Projects, Budgets, and other News (It's basically just me rambling...)

So, I thought I would do a little update post for the week and I think I'm going to try to make it a regular thing. Vivienne over at The V Spot does a week in review and I think it's fabulous, in case I have missed her other posts for the week. Although, she seems to go through about 50 projects a week, so she actually has interesting things to post about. My posts will probably be more about things like, "Yesterday, I drank Coffee and I actually put some cream in it. The End." Oh well, even boring posts make me feel productive and don't you think it's interesting that I drink my coffee black? No? Okay, whatever.

Anyway, not much has gone on recently as far as projects, which I'm sure you've noticed. I can explain. One reason why I've slowed down is that I need Studly's help to finish up Destructo's room and frankly, I have also been too lazy to get up off my butt and paint the dresser and parts to his bed! I don't know what my problem is. I guess I've lost my decorating mojo the last little while. However, I have some exciting news (well, exciting for me at least.) which may help me get back that mojo. Last week, my sweet neighbor Emily, asked me if I would paint her crib for her baby boy that is due in about 7 weeks, or so. Way flattering, but also way nerve wracking!  I mean, if I screw up on my own projects, it's not that big of a deal. I can get around to fixing it one day (or I can just disguise it by putting that side against the wall...). However, screwing up on someone else's stuff? Not acceptable. Emily is so sweet though and for some reason has complete confidence in my abilities, so I decided to go for it and am planning on starting it this weekend. I can't exactly procrastinate this one, because if I do her baby will be sleeping in a dresser drawer and we can't have that! It may be the little push I need to make some progress on Destructo's room and actually have some posts about projects, which would be nice considering that's the point of this entire blog! Sometimes, you need a little boost to get your groove back. Isn't that how Stella did? Wait, no Stella was a cougar and I can't even remember why she had to get her groove back. Oh, well.

I can't blame everything on my lack of motivation and mojo, though. Some of the delays are due to our busy life in general. It's dance competition season and that means three stays in hotels in the next couple of months, plus a few local competitions. Okay, Okay...I can't really use that as an excuse...but here's what I can use an excuse and it's probably the biggest reason....that damn thing called a budget!

I hate budgets. I think we all loath them and unless you are lucky enough to have loads of money, you know exactly what I mean. It wasn't always an issue, but then again I had a friend named Visa and she and I had a blast hanging out. Unfortunately, she was also a bad influence (just like that damn Victoria's Secret Angels card.) and a few years ago, when we moved out of our favorite house {tear}, we agreed to pay off our debt and NEVER get another credit card again, which we've stuck to and which also means I have to deal with living on a budget. Not an easy thing, because I am sure I was some type of spoiled rich chick in a previous life (I'm definitely a spender!) Anywho, I was balancing the checkbook recently and had a little "HOLY HELL!" moment when I realized how much I had been spending on my DIY projects. I was actually shocked. The whole point of DIY is that you can do awesome things for cheap. The problem with that is that it puts me in a mindset where I tend to think all these little expenditures like, a paint brush here, a piece of wood here aren't a big deal, but when you are at Lowe's almost every day buying these little things, boy oh boy, do they add up! If I wasn't paying a fortune for dance and didn't have to actually have money in a savings account, this wouldn't be a bad thing but because I do, I need to give Lowe's a break for a bit (I hope they remember my name when it's time to come back.)  The additional bummer to this is that when I created the budget for the next couple of months, I had to take out my little home decor allowance to make up for my little addiction, which stung a little. Not all is lost though, the funny thing is that it's not necessarily a bad thing and it won't necessarily leave me without any projects. I have several supplies in stock for projects I've been procrastinating (the kitchen cabinets for example). I blame this problem on my ADD (diagnosed by a medical professional, by the way...so that makes it real, not just an excuse!) which means I tend to try to take on multiple projects at the same time which makes things difficult for two reasons. 1. I take a lot longer to finish projects (which you already know) and 2. I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to figure out what one to work on. Major time waster! So, I guess the silver lining of my lack of funds is that I may actually get a little organized as a result and will actually be forced to get those damn cabinets painted. Wouldn't that be nice?

