Sugar and spice and not very nice

The other day at the gym provided me with one of those moments where I rethink having kids.  Well, girls anyway.  But not like I have a choice in the matter.  Ha!

I arrived there after spending 5.5 long hours in class.  I was beat and low on patience so I suppose I should keep that in mind when assessing situations, but in the locker room while I got changed I made a few observations.  There was a group of young girls and if I had to guess, maybe between the ages of 8-12.  I’m bad at guessing ages. 

I was not too impressed with most of their behavior.  I saw maybe 3 of them at the mirror combing out their wet hair, the one in the middle flipping her hair around and rolling her eyes.  They were all being catty, and at such a young age.  Ugh. 

More of them were scattered around the locker room getting changed.  Apparently they all went swimming and as I’m piecing it all together, I’m thinking maybe a birthday party?  One girl was calling all the shots.  I think we should do this.  I want to do that next.  I am thinking we . . . I, I, I.

Yep, either she’s a birthday girl, or just a princess.  Probably both. 

There was a mom there who I think was responsible for this mob, but she wasn’t really doing anything.  She seemed numb to it all, sitting there on a bench waiting for them to all get pretty. 

Then I heard something that seemed all too familiar to me.  The little jabs and insults girls give one another to make themselves feel better.  This one girl says to another, “so do you get your weirdness from your father?”

What?!  I almost completely turned around to look at them, except I was half naked and thought that would be weird. 

And “what?!” was exactly the reaction the other girl gave back to her at first.  Then the first girl had to audacity to repeat the question.  She seemed kinda like a big bully type.  Bigger than the other girls and I bet that bothers her.  The girl she was “joking” with was a spunky little thing.  And I LOVED her response . . .

“Weirdness?  You mean my ENTHUSIASM?  I probably get that from BOTH sides of my family.”  And she went on her merry way. 

GOOD. FOR. HER!

That’s when I realized I was never that way at that age.  I certainly wasn’t the bully, but I also wasn’t the one with the witty comebacks, standing up for myself.   If someone said something stupid and hurtful to me, I believed them.  Word for word.  I was pretty much a doormat and I think that whole way of thinking stuck with me my entire life.

As I climbed onto the elliptical and got into my workout mode, I thought about it some more.  If we had a girl, how could I protect her from scenarios like that when I had no idea how to do that for myself? 

As I pushed myself through my workout, I decided there’s no sense living in the past.  I’m no longer that young girl on the playground, nor do I ever need to be that way again.  And that’s been sort of the whole point to my goals and journey that I’ve decided to document on this blog back when I started it.  It’s been about kicking butt in my life and that’s what I’ve been slowly working on. 

I’ll keep working on me to be the best me I can.  And whether we have a girl, or a boy for that matter, they’ll see what a mommy with a good self esteem and a strong self worth is like.  The rest, we’ll take day by day.

Later that evening we spent time with family and I got to see the two cutest kids in the world, my niece and nephew.  Ok, I’m biased!  LOL!  But seeing how precious they are (they’re only 20 mos. old), there was no reason to rethink kids in the first place.

I’ve got plenty of time to figure this all out including a way to effectively deal with the catty girls and the bully boys. 

Until then, this future mommy will keep kicking butt!

Under my skin

I. Am. Fuming.

It’s bad enough that I had to take a half day off work to come sit for a repairman, but on my way home to sit for my 4 hour block of time, I encountered a real A-hole on the road. 

The speed limit is 65.

I was pushing 80.  I see there are cars that want to travel even faster than that and since I’m apparently not fast enough for the “fast” lane I start to make my move to get out of their way.  Only problem is, I don’t have a good opportunity to, at least not at that speed.  What, am I to slam myself behind a slow moving truck and hope that he doesn’t tap the brakes while I wait for the speed demon to pass? 

The second I get my chance to move over, I do.  This whole thing takes less than 30 seconds.  As I look over at the guy who was passing me, he starts to applaud me.  Complete sarcasm, of course, then proceeds to give me the finger!  Are you kidding me?!!  Give ME the finger?!  I just got out of YOUR way, risking myself and everyone around us to potentially get into an accident.  I hate people sometimes, I really do. 

