Happy Easter...Monday?

     AKA "Jacki spent Saturday working and Sunday driving and hanging out with family and playing with babies and eating delicious things and driving again and by the time she got home and sat down to write a post her brain had already pretty much checked out for the night and this was all that was left because it's weird in there and no one was around to stop her."

     I regret nothing. 

Quick Fixes: SHELF Life. Does this pun even make sense?

     The space behind my glider has been needing something to spice it up for a while. I thought putting something there would anchor the chair and make it seem less like it was floating out in the middle of the room (it has to be pretty far away from the wall because those Viking spear things on top hit the wall if it's too close). So I figured, "why not a shelf?" That way I could do something functional with that space and add plants! I love house plants. 

     I picked up this shelf for twenty bucks at Target -- honestly, I could have found a cheaper shelf if I wanted to, but this one was there in front of me and I like to think of a thing then have it in front of me the same day, so I just got it. It worked out well because this shelf happens to match the footboard of my bed really well. Yeah, the one I walk into all the time. Hopefully I won't injure myself on this shelf. It would be hard, since it's behind a chair, but who knows. I do excel at hurting myself in stupid ways. 

     Then I got these two cute plants to go on top and make it all spring-y and delightful. The first little guy I picked up because hey, it's cute and it was only 2.50. The other, I don't even know how much it cost. I just saw it and went "YES, YOU ARE COMING HOME WITH ME" because look at it, it's so cool! It looks like green tortellinis! I named him Mr. Tortelton. Obviously. 

     Then I happened upon those two little clear star-shaped candle holders in the top picture at Goodwill for ridiculously cheap (I think about 2.50 for both?). I dunno why, since I don't even have any candles to put in them (yet), but they spoke to me. So I brought them home to live on the shelf too! 

     I think it was a really good way to make that weird little space seem more intentional, and it brought Mr. Tortelton into my life, so I'm pleased as punch! 

Favorite Things Friday!

     My favorite things this week were all superficial items, and I don't feel bad about it one bit. I know people say that money can't buy happiness, but I think those people are just spending their money wrong. I bought a few things this week that just made me feel better about life. Lemme show you: 

Look, I even laid it all out on a pretty backdrop for you! Blogger of the year, right here.

Let's go clockwise from the top right, because it feels like the right thing to do. 

     First I picked up this pretty gold headband. I was already in the market for a headband that's nicer than the grimy stretchy one I wear while I wash my face, and this one caught my eye because it felt very Game of Thrones to me somehow. Sidenote: I'm sort of obsessed with Game of Thrones. This week's episode was so amazing that I watched a lot of it with my "excited for vengeance" look on, which words can't even describe. It's something like this: 

     I think I'm going to download the books to my tablet so I can stay awake for a week straight reading them all enjoy them at a leisurely and totally sane pace. Hey, I guess not all of my happy things are material goods this week! I threw a bonus tv show in there! Woo, culture!

     The next happy-making thing I got is that bright, bright, BRIGHT pink cardigan underneath the headband. I just couldn't resist it's delightful neon charms. It's also a bit looser than a normal fitted sweater, so it's super comfy, and it's very lightweight, which means I can wear it into spring and summer (in the arctic-blast air conditioning in stores and restaurants, dontcha know). Plus it was on sale for more than half off its original price, which makes my cheap heart flutter. 

     Next up is a pair of reflective blue-green sunglasses from Target. I like to get a new pair of cheap sunglasses at the start of each summer. It gets me excited for the warmth and sunshine. I like these reflective ones because it means I can stare at people without them knowing (just kidding. No wait, I'm totally not. People-watching is the absolute best). 

     This next one's a big deal. Like a caps-lock worthy BIG DEAL. I got shorts! That's a milestone for me because I really, really hate shorts. I like the idea of them, but I have a really hard time finding a pair that looks good/makes me feel cute. But I can't just go all through summer wearing jeans; it would get rather toasty after a while. So the other day when I was in a good mood and my self-esteem levels were nice and high, I set out on a mission to find shorts. It was still a bit tough though. My mom and sister had to convince me to buy these. But now that I have them home and can try them on in my own closet under normal lighting conditions and with a mirror I trust, I like them a lot more. I firmly believe fitting room mirrors are portals to a poorly lit alternate dimension in which everyone looks as bad as they possibly could. It's a rough dimension to live in, but maybe they have like, world peace there or something to make up for it. Or maybe they look in the mirror and see THIS dimension's version of themselves/us and think "Hot damn, not half bad!" That just got really confusing really fast, so let's just move on. 

