What I'm Reading This Week #30

'Sup y'all!  It's Friday.  Not sure if that means anything anymore.  😆

Wednesday I was all set to caulk and be done in the bathroom but another ceiling inspection whilst on the throne said I'd better get to spackling and sanding again.  

(I believe I found our construction guy's training video.  tenor.com)

When the Mr agreed about the ceiling, I knew it was bad.  I'm just so happy that in addition to the gouges and scrapes we can't live with that painters tape is so strong that it rips everything off in one fell swoop right down to the paper.  

(dripping with sarcasm 😑)  

While waiting for that to dry, I decided no time like the present to start spackling our crown molding holes in the bedroom.  Then I got to see all of the fun stuff they left for me in there.  

"Oh, you weren't planning on using these walls again, right?  Good because I have given you free stab marks from my trowel like I'm auditioning for an unsub for the Criminal Minds reboot."  (How the hell can they have that show without Reid??)

"I bet you'd really like a channel of skim coat where the wall and ceiling meet so that it will be impossible to sand without screwing up one or both surfaces!  It's a bonus that without it being filled in that spiders and other insects can make a comfy nest for their offspring in it.  You're welcome!"

"Why yes, that is a ridge about 8" long and 1/2" higher than the rest of the ceiling that you'll have to sand it off and coat the room where you sleep with malignant dust and hope your vacuum job is good enough.  Glad you noticed!"

Now let's notice...

8 Signs You're Overdoing It With Fiber Supplements  (I always wondered about the medication part.  Good to note!)

Four Ways to Stop Imagining the Worst Will Happen  (I need to put these into practice.  Oh and also the worst (adjacent) stuff needs to stop happening so that I can have faith it won't and change my mindset.)

Sweaty Groin? Here Are 6 Tips to Keep You Dry Down There  (It's like the Amazon down there these dog days and I don't mean the store that has everything.)

The Best Way To Re-Use Tea Bags  (I haven't thought of some of these but I see a bowl of butterscotch blondie in my future!  I always use tea bags twice too.)

The Best Way To Touch Up Paint So You Don't Have To Repaint The Entire Wall  (Very good tips and I wish I knew them years ago.)

What Your Dreams About Deceased Loved Ones Could Mean, From Dream Experts  (Always great to see those who can't be physically by our sides.)

People Are Sharing The "Unusual" Cooking Hacks That Actually Make A Big Difference For Everything From Scrambled Eggs To Tomato Sauce  (Some excellent tips!  Definitely using a few especially #2 since all cakes from bakeries have been tanking lately.)

This Stray Dog "Invaded" A Wedding And Ended Up With a Whole New Life  (OMG, this is the sweetest.  Love the pics)

30 Hilariously Relatable Memes Shared On The 'Sarcasm Only' Instagram Account  (Some real gems in here and #6 is on order and I'm wearing it 24/7.)

I really have zero idea what we're doing this weekend.  I jinxed myself last week about the vacation weight because out of nowhere I had a three pound gain.  So the cortisol, lack of consistent exercise, almost zero pure water everyday and the Sunday with chicken fingers I wasn't going to stress about laughed in my face.  But the Mr lost like 7 lbs this month so go him!!  👏 🥳 📣

Anything planned for you this last July weekend?  Is it time to decorate for Fall yet?  *runs*

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Hump Day Poll: Never EVER again

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What favor/project/thing will you never EVER do again?

Whether it's loaning your truck to help people move because it got damaged last time to starting a 1000 piece puzzle when you can barely finish a Melissa and Doug wood puzzle to trying to nail a Pinterest cake.  It can be anything.

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I will never EVER in a million years do dark paint.  Ever. In. My. Life.  

We are two weeks out and STILL do not have a complete bathroom.  Wanna know why?  

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Because not only am I having to sand and re-sand and spackle and re-spackle to fix what the ceiling jerks screwed up/didn't do to completion but when the painters tape was pulled off, it took paint from both the ceiling and the wall with it in chunks.  Yesterday I declared the original project off especially after hearing about the receiving process of the flooring and that we currently have nowhere to put it.  He didn't put up a fight so I guess I'll steam clean the carpets to get out the chunks of ceiling matted into it and lay down the area rug I got over our crappy carpet and admit defeat before I start.  This "additional" project has broken me in a way I cannot even convey.  I'm going to use the bright lights from now on to hide everything I hate in the bathroom that is still wrong.  To quote Phil from Groundhog Day "I've reached the end of me Rita" and I have.

