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What I am Thinking When I Watch The Bachelor

People. I bought a magazine yesterday purely because it was a recap of all 20 seasons of the Bachelor.

I think I have a problem. This is an obsession. I NEVER buy magazines. But I had to know where everyone ended up!

And because drama loves company, I figured I would share my obsession with you.

Here were my thoughts this week watching the Bachelor:

  • Ok really, how do these people have jobs? I mean they have to take months off work. Who has that kind of time off saved? And for people who do the spin off or come on multiple shows? I really want to know if they lose their job. I am really concerned about their financial well-being once they return home. Tom thinks ABC negotiates with their employers and they get paid either way. I do also know a lot of them become sponsors of random things via social media. Or maybe this is why an occupation of “twin” is appropriate.
  • Group dates-these are so awkward. And also how do they get dressed nicely so quickly? Is someone there doing their hair and make-up?
  • Oh dear-the talent competition would be terrifying. I honestly didn’t think Olivia’s thing was that bad. I think it got played up, and it was the only girl that they put the cameras on facial expressions in the audience.
  • I could not deal with the jealousy. No wonder they all seem a little crazy.
  • This show focuses way too much on people who decide to be virgins.
  • The facial expressions are everything-the shock, trying to hide true feeling by manipulating their face to keep secrets. So many secrets…
  • Amber seems to be the one stirring the drama pot, and she talks behind people’s back a lot. I wasn’t sad to see her go.
  • My favorite line of the night from Ben-“I do have to say goodbye, because I do believe my wife is standing here.” —except I am not sure which one you are.

My top picks (because I have total say) are Lauren B, Caila, Becca, and JoJo.

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While this show may not always end up in love, I will always love this show. I just can’t help it!

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Burning Down the House

I have always wanted a fireplace, but all the houses we looked at did not have this feature. It was not a priority, but one of those bonus items I hoped for.

Thank goodness I have a husband who entertains my ideas.

Like building a fake fireplace!

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We have this weird corner in our living room, and it also happens to be where they put the cable.

So that is where the TV must go without doing something crazy with the cable wire.

Before we were using an old bookshelf that I have had since I was in elementary school.

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While I love this bookshelf and carries sentimental value for me, it was not cutting it for the look we wanted.

Tom came in and worked his magic.

We had to figure out that it wasn’t a square corner so we were working with an oblong triangle. Tom had to figure out how wide the fireplace could be and still be square. He also kept in mind we wanted to put a fireplace like heater in the middle and be able to put the TV on top.

IE: He is really good with math. His words were “Corners are just a mathematical pile of garbage.”

The tricky part of every project is trying to figure out how much wood you need.

Tom used 20 ft of 1 X 10, 20 ft of 1 x 4 (all the back bracing), and 30 ft of various types of trim. This is all pine (our personal favorite to use).

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Here, he is making the trim into boxes on a flat piece of wood. It gives the fireplace a little more character with the picture frame affect.

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He used a finish nailer to put the trim on.

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Once the three long pieces were done with the boxes, he used the bracing in the back to put them together into one piece.

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The top is two boards sandwiched. He had to be aware of how much space we needed for the TV, but also so it was snug in the corner. We knew that this will be temporary as we have plans to knock this corner down some day. So we wanted it to look big and fancy but also easily moveable.

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We bought one of those space heaters that look like an old fireplace, and just stuck it in.

Then Tom stained the wood.

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No joke, we used a piece of black poster board behind the heater so you cannot see the cords. Don’t worry, it is not an actual fire hazard because the heating component is in the bottom front (also something we looked for when we bought this item).

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Fireplaces seem magical with stockings, so that was a must for me!

All in all, this project cost about $200, which includes the space heater. If we bought this commercial, it would be at least $500 for just a base model. Some nicer end fireplace inserts cost up in the several thousands.

It looks so perfect and like it was always there. It is probably one of my favorite projects he has ever done.

I honestly don’t know what I would do if he didn’t have these skills.

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Currently

Currently, I am…

Eating-chocolate pudding. Because I am a grown up, and I am in denial that the holiday “diet” is over.

Wishing-for 3 day weekends. Mondays are rough friends. I do love my job, and I am excited by the work I get to do every day. However, there are so many things I want to accomplish and do over the weekends that I always feel that let down on Sunday nights. Womp womp.

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Watching-Mad Men and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. I really could not get more opposite shows. I love Ellie Kemper, and she just makes my smile with any project she does. This show is a great pick me up while I am cooking dinner or folding some laundry. Mad Men, however, I am not so into yet. It is kind of hard to watch with all the sexism. It is painful to know some of these things are still happening, but also heartwarming that so much has changed. I am half way through the first season, and I plan on watching the whole season to see if I get hooked or not. I can tell that I am not that into it because I can go days without watching it and wondering in the mean time what happened. Those clothes though…I may continue watching just to see the wardrobe. My dream era design wise!

Working on-meeting with so many students and their GPA configuration to retain scholarships or get off of academic probation. The last couple weeks have been non-stop students! As far as home projects, we are still working on getting our house guest ready. It seems like when we just are moving junk around to complete projects. But our basement is in a much better place than it was a month ago, thanks to the hubster. Now just to get to a place where we can see our dining room table again.

Wearing// layers and boots. I could wear boots every day.

