the case of the mysterious glasses

So it is almost 2am and I have officially freaked myself out, so figured I would write about the mystery that occurred earlier today/technically yesterday.

I got home from work and the dishwasher needed to be unloaded. My least favorite chore for some reason, but there were dishes in the sink so it needed to be done. I unloaded all the dishes, and started re-loading the dishwasher with the stuff in the sink, and I noticed a pair of eyeglasses just sitting there next to a pan. Weird, eh? I just put them on the windowsill and went about my chores thinking maybe someone accidentally dropped them in there. 

Later in the evening, I was sitting in the den, and Kate asked whose glasses they were. I said "Oh, I found them in the sink. I figured they were one of y'alls." Both of them wear glasses, but not all the time. In fact, I also have glasses, but I only wear them when I'm going to sleep. Well they weren't either of theirs. I brought up that they could've been Katie's boyfriend's, but he hadn't been at the house. My next thought was that they were my mom's. She left quite a bit of stuff during her stay here this weekend, so I asked her about them (I'm still waiting on a response). But that still doesn't explain how they got in the sink.. They are far-sighted (aka reading glasses) and have a weird glue-like substance over the screws.

They weren't there last night (Tuesday), and they weren't there this morning when Katie put her cereal bowl in there. She hadn't been in the kitchen since she got home, so I was the first one in there for the day around 6pm. 

WHERE DID THE GLASSES COME FROM? 

I was not too worried about it until I got in the shower and freaked myself out (I shower before I go to bed). There are only a few logical explanations: 

a. Someone came in here, didn't take anything, but poked around and left their glasses in the sink. 
b. My mom left her glasses here, and somehow one of the dog's deposited them into the sink.
c. Ghosts

When I was in the shower, I kept thinking someone was going to jump into the bathroom to attack me. Sometimes I get paranoid, and I create these elaborate "what if" scenarios in my head. I had to sing Hakuna Matata to calm me down enough to finish getting conditioner out of my hair. Who does that?! Twenty seven and I still sing Disney songs.. However, it is logical though, right? Someone gets into the house, somehow accidentally drops their glasses into the sink, hides out upstairs, and jumps out to attack little ol' me once everyone has gone to sleep. 

My eyes are getting heavy, but I just felt like I should write about this mystery since I couldn't sleep. I will keep everyone posted if there are any new developments..

UPDATE:

I sent my mom a picture of the glasses, and they aren't hers. I also asked my neighbor who has a key if for some reason he happened to come over to borrow something in the kitchen. Nope, he did not. And as far as I can tell, nothing is missing (jewelry, computers, etc. are all there). 

WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?!?! 

fug as a bug in a rug.

Greetings! 

My new rug came in yesterday. Why no exclamation points for that? BECAUSE IT'S FUGLY. 

First off, here is how it looked online: 

And here is what came in the mail: 

I thought I'd give it a chance and check it in the daylight. It was a bit better..

But not how I wanted it.

I think it might would've looked alright if there wasn't yellow in the stool seats. It just looks out of place next to them.

And don't get me started about it not looking good with the pillows I thought it was going to match.

Woof.

Now, you might be thinking: it doesn't look that bad, Rachel..

Well, you'd be wrong. 

I think those pictures let in more light that what I'm seeing in real life. Here's a close up more true to color..

Brown with little yellow flecks.

Here is the rug in a room scene I found:

No way is that the same as what I got in the mail, I don't care how fancy the camera is that took that shot or how good the lighting is...

(also, I know the pattern colors are reversed, but it's by the same company and both were "gold/ivory". Here's a direct comparison for your viewing pleasure. 

 

Here's what kills me: I looked for this rug for FOREVER! I had seen it on one of those discount sites (where the sales only last 3 days), and I just knew it would come back around (the rugs usually do). Well, it didn't. For months. So in the meantime, I searched for other yellow rugs, and I couldn't find a pattern I liked. I finally found a plain yellow rug, and I decided to paint it! Yes, you can paint rugs. Google it, there are some awesome ones out there! SO I taped off this rug (which took several hours) and began painting it. Well that happened on one of the monsoon weeks here in Bham (aka it rained for 4 days in a row) so I stopped painting. I was planning on an awesome bloggie entry for it, but in the meantime, my "dream" rug came back on the discount site!! Of course I snatched it up. 

All this to say, I'm mad I found a rug to paint, stopped because I ordered this rug, and then it turned out to be fugly. 

The good news is there will be a rug painting bloggie next week! 

Hooray! 

got pups?

Perhaps I should ask: got couch potato pups, always getting on the couch when you're not home? Can't keep em off? Don't wanna leave them outside?!

Then you're gonna love this idea!!!!!!!!

I originally saw it on this bloggy I read: http://www.yellowbrickhome.com/  (specifically this post: http://www.yellowbrickhome.com/2011/02/14/jacks-trick/)

UPSIDE DOWN OFFICE CHAIR MATS!

The tiny spikes keep the pups off the furniture!

On YBH (yellow brick home), they purchased a big mat and cut it down to size, but luckily I found 2 small ones that were only about 30 or so inches wide. They are pretty flimsy and came rolled up, so it's very convenient for storing them while the humans are in the den (as opposed to the heavy duty stiff ones on YBH). I found one at Anna's Linens for about $7. I thought one would be enough to cover the couch and loveseat, but I needed another one, and randomly found one at Home Depot for about $5.  

