Tag Archives: Miscellaneous

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A Random Hodge Podge of the World Around Us

I had every intention of posting on Monday, but the hearing test was more important and then I had the big clean up after that surprising success of a birthday party, our first at the house. I would have posted pictures, but it’s hard to post pictures while managing a party and chasing a toddler. Still, it was awesome to show off our accomplishments and feel good that we did a great job putting everything together. Although it was cramped because the weather did not cooperate at all.

So today I am talking about random things in the political and otherwise world, some relevant, some not. Let’s get started.

  • The Massachusetts Gubernatorial race: I’ve put a lot of thought into this race, as I normally have. I don’t like Coakley for the job. I liked her at her old job, but I don’t like the idea of her running our state. (Shocker, I’m registered to a party and I like to actually vote for candidates and not letters next to their names.) Baker, is probably the way I’m going to go. Why? Because he’s staying out of marriage equality and is pro-choice. And because he has a plan to reform the welfare system that I so often comment on. The fact that he’s reinstating the “work for it” policy, he automatically gets my vote. I don’t care if you need help, as long as you’re not sitting on your ass just expecting free money. Why should I have to work for my income and you don’t? I don’t want hand outs, I was raised to work for my keep. And I raise my children that way. So what makes them so special that they get every bit of help while someone who works their butt off all day doesn’t get a cent? The reason they have to make that choice is because too many people want to sit around all day and the ones who are really out there trying get shafted. Let’s help the ones who want to work out, and stop encouraging the ones who don’t. It’s a sickening system when it favors people who don’t want to work versus those who are doing everything they can to make ends meet. I have more respect for the person who flips burgers until they can find something else than I do someone who just doesn’t give a crap.
  • The Company’s Insurance Plan Covering Birth Control and “Abortion Drugs”: I’m not an expert on the legalities here, but I do wonder something: if the company does not want to pay for women to have access to these medicines that are so offensive to them, what do they think happens to their tax payer dollars when someone on state funded insurance plans cover it. Technically, their money is still going to the same “loathsome and offensive” medicines. Does that mean funding is going to be cut so no one provides these medicines to women? Or are they just going to find a loophole to stop paying taxes as a result? Also, scientifically speaking, Plan-B does not stop a pregnancy. It prevents the egg from dropping to make sure that a pregnancy never occurs. Just because you believe it is an abortion pill, doesn’t mean that it is. I’ve known some guys that believed they were God, doesn’t mean they were.
  • Protest Zones: With the buffer law being ruled as unconstitutional, I keep wondering if I’m allowed to protest wherever I want just because it’s my constitutional right. Can I protest on my church’s front steps, declaring that the spaghetti monster is the greatest God ever? I’m sure I’d probably be arrest with disturbing the peace or something. Or how about on the sidewalk outside of my neighbor’s apartments to complain about how awful they are at dog ownership? Can I do that? So why can the pro-life protesters block traffic with graphic signs and protest wherever they want. I’m afraid to go to my son’s specialist next month because it’s next to a clinic and I don’t want to deal with making the choice of running an idiot over because they think I want to abort my 2-year-old child. And I certainly do not want him subjected to some of those posters they have up. (Do they really need to get that graphic? I thought religious people had morals?) It’s not like the buffer zone was far away from the spot they wanted to protest, it just blocked them from protesting in the parking lot or blocking the entrances. I thought where one’s rights began another one’s ended? I should have become a lawyer.

That concludes the speech for today. Thank you for reading

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The Art of the Sell Out

I remember when I wrote my first story in the 3rd grade. This assignment was supposed to be a one page historical fiction essay. I dreaded it. I loved to read and was never really asked to write anything, but I figured that I was smart enough and capable of doing it at least to a decent enough degree to get a good grade. I ended up writing a 6 paged short story as a result of getting so into it and was worried that my teacher was going to give me a lower grade as a result. Sure enough, she called me to her desk and applauded my work and gave me edits that needed to be done. After that, a few days later I sat nervously in the principal’s office. I didn’t really do anything wrong, but that doesn’t mean I could have been falsely accused. As it turns out, my story ended up on her desk so the school could praise my efforts. I was rewarded a certificate of being awesome, and a pencil with a “Principal’s Award” on it. It seems silly to look back at that now, but when you’re in the 3rd grade this really does have an impact on your life. From that moment on, I had wanted and dreamed of being a writer.

