I Knew It Was True

There has been an official study confirming what I have believed for the last 2 years as I have conducted my own personal study.

FLIP FLOPS ARE GOOD FOR YOUR KNEES!!

I have been a huge fan of these beauties for a while now - 

 

FitFlop Footwear

OK, they aren't beautiful, but I swear they have all but eliminated the persistent knee pain I had prior to wearing these constantly.  I am pretty certain I have a hereditary knee flaw as my sister has had to have knee surgery twice.  I think I'll blame it on the 4-footer (see previous post).  

During the winter I wear these clogs -

 

FitFlop Clog

FitFlops tag line is -

FitFlop. Get a workout while you walk™

Unfortunately, neither my rear or my legs look like this gal's, so I'm not sure about the claim of their advertising -

FitFlop Benefits

FitFlops are not cheap as far as flip flops go.  They retail for around $60, but I swear they are worth the price.  I have found that when they wear out my foot starts to hurt.  Then I buy a new pair and any foot pain immediately disappears.   As I don't "work outside the home" (isn't that the corniest phrase, but it is true) I have the luxury of being able to wear my FitFlops a lot whereas a working girl might not be so lucky.  Oh, and they are really comfortable as in - walk around the neighborhood - 2 mile stroll with the husband, kid and dog comfortable.  Flop on!

Fashion Find of the Day

I am soon to be going on a cruise with my husband related to his work.  No, he is not a cruise ship show magician.  While a cruise to Mexico is pretty far down on the list of the trips we'd like to take we can't complain.  I've been in the process of putting together a summer travel wardrobe for this cruise plus a couple of other out of town trips we have coming up this summer.  I am going the black dresses with accessories route for the most part.  Today I was in Kohl's shopping for new underpinnings and found the cutest bib necklace that I bought with "formal" night on the cruise in mind.  Here it is -

It is a little heavy on the bbs, but for $17 it looks really good.  It is somewhat similar to this $295 necklace from Net-a-Porter.com -

I may remove the chain from my necklace and add a ribbon similar to the Net-a-Porter.com necklace.  That would be quite easy to do.  The most amusing thing to me about the necklace I bought is the brand name it was being sold under.  Here is a hint -

Candie's!  Why is that so amusing to me?  It is because back in the day my (mean, yes mean) grandmother who is/was about 4 foot-nothing had a shoe rack on the back of her bedroom door completely full of Candie's shoes.  Candie's were all she wore that I knew of.  Maybe she wore high heeled boots in the winter.  Am I going to be able to wear my new necklace and not think of my mean grandmother?  Maybe so, maybe not.

Another pretty one from Kohls.com in honor of the 4 footer -

Attention Single Ladies

He's available again ...

Larry King seeks 8th divorce

 

... I mean, can you even imagine????

New Pig

My little family got a new pig in the mail last week.  He is going to make us all very happy.  I have been completing the makeover of our Laundry/Mud Room.  (The big reveal - ha - will come a little later.)  I wanted a print that would liven up the room, an animal as the subject matter, but nothing too goofy.  It needed to be something all 3 of us would like.  I found the perfect print on Etsy.com.  Don't know Etsy.com?  You should!  It is fantastic for all things handmade.  I have been using it to find reasonably priced prints lately.  

Our new pig -

The print is by ArtPaperGarden.  Here is the link:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtPaperGarden .  Mike is into all things livestock and he has approved of the new pig.  Whew!  By the way, did you know the pig in the movie Babe is/was (it could be bacon now) a girl?   Mike always likes to point that out when that movie is on.

I have a reader who has a nice shop on Etsy.com with little girl clothes she makes.  Check her out:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/poshpetunia .  (Barbie, I know with this big readership I've got you are going to be bombarded with orders ... ha!ha!ha!)

Bummer

Dixie Carter aka Julia Sugerbaker from the TV show Designing Women died yesterday.  Bummer.  Designing Women is one of my all time favorite TV shows EVER.  The cause of death is still very mysterious.  We don't even have Dominick Dunne around anymore to help investigate.  Bummer.

