Finished book 3 of 52 right on schedule. This was a fun and insightful book. I loved the accent of the narrator (on CD) and the language was pretty and lilting. The characters were complex and it made you want to learn more about them. This book reminded me of the Encyclopedia Brown series I read as a kid. Entertaining but you still learn a thing or two along the way. (I had no idea that snakes like to jump up under car engines! Creepy!) I’ll look out for a chance to read the next in the series, but I probably won’t go out of my way to reserve it or buy it. Fun but not a FAVE.

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I just got a cute new hairdo that takes more ‘product’ than the leave-in conditioner and elastic band I have been using lately. My flatiron, curling irons and hair dryer have been a tangled mess for lack of better storage. SO…I hacked (I use the term loosely) an ikea shoe cabinet t fit my needs. Eventually, my awesome neighbor will be commissioned to build a more permanent cabinet there, but until then..here’s my solution.

Ikea Shoe Cabinet – mostly matches the bathroom cabinets. Hair Dryer In the top drawer, plugged into the power strip below. Second drawer has the power strip attached with Command Strips Picture Hanging tabs. Because the drawers are plastic I got a bread pan for sub sandwiches and bent the sides around so it would fit in the drawer. The grooves provide the perfect channels for the irons. No worry of melting the plastic. The power strip lets me keep them plugged in all the time (they all have power switches).

The bottom drawer is super easy access of all my hair products. So far, this is working out great and it is giving me some fun design ideas for the ‘real thing’ that will come eventually.

I haven’t known exactly what I wanted, but this is close!!

And, in case you wondered…here’s the new ‘do.

It’s actually an old ‘do revisited, but it’s new again this year. 

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This book was not on my January Line-Up because I wasn’t going to count it. I read the first two chapters in November and left it through the holidays. But, instead of wasting the reading time finishing if it wasn’t going to count, I reread the first chapters and finished this week making it book 2 of 52 for the year.
Crossed is book 2 in the Matched series by Ally Condie. It’s a dystoipan young adult book, of which there are MANY. Not as many as the paranomal/supernaural genre, but close. Book 2 is the classic post-escape (from a controlling perfect society) survival phase. In my opinion this is not a trilogy, but a meaty book chopped into three pieces for easier digestion and to fatten the bellies of the publishers. The story takes place over a short period of time and covers travel from one place to another, including finding food, defending themselves against enemies, forging relationships with each other and eventually having to trust each other to get to the desired destination. The reader knows almost nothing more than they did at the end of Book 1. A morsel here and there, but certainly not enough for a stand-alone second book. The final book will have to be crammed with information to tie up all the loose ends this one left. It was slightly entertaining, briefly touching but mostly just getting from point a to point b on the way to c.

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I remembered these sayings from when I was 15 or so on a sign outside little white church in our tiny town. They stuck with me and they apply to what I’m working on right now so I put them in pretty boxes, in current meme fashion. Enjoy!

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My really expensive (to me) HP tablet style laptop died a while back and I haven’t quite decided what to do with it or what to get in its place. Until I decide what I really want, cheap is the way I decided to go.  The husband picked out an Asus laptop for me based on performance for the sub $400 price. Naturally, you tend to give up a bit of quality when you go cheap, so while this laptop performs decently – it’s actually pretty zippy – it lacks in the quality of materials. For example, the touchpad is textured. Nice if it’s a smooth material, but this one is rough and gives me that ‘nails-on-a-chalkboard’ feeling when I use it. The mouse buttons are SO loud I feel like I’m waking up the kids when I use it in the evening. Lastly, the cover is not as pretty as my sleek piano finish HP was. 

I could learn to live with all of these minor annoyances, but why do that when a little creativity can fix it all?  The lid was a standard fix. Skin it. I happened to have a pack of skins from a while back (before the pretty piano finish). I created an artistic skin that is personal and artistic and fits ME. Printed and installed. Fixed.  Printed another identical skin, cut it to fit the area below the keyboard including the mouse buttons. Put the clear label over the skin just on the touchpad for a smoother feel. FIXED! The mouse buttons are SILENT and the touchpad is smooth. As are the wrist rest areas. And it all looks lovely.  Cheapness modified for about $4.  And, once I figure out what I REALLY want in a laptop, this one goes to the next kid in line. 

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I am not the greatest at spot removal. My efforts in removing spots from my son’s silk ties have, so far, been unsuccessful. Today I had a bright idea to revive those silk ties. It all goes back to my Surface Ornamentation class in college. Since oil is the typical stain medium…why not ‘oil paint’ a pattern on the tie? Here is the process and the results. James just thinks it looks like he’s a messy eater. I think it has a nice texture to it.

Stained Silk Tie

I used my husband’s shoe leather oil for this because it’s primarily beeswax, which won’t turn rancid. 

I used a plastic produce bag crumpled up to apply the oil. (I brushed oil onto the bag with the applicator from the jar and then dabbed some off on a paper towel (offload!!).

I blotted the tie with a paper towel to remove excess oil (it soaked up pretty quickly so there wasn’t much excess). I hung the tie to let it dry for a while and then had my son try it out. He didn’t like the look at all.  *I* think it looks pretty darn cool.  I’m not sure how ‘dry’ the oil will get, so I am wondering if it will transfer to his suit or shirt. It doesn’t seem to when it’s on shoes. We’ll see about that part. Or, maybe not because he probably won’t wear it.  He WILL wear an ugly snowflake/snowman tie, though. Go figure. 

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I got to test out some new cookies from Kroger…the Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip cookies and they were pretty darn good. I don’t buy a lot of cookies, but if I needed a quick fix, these would work nicely!! I shared them with friends at playgroup and passed out some coupons (thanks to bzzagent for those!). Now, if they came out with a soft version, I’d be in trouble!!

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I spent a little time in Barnes & Noble yesterday (a place I avoid for the sake of my budget) thanks to my brother, Ryan and his company mistletoe.com.  The company made the Simple List in December’s issue of Real Simple magazine and I had to go snag a copy! 

Ryan has been selling mistletoe since he was about 12. Maybe even younger. Just old enough to shoot it out of the trees. He and my brother John would gather bunches of the stuff and sell it in front of grocery stores during the holidays. They made a bit of pocket change. Then…Ryan went to school and with the support of his awesome wife, Lisa, got an little thing called an MBA and a bunch of useful knowledge to go with it.  Combine that with his entrepreneurial spirit, tech geekness and a pretty parasite and mistletoe.com was born. (OK, there were MANY steps and FOUR children in between, but you get the idea!)

Today, mistletoe.com is one of the only sites online where you can buy fresh Oregon mistletoe and have it shipped anywhere in the country. This sounds like and ad, but it’s just a sister who is amazed and impressed with her little brother and his kills and  determination.  Not to mention his little family’s adorableness!! So, if you’re in the market for some mistletoe this year, you know where to get it. Yep! Mistletoe.com.

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