Laina Turner's Blog, page 55

32 Shades of Grey

Before you get all excited that this is some fan fiction erotica, it’s not.

I’m talking about grey paint.

One of the reservations I had when we decided to buy a house that needed a lot of work was the decorating. Not because I don’t want to decorate our house but because Matt and I have completely different tastes and being able to come to an agreement made me a little nervous.

He’s more an antique guy.

I’m more a contemporary modern gal.

We’ve lived together for almost 4 years and until we bought this house have just lived with a hodge-podge of stuff. I wasn’t ready to put the money into décor when the house wasn’t permanent.

It wasn’t until we put the offer in on our forever house that it was important to both of us to have a décor we both liked. Something we could be proud of and be excited to have people over to hang out.

Surprisingly, when we started talking paint, we both liked grey walls and white doors and trim. We felt it was clean looking and could handle the richer wood hues of his antiques and fell into the modern realm I like.

So off to Lowes we went. And WOW!

There were a lot of shades of grey.

Some with green undertones and purple undertones and blue undertones. I liked the purple the best. I definitely didn’t like the green.

I just started picking some out and ended up with 32 different shades that honestly almost looked the same to me.

How was I we going to decide on just the right shade of grey?

We ended up with 2 (out of my 32) that we both agreed on.

The functional grey and the dovetail grey. Now we just have to decide between the 2. They’re so similar it’s hard to decide. They’re both fairly light with the dovetail being just a tad darker. We are painting all the main walls this color so I don’t want it to be too dark.

What do you think of grey?

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Weekend Recap

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a great weekend. I sure did. It was the first relaxing weekend I’ve had in about 2 months that I didn’t realize until I wondered why it felt so odd to not have twenty million things to do. I wasn’t traveling, and my kids were at their dads, so I got the chance to slow down.

I watched some Netflix (ok a LOT of Netflix – Netflix can be the devil when it comes to productivity). Saturday was rainy (hence all the Netflix watching) but Sunday was sunshiney, and that always makes me feel better.

Drank some wine.

Ate.

…and got some work done around the house.

I worked out twice. If you count wearing my workout clothes to breakfast and buying a new yoga outfit at Old Navy.

That does count, right?

I should have worked out harder because I was watching Chopped on Netflix and man it made me hungry.

I did a lot of thinking which I admit it so hard to do sometimes. Having an uninterrupted amount of time to be quiet and think and reflect is so precious to me. It rarely happens and I value it when it does.

I feel like I have a good game plan for the week, and a good plan for the month to get back on track.

How was your weekend?

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3 Tips To Make Your Blog Post Sizzle

I recently read somewhere that people only read about 20% of your blog post. That was no big surprise to me because we all know people surf and skim. There is so much information coming at us day and night that it would be impossible to read every word of everything we come across.

As bloggers, the goal is to get people to read our blogs, and there’s a lot of competition out there.

To set your blog post apart it needs to sizzle and catch the eyes of the reader and compel them to keep reading.

How can you do that?

Headlines – the title of your post needs to grab the reader. One of my best posts in terms of traffic was titled Rutabaga is Sexy. Now a vegetable isn’t sexy but it was intriguing enough to enough readers that they had to find out why I thought rutabaga was sexy.

Use an interesting fact or anecdote to interest the reader. One that’s related to your post in some way of course, but there are a lot of ways to relate a funny fact back to your post. Such as water boils at 2120F how hot is your blog post? Cheesy I know but you get my point.

Let your personality shine through. I’m not a very funny person, but I do have my moments and I try to capture those in my writing. I want people to know me. Like a friend.

I’ve been looking at some of my old blog posts to see if they have enough sizzle to make someone read more than 20%, and I must admit some do, and some don’t.

What about you? How do your posts stack up?

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Here Comes a New House

 We put an offer in on a house Sunday and after a little back and forth negotiation our offer was accepted.

I’m excited.

And a little freaked out.

Excited because it’s a new chapter of my life and the home I hope to live in until the kids are all out of the house and its time to downsize again.

