It's here! It's here!

Well, not quite here, but the delivery driver called and asked for specifics about delivering it so it must be almost here. It's in town which is significantly closer than Thailand.

Yep. I know you've been anxiously awaiting (or more likely totally forgot about) my bag decision. I chose this one and had it resized to fit my laptop and diapers.

Source Tippy Thai, http://www.etsy.com/shop/tippythai

It will be here today. I almost want to drive all the way over to my husband's office (I had it delivered there because I'm flying out tomorrow and wasn't sure if I'd be at mine when it arrived) to get it.

I got really antsy and checked package tracking to see if it had arrived  yet.

Notice anything funny about that? I checked this morning. According to the tracking information it was on the vehicle for delivery as of this afternoon. It's all timey-wimey.

DIY Chalkboard Upcycled Mirror

Hey kids! It's (How)Tuesday. I haven't done a how-to post in a while but felt inspired to bust one out today even though on this project what I really learned was what not to do. Don't worry. Doing it right it's not super elaborate or time consuming, but I think it made a big improvement. I had everything on hand so it was free to do which was an extra bonus, especially since I think I'll need to do it right one more time if I want it to be perfect.

I started with this fabulous mirror a mirror with a similar vibe to this one that my mom pulled out of someone's dumpster or off their curb or something. I forgot to include the picture and it's on my laptop which is in intensive care at the moment.

Interesting note: I had to image search "etched mirror goose" to find that image. If you image search "duck mirror" you get a TON of pictures of this

Anyway, she left the mirror on my porch and I poached it. I figure if I make use of it becomes mine. Adverse possession and whatnot. 

I gave it a quick coat of chalkboard paint (no primer, no nothing) and sent this text.



I gave it a couple more coats and left it on the porch for a month or so before I got back to it. Hence the date of that text relative to now. I have a baby, okay?

When I did I noticed that it had some serious brushstrokes.


See those little lines? They looked worse in person and something told me they might be a little problematic for writing. I did some internet research and found this helpful tutorial.

Turns out you should, at least theoretically, use primer and a foam brush and apply the coats are right angles to each other. Not exactly earth shattering, but potentially important. I sanded the surface in a circular motion with a sanding block to smooth out the lines until it felt smooth and gave it another coat with a foam brush and perpendicular to the previous ones. in case you're curious I didn't have any issues with the paint standing up to sanding even without primer so I'd just skip it out of laziness. It probably really still needs another coat of paint to be totally smooth, but I decided to hang it up instead. Perfect is the enemy of done and done is pretty important to me at the moment.

Here it is above my mantel.

Stay tuned for my fall mantel reveal next week. I'm going to join a link party on Centsational Girl on the 25th.

It's Happening...To Me

I've seen a lot of posts lately from my favorite bloggers about how the dreams they thought were so out of reach they didn't even want to verbalize them are coming true.

Ana never thought she would author a whole book of plans, but she has one due out on October 9th and for sale on Amazon. It's on my wishlist by the way.

Source: amazon.com/

Marian never thought she'd have her own line of paint, it was her pie-in-the-sky dream, but Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint is for sale online and in over 80 retailers in the U.S. and abroad.

Source: Miss Mustard Seed, missmustardseed.com

So what is this dream that's starting to come true for me? My dream was to be a work at home mom who created and painted furniture and taught other women how to build stuff. A little niche maybe, but that's what's great about dreams. That's my dream job. Well, that and teaching traditional skills like canning and cheese making. I'll get there someday, but for right now I'm super excited to have my first building student.

How did this happen?

I saw this project from Remodelaholic on Pinterest and repinned it. (I'm amberhibbs in case you want to follow me. You can also just click the button near the top right of the page)

Source: remodelaholic.com via Amber on Pinterest

And this morning I had a comment from a friend of mine asking if I would help her build one. An extended facebook message conversation ensued and this weekend she'll be my very first woodworking student. I can't wait.
. 

I Found This Humerus

You thought I misspelled that, didn't you? I love some good old fashioned bioarchaeology humor. No seriously, I laughed out loud. I'm a huge nerd.