I’m minding my own business, trying to look at the bright side of today.  Yes I have to sit for repairman, but at least I’m heading home.  And it’s Friday.  Then this jerk has to go and ruin it for me.

And there lies my problem.  I can’t let things go.  I just can’t.  If I do, it takes a really long time.  Crap like this and even some of the not so crappy stuff.  Why does everything get under my skin?  I let everything crawl under there.  I should be covered in stretch marks from head to toe by now! 

It could be anything.  I could speak my mind, which I rarely do.  Or stand up for myself, which I do even less.  And then I’ll worry and feel bad about it all day long if someone was taken aback by me.  Funny thing is, they’ve probably long forgotten the exchange and I’ll take it to bed with me, have breakfast, lunch and dinner with it for the next three days! 

Some people may call it being sensitive.  But I hate it.  I wish I could just let things roll right off me.  But I can’t.

I would love to be like . . . If I stand up for myself or offer an opinion, great!  If A-hole wants to drive like an a-hole, fantastic!  That’s his problem, not mine. 

Is it ok that I am secretly hoping he got pulled over right now?  That – - I will not feel bad about. 

And for the record, repairman got here in the first 15 minutes of my 4-hour block!  My heart rate is dropping back down to normal and today just got a whole lot better.

The way things are supposed to be

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately.  It’s very easy to fall prey to the “what-ifs” and dwell.  I am quite guilty of that. 

I always thought I’d be doing something with art in my life but the “what” was the hard part.  What would I be doing?  Teaching?  No way, I was too scared.  A fine artist showing work in a gallery?  That’s tough to pull off.  Even just simple arts and crafts shows that are in a more relaxed environment are tough.  I’ve done both and only a handful of times.  I’d never be able to make a living that way.  Especially back when I was a single woman.  I had to work a real job and there was no choice in the matter.  I could barely makes ends meet, which meant that sometimes I’d pick up a second job in retail, pizza delivery or waitressing at a bar. 

So when was there time for creativity and art?  Pretty rarely.  Even if I made the time, my creative juices were so dry from being so drained and down about the kind of work I was forced to do full-time.  It was depressing at times.  I was so miserable that I had no energy or drive to even try to make it as an artist. 

Now that I’m married and we have two steady incomes, the thought had crossed my mind to try and get creative again.  Except that I’ve been away from it for so long, I don’t know how.  And, since I’m much older than I ever envisioned myself during my little daydreams of being an artist, I can’t even afford to take that risk right now.  Reality is I still have too many bills, and now we have married bills, and if/when we get pregnant . . . baby bills. 

I think that’s how my whole new career idea evolved.  I know I have to be doing something creative, it’s the only thing that keeps me going.  Since I took such a liking to building our house and textiles and painting, etc., interior design seemed like a natural fit. 

People always say that life has a funny way of working itself out.  Is this the way things are supposed to be? 

When I get down at work I sometimes think of the “what-ifs” again.  I had gone on several interviews after sending out at least 100 resumes before I took the job I have now.  Funny thing is, I had opportunities through two good friends to work where they do/did.   One job that I could have taken ended up closing their Ohio location and only working out of their headquarters.  This meant that if you were lucky enough to keep your job, you’d have to move along with it, out of state.  I’m not so sure I was a shoe-in for the position, but if I was, I suppose it was a good thing I didn’t take it. 

The other position was pretty much mine for the taking but I was reluctant for some reason.  I still can’t quite pinpoint it but when you have a gut feeling, I guess you should go with it.  This place, like many others, ended up having to downsize due to the economy.  I am most certain I would have been on the chopping block.  Looking back, again, I suppose it was a good thing that I didn’t take that one either. 

So, even though I’m a little bit in limbo, is this the way things are supposed to be?  I’m thinking maybe so.  I ended up at a stable job that I got on my own accord, without knowing someone, at a time when I had no idea where my life would take me. 

Maybe this is the way things are supposed to be for me.  Maybe not forever, but for now . . .

