Category Archives: UnProfessional Photography & Artwork

Secret Hiding Spot (For Mommy Only!)

Posted on September 24, 2015 by funnygurl2

I recently redecorated most of the upstairs of my house. I turned what used to be a craft/hobby room into a train station bedroom for my son. You can see pictures here: https://imnotstalkingyou.com/2015/08/05/ms-train-station-bedroom-my-new-upstairs/

But I didn’t stop there.

I also repainted the area (landing?) at the top of my stairway that used to be a heinous beige pink and had been driving me crazy for years.

I was sooo happy with the changes I made. My only regret was not having done them earlier.

But, well, in this shuffle, items that used to be in about four rooms was moved into three. When all was said and done, my husband decided to turn the old nursery into a “man room.”

This left me with a bedroom upstairs filled with my hoarders delight of boxes of crafts and paperwork. What was the first thing I did in the room?

I made a secret hiding spot. Just for me. So that no one could find me. Not my son. Not my husband. Not even my dog.

I put up a three-paneled screen (that I have had for years and had no idea what to use it for) to block off the rest of the room that was still cluttered with boxes. It has a window for sunlight and fresh air, a mini alter with colorful stones and tarot cards, and a fairy garden. Best of all, it has a hidden corner with pillows to read or nap.

Secret hiding spot by the window

When I am really stressed (if I remember), I can run to my corner and just chill out for a few minutes. I actually have fallen asleep in there a few times.

My husband takes my secret hiding place as some sort of insult. But I pointed out that he heads out to the garage for house to tinker with stuff. That is his spot. I just wanted a little spot to myself. Just one problem with the secret hiding spot…

Secret hiding spot reading corner

There are toys left there that are not mine. The blanket will look as if a dog made a nest out of it. And when I am there, sometimes a man who looks suspiciously like my husband will come and assault me with real life.

The son found it. The husband found it. Even the dog found it.

I guess the best secrets are very hard to keep…

I heard the latest trend was “she sheds.” Hmmm… Maybe I will have to get me one of those.

Follow the romantic entanglements of The Riley Sisters in my books:
The Wind Could Blow a Bug – AVAILABLE NOW!
When You Least Expect It – NEW RELEASE!

2 Comments

Posted in A day in the life, UnProfessional Photography & Artwork and tagged buddha, decorate, hiding, home, idea, interior design, mommy, place, screen, secret, spot, tarot, zen. Bookmark the permalink.

Dinosaur Gardens

Posted on September 16, 2015 by funnygurl2

My family was lucky enough to get a chance to escape up to northern Michigan this summer. This gave me the opportunity to introduce my son to the land of dinosaurs, better known as Dinosaur Gardens.

You see, I visited there when I was only a little older than he. And I not only lived to tell the tale, but I left with proof.

Dinosaur Gardens

I didn’t tell my 4 1/2 year old son where we were heading. I had visited the Dinosaur Gardens website, but I was still afraid that maybe they would be closed or something. Then, of course, he was asleep when we arrived. I groggily took him out of the car and, holding him lovingly to me, said, “Hey, look what is over there in the woods!” and pointed out the giant brontosaurus to him.

An immediate look of horror crossed his face. This is a little boy who actually likes scary things. (And making up stories. I am planning on him to be the next Stephen King.) But, well, apparently he doesn’t like them when he first wakes up.

We took him into the gift shop, where the sight of toy dinosaurs quickly woke him up.

But when we began down the path into the woods, M wouldn’t budge. He was afraid of the brontosaurus. Mind you, it did tower over even mom and dad, let alone him. With some gentle but firm coaxing, he entered the forest. But first he said, “This is very weird and ridiculous.”

I can’t imagine why he could be scared…

In time he became so comfortable, he even began to feed the creatures himself!

M feeding one of the animals.

I had told my husband that my mom had brought me here 30 years ago. He asked me how she knew about it. My mother’s grandmother had a newspaper clipping she had saved about the extraordinary sculptures someone had made in Osseneke, Michigan. So, they had brought my mom (and most likely her older brother) up here once when she was a girl. I love that this roadside attraction, many of which thrived in the days of drive-ins in the 1950s but have since become extinct, continues to roar on for generations of my family.

Even my husband was charmed.

I asked my son if he would bring his kids back to visit. He said that he would, and that I could come too.

