Boring 1990's Night Stands Get A Glamorous Make-Over

12:44 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

Every day I looked at my furniture and saw shoulder pads and puffy pants
Photo c/o wikipedia

In 1996 I bought a house with my then husband. We had a huge, brand new master bedroom and mismatched college kid, thrift store furniture to fill it. This was not acceptable so like the grown-ups we were trying to be, we bought a whole new bedroom furniture set. The marriage lasted two years unlike the furniture which I dragged around with me for 17 more years. When my boyfriend and I amalgamated our furniture as we shacked up it became apparent how dark, outdated, giant and clunky my 1990's furniture was. Piece by piece I sold off half of the set. I sold the massive bed frame and then the armoire. I put the dresser to use as a buffet in the dining room. We were left with the end tables. We need night stands so we can't sell them. They work, they are functional and they are sturdy. I decided to try my hand at spray painting to see if I could get them to match the rest of my current bedroom.

An example of what my bedroom furniture looked like in the showroom.

An example of  a massive, dark-ish wood bedroom set. It sure has a presence, no? There is nothing elegant or glamorous about anything in this photo if you ask me.

I bought two cans of black semi-gloss spray paint and one can of metallic gold spray paint. I didn't even bother sanding. I washed, wiped down and dried them. I taped off the outside and painted the inside with the gold spray paint. I learned to keep the can moving or drips would occur. I also sprayed the silver handles so that they were gold too. The result was a satin-like metallic gold finish. I let that dry overnight. Next, I took plastic bags, ripped them up and used them to tape off the center part of the night stands. I sprayed the outsides, the top and the face of the drawer with the semi-gloss black spray paint. The paint dries pretty fast, specially when you sweep super thin layers upon super thin layers. Round and round the stands I went until I was satisfied that they had even and thorough coverage. I left the stands to dry overnight one more time.
           
The spray paints I used.

The result is so beautiful, I could NOT have purchased more magnificent, perfect side tables if I googled for a week straight. The colors match the temporary wallpaper I put up on one of the walls and the black/gold/crystal glamorous style I am going for in the room. I could not be more pleased with the outcome! See for yourself below:

The actual BEFORE

The actual AFTER.

Huge difference, eh?




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Before and After - IKEA Bookshelves Get Hacked, Updated With Color

10:28 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments



I had to lose my job because of my illness. So far, it does not feel too different since I have been on disability for the last nine months. There IS a difference, of course. I am not getting a paycheck anymore and that lends a bit of extra stress on me. Both the bf and I are without a job and we live in a very affluent neighborhood, AKA rent is outrageous. Luckily the bf did get a severance package that is larger than the average person's annual salary so we can feel a little less hurried while looking for work. In the meantime we sit here in our living room looking around.

One morning I woke up to find the other half of the bed empty. I groggily walked into the living room, rubbing my eyes. I immediately tripped over a stack of books. Oh no. What now? See, every six months or so (this time I was lucky because it was a year stretch) the bf gets an itch and to scratch it he must rearrange the house. Now, this is not my style. I like stability and sameness. I am comfortable knowing things are in their place always and that place never changes. It takes time when one moves into a new place (we moved here two years ago) to put the things away in places that make sense. It doesn't make sense to have floor to ceiling glass walls looking out onto the gorgeous San Francisco Bay and then put the back of a couch up against it. It doesn't make sense to keep ugly dvd's displayed in stacks when there are perfectly empty television console drawers that were BUILT for just that type of storage. You get the idea.
Our new chaise
Our new settee

So, back to the morning as I tripped over a stack of books. I finished rubbing my eyes and found myself lost in the middle of a forest of stacked books, dvd's, records, BluRays and video games. The bookshelf unit we bought a couple years ago was once again changed. This time it was stripped of all it's contents. Ok, honey, what is it this time? The bf had been up all night making up plans to bring more color into our living room. This is where we have one of those couple style clashes. It isn't really a clash though, not in my mind, because I want everything BLACK and he wants everything colorful. At least color and black match, right?! Earlier this year I agreed to get a lovely, sunshiny, yellow chaise from EQ3 and a rich, ink blue, velvet settee from West Elm. These go beautifully with my already existing graphic rug and black 1940's style club chair. I considered that compromise. Apparently he did not. He came out from behind a stack of pot holders in the kitchen to explain to me he wants to paint the dark wood bookshelves. Still trying to wake up, still trying to recognize my own apartment, now my head begins to spin. He holds up a piece of paper that is lifejacket orange. "What do you think of this?" No. Nonononononono!
The original Ikea shelving.