Funkdom

Just made it up.  Don’t know if it’s a real word but it fits, in varying degrees, for most of my life.

It’s only taken me 35 years to figure out how to manage it.  I think.

I’m not gonna lie.  I’m in it now, but it’s still manageable.  Partial-funkdom.  I’m just crabby lately – crabby and moody.  Sometimes it’s work stuff, sometimes school stuff, sometimes just plain old me stuff.   I’m just frustrated, in general.  And some people are noticing.  I’ll get asked if I’m alright or told that I’m not my “usual self” today. 

Usual self?  I don’t even know what that is.  Looking back at my former selves. . .

in my teens I was rarely happy, low self-esteem followed me like a shadow – Moderate-funkdom.

in my 2o’s, which were mostly a haze, I thought I was happy, but that was only part of the time – Partial-funkdom.

by my late 20’s and into my 30’s, I realized I was far from happy and nothing seemed to go right – Full fledged-funkdom. 

Hard core. 

The kind of funkdom that keeps kicking you when you’re down.  It took every ounce of my being to get up each morning and face the day.  Everything sat on the back burner.  Cleaning, shopping, social life.  I think I went through a phase where every night I slept on the couch for like months because it was the only place I felt comfortable. 

So my usual self?  What is that?  Since I spent most of my life in some sort of funk, I don’t want any of those to be considered “usual”.  What’s different now?  Am I different now? 

I guess I must be.  Perhaps it’s because I finally feel like I have some direction in my life.  But when my direction gets lost or I have a bad day or some bad news comes along that makes me feel like my goals are that much more out of reach, naturally it bothers me.   I finally have goals and I want them NOW.  It just doesn’t work that way. 

Maybe I am becoming wise at age 35?  Maybe I’m done labeling and living phases of my life in degrees of funkdom?

Maybe it’s simply a funk.  We all have those – and they eventually go away.  

While it won’t happen overnight, I’m finally learning how to deal with mine.

The S-word

School. 

Could school be considered an S-word?  It is right now for me.  I found out there are more rumblings about the future of our program of study.  Now, they’re saying if a class doesn’t get a minimum of 12 in it, they won’t run it.  Great.  So far, one of my classes for next semester has 9 in it and the other only 6.  The one with 6 is the one I really need to take. It is the continuation of my AutoCAD class and not only is it important to keep going with where you left off, content-wise, but there is another piece to it.  You can download a FREE student version of AutoCAD to your home computer in order to be able to do your homework and learn in the comfort of your own home.  Sure you could also just go to the school and use their computers, but who wants to do that?  Especially non-traditional students like me who work full time.  I barely have time for the days I agreed to be there, let alone pop in on other days. 

This downloadable TEMPORARY computer program is only good for a year and mine is already activated and ticking since August.  So if I don’t get to take this next class, the program will lapse and I will not be able to download it again without paying a hefty price.  I’m not so sure there’s another option for me other than buying the program myself.  That’s thousands of dollars I don’t have, for something that isn’t a sure thing for me yet. 

Ugh!  Why is this happening?  So I’ll have prepare myself to pitch a fit if they cancel my class.  Sure I’ll be disappointed if the other one doesn’t fly, but this CAD continuation, HAS to happen.  Or there will be some other choice S-words, for sure! 

Saturday.

Sunday.

Otherwise referred to as the weekend.  But still S-words as far as exercise goes.  I can never seem to squeeze in the time to workout on the weekend and it makes a difference.  All the hard work sweating it out at the gym all week long, goes right down the drain once the weekend hits. 

Especially when you have a full weekend with all sorts of junk and bad foods.  Friday we ordered a pizza.  I was busy studying and didn’t feel like cooking.  I had to have red wine with my pizza, too.  Saturday, we had pizza leftovers, of course.  Since Saturday was my class that takes up my entire morning, and part of my afternoon if I let it, we ate at a weird time.  Not really lunch and not really dinner.  Good news is I did force myself to the gym, prolonging our meal just a little bit.  But I’m finding I have to do that or I can’t justify the pizza.  Then later after running some errands and grocery shopping that evening, my husband and I decided to just go on a little date.  We don’t have kids yet and figured we better take advantage of impromtu plans while we can.

