Maybe it’s because for the early years of my adult life my rented homes all resembled a zoo or animal shelter more than the peaceful, clean abode of a wanna-be decor blogger.

Although the days of a million foster pets are over, even with our well-trained 2 cats and 2 dogs the wall-to-wall carpet is still at risk from muddy paws, messy spring hairballs (ick), and sick puppy accidents.  Oh, and bloggers named Jane who are red-wine-loving klutzes.

Regardless, Ryan loves that our rental home has wall-to-wall carpet in the living room, hallway, and bedrooms.  When we moved in and onto this new carpeting three years ago, he decided to buy a steam-cleaning vacuum for the house.  I rolled my eyes because I hate to accumulate stuff – especially appliances that you only use occasionally.

Guess what?  Ryan was right, I was wrong.  The Hoover SteamVac that he bought has been immensely useful in keeping our carpet clean and the house smelling fresh. There is not a single stain, not even red wine, that the steam vac hasn’t been able to remove.

Whenever we look at the carpet and feel it’s looking dingy, I start to get depressed thinking “this is it, we’ve ruined the carpet” – but then Ryan runs the steam vac, and suddenly it looks like almost new carpet again!

And you should see the disgusting gray water that is sucked back out of the carpet. In fact, I did the steam cleaning the other day, and after dumping out 4 buckets of gray and gritty water, I knew I had to write this post.

Hoover SteamVac via Amazon

Simply put, if you rent a wall-to-wall carpeted apartment or house and own pets, I highly recommend investing the $140 in a steam vac.  Use it four times in one year and you’ve well earned back the price.  And if you’re a landlord renting out a house with wall-to-wall carpet, I’d recommend maybe buying one to keep in the house so that your tenants could use it regularly.  I think it’s a win-win situation.

I was not compensated for this post, but here’s an affiliate link to the steam cleaner that we own: Hoover SteamVac Carpet Cleaner with Clean Surge, F5914-900

The biggest problem, however, is breakfast.  If breakfast isn’t already made, I’m likely to hop to the coffee shop for  a big old bagel rather than frying up some eggs.  Melissa had a great suggestion for fixing eggs ahead of time:  Omelet Muffins.

As soon as I got home I tried them, and they were so easy that I was hooked.  They’re basically like omelets, in the shape of muffins.  Now I make two batches of these each week and we always have breakfast ready to go!

 The “HOW” is simple:

• Scramble a dozen eggs in a bowl.
• Chop whatever you want to add – I like ham, cheese, fresh spinach, or any veggies left in the fridge.
• Grease an oversized muffin tin.
• Put some of the meats/veggies in the bottom of each muffin cup.
• Pour eggs over, distributing evenly.
• Bake at 350 for about 20-25 min, until they’re done but not overdone.
• Wrap and refrigerate.  Keeps for a good 4 days, longer if frozen.

Ready to eat them? 

Just pop one in the microwave for 45 seconds and breakfast is done!

While you can definitely make these guys with no fillings added, I love having surprise flavor on the inside.

Our leafy backyard is home to a fun variety of birds, most of whom are brave enough to stay out in the yard even when all the cats, dogs, and I are on the back porch.  (Don’t worry, I don’t let the cats get close to them!)

With my new(ish) camera and super zoom lens, I’ve been able to get some decent shots of my different little friends as they congregate around the bird feeder that  Ryan’s family gave me for Christmas.

My Red-bellied Woodpecker

Northern Cardinal Couple – Male on left, female on right.

Carolina Chickadee

Blue Jay? I’m stumped because my bird book says they have a prominent blue crest on their heads, and this guy does not.

Sometimes I chop up my apple cores and stale bread into tiny little pieces, and put them out for the birds, forgetting that there are also squirrels out there.  They may be pests, but they’re awfully cute, too.

Not pictured:  The Oriole that I saw once.  Have you ever done any bird watching?  What kinds of birds do you seen in your neighborhood?