Collecting// Kid’s books. Tom and I just admitted this week that we collect collections. So we are on a mission to have a massive library full of kid’s book collections. There could be worse things to collect. Right now, I am hankering for all the Curious George, Clifford, Berenstain Bears, and Littler Critter books. We also buy a lot from Usborne!

Reading… Bossy Pants by Tina Fey and the sixth book in the Nikki Heat series.

Learning… how to feed a toddler again every. single. day. Why can’t they like the same food from day to day, or heck, meal to meal? Also, there has been some big stuff happening at work where I am learning a lot about processes and more about advocating for student success.

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Excited to… continue building a new coaching program and working with student leaders again. Our office quite literally fell into some money two days before the session started that was earmarked for very intentional programming initiatives. Within those two days we created a framework of a peer mentoring program to start this semester, which included hiring two student staff members. It was kind of crazy to build an entire program from scratch in two days, and I still think I am flubbing around. We’ll get there though! It has been a couple years since I have supervised students, and I also mostly work with students who are at risk and need academic intervention. So it is really exciting to be working with this leadership population again.

Looking Forward To-February. January kind of kicked my butt. Also just generally warmer weather. My body is meant to be a beach body. George apparently has inherited the disdain for cold weather.

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What are you up to today?
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Reality TV Thoughts

It has been a hot minute since I let you in on my thoughts about any TV shows. Well wait no more!

Right now it seems like all I am watching is reality TV with the extended breaks TV dramas are now taking in the winter months. I feel like the breaks are getting longer and longer every year.

Anyway, here are three shows that have my attention right now.

American Idol

I will be honest, I have never watched this show before. I really had no intention to for this farewell season, but my heartstrings were pulled. The radio station I listen to has been having contestants on each day, so I was curious by their stories. And after four episodes, I am hooked. I love the judges. I love every one of them individually, but they are great together as well. They play off of each other really well. It is very similar to So You Think You Can Dance, and I love watching the personal stories come out. Tom has been watching with me too, so that has been fun. Normally we don’t watch current TV shows together-Netflix is our thing. He was in choir in high school so I think he gets into the singing more than he lets on. I am not going to pick any favorites until I see more with Hollywood week. Athough Dalton who sang Phantom in kind of alternative rock is great, as well as the marine cowboy, John Wayne. So maybe I do have some favorites…

The Biggest Loser

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I enjoy this show, but I think it may be on its way out. They changed a lot this season, with one change being Alison Sweeney no longer being the host. She was one of my favorite parts of the show, so I was sad to see that change. I am rooting for the father/daughter couple on the black team. They just have a sweet story, but obviously not sweet enough for me to remember their names. With that, I haven’t really felt connected to many contestants so far. They are still trying to build things up right now. It just feels a lot slower than past seasons.

The Bachelor

Ben may be one of my favorite Bachelors. He is right up there with Sean Lowe for me. He is super awkward though, and I LOVE it! I have no idea what Lace is still doing there, because by his facial expressions he doesn’t seem to understand her or like her. There seems to be a lot of superficialness going on right now. Since there have been so many years, really anything goes, including past contestants coming back. I love Becca though, so I am excited to see how their relationship goes. My other favorites for Ben are Lauren B and JoJo. Along with Lace, I can’t really do Olivia or the twins anymore. The twins just seem too young and high maintenance for Ben. Olivia’s mouth frightens me, plain and simple. To give her the benefit of the doubt, I think they are making her a villian out of small things. I think it is fair for her to want as much time with Ben, maybe how that comes off to us makes it seem worse than it is. I guess we will see how the drama unfolds.

There is something crazy fun about reality TV. I love the real stories coming out in these Hollywood creations.

Do you watch any of these shows? Do you have any favorite contestants?

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To The Window-To The Wall

My people, we finally have something on our walls.

It only took us 4 months, but I digress. We had them up before Christmas, I just have been slacking on writing the post.

I grappled with taking staged photos, but I am tired of stressing about that stuff. So you all are going to get the real look of our living room on a day to day basis.

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I obviously love pictures so I wanted a way to display them easily. Because we take a lot of pictures, I change them often so that also needs to be easy. Tom made these floating shelves. And I love them! It is exactly what I wanted a completely changes the room. And I can change how the frames look anytime without putting more holes in the wall. And the best part is the cost. Something like this would cost lotsa monies because of the size.

So thankful for the handy husband!

Tom found boards that were the depth we wanted to make the top and bottom boards. He used pine because it is cheap and easy to work with. Pine also takes stain really well, so you can make it to look anyway you want.

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Then he put 1X2 as a spacer to make a box and capped them on the end.

Once the box was made, he did a simple stain.

To hang them on the wall, he wanted to make sure they were sturdy and not going anywhere. He used flush mount hangers. One piece is screwed into the wall, while the other is screwed into the shelves. Then they slide into each other like a hand in a pocket. These bad boys aren’t going anywhere.

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This whole project took Tom about an hour to complete.

It makes a huge difference in our living room. There are some pieces that I want on the adjacent wall to complete the room, but this is a wonderful start to make this place more homey and fit our style.

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How do you like my end tables? Seriously though, actual end tables are coming up in the future, but we are making due right now with TV trays. Our house is a constant work in progress. Thank you Grace for your modeling skills.

How do you display your photos? Does you pet like to pose for you?