Freaked out because the house needs a lot of work before we can move in and a lot of cosmetic work to get it out of the 1980’s, which in itself is funny because the house wasn’t built until 1999.

Our final decision was between 2 houses. 1 was close to move in ready, needed a little work but not a ton, was located in the school districts we needed but at the far west end which would add 10-12 minutes round trip to my million trips to the kids schools and back for activities. I know that doesn’t sound like that big a deal but to me it seemed a pain. The 2nd house was right around the corner from our house now, so perfect location, but the décor was severely dated and the person who built it turned one bedroom into a huge walk-in closet and made the master bath extremely big. If we bought this house, we needed to fix all that because we needed the bedroom. Though as nice as the closet was it was tempting to get rid of a kid just to keep it.

We kept going back and forth, the kids didn’t like house #2 because they couldn’t see past the décor and, of course, didn’t care that I might have to drive an extra 10 minutes. I didn’t feel comfortable with house #1 and although I knew it would be a lot of work to buy house #2 I felt it was the right decision.

And you all know if mama ain’t happy, no one is happy.

To be able to live in the house, unless I put one of the kids on the couch, we have to gut the master bed/bath and reconfigure, building in a closet. Then take the beautiful bedroom turned closet and make it a bedroom again. I also don’t want to move in until the entire house and trim is repainted. The upstairs will have to have new carpet throughout and tile (in the bathroom), and I would like to replace the tacky laminate on the first floor, but that can wait. So can installing a first-floor fireplace. There’s one in the basement, but they didn’t put one in the living room. Odd since they are on the same wall, so everything is already right there. However, I have no idea how much that will cost so some of the stuff getting done before move-in will depend on budgeting.

I’m more scared of how much time this will take than I am of the money because right now (and always it seems) is just a crazy time of the year. We close in 30 days and will have 7 weeks before we have to be out of our rental to get this done. 7 weeks sounds like enough time but you know things rarely work out according to plan.

Now my head is filled with color schemes and layout ideas. Thank goodness for Pinterest.

Let me know if you have any home remodeling tips. I need all the help I can get!

 

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Grilled Stuffed Peppers

I’ve never been a fan of stuffed peppers because anytime I’ve eaten one they’ve been made with green peppers and those aren’t my favorite. I don’t know why it took so long to dawn on me that one could use red, yellow, or orange bell peppers just as easily.

 

Maybe because I’ve never had one that way?

After the colored pepper revelation, I thought about what I could stuff them with that my kids would actually eat. Since chicken nuggets and fries was out of the question (I couldn’t imagine that would be very tasty no matter how much the kids like to eat them) I chose Italian flavored ground turkey, garlic, onion, tomato, rice, and some yummy Sartori Cheese (Merlot Bellavitano). Strangely enough, all the kids LOVE garlic so I made it very garlicky.

I sautéed the garlic and onion in extra virgin olive oil. I did use fresh garlic but to be honest I love using the minced garlic that comes in a jar just as much. Once the onion and garlic were browned, I added the ground turkey.

While the turkey was cooking, I cubed the cheese and sliced cherry tomatoes. I added those ingredients once the turkey was completely cooked.

I put the burner on low while I made the rice. Instant, so it didn’t take long. I also added a tablespoon of butter to the rice to give it a little richer flavor.

The aspect of this whole process that really excited me was grilled the peppers so they have that charred taste I love so well. Nothing is better than a grilled pepper. I like putting baby bell peppers on the grill. I can eat them like candy.

Once the peppers were grilled, I stuffed them and topped them with a slice of provolone cheese and popped them in the broiler for about 5 minutes. The end effect was a gooey, cheesy, relatively healthy stuffed pepper.

I thought they were great and even the kids liked them. Totally a win. Next time I would probably use Spanish Rice instead of white and not use Italian seasoned ground turkey. I would just use regular and spice it up myself. Other than that I’m pretty happy with my concoction.

What’s your best-stuffed pepper recipe?