While that part had nothing to do with dark paint, allow me to explain the dark paint hatred.  Even a full week after painting if I have water on my finger from washing my hands and touch the wall, blue will end up on my finger.  I know it takes a month to fully cure and maybe any of you dark paint folk can reassure me that yes, that is only temporary (or laugh in my face and say "hope you don't have white towels!" (we do) ) but I will never in my life paint anything dark again.  

Bonus:  Because the painters tape pulled off paint and caulk around the tub, chair rail and all around the bathroom, I now have to re-caulk it all.  Not to mention I want to throat punch past us who thought it would be a good idea to fully spackle and paint over two plastic wall anchors in the bedroom because I'm sure we thought no one would see it and it would be future us's problem.  

Hello future.

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What favor/project/thing will you never EVER do again?

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What I'm Reading This Week #29

Happy Friday to you all and I hope you haven't melted.  Kinda seems like the world is on fire literally now in addition to figuratively.  Grab a marshmallow and roast up!  

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It's been another crappy week on the reno front.  Despite having covered all of any patches on the wall with the holy grail Kilz 123 primer, I had bubbles in four spots.  I peeled them back which took them anywhere from pencil eraser sized to quarter sized to street taco tortilla size.  After reapplying with USG joint compound and letting it dry for 18 hours, I sanded then reapplied two layers of primer and that seemed to do it for the bubble problem.  However.  Oh you knew that was coming.  I was sitting on the throne with the fan light on and glanced over and out of the corner of my eye, it was like I was seeing the bathroom ceiling for the first time.  There were ripples in the ceiling by the attic hatch.  I mean this would be a set for mice to catch a wave on.  We had both lights on for most of the bathroom work so the brighter lights filled in the valleys left.  Those are the lights the Mr uses.  I use the fan light because I don't like to be drop kicked with light first thing in the morning so I would see it.  It's nowhere near "good enough" so I had to grab the pole sander before I could put the final triumphant coat of paint on the walls.  Then all I saw were more holes and divets I needed to spackle before I could sand and let dry for 12 hours and hope for the best.  (This is from a 4 1/2 star contractor with 150 reviews on Home Advisor.  If these are your best and brightest...I am f**king terrified and weep for their future clients.) After seeing that and that my Friday that was bookmarked for rest is going to be anything but- I am mentally tapped.  No...beyond.  There is negative energy in my soul.  The Mr and I are not at our best with each other right now.  I remember when I started this month and thought "oh good, I have 5 weigh in's this month!" but that was before an impromptu ceiling smoothing project flew out of my face hole as a hypothetical to a renovation reality.  (Why do they not make that show anymore!?  We loved it!)   Now here we are with two weigh in's left and that hope from pre-holiday weekend has gone to "I just don't want to leave the month heavier than I started it."  (Especially since I finally got the vacation weight off the second week which was my true goal.)  I thank you all for cheering us on during the pre-reno before the reno.  It helps.

Now time to help yourself to:

Study explores the effects of eating dark chocolate on the brain  (Just remember it's 72% or higher, not Hershey's Special Dark.)

8 Things Sleep Experts Do in the Morning After a Poor Night's Sleep  (That's odd, licking a light socket isn't on here.  Sadly in today's world I have to say- don't be an idiot and try to lick a light socket.  It's called Gen X humor.)

There’s a Right and a Wrong Way To Wash Your Armpits, and It Can Make All the Difference in How Much You Stink  (I can vouch for this.  When I use this salve at night, I stink way less the next day.  I use natural deodorants (tried them all- none without aluminum work on my pits) so that stuff just helps dial down the stank especially in this hell soup of weather.)

How To Deal With an Overtalker or Escape From One  (Usually grabbing my butt and saying "damn burritos!  I've got to go home, I can't poop in public" does the trick.) 

The Childhood Survival Tactic That Destroys Adult Relationships — And How To Move Past It For Good  (OMG guilty!!!)

How to Decode Laundry Symbols So You Can Care For Your Clothes Like a Pro  (It still takes up the same amount on the tag so why not just write it out instead of hieroglyphics?)

Why Is My Paint Bubbling and How Do I Fix It? (One guess why I'm reading this this hellish week)

Home Renovations Can Be Seriously Stressful—Here Are 5 Tips for Managing Anxiety  (Really?  I hadn't noticed.  *twitch*  We're putting #3 into action.)

HEART FOR SALE: Woman Finds Gift She Made For Boyfriend A Decade Ago On Sale In Charity Shop (While this is really cool- I cringe at what I would've written to the Mr in those days.  Make sure you watch the video (with CC on if you don't want to listen to it) to see what her 16 year old self wrote!)