Source: http://jokideo.com

It's a Bag Decision

It's over.

She's treated me well and we've had a good run, but I think its finally time to call it quits with my bag.Even after some instagram editing love she's looking pretty sad. Lest you think I'm giving up on her too soon, she's already been repaired a couple of times and I'm positive even the shoe repair guy who patches her up thinks it's time to move on.

I think it's a good thing. She's more of a reflection of who I thought I was three years ago than of who I am now. I'm really happy that I know that.

I need to find a new bag. My basic criteria are that it need to function as both a laptop bag and a diaper bag and I'd like to have something handmade so I know I'm supporting someone like myself who wants to make a living doing something aweomely creative. Other than that I'm pretty open. Or at least I thought I was until I started looking at the bags I've been mulling over for a while and I want your input.

There was this one from Tippy Thai. I promised to buy it for myself when I finished my dissertation, but never did. It's 12.5"x12"x4" and costs $39.00 plus shipping. Since they custom make each one I think I would get it with a brown interior to match my current inner laptop  bag and large enough to fit my laptop. The listing says small size increases are free, but I'm not sure something in the range of 16"x14"x4" would be. I sent a message to check.

Source: Tippy Thai on Etsy

Then there was this beyond happy one the Meg recommended from The Pleated Poppy. It's 21"x11"x4" sells for $85.00 with free shipping, but is sold out as a result of crazy demand. I might be worth waiting for though. I sent a message asking when another would be available.

Source; The Pleated Poppy, shop.thepleatedpoppy.com

I went searching for another chevron bag and found this fabulous one from BagEnvy. I can pick the fabric and the accent color so I could have one that's chartreuse if I want, but I kind of dig the yellow. and I'd see if I can get it with a brown accent/interior. The large is 16-18"x14"x4" and sells for $85 plus shipping.

Source: Bag Envy Handbags, www.etsy.com/shop/BagEnvy

While I was perusing BagEnvy I found this little number. It's totally not what I would usually go for, but there's something I like about it. Same bag, same price, cherry blossom fabric.

Source: Bag Envy Handbags, www.etsy.com/shop/BagEnvy

So what do you think? In the process of writing I think I made up my mind, but maybe not. Input is welcome.

You've got to have priorities

I haven't posted much lately. Like, at all. I keep meaning to, but I can't seem to find the time to write a decent post of substance or take any cool pictures.

I also don't seem to find time to do the laundry, or the dishes, or pick up the house. I felt a little guilty about the state of things last week. Then I read this post by my unidirectional blog friend (i.e. I read her blog every day and think of us as friends, but she has absolutely no idea who I am), Shauna's husband.

Matt, that's Shauna's husband, posted pictures of their house in it's un-staged condition. It looked really familiar. I don't have all the different things going on that she does, but that's irrelevant. I read several blogs regularly and they always post gorgeous photos of beautifully staged rooms.

If you're asking yourself how I find time to read blogs, but not to clean my house you should know that I'm questioning our friendship. The point I'm trying to make here is about how I feel about our home.

I know their homes don't always look like that, but I don't really know it, ya know? Rationally, I know they must have messy days too, but emotionally I don't. And mine is currently pretty bad.  Like I'm embarrassed when I have to let craigslist shoppers in to see things I've posted bad.I mean, seriously, I'm also wearing my very last clean work appropriate shirt today, this is not reasonable long term.

But you know what? I want my daughter to grow up knowing that spending time with her is far more important to me than whether or not the house is immaculate on a daily basis (or ever really). 

It turns out I'm not a lazy slob after all. I'm just a mom with her priorities in order and I feel awesome about that. Someday Norie will be all grown up and I'll have plenty of time for housework, but until then I'm going to do enough to make sure that the house is somewhat reasonable and we have some clean clothes and tasty food to eat without obsessing about it not being perfect or getting everything done. I'll keep choosing hanging out with her over housework as much as I possibly can.

And yes, that photo is totally instagram. I'm amberhibbs. You can follow me if you want.

Infographic Friday: Social Media Demographics

I haven't posted in a while, but I found this today from Online MBA and thought I'd share. Happy weekend!