I think it is amazing that this tourist attraction has survived for 80 years. And not only been maintained, but improved! There were two new exhibits that had been added in recent years. While we were there, we saw several concrete statues that had either been recently repainted, or had had their previous paint carefully removed and were primed for a new coat.

This was the only sick animal, and I thought it was very clever how they explained his illness.

This is a great stop for everyone. If you like art and dinosaurs, you will love the statues and appreciate all the hard work that must have gone into them by the artist, Paul Domke. If you are a nature enthusiast, you will love the walk in the woods. If you like souvenirs, they have those too. (Personally, I like all four of those things.)

Beautiful

I love that all this was created from one man’s imagination gone wild. He stood on this piece of land and saw that the fabric of time was thin here, that others would be able to come after him and experience prehistoric times as he could, with a little help from his own hands. I love that he had a dream that most would call crazy, to build dinosaurs in northern Michigan’s harsh climate. But he did it. And it has endured for nearly a century.

Yes, I had to recreate the past.

That is all I am asking out of my writing career. That isn’t too much to ask for, right?

The End

Follow the romantic entanglements of The Riley Sisters in my books:
The Wind Could Blow a Bug – AVAILABLE NOW!
When You Least Expect It – NEW RELEASE!

Comments Off on Dinosaur Gardens

Posted in A day in the life, Childhood Reminiscing, Entertainment Worship & Review, UnProfessional Photography & Artwork and tagged attraction, dinosaur, Dinosaur Gardens, forest, garden, jurassic, Lake Huron, life size, Michigan, northern, Ossineke, park, prehistoric, roadside, tourist, trap, US23, woods, zoo. Bookmark the permalink.

M’s Train Station Bedroom (& My New Upstairs)

Posted on August 5, 2015 by funnygurl2

When my son was born, his nursery was on the first floor of our house, the same as our master bedroom. We put his nursery in what could be described as a very small bedroom, or maybe a home office type of dealio. As the years passed, we converted his crib into a toddler bed. Soon it became clear that he was ready for a big-boy bed (and also a larger room to house his bounty of toys and Thomas trains).

Our house is about 118 years old. Upstairs are two bedrooms, a large area at the top of the stairs, and the attic. I repainted the one bedroom when we first moved in. For years, that was our guest bedroom, even though we seldom have guests. The other bedroom served as our hobby/craft room. Mostly, in recent years, it was a hoarders paradise. I didn’t repaint the walls because they were covered with wallpaper. Not just any wallpaper, but wallpaper with pink roses on it. Yuck. Not my style.

So, I got brave and decided I would remove the wallpaper and let my son pic the paint colors for his new room. The removal process wasn’t brutal, but it did take forever. And my overall thought while working on it was “why the heck didn’t I do this sooner!” The wallpaper was peeling anyway, and I really disliked it more than I realized. I got a crazy idea in my head one day to make it a “train” room. My son loves Thomas, but he would outgrow that too soon. So, I decided on a room based on real trains. I realized I had a whole bunch of items already that could be used to make a great “train station” room. I have included pictures below. Mind you, most of these ideas I got from randomly Googling, and usually the other people executed it better than I.

Before of the bedroom with wallpaper. Had to use this picture of my skinny puppy. She hasn't been that thin in 10 years.

Before pic of the bedroom with wallpaper. Had to use this picture of my skinny puppy. She hasn’t been that thin in 10 years.

Wallpaper being removed. A peek of the walls being white.

Wallpaper being removed. A peek at the walls being white.

I only chipped off the LOOSE paint!

Finished bedroom showing bench and train pics.

Finished bedroom with lanterns over twin-sized bed. I got those lanterns at a garage sale years ago.

Train arrival board. It is a black magnetic dry-erase board. All the letters and lines are removable for when he gets older.

Train arrival board. It is a black magnetic dry-erase board. All the letters and lines can be removed as he grows.

Railroad crossing sign coat rack. Really pulls the room together.

Railroad crossing sign coat rack. Really pulls the theme of the room together.

Clocks showing the different time zones. We already had the pay phone and rocking train.

The frames I got on clearance in the craft dept at Meijer and painted myself. The pictures are from calendars and magazines.

Cute child’s desk I got for $10 at a garage sale. I think of it as the station master’s desk.

