Whaddya mean there’s no internet?

We’ve had issues for about a month now, intermittent signal, annoying as heck, too!  My neighbor Marti has same ISP as we do, I call her, she always has a connection.  Soooooo, I finally gave it in and called for a technician to come check the lines.

Now, I hate worse than anything, for these guys who have barely started shaving, to come to the house.  This one was a bit older, I’ve had worse, some of them are cocky, too, probably trying to appear knowledgeable so that people won’t notice that they just started shaving.  But anyhoo, this one said we have too much voltage coming into the house.  Too much voltage?  Now that’s a new twist, I haven’t heard this one before.

But the fact that he had to call his supervisor to confirm that this was the problem leaves me a bit skeptical as to how much he really know.  And he spent a lot of time in his truck, I figure that he was probably Googling for answers.  Nevertheless, he took away half our voltage, and for now I’m up and running.

But like I said, it’s intermittent, it may work today and not tomorrow.  He said the hot weather was affecting the cable.  Duh, it’s buried.

But what do I know, I just sit here, looking at the outdoor thermostat, and day after day it  says 99, 100, 101, you know the story, yours does too.  I can’t wait for November, surely it will cool off by then!

Houzz, the best thing I’ve found since Pinterest

If you love decorating, or just looking at beautiful houses, this site is for you!!!!!

Okay ladies, I always share my finds, well actually I didn’t find this one, my friend, Nisha, told me about it, but you all will just love this.

It’s pictures, thousands and thousands of pictures of beautiful rooms like the one above.  There are interior rooms, exterior shots, gardens, all styles of homes, it’s a decorator’s dream.  And the kids rooms are amazing!

For instance, I’m looking at kitchen photos right now,  and they have 98,135 kitchen design photos.   No, that’s not a typo, they have ninety.eight.thousand kitchen photos. You can filter by style if you want, or browse all of the pictures.  You can drill down and just look at breakfast nooks or islands or cabinetry, and much, much more.

I found this picture above by going to the kitchens area, and in the search box I typed, in quotes, “country kitchens” and started browsing.  I saw this picture and I’m like, oh, I love that mural over the stove.  *sigh* a girl’s gotta dream, and I do love roosters!  You can spend hours and hours on this site.  In fact, you will probably be wishing that Jan had never shown you this.  ;o)

After you register with their site, login and then you create your own ideabooks with the photos you like.  I even found a kitchen gadgets area, and of course I was all over that like a hot potato!

So go to houzz.com, sign up and start having fun.  If you have an iPad, there is an app you can download.

Prepare to be amazed at the selections.

~ sez jan gushing at the sheer magnitude of beautifulness…

My Awesome Pottery Barn Knock-off Bulletin Board

My bulletin board looks so much better than Pottery Barn’s for a fraction of the cost.  I’ve wanted one forever on the wall behind my computers in the sunroom.  My friend, Veronica, and I have had many discussions this past few months about my bulletin board, looking at a ton of pictures, discarding ideas, including frames and collages, and I kept returning to a simple bulletin board, because if you know me at all, I tend to overdo everything, and I knew whatever I decided on would be stuffed full of treasures, so the more simple the bulletin board, the better.

On my blog entry of June 30th, I posted about what I was going to do, and it all came together really nicely.  John and Deanna were visiting over the 4th, so John picked up my “Document” fabric from The Fabric House in Nashville.  (Yes, they take phone orders if you are interested).  I had picked up my Designer Tack Bulletin Board at Menard’s, the size is just a bit smaller than the Pottery Barn Bulletin Board, theirs measures 48 x 36”, mine measures 48 x 32”.

It was stifling hot the morning that they put it together for me, but my guys are troopers, they sweated it out, with me sitting in a chair giving them specific instructions and taking pictures.  Here’s how it played out…

After a trip to the local Lowe’s, hubby purchased 1” x 3” strips to make a frame for the board. 



Then he reinforced it with additional strips in the center so that it would be stable, cut plywood to fit, here you can see how it’s looking so far.

