Crafty Geordi Has Moved!

I've changed my name and my address. I can be found at Sugarandtrash.com. Hope to see you there!!!!!

Fall Colors Reversible Tote

Hey Everyone! I have been thrift shopping looking for my new bathroom vanities. I've also been playing around with the sewing machine and I completed my first reversible bag. To this bag I added some D rings to the straps and some iron-on interfacing between the layers. I'm not entirely sure that the interfacing is worth all of the trouble! I will say though, the bag is not quite as floppy as my others.

With an old housecoat and a very full denim dress I got this:

I often wonder what the Salvation Army people think of me with my housecoats and mumus.....

But I do like the fall colors on this. And I am so looking forward to fall! (Really, I am over summer and these high temps)

The inside of the bag.

Or the outside. Its reversible!

I love the denim with the pattern contrast.

And I'm loving the D-rings! I don't know why this didn't occur to me a long time ago.....Sometimes I'm slow like that.

Show and Share Sunday

Okay, let's be honest. Do you all really read the stuff leading up to the linky party or do you just scroll past to get to the links? You know, making a beeline for the hors d'oeuvres table before taking time to chat with the host?

Or is that just me? Comment me if you've actually read this, k? Now for the crackers and cheese ball:

I <3 followers and referrals but I won't make you. Please post your links only, not your whole blog. I usually don't look at these immediately and if I have to look at your whole blog to find the link I might forget what I am looking for (I have a very short attention span).....Have fun and remember, anything goes!

Planning My New Bathroom

I have a borrrring builder basic bathroom. When I moved into this house the bathroom still had carpet. Yuck! I pulled out the carpet last year and have been looking at the cement slab all year. Better than the carpet but, still, Yuck! I know now that I want to go with the Traffic Master floating floor. I don't want to go with laminate like the rest of the house because I am worried about water issues. I used those really cool peel-and-stick tiles for my kitchen but they don't stick well to the concrete. Even with preparation. Believe me, I tried.
Anyway, as I was about to go to the big orange box for my flooring I got to thinking.....I know that I want to pull out the boring double sink vanity. And I don't want to ruin my new floor. So it will be concrete for a little while longer while I plan my new bathroom.

Here is a photo of the floor. You can see my yawn of a vanity there on the right.

When I first purchased this house I thought it had a Tuscan flavor to it. The roof is red tiles and 13 mature Italian Cypress trees. The inside of the house actually said "cheap", aka, "builder basic". So I  set about making the inside of the house match the outside. I've been having a lot of fun searching for Tuscan style decor.
Here is what I have dreaming up. If you follow on Pinterest, you might have already seen these (and more, expensive dreams).

I did a search on Tuscan vanities and found this cutie.

I plan on doing some thrift shopping today to see if I can find some old end tables. I will refinish them, give them feet to raise them from the floor and give a good coat of poly on the top. Then I will install one of these beauties:

When I was looking for copper vessels I found this copper colored glass sink.

I looked for copper vessels but these glass ones are far more reasonably priced and every bit as pretty. Since the vanities will be separate units I would love to have storage in between them.

I would love to have a hutch like this between the two vanities. I love this beautiful storage and let's face it. I don't need to watch my man brush his teeth while I am getting ready.

I looked at maybe doing a freestanding tub with a shower curtain to replace my shower stall. I am disappointed to say that I don't think the logistics will work. Instead I may pull out the insert and tile my own shower. Later.

And now I am just dreaming.....

I totally look forward to sharing how all of this works out!

Layout Problems in Blogger

Hi Everyone!

I did something funky last night and I still haven't figured out what. My layout is all wrong and I cannot get it back. I was attempting to test Lauryn's Help button (I hope the button works?) and it all went wrong. So until I get this figured out I hope that you will ignore the problems and just focus on my hopefully awesome content ;-)

I will just keep playing with my page.

Baby Lauryn Needs Help!

I have seen quite a few calls to help in blogland lately. But this one is a little different. This one is not asking for donations of anything except a little of your time and commitment. And, possibly, your bone marrow.  Lauryn Cox is a little blue eyed beauty with a rare form of leukemia that affects children under 12 months.

Lauryn Cox

Her first diagnosis was at the age of three months and after treatment Lauren went into remission. But a few weeks ago she relapsed and her chances for recovery are half of what they were at the first diagnosis. When family members are not a match for a patient they then must turn to the national donor registration, Be the Match. The family is holding a donor drive on August 29 in Visalia California and you can view the Facebook page here.
I know that most of you don't live anywhere near here but you can still participate. Please go to Be the Match at marrow.org and find out where you can go to donate. The donation itself is simple, you just swab the inside of your cheek. That's it!! On marrow.org you can learn about the process of donating your marrow if you are a match. The way I see it, I have a choice about donating. Lauryn has no choice about being sick. Her mommy has no choice about possibly losing her beautiful baby. Why wouldn't I choose to help them?

I've been a registered donor for over 20 years now. I have only been called once for further testing because I was a match. I wasn't asked to donate my marrow, likely because there was another match who was better suited to donate. Chances are that you will never be called back to donate. But, what if?

What if you are the one?

The Cox family are not the only ones desperate to save their loved one. It could be someone's mommy or daddy who is sick. Or their grandpa. Not everyone makes the news like Lauryn has.

Please go swab your cheek. Do it for Lauryn.

There is one more little thing that you can do to help. Please, please help spread the word and grab a button. Thank you!!

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Blogger to Wordpress - Word to the Wise

When I began this process of changing over to Wordpress, I didn't understand the self hosting concept. I had no idea that there is a difference between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. I have found some great tutorials on switching over yourself but those tutes were useless to me without understanding the self hosting part of it. Like a kindergartner trying to do sixth grade math. I was missing a few things. I signed up with Wordpress.com and got my own .com domain there. 

BIG MISTAKE! 

I now have a domain registered with Wordpress and a self hosting account with GoDaddy. This doesn't work well. I have had to transfer my domain to GoDaddy and there is a bit of a learning curve with this too. I think that both of these sites expect me to use my ESP to know exactly where to navigate. Again, kindergartner here. I have spent all of yesterday afternoon and night and this morning trying to figure this crap out. Lots of time on Google.com and the support pages of both sites to get this worked out. Now I need to wait. For, like, 5 days, until the transfer is complete. While still paying for hosting services that I cannot use yet.

I sure wish that I could help with an actual tutorial but I am still in the middle of it. I kind of wish that I hadn't started this project but there are good reasons for going through with it and I am committed to it now.

If you are considering self hosting and haven't yet made the mistakes that I have, do yourself a favor and just go to your chosen hosting site (mine is GoDaddy) and register your domain there. When done correctly it is actually super easy.