Nailed It!

Do you know what I love best about House No. 3? 

Nails.

Yep. It's all mine, and I can pound nails into the walls without thinking twice about it. See, we were renters for five years, and even though some of my things hung on the walls, the walls were not my own. 

I'll admit that after all the hard work of painting the walls of House No. 3, it took me a while to work up the guts to stick a nail in the sheet rock. But I am long over it, which brings me to today's project.

We've been working on the basement, and in the middle of it, the bathroom got flooded by the washing machine up above. I know, right? Distractions, distractions. HOWEVER, today I decided not to let a silly little thing like a flooded bathroom get to me, and I refocused on one little corner of the basement, which I like to refer to as Down Under. I've mentioned before that it's being decorated in a travel theme, so Down Under seems a fitting name.

My mother-in-law gave me a big, round basket for Christmas. At first I thought it might look good on an ottoman or tabletop where it could catch stuff. But we don't have either of those things Down Under, so then I decided it would look great hanging on a wall! It seemed kind of lonely up there, so yesterday, I took a trip to our local thrift store to find it some friends to hang out with. And wouldn't you know, I found THREE baskets for 50 cents each! FIFTY CENTS!

Here's what I ended up with:

They were easy to hang, too. I just pounded those babies to the wall, using nothing but small wire nails.

The big basket took two nails, while the smaller baskets each took one nail.

Don't you love how they fit right in to a world traveling theme? The globes and the clock add to it, as well. I like the miniature spotlight, too. I found that at Lowes. When my kids have friends over for movie night, the rule is that one light must be on at all times. This was a good solution.

The best part is, this little project was SUPER cheap and I didn't have to go through TSA to complete it!

Lexus IS 250 AWD

Lexus IS 250 AWD

Everything You Need and Then Some   

    When Lexus debuted the IS 300 way back in 2001, it was love at first drive for me. It was fun and quick, and as a watch collector, I especially appreciated the chronograph-style speedometer. It was a peppy little rear-drive sport sedan that had a lot of character.

    The IS went through some changes here and there, taking on a more elegant, Lexus-type look. A 4-cylinder engine was added to the lineup, and it lost the chronograph.

    Then, for 2014, the IS got a major makeover. It is both sophisticated and bold, boldness being a style element that had gone missing from the IS family for a while. It gets the Lexus nose -- the spindle grille, framed in chrome. The wheelbase increased by almost three inches and it grew nearly a half-inch wider, which adds to its aggressive stance. With 17-inch aluminum wheels, the IS 250 is a standout.

    As for the engine, the 2.5-liter V6 checks in with 204 horsepower and 185 lb.-ft. of torque. While not an overwhelming amount of showiness, it’s definitely enough. If you’re looking for some growl, consider the IS 350. But, if you’re looking for something that purrs, something with spunk, then the IS 250 fits the bill. The engine is mated to a 6-speed automatic which becomes fun to control with the paddle shifters. The 250 has plenty of pick-up, whether you’re rounding a corner or passing on a hill. It responds to pressure on the accelerator without hesitation, and before you know it, you’re cruising along at 85 without a second thought.

    Between the all-wheel drive system and the double wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension, this car has plenty of grip. To say it hugs the road is an understatement. As a driver, I always felt in complete control of the car, because it seemed so buttoned up. Front to rear, side to side, the IS is a well balanced, well-proportioned daily driver. There’s no torque steer to speak of, no understeer, and -- to invent a word -- there’s no squirelliness. Yes, there are other cars that would run circles around it on the Autobahn, but this is the real world. In other words, the IS 250 AWD is a well-behaved vehicle, great for people who like performance blended with a little luxury.

    Luxury comes in the form of heated and cooled perforated leather seats, among other things. My favorite feature (for my always-cold hands): the heated steering wheel. There’s some definite motivation for keeping your hands firmly planted at 10 and 2! Like other cars in the Lexus family, this one has enough technology to keep you learning for years. There’s Park Assist, Navigation, Bluetooth Apps, and a Multi-Information Display to name a few of the perks. But I say turn up the 15-speaker Mark Levinson sound system and just drive.

    That’s because this car is great to drive. If you strip away all of the flashiness, what you’re left with is a solidly built chassis that gives you just enough of what you need and even a little of what you don’t. Now, if we could just convince Lexus to bring back the chronograph speedometer...

    Base price on this vehicle is $38,485. As tested, it rolls in at $45,140.

Make It Yours

My sister-in-law's last name is Swan. The very first time I ever went to her house, I noticed she had several cute little swan-related decorations, from ceramic knick-knacks to a beautiful painting. It was brilliant, I thought, that she could use her name to help her family feel connected to their home and surroundings.

And then I married her brother, and took on the last name of Stagg, and well, nobody gave us any antlered knick-knacks for our wedding.

Then, even before we ever moved into House No. 3, I decided the first things that had to go were these:

There were two of these babies on either side of the fireplace. And while I wanted my little family of Staggs to feel connected to our new home, this just wasn't the way to go. I mean, what is that creepy little claw-like antler thing coming out of the bottom of the fixture?