Note:  When you mount the plywood to the inside of the 1x3” frame, you have to indent it from the top side so that when you place the Designer Tack Bulletin Board on top of the plywood, the mount is flush.



Next came the sanding to smooth out all the edges of the raw lumber.



Then they fit the bulletin board inside the frame, making sure that it fit correctly.



The next step was gluing the bulletin board to the plywood. This was accomplished with a glue gun and a tube of Liquid Nail. After John applied the adhesive, he took the smooth edge of a box to smear it evenly over the surface.

Then you put the bulletin board on top of the glue and at this point you drag out everything heavy that you own and put it on top of the board so that the glue adheres evenly.  Then you go away and leave it to dry.

And this is my granddog Izzie, she had nothing to do with this, but I thought you would all enjoy a picture of seeing her cuteness.

Next we had a bit of a hiccup.  It happens, there were no instructions, we just made this up as we went along.  I thought that we needed foam behind the fabric, why I don’t know, but after we put foam on the board, I could quickly see that it would have made it too cushy and that wasn’t the look I wanted, so we discarded the foam.  Bad picture, sorry

At this point, yours truly actually got up out of her chair, put down the camera and pressed the fabric and the guys started stapling it to the board.  I’m getting excited now, because it’s all starting to gel!  Did I mention how great this fabric is?  It’s 54” wide, so no seams, it’s woven fabric, it has texture and body, and it only cost $16.49 a yard.  John bought a yard and a half, but I think a yard and a quarter would have been plenty.  The extra fabric did allow us to position the script exactly where we wanted it.

 

If you’ve never upholstered anything before, it’s not that hard.  You have to cut your fabric so that you don’t have a lot of overhang, and the edges are finished by folding the fabric envelope style, it’s something like wrapping a present, and the whole thing is accomplished by using a staple gun.

First you staple the middle of the top, then you staple the middle of the bottom, then you continue to stretch and staple the entire top and bottom of the board.  Then you turn it sideways and do the same thing – staple the middle of top and bottom, stretch the fabric so it’s taut and staple the entire sides.  Then you fold the ends envelope style, hiding all the raw edges, and fold it and staple it so that when it’s hung, the folds are on the top and bottom so that they aren’t visible from the side.

This sounds difficult, it isn’t, once you start doing it, you will get the hang of it quickly.  And of course when we finished it, we had to date it, because that’s what you do when you create your personal masterpieces.



And now it’s time to put it on the wall, and I know, you’re all thinking, oh it looks okay I guess, what’s the big deal…

Well, dear hearts, it’s not the bulletin board, it’s what you put on it.  And here it is, the finished product, well not exactly finished, as bulletin boards are always a work in progress, arranging and rearranging as the seasons change and your family grows.

Without further ado, drum roll, please for Jan’s better than Pottery Barn’s bulletin board.   TADA….  (click pictures to enlarge)

You be the judge, which would you rather have?  The one above from Pottery Barn for $170 after shipping, or Jan’s for $60.  I know, I know, I’m highly prejudiced, but I just love it!!!!  Even though I have stuff plastered all over the script, I think that the lettering just gives it another dimension. 

If you’re wondering what the ruler thingie is at the top, hubby got it at a tag sale, it’s an old  lumber grading stick.  I was selling it on eBay, decided it was just perfect for my board, so I stopped the listing and confiscated it to anchor my snapshots.  I have a ton of picture frames, so I used some of them, too.  I found all kinds of things around the house to use, it’s fun to see what you can come up with.

This was such a fun project, it was just like the old days, Larry and John working together.  Next we’re going to be heading to Nashville, as Deanna wants a crown built for above her bed, they’re going to drape gauzy fabric around the bed and anchor it with the crown.

So that’s my bulletin board, if anyone is interested in making it and has questions, just send me an email.

Happy Crafting…

~ Jan

Poor, pitiful me…..

I woke at 3am, my throat was burning, my ears were hurting, I was congested, but I went back to sleep thinking that I would be fine this morning.