My husband felt like a beer and so we went up to this local bar/grille very near our house.  We had a couple beers and a couple appetizers as sort of a late dinner since our day was all screwed up. 

Sunday, we celebrated a family birthday complete with a great homecooked meal, wine, and of course, cake.

Ugh!  I’m gonna have to keep finding a way to go to the gym on the weekend, even if just one day.  More S-words for sure while I’m there, but so be it. 

Then today, the worst S-word of all appeared in my inbox. 

Secretary.

Ugh.  Do. I. Hate. This. Word.

My boss never refers to me as this word, but others who contact her and want to set up a meeting will.  “Have your secretary set something up.”   I want to strangle my computer.  I hate this title even more than Administrative Assistant, which is just a fancy way to say Secretary. 

Grrr.  S-words for sure are swirling in my brain. Happy Monday!

Man, I gotta get my S*** together and get thru my plan.

Grandma’s gonna kick your ass

And on the sixth snooze she rose from the dead.  Jeezus.  Why, why, why did I convince myself to try going to the gym before work?  I hate getting up early. 

But I did it.  This is Day 3 of my return to fitness and I need to keep going.  This is my no excuses campaign and I can’t give in this quickly.  Not when turkey day, complete with like 5,000 pies is around the corner. 

I didn’t get to the gym as early as I’d like.  What an oxymoron, right?  I can’t get up early, yet wished I got there earlier?!  It’s just that the later my start, the less time I can spend working out and then what’s the point?  I could have ran up and down the stairs in my house for 15 minutes or something.

I tell ya, this new facility is nice.  This is the community recreation center that has now replaced my former free gym in my neighborhood.  This one could poop my former gym.  I used to have to wait to get on one of two good ellipticals there.  But not at this place.  There’s a whole line of ‘em.  That line getting full?  There’s another whole line of ’em too! 

I quickly noticed that mornings must be geriatric hour there.  One man, maybe in his 70’s was rowing his way to China, another woman about the same age, was walking on a treadmill at a pace faster than I move when I’m at a bar and have to “break the seal”. 

And then I saw her.  A grandma that could kick your ass.  All 92 pounds of her.  If I had to guess, early 80’s.  Complete with black leather workout gloves.  What?!  She was rocking out on one of the ellipticals.  I felt pretty pathetic when I’d get to one of the hills in my elliptical program, cursing to myself why did I ever let myself go? 

Another observation about this place is how nice everyone is.  The older gentleman who signed me up the other night, remembered me and said, “oh I see you decided on trying out a morning with us.” 

Yes, try.  I thought to myself. 

Have you ever been to one of those fancy restaurants where as soon as some crumbs hit the table, someone is there to sweep them up for you?    Note: this is a very rare occurrence!  Well, anyway, this older lady working in the cardio room was like that.  Even though there are sprays and paper towels everywhere for everyone to use to clean up their sweaty machine when finished, this lady comes around and does it again after that person has cleaned it and left.  She was like a shark going up and down the aisles.  It could be part boredom, part clean freak, and part anti-flu measures I suppose.  But it was still pretty impressive.  I’m not even sure my former gym swept much. 

And the second I feel like stopping my program early, there’s grandma again.  Now she’s on the inverted bench thingy for abdominal work. No joke.  I couldn’t make this up if I wanted to. She was doing the inverted type first where she’s hanging down facing the floor.  Then she switches it up to lying on the bench with her legs on an incline and does a bunch of crunches that way.  Then for good measure, she does the side crunches where her body is at a 45 degree angle.  I can’t say she was freakishly buff or anything like that, but she was definitely agile. 

Moreso than me and I’m only 35. 

So basically I’m back at it and need to continue to stick with this.  I’ve got a long road ahead of me if I want to be like grandma over here.  If I don’t get it right this time, I’ll have her kick my ass.

Newbie

It was the word that was apparently printed across my forehead.  Right above the “deer caught in the headlights” look in my eyes. 