High school didn’t give me that sort of creative release and sometimes I look back and wonder that maybe if I had more of an opportunity to focus on that, I would have done a lot better in school. I did excel in the art classes, especially my clay sculpting class but it wasn’t enough. I knew I had skills for matching colors and it was effortless for me, but I loved writing more. I probably could have made more money going into interior design or some other art related field, but I went for love.

In college, I did very well. My first English professor made us do essays every few weeks and at some point it was a fictional essay. I had remembered this story that I had wanted to write, which lead to me applying to college in the first place. From there, I again took a one page assignment and tripled it. Again, there was a note on the paper when he returned it that said “see me after class” in large red letters. Again, I felt defeated and was glad that I was going into teaching instead of following my dreams of writing. I walked up to him after class, and he raved about how awesome this story was and where did it come from. The next semester I was waiting outside of the classroom for my new English professor when I saw my old and new professor walking together. My former professor said to my new one “watch out for that girl, she’s going to end up on the New York Times Best Sellers list”. Later the “new professor”, who I proceeded to have for the rest of my time at that school, wrote in my recommendation letter the same sentiment about how I had such a talent. My creative writing professor declared that some day she would be watching me read my novel aloud to eager listeners and how I bring the story alive when I do so. These people are the ones responsible for me throwing caution to the wind and going for it.

That said essay did end up being my NaNoWriMo book I released earlier this year though it was obviously completely reworked because I had lost the original piece. Years later, I have no made it big. I’m not on a best seller’s list. In fact, I have only sold 5 books. Maybe 6. I’ve decided to go into freelancing to help supplement this until I “make it big” or at least “big enough to pay bills”. Pretty much all the jobs have been awesome, but recently I picked up a job that makes me question the morality you sometimes are faced with on these sites. It seemed like an easy payday, and it really is. Give an honest review of a product. I can do that. And I did that, only to get a “I appreciate that review, but….” response back. They didn’t want my honest review, they wanted their honest review to hock a product. I gave myself a day to consider this, and then I saw bills piling up. I went against every fiber of my being and I feel guilty for it, and gave them the review they wanted. After I receive the payment for it, I will immediately end that contract because I’m not some pony that does tricks against my will. I know I’ll be faced with the same dilemma again, and unfortunately I will probably make the same decision again because the advantage is not in the freelancer’s court. We are pawns of a greater game where we sell words for menial profit just to make ends meet until our dreams are fulfilled. And those other people profit from our words, often times without us even getting credit. Which we generally don’t mind until something like this comes along and we’re stuck with “do we want to really lie about how great a product is for a retailer’s website?”

I sold out for $5. That’s all it took. Was $5, just enough to buy milk that my ravenous boys goes through so quickly. Am I giving up though? No, in fact today I’m hoping to start my next novel and hope I can release it for Halloween. And I will be participating in this years NaNoWriMo again, and hope for achieving it again. Hopefully with more breathing room than 5 hours before deadline. I can do this. I’m talented enough, and I’m focused enough to do this.

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Grief, Religion, and Other Unmentionables

I had a friend that for about 7 years that I spoke to daily, and though (as geeky as this sounds) we had only known each other from playing a game together, he was a very cherished friend and a big part of my life. I posted a while back about his death, 6 months to be exact. Normally when someone I knew passed away, it was just a person that died and that was that. My husband, always remarked my terrible habit of never actually grieving. What was grief? It was just being sad that someone passed. What good would that do? Someone died, and that was that. I’m far to analytical to think any more of it than that. You go to a wake, you go to the church service, you stand around a coffin in the middle of thousands of coffins already in the ground, and then you go to some reception afterwards and eat and forget the whole thing happened. That’s what happens. Then they are put in the ground or burned to ashes, and that is what happens when you die.