So the antler lights were replaced with non-Stagg fixtures, which left me on the hunt for something else to represent our name. I thought about something like this:

 

But I was afraid some psychopathic villain with bad hair might show up in a helicopter and burn my house down. So that was out. (However if a handsome British spy showed up in a vintage Aston Martin, that wouldn't be so bad, would it?)

Then one day, while perusing through the online garage sale for our community, a print caught my eye. I raced right over the the seller's house and gave her a whopping $4.00 for it. Then I raced over to Michael's and put it in a frame. And then I raced over to my friend's house, who helped me cut out a sign.

Here's the end result:

It fits right in with the rest of our stuff. My husband is especially proud to have it hanging there, and the kids love it, too. I firmly believe that a home should represent the people who live within its walls. Whether it's a collection of photographs on display or the kids' artwork on the refrigerator, people should feel connected to their surroundings. It's what makes a house a home and what makes a home a haven.
What have you done to make it YOURS?

2014 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

2014 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X
What Would Grandpa Say?
 

    All together now, in your best “grandpa” voice, repeat after me: When I was your age, trucks are what people bought when they couldn’t afford a car.
    There, now, wasn’t that fun? If I were going to offer a rebuttal to my “grandpa” voice, it would be this: Gramps, back in your day, trucks weren’t outfitted with shift-on-the-fly four-wheel-drive, or equipped with SiriusXM Satellite Radio, or loaded with heated leather bucket seats!
    And then my inner grandpa would tell me to go have a bowl of ice cream and all would be right with the world again.
    The 2014 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X is also about as right as a bowl of ice cream -- in the compact pick-up segment, that is. And while we’ve seen the category shrink over the past decade (Ford Ranger is gone, Colorado and Canyon are on the comeback, Tacoma remains) the Frontier holds steady, offering maneuverability and utility in a world dominated by 20-inch wheels and clean mud flaps. My own grandpa would have called that “all sizzle and no steak.” Well, the Frontier has sizzle AND the steak to back it up. The body remains unchanged this year, but comfort options and upgrades are new. My test vehicle was outfitted with the PRO-4X Luxury Package, which added a navigation system with a color display and voice recognition. My son enjoyed placing a call to his dad, literally without lifting a finger. The touch display, though nice, was often hard to read in daylight, even accounting for brightness adjustment. The package also includes very comfortable heated leather seats, heated side mirrors, a power moonroof, and a roof rack with cross bars.
    Off road, the Frontier handles easily and confidently, whether on snow-covered surfaces or muddy roads. A simple twist of a knob, and I was Queen of the Hill. Cruising around town or down the highway, the 4.0-liter V6 seemed thirsty, but performed just fine, picking up speed as needed and maintaining speed down winding canyons. The ride was trucky of course, but not abusive. The cabin remains quiet even at higher speeds. Having tested a very beefy and brawny full-size pick-up the week before, I especially appreciated the maneuverability and easy agility of this small truck. I will say that it was definitely much easier to park! Ride height was comfortable for my 5 1/2 foot frame, especially with power adjustable seats. The kids had plenty of space in the back, with 38 inches of headroom and 25 inches of legroom.
    Knobs and controls on both the steering wheel and center stack were user-friendly without being intrusive or cumbersome.
    On one particular trip, I made good use of the bed extender when I brought home a media console table for my basement. The factory-applied spray-in bed liner made loading it worry free as well as slip free -- a big plus here in the freezing mountain-top winters.
    All in all, I’d say the Frontier is a small truck capable of doing big jobs. The V6 is rated to tow up to 6300 pounds and has a payload capability of 1,215 pounds. Fuel economy is rated at 21 city and 15 highway. The trip computer told me I averaged about 17 mpg during my week with the PRO-4X.
    In the compact truck segment, the Frontier can get the job done. Pricing on my test vehicle topped out at $36,050. Base pricing, however, starts under 20K.