Yeah, sure thing.  I feel like heck, crap, hell!!!

Everything aches, I have chills, my nose is running, my eyes burn, I’m one miserable old(er) girl!  I called Lindsay, she started having same symptoms yesterday afternoon.   I shouldn’t complain, poor Linds feels like heck, crap, hell!!! and she’s 8 months preggers! And my buddy, V, is having similar issues as well.

I should just post a picture of that bulletin board and be done with it, but I want you all to see how we made it happen.

But, once again, it has to wait.  Right now I’m going to curl up in the chair with an afghan, Maggie and a cup of hot tea and will this to all to go away.  *sigh heard round the world*

I’ve been on a holiday…

I have been visiting my favorite little person in the whole world, so the bulletin board post has taken a back seat.  It’s coming soon, I’m playing catch-up right now.

Abby at 33 months is just amazing.  She tells her Mama when the arrow is green and it’s time to turn when they’re in traffic, she fusses at the cars in line ahead because she’s in a hurry to go, she calls the traffic line painted on the concrete the “finish line,” and she tells her Mother that her mobile’s batteries are dead and that she needs to buy new batteries.

She brought me her Doodler Pad where she had drawn pictures and told me that it was an “Illustration” and that she made it.

She loves taking pictures with our cell phones, and having her picture taken as well. I see Grammie buying her a “real” toddler camera for her birthday.

She cried and cried when we left, not because we were going, but because we were taking the iPad.  And now when we power down the iPad and she see’s the Apple Logo, she say’s, “It’s a MAC!”

She amazes us, as your grandchildren amaze you.  It’s so much fun being with her, and only five more weeks until her little brother is born now.  Grandchildren, what a beautiful thing…

Not today after all…

Life is unexpected, but that’s what makes it fun.  Bulletin board has to wait, sorry guys, I know, I know, I PINKIE swore, too.

Later…

My bulletin board is finished!!!!!

This has taken way too long, but it was such fun.  And yes, I’m the queen of overkill, so there is a lot of stuff on it, but I do love it.

All my favorite things right in front of me on the computer, so now I can gaze up and look at them anytime I want.  Lots of smiles to look at.

But we all know that bulletin boards are never finished, and I’m missing some friend’s pictures, but I’ll add to and take away when I have time.

You want to see it?  Just for all of you, I not only have pictures, but detailed instructions in case you love it, too, and want one.  Coming this afternoon. 

Pinkie swear…

~ jan

Tis the season…

The kids just left, the house is too quiet now. *sigh* It was such a good visit, despite the gawdawful temperatures that have turned my Home Sweet Heavensville into Hellville, we had a wonderful time.

I won’t even go into how nauseating this heat is, you’re all right there with me.  We had so much fun, despite the fact that we were prisoners inside the house.  Even the fireworks weren’t as enjoyable as past years.

We did have Posey County cantaloupe, pictured above, which is the best fruit you’ve ever put in your mouth. It’s grown nearby in sandy soil, prolific, despite the draught this year, and the flavor is absolutely amazing.  Deanna just loved it, it was so refreshing…

We did venture out to the movies and actually saw something that we all enjoyed, The Lucky One.  It was so good, here’s a trailer if you’re interested.

John helped us all week,  it was wonderful to get things done.  Best of all, he and LC built my bulletin board, which is totally fabulous, imo.  I took lots of pictures while they were building it, and I’ll post soon.  It turned out better than I thought it would, and I knew it would be great, the fabric just totally makes it!  I’m so excited.

We had great food, too, I posted recipes for White Wine Sangria and Lemon Raspberry Muffins on Jan CAN Cook.

But for now, I’m going to eat lunch, kick back and just do nothing.  Then I must finish up the new header.  I’m almost there…

~ jan

George W. Bush, a great humanitarian…

Strip away the politics, look at the picture for what it is.  Such a kind man, doing such good work….

And no, I didn’t vote for him, but somehow I don’t see our current president doing this with white children post presidency.  I know what you’re thinking, and trust me, I’m the first to admit that race shouldn’t factor in here, and it doesn’t at all in my eyes, and I would think not for 99% of the women that read this blog,  but I’m just sayin….