I am all for trying out color but I had to explain to him I didn't want to live in a day care. These colors were going too far. I imagined my home looking like a circus or a preschool! I knew there was no going back the way it was, not after him obviously staying up all night conjuring up ideas. I said, "ok, let me pick the colors.". I sat down with Google and Pinterest and browsed and browsed. I came up with emerald green for the shelves and gold for the backing. He agreed and, boom, the shelves were out on the patio. We had bought primer, some rollers, a paint brush, a can of green latex paint called Chloroform and a little can of gold latex paint.
BEFORE

We went home and primed both shelf cases. Then, we painted two coats of the green paint. Once that was dried, we taped off the green and began rolling the gold on. That ended up a disaster!! The paint was really runny and dripped everywhere. It glopped and dripped and was sticky. No matter what we did, how gentile we were, the paint was obviously unevenly textured leaving drips all over the place. It was quite disheartening. The bf wanted to just rip the backs off of the shelves. After all, they are Ikea shelving so it is just cheap, thin, pressed sawdust basically! I did not want that to happen so I went back to the hardware store and bought scrubby sponges, sandpaper, gold spray paint, thicker painters tape and a bunch of plastic.

Semi-After

First, I went after the thick drippy bits that were still wet with the scrubby sponge. I waited another day to make sure the ugly, gloppy gold paint dried then I sanded it down to the best of my ability. Before I sanded the gold I did use the plastic and completely taped off all of the green so that when I spray painted the particles in the air would not settle on our lovely green paint job. After I felt it was sanded as much as it was going to get sanded I wiped everything down to get the dust out of there. It took two cans of the gold spray paint to fully cover the backs of both shelving units. If you do not already know how to use a spray paint can I will tell you that it is best to do lots of really thin coats. If you get hung up in a spot it will drip. I misted and misted and misted until both cans were empty. The result is not perfect because of the previous paint but it is not noticeable at all once the shelves are full.

AFTER
I would take a photo of the finished room but it is not finished yet. We are waiting for the settee to arrive still.

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30 Things You May Not Know About My Invisible Illness

1:09 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments


I hope to fill this out annually to see the changes that take place in my health, attitude and feelings. I got the questions from this website. If anyone sees this and makes a blog of their own answering the questions, please send me a link in my comments area. 



30 THINGS ABOUT MY INVISIBLE ILLNESS YOU MAY NOT KNOW

1. The illness I live with is: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Somatic Pain Disorder, Lyme Disease and then there are the side effects of my meds!
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: RA: 1984, Fibro: 2013
3. But I had symptoms since: RA:1980 Fibro: 2008
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Not being able to do the things I want to do, like work, play frisbee, walk my dog. There are too many things to say.
5. Most people assume: I am lazy. I don't like exercise. I want drugs. I am lying.

6. The hardest part about mornings are: EVERYTHING!!! Moving, facing another day of inability, the pain..pain..PAIN!!!

7. My favorite medical TV show is: I do not watch TV.
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: My back massager. 
9. The hardest part about nights are: Trying to fall asleep when I have the most energy of the whole day. And don't get me started on all the things I have to do to get to sleep!
10. Each day I take 35 pills & vitamins. (No comments, please)

11. Regarding alternative treatments I: have tried homeopathy, a naturopath, acupuncture, meditation, mindfulness, exercise as much as possible, and more.

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Invisible. I like looking good! It's all I got!
13. Regarding working and career: At this time I do not see how I can work. I hope I can have a career in my future but it isn't happening right now.
14. People would be surprised to know: I am in pain every second of every day.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: I can't do what I want. I am restricted and that is a tough pill to swallow.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: Lose my job.

17. The commercials about my illness: I do not see them, thank GOD. I am sure they fluff them up on television.
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Having energy in general...running jumping. I used to be a big goof, acting up and jumping all around. I want to do that again.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: My career.
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: Painting. And I am not too horrible at it.

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: Take my dog out and run around.

22. My illness has taught me: To fight for myself.
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: It can't be that bad.
24. But I love it when people: Give me a back rub!!!
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: Everything happens for a reason.

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: Document everything. Make some friends on FB or Twitter who have the same infliction. You won't feel so alien, alone, different, stupid.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How supportive my friends are.
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: Well, my mom cleaned my house, bought me groceries, made me pudding (LOVE butterscotch pudding!!)
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: The world NEEDS to know how many of us there ARE!!!
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Like maybe you are a little closer to getting what is going on inside me and that is one step closer to me not having to explain myself.

If you would like to donate to help me over the last hump of my treatment please go here.

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Invisible Chronic Illness Week Sept 9-15, 2013

12:31 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments


There have been various occasions throughout my blog where I have mentioned that I am sick. I have an invisible illness. That means I am sick but it doesn't look like it. I am actually very sick, so sick that I can no longer work at this time. I can not even get out of bed on some days. I have terrible pain throughout my body and I have little energy. There are a lot of invisible illnesses out there and there are a lot of people suffering from them. The fact that these illnesses, many of them auto immune like mine, are undetectable to the eye, no one knows how many people are walking around in incredible pain and discomfort.

