Big Project

There is a big project underway in our household (I LOVE a project). On Saturday I stripped the heart wallpaper border from Abi's walls. Suprisingly, it went very quickly and came off without a hitch. I think the whole thing was done in 15 minutes flat.
This picture was taken when Todd and I were touring the home at the time we were purchasing it. Abi does not own that many porcelain dolls, nor has she ever been given roses....or been alive long enough to dry some.

I am covered in wood-stain as I have just finished staining Abi's bed.  It's been a fun project bringing her 80's captain's bed into the 00's (is that what we call it?) with a fresh coat of stain.

I tried to find a good picture of what the bed looked like before (I didn't take a before shot...lame).  I did, however, use yet another one of the photos from when we toured the house (yes, they left us these beds...for which I will always be grateful).

The plan is to paint her walls "pumpkin" tomorrow, Thursday and Friday.  I have to give myself three days to paint her small room because there will at all times be small feet running between mine.

Saturday, during General Conference (I like to have a project to keep my hands busy while listening), I will be aided by my dad (the stencil maker) and my mom (the pro stippler) as we paint two trees in her bedroom, like this:

Then I will sew some curtains (found the most perfect fabric today...too bad the price is a little bit pricy...I may have to alter the style of window treatment) and paint some DI Find frames and her room will be done!  I'll show you the pictures and post again when the room is finito!

I Love Sesame Street

Three posts in one day!  I am still in my PJ's.  I was watching Sesame Street with the kids when this came on:

Nothing makes me happier than knowing that the tunes I love are being taught to my little brains in words that make more sense (and pertain more) to them.

Addiction

So, my sister got me hooked on this.  Last night, prior to AI, I whipped up a batch of this.  Todd begged me to take the bowl away knowing that he did not have the self control to stop eating it, thus we call it "Addiction"

1c        Almonds

8c       Corn Chex

6c       Golden Grahams

1c        Coconut

3/4c   Butter

1c        Sugar

1c        Karo Syrup

Combine Almonds, Chex, Golden Grahams & Coconut in a LARGE bowl.  Set aside.  Melt in medium saucepan Butter, Sugar & Karo Syrup.  Once melted, pour over dry ingredients.  Stir together and enjoy.  Seal leftovers (yeah, right) in an airtight container.

Don't blame me if you get addicted.

It's Friday

12:41.  Diet Pepsi by my side (1st one of the day).  Carly's taking a nap.  Connor and Abi are watching Bolt.  I'm considering cleaning up from the picnic we had in Connor's room.

But no,  alas, I would rather sit here (still in my purple fuzzy pajamas) and write.  About what?  I don't know.  My pajama's are on....so is my make-up.  I have had the gumption to doll up my face, but not my body or my hair.  My priorities are so mixed up.

I just paid four medical bills.  I read a friend's post a little while ago about her medical bills with no insurance.  It put me in my place.  I complain about Todd's insurance being a little on the pricy side and not covering very much, but at least it covers something.  Both Connor and Carly have made trips to the ER this year.  Not to worry, both are healthy and "kicking" along just fine now.

Todd had one heck of a weekend with car troubles.  Our little Camry is almost functioning at 100%.  Of course, that is after thousands of dollars worth of work (so much for paying off a student loan).  But on Saturday, we moved the Camry from one repair shop to another to have front-end work done.   After we delivered the Camry to the "car doctor" (Connor came up with tha one all on his own) I came home and put Carly down for a nap.  Todd took Abi and Connor with him to Wal-Mart to buy Pat Pat Rocket (Connor had been saving up to purchase it) and a stereo for the Camry.  When they got back in the van to come home, it wouldn't start.  We don't have a cell phone, so Todd couldn't call me.  Todd, Connor and Abi walked the mile home.  Abi got a few blisters along the way (dang those super cute pink sandals...beauty hurts), so Todd ended up carrying the little beauty half the way home.  Not a single one of them complained about the walk home when they walked through the front door.  Instead they carried on about how many seagulls they saw and how they crossed a bridge and what a caterpillar turns into.  Thank heavens it was a beautiful and warm sunny Saturday.

Isaac came to the rescue and he and Todd replaced the dead battery in the van, so we were back to being a one-car family.  We picked up the Camry from the shop that night...a few thousand dollars more and we are getting closer to being a two-car family!

You know, all of this has made me realize those tender mercies of the Lord.  Todd and I have been saving to pay off some of our student loans.  I am so grateful that we had the money in the bank right now to cover these unexpected expenses.  No, we weren't able to use the money for what we had planned.  But our family is all healthy, safe and happy.   There are no debt collectors banging on our door and we can all be rest assured that there will be a roof over our head and food on the table for a long time to come.  You can bet I spent a lot of time on my knees thanking my Heavenly Father that day for my kids sunny dispositions, a husband who provides for our family, and a home surrounded by good friends and family we can always rely on.

Sorry if that was sappier than my normal posts.  I don't know what came over me.  I suppose I should go get dressed and finish folding laundry....no, I think I will share with you all a delicious recipe.