Sweet Stray Dog Convinces Strangers At The Mall To Play Fetch With Him  (Be right back- going to the mall.  This is seriously so cute!)

We are taking a break this weekend from all things house.  (Or at least tomorrow for sure.)  My brain, manners, well being and soul are fried since it's officially been 8 weeks for me having the lovely idea to "just clean off the cart in the office" that domino effected the whole summer.  Not that I would be out in this weather anyway but you get the drift.  If I don't take a true break soon, I'm gonna lose it more than I already have and that's saying something.  My motto for this weekend is "anywhere but here."

What do you have going on this weekend?

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Hump Day Poll: It's Only Been a Week

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Fair warning:  My proofreader went to bed so this is probably riddled with typos.

That photo about sums up how I contemplate ending every day now but I don't have a clawfoot tub just an acrylic one full of navy dust powder, peeled paint, bits of subpar joint compound and despair.  Has it really only been a week since I updated you all on our contractor version of the movie The Day After?  

We are at the "good enough" stage.  The stage where you slap on the third coat of ceiling paint in the hall and despite seeing things you still want to fix you say eff it and declare it 'good enough.'  Where you are on your third paint color for the bathroom and still aren't crazy about it but you say it's 'good enough for now until I repaint it in three years after the trauma has worn off.'  (The color is called Singing the Blues...accurate.)  Actually, this paragraph would imply we're done with the bathroom.  We are not.  

(Clark Griswold voice)  Ya see kids, the Mr came down after I applied a coat of the new paint and informed me there was a bubble by the towel bar about the size of a quarter.  I hopped online and saw what could be causing this and it ranged from humidity, your wall sucks, water leak (not where this is), you used a crappy product and the like.  Solutions ranged from tear the wall down and rebuild it to sand it, patch it, prime it, and repaint it making sure to wait a bazillion hours in between each step.  Since rebuilding a wall wasn't in the wheelhouse, I went the other way.  When I went up to do it, said bubble was nowhere to be found.  Now I know from stuff I read that it's never really gone and if you don't address it, you will be dealing with it again in the future.  I ignored that.  The paint had dried longer than the required time before I put on the second coat and sure enough, the damn bubble reappeared.  After I peeled the bubble back to reveal the spackle by a brand who ironically rhymes with CRAP, I saw two extra bubbles for company.  Did I mention one formed on the wall across from it too? I was two seconds from whipping a putty knife into the wall ninja star style.  (Did I also mention this is our only bathroom in the house?)

We have a fan running in there 24/7 and there is NO WAY it is humidity related so we assumed crappy products and the Mr got a different brand after I peeled back as much as I could and re-patched.  (Not gonna lie, this stuff looks worse because there's a crack in the middle of one of the patches and this takes 24 hours to dry between coats.)  I will be done with the bathroom in August at this rate.  I feel like the Terminator skeleton rising back out of every obstacle this crap box is throwing at me.  

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But I'll tell you this.  If this stupid issue isn't resolved, I'm shiplapping the rest of the wall to match the bottom, changing my name to Joanna and I'm DONE.

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Anything you'd like to change in your bathroom or is my experience pushing that off another year?

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Why I'm Twitching...err...What I'm Reading This Week #28

Y'all, it has been a week and it's not over by a longshot.  The house is a mess, we're covered in paint and cortisol and I can tell you I am glad to have contractors out of the house.  I am not built to have the loudness, tromping up and down the stairs in lead boots, having the one lazy dude spend more time taking smoke breaks than actually working and screaming in languages I can't remember anymore.  The dude is on the same floor as you- why are you screaming!?!?  (I remember enough from high school to know gorda at which point I have a few curse words and insults I could pull out to let them know I understood them.)   The most communication there was was "hello in the basement!" when they needed us.  Several times it sounded like someone falling down the stairs which wouldn't have been out of the question because they were working on the ceiling above them in the hallway on the stairs.  If you saw Wednesday's post, you saw a very small snippet of the damage and mess they left behind which we now have to fix.  I have never spackled, sanded and cursed so much in my life and I swear it feels like there is no end in sight.  The bathroom where we had up the crown molding is an utter disaster and when we tried to dry fit a piece of it back up because the leveling was going so bad, it just showed us how out of square the ceiling is.  So the stippled/stomped/crow feet ceiling pattern was actually doing us a favor in that room.

