Finding my field of dreams in a painting.

I cannot believe it's been over a month since I've blogged!  Time.  Boy how it can fly!

As most of you know, we moved in February of this year and have been getting all settled in our new digs.  I've really been missing the unique little community we lived in so I thought I'd try to recreate it somewhat here.  Well, the ol saying  "Build it and they will come" just about sums it up.  It's amazing to me how if one person can find it in them to step out and say "Hey, let's be friends.  Let's connect"  how many others are wanting the same thing.  The Bible says it's what the human race was made for.... Connection.  So.  I was that one person.  I let my guard down, reached out, and connected.  And MAN!  Am I ever happy I did!  I've met some FABULOUS women!

So here's the story.

Our neighborhood had a Casino Night for us grown ups.  Thru our community fb page, I was able to sorta "meet" a few women that I really looked forward to meeting in real life.  It was loads of fun and I did, in fact, meet some great people!  {AND I won myself a lil iPad mini, ta'boot}  

A couple of weeks later I had an idea that I thought would be a fun Girl's Night out.  On our community face book page I asked if anyone would be interested in doing a painting at Painting With a Twist.  It had lots of positive responses, so I got to work looking for a painting we could all agree to paint.

I found this one! 

Yes.  That says HOES.  

Needless to say, we all had a great time razzing it... SO... There was our choice!  We would have our first  "Hangin with the HOES" party!  (you're super jealous now huh, because doesn't everyone wanna be a hoe?!)  ;)

But wait!  It gets even better!!  One of the ladies thought it was OUR genius to call our group the "Hoes", because she thought it stood for Housewives Of Eagle Springs!  People, that's OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!  HOW GENIUS IS SHE?!?!?!?!  (Kuddos all to you, Daniele!)

We had a BLAST!  And we wanted to keep getting together so..

 we made us a fb page

 and a drunko Bunco group

and now... it's not just the original 11 of us.... 

There are 62 of us!

In a week and a half time period...  

SIXTY TWO!  

Sixty two women eager to connect.  

Sixty two women so thankful to be making new friends.  

 Sixty two women!  

"Build it, and they will come!" 

I feel blessed!

Blessed because I stepped out of my box; I put myself out there;  and God showed up!  He answered my prayer for connections :)  

And I am grateful!

Little update:  We now have enough signed up to make not one, but TWO bunco groups!  

A couple weeks after our first Bunco, all us HOES are heading to a lil' hole in the wall, South American joint where we'll eat, drink and have us some SALSA DANCING lessons!  WHOOP  WHOOP!!

hugs,

k.

 

Throw pillows with a funny story

Setting the stage:

People who know me {personally} know I say and do things that most normal people only think of saying or doing.  It's just who I am.  Please note that I do have a [semi] filter so the things I say/do are often pretty funny (not rude).... even if only to myself.  (some laugh with... some laugh at... but either way, it's all good...cause they laugh... right?!)

So here's where this is going:

Back in April, our very large community had a very large garage sale.  Man, oh man!!  I am SUCH a sucker for garage sales!  BUT since we just moved here, and I had a. lot. of crap to dispose of {and I needed some moola to CMA (cover my a$$) for all the "goodies" I've been collecting for the new house} I desperately needed to have my own sale.

  Needless to say, to hold my own, was going to prove to be quite a challenge for me.  I told my best sister-friend that I was going to have Josh run ours, while I went out and shopped!  (because that is just sooo like me!)

 Well, I don't think the hubs found a lot of humor in that~ sooo I ran ours.  

To ensure I would actually HAVE mine, and not skip out and shop,  I teamed up with my best gal pal and brought all my crap to her house!  After we set up, at the freakin butt crack of dawn, the shoppers arrived.  I made small talk with a sweet lady that was scoring big on some of my schtuff, throwing ideas around with her as she was decorating her new home.  She left... went next door and did some more shopping.  My gal pal and mom encouraged me to go over there and see what they had, but I declined.  I was determined I was going to actually PROFIT, not break even. That my getting up at 5am was certainly not going to be for nothin'!

About the time I was saying "nooo.. that's ok...",  I see my new found friend walking across the street to her car carrying a set of black and white pillows I HAD. TO. HAVE!

