Lighting Overload

When two people move in together after dorm life, there's a meshing of styles and an abundance of multiples. This isn't even about appliances or dishes. Oddly, Steve and I have several lamps of all different kinds: desk lamps, standing ones, ones with adjustable bulbs, the list goes on.
One lamp of Steve's seemed to be a chameleon. Looking back on photos of our past two apartments, I noticed a certain something lurking in the background of several rooms. And I do not kid.

There it is in our kitchen/dining room of our old place being used more like a desk lamp. We had a single heater in this place so I buckled down near it to write my grad papers.

 There it is in our new living room...underneath a lamp...underneath a ceiling light.

Then it moved to the bedroom, soon to be replaced by a Craigslist lamp. This nomadic lamp soon made it to my nightstand and the log cabin boy's room coloring was just not cutting it.

Creeper. It really reminds me of Catalog Living. Go there for a laugh and you'll never be able to look at another home ad and take it seriously.

Grad student = too many books

Oh wait, there is no such thing as too many books. Buying a book a week for three classes every semester really adds up, especially now that publishers are sending desk copies too!

All these books and shelves encroach on the choices for layout and I love rearranging furniture for a "new" room. My initial attempt was the chair-in-front-of-bookshelves but it didn't become the reading nook I originally thought it would so I needed to stir things up. I didn't want our old kitchen table to continue as a catch-all so I moved it away from the door and the temptation to just drop off items. Normally I move all the furniture with only space restrictions but this motivation kicked off after I had already nailed a poster. It was a struggle and made double holes so I wanted to avoid moving the poster and bookshelf underneath it.

The first attempt just shifted the bookshelves down to fit the table but the Detroit poster was too large for such a narrow space.

By the second attempt, I realized that the white bookcase came up to a strange height on the poster and I didn't like the stepping of the heights as a whole.

The final move worked well and gave enough room for the coat stand at the end. Don't worry, I didn't leave my books in piles. After a struggle to put them in color order, and no pictures of all that effort, I just couldn't function with my books in random order. It looked nice but I was forced to looking up images of my books to then find them on the shelves.

Sometimes the bug to rearrange furniture just hits me. I did this on my own but Steve doesn't mind as long as he gets out of it :)

Tissue Time!

So I found these instructions for making tissue poms. I loved the look but I wanted to create the poms as more permanent decoration for the bedroom. I knew that to do it well enough to keep around I would need practice. The apartment has been looking super bare now that the Christmas decorations have been put away and since Valentine's Day is coming up, I practiced with shades of pink. My first attempt was...well, my first attempt.

There were several sites with instructions and advice. Cutting the tissue paper ends in a rounded way made it seem more childish. All the sites warned that the more tissue layers the better.

For this first one, I used only eight sheets, the suggested amount. I didn't have any wire so I improvised with twist ties. Initially, I used thread and tape to attach it to the ceiling but it kept falling down, creeping me out.

My second attempt was much better and I think with a few more tissue layers, I'll have this pom thing down.

I used 12 sheets and it gave the pom a much fuller look. This time I cut the ends into points which made it seem much less like a craft project and more like decor. To get the ends exact with all of the layers, I worked on smaller groupings than trying to cut all the ends together.

Neither poms would stay attached to the ceiling with thread and tape so I moved them into the living room doorways and tied yarn to the wires. Matching the yarn to the trim, I hooked the poms onto nails above the doorways for some holiday decorations.

Yes, that would be our coaxial cord coming from the other room. Sadly, the living room isn't cable equipped and its fallen off the priority list. But I digress!

The poms are lookin' good! Now I'll be picking out colors for another couple poms for the bedroom.

New Years Resolution

I don't usually make resolutions since I'm still a student and January just marks the year's mid-point but I figure I can re-try earlier and unsuccessful attempts by starting a New Years resolution. A few months ago, I saw an Apartment Therapy post about cleaning only 20 minutes a day for thirty days. So I turned the list into a calendar.

I'm hoping to keep to the calendar since I don't have a long day this semester as I had for the fall.

extra holiday cheer

After my project with the wreath, I had extra garland strands. Like the wreaths, the garlands were pretty thin. I laid out the two strands of silver and red, twirling them together somewhat unsuccessfully. I was on a time constraint so the spacing was inconsistent.

I draped it along my two DVD towers and with such a long length, there was no need to secure it in place.

For $2, the garland made a big difference and took only a few minutes.

the most wonderful time of the year

This year I felt our Christmas decorations was a bit lacking since we moved to a larger apartment. I found this garland project that I thought I could execute pretty easily. After trying multiple stores with no luck on the garland, I adjusted the idea by buying a sparse wreath and several strings of garland from the dollar bin section at Target. I wrapped the matching color of garland around the wreath to make it thicker. Then I wrapped the red garland around for a candy cane inspired wreath.

 Next Christmas, I think I'll get some wire instead of the very obvious green yarn to hang the wreath on the door. This was a quick project to brighten up our stark white door.

Bully Jack O'Lantern

I'd like to preface this masterpiece by stating that this is my first time carving a pumpkin. When I was little, my parents got us small pumpkins we painted and my dad carved a large pumpkin to put on our porch. This year Steve and I wanted to enjoy Halloween so we picked up a couple of medium pumpkins from our local produce store.

We searched for designs online and sketched them onto the pumpkins. Then the carving commenced.

Mine, on the left, took a lot longer, or really, I was slower than Steve's on the right. Look at that bully picking on my pumpkin.

I really enjoyed creating my pumpkin, even if it molded and leaked before Halloween. If I don't truly build-up and enjoy Halloween, the whole holiday season goes by too quickly so I think this tradition is here to stay.

More Tastiness

One Halloween my sister came over with a graveyard pudding dessert and I've been looking to have it ever since. A step beyond the usual dirt pudding, I decided to get domestic this Halloween and rediscovered the recipe.

I tried to kill two birds with one stone by buying gel for the witches' hat cookies, which didn't turn out so great for those cookies, but the gel worked perfectly for my headstones. I used upside down candy corn for the fence.

Spooky to be drawing my own gravestone but oh so tasty.

Poor Witch: misplaced her hat and finger

When I was little, my mom made Witches' Hat cookies. Using Kebler Fudge Stripe cookies and Hershey Kisses, melt the bottom of the Kisses and place them on to the upside down cookies.

Use a frosting tube and tip to outline a ribbon for the hat. I tried using gel since it was cheaper. I had less control and they didn't come out as well.

These cookies are simple, quick, and are tasty with the added chocolate.

Finger lickin' good

Halloween is my second favorite holiday with the costumes, the atmosphere, and of course the goodies. Adapted from my mom's recipe and the one listed here, I baked witches' finger cookies.

Learn from my mistake, though. Put the jelly on after baking the cookies unless you need to smoke out something in your kitchen.

 The website has different innovations such as color variations and warts.

Taco Time!

One day at my summer job, a co-worker brought in his lunch and it smelled so good and reminded me of home cooking. Using this recipe, we substituted veggie crumbles to make taco stuffed shells.

Be sure to start the shells way before cooking the veggie meat because there is so much water to boil. Its so tasty, filling and even easy for me! If you have extra shells, just stuff them with cream cheese and vegetables or veggie bacon. Enjoy!

Halloween Goodies

Steve's mom gave us a pumpkin muffin mix, I believe, from Trader Joe's.

What made them even better was the Halloween muffin cups and decorated toothpicks. Warm with butter, the muffins were perfect for autumn weather.