Just One Cup at a Time

Fall is here and Winter is near!

Winter is near (if you can really call it Winter in California) and so it means only one thing - time for fires.  I've actually already made 2 fires in my fireplace back before Fall changed it's mind and became August again...sigh!

But in anticipation of our "typical" winter and our cold nights :) haha - this was delivered on Monday - a full cord this time.

I know I know you're asking yourself what in the heck do 2 single girls need with this much firewood?

Oh trust me there is a good reason....we we're thinking that maybe if we have tons of wood for fires it will give 2 handsome single wonderful men a reason to come over and hang out by the fire.  Don't you think it will work?  Okay not really....errr maybe??

Well if you know my house then you know that the family room NEVER ever feels heat because of the high ceilings so the only way to stay warm downstairs is to have a fire {smile}.

When I was house hunting and searching on realtor dot com the one criteria I always checked in my search was a real fireplace - it was a must!  I love my fireplace!!

The cord lasts 2 years and we were completely out!

Looking at this photo more closely now....is that my super duper red excercise ball hidden behind the stack of firewood?  Why yes it is.  I honestly use this everyday - no really I do ;).

I need a latte now!

CUP o' new

Do you ever live with an annoyance, a pet peeve, something that drives you absolutely nutty but for some reason instead of fixing it, taking care of it, doing whatever you need to do to stop the buggin' you let it go and before you know it you become used to it??!!!   I do!

Remember my kitchen faucet that leaked - no not just a leak....the water spewed out more powerful than the sprayer itself!!!

You see our water in these here parts stinks - it's hard yucky water and so my beautiful bronze finish faucet is no more.   Bye bye faucet I didn't get even 3 years outta ya!

I kept a towel over the sprayer for weeks (okay months - it's a MAN CHORE and you know how I feel about those) so you could stand at the sink without getting soaked.  I finally bought a new faucet but since this was going to be the 3rd one and in keeping with the budget I decided not spend a ton of money.  I thought I was at least getting a nickel finish or so the box that I carefully picked out said it was.

But it wasn't :(.  It's not pretty but it doesn't leak and it was cheap!!

As Tim, our handyman (aka Man-Chore-for-Hire) was taking it out of the box and I saw the chrome he said "are you sure you want to keep it?"  I'm like afterall this time if I don't just replace it now who knows when I will.

I think I need to make a latte now!

Help my Kitchen CUP!

I need your help my faithful friends.....

My recipe book cabinet in my kitchen is yet another big reason for my Hunt for Junk House Tour (I will blog about the specifics of this soon since several of you have asked me what exactly I'm doing)........notice the before and after - pathetic before I know....I'm still in process I tell ya!!

But notice in the after how my shelves are all one notch lower....argh!!! My house came with these adjustable shelfs with plastic plug brackets (don't know what you call them - that's my chick definition) that are horrible and really don't hold up well.....hence losing most of my crystal, including my Waterford, last year (pic at the bottom so you can cry with me - very sad day).

Anyway since I'm in my kitchen this month on my tour and have reorganized almost every cabinet now I've discovered that more than half of these plastic brackets that hold the shelves in place have broken and when they do break, some have been hanging by a thread I tell ya, they leave the plastic plug piece that goes in the adjustable holes IN THE HOLE...are you following me.....then forcing me to put the shelf up one or down one notch.

Soooo has anyone else had a problem with this? Any new brackets you recommend? The only thing I've been able to do....man chore....is drill the plastic plug out but I'm a little scary with the man chore drill sometimes and if I try to do it on this particular cabinet - I'm liable to go right through the side since they aren't that thick and leave a hole on the outside. This cabinet is exposed to the world on both sides so that would be no bueno and I would leave it looking like swiss cheese.

Here are the brackets I'm talking about that should be illegal :)

If you have any suggestions, I'd love it!! :)

Sad day last July 29th..............this also happens to be a good picture of my kitchen before - I'll post a pic when it's done cuz the clutter has gone on the junk hunt!