

Instead I’m…

  • Eating dill pickles and swiss cheese
  • Reading about Katie Holmes divorcing Tom Cruise, no surprise there
  • Looking at the finches on the feeder outside my window.
  • Wondering if they are having trouble finding water
  • Cuddling Maggie
  • Playing around on Pinterest
  • Figuring out which book I want to read next
  • Thinking about just one more piece of cheese

I am so worthless.  I am!!!!

Oh well, Scarlett will do some of this tomorrow.  It’s too hot to go anywhere, who cares about the makeup and/or the hair, and it’s getting late, why bother getting dressed.  Hey, I’m the queen of justification, I can justify anything

But I really do want to build a new header, really I do!  The rest of it, not so much…

Let’s talk about the wea-ther!!!!!!

Weather Forecast Evansville, IN _ Evansville Weather _ Wunderground-1

Everybody is obsessed with the temperatures right now, and for good reason, it was 107 degrees yesterday, forecasting triple digits here for the next few days.  106 today, and then a gradual cooling to 100 by the 4th!!!!

YIKES, YIKES, YIKES, it’s hot!  Luckily, did I just say luckily???? we have no humidity so the heat index is aligned with the actual temperature. But the lack of humidity is because we’re in a severe drought situation, so that’s not good either.  The grass is straw, poor hubby is dragging hoses all over the yard, watering tree’s daily, our wonderful spring and early June have gone to hell in a handbasket!

My friend Nisha’s daughter, Mandi, lives in Scottsdale, and Nish said yesterday that she didn’t really mind the heat, that it was like being in Arizona.  And I’m thinking, Sweet Jesus, why would anyone want to live in Arizona?

You walk out the door and it’s like a furnace blasting you in the face.  My body was instantly hot, I was in a foul mood, too.  I will never understand why people “voluntarily” live in the desert, but then I don’t know why we “choose” to live in this climate either.  I would ideally like to spend my summers in Wisconsin, my fall in Heavensville, winter anyplace but Florida, I’m not a fan of wrinkle cities, and spend spring back in Heavensville.

But it isn’t a perfect world, people have jobs, so they live where they need to be.  Hubby and I are retired, but we love Heavensville, we have roots here, my good friends are here, and they are like family to me, so we stay.  I don’t want to leave my cozy little nest and go away for a season, I love having all my things around me.

So, when we have these record high temperatures that we’re having now, I just don’t  stick my head out the door from 10am until 7pm, that’s my only coping mechanism.

Bun-Bun is in the sunroom with me again today, Deanna and John are visiting over the 4th and will bring Petunia, who will join Butterbean (in a separate cage, of course ;o) no rabbit hanky panky going on in my sunroom! We have to take care of the furkids, they can’t cool off like we can.  The M&M’s are lazing their days away, drinking iced water, oblivious to the heat until they go out to potty, which happens pretty quickly, I might add, even they have no desire to stay out and sniff the grass straw.

Stay hydrated my friends, and Jan, quityerbitchin, and just be glad you have a cool house to live in!  This too shall pass…

Thursday, June 28, 2012

I have company in the sunroom today…

bbun

Temperatures today are forecasted between 107 and 111 degrees, much too hot for a little bunny rabbit with his fur coat on to be outside, even if he does have a shady house.

So I moved furniture around in the sunroom, and Butterbean is spending the day with me inside.  He’s currently eating his litter box, oh my, I didn’t know rabbits were so noisy!

Should be an interesting week, as it looks like he will be visiting me daily for awhile.

Stay cool and wish me luck.  Egads, he is LOUD!!!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Around the neighborhood…

IMG_0258_editedIt was such a pretty morning, I was out and about, enjoying the day, tomorrow they’re predicting 106 degrees, same on Friday, as well.  Our neighbor has a sunflower peeking over his fence, there is nothing more cheerful on a summer morning than a sunflower in full bloom.

bbbIt’s so dry in Heavensville, we spend our days watering trees and flowers.  We haven’t had rain since March, except for two days last month and the conditions are severe. 

aaaI love the birds, and was listening to the mockingbird sing his song while I drank my morning coffee.

cccThe fields are filled with butterflies, I thought of sweet Abby and wished she was with me.

And so it goes, just trying to live in the moment and not think ahead to the sweltering days that are ahead of us…

Abby came to visit this past weekend.

Oh my, she’s so precious.  Every month she changes so much.  She talks nonstop now, and entertains all of us with the things she says.

1bin_editedP-Pa bought her another dollhouse, a great big one this time, and he bought her a Little Tykes Kitchen.  She was excited with both of them, but it was the binoculars he got her that captivated her the most.  She constantly walked around looking thru them, often bent over, telling us she was searching for “clues.”  She has Rapunzel Crocs, pink ones, that she picked out herself, and she thinks they’re wonderful.  She also loves necklaces, so she was all decked out in the things she loved.

2_editedWe took countless rides on Milly, and we went “really, really fast” and we squealed and laughed and sang as we rode along.  If I do nothing else with this grandchild, I want to instill a love of nature in her.  I’m doing a good job so far, we went to the woods, and she smelled the flowers, and touched the leaves.  We watched for birds, and listened to their songs, it was such a good time.

IMG_6960_editedThe Queen Anne’s Lace was her very, very favorite and she told everybody she saw that they were her very, very favorite flower.  Mother would have smiled if she knew that, Queen Anne’s Lace were her favorite, too.  She would pick them, bring them in the house and put them in a Ball Fruit Jar that was filled with water and food coloring.  Then we would have blue, yellow, red, all different colors of flowers.  I need to do that for Abby, it would be fun to relive that memory again.

She continues to love the iPad, it’s her other very, very, favorite thing.  She’s such a big girl, she sits now and plays on it by herself, and if I try to help, she says, “No thank you Grammie, I’ll do it by myself.”

4_editedShe enjoyed tromping through the grass with her Auntie Trisher.  They found butterflies and dragonflies, and she was so excited, pointing them out to me.  She also wanted to see Mr. Bunny Rabbit, but he didn’t cooperate and come out to visit.  Later in the day she did get to see a rabbit, he was eating by the side of the road and wasn’t phased at all by the little girl on the golf cart giggling at him.

She says the funniest things.  She was getting ready for bed, Mama and Daddy weren’t fast enough for her, so she grabs her blanket, takes off down the hall yelling, “Cmon team, let’s ROLL!” 

She now likes the dogs, too and wants to pick Maggie up and carry her around.  She calls them both “Pal.”  She says “Hiya Pal” or Whatcha doin’ Pal?”  I ask her Mom and Dad where she comes up with these things, and they just shake their head.  Who knows, but it sure is cute!

They were getting ready to leave Monday, and she came to me in the sunroom and said, “Grammie, I’m going to cry.”  Abby always tells you first, before she cries.  I sat her on my lap and asked her why and she told me “I don’t want to go home.”  Oh my, talk about tugging at the heartstrings.  I told her we were going to come visit soon and she shrugged her little shoulders, and just wilted, then gave  a big sigh and said in a little voice, “okay.”

And we will see her soon.  Lindsay’s due date is August 24th, so we’re going to visit next month and give her a little break.

© all the latest from Nashville ya'll, AllRightsReserved.

Designed by ScreenWritersArena