Updating The Deck Deck Goose, Part 2

Hey Monday Maniacs!!! Welcome back to another edition of ol' Never Ever Listless! Last Friday, I left you hanging in some major suspense about what other exciting updates I made to the deck and what oh what I learned about spray painting terracotta pots. Today is the day that I reveal it all!

I showed you the pallet table I made, and the pots that I spray painted yellow. When I was buying the spray paint I saw some perfect yellow pots for $6 but the spray paint was a few dollars cheaper and I really wanted to reuse the pots that I already had. So, spray paint was bought and pots were painted.

See the fancy pot situation below.

Look at those lovely pots just gleaming away near my little leg chub sweetie.

And, seriously, check out all of that beautiful green! It is like we are living Swiss Family Robinson style! How could we possibly leave this place?

Onto the terracotta mess that I created! It turns out that there is special spray paint for terracotta pots like this one. I did not notice those spray paints and went with Joe Regular Spray Paint. Well., it didn't work. About 1 month later the pots looked like this:

Not only did poor Alberta Spruce (in the middle) lose all of her yellow, but I also managed to just about kill her completely. My thumb is not green. It is yellow from all the flaking spray paint.

I went back to the store and picked up 2 of those pre-yellowed pots that I was eyeing on the first go-round. 

I said the Spruce's time of death and transplanted the other two.

Much better!!!

Don't click away just yet! There's more! I also got new outdoor pillows and a new camera! Overstock.com had a pretty good discount code going a few weeks ago and I used it on some already-inexpensive pillows. Here they are!

Spring flowers even popped up to check out the cushy new seats. 

I also updated something else! My camera! Wooo Hooo! I got a DSLR. I just have it set on auto right now and I'm sure it will take me some time to figure it out, but check out this photo of my babytoddler. Better quality?

Does anyone have any tips for me when learning how to use a DSLR?

Updating The Deck Deck Goose!

Eeeeehhhh- sorry about that one! I got a little cheesy with the title.

Happy March, everyone! And to those people who have birthdays on February 29th: Happy Birthday and I'm sorry!

It is time to blast off through our deck transformation!!! That may be a bit of an exaggeration. Not the blast off part, we are going to do some serious blasting off. The deck wasn't exactly transformed, but it did get a little cleaning, a little paint, a little bit of leftover pallets from here, some new furniture, pots, plants, and PILLOWS!

Here is how the deck was looking when we bought the house. It was huge and had lots of potential... potential that you will soon learn we did not take full advantage of.

They did have a beautiful rosemary bush that Scott and I managed to kill. 

We did a stain-paint on the deck to make it darker. I really liked how it turned out, but we had a tree on the side of the house that constantly spewed black goo all over the deck. After we had finally had enough of the goo spewing Scott cut down the limbs of the tree that were the trouble-makers. We cleaned the deck and stain-painted it again to cover the black mess.

That made it look a thousand times better instantly! But, I didn't want to stop there. I was ready to yellow that deck up. Yellow seems to sneak its way into every room in my house. So, I made a coffee table out of 2 pallets, some scrap wood, 4 casters, and some paint.

I also took the three terracotta pots that we had outdoors and spray painted them. If you are interested in spray painting terracotta pots please read on to learn what NOT to do!

Here is one of the pots before. Yes, it is the most typical terracotta pot ever. You're welcome for the photo.

How about a pallet table shot and before and after pot shots? Yes!

Hidden baby photo.

Look at those chubby legs!

Aren't those trees beautiful!!! 

This post is a little too long for my liking. So, stay tuned on Monday for your terracotta pot NOTS and some more deck updates.

Happy weekend, everyone! Be sure to stop by The Etc. Lists tomorrow to get some more of those chubby baby legs in your life!

Tree Houses Are The Coolest!

We've talked houseboats. I think we all know what the next logical step is.

Let's do it... let's talk tree houses!

There are some UNBELIEVABLE tree houses out there.

My granddad built an amazing tree house on a visit from Australia one summer. I didn't know how lucky I was to have such an awesome playground. I should have realized it every time I looked outside and the whole neighborhood was playing on it even though my sister and I weren't out there. 

Here is a bit more of the playground. 