I am going thru that whole newbie thing at the new gym.  Both of them.  I went to the one near my house last night and the one near my work after work today.  I’ve been to tons of gyms and recreation centers in my life and I should know how to operate most of the equipment there.  Why is it that I feel so clueless all over again?  I hate that.  And everyone can see it all over my face.  But I need to get over it quick because I need to get serious.  I say this over and over and one of these times, it’s gonna work!

It’s going to be hard to figure out a routine that works.  I’d prefer something steady at a certain time of day, but I’m realizing that the only way that’s gonna happen is in the morning.  I’ve already proven to myself that I hate that time of day, whether I’m exercising or not.  I like the fact that for now there are some women at work who go at lunch and a buddy system is good to have for reaching your goals.  So I want to take advantage of that. 

I’m looking at it like this.  I have four chances to go in a day:

In the morning before work. 

During my lunch hour.

Right after work.

Shortly after work on my way home.

Four chances per day.  Well, until I start spring semester.  Then it will be four chances a day on most days.  I’ll figure it out by then, hopefully.

Today I didn’t even try to go in the morning.  In fact I made that decision as I climbed into bed at 11:30 last night.  I thought about going at lunch but I think a combination of fear and work got in the way.  I was left with two more opportunities.  I went with option 3 which surprised me.

I decided to walk it downtown.  Slightly creepy to think about how early it starts to get dark but I figured I’ll be in and out of there before a lot of people even leave work.  It was pretty nice and I was happy to run into another girl from work there.  So that’s cool.  Another person to add to my buddy system list and she’s on the evening list.  Walking back to my car, wasn’t as creepy as I thought it would be.  Still a decent hustle and bustle going on, streets and buildings were well lit.  Best part is, I missed rush hour traffic.   Not bad. 

But what will be bad, is my attempt to go to the gym in the morning before work tomorrow.  It’s my best chance at getting a workout in.  We have a painter coming to give us a quote after work so I need to motor my way home.  

Sigh . . . starting over.  Always fun.  It will get better.

Shaking things up

I’ve been so bad with working out lately.

Work out at a gym.

Work out at home.

Work out with a video.

Walk the neighborhood.

Mornings.

Evenings.

Lunch hour.

Doesn’t matter.  Nothing works for very long.  I get bored.  But I have to shake things up or it will be yet another long winter where I fall off the workout wagon and gain back the 7 pounds I’ve managed to lose, and then some.  Next thing I know it’s May and I have 20 pounds to lose by summer. 

It just doesn’t happen. 

I have no excuse really.  My employer is a part of this healthy lifestyles program thru our health care provider.  They offer free gym memberships with participating gyms.  That’s right.  FREE!   So what’s my problem?

When I signed up for my gym of choice, it was the only gym in my city on the list.  I decided it was the best idea to choose one near home.  Only problem is I work about 35 miles from home.  I did ok for a while, I’d change my clothes at work so I wouldn’t just drive home and skip the gym.  But this gym is pretty dinky.  I thought I was stuck with my selection for at the very least, a year.  But, not too long ago I happened to find out we can now be a member of as many gyms as we want.  A woman at work who lost like 30 pounds said she belongs to 3 gyms to get the variety of classes she likes.  Lightbulb! 

My problem is the gyms near me that participate, and there aren’t many, do not include their classes.  They’re extra.  Sigh . . . I really don’t want to start paying for classes when I’m fortunate to save money for not having to pay for the gym.  I want the cow AND the milk dammit!

So today I checked out a gym downtown near my office.   This one includes their classes.  Problem is, it’s not entirely convenient.  It’s several blocks away.  Probably a good 12 minute walk.  They aren’t offering any classes in the morning but they have them during the lunch hour and at 5:30.  I could walk, but that’s almost 25 minutes of my lunch hour spent getting changed and just getting there.  Add in a 45 minute class, freshening up and heading back and I’m now at 1.5 hours at least.  I’m just an assistant and can’t get away with that sort of thing.  