I bought the electric lantern years ago. Almost got rid of it.

Made this a few years ago, but this toy box would fit into the room as well.

I also decided to repaint the stairway area as well. I have always HATED that pink-beige color that is all over our house (to cover up all the barn red that yet another previous resident loved). I have worried for the 11 years we lived here how hard it would be to paint over the stairs, where the ceiling is very high. It sucked, but I got it done. And yes, you might have noticed that I have a compulsion where I cannot paint a room all one color. Blame Punky Brewster 😉

The stairway before.

The stairway after.

Top of stairs before.

Top of stairs after. I couldn’t resist accentuating all the weird angles.

Attic hobbit door before.

Attic hobbit door after.

Also, I have always thought the wood paneling was hideous, but I believe it would be too costly to remove and replace with drywall. I’m pretty sure the paneling covers up crumbling plaster walls. And it goes without saying that I would like new carpet (low pile purple would be my dream), but I will just try to ignore the brown shag as much as possible.

This pic is from when we first moved in. Note the heinous brown carpeting on the shelf.

Painted. Carpet removed. Signs outside the bedroom keep the train theme, as well as a trunk that could be waiting to be loaded on a train. Trunk was from Family Dollar, under $20.

Painted. Carpet removed from shelf. Signs outside the bedroom keep the train theme, as well as a trunk that could be waiting to be loaded on a train. Trunk was from Family Dollar, under $20.

When I removed the carpeting, what was left was plywood covered in glue residue. I covered it with more paneling, so that now I can use the space for storage.

I started these projects in May. It took me until the end of July to fully complete them. But I wasn’t working on them every day, either.

Follow the romantic entanglements of The Riley Sisters in my books:
The Wind Could Blow a Bug ON SALE for only $.99 for a limited time & GIVEAWAY going on over at Goodreads (ends August 15, 2015)
When You Least Expect It AVAILABLE NOW!

4 Comments

Posted in A day in the life, UnProfessional Photography & Artwork and tagged bedroom, boy, decorating, interior, painting, railroad, redo, removal, renovate, station, theme, train, wallpaper. Bookmark the permalink.

Sneak Peek

Posted on June 11, 2015 by funnygurl2

Sorry I haven’t posted very frequently. I have been busy with two very important projects of late. Here is a preview of both.

I am trying my hand at interior decorating…of a 4-year-old boy’s room. The transformation is still in progress.

I can tell time. The clock on the left is defective, I swear!

I am very close to the release of my second book, When You Least Expect It. Here is the cover, and a little taste from my favorite scene.

“So, wait. You want your dad to see you as more grown up, yet you keep doing stuff like trespassing on the water tower?” Kiley asked.

“I am trying to cut down, believe me. And we didn’t come all the way up here just to trespass.”

As Kiley looked at Josh, puzzled, he produced a can of black spray paint from the backpack. He began to shake it, the ball rattling rhythmically inside with his motion.

“Vandalism! What happens if we get caught?” Kiley exclaimed.

“That’s why we come in the dark,” Wade leaned over and drawled into her ear. “You act like it is a surprise that we can climb tall things and paint graffiti. You have seen Jane’s wedding proposal.”

“Oh ya,” Kiley replied.

Excerpt from When You Least Expect It by Jennifer Friess, coming soon.

My first book, The Wind Could Blow a Bug, is NOW AVAILABLE!

PURCHASE as a Paperback or eBook on Amazon.com TODAY.

[Pssst…Book 2, When You Least Expect It, is COMING SOON!]

Comments Off on Sneak Peek

Posted in A day in the life, UnProfessional Photography & Artwork, Unusual Poetry & Writing and tagged bedroom, Book 2, boy, excerpt, interior design, Jennifer Friess, New Adult, renovation, series, station, The Riley Sisters, train, When You Least Expect It. Bookmark the permalink.

What I Learned This Week – 5/10/15

Posted on May 10, 2015 by funnygurl2

Last weekend my family took a day trip up to Owosso to visit the Pere Marquette 1225 steam engine at the Steam Railroad Institute museum. It is the engine that the was used as a model for the movie The Polar Express, and the actual sounds of the train are used in the movie. The railroad actually runs a Christmas train every year. I am still deciding if we should try that out.

In lieu of having time to write an actual post, here are some pictures from our adventure! Enjoy.