I don’t think I need religion to be a good person, though some would argue that I’m not even a good person and I might actually agree with that fact. People try to console one another when someone dies: God made a choice to make an angel because they were such a good person and he needed him. First of all, who are we to assume that God is a “he” or even a “she”? We shouldn’t put a pronoun to this notion because God is an ideal first and foremost not a person. If you are religious, you would believe that God created people and how could he have created people if he was a person already? Wasn’t Adam the first person? Therefore God is not a “he” or a “she” because that applies to mammals and other creatures with gender which was also said to be created by God. Tangent on God = ended. This isn’t to discount people who have faith, I just can’t get behind things that I can’t find logical. (Don’t worry, I nail Atheists too.)

If God was so attentive to pick a loved one to be an angel to help up in Heaven, why isn’t he attentive enough to stop a toddler for being murder by some punk kid? If God was going to take an innocent child, shouldn’t it be done in a less horrific way? Fine, that’s only one child and that God can’t be everywhere at once. What about mass genocide? I’m supposed to believe that a loved one was taken from me because it was in some greater plan but genocide is some horrific act that can’t be stopped? There’s no comfort in any of that for me.

And so religious people do not feel attacked (and I hope that people don’t assume that I’m someone misguided by grief, that would assume that I went through a grieving process, I assure you that I unfortunately did not and probably would feel better if I had), I actually dislike that National Association of Atheists more not organized religion. I’m a non-believer and that’s my choice as it is yours to believe. I actually admire you for having the ability to trust in something so intangible. I don’t even mind atheists but as a principle, I have a problem with this group claiming atheism. Atheists are people who argue whether or not a God exists, not feign offense at a cross  in legal battles. Atheism, in this form, is no better than religions that place their beliefs above others. That’s not atheism and it makes you no better than those Westboro Baptists that do things for the sake of free publicity and sue people to fund their idiocy. Atheists also don’t agree with organized groups based around religion, and as a result their being a group of Atheists fighting for a cause with a leader is in itself hypocritical since if your main platform is a non-belief in religion based groups you are still a group based upon a religion. A lack of religion, sure but it still involves religion. Moral of the story: You can be a non-believer without being an asshole. If someone wants a cross up, let them fucking have it. No one tells you that you can’t put a spaghetti monster shrine up, don’t knock them down because you want to make the evening news.

My rant go out of hand, but it felt necessary as I wrote it. So why do people die? Because tragedy and illness exists. Because people need to because of overpopulation. Because sometimes your best friend has to die and you have to be okay with that and move on. 6 months has passed and somehow I still expect him to show up and give me some geeky speech about in-game lore or how I’m not a true geek because I have not seen Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. I still expect him to show up and let me throw ideas off of him for stories or vent about how something happened and it sucked. But he won’t, and we have to learn that you can wish it to happen and you can dream that they are in Heaven watching to make sure you get the house that you wanted or that job that you wanted or the you were saved from something because they were watching if that makes you feel better. And I sincerely hope it does.

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Remodel: The Living Room

 

Before

Before

When I picked colors for this house, this color seemed perfect for what I had in mind. I opened up the paint can with a little bit of fear that maybe I had gone a little too far. I

Before

Before

stuck to my guns. I had a plan. That first day I had cracked open the paint can and started painting. With every visitor that wanted to stop by and see the new house on our first day, I saw the look in their eyes as they commented with “really?” or “repaint it white”. Luckily, I have never lived my life defined by what other people expected of me, and though I was starting to question myself, I knew that they were just unsure because they didn’t see the big picture.

I joked that the color “Carnival in Brazil” was my homage to Tom Brady and the world’s highest paid supermodel. I knew that with the children, (before we even considered the second dog), that a dark couch was going to be my best option. Anything lighter, and it wouldhave been destroyed in a week. I knew that the rest of the furniture was going to be darker in color. With the sun shining in, I saw my vision on the wall.

After

After

This color was a very prominent one in my wedding bouquet, which I had because it looked like fall foliage and my husband and I are huge fans of fall. I would like to think that it was fitting to choose orange for that reason, this is our home we built together and it made sense when I saw that giant window of mine let the sun take over the walls. I was confident that I was right.

The floor was in surprisingly good condition, considering how awful the shape of the carpet was. It was a long process to pull of the carpet in here, and it took weeks before we finally pulled up all the staples. Don’t worry, my unlucky feet that always find the danger was the victim and not my children.