Okay, so my last excuse for being a crappy DIY blogger is the whole beauty blogging thing that I mentioned last week. With my lack of mojo in the home decor area, I've found the beauty area to be more interesting recently. Basically, I've been watching way too many YouTube videos about makeup and skin care to get crap done. While I've been watching these videos, though. I've been thinking about how to integrate this other hobby into my blogging life and I think I finally made a decision last night. I've decided that I will actually create a separate blog for the beauty topics. I know that most of you responded saying I should keep it on this blog, but, and I know this may sound weird, but I just couldn't add it as an addition to this blog. I have this OCD thing about categories and keeping things compartmentalized in my life, which is part of the reason why I have had multiple blogs in the past. This blog was created to share my projects and big fat fails, as well as some funny family adventures. It's basically created around our home, not me. The whole makeup and beauty thing is different. In a way, it's what gives me my own identity as an individual because it is all about me and I want that blog to reflect more of my own personality. I really think keeping the blogs separate will be better in the long run, but I will also be linking them, so if you are interested in that side of me, you will be able to access it easier. I have no idea how to do this, but I'm sure I will think of something. I do know you can do custom re-directs and I will probably put a link to it on my sidebar if you want to take a gander over there whenever you are here. I might even post here when I update the other one. I want it to be as simple and as integrated as possible, so I'll be working on that for the next little while. If you have any ideas or input, definitely let me know! I will be making a couple of changes to my social networking profiles, but nothing major. You won't have to follow separate profiles, I will probably just be changing the names to my own name or something similar, rather than having everything under the name of the blogs. So, if you do follow me on those other social networking sites, you might notice this happening. But, won't it be more personal and cozy that way? On a side note, I also want to let you know that if you aren't following me on Facebook, or any of the other sites, I would love it if you would. I don't always post on the blog about thing but I will post on those other sites. For example, I posted a picture of the crib on Instagram when I got it, but didn't do an entry on here.

Okay, so that's about it for my little news update. Did you enjoy reading this long, god-awfully boring entry that was really about nothing? If not, I'm sorry. If so, you're a better friend than I thought! Anyway, tootles for now. I'm off to celebrate my dad's birthday and am already late because I was writing and editing this long god-awfully boring entry.

Take care and I love you all! I will be posting some information on the new blog soon!

So, I've been thinking...

...about adding a new section to this blog (or starting a new blog).

Here's the sitch: 

There's another thing I love just as much as home decor (maybe, more!), which is makeup and skin care. Over the years, I have tried so many different products and am always learning new techniques. I've even thought about taking classes in case I decide I want to do it professionally one day, so I've been wondering if I should start a series on here all about girly stuff, like makeup and skincare. The posts would focus on product reviews, different news in the beauty world, and some fun techniques as I learn them. The question I have is, should I blog about that stuff on this blog? or create another blog since the title and posts on this one are so "customized" towards the house? Is this something you would want to read about on this blog? 

Both options have their different advantages.  The pluses to keeping the posts on this blog are that it will  keep me blogging more regularly on here when I am feeling the lazy's (or when I've gone through my home decor budget for the month.), and it may also improve my blog traffic here. I also wouldn't have to go through and create new profiles, like in Twitter, Google, or Instagram. It would definitely be more simplified, but again, that leads me back to the main question...Does that sort of stuff belong on here? 

What do you all think? Do you want to read about my vanity? Do you want to know more about me and my family life (besides my embarrassing E.R. visits and more posts that reveal more information about me then you ever cared to read about)? Or, should I keep to the subject matter that I created the blog for?

{ In retrospect, this is why I should have named my blog something different, like Liz Marie did so I wouldn't be pigeon-holed into feeling weird about expanding a home decor blog to include other subject matter, but I promised everyone that knows me that I will not change the name again!}

 I'll put up a "test" post, soon (hopefully, today) so y'all can see what I'm talking about, but do me a favor and comment below...and if you've liked my FB page, you've already seen this...possibly, twice because I also posted it on my personal page, so I'll apologize for that, right now.

Love you all!

Another Post Where I Reveal Too Much Personal Information...

Hi my friends,

Last week, I took the week off from blogging, mostly because I didn't get much done. I painted the baseboards in Destructo's room and moved the office into the front room so, we could move our bed to Diva's "new" bedroom because our brand new mattress was delivered on Saturday and that's pretty much it (I was also feeling kind of lazy). That laziness has continued today and instead of painting Destructo's dresser, I'm sitting here drinking black coffee in hopes of relieving some annoying constipation. This is, unfortunately, a common problem that I have. Seriously, I think it's been over a week! Anyway, while we are on the subject of my bowel habits, I thought I would share with you another oldie from my old blog...I call it, "The Day I Learned I Was Full of Shit." (I apologize in advance for the profanity, I usually try to keep it clean here on the blog, but stick with me because I think you'll find this story worth it.)