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The Mr said when we were not even an hour into our adventures in plaster land that while he knows we don't have a safety net and the responsibility falls solely on us for the projects to come, we'll be on our own schedule.  No waiting around for 45-60 minutes when they're late.  No listening to all of the crap we had to listen to and be frustrated when the lazy guy decides he wants to go stare into the abyss instead of doing the work he was paid to do.  It's just going to be us saying "okay, I think we can get two more rows done.  We've got this!" or "What idiot suggested this?  I'm opening the wine from Christmas."  I know there is something to be said for having stuff done for you by those who do it all the time but there is an equal argument for doing it yourself if you're able bodied and willing to learn.  We're thinking we probably only have about 10-15 years of  'able bodied' left and I suppose I'm always willing to learn.

I will tell you one thing, if I have to move another effing mattress, I'mma lose it!  Between having the three mattresses and dealing with moving them up and down stairs and then moving mattresses in between rooms several times- I'm OVER it!  More so because foam mattresses don't have handles on them like coil and hybrid mattresses do!  So if you have a foam mattress, get yourself a pair of these babies like I wish I would've remembered after the 5th mattress move.  (They're good for way more than mattress moving though!)

Now let's move into...

8 Ways to Make an Exercise Harder Without Buying Heavier Dumbbells (No need to have a whole gym in your home gym!  I've always wanted a pair of these though like they use in Fitness Blender.)

10 Good Sources of Fiber - High-Fiber Foods You Should Be Eating  (Gotta pave way for da poop!)

Yes, Caffeine Can Seriously Impact Your Gut Health—Here’s How  (And not how you might think so drink away if it doesn't give you other side effects!)

Why Do I Wake Up Tired? - Causes and Fixes for Poor Sleep  (I have found notes from middle and high school talking about how tired I am.  This is apparently a lifelong problem for me. 😕)

I’m Mean to Myself All Day — Here’s How Mental Health Pros Say I Can Fix That  (I'm right there with ya lady.  I have made myself cry with the things I say to myself.)

Deleting files isn’t enough. Here’s how to properly erase hard drives.  (Y'all need to know this if you don't already!)

How to force Google to automatically delete the information it saves about what you do online  (Just takes a second to keep big brother from knowing more about you than it already does.)

50 Pictures That Are Worth More Than A Thousand Words  (Some real gems!)

There Was A Method To The Madness In David Bowie's Labyrinth Costume  (Yeah, to make pre-pubescents go "what's that feeling going on down there?")

1991 blooper clip of Robin Williams and Elmo is a wholesome nugget of comedic genius  (God I miss that man!)

Nothing but more patching, sanding, painting, looking it over and likely finding something we've missed and have to rinse and repeat.  I can't believe this isn't even part of the original project that got us started.  Needless to say all of that has been our exercise for the week and we both still feel like we've been Dinky'd from Vacation on the bumper.  At this point given the obstacles and crap we're dealing with, I'm about ready to say screw it on my original plan and be done.  If I am getting this frustrated now over paint and having to respackle the same effing spot 20x, it's not going to bode well for what I wanted to do in there anyway.  I can just use the panels I already got in a different way and call it a day.

What's shakin' on your end for this weekend?

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A Rant Where A Hump Day Poll Should Be

Not that my Hump Day Polls are that thrilling anyway but still.  So the dudes finished up smoothing the ceilings yesterday afternoon!  That's not all they did.

Oh, would you like some glooperty gloop on your door?

How about a two-fer on your banister?

Oh, let me put that bathroom light back up for you!

"It'll wash out with a wet rag" x30

and the pièce de résistance:

Oh, you mean you didn't want your two year old smoothed ceiling from the first floor completely ruined in 12 spots??  We were told they would fix it, prime it and paint it to match.  They were cleaning up and hadn't fixed the spot when the Mr told the one guy doing all of the work that he was told that would be fixed since they damaged it.  He said he'd fix it but no one told him.  The Mr just wanted him out at that point because it would be 20 minutes for the quick dry compound to dry, then 20 minutes for the primer and 20 minutes for paint.  He told him just patch it and go.  So now we have to paint the friggin' ceiling that we had no intention of painting and hope it matches.  (Even though you use the exact same paint, sometimes the sheen won't match and you have to repaint the whole thing.  Hoping to God that isn't us because I will lose it.)

That isn't even all of it.  I had to stop taking pictures or I was going to need bail money.

The rage we're both feeling right now at the three or four extra things we now have to do from the damage they caused is overwhelming and exhausting.  But if you've been here for any amount of time, you know this is to be expected because we are after all, us.

What's the last project that didn't go as planned for you?

