Mission Accomplished- George Bush Style

So it's been 2 weeks...and I'm not quite done with the guest room. But I'm done with it for the time being- I need a break! The roman shades aren't done and the night stand still needs to be refinished. I discovered that the night stand has 3 coats of paint on it and probably will be a labor of love- I don't want to do a rush job on it. As for the shades, my serger's tension is off and I need my mom to show me how to fix it. Excuses, excuses.

This has been a fun adventure though. The first day was a bit of a trial. The person who decorated the dream room mentioned the paint color she used and so I decided against my better judgment to just go ahead and copy that. The paint looked like baby poop. So, strike one. I then proceeded to try and dye some fabric to make it more khaki colored and less light yellow. This was the result:

This is such a good idea!

Hmmm...maybe it'll lighten once I rinse it out.

Yeahhh...that's not going to work.


I should know better. My mom is notorious for dying things and I think I can count on one hand (maybe one finger) the number of successes she has had in doing so. She's dyed shoes, outfits, you name it. The only thing I've ever liked was a leather coat- it looked even better when the dye wore off a bit because it gave the leather a really nice distressed look. So you live and learn. Don't dye things.

Continuing on with my first day (we're on strike two now), I decided to go back to the paint and try to salvage it by lightening it with some extra white paint I had laying around. I got a lighter baby poop color. Nice. In my anger I ended up dropping the entire can on my bathroom floor. Needless to say I just about gave up then and there. Luckily, the following day fared better.

I followed my initial instincts and went with a different paint color. #1 helped me paint an accent wall and we had a lot of fun doing so. He helped me quite a bit with the painting and although it was a little nerve-wracking at times, he did a great job overall.
You can see the baby poop paint higher up here.

My cute little helper.

Baby N watched from afar.


The headboard needed some help. I got this for free off craigslist, but there was a nasty hole in the backing that someone presumably to put some cords through. It looked like a rat had chewed through it. I wanted to do a cheap new backing, so I picked up this seagrass rug at Ikea for $5 and spray painted it black. After painting the headboard, I stapled the rug on as a backing. I love how this turned out!
Before

The rug...


Total cost- $6


Since I had the spray paint out, I also painted this lamp I got at a garage sale for $2. I liked the shape, but it was dark brown with a strange shade. I ended up getting the shade new for around $7. Total cost for the perfect lamp- $9. A little more than I would have liked, but I didn't have much time to shop around.



A while back I had gotten these frames for free at a garage sale. I wasn't keen on the print inside, so I used some old photos I had laying around and got them resized at Walmart for $2. I didn't want to pay for custom mats to make them fit, so I just glued the photos onto a white backing and it turned out pretty good. Total cost- $2.



Proceeding to the pillows. I got some large down-filled pillows for free from a Zion's market at church and resized them to fit my needs. It was REALLY messy and I have a feeling I'll be finding stray feathers for a long time coming- I even found one in the fridge today.


Walmart was clearancing off their fabric and trims, so I made the middle two pillows and sewed some black trim on them to replicate those in the dream room. The rectangular pillow is a pillow sham I got on clearance from TJ Maxx that I cut in half. Total cost for all the pillows came to $15. The throw I made from fabric I found in the store and then I used some microfiber curtains I wasn't using anymore to line the back. Total cost was $7. The bedskirt I got for free off the internet during a promotion a while back. The most expensive purchase was for the down comforter that I got on clearance from Target. Overall, I'm pretty pleased though.


Lastly, I got this television stand for free from a friend. It was in great shape, but the top had some marks and the color was a little off. I used the leftover paint from the accent wall ($12) and called it good.


I wanted a little more lighting than just one lamp, so I picked up this wall sconce for $1 at a garage sale. We hacksawed a strange thing off of it that reminded me of a Cootie bug (think swirly and strange) and presto- a normal sconce.


So, all in all I spent around $60. Not bad considering that includes most of the furniture (end table from Garage sale- additional $10). I'm pretty pleased with how it all came together.


Maybe not as good as this...

but definitely better than this...

The Big One

Since I'm laying on the couch sick, I may as well finally catalog our trip out to Utah/Idaho. We visited three different households in 2 weeks and I think the only thing we left behind was a bottle. That in and of itself is a miracle. (Update: apparently we also left two bottle lids and some poopy clothes- still a success in my books). Our first stop was Aunt V's place seeing as how we flew in at 11pm and she lives only 15 minutes away from the airport. After a bit of a horrendous night, things got better in the morning when the toys and the twins came out. I have to say my favorite part of this trip was seeing #1 interact with his cousins. Coming from a background where I had VERY little exposure to my extended family, I am just so thrilled to see my children enjoy this blessing in their lives.




Double trouble.

Backyards were a big part of our vacation- we enjoyed fabulous weather.

Apparently babies provide great entertainment.

We went to the aquarium the first day. Luckily the adults outnumbered the kids, because they all went off in different directions.
My cute preggers sister.

Here fishy fishy.


Baby N got pink eye the first day we arrived. You can tell her eyes are getting red here.

Driving the boat.