Here we go:

Life Comes At You Fast...Sometimes, Too Fast for DIY.

 This week, we started on Destructo's room. I barely have it painted, so I don't have a preview yet (unless you follow me on FB, Instagram, or Twitter), but anyway, it is going to be "off the hook!" We are custom building his bed, refinishing his dresser, and I have painted the walls to look like a cement garage (or, maybe, the bat cave?). There are a few other surprises, too. To summarize: he's one lucky little boy (who happens to love Mustangs by birthright...which is good because those will be a  prominent theme in his new bedroom). Anyway, I'm super excited about it!

I had also planned to get board and batten materials to start on the new office this week, but while we were at Home Depot getting some of the materials for Destructo's room, I decided I better wait and focus just on his room, for now, instead of giving into my usual multi-project ADD (That little promise that I was going to work on one project at a time flew right out the window, didn't it?).

Well, it's a darn good thing I used self-restraint, because I had completely forgotten about competition fees that were due to Diva's dance studio. Good Lord, there went about $500 to the dance fairy!

So, I guess the office will have to wait, which kind of bums me out. After thinking about it though, it makes me wonder about a few things in this "crafty-DIY-home decor-whatever-you-call-it" blogging world.

First of all, I wonder how all of these other DIY bloggers have the time for their (what seems to be) constant projects? Am I delusional in my asking of this question? Or, is it true? I mean, am I the only one that needs a break every couple of days? Am I the only (self-proclaimed) DIY girl that doesn't have the energy to be a "Kung Fu Master-Terminator-DIY machine"? I dearly love my projects, but I also have a busy life full of kid stuff that never ends. My husband gets home at bed time, or later, and by the time he is home...he's so tired from being on his feet all day that he doesn't have the energy for my latest and greatest scheme, leaving me to wait impatiently until his day off. Even with the relatively few projects that I'm in the process of, in comparison to others out there (or so it seems), I really can't remember the last time I vacuumed, and my house is in a constant state of "project chaos". There are several Home Depot or Lowe's bags in the front room with miscellaneous things like spackle or paint brushes in them, and not only do I have a 12 foot long piece of corrugated metal in there too, but I also have a 4X8 sheet of particle board! So, basically when I go through all my emails from the blogs I'm subscribed to, I'm all, "Hey guys, your constant projects are awesome but I don't even have the energy for linky parties this week for the projects that I actually do have finished. Let alone the energy to work on the ones in progress, or that need to be started, but thanks for the pick-me-up...glug, glug."

Then there's another thing which perplexes me even more... the money. Even though the beauty of these projects is that they are fairly cheap, even small and cheap projects add up. I mean, you can do board and batten in a room for around $50, and spray paint is less than $4 a can, but if I get out of Lowe's without spending more than a $100, I feel like I just won the gold in the Olympics or had a balance beam move named after me. So, how do others out there afford these constant projects (even though they are cheap)? As my dad says, you can nickle and dime yourself to death and I totally agree with him (for once). Now, I know some bloggers are successful enough to have sponsors along with free products coming at them all the time, but even those that don't have, like 10,000 followers, seem to be totally kicking ass in the project world. Is there a secret password at the bank that I need?

Finally, how is it that these wonder-DIY'ers have time to blog almost every day? I'm barely getting in two days a week if I'm lucky and my goal is only 3! I'm still confused by how to manage different social media and so I'm twitting and Instagramming left and right with no particular logic. It takes me forever to edit a post (like a few hours) when I do have time to post about something worthwhile and it's not for lack of resources. There are a ton of blogs and books out there to help me with all this, I just don't have the energy to read them.

Now, I'm not whining, or getting down on myself, or comparing myself to other bloggers, even though I sound like I am. I know better than that by now. I'm just honestly wondering if I am delusional in thinking all of this. I just really want to know if  I'm the only one that's eyes bulge out like a Looney Tunes character when I see how much I've spent on my "little" projects in a month, or that I sometimes go a week, or longer, without doing a thing that I planned to do.

Granted, Miss Mustard Seed, Young House Love and others do this blogging thing as a business, so of course they are pretty much at it at least 40 hours a week, not only blogging but writing magazine articles or books, not to mention launching their own product lines, etc, but what about other bloggers?

okay....so, I guess I am kind of whining, but more out of curiosity than anything...