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Exorcising the Demons Weekend Recap

Well, it's Monday...again.  

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We had a buttload of crap to get done for the impromptu 2nd floor ceiling scraping we've got going on today.  One of those things was what we referred to as exorcising the demon of one of the projects our former so called cheating ass friend did in our house.  This is the second to last project he worked on that we are getting rid of and if we'd had a little more confidence in ourselves in years past, we would've done a better job as you can see below:

(Maddening!!)

Just because someone does construction for a living doesn't mean they're any good at it.  We were those people who always paid friends for their time despite their protests.  We paid him a LOT more money than we should have especially for the quality (or lack thereof) we got in return.  So we were more than happy to get going on ripping that stuff down.  The Mr got the party started ripping down the crown molding with his trim puller:

I got the rest of the room except the wall the Mr originally started on.

Then it was time to go around the room and pull out the leftover brad nails.

I have to say, getting one more reminder of that throbbing jackhole out of the house feels quite good and our own little F U to him.  It's the only form of closure we can get out of that situation and it feels quite good.  We take our wins where we can. 

We both decided to pull down the crown molding in the bathroom (that we did) because we wanted a consistent ceiling texture if we decided to take the molding down permanently.

As you can see, lots of painting to scrape and sand before we can paint the walls again.  

I will not be sad to see this damn texture go bye bye today!

Funnily enough, I remember when said former friend saw the bathroom after we remodeled it.  He helped us with our bathroom literally a month or so after he met us wanting to "help" us.  So we had basically undone everything he did and we expected him to harshly criticize everything we did.  When he came down, he was like "I guess you guys don't need me anymore" in a very kick pebble kind of tone.  By that time, we were done with him anyway because his behavior was out of control so we didn't see each other much so it was actually kind of liberating for us to show him we could do it on our own didn't 'need him anymore.'  

Anyway.

Well, I did have everything out of the closet.

But it all had to go back in so we could move the bed to the office.  They are doing the main bedroom and the bathroom today and they'll do the hall and office either tomorrow or Wednesday so then we'll have to hightail it tonight and move everything out of there into the main bedroom.  If nothing else, it was a kick in the butt to not procrastinate on the stuff I was procrastinating on.  Unfortunately I can't go through everything as thoroughly as I wanted to with the stuff that's left (which isn't much) but it all just needs to be out of the way and in the closet.  

Oh and the scope creep of the project is growing by the day.  Let's just say almost no inch of the house upstairs, downstairs or on the stairs will be untouched at some point hopefully by the end of the year.  

Sunday morning we lazed around a bit because we knew we had a bit of a day ahead of us.  I made a big brunch and we got to it.  Well, first we put together our list of crap we need to get for painting the ceilings this week.  I've never researched roller frames, roller lengths and roller naps so much in my friggin' life.  I've already got a compromised neck/back right now and the pros say use an 18" roller but the frames made for those seem to be pure crap if you read past the reviews that fail to mention them continuously falling off the frame.  Then it was time to dismantle the bed and basically move everything into the closet and office since they'll be doing the main bedroom and bathroom today.  (Which we'll have to move back into the main bedroom tonight and then dismantle everything else in the office and move it into the main bedroom so they can do that and the hallway either tomorrow or Wednesday.)  I told the Mr to take the office bed and I would sleep in the basement with various critters I hope didn't crawl into my face as I slept on our old camping airbed.  The last time we used that mofo was during a derecho about a decade ago and I almost threw it out two weeks before that so I feel like it's saved our butts on more than one occasion.  

Before we knew it, it was almost 5pm which is the same freakin' thing that happened to us Saturday!!  We rounded out the week with an MBFA Leg workout (because going up and down the stairs 80x didn't count) and our Sunday night ritual of Chateau DIY and cocoa to ease into the calm before the storm.  I need to make sure I get in a good pee before they get here and go easy on the liquids because the bathroom won't be available for a minimum of 4-6 hours.  I don't want to be looking at the A/C exhaust drain with lust in my eyes.

So wish us luck that this dude is a good one and that opening my big pie hole doesn't end up in more headaches!

How was your weekend?  Anything fun, productive or relaxing your way?  Let me live vicariously through you!

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What I'm Reading This Week #27

As on cue- the "short" week feels twice as long.  It's Friday and that can mean only one thing!! 

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I'm seriously considering following that woman's lead because between wondering if we should have the ceilings scraped on the second floor to match the first floor and below being Tuesday's reality, I need some liquid escape.