My office, which isn’t pictured hereis located in this room. It’s a “writer’s area” that is completely covered in bills, various other paperwork I need to have at hand, and Post-it’s

After

After

that are stuck everywhere. It wasn’t “photogenic” enough to land itself here.

The coffee table was a clearance steal I had to put together from Kmart. The “oriental” rug was from Wal-Mart. The television stand was a hand me down, as was the recliner. Our living room also has the front door located in it, as most do. The living room door is painted with a nicer, lighter color than the living room with a more yellow-orange color and a beautiful “fall” wreath that I keep up just because I love it.

Monday, should be the tween’s room, filthy or not.

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Remodel: The Kitchen

This one is short and sweet. Just like my kitchen? Har har.

Before

Before

When we first saw the picture of it on the website we were searching for homes on, everyone winced at the picture. I understood; it was pretty tiny and I love to cook. How was this ever going to work?! It turns out there was a name for this kind of kitchen: a galley kitchen. When we saw it in person, we acknowledged how small it was but it wasn’t as small as we thought. The pictures certainly made it look like it was too small for more than one person to stand in it. We can fit most of our family in it at a time, so that was

Before

Before

fine. Being that I am the only one who really cooks in the family, the fact that it was small wasn’t really a big deal to us.

The only real change in terms of remodeling was the floor. It was simple adhesive stick on tiles that you can just grab boxes of at Home Depot. It is both very inexpensive (bought 3 boxes at $27 a box) and it is quite lovely looking. The cabinets received several cleanings before I felt it was ready enough to just leave it be. Originally it was discussed to paint them, but the lovely solid wood was really hard to part with and with the urging of family members, we left it alone. The pass through in the wall is incredibly handy and I love how classic it is. That, along with the shudders on both the kitchen and dining room window, provided a lot of charm that I felt should stay because it’s something you can’t buy in a more modernized house. I love how unique it is.

After, showing off my awesome mixer

After, showing off my awesome mixer

The other big changes are the appliances. The oven didn’t work so we had to get a new one, and we wanted to upgrade to an energy saver fridge

and not leaving the 1960’s appliances in. The 1960’s hood range still exists. We are too poor to replace it, and quite honestly it is still in very much working condition. Which is the same that I could say about the washer and dryer that was left. Old, but in working condition. I’ll take it.

Friday, the living room. Monday, will come the tween’s bedroom clean or not. I suppose showing it a

After

After

mess will give a realistic picture of the tween lifestyle.

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Then There Was the Dog?

Monday’s postings have become hard to accomplish. I wish I could use the excuse of Monday fatigue, but my son’s developmental specialist comes over and that occupies much of when I would normally publish this. Friday, I will do the Remodel: Kitchen addition, which was my favorite since that is really “my room” of the house. Until then, let’s talk about dogs.

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My “forever puppy”.

When we first bought this house and moved in, we took our precious princess Zoey away from her buddy Tank. She didn’t seem bothered by it at all, until she realized that all she had for a playmate was a toddler. She likes being the center of attention, so we were forced to make a decision: get her some puppy friends or adopt a new member of our family. Finally it was decided to add to our growing family. With a puppy or dog, I’m not quite ready for another child in diapers yet. So the discussion was “what are we looking for?”. I’m a sucker for the “forever puppies” (my phrase for small dogs), like my Maltese-Shih Tzu mix Zoey. My husband, who has a good foot on my petite frame, loves black labs. Since we already had a forever puppy, I caved and decided to start our hunt for a black lab which we found one we loved. Only with my husband’s work schedule, it was adopted the very day we were going to make the trek to get him.

We considered getting on a wait list for one of the many local lab rescues to find one for us, but we felt a little guilty at the idea of adopting from so far away when there are ones that could be killed up here. That was not something that we wanted on our conscious. We decided to be less picky. We wanted a family dog, having one to take on runs with me would be awesome. We have a very nice sized yard, so we have plenty of room for one to just run free if he or she wanted to. We have the room and love to give to another furbaby, we just need to find the right one.

Yesterday, a new one was added on the site of our local shelter. She was younger than we wanted, but she looks so sad and adorable. She is a pointer mix. We’re hoping she doesn’t get nabbed us as quick, because we would love to meet her so we don’t miss another opportunity. We will continue this search and hope for being able to find the perfect dog to welcome into our new home. What better way to celebrate getting a new home than going broke for a puppy in need, right?