I just want to know that I'm not alone and that the 50 plus emails I get daily from other bloggers just make me feel like I should be spending 18 hours a day thrifting, painting, and sanding with an unlimited budget. but that when it comes down to it, I'm not much different than any other blogger, that hopefully, we all feel this way.

Phew...I guess I needed to vent, tonight...or avoid painting baseboards...

But, thanks for reading, anyway and here's a picture for you of me in my awesome bono-esque safety glasses...

Yes, I did notice that I have old lady neck, but thanks for pointing that out!

Love ya,

"Nifty 150" Giveaway!!!

Hey Friends!

I'm announcing my very first giveaway, today! Aren't you excited? I am!

Disclaimer: Please, don't be like me and make sure you read the following information carefully. You can comment on this post or email me if you have questions :)

Goal:

to get 100 more Facebook "likes" and 50 more Google "Followers" for a total of 150 new friends of  The Yellow Brick Cottage by next Wednesday, February 13th.

Rules:

1. If you have already "liked" me on Facebook or are a already a Google "follower", you are already automatically entered (yeah, for you!).

However,

2. If you "share" the contest on Facebook, you will receive an additional entry. If your share results in at least 5 more Facebook "likes" or Google "followers" you will receive another additional entry per 5  Facebook"likes" or Google"followers" 

(up to 2 more, for a total of 3 entries.) 

3. To prove that you aren't just making things up (not that I think you would!), you or the people you "share" the contest with on Facebook will need to email me their name so I can enter them in the drawing.

4. This contest also applies to the friends that you share it with!

(I will only verify it on my Facebook and Google "follower" page in order to protect privacy.)

5. The winner will be drawn via random.org and will be announced on the blog on February 15th.

Got it? Good!

Now for the fun part!

The prize is:

A $25 gift card to Target!

But we aren't finished, yet!

for every 10 additional Facebook "likes" or Google " followers" up to 200, 
the gift card will be increased by $5

That's a total of $50 for about 30 seconds worth of work!

One more thing, you can also subscribe, or follow me via Twitter, or Instagram for more future giveaways regarding those sites!

*close friends and family members are not eligible, because that would be lame of me, but you are already be a follower or Facebook fan because you support me, right? and you still want to share the contest with your friends, because they will be entered and that would be nice of you, right?
(insert guilt trip here, if  your answer is no.)*

Good Luck! Love you all!

News: Upcoming Posts and Projects

Hey all,

I thought I would give you a little preview of some projects coming up on the blog in the next little while!

1. Destructo's Room
2. Desk Re-do
3. New Office Space Reveal
4. The repair of that darn living room wall that I destroyed last month...

I'll also be sharing some old humorous posts from my old blog from time to time, so stay tuned!!

Why I'm So Glad I Didn't Throw the Ottoman Through the Wall!

A couple of days ago, I submitted the Restoration Hardware Knock-off Ottoman to one of my favorite blogs, Knock of Decor.

I figured they probably get about 4,362 emails a day, or so from bloggers wanting to submit items, so I thought it would either be a long time to hear back, or that I might not hear back at all. I mean, I love my ottoman (We've come to appreciate each other after all the trauma we went through.), but would Knock Off Decor?

Well, apparently, they did like it! Yesterday, I got an email from Beckie over there letting me know that the ottoman would be featured today and I about did nekkid somersaults across the house! I don't know if I can really explain how excited I am to see it posted over there this morning. I mean, this is a blog that I cruise every day full of awesome creativity from bloggers all over, thinking..."Now, why didn't I think of that?"

So, I'm feeling pretty great in my jammies, with no bra (too much?), and morning hair, right now and I really want to thank Beckie for featuring the ottoman that nearly killed me, as well as my friend Kenz who suggested I submit it after she let me guest post it on her blog. It turns out hard work did pay off in this situation and I think I shall reward myself with a cupcake from Kneaders (a local bakery) in honor of the feature as soon as I drop that slow-poke Diva off at school (Destructo is in Disneyland with Grandpa...I know, right? No fair!).

Then, it's time to work on my next project, Destructo's new bedroom. It's gonna be so sick, or the bomb. or whatever the kids say, these days. I cannot wait to show you how it turns out!

Oh, and if your visiting from over at Knock Off Decor, THANK YOU for dropping by and I hope you'll take a look around and join me here, on Facebook, or those other social networking sites! I love meeting new friends and taking a look at your blogs, too!

Okay, I'm off to put that bra on and brush my hair so I can go check Diva into school, get my cupcake (or two) and then I'll be back later today, or tomorrow to post about that giveaway I promised you!