I want to say that mattress three is all I dreamed it would be but it's not.  More squishy than the first?  Yes but not by much as interpreted by my hips.  I moved the duvet insert I got the week before under the mattress protector to see if that would help a little.  I can't go back to having four friggin' toppers on the mattress or I will have to pole vault onto the damn bed every night.

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It can't be a hybrid again because with Mt. Midoriyama as the bedframe now, there is too much sway when we move from anything with even a few springs which brings tear trickle to my cheek.  (But obviously with four toppers on it, it wasn't comfortable either!)  I'll figure something out.   

Now let's figure out:

How To Wash Strawberries: The 3 Simple Methods You Should Try  (If I do #3 I will end up never eating strawberries again so I'll stick with my fruit wash and rinse method.)

Do This After Every Meal To Balance Your Blood Sugar, Says A Biochemist  (Always a good idea!)

The Windshield Wiper Exercise Takes Your Ab Workouts to the Next Level  (I LOVE this exercise though I have to modify it to 90 degree knees when I do it.  I can't wait to try it straight legged the whole way through!)

Is Allulose a Healthy Sweetener?  (We've got a bag of this stuff to make muffins and for tea if I know I'm going to be having a meal where there might be a blood sugar spike.)

6 Healthy Foods That Boost Metabolism  (Annnd what if you already eat these and you still have a sloth for metabolism Mr Scientific Smarty Pants?)

18 IKEA Desk Hacks That Are Seriously Good  (Mr- these are the ones I was looking at in case we were able to trim down that friggin field sized desk in the office.)

How to spot hidden surveillance cameras in your Airbnb, VRBO, or vacation rentals  (I know I've posted about this before but it bears repeating- ALWAYS check!!  I also immediately unplug ALL Echo's/Alexa etc and anything with a microphone that they want you to think is a 'convenience.'  Also make sure you log out of your streaming service accounts if you log in while you're there.)

Metal music is good for you  (For the Mr)

50 Obsolete Things To Show Just How Much The World Has Changed  (If you think I'm getting rid of my CD's when they reissue crappy remasters and streaming basically sucks, I'll be over here with my 400 count CD holder that I just got organized!)

35 Funny And Adorable Dogs That Were Sneakily Photographed  (Gotta love dogs!)

I have no clue what we're doing this weekend other than me cooking. 

EDIT:  Welp, we actually DO have a clue what we're doing this weekend...moving all of the stuff I just moved under the bed back into the closet because guess what dipshit was all "how do we cover textured ceilings?  How much is it to smooth them like the first floor when we did the kitchen remodel?"  24 hours later (and after having the first drywall place we called tell us "we would be chasing them.  They have plenty of work"), Rico from the second highest rated place was giving us an in person quote since he was in the area and asking when he could start.  We got him down $350 because he came in higher than the first floor by quite a bit.  We're still paying $400 more than we paid for the first floor which I'm not too jazzed about and this was NOT an expense I was planning on.  But if we're replacing the floors upstairs, this is literally our only shot to get it done.  If we ever wanted to sell, eagle eye people might try to lowball given the two different textures.  (Though not likely in a market like we have now but you know that isn't lasting forever.)  So yeah...the big schmuck over here swirled a "what if" and curiosity has turned into Chateau Pucker Butt.  

Any tomfoolery planned for your weekend?

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Hump Day Poll: You ate WHAT!?

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What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?

I'd say it has to be chocolate covered squid (ika).  If you're feeling adventurous, you could order some and get that chocolate cuttlefish goodness yourself.  It gets 5 stars and we sent the rest of it home with my friend and no surprise, her grandpa finished it and said it was good.  Perhaps I just have a picky palate!  😆

What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?

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Minimal Progress Weekend Recap

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Howdy y'all!  I hope you had a great weekend.  I feel like I reached my limit on purging after a solid 5 weeks of it in some form or another.  I was able to at least get some stuff gone through a bit more and drag the old mattress against the wall so it wasn't blocking access to the closet and stuff on Thursday.  The topper I bought lasted 4 hours on the bed before I was ripping it off after the feeling came back in my hip and leg.  It was like taking a new mattress and throwing a 10 year old lumpy spring mattress on top.  Returned.  Do you know I had FOUR toppers on the old mattress!?!?  I thought I had one!  Whoops!  So whenever it would get uncomfortable, I'd apparently buy a topper and just chuck it on top.  No wonder it was so high on the new frame!  I'm not gonna lie, I hate the new bed.  I just hate the feeling of foam under me so I've got a return set up for it and a new mattress ordered.  Oddly enough, the 'medium' firmness mattress we got for the office is 3x softer than the 'plush' one I ordered for the main bedroom so I got that one in 10" and saw it has a 3" layer of the squishy foam as opposed to 2.5" on the twin so I'm hoping that is the key.  Otherwise I don't know what the heck we're going to do.  Fingers crossed that one works out because come tomorrow I'm going to have three effing mattresses in ONE bedroom until bulk pickups and return pickups are handled.  What a crap fest for something I wasn't even planning on buying in the first place.  😒