Remember that for your next furbaby addition. Shelters are full of sad little dogs that need love too. If you can’t find a specific breed and  you go elsewhere, don’t forget about them and donate your time or other things they might need so that they can continue to do the good service they give those dogs.

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Remodel: Mama’s Room

Only a few more rooms left when it comes to seeing the transformation of this 1960’s ranch into the LaRochelle abode. We’ll have a fun time getting my oldest son’s room, as he is a tween that does not seem to understand the phrases “Clean your room” and “make your bed”. Even I make my bed everyday. They say it’s the best way to start the day for whatever psychological reason they have concocted. Despite that, it does give a sense of accomplishment doing so, even if that was the only thing I managed to do for most of the morning.

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Before

The room was pink. (Bleh.) Not even like a tolerable baby pink. I’m talking like salmon colored meets coral colored meets gag me with a spoon. The carpet was the same nasty 1960’s shag carpet that was located in all the bedrooms. It needed to be gone. And it needed to be gone very soon, because I was not looking at those pink walls any longer. The only thing worse would be if the color was yellow. /shudder.

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Before

So the painting immediately began. We had nice brown curtains in our old room that my busy husband has yet to put up, so those were not in the picture. But you can imagine how nice a pair of brown sheers with a black curtain rod would be hanging in that room. The blue, luckily, matched the blue I had in my previous room exactly. And in case you didn’t notice, I love blue and that was going to be the color of the master bedroom. It almost feels very spa like and relaxing in there. The carpet was easily just torn up without any real issue, and again we were lucky to see that the floor was in next to immaculate condition.

The comforter set came with the pillows, and I have owned it for a long time. We purchased it in the clearance section at Bed Bath and Beyond. There’s really not much else to the room. Not pictured is this beautiful Victorian Styled electric “oil” lamp. Also not pictured? The step stool I need to actually get into bed without my husband having a heart attack from watching me climb up. #shortpeopleproblems.

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After

The furniture set was one we bought just before we got married from Bob’s Discount Store. They get a bad reputation but that set is still has sturdy and in the same condition as the day we bought it. Well mostly, which led to some very inappropriate jokes that caused my husband to blush.

So that was the easy room. Friday, we will get into that small little kitchen of mine that I adore, even though everyone else thinks I’m crazy.

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Remodel: The Throne Room

Alright, so it’s really the bathroom though it would be pretty awesome to have an Iron Throne toilet. It probably won’t be the most comfortable toilet in the world, but it would be pretty cool looking.

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Before

The bathroom had grey and black tiles and we were stuck on what color would actually go with that set up. Since I had chosen pretty much ever other paint color in the house, I let the husband decide here.

So with that, all that we really needed to do in here was pull that god awful wall paper down and repaint. Soon we will get up the energy and funds to retile, but until then everything still seems to work out just well. The wallpaper seemed to come off easy until the painting started and we discovered a thin layer of paper that we didn’t notice after pulling off the wallpaper so we needed to make use of that wallpaper removal gel we had bought a huge bottle of only to not need it in the kitchen and dining room. Then, the painting started.

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The After

I was in charge of the decor in the whole house, which I was very happy to do. My husband conceded that I was much better at that than he was. So I thought about all the other decor in the house and realized that my husband did not have a room of his own. Then I decided, what better room than the bathroom! The color on the wall inspired me to give it a superhero theme, which the boys absolutely loved. Bed Bath and Beyond had classic comic book artwork on a wooden panel which helped add to the vintage effect. I picked them out and surprised the boys with it. I cannot stress how awesome it was to see their faces when seeing it.

 

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Remodel: Toddler Room

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Before

We had a scheme in our head for this room. Our toddler’s favorite things in the world are “Thomas the Train” and “The Chica Show”. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a Chica wall decal and we’ve just ordered a set of decals, hooks, and a toy chest all “Thomas”. We also ordered a very lovely “Thomas” toddler bed which ended up being lost in transit by UPS and apparently not sold in stores anymore so we had some really super awesome luck there. I hope your read this Toys ‘r Us and UPS, we really wanted that bed for him!