I could take this free trolley thing and it would probably shave off half the time it takes to get there, but the trick is catching one.  Miss it and forget it.  You’re hoofing it.  I suppose I c0uld just count the walking as “exercise” but I don’t.  It doesn’t do enough for me.  It took me almost 25 minutes to get signed up and the ladies I went there with were almost done with their workouts.  I decided to just head back.  But at least I took the first step in setting myself up with another option.

Since we can belong to more than one gym, I didn’t stop there.  I decided to go to a much better and newly listed gym in my home city.  Their classes are extra money, but not terrible.  It took some time to sign up again but this time I decided to stay and workout.  I was not about to set foot into two separate gyms today with gym bag on my arm and not workout.  It took some effort on my part since I’ve been away from it for a few weeks, but I pushed myself.

I’m glad I did.  It felt good to get back into it.  I’ve got to keep it up this time because how can I not?  I have options now.  A gym near home and a gym near work.  As long as I have a packed gym bag with me at all times, I will be ready for anything.  No excuses!

 

Is anyone ever happy at work?

Do what you love and you never work a day in your life.

Psshtt!  If that’s true, then I’ve been in prison since I graduated from college!

Don’t get me wrong, not every single day has been crappy, but I bet there are more bad ones than good ones.  And when the bad outweighed the good, I’d move on. 

I have friends with some really good jobs.  Or at least it seems that way.  Sure, they deal with crap too and they’ve also moved around a bit in their career, but all in all it seems good to me.  And if for some reason they just have a really good poker face and had me fooled, they go and find a better job than the one I thought they loved.  Usually they succeed. 

I think about it from time to time.  Although now is not the time for me to jump ship.  Not with this economy.  I’m never quite as lucky as my friends anyway.  Where would I go?  What would I be doing?  Pretty much more of the same.  Sure it would be good at first.  Exciting and new.  But, after about 18 months, I’d probably be miserable again.  I don’t want to keep going down that same path over and over.  

Resumes, the interview process, negotiations (which I suck at!), learning the ropes again, all the paperwork, changing my 401K, changing my direct deposit, where to go eat my lunch.  OMG the list is endless and exhausting.  After all that, only to find out that even though I have potential to be doing X, Y, and Z, for a company, I’ve been hired for A, B, and C and that is what I will remain doing until I throw in the towel and start this process all over again at another place. 

It’s the cycle I’ve been in for the last 13 years.  I’ve had stints that were less than a year, but for the most part with my “real” jobs, I’ve made it anywhere between 2.5 and 4 years.  That’s it.  In May, and by the grace of God, I will beat my all time record. 

One of my friends is checking into a new opportunity after being at her company for over 9 years.  She’s kinda freaked about it and compared it to a divorce.  I thought that was a very interesting way of looking at it and I guess I’ve never quite felt that way since I’ve never been at one particular job for half that long.  I’d get to the point that my obligatory two weeks felt like an eternity and I never let the door hit me on the ass on my way out.  I was already in my car before it shut. 

I guess that’s the difference when you are doing something you want to be doing.  You may eventually outgrow your position or your company, but you still enjoy what you do and believe in yourself.  If you decide to explore the options, you know that someone else will believe in you, too.  I’m working on it.  I have my good days and I have my bad days.  And on my numb days, I keep my eyes on the prize and focus on my schooling.  It will happen for me one day. 

That whole believing in myself thing.  It will.

Design problems

Well, there’s been a variety of design problems lately. 

First, I recently found out that one of the classes I signed up for has been altered slightly.  When I signed up for next semester it said 9am-12.  We were just informed that because we have so much material to cover in that class, the school decided to extend the class from 9am until 3:20.

You read that right. 

Six hours and twenty minutes.

Every Saturday.

For sixteen weeks.

But I remain positive.  First of all, it will be winter.  What else is there to do?   But more importantly, the instructor said she will not enforce that we stay that whole time but she will still plan to stay until 3pm like she does now.   I’ve stayed late a couple times, and honestly, it’s needed.  I don’t just want to pass these classes, I actually want to know what I’m doing when I finish this program.  You kinda need it if you want to succeed.  I still don’t understand how all these students think they can miss class or stroll in late, and even if they manage a passing grade, think that’s good enough.  They’ll learn.