Then I hit a wall.  Apparently three hours of sleep on the nightly for a week isn't great for having energy on the weekend.  It was a high cal day and none of it was worth it.  I'm sick and tired of restaurants pumping out mediocre dung on a plate that doesn't even taste good and us getting to over pay for the privilege.  But then I need a break to not cook every single meal of every single day.  I'm glad the Mr enjoyed his Portillo's but mine was soggy for some reason with just jalapeno mustard on it which never happens so that means the buns are potentially crap and we got to pay $70 for the privilege to spread out over the rest of the summer/fall.   The Mr got some 300 minute sci-fi documentary that was decent but I'm not a sci-fi person so you know, nothing else on and with the energy meter at zero it was a less than titillating Saturday.  

I'd love to say Sunday and Monday were somehow better but nope.  The most productive thing I did Sunday was make up a July workout calendar because the suck that is that slab of concrete foam had done it's job crippling me.  Monday I initiated the return and thankfully that went quite smooth on Wayfair's end and now I just have to get it officially scheduled with the company who will pick it up to see when that's going to happen.  We got in an early-ish workout on Monday of Tae Bo original.  It was the one that helped us lose weight the first time back in 98/99 and it was so weird seeing it.  It's funny how you remember some musical cues and lines from workouts you did so often.  Oh, in case anyone is interested and wants to workout "with" us in July, here's our schedule.  I know some of you may not have access to some of the workouts, especially BeachBody on Demand ones but you can always throw in your own.  (Not like I expect anyone to do them!  LOL)

7/5- Leg Day https://youtu.be/W-5_UKasZSY

7/6- Fitness Blender HIIT  https://youtu.be/9V9I1KbJvs0

7/7- Turbo Fire Tone 30 (Beachbody)

7/8- WATP 3 miles (Walk Away the Pounds)

7/9-  MFBA Day 1: Lower Body Burn Advanced (Beachbody)

7/10- Power 90 (Beachbody)

7/11- Juice &Toya Full Body Strength  https://youtu.be/XC3LJwbGteE

7/12- Turbo Fire 45 (Beachbody)

7/13- Jessica Smith Strength segments from her DVD

7/14- WATP Cardio Segments from 5 mile DVD

7/16- MBFA Day 10: Upper Body Burn Advanced (Beachbody)

7/17- Powerstrike

7/18- MBFA Day 8: Lower Body Burn Advanced (Beachbody)

7/19- J&T Cardio HIIT https://youtu.be/tgm_QjUiwlk

7/20- WATP Firm 30

7/21- Jessica Smith 3 miles DVD

7/23- L4 Week 7 Day 3: Shoulders/Arms – Circuit  (Beachbody)

7/24- Fitness Blender Cardio LB  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnM9chgA8wQ

7/25- BFF Kettlebells

7/26- Fitness Blender HIIT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy9WKyN1rig

7/27- Turbo Fire Sculpt (Beachbody)

7/28- WATP Mary Kay 

7/30- Fitness Blender Barre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC9VbwyEG8U

7/31- Tae Bo Vol 2

Anyhoo, I bought an area rug from World Market for when the bedroom is done but I could only get it on sale now so I'll have to figure out where to chuck it for 8 months.  Also, note to anyone.  When the WM app asks you for your curbside order if you want anything else and you're like "sure, add blah blah" just know that you will then have to GO INSIDE to pay for whatever else you add.  They make it sound like they'll just add it, grab it and you're all paid up but it's a tissue of lies.  When we got home we rolled coins from an old bank that was getting donated because we know how to party.

So, that was our excitement this weekend which wasn't much but all we could muster.  Oh yeah, the cost of stamps is rising AGAIN on the 10th so stock up on Forever stamps if you need to.

How was your weekend?

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What I'm Reading This Week #26

The Big 2-6...you know what that means.  Halfway through the year!

It has been a pretty emotionally exhausting week for me.  Every inch of the bedroom has been touched.  (Notice I don't say cleaned just yet)  I do not remember the last time the entire closet was basically empty.  Oh yes I do...26+ years ago.  Basically the entire closet is now under my bed!  