Back on point. Originally it looked as though this room was used as a den/office from its previous owner. The carpet was this disgusting shag carpet from the 1960’s (which was in all the bedrooms) that since my son and I suffer from allergies we knew it absolutely had to go. Again, there was a gamble on what we would find underneath upon pulling up this carpet. Luckily there was hardwood floor underneath the carpeting. Unfortunately, there were some  spots that had some water damage but in general, this wood floor was in pretty good condition. Score one: LaRochelles!

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After, exact shot as before.

We went with a calm blue/grey color in here called “Rest and Relaxation”, again a Clark+Kensington paint. I laughed hoping that a color with that name would surely tame the beast that is my precious toddler, alas I was wrong. The bed is his crib converted. We did manage to get a nice set of “Thomas and Friends” bed sheets, comforter and pillow case set that he loves. The chair was my “feeding” chair that we used to comfort and give the baby his bottle, which will remain in the case of turning this room into a nursery. Not pictured is a nice whale lamp we got for $5 on clearance at Babies ‘r Us and a lovely 3 drawer oak chest that matches the crib also from Babies ‘r Us clearance for about $50. The rug was from Target and just screams “boy” and was very soft to the touch.

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A toddler’s sleeping heaven?

In this other, more artistic shot, my photographer husband wanted to share what the room looks like at night. Not pictured is a monkey nightlight but what you do see is a turtle sleepy buddy that glows stars of 3 different colors on the ceiling. The blue photographed the best, so that was the one we went with.

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After, to show the floor and area rug.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of our remodel.

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Remodel: The Dining Room

Today is the first day in the series of the “remodel”. It was pretty funny to look back and see the old pictures of the house.  I could definitely see why people told me not to even bother looking at this house when we were looking to buy. However, we did and we all know the story there. We knew it was going to be when the house came back a second time. I can’t wait to show off the results of this, and I will give a step by step detail of process that went in though most of the process would be self-explanatory.

The dining room and kitchen were the first things on our “to-do” list. This was important, because our house had cracked asbestos tiles that we knew were there and could pose a health hazard for our younger child and possibly our forever puppy Zoey. We didn’t want to paint or remove carpeting or anything else until the tile was up and the dust was out of the air.

before shot

before shot

Before Shot

Before Shot

The next step was the removal of the wallpaper. This was easier than anticipated, but it turns out this ease came at a price. The wall started coming off with the wallpaper, leaving chunks off our wall. We quickly plastered the wall and realized that we were going to end up with a textured look to the wall. Luckily, it looks like it was done on purpose and as far as I know no one noticed this. We painted while all the old flooring was doing to use it as a drop cloth while praying for hardwood underneath. It was a gamble that we really had no choice in. To get the double color, we measured out the tape in what would be an even line around the center of the room. After the paint had dried, we pulled the tape off and retaped it on the top color to finish off the bottom color. The paint was Clark+Kensington brand, which was fairly inexpensive but it had the primer in it, and was think and easy to apply. That seemed to work perfectly fine. (I’m not the greatest painter in the world and even with tape I managed to get it everywhere. I am still too tired to care so much about it though.)

Upon pulling up the tile, it had this very thick and sticky adhesive on the floor but we noticed that underneath that adhesive was beautiful hardwood floor. Despite our best efforts, the adhesive was too strong to be pulled up, so our hopes of saving money on buying flooring was quickly dashed. The flooring was that simple wood laminated that you piece together yourself like a puzzle to put in. It was a long and tedious process. The flooring was supposed to go into the kitchen as well, we will get into that story on Wednesday when we get into the kitchen.

Before Shot

Before Shot

Next was the fun part: decor and furniture. The table and chairs were both second-hand gifts from family. The carpet was a pretty inexpensive one purchased at Wal-Mart, as were the small pictures on the wall. The clock and “Kitchen Rules” pieces came from Bed, Bath and Beyond. My favorite feature in the dining room? The little pass through window that leads into the kitchen. It has surprisingly come into more use than you would think, and not just being decorative. Sometimes I even reach across to that counter to grab things I forget to bring to the table when we eat dinner. The wooden shudders that are on both the dining room and kitchen window add a nice personality and charm to the house, so it was decided to leave them up. Hope you enjoyed the first edition of my home remodel.

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DSC_0293After Shots:

 

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