     Then we have my new brush, which I realize is probably incredibly dull for most people, but hear me out. It's called "the Wet Brush" (creative name, I know), and is specifically designed for brushing your hair when it's wet (whaaaat, you never would have guessed!). The reason this is so exciting is twofold: first because I have a stupid amount of really tangly hair that I can only brush when it's wet because you can't brush curly hair, and this makes it a bajillion times easier to keep passing birds from eyeing my hair and thinking "I could raise a few kids there." And second because I tried SO DAMN HARD to find this stinkin' brush online, and lots of places have it, but with shipping costs that outweigh the cost of the brush itself. I finally found it in a Sally's and happily snatched it up. 

     Movin' on, I then got a shiny, sparkly, confetti confection of a shirt that also manages to feel like I'm walking around in my (very fancy) jim-jams. Double win! As you can see, those stars manage to be surprisingly sparkly for a screen-print. They catch the light as well as sequins, but without the itchy scrape-y feeling sequins bring with them. This was the last one in the store, and it's an extra large, but that worked out surprisingly well because it's really loose and flowy and so, so comfortable. A+, shirt, you done good!

     Next up is another somewhat Big Deal item: a swimsuit! I know almost everyone hates shopping for swimsuits, but I got this one on the same day as the shorts, so it wasn't actually that bad by comparison. I'm a total weirdo, in a lot of ways we don't need to talk about right now, but specifically in that I find bathing suit shopping way easier than shorts shopping. You'd think the more potential for exposed jiggle, the more potential for plummeting self-esteem, but not for me. That's not to say throwing on a bikini is always a delight, it's just that I think shorts were designed by a malevolent deity specifically to bring hardship, misery, and woe to my days. Anyway, this swimsuit caught my attention because the super retro style reminds me of the one-piece number that old-school Barbie used to rock, which I have always loved. And it's got all of my favorite things: black and white, bows, polka dots, and ruffles! The only way it could have been more "me" is if it came with a free teacup pig that could oink my name. 

     And last but not least, my new phone case. My old one (the one that looked like the TARDIS) somehow got a chip cracked out of it and left a sharp edge that caught on everything. After looking at cases for hours and hours, I finally decided to just go with something cute and simple. Purple bunny ears! I don't know why, but it just called to me. It said to me "You need me in your life!" and my phone said "Yeah, I'm a phone, why WOULDN'T I have bunny ears? It makes perfect sense!" and I said "If inanimate objects are starting to talk to me I should probably stop staring at the computer screen for a little while because my brain must be frying," so I went ahead and ordered it and walked away. 

     PHEW. Who would have thought I had over 1000 words to say about a bunch of clothes and bits and bobs? Wait, that's not even a rhetorical question, the answer is "anyone who knows anything about me." 

Peepers, painting, and powerwashing.

     I had one of those weekends where at the end of each day, you're convinced you ate breakfast about a week ago.
 
     Saturday morning I got up bright and early (well, not really. It was so early the sun had barely even come up yet, so the "bright" part of that is a smidge misleading) to go to the Lineman's Rodeo, which is always interesting. Watching those guys scamper up a pole like chipmunks at hyper-speed was seriously impressive. I mean, I take a break halfway up the stairs sometimes, and that's way easier. Then I visited my sister to deliver a selection of highly fattening foods (she needs to gain weight while pregnant, I like to make calorie-bomb type foods. Dream team!). When I got home, it was right back out the door again to Lowe's, since it's finally started feeling like spring, and that means working outside! On a sidenote, what's the big idea of having super-cute gardening gloves at Lowe's, but only having them in ONE SIZE, which is way too big for my (very average-sized, I feel) hands? Unacceptable.Get your act together, Lowe's!

     By the time the day was over, I was so tired that I actually fell asleep almost immediately, and I don't remember waking up in the middle of the night too much, either. To most people that's probably nothing special, but if you know me at all, you'll know it's beyond rare to actually hear me say "I slept well last night!"