Let’s take a little tour to wrap all these projects up.

The white door below is the entrance from the hall.   

Then, of course, we have my desk, which I built myself from scratch.  The art hanging over the desk is thrifted and handed down.

The curtains are from Ikea, and the dresser is a family heirloom.  I’m hoping to find beautiful glass knobs to dress it up when I am in Italy on my honeymoon/anniversary trip.

On the wall over the dresser is a mirror that I had to fight for in the clearance section of Pier One (years ago) and then of course my window frame jewelry display, which continues to be one of the most useful items I ever made.

On the next wall is my mid-century modern secretary, which folds out into a desk.  I use it when I work from home for my day job, since I have a separate laptop for that job.  My closet, with the Container Store shelving I installed, is still going strong.  I considered hanging curtains over it, but they would just get in the way.

Oh! And under the desk I have my personal laptop and a power strip on a tray.  I actually use this to also charge things like phones, camera batteries, etc.  The tray makes it feel a little less messy and a little more like a charging station.

To the right of the closet is the exit from the office.  On that wall I hung my Neu Year planning calendar. Above the door I have my hats on plastic-containers-turned-hooks, and these little plastic things continue to be the best hat hooks I’ve ever used.

All in all, I love the office and love even more that it is FINISHED!  It’s a huge improvement from a year ago when I was working with an Ikea desk and some mismatched old furniture.

The office: BEFORE.

I’m not even sure I can call this a true “before and after” post because I didn’t want to waste a lot of space on the before. This room has gone through many stages, but three years into the process I finally feel that I’ve gotten it put together in a solid way.

As a small business owner trying to juggle a day job requiring travel, and all the other requirements of life, scheduling and planning my time well is a struggle.  Especially long-term planning for goals and sub-goals, like around the holiday season.

To plan all this out, you definitely need to see the whole picture. And that’s something I’m not very good at keeping straight in my head.

So when I found out that two handmade business friends, Rachel and Kim, each used the Neu Year Calendar, I knew it was the perfect solution for my long-range planning problems.

The Seize the Year calendar shows the entire year on one large piece of heavy-weight paper (or coated dry-erase paper, you choose). Even better, it’s double-sided – one side shows the calendar in a portrait layout, while the other shows it in landscape.

But my favorite thing is that this calendar isn’t from a mass retailer like Target or Office Max, it’s from a small business.  It’s their only product.   And with that comes fabulous, friendly service.

I chose the uncoated paper version so that I could write on it with pencil or pen.  When it arrived, it was just as awesome as I’d hoped. I had to hang it, and was too busy to build a beautiful frame like Kim did (silly me!).

I bought a lightweight painter’s canvas, painted the edges teal to tie in with my office, and attached the calendar using spray adhesive.  Because the canvas was so light, it was easily hung with Command Velcro Picture Hanging Strips. The only downside is that I didn’t apply the paper to the adhesive well, so there’s some bubbles and some curling edges.

Also, I ended up drawing on it and scribbling on it in pencil and marker, so now it looks a bit messy.  But it definitely gets the job done.

This massive paper calendar fit perfectly in my redesigned office, in the nook where the door opens from the hall into the room.  I can eye it from my desk at all times, which is perfect for keeping long-term deadlines on my radar.

In the process of using it for three months I’ve realized that I’d do better with the dry-erase version, so I just ordered a new, dry-erase one.  I plan to staple it to my canvas over top of the old one.

And guess what? I discovered they’re on sale right now, which is even better!

My mom is awesome. She is the best piano teacher in the state of Delaware and is an absolutely amazing (retired) concert pianist.

My grandmother, doing my mom’s hair before one of her concert performances.

My mom and her dad, playing chess in the 60s. She is a killer strategist in games.

Oh, and did I mention that in addition to teaching piano, she also learned braille and taught piano to blind students for many of her younger adult years?

My mom, taking notes in braille, while teaching a blind piano student.

