Thursday Thoughts

Happy Thursday! Hope you are having a great week and looking forward to the upcoming weekend. I had planned on sharing this post on Monday but somehow time went speeding by and it is now Thursday. Things have been rather busy around here so I thought I would update you on a few random happenings.

A little while back I came across an exciting-to-me find in the bookstore – my shower curtain was included in Better Homes and Gardens New Decorating Book! It is only a very small picture (the green one with blue tabs in the center) but it certainly was thrilling to be flipping through a design book and come across something I made. You may remember the curtain was part of this BH&G basement bathroom story.

The warmer weather over the past weekend was motivation to finish up a few inside painting projects (who wants to be inside when the weather is nice!) and begin an outside project that has long been on my mind.

So Mr. RDH completed repainting the two upstairs bathrooms. Both went from SW Aria Ivory to BM White Dove. The change is subtle but one that was well worth the effort. The master bedroom no longer has a blue ceiling and now is more in keeping with the feel of the attached bedroom.

We spent the second half of the weekend removing a whole bunch of myrtle that we had planted years ago on a small hill next to the driveway. The plant was becoming invasive so it was time for it to go.

Now we are left with a dirt hill and no plans for what to plant. If you have any ideas please let me know. I was thinking lavender but I would love to hear your opinion. This area gets a good bit of sun and tends to be very dry.

Besides the above I have also been filling my time with a few sewing classes to learn how to use my new-to-me sewing machine! For those of you who have been followers for a while, you are probably very familiar with the story of my old sewing machine.

I purchased a nine year old Bernina and I am just so excited by all the new capabilities I now have at my disposal. It even does embroidery which will allow me to customize stockings with names in my Etsy shop. Although I absolutely love my Singer Featherweight and will never part with it, I knew it was time for an upgrade. I plan to share more on my new toy later as I have been making several new stocking designs – including the one shown above - for this upcoming holiday season.

Finally there is all the little behind the scenes prep work which needs to be completed for next week’s photo shoots. I have a few smaller projects which I am working on which might be included in a few of the pictures.

Have a great weekend! I look forward to hearing your opinion about our dirt hill.

Not Feeling the Pettitte Signing

I love Andy as much as the next guy. It's been an absolute pleasure watching him come up thru the system and becoming one of the faces of the franchise. In his prime, I felt nothing but confidence when Pettitte was on the mound.

That was then & this is now. This is the year 2012, he is turning 40 years old in June, and he has not pitched in the big leagues in over a year. The Yankees have incredible depth, and this was before Pettitte signed. Word is that Andy is going to either start the year in Tampa or Trenton. Tampa would make the most sense from a location standpoint since the Yankees are obviously based there during Spring Training & he is already unpacked there. From a selfish nostalgic point of view though since the contract is already signed, I'd like to see #46 in Trenton since it's just an hour or so from me.

Back to the point, why? We all know that the Yankees loyalty knows no bounds and for some reason, it's the front office that must show it. It's a two-way street in this business. The players help the team win but it was the team that first gave the players their shot to begin with. To me, this signing from a competitive standpoint, makes no sense, and at $2.5 Million, that is no small chunk of change, even for the Yankees. This is a loyalty signing and it is not in the best interest of the 2012 New York Yankees. You're probably asking yourself "Why is he talking about loyalty?" Well the answer to that is that we all know that when Andy is ready to go, he is going to take someone's spot in the rotation, regardless of how he or the pitcher he's replacing, is performing. Why? It's Andy Pettitte. For how long did we see Jorge Posada flailing miserably while Jesus Montero was raking?

Yes this is a lot of ifs and assumptions but if history has taught us anything, it is the most likely scenario. The only scenario that I would be on board with is if Freddy Garcia is severely under-performing & Pettitte is excelling in the Minors. Under no circumstances, should he replace Phil Hughes or Ivan Nova in the rotation, especially if his spot in the rotation means one of them are sent to the bullpen. Hughes & Nova need to continue to start, especially Hughes, because the Yankees need to see what they have in him.

Besides who is he going to replace in the rotation, he's probably going to need at least a month, maybe more in the Minors before he's ready. So not only is he going to be handed a rotation spot, but he is also going to stunt the development of a young pitcher in either Trenton or Tampa. Whoever he bumps off in the minors, bumps off a pitcher below him, so on & so forth. It's a Domino Effect.

I'm sure this isn't a popular opinion & that's fine with me. I'm not here in hopes of pleasing the masses, I'm offering my two cents on the matter. I would have much preferred to see Pettitte at Old Timer's Day as opposed to a member of the 2012 Yankees.

Again, yes I am aware that none of this is supported with factual evidence. This is what I think is going to happen & it is not good.

Silhouette Chalkboard Vinyl

Last Summer I shared a post about how much fun I had with tattoo paper.

This time, I was given a chance to review their Chalkboard Vinyl. I had heard about it and I was very curious, so it was perfect timing!

There were several ideas that I wanted to do. I got together with my friend who has a Cameo (and let me tell you she is a master!), we decided to play with it. :)

Here are the couple things I did...

A place setting for my refrigerator to write the menu of the day.


I used a cut out design of a place setting my friend already had in her library, and instead of the plate, I used a doily as a plate. I really LOVE this! I have a thing for doilies, and Silhouette offers so many stylish and pretty designs, it was so hard to pick "the one".

I also cut out some tags. There are many places that I want to use these cool labels, but I used the first one on this can... I am quite happy about this treat can, isn't it so fun?


Great thing is I can always erase the words and use the can for different purposes. Hmm... What else can I make?