Original Designing Women cast -

For any of you ding-dongs that don't know who Dixie Carter was, she is the one on the right in the photo above.  See all that big hair?  Back in the day I had big hair like that and I have the pictures and witnesses to prove it.

A Beautiful Mind ...

... or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?  

Next is the rest of my Utility Room organization.  This is the first house I've ever had with a basement-type room.  There is a long narrow space that is to the right as you walk into the Utility Room.  Along the left side of the space I have organized fabric for decoration projects, baby equipment and clothes, seasonal decorations and lots of other miscellaneous stuff.

A lot of plastic containers - 

     

Along the right side of the space are my inspiration boards for my interior design plans.  I see lots of photos posted on blogs of lovely inspiration boards. 

Here are 2 from from Houzz.com -

eclectic home office design

home design by flickr.com

Mine?  Not quite so glamorous, but very functional - 

Now for the rest of the Utility Room.  Remodeling supplies -

These cabinets were left in the room over the garage.  I had them moved down here, bought a laminate top from Menards which I had installed and now I have a nice place for craft storage.  The work table is one we've had for many years. 

I really need a chair -

Here is the bonus.  The Utility Room is where we'd go if there was a tornado since most of the walls are concrete in there.  Won't it be nice for me to be able to look at design books, think about my plans, do a little sewing or crafting while Mike cleans his guns and Logan plays with her toys on the cool little Ikea rug I have down while there is a tornado happening?  Talk about a multi-functioning space!

Back to my original question.  A Beautiful Mind or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?

Hanging Blaze Orange

My husband has a lot of hunting gear.  At least I think he has a lot.  I'm sure there are men (or women) who have more and some who have less, his is just about right I guess.  We have the greatest space in the lower level of our house that I call the Utility Room.  I decided that was the appropriate place to store most of his gear.  I organized his gear.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen you read that right, I organized it.  There are only a small number of things I like my husband to "mess with" around the house.  If it doesn't have a social security number or an AKC registration or involve garbage or grass I'd rather he leave well enough alone.  The photos below show my obsessive-compulsive-disorder organization of his gear featuring a new hanging rod for his hunting clothes and coats that I rigged up this afternoon.

Before the new hanging rod project -

Short on storage or hanging space?  Don't forget to always look up.  You might have more space than you think.  It might require a step stool, but its there.  After the new hanging rod project (please excuse the sump pump and pipes) - 

A close up of the hanging rod -

The hanging rod rig up -

To assemble this handy new hanging rod I only needed a few items easily found at Lowe's or Menards (a midwestern Lowes / Home Depot type place).  They include big round eye hook screw in the wood things, chain, carabiners, metal 6 foot clothes rod and plastic clothes rod ends.  This was very easy to rig.  The hardest thing was putting the plastic pieces on the ends of the rod.  They are hard to get on.  Adjusting the chain properly was a bit prisoner-of-war / extended-arms-above-your-head-time too.   The 3 things required to install the hanging rod rig up were a cordless drill, a drill bit and my daughter's Little Tykes barking dog flashlight for when I dropped the rod end behind the gun safe.  The equipment -

The rest of the well organized gear.  All of the green and orange containers hold hunting gear plus the dresser in the photos above - 

Not to overlook the deer mounts.  They'll make it up on the wall one of these days.  Mike is waiting for another friend to join them before their placement is decided.

Shelter for the Homeless

I just realized that about a year ago we were homeless and I didn't end up in the funny farm.  We sold our house in Amarillo in less than a week and had not yet purchased a house in Indianapolis.  Mike came to Indianapolis to work and lived with a friend.  Logan, the dog and I flew to North Carolina and lived with my sister and her family for about 4 weeks.  Actually, it was a pleasant time.  It is a bit freeing being homeless.  Logan, the dog and I eventually flew to Indianapolis and moved with Mike into an extended stay hotel where we lived for 2 months while our current house was being made livable.   Needless to say, this cartoon from the March 22, 1010 issue of The New Yorker magazine gave me a good laugh.