Design problem #2 is potentially a little more serious.  Just found out today that the department is in danger of being shut down.  Not immediately, but there are rumors that some programs go on and off the bubble for being cut.  This is something I just didn’t want to hear.  Wouldn’t it figure when I finally start something I really want to do with my life, this kinda crap happens?  Now I have to fight more than ever.  I’ve got it in me. 

Our instructor told us to spread the word to all the design students to make sure we have officially declared interior design as our major.  This is step one in making sure the school sees concrete numbers that there are students in the program.  I’m going to do this immediately.  We were told that if even the worst happened, they can’t just yank the program while students are in the middle of it.  As long as we declare, we should have the right to finish the program.  Man I hope it doesn’t come to this. 

I’ll cross my fingers, but in the meantime, I can discuss another design problem here at home.  When my husband and I built our house we had to make so many decisions in a short amount of time.  We felt rushed.  It was hard to decide where to put simple things like cable jacks and how to wire a room for sound when the walls weren’t even there yet.  But that’s when those kinds of decisions are made so we had to wing it.  My husband was pretty excited about the wiring for his Bose entertainment system.  When we moved in, we hung the tv.  After it was hung, it just seemed a little too high. 

See?

Ok, first ignore the little pieces of tape on the wall.  That was me doing some measuring and marking.  You can also ignore the silly strand of skeleton lights that are falling off the tv stand.  This was obviously taken around Halloween and those lights don’t stay there year round!  LOL! 

But, here is the problem wall.  TV too high.  Too much space between TV and the stand below it.  I usually had picture frames on it and it was still too much space.  There is no good place to hang art since those little speakers were sticking out of the walls.  I knew my husband was proud of his speakers but this wall had to go! 

I spent months trying to figure out what to do.  Every time I’d find one of those nice wall shelving units that frames in the tv, the dimensions wouldn’t work.  Our tv was too high and it would be poking out above any of the shelving towers that we could put on each side.  Stupid.  Every option would look stupid rather than a solution.

Until IKEA saved the day!  I never got to say a whole lot about this part of our trip, but our last stop before coming home from PA was IKEA.  Before we went, I had done some measuring and I had a really good feeling that their modular bookshelf units were going to do the trick. 

Here’s some pics from the construction project that took the better part of two days. 

boxes everywhere!

he actually reads instructions

making modifications

We had to make some modifications since this is really a bookcase and not necessarily a tv stand/unit.  My husband did his handywork and we figured out what electronic component would go where so he could drill holes for all the cords. 

Oh so many cords.  We ended up having to drill more holes in another cabinet to hide the monster power strip my husband uses to fire up this wall of electronic bliss.  One for tv, one for Bose system, one for cable/dvr, another for who knows?  It’s a mess of cords and we wanted the shelving unit flush to the wall, yet wanted the cords to be safe. 

This next picture is where we hid the power strip, feeding the cords thru the back and my husband later drilled some bracket thingy right into the bottom of the cabinet to snap the power strip into.  I couldn’t help but call him “MacGyver” the entire time!

more modifications

And now . . .

drum roll please . . .

Ta-da!!

Here is our solution and it couldn’t have worked more perfectly.  The tv is framed in.  It no longer looks too high.  In fact, people have asked us if we lowered it.  Nope.  There is still room for photos or decor below it.  We can fill the cabinets with cool vases and we plan to put lights in there to illuminate the shelves.  The real perfection is how well it fits.  The speaker below the tv did not have to be moved.  The shelving fit in just below it.  So close.  We did move the upper speakers about 4 inches and fed the wiring thru the back panel of the shelving.  The solution was amazing.  Those two tall units had a height extension piece that we added to them.  This extra piece had a separate optional door that we didn’t get so that we could tuck our speakers in the cubbies and not have to worry about opening a door to hear the tv.  Genius!!

And the best part of all, it sits only 11 inches from the wall.  Half the depth of the previous piece we had there.  And even though it takes up way more wall space, we actually gained space in the room since it’s so slim and sleek.  We will probably put an accent chair on each side. 

Voila!  At least we could resolve one design problem for the moment.