     On Sunday it was back to my sister's place to paint the ceiling of the nursery. Ugh. Ceilings are miserable. Taping everything off (no one in our party is confident enough in their skills at cutting in with a brush to go tape-less) was bad enough, but ughh the painting. I only did about 1/5th of it before I decided "Nope, this is the opposite of fun" and quit. I'm helpful like that. We had planned to do the second coat of paint on the walls as well, which was to be a decorative metallic wash, but it...did not go well. I'll attempt to make this long story short: the paint guy at Lowe's told us you get the same color, one in a semi-gloss base and one in a metallic base, but they're pigmented the same. Well, this turned out to just make it look like a crappy paint job when you layer the two together, because they're not different enough to look intentional. So that idea went out the window, and now we're rethinking the whole plan. But it'll come together soon enough. 

     After that whole debacle, I came home to more things to do: move the furniture back onto the newly painted porch, spray the weeds, repot a plant, power-wash the sidewalk. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all. I like having things to do. Makes me feel useful. Plus it's satisfying to get things done outside in the nice weather. I especially enjoy the powerwashing -- it's satisfying in the exact same way as peeling old paint or wallpaper off of something. You can really see what you've done, you know?

Oooh, gratuitous infomercial-style "before and after" shot! Did I dunk half of this sidewalk in Oxyclean or what?

    
     Since we're talking about spring cleaning and spruce-ups, I figure this is as good a time as any to introduce my new favorite thing about my room: THIS CHAIR. Oh my glob you guys, this chair is so comfy.

Also featured: my wreath, which I finally dug out and found a place for. Oh, and my uterus and cupcake plushies, because I'm a very serious grown-up type.

  
     Ok, so it looks a little like an exploded pink meringue. That's ok, I can work with that. The reason it looks like that is because underneath, it looks like this:

Womp-woooomp, sad trombone.

    
     Lookin' a little worse for wear there, buddy. So, because I'm not ready to tackle trying to replace or cover the cushions, and because I am utterly ridiculous, I covered it in my fluffy pink duvet. And now it's like sitting in a delightful pink cloud. At some point I would like to cover it, because I know it looks a little nuts, but in the meantime it's cozy as hell. I'm sitting in it as I type this, and it's so nice to be able to sit and work on the computer without getting that pain in the knobble where my neck meets my spine.

     So that's what I've been up to all weekend. Now it's warm enough to leave my windows open, the peepers are a'peeping like a free white noise soundtrack, and I'm hoping to get another good night's sleep, extending my all-time streak to two nights in a row. Can it be done? I don't know, but I shall try valiantly. 

Just thought I'd end with this pretty sunset over the pasture so we can all feel a little more relaxed.

Best Carrot Cake Ever?

     I ended that with a question mark because I don't consider myself a connoisseur of carrot cake and, having not traveled the world tasting all the carrot cakes that each nation has to offer, I don't feel quite confident enough to say that this is the best carrot cake EVER. But it's really, really good. 

This rabbit looked way less threatening in real life.

     The recipe I used can be found here, and for once I didn't end up making any major modifications to it as I went. The buttermilk glaze on my cake was about 1/4 cup short on sugar (ran out. Oops!) but I don't think it made a lick of difference, and obviously I doubled the recipe for the frosting. "Obviously" because I always, always, always double the amount of frosting suggested. I'd much rather have too much frosting than not enough, and honestly, maybe "too much frosting" is a thing that exists in technical terms, but surely it's like black holes, where we're just taking science's word for it even though none of us have ever seen it ourselves. 

     Inside, it's got coconut and pineapple and nuts for a nice variety of flavors and textures, and grating the carrots yourself, though time-consuming, lets you choose how carrot-y you want your carrot cake. Personally, I only even eat carrot cake because I can lie to myself that it's a serving of vegetables instead of just cake, so I grated the carrots super finely so that they almost disappear into the other flavors. 

Just how I like my cake: moist and crumbly almost to the point of compromising its structural integrity.

     Overall, this recipe gets a definite green light from me. It even got moderate approval from Amanda, who said "I don't like carrot cake, but that is the best carrot cake I've ever had," which, coming from her, is a rave review.

    

Eastery feastery!

     "Feastery" does NOT sound as fun and food-related as I thought it would, probably because it's a little too close to "fester-y," which just brings to mind open wounds. Oh well. I'm leaving it in the title though, so that we can all learn from this mistake. 

     The pink spring jacket project has taken a turn for the...well, it's taken a turn. To sum it up without giving away too many details that I haven't decided on yet, it's going in a very different direction. Like, if the GPS of my sewing plans had originally said "turn left in half a mile," this project didn't just turn right instead of left, it lifted up off the road and said "eff you, directions! I do what I waaaaaant!" as it floored it toward the sun. Ch-ch-changes, yeah!