Creepy or Cool?

During Carrie's visit last weekend we went to 2 antique shops.  The first one is Mike's favorite.  The second is my favorite.

1st stop:
Lake & Lodge Outfitters
Cicero, IN

I'll let the picture speak for itself...

 (Carrie & the bear)

This store (including the owner) borders on being both creepy and cool at the same time.  There is all the things you see in the picture there - old dusty taxidermy, nautical items, safari goods, Asian antiques, fishing stuff.

2nd stop:

Midland Antique Mall

Indianapolis, IN

This place is almost all cool with very little creep.  I snapped some pictures of affordable yet stylish items that caught my eye. 

Not too clear of a picture, but a set of bamboo style chairs - use as is or paint them the color of your choice and recover the seats -

Shield back chair - paint & recover - presto -  

Shallow table - I wish I had a place to use this!  I'd paint the black and gold another color while leaving the brass metal in the doors as it - 

Bamboo style bar car - should I consider this for one of my porches?

Take a look at the next set of side tables then the picture that follows.  Again, wish I had a place for these -

Paint and they'd look a lot like this at a MUCH cheaper price (this little table is $420) - 

 Oomph 'Tini Table Ilz

I didn't note the prices on any of the items above because all the prices seemed very in line with what I would be willing to pay = a fair amount.  Midland Antique Mall is a great place for items such as those I've shown that you'd like to change through paint or fabric to make your own.

The exterior - an old sash & door company -

I'm sure I'll be showing you more things from here in the future.

Lunch and the Zoo

Last weekend my youngest sister Carrie came for a visit from North Carolina.  I am from North Carolina and most of my family lives there.  Logan adores Carrie and shadows her the entire time any time Carrie comes to visit.  On Saturday we visited The Indianapolis Zoo.  It was a good zoo.  We liked it.  Perfect size for an afternoon outing without wearing you completely out.  Here is a picture to show it was a very windy day.  I felt like I was back in Amarillo.

 (Sharon, Carrie holding Logan, Logan)

Before going to the zoo the 3 of us plus Mike ate lunch at Maxine's Chicken & Waffles in downtown Indy.  Good Lord the food was good.  Really good.  We were the clean plate club.  If you are ever in downtown Indy and want to make yourself miserably stuffed go there.  If you are ever visiting us insist we take you there.

Lets Get This Party Started

I'm committed, all in, I'm blogging.  As my husband would say, "Yeah, right.  I'll believe it when I see it."  So, without furthur ado lets get this party started!

Real Estate Resuscitation?  Yes.  Our house.  Our current house.  After living for 5 years in the great state of Texas (Amarillo specifically) my husband was relocated with his company back to Indianapolis.  He and I had lived here for the 3 years prior to our move to Amarillo.  I/we resuscitated our first Indianapolis house, our Amarillo house and now this second Indianapolis house is underway.  Through this blog I plan to show our progress, beg for sympathy often and digress onto many other topics often including our almost 4 year old daughter, Logan.  The husband's name is Mike.  I'm Sharon.  The dog is Dolly.  We are the Brown family.  And here is the house...

Inside it has come a long way over the past year.  Outside it has come a very short way with much more work to take place this summer.  This house sits on Geist Reservoir which provides water for the City of Indianapolis.   The main attraction for us when buying this house was location, location, location!  The property includes a path down to the lake with a boat dock on the main body of water.  More on that later.  In the neighborhood this house is known as "The Bob House".  This is Bob...

Bob is half of the Bob & Tom syndicated radio show here in Indianapolis.  Bob and his wife were the original owners of the house, so I'm blaming him for many of the quirks I've had to deal with so far.  The house was built in the late 80s.  Per my research Bob and his wife divorced, she lived here for many years then sold the house, some other people lived here (and from what the neighbors say disappeared into the night) and then Wells Fargo Bank owned the house (complaints about that on a later date).  So, we bought the house from the bank.  Bob has since moved on to bigger and better houses I'm sure.  Here is Bob with his other half:

Party officially started.

Photos from  The Bob & Tom Show