2014 Buick Regal GS Turbo

2014 Buick Regal GS Turbo
No Age Restrictions Here

    On the day the Regal GS was delivered to my house, Katie Bjoerk, Buick Communications Manager, sent me an e-mail highlighting some of the features of this turbo-charged sedan. The one that stood out to me was that the average age of the Regal GS customer is 43 years old.
    Ha! I thought to myself, I’m too young for this car!
    I just won’t tell you by how much.
    The next day, a friend and I decided to go on a snow shoe hike, so we took a drive up into the snow-covered hills near our homes --the GS is an AWD -- and she commented that it was really nice to ride in a sedan for once. As moms with growing families, she owns a full-size SUV, while I own a cross-over. She was right. The Regal’s cabin is low-slung and wraps itself around you in style and comfort. The heated leather seats are the warmest I’ve ever had -- and I use heated seats until April around here. Unlike other sport sedans whose bucket seats are sometimes hard and flat, the Regal’s seats offer just the right amount of support and hold you in when you kick up the throttle; yet, they don’t have the pillowy expansiveness of other sedans driven by people over the age of, um, 43. 
    Features like the the eight-inch touch screen with next-generation IntelliLink add to the overall luxurious feel of the interior. Never mind that the D.J. on my favorite Sirius XM satellite station called my music classic alternative. It was another small chink in my anti-aging armor, so I romped on the gas pedal to remind myself that I still like to drive fast.   
    And fast it goes. The 2.0-liter I-4 turbo is quick off the line, delivering 259 horsepower and 295 lb.-ft of torque. Hit the gas, and its response is immediate. The high school carpool crowd was impressed when I demonstrated this for them on the way home one day. They giggled at being thrown back into their seats and one enthusiastic 14-year-old said, “I would do that ALL THE TIME if I owned this car.” I felt a little younger at that moment, so I did indeed, do it again. On the freeway, the Regal GS cruises along without any effort. The 6-speed transmission clicks through the gears without any lag. In fact, I would say the Regal GS is a perfect touring sedan. You get power and performance from the mechanics of it, while the cabin offers quiet and refinement. Factor in that you get 27 mpg on the highway, and this car suddenly becomes a head turner. Sport mode tightens up the suspension and makes driving downright fun. It has three selectable modes, called the Interactive Drive Control System. Standard, Tour, and Sport damping modes offer three ways to enjoy the ride.
    I mentioned that the GS comes standard with all-wheel drive. I took it up some pretty slick roads, where the snow and ice had been packed down pretty well. It was hardly a challenge for this sedan as I don’t recall slipping or spinning once. Throw in the fact that the Regal also comes with StabiliTrack with full-function traction control, and winter road conditions become much less of a worry.
    Outside, the Regal gets an updated design, with wing-shaped LED lighting. 18-inch alloy wheels round out the sportiness of this sedan.
    Safety features include blind zone alert (a little too bright of a reminder at night), cross traffic alert, collision mitigation braking, and lane departure alert. I tried to activate this alert purposely (on a deserted road, of course) but it must have known I was trying to trick it. Nevertheless, it’s good to know it’s there. I did appreciate the fact that my test vehicle came with rear-seat side-impact airbags.
    The combination of turbo power, all-wheel drive, and excellent gas mileage makes the Regal GS a tough competitor in the luxury-sport segment. As tested, the Regal GS priced out at $40K and change. So yes, even though I am too young for this car, I did enjoy driving it. I wonder if I’ll like it even more when I turn 43...which won’t be for a long, long time.
   

A New and Improved Way to Hang Things

We had a cold, rainy weekend here in the mountaintops, so the hubby and I decided to finish painting the basement. I'm not ready to reveal the full project yet, but it's coming along! The day included painting the stairwell leading down to the basement, and so today I decided to hang a few things up.

I came up with a way to hang things -- and it's even better than the wax paper trick! I mean, the wax paper is great and all, but you have to fight it. The wax paper and the tape don't get along. It can get too heavy to tape to the wall. You see? Problems. I don't have time for that kind of drama.

The solution? Drum roll, please... Glad Press 'n Seal!

This stuff sticks to everything - and not in a so-messy-you-have-to-know-yoga-to-make-it-work kind of way, either! It is, however, difficult to get your camera to focus just right on the crinkly stuff. All you have to do is line up the straight edge of the press 'n seal with the edge of the backside of the frame or whatever you're hanging, and cover the nail holes. Use a Sharpie to mark the nail holes.

 Next, stick the Press 'n Seal to the wall where you want to hang your item. You can use a level to make sure it's nice and straight.

 Pound those nails into the marks you made, then remove the Press 'n Seal.

 Hang up your frame, or in my case, your magnet board, and voila! Easy Peasy. The stair railings, by the way, are in the garage because the husband decided he wanted to strip the paint and stain them. I wished him well in his endeavors.

 And now you've had a sneak peak of what's happening, er, down under! The green paint is really cheerful and brightens things up. It's called Celery by Sherwin Williams. Only, when they mixed it up for me, I thought it was a little too... celery-ish. So we played with it until it was toned down a bit.

Yeah, this stuff is pretty much the bomb-diggity.

Dollar Store Jewelry Holder

Hi Friends! Have you noticed all of the Dollar Store crafts and tips on Pinterest? I decided to come up with one of my own. Yes! I had an original idea. Tomorrow I'll probably find ten other blogs where people have done the same thing, but for now, I'll claim it as my very own.

The Dollar Store has some treasures, my friends. Why just today, I bought a toothbrush, a bag of plastic spoons, some nail wraps, and these:

Candle holders! (Not the glue). But, these are all the supplies you will need for this quick and easy little craft.

Squirt some of that E-6000 around the rim of the candlestick. I have friend who often describes things as being the bomb dot com. E-6000 IS the bomb dot com! It's perfect for gluing non-porous things together and not nearly as messy as super glue. Plus, the excess rub right off when it dries.

Stick it to the bottom of the little candle dish. It's going to take a while to dry, but when it does, you'll end up with this:

Isn't that a cute little jewelry holder? I made this one waaaay back, and the E-6000 holds so strong, you'd never think these were two separate pieces before.

 

It stands on my dresser and holds my blingy little bracelets.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this one yet. Maybe I'll leave it on the kitchen windowsill to hold my rings when I'm washing dishes or cooking. Maybe it will make a cute candy dish for Easter! I think this craft would be fun to do with young girls as a Mother's Day gift. What do you think?