{this is where my "unique-borderline-cahRAZY" personality kicks in}

I freaked!! 

I gasped!! 

I HAD to get them!

I began muttering run on sentences like "OMGSH, they would totally match my decor", "Holy CRAP!  I've been looking for that print!!", "I'm gonna do it!  I'm buying them from her!"

 

So I grabbed some money out of my {profit} box and ran over to her..  

As she was putting the pillows that I had to have in her car, I was like 

"HEY!  WOW!  I LOVE those pillows!!! Do you really, really love them???"  

She looked at me all wide-eyed and befuddled... (I'm not crazy lady...chill with deer in the head lights looks, already)  

She murmured something like "ummmmmm no?????"   

So I asked her what she paid.  

She said $2.... 

TWO DOLLARS?!?!  As in a dollar a piece TWO DOLLARS?!?!

  

(y'all.... please know... in my head... I AM becoming the Ikea lady!!)   

So, I offered her $5 if she'd sell them to me.

And she DID!

GAHHH!!!!!

   **watch this now for the full affect!**

 I GOT THE PILLOWS!!

I. GOT. THE. PILLOWS!!!!

WOOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!

By now, my mom and BGP were hysterical!  They about peed their pants!

I have no shame, people.

None. 

Bet by now, you're SUPER curious to see these coveted pillows, aren'cha?!

First... here's my couch pillows and why I needed the garage sale pillows....

And here's what the garage-sale-pillows-that-I-bought-off-another-person-who-already-bought-the-pillows pillows look like....

For $2.50 a piece!  

Oh... I forgot to mention.. 

They had never, even ONCE, been used!

See why I just HAD to have them?!  

They. are. perfect!

Have you ever done something so off the wall that you can't help but giggle (even if it's only on the inside) every time you think of it?!

hugs,

k.

The new me... well, sort of.

Today....  

I got a haircut.

As in C.H.O.P.P.E.D!

And guess what?!

I LOVE. L♥VE. LOVE. IT!

And I'm wondering why I waited so long to do it!?!?

BEFORE:

and no, you may not judge my tacky gray roots.. it's simply not allowed  ;)

AFTER

there's tons of texture that the camera (it's from my phone... sorry for the quality) just couldn't pick up

And what's better?? 

The hubs LOVES it too!!

If you've been considering doing something drastic with your hair, what's stopping you?! 

I say.. 

GO FOR IT!

hugs,

k.  

Where is thumbkin?... Here I am...

I just wanted to let you all know I have indeed NOT fallin off the face of the earth.  

I've not gotten lost somewhere, and am wandering the desert.  

I've not been swallowed by a whale or eaten by a shark.  

I've not abandoned ship and am out at sea.

I'm still here.  

Being buried alive by life circumstance... but here. :) 

In short... My husband was laid off (total bummer!), received a job offer (total blessing!), and we're moving (total "summer relaxing" buzz kill!)!  God is good, so I am not complaining ...  Not even a little!  I've just been in over-drive getting my hoarding {yes, I'm totally out of the closet here! ~ pun intended}  under control and selling off anything I can, donating my gazillion and one magazines [oh LAWWWD.. you have NO idea the amount of magazines I had! I seriously wish I had a dollar for every magazine! I'd be able to pay my mortgage and quite possibly yours too.. geeze louise!] and organizing the CRAP out of every closet, room, pantry, cabinet and drawer to get my house market ready!  As you know, we JUST painted our entire downstairs and finished our kitchen renovation (see it here).  Hopefully the new owners will love it as much as I do and not feel the need to change anything! Matter of fact, I don't wanna know if they do.  It would crush me.  There.  I said it. 

SO once my life is back on some sort of normal track, my postings will either be non-existent or will probably be about what I'm dreaming of doing in the new house!  {{happy dance!!}}

Til then... 

and know..

hugs,

k.

I. am officially a B.A Mamma Jamma!

After years and years of contemplation... 

I DID IT!

MOMMA GOTS HER A TATTOO!!!

Oh yes I did!

I documented as best I could.  It hurt.

It REALLY freakin hurt! 

