2014 Comes To An End

It seems like this year went in a blur.  I know, everyone says that every year, but there's something about getting older that makes it more real.  My babies growing up, my hair growing whiter, my waistline growing in the wrong direction...well, at least I can work on some of those items.  One thing I can say with a big smile on my face:  I did it.  I blogged everyday this month.  I didn't think I'd do it, because I couldn't figure out what I would blog about.  In the end I decided to use my blog for what I'd originally intended it, which was a daily diary.  I would write about what went on during my day, and if it was a boring day I would write that.  Instead, I found that there was plenty to write about.  Life isn't all that boring ya'll!  There are always funny stories, mini-adventures and minor mishaps to write about, even on the quietest days.  I think I'm gonna enjoy looking back at what was going on during December 2014.

After my daughter had returned the Bare Minerals Starter Kit I'd bought her and gotten her store credit, she wondered about what she would get with the $45 left on the card (she had purchased a brush but Ulta was out of stock on almost everything because of the Christmas rush).  This morning as I was waking up and thinking about it being the last day of the year, I remembered I had reward points with Ulta which I could redeem for a $3 credit.  I know it isn't much, but they expire today (hence why I remembered them today).  I told my daughter she was welcome to use them since I wasn't going to be ordering anything from Ulta today and I didn't want the points to go to waste.  (She'd had points too, but she used them the day she bought the brush).  My daughter then went online and for the next 3 hours looked over and tried to decide what she wanted to purchase.  My daughter is a very intelligent young lady, but she doesn't do well with options.  She will second-guess herself and go back and forth trying to make a decision.  She called me over several times to look at this or find out about that.  I think by the end she was mentally exhausted, but she finally came up with a shopping bag with $58 worth of products.  As she went through the checkout process, she came to the payment section and keyed in the number on the card the store had given her.  It asked for a pin number.  We looked all over the card but there was none.  She hadn't been given one at the store either.  We both checked the website looking for where this infamous pin number was found, but to no avail.  Finally, I called Ulta's customer service number that was on the card.  It was a wrong number :P.  So I looked up the number on the website and called.  Finally I got through to a customer service rep, who explained that store credits cannot be used for online orders.  Gee, thanks for telling me.  Three hours of searching gone down the drain, along with my $3 worth of points.  Oh well.  Ce la vie.

For the last day of the year I went with a traditional meal:  roast pork.  Or as my son calls it, roast beast (a la Grinch).  It spent 3 1/2 hours in the oven.  I hope that the whole house smelled delicious.  I don't know because I woke up with a stuffed up nose.  Allergy season, ugh!!  I know several people have been complaining about the same thing.  It's not supposed to be this hot and muggy at the end of December.  It throws everything off.  The whole day was cloudy and gloomy, too.  No rain, just clouds and gloom.  It's like I'm not really in Florida.  This isn't what Florida is supposed to look like.   Anyway, getting back to the pork; let me just say the taste was off the charts!  It took me back to my childhood.  Yeah, that good.  We had the pork with white rice, pinto beans, and french fries, because I forgot to make salad or anything else.  That's what allergies do to me.  They mess up my brain.

I decided that, even though we weren't going anywhere or doing anything special, I would still fix myself up.  I showered and washed my hair, did my makeup using the Dazzle colors from my Bare Minerals kit, and blow dried my hair.  It turned out beautiful!  Why is it my hair always looks best when I have nowhere to go?!  I used the eye primer from Bare Minerals that I'd used Christmas Eve, the Gold Nugget one, but this time I used a teeny tiny amount.  It was about the size of a pinhead.  The amount was perfect.  It went on like a golden bronze color all over my lid and above the crease.  Once again I realized that when it comes to Bare Minerals, less is more.  I did a smokey eye but not a very dark one.  Getting older means smoked out eye makeup looks aging.  Along with the gold nugget, which can be used as a primer and an eye color, I used Tantalize which is sort of a charcoal brown colored powder eyeshadow.  I put it on the lid and blended it up just above the crease, then used it as a liner on my bottom lashes.  I lined my top lashes with the black eyeliner that came with the Dazzle kit.  It looks gorgeous!  I've always liked bold eye colors, but I find I'm more drawn to neutrals now.  This color is a cross between a neutral and a bold look, and I'm quite pleased with it.  I will remember 2014 as the year I was introduced to Bare Minerals and fell in love with makeup all over again.

We're staying up late to await the arrival of the new year.  We couldn't go to sleep if we wanted to; our backyard neighbor is doing some really loud fireworks in their yard.  Poor Molly is scared to death with all the noise :-(.  I guess it's not a bad thing.  I can stay up watching past episodes of the Tonight Show - that Jimmy Fallon is a funny guy!  I watched the episode with Carrie Underwood where she sang her newest hit, Something In The Water.  The lyrics to that song really touched my heart!  She's an amazing singer with incredible talent and a heart for Jesus.

That's gonna be it for 2014.  God bless our nation, my family, my friends, and you, whoever and wherever you are.  Jesus loves you.  Have a safe, happy, and blessed New Year.

Has It Been That Long?!