Those of us who have these illnesses do not want to be seen as sick so we go out of our way to hide it further. That is why there is an Invisible Chronic Illness Week, to raise awareness to the issue and just HOW BIG it is and how many people are affected by it. If I had the means I would love to have some sort of march where all of us get up and walk out into the streets. The ironic problem with that is many of us can not just get up and walk....anywhere...at all. Perhaps I will just hang a purple flag out my window. Purple is the color of Fibromyalgia. Or a blue flag, the color of Arthritis. In fact, I could probably hang a lot of colors out there. That is how my sickness goes. There are a lot of symptoms and often a lot of diagnoses. What colors have meaning to you?

The Invisible Chronic Illness Week is not only here to let people know how many of us there are but also to help understand us as well. There is a website that is full of info about how to participate as well as information about invisible illnesses and those who suffer from it. A meme has been created that allows a sufferer to share how they feel with those around them. The meme also helps us to document our progress, be it forward progress or sometimes backward. It is a series of questions to be answered. The questions can be answered annually to show changes and a continued insight into the author's journey through an unseen, often unspoken about life.

I am going to do that meme in my next blog.

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Juicing Day 6 and 7

12:23 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments


I realize how last year when I did this same thing, I stopped blogging after the first 5 or 6 days. There is a difference between this year and last year. First, I am on completely different medications and that is because my illness has progressed and changed. Last year I remember feeling good, energized. I was able to get up and go to work...and work a whole 10 hour day before driving the two hours back home. This year I have been far sicker. I have not been able to work in the last nine months. I have a great deal of trouble getting out of bed even after my necessary 11 hours of sleep I get every night and the three hour nap I take every afternoon. Yeah, there is a big difference.

Last blog I faded out of the juicing so I did the same with the blogging about it. I didn't mean to leave it hanging like I did but I guess it took so long to write something I felt it was too long and didn't bother. I do not want to make that same mistake this time. I did the same stuff I have been doing the first 5 days. I woke up...very slowly and painfully... but that is my usual. I found it more and more arduous as the juicing progressed. The evening of day 6 I went to my parent's house for our weekly family dinner. I was a good girl and brought my own juice. I never felt hungary or too weak. I did feel a bit stupid and foggy in the head. I felt like I was floating down a surreal river that was my life. I noticed it the most the night at my parents. I had to actually interact with the outside world. At home I would wake up, juice, sleep, juice, sleep more, juice and then go to bed and have a horrible night's sleep (that part comes with my illness, not so much juicing).

Upon waking on the seventh day I realized I was more sluggish than usual. Far more and weak too. Getting out of bed that day was a nightmare. My pain was there as it always is but this time my muscles felt totally weak, almost useless. It took every tiny cell in my body everything it had to get me to the kitchen to make that day's juice. When I got there, I was out of breath. I thought...This is NOT why I am juicing. Every reason I wanted to juice: energy, feeling light on my feet, feeling clean, feeling the nutrients enter and revitalize my cells.....NONE of that was happening at this point anymore. I decided to stop juicing because it was no longer benefiting me at this stage in my lift or at this stage in juicing, I'm not sure what it is. My body just told me...no, this isn't working to our benefit anymore.

This does not mean I will not try it again next year. And when I do, I think I will call it a one week cleanse. This also doesn't mean that I am not drinking juice still, a few days later. When one comes down off a juice diet, one must break it to one's body slowly. What I did first is make a smoothie, instead of a juice. I added some different fruits than I had in my fridge because I wanted to use my frozen fruits. I learned the hard way that frozen fruits do not juice well. They turn to mush. For smoothies, frozen fruits are the only way for me to go because you must well know me by now and know that I must have cold juices and smoothies. I put in frozen strawberries, mangos, a cup of almond milk and a half scoop of protein powder (cake batter flavor!). My next meal was all juice. I felt weak again so I took a protein bar with me on my wak with my dog. For dinner I nibbled on a sandwich fearing my stomach was not ready to take it. My stomach didn't complain to the bread so I felt lucky. The next day I had a juice for breakfast but I put a dash of protein powder in it again. I had the other half of the sandwich for lunch and a protein smoothie for dinner. Today I feel much stronger, healthier. I had a juice for breakfast, a smoothie for lunch and Vietnamese spring rolls for dinner.

I am still losing weight which is great. It was not my intention on this juice cleanse but it is a common side effect. I am now focusing on losing weight because I just booked a trip to Hawaii for my and the bf's birthdays...in 32 days!!! I am going to eat healthy now and I will be supplementing that healthy diet with juices.

In the end I lost 11 pounds. I can't say I got much more from the juicing fast this year other than that. I am not disappointed though. I just chose the wrong time to do the cleansing. I will choose a more fitting spot in my life, next year, to give it a go again.

Until next year....Please write to me with any questions you have. If I have the time, I promise I will post a blog about high sodium fruits and veggies.

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