There are a few note-worthy things about the photo above:

1. My Granddad was not usually as cranky as he appears to be in these photos.

2. My Granddad wore nice pants and a nice shirt no matter what he was doing- including building a playground.

3. That sandbox got disgusting real fast. Neighborhood cats- I will say no more.

4. In the first photo, you might think Kelly is wearing a helmet. Wrong! That is her hair!

When I was a little older we moved to a house that did not have a tree house. The neighborhood boys built a tree house of sorts in the woods. It was on an old rickety bridge so it was actually a fort. But let's pretend it was a tree house so I can tell you about it in this post. It had a secret escape door in the floor hidden by leaves. The door was on a hinge that you could pull up and jump down into the creek. Pretty impressive carpentry work for some little kids.

I don't know that I will be the one to build Cora a tree house but I sure hope someone gets assigned that job. Tree houses are fun!

Here is the tree house that everyone knows... The Swiss Family Robinson tree house. I should have included that in my Spooky TV And Movie Houses post. That was one scarrrrrrry movie!

Ohhhhh My Gooooodnesss! I would have been in heaven if I had this as a child.

This is a hotel. A tree house-airplane hotel in Costa Rica. Craziness.

This house would be almost 9 stories tall! It is supports by 6 trees. One of which has a diameter of 12 feet.

Why, yes! I think I would like to live in a space bubble. 

No one even knows that this tree house exists. It is the sneakiest tree house around.

This awesome one is a restaurant in New Zealand.

Here are a couple slightly more realistic tree houses.

This one is adorable but a bit you might have to hire an architect to help you... possibly George Costanza, the architect.

How colorful! 

I was telling my sister about this post and she asked, "like Berenstain Bear tree houses?" 

Whhhhaaaaat! How could I have missed that? So, Berenstain Bears it is.

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And the indoors:

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Ohhhh what fun! 

There may just have to be a part 2 to "Tree Houses Are The Coolest" in the future.

And a little NL Public Service Announcement: 

I have run out of time. I am sorry to say it but I cannot find enough time in the day to continue to produce 7 posts per week. So, starting this week, I am only going to post my regular random house-related/organization-related/whatever in the world random stuff I can think of on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Saturday and Sunday I will continue posting Cora-filled posts or other posts where I am likely the only one interested.

Thanks for reading!!! 

Swiss Family, Indoor Tree House, Plane Tree House, TN Tree House, Space Bubble, Secret Tree House, Sweet Yellow Tree House, Colorful Tree House

How To Clean Your Make Up Brushes (And More!!!)

It was only a matter of time, people... only a matter of time
before I went over how to clean your make up brushes!

Yes, yes... things just got interesting on NL.

This cleaning has been a longggggg time coming for me. I have make up brushes that are at least 5 years old and have maybe been run under some water twice. Apparently, that isn't cutting it. I am taking a cue from my gross-o face. I'm on a mission to see what I can do to change things in that department.

Recently, my eyes decided to both develop dry skin like you have never seen. This caused me to age about 30 years over night.

Next, the pimple factory on my chin popped up. So, I decided the first step was to try cleaning my makeup brushes. And, as usual, I am going to take you along for the whole she-bang!

YOU.ARE.WELCOME!

Real Simple suggests that you spray your brushes weekly (craziness... they obviously meant every half decade) and that you deep clean them monthly.

First you put a little dab of baby shampoo into your hand. Make sure to wash that hand up good first. 

Then swirl your brush around in the shampoo.

Have a bowl of clean, warm water ready. After you're done with the baby shampoo, swirl the brush around in the water. Make sure you don't dunk the whole brush in or the bristle glue might come undone.

Then check out your gross water. Seriously, it was like a whole tube of makeup in that water. 

With this brush, my hand was super dirty as soon as the bristles nuzzled up against the baby shampoo. 

Now, it is time to let those furry little things air dry on a clean dry towel. I used an old one because I didn't want any make-up residue grossing up my fancy-shmancy towels.

Ta-da! The next morning I checked them and they were dry and ready to roll!

Have you ever wanted to see the inside of a make-up brush? Of course you have! Here is your opportunity!

It turns out that the whole process was pretty easy stuff. If cleaning my brushes more often than every presidential election makes a difference for the sweet pimple factory on my chin I am going to be one happy lady.

In other make-up related news, I am a big Bare Minerals fan (and still am). But, I didn't feel like driving the extra 15 minutes today and making my way through a packed mall to restock my foundation. I also hear that their ingredients are full of some serious junk that you don't want on your face. So, I decided to try out Cover Girl Trublend Minerals

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And the outcome... Booo! I am not sure that they are trying to replace Bare Minerals but if they are they definitely failed.