How convenient! And low cost!

The pups aren't thrilled. Hahah Cotton wouldn't even look at me!

I need to go buy one more now to cut in half, because Diesel has now discovered he can lay in the chairs while everyone is at work. I found little black hairs on my new yellow pillows.. THAT SNEAKSTER!

you're so vain(ity)..

You probably think this post is about you!!!

Well it is all about you, Vanity!  You were so hard to find! I searched for you all over Birmingham.

Here he is after I brought him inside to the dining room.

Diesel sniffed him all over.

I took him outside and sanded him and began priming the next day.

I used the trusty ol' spray paint primer.

I put him on top of newspaper so I could get to the bottom of the legs with paint.

I put the drawers on newspaper as well.

I ended up balancing the doors on a couple of cans.

I busted out the small roller that I used on the staircase project, and I used the leftover white paint from the stairs as well.

And that left streaks. So what to do?

Smooth it out with the foam brush. Also, I tried to remove all the hardware, but a couple of the hinges wouldn't come off. The screws were put in there wrong, so I just painted over them.

Much better without the lines of the roller. But I was not satisfied.

All the stuff. See the fishy project to the right? The spray paint was calling my name while I was painting him..

So I spray painted the vanity. The foam brush wasn't getting into the grooves on the legs, and the spray paint fixed that issue! 

Streaky on top. Just like the blue sideboard table..

Sadly, I could not use the polyurethane like I had before because it has a brownish tint, which wasn't obvious on the blue sideboard table, but was very obvious on the white vanity.

So I went to Home Depot and got a can of this clear gloss.

There was a tiny bit of a yellow tinge, but it wasn't noticeable unless I put it on too thick.

The workers brought it upstairs so I could see where to position the sink. They ended up taking it back outside and cut the legs down a couple of inches because of where the sink pipes came out of the wall.

Here it is back in place, legs cut. You can see the dings on the drawers..

And around the door and the top of the door.

And the door won't shut. Eek! 

And the drawer doesn't fit.

I also didn't paint the inside of the cabinet. How to fix it so it matches the paint?

Take the spray paint, and spray it into the lid! 

GENIUS!

Then all you have to do is take a small paint brush and touch up the chipped spots. Viola! 

Onto the drawer that won't fit..

Here is a view of the pipes with the drawer out. 

And here is how the drawer was cut by the handy men. They did a good job, it just happened to need about another inch cut out. Unfortunately, I need a saw to cut it, and I want it to look right, so for now, the drawer will be sticking out an inch in every picture.

See my toesies in the above pictures? I accidently spray painted my left foot, and the paint will not come off my toenail. 

It's still on there. 

...

It's been weeks.

Anyhow, here is the vanity all touched up:

You might not can tell a difference..

But I can!

And I got the door to shut with a lot of sanding and undoing then redoing the screws.

And here is the drawer that will be hanging out for a while.

And here is the rug I slapped in here for the time being. I put a white one in there, and it was too white.. it looked blue-ish and made the rest of the bathroom look an off-white color. I can't decide if I should put another color in here, or try another white.

Thoughts?

nice piece of glass!

Bathroom addition!

LOOK AT THAT NICE PIECE OF GLASS!

so luxurious! 

fancy clips!

view from inside the shower

Pardon my awful cluttered area. Part of that is stuff that came out the shower while the guys put up the glass. And part of it is just my messiness. I took these while the glass guys were still there.

Also, that mirror is NOT part of the final decor. I have big plans for the mirror area. Here is one of my inspiration photos:

I love love love the layered mirrors, but I wasn't going for the rustic look (I really like it, but not for this space). So I decided I would layer framed mirrors. Specifically white framed mirrors. I am obsessed with mirrors that look like this:

Chunky, intricate frames that look like they should be gold brushed but are white instead.

I couldn't find one I liked, so I began searching for a mirror to paint white, and look what I found:

This little gem. Kind of looks like the big mirror a couple pictures up. I wish it had been a bit chunkier, but I figure another mirror in the bunch could be thicker.

So I put some paper on it and taped it off.

It was tough getting the tape to go under the frame lip.

Of course I used the ever trusty gloss white spray paint.

The thing was so big, I just left it on the bubble wrap it was wrapped in instead of balancing it on something. I attempted to not skip steps and gradually spray thin layers of paint on the frame. 

This is layer one I believe.

Layer two. Let me mention here that the sun snuck away from me.

So I spray painted in the moonlight.

Here she is all finished. Of course the thin layers went out the window as soon as I couldn't see. It turned out alright though! 

Sort of.

Right now is where you would expect a picture of the mirror in the bathroom. But I don't have one. Why don't I have one?? BECAUSE IT DIDN'T FIT!!!!!!!! Please don't think I'm a dummy and didn't measure. I did measure. I knew what size to get. And this size was it. What didn't I take into account? The vessel sink. The thick frame wouldn't slide behind it. I am currently trying to figure out if it's possible to unscrew the sink (it may or may not be sealed to the countertop), but it's not looking good.

Anyone in the market for a white mirror?