Hanging with the roaches.

Bathtime was big hit. This may be the only picture I got with all of them looking the same direction- granted P is picking his nose, but with three 3 year olds I'll consider this a success.

Baby N is only a few pounds less than her almost 2 year old cousin. She looks bigger than her in this picture though. N was a big hit with the cousins.

She looks a little scared in this one.

The backyardigans.




Gotta love Grandma.

Who are all these blue people?

The car also provided ample entertainment.

We got some family pictures taken too. I'm kind of sad that #1 fell down and bit his lip moments before we started taking them. I don't think he smiled in a single picture.


We're running out of lap space.

Aunt Chandy was a big hit. We can't wait for her arrival in 2 weeks!


He looks thrilled- #1 isn't much into pictures lately. He loved going on a hike with his dad and running around though.

My little explorers.

Who knew this was only 30 minutes away from Burley, Idaho? Shoshone Falls is gorgeous!



The outing ended with two kids soiling themselves (one got Grandpa pretty good- guess who) and another one getting sick. Never a dull moment.

Mr. S's birthday followed. I made gyros and cherry cheesecake- yummy!

Examining all the holes the candles made- it's a swiss cheesecake!

S and I gained the same amount of weight on this trip. I wonder why...


This was a great vacation! We were sad to leave and miss our family immensely!!

Design on a Dime

We're back! Something about coming back from a long trip and having a lot of photos to catalog makes me not want to blog. Too much to write! Instead of doing what I should, I'm going to procrastinate by showing you my latest project. If you've ever seen that show on HGTV called "Design on a Dime" you may be like me and think "$1000! I could do SO much more with that!" They build TV cabinets for $200 and I usually find myself thinking "I could totally get something nicer on craigslist for that amount of money." Anyways, for the next two weeks I plan to do a "design on a dime," emphasis being on the dime. I saw this bedroom featured recently on HGTV.com (can you tell I wish I had cable sometimes?) and I'm kind of in love with it. I love color, so it kind of took me by surprise, but I thought it would look great in our guest room. Seeing as how we will have guests in 2 weeks, I decided to go for it and try to get the majority of it done before they arrive. Crazy? Most certainly. I'll be lucky if I get even close, but this will be good motivation nonetheless. So here's the before picture. It kind of reminds me of those makeover pictures where they have the person in bad lighting, with no makeup, drooling- anything to make it look like they can go no where but up. Sure I could have put the luggage away, but considering what little time I have, I need to be able to make this room as ugly as possible so it will look like I've done a lot by the time 2 weeks are up.


And the dream room- I won't even come close, but this is the desired effect anyways.




Wish me luck!

The Storm Before the Calm

We are in the midst of a flurry of activity to try and wrap up the school semester and get ready to go out to Utah. We are all so excited to go and hope that we can avoid any sickness on this trip. Baby N is just wrapping up with her double ear infection, so hopefully we have filled our spring sickness quota. Mother's Day was a little sad this year. S and #1 went on the Father-Son campout and I had grand illusions of getting the whole house clean and relaxing the following day. Too bad baby N didn't get that memo. I guess it's ironic that on Mother's Day I discovered how much I depend on S to be able to get things done.

When the boys returned, neither one of them was very happy. They had a good time the first day, but by the second day #1 was bored with Dad and wanted a playmate. There were tons of kids running around and he wanted to join them, but since it was a stake activity he was a little apprehensive since he didn't know that many. Most were still enjoying their dads at this point anyways. #1 has been suffering a little bit since his best friend moved away and admittedly I have too.

On Sunday I found myself reflecting on where I am as a mother. #1 is getting to a point where I feel I need to be more aware and deliberate in my parenting style. The first two years of a child's life seem straight forward in that most answers seem readily available. Dirty diaper? Change it. Sleepy? Put them to bed. Hungry? Feed them. There are exceptions to that, but there is a simplicity in the earlier years. #1 is becoming increasingly more complicated and I find us in a battle of wills quite often. I'm grateful for his independence, but it is started to clash more and more with what needs to be done. S and I had a discussion that night about how it is difficult to give a child his or her agency while directing them to make the right decision at the same time. When I need #1 to do a medial task, like brushing his teeth, I struggle to know how I can avoid conflict, give agency, and yet keep my child's teeth from falling out from neglect. It's a difficult balance and one that I'm encountering more and more as he grows up. I find that when I let myself get upset with #1, the situation escalates pretty quickly.

While trying to find a gospel-based approach to my parenting predicament, I discovered one of my college textbooks (Strengthening Our Families- An In-Depth Look at the Proclamation on the Family) to be really helpful. I'm still reading, but I like the idea of how helping a child make righteous decisions cannot be accomplished through harsh means. I also liked how it points out how the scripture D&C 121:43-44 states "reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death". I don't know about you, but I don't feel the spirit very often when I am disciplining my child. I feel encouraged anyways and hope I can become more positive in my parenting. I'm learning just as much as #1 is, it seems. Speaking of positive things, #1 and baby N are starting to get along famously. I love how they are beginning to interact- truly heartwarming.

Love these guys...