I was also in need of some mascara and went with the el-cheapo, Cover Girl Professional

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And the outcome.... No problem with clumping, which is often a problem I have with mascara. But it seems like it barely coats the lashes. The thing I loved most about it was that it had a nice click when you tightened the cap all the way. I don't know why but it was very satisfactory click!

I am in no way a make-up connoisseur so please don't take too much notice of me.

However, some of my friends are and I have been burying away their advice:

Here are some of the products they love:

• Dior - Diorshow Mascara
• L'Oreal Vouminous Million Lashes
• Clinique moisturizer is good for Eczema
• Olay - Regenerist Moisturizer

Not so into:

• Maybelline - Volume Express Mascara

Since this is not a terribly exciting post I will throw a little yard work Before And After in!

It is really going to wow you to see what a leaf blower can do.

MAGIC! 

Fascinating, yes? That didn't do the trick, did it? Then I will give you more!

How about a Cora photo!

Scott took that photo. He said he was wearing the bowl as a hat and Cora wanted it. She took it, put it on the ground and sat in it.

And, last but never ever least... The Would You Rather Question Of The Day!

WYR... go to a big one-day indoor family reunion
or
go to a pretty decent water park on a hot day (assuming the travel time is the same for both)?

Thanksgiving: Round 4. A Few More Decorations & Some Thanksgiving Food!

Welcome back to Thanksgiving and Fall decorating!

I am here to help you however I can.

I have given you a post full of traditions, one with my thanks jar and holiday books , one with kiddie decorations and fancy candles, and one chock-a-block full of acorns and wreaths. Is it possible that you are still in need of some decorating help? Do you need help with a festive centerpiece?

Maybe you need an easy recipe? Could you be looking to make pilgrim hats out of candy? WELL, YOU ARE IN LUCK!!!

I have a few more inspiring photos of Fall decorations and then we move onto some delicious (delicious-looking, anyway) food!

Round up your cute old jars and throw some berry-filled twigs in them = GORGEOUS!

Keep things light and breezy (yes, breezy) with some faded leaves, some light colored glass vases and some white-washed mini pumpkins. Just  go ahead and do it. It will be glorious!

Break out your pretty cloth napkins and some raffia (I heart raffia). Cut leaf shapes out of some pretty paper and punch a hole in it. Then, ta-da! You have fabulousness!

Tissue paper and twig leaf garland! So pretty! Get some colored tissue paper. Cut it into leaf shapes. Glue on some twigs. Then glue that onto a piece of yarn.

Everyone has some extra time on Thanksgiving day (FALSE). That's OK... Make time to run out and trim a couple of trees! Your trees will look at bit tidier and your table will be a bit more festive!

When you see gorgeous leaves like the ones below preserve them and use them in your Thanksgiving centerpiece. Check this website out for instructions on how to preserve them.

How about a little Thanksgiving food! (Sorry people, I'm a vegetarian... the meat squad won't be showin' up in these dishes).

Roasted Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Phyllo Torte

Mmmmm... Hello deliciousness! 

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Vegetable Tarte Tatin

I have zero idea what a Vegetable Tarte Tatin is but just look at it. Doesn't it look amazing.  Please get to cookin' and let me know if it tastes as good as it looks!

recipe

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

So cute! Give it a whirl and then invite me over to try it and make sure it is OK to serve! 

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Green Bean Casserole

Everyone's favorite Thanksgiving dish... yes? 

recipe

Roasted tomato and creamy goat’s cheese tart recipe

If you can find tomatoes that look that fresh at Thanksgiving please give me a call and tell me where!

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Let's end this food party the right way... with DESSERT!

shhhhh- why don't you forget the pies and pretend like you are a 3rd grader, like me!

Chocolate Pilgrim Hats

Adorable, easy, undoubtedly delicious (USE SAMOAS or the knock-offs just to be sure it is just right).

You can invite me over to test this out too, please!

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Turkey Cookies

Look at those little turkeys. They are so silly and I want to eat them... now! Seriously, how fast can someone make them for me?

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Is everyone ready for a terrific Thanksgiving get together and feast? 

To my Aussie pals: please eat something other than Vegemite and musk flavored Lifesavers on this day of fabulous food!

Hello to the Would You Rather Question of the Day!!!

WYR... be able to fly like Superman 15 times in your life (you get to pick when)
or
be the world's smartest person?


image sources: fresh and light, pretty leaves, more pretty leaves, raffia napkins, berry jar, leaf centerpiece, tissue paper leaf