She is stubborn and creative and extremely hard working and is talkative and loves to entertain. She should have been a Greek or Italian mom because she loves to have guests and feed them.

Teaching young me to play piano.

Upon meeting her for the first time, Ryan left and said to me “It’s definitely nurture, not nature.”  He said this because I’m adopted, yet I too have all those traits.  However, I prefer to think that we are “determined,” not stubborn. :)

When my brother and I were young, my mom refused to ever let us have a Nintendo, but when it came to Legos, there wasn’t a set she didn’t buy.  She also stood in line for hours, multiple times, to get me the Cabbage Patch Kids and other silly toys I just “had” to have.

From day one, my mom ensured I had a diverse selection of toys. :)

More importantly, she dove into educating us about interesting topics with such zeal.  When we studied dinosaurs we had puzzles and coloring books and 3-d models to assemble and camps and stories and books on tape to listen to. When we did constellations and the sky, she got us sky maps and glasses to look through and even took us to constellation camp at a local observatory and I still know more constellations than most people.

When my brother and I discovered and subsequently caught tadpoles in the stream, my mother turned it into a learning experience, buying a huge aquarium, checking books out from the library, and helping us create a safe habitat to watch them grow into frogs, then release back into the wild.

Tadpole fishing, circa 1985?

I used to think that was normal parenting, but now that I’m older I see that not every parent is so enthusiastic about creating a home of learning. Of course, she also made us do math homework in the summer, even on vacations to the Grand Canyon, but no parent is perfect. :)  They just do what they think is best because there’s no manual to follow!

Now that we’ve flown the coop, she’s using that determination and killer work ethic to run the League of Women Voters and the state’s music teacher association as well as helping many other organizations.  The idea of relaxing is something that does not compute with her.  In fact, I suspect she feels guilty whenever she allows herself to sit down and read a book, or watch a movie.  I’m not sure why.

I love her purse in this photo :)

The thing is, I love my mom and I want to see her spoil herself the way she’s spoiled others for so many years,  especially because for the last 8 or so years, my mother has been successfully battling a form of bone cancer.  Because I’m selfish, I want her to take as good care of herself as possible so that she can  experience the things she dreams of in the future with me and my family.

I think it’s an inherent “mom” trait to put other people and organizations’ needs in front of yourself.  This mother’s day, I’d like to remind mothers that they should take great care of themselves the way they care for others, and they deserve to be queen for more than one day a year.  I know my mom definitely does.

My grandma (right) was also always rushing around, taking care of others, for 97 years.

And so, in the spirit of love, I’ll continue to lecture my mom, telling her to relax more and make more time for herself.   After all, she bossed me around (or tried to) for the first 21 years of my life.  Now it’s my turn!

I’ll just try and resist using that phrase mothers love:   “Trust me.  It’s for your own good.”

My Home Depot is making it much easier for me to build my own furniture.  They now have a selection of table legs of many lengths:

I found this all in the section with the different types of wood trim and moulding.

Next to all the legs that are sold at Home Depot you’ll find metal top plates.  To install the legs the easy way, buy the metal top plate. The idea is that you install the plate on the bottom of the table top, then screw the leg in.

Just like that, you’d have a table on your hands!  You’d probably want to run two support boards across the bottom of the desk, perpendicular to the top boards.  This would provide a little extra strength under the table top, since the planks are only joined with dowels and glue.

I know this isn’t a detailed tutorial, but I wanted to let you know about this option in case the idea of building the full-blown desk with drawers scares you!

For the longest time I was pondering the idea of transforming the guest room into my Janery studio, since Janery is something I spend time on every week, and guests are only occasional.  I think that’s why I was so unmotivated to finish decorating the guest room, because in my gut I felt it wasn’t the right use of the space.

Having my Janery studio share space with our basement TV room has been a total disorganized disaster.  I think it’s mostly psychological, but I have really had trouble working in that combo lounge/business space over the last year.