I knew it had been a long time since I'd posted anything on my blog.  But I didn't realize just HOW long it had been!  I wish I'd come on just to add a few little tidbits here and there of what's been going on - remembering everything will be a task! Let's see what I come up with...

Since September of last year, I've been very busy - too busy to sit down and get things put in writing.  October is, of course, Halloween.  My son and his best friend dressed up for our church's Harvest festival.  My son was dressed as Robin, again.  His best friend made a Minecraft costume that was the hit of the festival.  What an original idea!

November was busy because it's when I finish my Christmas shopping, and it's also Thanksgiving.  We were blessed with my sister and brother-in-law spending Thanksgiving with us for the first time.  It made the holiday less lonely having them with us.  Of course it made the thought of Christmas even lonelier.  God knew how I was feeling, so He surprised me:  my sister and brother-in-law came back down for Christmas as well!  It made for a very busy but very joyful time for us.

December also marked a huge milestone for me.  I've now officially lived on this earth for half a century.  Ugh.  It doesn't sound very glamorous, does it?  I didn't have a party (too close to every other holiday), but I chose to do something different, and that was in my home.  I love decorating, moving furniture, choosing new things and shaking old things up.  My choice for my home's new look:  something with a Northern feel.

I'd always wanted one of those media fireplaces!  I thought they looked so cool, giving the home that warm, cozy feeling, even though we rarely need a fireplace in South Florida.  However, when I saw this media fireplace by Better Homes and Gardens at Walmart for $249, I didn't care what the weather was like - it was just what I was looking for!  Add 2 matching bookcases at $60 each, and I was able to give my living room a newer, more contemporary-while-still-traditional look for under $500.  It made turning 50 a little more tolerable ;-).

That was completed in January, after all the Christmas decorations were put away.  February brought new decorating challenges, this time in the form of the outside of the house.  Our house was in desperate need of a paint job.  Before that could be done, however, the roof tiles needed to be cleaned.  I hired someone to do that - no way was I climbing up on the roof with a pressure cleaner! - and not a moment too soon.  Our town was sending letters out to all the residents who hadn't cleaned their roofs, giving them a deadline to get it done.  I was glad I didn't have to be told my roof was disgusting!  Once the roof was nicely scrubbed (it turned out even better than I'd expected), the painting began.  I started with the dividing wall in my backyard.  It's a cement wall that our old neighbors behind us had put it.  At one point it'd gotten full of ivy which peeled the paint off.  The difference after painting was night and day.

That's a glimpse of the before and after, after being on the left.  It looked like a brand new wall!  After that was done (it took a total of 4 days), painting the actual house was next.  Yes, I painted it.  Me.  Why yes, I am insane.  Why do you ask?

The color on the house had faded to the point that it was peach colored - not what I wanted at all.  Besides, our dog Molly had gotten into the habit of rubbing herself against the wall, leaving a long dirty mark all along the back of the house.  I went with a brown color, Country something-or-other, to create contrast with the roof which is lighter and has terracotta and light grey tiles.  The difficult part of painting the back and sides of the house was 1) the sun burning down and roasting me, and 2) getting up and down the ladder.  This was a piece of cake, though, compared to doing the front of the house.

Before

After

Getting good pictures of the front of the house is hard due to some trees that block the view.  Still, I think the contrast is noticeable.  The trim went much lighter - the color is called Milk Toast - and it set off the color of the house and garage/front doors beautifully.  The garage door was originally white.  It was painted some 7 years ago in a brown color that, like the walls, had faded to peach.  It was hideous.  Now the doors are dark chocolate brown and they look clean and sophisticated.  I'm very pleased with the results.

Of course, getting that done made the area next to the front door stand out in a bad way.  Because of the way the roof pitches, the area in front of the living room window would get flooded, causing mud and dirt instead of a nice planting area.  Anything I planted there died or was stunted because of the excess water during the rainy season.  There was only one way to fix it.  Get rid of it.  How?  Pavers, that's how.

And once again, I did it myself.

 I had to start with clearing the area, laying down sand, then installing Brock Paver Base.  The hardest part was working in a tightly confined area - just 9' by 6'.  It made putting everything down level a challenge.  In the end it did work out very nicely.  My daughter helped me with the design.  There are some pipes that stick out of the ground that had to be left that way, and getting around them was yet another challenge, but she did a great job.

The end result is neater, cleaner, drains well and No More Mud!!!  It looks great, and the feeling of accomplishment at having done it myself (another project costing about $450) is beyond words.  I'm thrilled with the look!

So, what have I been up to lately?  Gardening.  I've started a veggie garden in my backyard - small, just a little corner by the patio.  I've planted butter crunch lettuce, spring mix lettuces, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, cilantro, basil, and oregano.  Along the edge of the house we have blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.  For the kids, of course.  I'm allergic to berries.

I started my cucumbers from seed.  They sprouted in less than a week.

I saw how my cousin was growing lettuces in bags, and decided to give it a try.  They are progressing nicely.

This is my green bean plant the day it sprouted. Just barely noticeable.

And here it is, the very next day.  I was so excited!  It's continuing to grow and thrive.

Well, that's my recap.  I hope I'll be more diligent in keeping my blog up, especially now as I become Arlene the Gardener.  Thanks for sticking around, if you have.  More fun to come!