     So in the meantime, I thought I would show you something pretty and colorful to distract from my sewing endeavors of questionable success. Easter eggs! 

     If, by chance, you follow me on Instagram, you'll have already seen these. They're done using a method I saw here. I wanted to try it out because it looked so pretty but still assured me that it was an acceptable activity for kids of preschool skill and up, a bracket which narrowly includes me.

     Basically, you lay out some paper towels on a protected surface (or one that you just don't care about, I guess. I don't know your life), cover the towels with drops of food coloring, spritz the towels with vinegar and water, then wrap up the eggs and leave them a while. I wrapped them in plastic wrap instead of using individual baggies, because it allowed me to skip that cumbersome "rubber band them in place" step, which I foresaw ending in a bunch of cracked eggshells. Then I stuck them back in a carton in the fridge and let them marinate in rainbowious (it's a word now, get with the program) glory overnight, and this is how they emerged in the morning! 

     I really like how they turned out. They look like either dragons or My Little Ponies are going to hatch out of them, or possibly some sinister hybrid of the two (a show that I would watch in a heartbeat). My favorite is the... fourth one from the top left, if you go like you're reading? The sixth from the top left if you go in serpentine formation? The second one down from the top left? Point (1,-2) if the origin is the top left of the photo and the units are in eggs? THE DARK ONE, I LIKE THE DARK ONE.

Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share!

     Except what needed cleaning up was my closet, so it was all my share. I figured that since I'm finally not a miserable hormonal mess anymore, I should...you know, actually do something. So I'd have something to post about besides insomnia fueled sketches of mythical hybrid creatures (hey, I do this for free. They can't all be winners). And I also figured "Who doesn't love a good before and after?" So (brace yourselves, I warn you) here's what my closet looked like before: 

Before, although apparently after some sort of apocalyptic event. Are you horrified yet? I kind of am. If it eases your mind any, know that that is all CLEAN laundry on the floor.

Behind the door, where I hide my secret stash of Play-Doh, and anything else that will fit there.

     Yikes, right? Full disclosure: when I took the first picture off my camera, I honestly couldn't even tell which way was up at first. The main reason my closet gets so messy is because I honestly have too many clothes, and I only actually wear maybe 50% of them (the other reason being that I have a bunch of stuff from college stored in there, just takin' up space). So when I go to put clothes away, I end up just dropping them in the floor in exasperation because there's no room for them in my dresser. I needed to be ruthless and get rid of the things I don't wear, instead of just convincing myself "Oh, but I might wear it some day!" After three hours of paring down, hanging up, folding, organizing, and being generally miserable, not to mention three bags of stuff gone, here's how it looks.

I have a floor! Who knew!

To anyone who was feeling like they might criticize me for still having too many hair products: I have curly hair. You know not my plight. 

 

 

     I know there are a lot of people to whom my after pictures would still seem too cluttered, but let's be real here: no space that I am in charge of maintaining is ever going to look like it belongs in an IKEA catalog. I have a lot of stuff, and until I have a place of my own to spread all that stuff around, things are gonna be a little cluttered. But at least now everything is in a logical place and semi-organized. 

     I also did a little sprucing up in my bedroom for spring, so let's just toss that in here too because, why not? More stuff to look at! Hooray, looking at stuff!

     On zees side of ze room, I stuck a bunch of fake (don't tell anyone, but I actually can't afford to keep fresh roses over my windows at all times) pink roses atop the curtains to make them a little less dark and wintry and depressing, then hung up a $1.99 heart-shaped plate from Target that tickled my fancy. I know this set-up looks awfully Valentine's Day...y. Day-y? Day-esque? I dunno. But that's the weird relationship I have with Valentine's Day: I hate the day itself for being sappy and bringing with it so many commercials that make me feel feelings, but I sort of love the decor. Everything's heart shaped! A dream come true! Anyway, the association doesn't bother me much, and I figure as soon as the holiday's over and everyone has immediately forgotten about it, it won't seem so...thematic. 

     Meanwhile, on ze ozzer side of ze room:

     Ok, try and tell me those pink puffball things are not the most delightful thing you have seen in...a time. They're so Dr. Suess that I can barely contain my urge to rhyme (but I will). They just make me happy. 

     So that's what I've accomplished lately! It may not seem like much, but it beats laying in bed all day. (Just kidding, laying in bed all day is the best.)