Then, when my first big bolts of fabric showed up needing a large storage rack, I realized that it was time to get serious.

With that in mind, I emptied the room a few weeks ago, and set about transforming it into a sensible workspace.  This fun ensued, but then you always have to have chaos before you create order:

I moved my sewing table and storage into the space, using this floor plan.  My sewing table is quite large for the space, and if it gets to be too much I have a back up plan for turning it into an expandable yet smaller table.

Then I set about building massive 10-foot shelves for part of the space.  It was quite an adventure that is still in progress, because it didn’t turn out right the first time:

Depending on how much I can finish before we leave for Italy, I’m looking forward to sharing the progress with you over the next few weeks.

It’s not finished yet, but already I know the change was right.  Not only do I now have a truly pet-free studio, I can enter the room, close the door, and know that it’s work time.

Venice Photo Via A Home in the Making

I have some questions for you, but first, the back story:

In a way, this trip has been 4 years in the making.  When Ryan and I got married we decided to keep things simple for the post-wedding relaxation, so we headed to a family friend’s house in New Hampshire.  I don’t know how people plan both a wedding and an exotic, overseas honeymoon at the same time.

I’d asked Ryan to go somewhere exotic over the winter, and my main choice was Indonesia, which I feel in love with while reading Eat, Pray, Love multiple times.

After the wedding, I remembered that years ago Ryan wanted us to take a trip to Italy. But we’d only been dating 6 months, and I told Ryan “We shouldn’t go to Italy.  That’s the kind of trip you take for your honeymoon, not just a random vacation when you’re first dating.”

Four years later, after walking down the aisle, I remembered that conversation and asked Ryan if he still wanted Italy.  He said yes.

Crap, I thought.  There goes my exotic adventure in the jungles of Indonesia. Fortunately, in the process of researching our Italian Adventure, I have become very, very excited.  Specifically, I can not wait to visit the hills of Tuscany.

San Gimignano, in Tuscany.  Via Flickr.

Our Italian Adventure includes the following:

• Train to Levanto.  Spend a few days exploring the Ligurian coast, to include Cinque Terre.
• Go to Tuscany.  Spend a weekend in Montepulciano, home of one of my fave red wine varietals.  Drive around the countryside just exploring places like San Gimignano.
• Spend a few days in Florence.  See art, artists, and opera.
• End in Venice.  Do whatever Ryan wants, since he’s most excited about that city.

In the planning process, I’ve loved re-reading Jenn’s posts about her anniversary trip to Italy last fall.

I’m also devouring all of Cassie’s travel posts about Italy and Europe at Hi Sugarplum, especially her recent post about Venice.  Apparently I’m copying her and doing a very similar trip :)

Do you have any recommendations, warnings, tips, or comments? I’d love to know your experiences if you’ve been to any of the places I’ve listed above!

Of course I’m going to blog about the trip when I return.  But if you just want to look at pretty pictures, check out my Italy Pinterest board where I’m keeping track of hotels and sights to see.

Sorry about that.  Now that I’m done with the tutorial, I can finish up with the office makeover – Finally!

On a quest to finish the office before tackling the next room that I’m working on, I hung some art that I already owned.   Since the art wasn’t symmetrical, I hung it in a way that I hoped would complement the highs and lows of the items on my desk. 

Those, combined with the warm wood tones that my farmhouse desk contributes, have this office feeling so much classier than ever before with the white Ikea desk:

 It’s like a grownup room now:

I love how the paintings look over the desk! The one with the white frame was painted by my grandmother’s friend years go.  Unfortunately, in my early blogging days, I painted the gorgeous frame white.  Oops.    The other painting was a $10 flea market find!

Sidenote:  Photos of the office never do the wall color justice.  In real life there is less of a yellow hue to the green.  I have tried adjusting them in the photo editor, but even with my adjustments I can’t get them quite right.   In real life the green tones shine more.