if i had a hammer.

Most of my projects are done without shoes (and are finished by Adam). There's a really obvious dirty joke in there that i'm much too ladylike to make, but just barely. When i wake up in a project-y mood, i hit the ground running. So unless i sleep in my shoes, i will be barefoot. Plus i live in Arizona so we can do that 75% of the year (but the other 25% of the time they will be sizzled to the bone).

This week i cut and cleared out the negative space underneath the stairs to make a "secret hideout" for my kids slash place where nerdy magicians can sleep. After Adam installed the electrical (cause i don't mess with that crap) I started installing drywall...yes, barefoot. Sheamus hammered everything in sight while Elyott cleared out the screws and old soda cans left by the builders years ago. When my kids asked why there were soda cans in the walls i told them it was because the little mice had a party. Neither of them thought it was cute that i said that. Just scary. So i told them the boring truth...they never get my jokes. 

Speaking of my kids thinking i'm annoying, they also don't appreciate when i try to cheer them up by humming (actually "bling-blinging") the sad Charlie Brown tune when they are pouting with their heads hung theatrically low. Or when i start singing a lullaby in my (gorgeous) normal voice, but then my Clarabelle the cow voice takes over and makes every song hilarious for everyone involved (me). But I think they secretly love that one. 

Anyway, I am excited to finish the hideout because then Sonny can actually play downstairs again without the risk of him sucking on a nasty old Fanta can. And then i won't keep getting dust in the painful split that has developed in my big toe. I know what you're thinking...I could just start wearing shoes. But much like my immature parenting tactics, you could also ask: where is the entertainment...the STORY...in being so sensible? 

That's what i thought.

team Boo ♥'s you

dirty deeds act one: demolition

When i was little we had a "playhouse" in our side yard. It was a bare bones shed with no drywall or insulation that housed our barbie "mansion" (old changing table) and all other dolls too ugly to be in the house (more Detroit than Malibu Barbie). One day i decided to make a change. With my eight year old resources, i set to work...

Crayons.

That was my genius plan. I started before i thought it through (of course) and i finished the diagonal purple and green stripes (a color scheme that my even my young mind realized were similar to the "Joker" colors and hated immediately) on about 1/10th of the wall before i quit. It stayed that way until the day we moved 4 years later.

On Monday when i asked Adam when we could start on the basement renovations he said "in the next few weeks." Does he even know me at all?? Once he left for school I went downstairs to assess the situation. About 10 minutes later i was knocking out walls with a hack saw and my bare feet. But not before i handed Elyott my cell phone to call 911 just incase i electrocuted myself (the "genius" element of my grownup story. nice mother.) Sheamus jumped around my reckless abandon shouting awesome one liners like: "mom! i am SO impressed!" and "wow, you are wild!" or my fave "you are such a good PERSON!!" (I love when kids lack the vocabulary to express themselves like a regular boring adult...or "humans" as Sheamus would call them.)

Anyway my point is, what turned out as a totally impulsive remodel, unlike my failed childhood attempts...I finished! And by "remodel" i mean the smashing of things like a crazy person, and by "finished" i mean there aren't any half standing walls or rusty nails left on the playroom floor. My bruised heels are proof that ain't no contest loss that can take this odd jobs down. 

Total butch-style demolition: check.

team Boo ♥'s you

clap your hands and say yeah.

{via glo}


It is time to vote friends!

If you want to see teamBoo's basement "epically made over" head over here to vote for us! We are number 34 (look for our family pic) and you can vote once per IP address. Go now because voting ends tuesday and if your anything like me the second you leave here that sneaky internet will wave something else shiny in your face and you'll forget. 

Why should you vote for us?? Besides the basement party that you will all be invited to? and our serious lack of fundage? Because otherwise i will start the project and then get seriously sidetracked by something really dumb and impulsive like cleaning out all my window wells with a steam cleaner and then Adam will make fun of me for the janky half finished playroom. Like last week, i started taking out the cabinets in the bar area. But i'm such a spaz cause i never want to prep stuff before i start. So instead of taking all the stuff out or moving the millions of giant tripping hazard toys out of my way, i just got the drill and started taking out screws. Then once i realized the shelf weighed like 600 pounds and i didn't have the right drill bits, i lost steam and waited until someone more focused (adam) could help me a couple days later :) 

I'm like that "if you give a mouse a cookie" book personified (only i'm more like the "pig a pancake" one?)

So if we don't win, it will be still be made over...but not EPICALLY. And "epically" is the operative word for this transition to not drag out for the next 2 1/2 years*. GO now! and thank you kindly.

team Boo ♥'s you

dirty deeds and they're done dirt cheap.

{via minor details}

Since 100+ temps are just around the corner, I am gearing up for a basement makeover. That way my kids and i will have a place to play that doesn't look like toy purgatory. A place misguided and underutilized. My problem? I have no money. like NONE. I can work miracles with budget design, but unfortunately my house is the red headed step child of my life and is always second fiddle to my creative endeavors. 


So this is where i shamelessly beg for the help of my empathetic demographic (that's you): Mandi at vintage revivals is hosting an "epic makeover" to one lucky reader (me?) where she will personally come and help revamp a space that needs some serious direction (my basement!). Plus Mandi, if you're out there, kid spaces are so fun because anything goes since kids can't stop you aren't...picky (horse mobiles, the color orange, ridiculous murals, disco balls...circus freaks!?) the weirder the better.


So whether i am chosen or not, i will sell lemonade, donate plasma, tap dance on the street corner...whatever it takes to earn the cash to spruce it up a bit. It is our only survival plan for the summer months. I will chart my progress here, and then at the end we can have a big AZ-onian blog playdate at my house! Cause there "ain't no party like a Liz Lemon party cause a Liz Lemon party is MANDATORY" (i've had that stuck in my head for like three days now) 


here is my very sad before (p.s. we've lived here six years and it still looks like an taupe box where fun goes to die):

The sky is the limit! (actually $$ is the limit...but you know what i mean) I'll let you know when the voting starts...

team Boo ♥'s you