But.  

I persevered {because, let's face it, once it began.. I HAD no choice!}

& 

I LOVE IT!

ok, so here's the low down.

I finally made my final decision about my design. (a feat in and of itself bc I am SO indecisive! Go me!) I wanted a Queen Bee. I am the "Queen" of many things.. Queen of the directionally challenged, Queen of Chaos, Queen of Indecisiveness, Queen of Comedy (I mean com'mon... I find myself QUITE hilarious!), Queen of dieting, and the Queen of wonkiness! OH and in my house, I am sarcastically loving referred to as the Queen. I have my Queen chair at the table, I rule the roost {or so I have successfully convinced myself}, I. am. the Queen. Period.  And I happen to really love bees!  So there ya go.  Plain and simple. Not mushy. Not gushy.. just is what it is.

My girlfriend, Teresa, came with me to True Blue Tattoo in Austin.  We (yes, WE) were hoping to get in to see Cara. She is amazing and we were both going to get a tat by her! Good times, right?!  Well, as it turned out, she was booked.  Solid.  And since I already had all my nerves in a bundle sitting daintily in the pit of my stomach and had at least a dozen or so "crap my pants scared" moments I was NOT. leaving without my tattoo! 

No way, no how! 

Enter: JIM  (totally forgot to snap a shot of him in the shop. Can't imagine why! ;) Here's his site pict)

He is quite the fella.  VERY funny!  I liked him.  He was my kinda kooky! We bonded.

We had a discussion. I told him what I wanted, we looked at pictures, and he began to draw.

This [long] process began to calm my nerves.  He was meticulous. I was thankful!

But then, I got a little nervous when we made our final selection size, and that it was going to be in color!  

Ok. maybe I was a lot nervous!

 

He sat me down... cracked a few jokes... said a few (or a couple few) cuss words...  got himself ready... got me ready...

and began.

I'm doing this!! 

I'm really freaking doing this!!!

 

HOLY SHITBALLS, THAT HURTS!!!!!

 

Umm, yeah.. so I think I'm rethinking the whole color thing!!  I damn near didn't make it thru this alive!

(ok, so I'm totally stretching the truth here.. but you really have no idea how much pain I was in so I tried to give you a visual) 

But Jim... yeah, he had other plans!!  

I am sooo glad he did!!

because I LOVE IT!!  

 

 * if you notice the color of the bee... it's red. not yellow. I was bleeding. quite disgustingly.

And in a couple weeks, when the colors settle in.. it'll look even better!!!  

  

Meet my QUEEN BEE!!  She's pretty badass. 

Thanks, Jim!  Maybe we'll meet again some day  ;)

hugs.

k

You are Talking too Much

Sugar and Spice

DIY Home Sweet Home

Six Sisters Stuff

HomeStories A2Z 

House of Hepworths 

I have a secret.

Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but I think we ALL have a secret fetish.  Maybe even one you complain about, but secretly love?!  (umm, yep. that'd be me!) 
One that is kinda-sorta soothing to the soul.. Relaxesssss the miiiind.... Relieves stressssss....  *ac'hem!* Sorry about that... Ok.. what was I saying?!  Oh yeah.  Complaining about a secret love...

Here's what I'm talking about.


I am just-a-little-kinda-sorta obsessed with things I can push!  Always have been.

I'll bet you're thinking "Oh lawwd... she's officially loosin her mind!"

I assure you. I have not. (tho sometimes it's certainly debatable, this isn't one of those times) 

You know what I mean..

I love things like  vacuum cleaners...

and lawn mowers....

Let's be honest, to punish my kids by making them do either of these two things would be waaaay more torcherous for me than for them... so that ain't happenin! ;)



and grocery carts; aka THE BUGGY. {My girls KNOW... they wanna push a buggy, they betta get they own!} 

Side note:

If this lovely lady would've chosen a buggy over her basket... she wouldn't be in this predicament.

Repeat after me....

"Carts and buggys soothe... baskets stress!"






Now relax... and GO PUSH SOMETHING!




Your turn... and be honest.. it's just us here!  Do you have a secret fetish? .. one you complain about, but secretly love?!?

hugs,

k.