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Top 5 things to do when you don’t feel like doing anything

I’m sure none of you EVER procrastinate but for me…there are many more ways these days to distract myself than in the past, and I have a number of things I can do when I don’t feel like doing anything. I thought I would share these things with you so when you want to procrastinate you also have many options as to how to avoid work. But I will tell you that you SHOULD NOT procrastinate. It’s a very bad habit.

Netflix binging – this has to be my top favorite time waster. Never before have I enjoyed watching tv as I do with Netflix and the ability to watch a series every episode in a row. It’s addictive.
Facebook stalking – or any social media platform, is a great time waster. Nothing better than laying on the couch while stuffing my face, seeing what everyone else is doing, and living vicariously through them.
Staring at a blank computer screen – this way I can at least pretend like I’m doing something. I’m very skilled at pretending I’m thinking hard.
Shopping – I pretend I’m people watching for inspiration, but it’s mindless entertainment. Though it can get pricey.
Call a friend to meet you for coffee or a cocktail – tell yourself you want to spend quality time with your friend and it’s a great justification as to why you’re not working.

What kinds of things do you like to waste time doing?

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5 Things You Have to Offer as a Blogger

Sometimes as a blogger (even sometimes as a person) I wonder what the hell I’m doing because it’s not like I know anything different than anyone else so why would anyone care about what I have to say. But then I remember a piece of advice someone gave me when I was writing my dissertation and was so stressed out about finding a new revolutionary topic to write about that would propel me into my academic career. She told me there were very few new ideas, but there are many different ways to look at something.

I took that advice to heart, and I try to keep it in mind when I struggle with confidence in my writing. We all have our different perspectives on things, and that’s how we can learn.

For instance this post. I’m not the first to write about what you have to offer as a blogger, but I have a list from my point of view which is different from someone else’s.

So first on my list is:

Point of view – yes I know repetitive from my last sentence but I want to get the point home.
Personality – the way you write is different from anyone else and much like point of view someone’s personality puts a different spin on things.
Skills – all of us have things we’re good at. You might think you don’t, but you do. Take the time and write down all the things you like to do and are good at. You might be surprised what you find that you can write about.
Experience – We all have unique experiences to bring to the table and share with others. I love reading about places people visit and restaurants they visit. Even if they’re not in my area.
Interests – Even if you think you’re the most boring person alive (which I sometimes do when I’m excited to go to bed at 9pm) you have things you like. I enjoy books and working out. Both topics I can write about.

I could go on and on, but you get my point. We are all unique and as such all have unique things to offer out in the blogosphere.

What do you think makes you unique as a blogger?

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Effort Trumps Talent

 

As if you can’t tell I’m gone away a bit for my normal weekly blog format to some randomness and motivational, self-help, organizational kind of posts. I’m trying to re-center and re-focus and turn myself from being overworked, anxious, and stressed to fun, happy, and motivated.

Life is too short to not enjoy every single day.

Along those lines of getting myself motivated and headed in the right direction is an awesome book I’ve recently read about Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck. 

In a nutshell, the growth mindset is a belief that you can reach any goal you strive for through dedication and hard work. Success isn’t just about natural talent. I’ve been working hard at my writing and blogging as a profession for years now and while I’ve had successes I haven’t had the exact success I have always hoped for. It’s easy to get discouraged and think your dreams are out of reach. But if you want them bad enough your dreams are never out of reach. Sometimes you just need to change your course of action.

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. Confucius

Giving up and thinking you can’t do it is the path of least resistance but if you really want something aren’t you willing to work for it? Does it matter if it’s hard?

Victory tastes even sweeter when you’ve worked hard to achieve your goal.

You can do it and so can I!

 

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What Makes a House a Home?

We have lived in a rental home for 9 months now and it’s driving me crazy. Not that the home is horrible. It’s not. It’s also not ours and it is a lesser quality made house than I would choose to live in.

We’ve been looking since the fall. Even though our lease isn’t up until the end of June, I figured if we found the house we couldn’t live without we could just pay to break our lease.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.