I know feng shui says that's a big no no but feng your shui in this instance because it's all about the storage when you live in under 1000 sq ft.  It was hard to go through every single piece of your past and that includes the VHS transfers the Mr has so graciously taken on before things degrade completely.  My stuff from broadcasting school has reached it's transferrable limit so a lot of projects are blipping in and out.  I took a lot of pictures of stuff then tossed them which goes against every nostalgia loving bone in my body.  They'll go in a "childhood bin" folder on the computer and I can look there when I feel a need for what was important to me back then.  I am a massive card/letter hoarder so a few weeks ago, we shredded old tax returns that we kept for some stupid reason from the 90's and early 2000's and now those little mobile file boxes are almost full of cards.  One day I want to take them out and go through to organize by person.  It was so nice to come across cards from my great grandparents and others who passed as well as early dating notes and notes we wrote to each other while the Mr was on business trips.  Scanning them wouldn't be the same as having them in hand so I'm willing to give up the space.  I can also stack them if I need some more space.  The Mr reinforced the builder grade wire shelf in that closet with a couple more brackets so I'm ready to roll.  I got a few cardboard magazine holders lined up there so that I could have all of our travel journals in one spot instead of who knows where and just to act as general wranglers for things that need them.  I may not need them all set up but they are for now as I continue to get things situated.

I had 4 big photo boxes full of pics/negatives.  I remember reading somewhere about how you need to go through them and pull out ones that are blurry, ones where people are cut out/off, that you don't have any attachment to the thing you took a picture of or ones that don't make you happy.  Well, I grew up in the days of "here- free doubles!!"  While most of those were put in albums or given to other people, I did have quite a few dupes and between chucking those, ones of blurry scenes, people I don't care to remember or even bad pics of people I do care to remember, I got 4 boxes down to two.  One day we'll scan them but that day is not soon.  I was appalled at how scattered they all were!  Pics of trips and events scattered over two boxes, nothing in much order.  I also have ones that I'm pretty sure are doubles that are in a photo album and I'd like to double check that one day soon(ish) but I've got bigger fish to fry right now.  

Wednesday the new bed arrived.  

It is still very weird for me having a mattress that is basically Food Saved chucked on the front step.  Not gonna lie, I was seriously worried when the unfurled mattress was 7 1/2" of the 10" it's supposed to be because the one in the office puffed up to size almost immediately.  This one has a gel topper so I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.  Definitely wasn't getting rid of the old bed until we knew the new one was going to work.  The first night I slept on it, it was like a friggin' ROCK.  "Plush" my Aunt Fanny.  By my 4:20am pee wake up call, I was on Amazon ordering a plush topper I already had in cart because that is how confident I was in the term 'plush' foam mattress on a website.  Plus I slept with nothing but a sheet over the mattress to give it a fair shake on its own and I was hot when I woke up so definitely nothing I could sleep directly on.

But enough of the great fall of dominoes that is our current life situation, let's shake into...

11 Excellent Glute Activation Exercises  (These are good whether you're active or not.  Trust me, you don't want dead butt syndrome from sitting all day.)

15 High-Protein Breakfast Sandwiches You Can Freeze, Heat and Eat  (Yummo!)

The Health Benefits of Flax Seeds You Need to Know About  (I add ground flaxseeds to my oatmeal and while I'm not super crazy about the taste, I've seen the benefits.)

5 Hip Stretches You Can Do Without Leaving Your Chair  (I need every one of these and there's no excuse not to do them.  You need these if you sit for your job too.)

What's Better: Full-Body Workouts or Splitting Up Muscle Groups?  (Hmm, interesting info!)

13 Best Stretches to Ease Your Lower Back Pain, According to Trainers  (Good Lord, I need this!)

Understanding and Processing Anger  (Beneficial stuff)

50 Times People Were So Appalled By "Shrinkflation", They Just Had To Share The Proof Online  (This is BEYOND BS!!!)

Chris Evans Plays With Puppies  (I don't even care about what Chris Evans is promoting but there is too much joy in this interview not to watch.)

20 Funny And Absurd Comics  (These made me laugh way too hard)

I think our big plan is to come up with a big plan for what has turned unintentionally into a second floor reno.  We'll have our final floor sample today and we should be able to make a final decision...or start all over.  Who knows.  All I do know is some schtuff has got to get done this weekend and now I kind of have no idea where to start.  I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Anything kickin' for the weekend?  Any triumphs or tragedies of the week you want to share?

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