Plus One...

Oh my great goodness, y’all, so many new and wonderful things are coming together just in the last week! I can’t wait to share all of it but for now, a quick glimpse of one of those super exciting things will have to do!

Behold

Our soon-to-be addition, just turning 5 weeks (above).

And the most recent photos we were sent, at about 7 weeks (below).

The fact that she was sleeping while her siblings were playing is a great sign regarding her temperament! We wanted a laid back pup and we are certainly getting one.

This beautiful babe will be joining the family in  7 3 days! We are driving 5 &1/2 hours ( oh, yeah- no. You definitely read that right) to pick this girl up, and then right back home. If there was ever a dog meant for us, she is The One.

I have wanted to get a family pup for SOOOOO long but the Husband said no for quite a while. I even made a pamphlet, y’all. A PAMPHLET. Trifold. Complete with quotes from JFK. He chuckled but still said no. But now. Now is the time. We have a privacy fence built. I have a crate sitting in my room next to my bed. I have purchased a hand crafted, genuine leather and fabric collar that was a mere $15.00! I have a bag of Blue Buffalo chilling in our pantry. Like Spongebob Squarepants, I’M READY.

She is a Mastidane. Or a Daniff. Half Mastiff, half Great Dane. ALL ADORABLE. She is a fawn merle and I think I’m in love after seeing only a few pictures of her and her siblings. We decided to follow the sage advice of Cesar Milan and choose a pup that was laid back, or submissive, as those usually tend to be easier to train and don’t try to go all Alpha on the kiddos. Considering she will be what I affectionately call a horsedog, that is a necessity.

The boys are super excited and Needy, the family fat cat, is utterly oblivious to what is coming in one short week. She may take a while to get used to another animal in the house, but she won’t have much choice in the matter. She WILL, however, end up with lots of tall things to climb and hide on since I know how much of a scaredy cat she can be. Thankfully this pup will still be relatively small when we bring her home so it shouldn’t take too terribly long for my fellow ladies to get acclimated to one another!                 

                   

Needy, also known as Fat Cow, Dammit Cat!, (painful) OH!, or Kitty Kitty (Ki-ki for short).

I’m so excited to share the newest addition with you when we get her, as well as a few changes we’ll be making around the house to accommodate her ;D.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint- Kitchen Cabinets: Part II

When we last left the kitchen cabinet scene, back in part I,  things were going swimmingly. Except one MINOR issue I thought I had fixed. I had some cracking and chipping with the paint in two small areas on the door. Of course, this was frustrating and I sanded the areas down, painted them again, and waited the 20 minutes for each of them to dry only to have them crack yet again. And again. And again. ASCP had forsaken me!

Turns out some cabinets ( namely the crappy, fake wood kind…) are too oily for the “no sanding, no priming” claim by the ASCP brand. Guess what they require? Priming. Specifically, a shellac primer. Thankfully, I found a blogger who had the same issue and reached out via this post  and had asked her followers/commenters for help. One offered up the shellac advice and mentioned that she used one in the form of spray paint. The shellac helps the paint to bond to the oily wood. I guess maybe the old adage “If it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is” had been proven correct yet again. Crap.

However, despite this small setback, I was still hopeful. I ran out and bought 2 cans of Zinsser Bulls Eye Shellac Primer in Clear at my local Lowe’s- but you can get it here.  Long story short, IT WORKED. Here’s my only grievance with this, these cans were $9 each and it took me several (if I had to guesstimate, I'd say 9 or 1o) cans to be able to completely cover all of my cabinets. The cabinet doors need to be sprayed on both the front and the back, and I found that it needed to be covered thoroughly. No spot unsprayed or you could risk the oils seeping through and causing the little spots like I experienced later, or chipping and cracking again.

It took me months to finish because I am who I am and I got sidetracked with other house updating/reno/decorating projects. BUT. They're nearly finished, all that is left to be 100% completed is the glass pane inserts that will go in the 2 cabinets where I cut out the panels.

Here are the most recent photos that I took just now because I finally thought “ah crap, I should take pictures while I’m thinking of it…”! Again, forgive the bad quality. They are from a phone and I had to mess with the brightness and contrast so you could see better-ish.

Can I point out one of my beautiful rugs I just bought from Marshalls that I LOVE!

Disregard the slightly creepy pig cookie jar on top of the cabinets...it was my Grammy's and I love it.

Now to figure out how to decorate the top! I refuse to use fake plants because BH&G called it tacky and I don't want to put tacky on something I busted my booty on.

My next kitchen project will most likely be building a U-shaped coffee mug rack to fit around that kitchen window, and possibly a countertop reno. I have been eyeballing the Ardex featherlight stained concrete countertop idea, I just need to talk the husband into it... We shall see! I also need to paint the upstairs bathroom cabinets to match, possibly update all the knobs with glass crystal knobs, and go from there!

Our current project is putting up our own privacy fence (TO GET A FAMILY DOG!!!), which I have partially documented with pictures. I may put up a before and after along with the process, overall cost, and my awesome tan lines. Slowly but surely our home is transforming into a place I am proud to show off. We're crossing off more and more things from my List of Things To Update!