don’t believe the hype…

My table project is a bit of a bust.  It did not turn out as planned.

I pinned an idea on Pinterest for a turquoise blue table and I pinned DIY instructions for re-furbishing furniture by using only spray paint.  Then, I put these two seemingly-great ideas together.

I followed the instructions…  I sanded, primed, painted (and painted and painted and painted).  The original “spray paint pinner” promised it would not look spray painted or streaky if you just used enough paint.  I bought SIX cans and used all of them and it still looks streaky.  Should I have bought and used SEVEN??

I also “distressed” the table and added a glossy coat to the top to finish it off.  It still looks streaky.

(One a side note:  The distressing worked well, but I am not sure you can miss trying to “wreck” something). 

We need our kitchen table and I don’t have the energy to re-paint again this week, so we moved the table back inside the house.

I like this idea and I like the color (although, my family disagrees about the color).

When I do a similar project:

• I will use a paint brush and a can of paint (no more spray paint)
• I will use a satin paint and not glossy paint

When you pin (and re-pin and re-pin) ideas on Pinterest.  Don’t get your hopes up too high, do more research if it’s a project and please…

Don’t believe the hype.

(Sigh.)

 

 

 

 

too much DIY…

I might be spending a bit too much time looking at Pinterest.

It started with the quotes (you know, I love a good quote!) and now it’s quickly become something else.

I started off  looking only at the pins that my Pinterest “friends” pinned.

When my friends were not pinning fast enough for my taste… I started to look at the “everything” section.  Here I can see what everyone out there in Pinterest Land is pinning and I see the constant updates.  Unfortunately, when I look at Pinterest in this way I have to weed through a lot of very, very strange pins (okay, I mean really strange).  But, I am almost always rewarded with something great to “re-pin.”

What I am really, really enjoying is the “Do It Yourself” (DIY) projects on Pinterest.  I keep imagining myself tackling all of the DIY projects that I pin.

I have very big Pinterest Plans!  I am going to:

• buy used furniture and re-do it
• sand and stain my hard word floors all by myself
• paint my brick fireplace
• build an outdoor firepit
• frame handkerchiefs and/or scrapbook paper for artwork
• make all sorts of things out of old t-shirts
• make built in bookshelves using only Ikea furniture
• frame a giant bathroom mirror

Really, my DIY Board on Pinterest has endless possibilities for my time (which I never have enough of).  

I don’t have any extra time and I don’t need any encouragement from Pinterest for more DIY projects, but here I sit day after day pinning ideas.

Last night, I decided to paint my kitchen table… turquoise.  I moved the cars out of the garage and set up “shop.”   My family is a bit in shock that we will have a turquoise blue table, but I hope they will be pleasantly surprised when I’m finished.

Thank you, Pinterest for that idea.

I wonder what my next Pinterest obsession will be…

 

 

 

not comin’ home to you…

I bought Not Comin’ Home To You from a “Kindle Daily Deal” email for 99 cents.  It looked interesting enough to spend a buck on it.

This book was a quick read.  I did not put it down and go on to another book (which I have done twice lately) and I read it in two days.  So, there is something to say for that.

The book switched perspectives at the end and it was hard to continue.  More than 80% of the book was written from the views of the main characters and then it changed at the end… I could have done without that.  The author intended the book to become a movie (but someone beat him to the punch, he said).  I’m assuming the switch in perspectives was because it was supposed to be a screenplay.

This book was interesting.  It was loosely based on the real-life killers of Charles Starkweather and Caril Anne Fugate of the 1950’s.

If you want a quick read and the book is still available at a discounted price – go for it.

Goodreads description:

He is Jimmie John Hall, “free and white and 22”. Her name is Betty Dienhardt, plain, friendless, and oppressed by a bleak home life. In each other, they find a chance for love and fulfillment. But they are doomed. For Jimmie John has already embarked on a killing spree on the backroads of the Southwest that will leave 14 innocent people dead.

night…

I just finished reading “Night” by Elie Wiesel.

This amazing book was written by a Holocaust survivor about his time as a teenage boy in a concentration camp.

I read this book in a day.  I literally could not put it down.

Night was written years and years ago and was recently re-translated by the author’s wife.

Elie Wiesel is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the author of many, many more books that I plan to explore.  I am so amazed how he was able to share his heart wrenching story.

I would, hands-down, recommend this book to everyone. 

Goodreads describes the book:

Night A terrifying account of the Nazi death camp horror that turns a young Jewish boy into an agonized witness to the death of his family…the death of his innocence…and the death of his God. Penetrating and powerful, as personal as The Diary Of Anne Frank, Night awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.

gone girl…

I just finished reading “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn.  Wow.

I could not have predicted the ending of this book.  I guessed my entire way through reading… about what will come next.

I was never correct.

I love that Goodreads actually describes this book as “unputdownable”  Did they make up a new word just for this book?

The author has two more books that are on my to read list called “Sharp Objects” and “Dark Places.”  After reading “Gone Girl” those two titles are moving to the top of my list!

Goodreads describes the book:

Marriage can be a real killer.

One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong.

The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn.”

With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

the paris wife…

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain was a wonderful book.

This is a fictional book written from the perspective of Hadley, Ernest Hemingway’s wife.

I actually felt as if I was in her shoes and feeling her ups and downs with her.  This is a beautifully written book and I highly recommend it!

*** On a side note… I prefer to write very short book reviews.  Basically, if I recommend reading it (or not).  I often read book reviews that give too much of the story away.  I would like the story unfold as I’m reading.

Goodreads describes the book:

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill-prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.

A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.