And don’t worry, I’m not going all political on you, this, and my prior post, are just a coincidence, pinky swear ;o)

~ Jan, getting real this morning…

Medicare Supplement Insurance just went up by 37%

Hubby has Mutual of Omaha supplemental Medicare plan, it’s a highly rated plan with good coverage, and it costs him $101 a month.

His insurance agent called yesterday, they just raised the premium to $138 per month, that’s a 37% increase, and I’m afraid that this is just the beginning!

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA 

Happy July 4th…

John and Deanna came yesterday to spend the 4th thru the weekend with us.  She brought me the loveliest flowers from her garden.

Veggies from her garden, too.  I sauteed squash, onions, and peppers in bacon drippings last night.  It was wonderful!

I went to the woods yesterday, and picked Abby’s very, very favorite flowers, Queen Anne’s Lace,  put them in a Ball Jar with red food coloring, just like Mother used to do.  John had a big smile on his face at the memory.  This morning they are starting to turn orange, I’ll post another picture once they are colored.  We’re visiting Lindsay and Ryan later this month, I want to color some for Abby, too.

They brought Petunia, the bunny, it was too hot to leave her at home.  They had just come in the house, Izzie is fascinated with Petunia.  She just lays and gazes at her in her crate, and Petunia inches up nose to nose with Izzie.  Aren’t animals the most wonderful thing?

And that’s our July 4th so far.  It’s another scorcher, already 95 degrees at 11 o’clock, so we’re obviously not going to be picnicking by the river to watch the fireworks like we normally do.

But, oh how I love having my family around me, so we’re in for a fun weekend.  John picked up my fabric for the bulletin board, so the guys are going to build it for me.  More pictures to come.

Keep cool and have a wonderful holiday!

~ jan

Sirius Radio, Escape, Channel 69

I have my neighbor, Marti, to thank for this one.  She asked me this spring if I listened to "Escape” on Sirius Radio.  I told her I did, and I really thought I did, but I was so wrong.

One day I went to their station list, realized that Escape, Channel 69, was not what I was listening to and tuned in.

Well, first of all, you have to realize that I’m a huge fan of elevator music, but this is so much more, O!M!G! it’s a wonderful station.

The channel is described as "easy, Instrumental and vocal favorites and the great popular melodies popular over the last sixty years.”  I listen to it all the time, and last weekend the family was sitting in the living room later in the evening, Escape was playing, and Lindsay loved it, too.  It’s so relaxing, just a great mix of music.  So, if you’re a Sirius Radio person, and don’t know this channel, give it a listen.  It’s a goodie.  Pinkie swear it is!

~ jan

Now I understand why old women wear “dusters”

If you’re older than dirt like me, you remember dusters.  In fact, on any hot day you can go to Wally World and see old women still wearing something similar.  Dusters, housedresses, they used to be what women wore in the summer.

And now I get it, I really do.   After days of wicked heat, and more to follow, even in an air conditioned house, I don’t want anything touching me.  Now I’m not about to wear a housedress, so I’m living in my nightshirts right now, willing the doorbell not to ring.

And now I’m wondering if all of those old women wear underwear with their “housedresses?”  Ewwwww, what a thought, but I bet a lot of them don’t.

Actually the “dusters” in this picture are pretty cute.  I guess I’m being nostalgic, I think I actually had something similar to this way, way, back in the day when I was just a girl.

They probably sell these things at Sears, and even though it’s so ‘friggin hot I’m miserable, I think I’ll take a pass.  But give me five years and who knows…

Pottery Barn Bulletin Board for a Fraction of the Cost…

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.

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.

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

It also comes in this taupe and charcoal combination.

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. 

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. 

~ Jan

Sally Field looks great without plastic surgery!

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…

 

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!!!!!!

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…

I have company in the sunroom today…

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!!!

Around the neighborhood…

It 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.

It’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. 

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

The 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…