When we first started looking there were a couple houses that we liked but didn’t love, love, love. Then as we got to December, less houses went on the market and since early November we haven’t seen a single thing we even wanted to go see.

Now that we are full on in spring I hope more will come on the market that have the qualities I am looking for but I admit I’m getting a little nervous. We aren’t going to buy a house that is just ok, but I can’t stand the thought of being in this rental one more year. I want a permanent home.

So I’ve been thinking about what features I absolutely can’t live without and what compromises I can make. I definitely feel it’s me who is being tougher to please.

The things I initially wanted the house to have:

4 bedrooms – 1 master and 3 good size rooms

3 car garage

Finished basement

Bonus area

Kitchen island/bar area where you can eat at

2 story entry

Living room/great room with 2 story ceiling

Lots of windows

Hardwoods

No country looking stained oak

Though as I step back and look at my list of what I think are simple demands I realized there are options.

I’m pretty stuck on the bedrooms thing. So many houses we’ve looked at has a nice master and 2 decent sized bedrooms, but the 3rd ends up being a super tiny one. I want all the kids to have a good amount of personal space.

The 3 car garage I mainly want for storage and because a 2 car driveway means I’m always ruining a few inches of lawn on my side because we both have big vehicles. However, if the HOA permitted, we could always pour an extra strip on concrete to increase the width of the driveway just enough that we would have the space we need.

The finished basement I want for the kids to have a place to play but honestly we have a basement now and they don’t use it very much. My son never uses it and the girls rarely do. So maybe it is just for storage. In that case, it definitely doesn’t need to be finished and we could probably find another place to store stuff. Or just get rid of it which is what probably needs to happen.

Same goes for the bonus area. If we can find a house with good sized bedrooms, maybe they don’t need several other options where they can play.

Having a kitchen counter area where we can have counter stools and all belly up to the bar for a snack is more because I like the idea of it. Not because it’s necessary.

The 2 story entry way and 2 story living/great room are important to me because I love the openness. The way I feel in open spaces like that it so positive and I want that in my home. However, I would take large bedrooms over a 2 story entry because in the grand scheme of functionality it makes much more sense.

I like natural light, hence the windows. And that’s not really an aftermarket possibility and I don’t want to live in a dark house so I am adamant about lots of windows.

I love hardwood floors, but they can more easily be changed aftermarket.

Trim is huge. A lot is cosmetic and can be changed, but we did look at this one house which the floor plan was amazing. However, it was very country oak in regards to trim and floors. To replace or refinish these element to be less country looking would have cost and the house was already at our top price range so it wasn’t something we were comfortable with. They took the house off the market in December, but I will say if it came back on this spring I would be much more willing to consider it due since the floor plan was pretty awesome.

What things are your MUSTS in a house?

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I’ll Do It Tomorrow

I’m a master procrastinator. I like to say I work better under pressure so that’s why I like to wait until the last minute, but all of us procrastinators know that’s just a really good excuse. The reality is I tend to put off the things I don’t want to do.

Isn’t that what all us good procrastinators do? Manana my grandmother used to say. Put off until tomorrow anything you don’t want to do because tomorrow never comes.

It’s silly really because all putting things off does is stress me out as the deadline gets closer and I worry about how I’m going to get it done.

I read the book a long time ago called Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy. It’s about tackling that task, you want to do least and getting it out of the way so the rest of the day you’re not dreading it.

It’s true. When there is a task that I’m dreading, I do put it off. Then I get more and more stressed out about it and thinking about all the reasons why it’s going to be hard which just makes me dread it even more. But when I just buckle down and do it amazingly the stress goes away. I often realize it wasn’t so bad to begin with. I just build it up that way in my mind until the magnitude of the actual task way built up way out of proportion.

The only way to stay on top of a full to-do list and not freak out every 10 seconds is to have a list, prioritize that list, and work every day on getting that list checked off. To tackle the stuff that is going to give you the biggest bang for your buck whether you want to do it or not. Once that task is out of the way, the rest of your day will be AWESOME!

How do you keep yourself from putting things off?

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