They Call Me Mom

I just wanted to share some photos of the little ones in my life who make it possible for me to be a mom. I hope that I do not come across as one who does not enjoy being a mother in my posts. I do love being the mother of these three beauties. I have tried to make it a goal to make each of my kids laugh at least once a day, and heaven knows that they make me laugh at least once a day. They are each so very different and I am so grateful to have them in my life.
Abigail asked Connor if he wanted to ride a horse...he flattened her. It reminds me of this post.
This was when we were all sick with the same horrible flu/cold. It's not very often that they are all this close together at the same time to capture a picture.
Those magnetic gears on the fridge have got to be one of the greatest "toy" purchases I have ever made. Connor was hiding his design, for fear that I might mess it up. Who, me?
Don't you love how Abigail has lined up her doll, sippy cup and McDonald's toy to watch PBSKids by her side. And yes, sweet, sick Carly is hanging out in the background.
Abi found my lip gloss, helped herself to it, and then shared some with her "gummy bear", she calls it her gummy bear because of this video clip her Papa Bud showed her.

I am at an absolute loss as to what to do with Carly's crazy hair during this "growing out" phase. Most days, she looks like this. Only on Sunday's do I take the time to wet it, scrunch it, blow-dry it, then style it. I am the mother of a rag-a-muffin.

Super Easy, Super Yummy

I wasn't feeling very domestic yesterday, but I needed to make some cookies for a Family History Fireside that my ward was sponsoring. So I opted for my favorite Super Easy cookie recipe. I am sure most of you have used it before, but if you haven't, here it is:

Cake Mix Cookies
1 Box of your Favorite Cake Mix (today, I used Yellow Cake)
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Scoop dough into small balls (about the size of small bouncy ball) and place two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350.

For the delicious chocolate on top of the cookies, I pulled out the chocolate Fondue I made from Friday. This recipe is from a good friend of mine, and although it is not healthy...it is yummy. This is divine for Fondue, but it worked well too piped onto the top of the cookies:

Chocolate Dipping Sauce
1 cup Butter
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips

Combine ingredients in saucepan over medium heat. Continue to stir until mixed well together. Then add 1 1/2 cans of Evaporated Milk. Once that is combined, add 3 cups Powdered Sugar, then boil for 3 minutes. Pour into Fondue and start dipping.

Hooray!

Scroll down a couple of posts to see the before. Here is the after:


A huge Mahalo goes out to my dad who read the last post and showed up at my house Saturday with the rod and some spray paint. And then my Toddy got me the two round finials to put on the end of the rod. I am so giddy with the way it has turned out. Yeah! One project completely finished.

Stuffing

This morning I was putting a show on for the little boys downstairs. When I returned upstairs to encourage Abi to join them, I just about fell over backwards when I found her in Connor's room patting her chest saying "That's better."

Upon closer examination, she had emptied the remaining box of wipes and stuffed them down her shirt.

She is only 2 years old!!!!

I would really like to know where she got the idea to stuff herself...certainly not from me!!!!

Does she already have self-image issues?

O brother....I am really in for an interesting future with this little girl.

Carly's Art

This is one of the wall's in little Carly Belle's bedroom. I inherited the birdhouses from my super-artsy grandmother and then re-purposed the mats and frames of some artwork we already had. Each of the birds is made from different paper scraps I had on hand, and the buttons were some that came with a blouse I got a while ago.

I would, one day, like to either paint or have a vinyl tree made like this to go behind the birdhouses and birds. I haven't found a tree I am absolutely in love with yet and I am also debating whether to paint it or do the vinyl decal route. If I paint it, then it saves some money...but I am not super good at artistic stuff like this (good thing Todd is pretty handy with a paint brush). But If I do the decal, then it may look better and have cleaner lines and I don't have to draw the design on the wall first.

We'll see what becomes of this wall. By the way, they were already painted this shade of blue and I rather like it. I have a nice quilt with blues, pinks, greens and whites that I use in Carly's crib, so it is just coming together swimmingly.

A Work in Progress

Our whole house is a work in progress, and it is very slow going. We are on a super tights budget which has afforded me the opportunity to get more and more creative. I spent some time gathering the different frames for this project and dug through my scrapbooking supplies. I also used my dad's talents in the vinyl department and had him fill in the spots where I didn't already have cute chipboard letters. So after spraying the frames all white, and carefully selecting coordinating papers, I came up with this for my kitchen wall:

I say this is a work in progress because I have these two sconces just waiting to be hung on the wall (acting as bookends for the frames). However, I can't hang them on the wall until I have a long 1 1/2" rod to slide into each of them. You see, I want these pictures to each have the image that they are be hanging by ribbon from the rod, that is held by the sconces. Hence the reason they are not all even. I have good intentions.

When that day comes (that I get a pole of some sorts), I will take a picture of the revised version of the project. But for now, this has been a fun way to teach Connor how to spell our last name. And it adds a little bit of fun to the kitchen.

Living Room

A while ago, I posted about the decor in my sister-in-laws home and my own abode. There is a picture of a "gallery wall" with all three kids in 16x20" frames. The picture of them was taken from inside my bedroom, so to see them clearly, you had to stand in another room.

I had originally hung them in the hall, but with only 3 feet of space, looking at the pictures was like standing 6 inches away from a Monet (okay...they weren't that bad, but you couldn't fully appreciate the work of art from such a close stance). So I moved them out into the living room, right in the entry hall and I just can't stop admiring my beautiful little ones from a safer distance for the eyes.

And this is the final outcome of the project:


Here is the D.L. on the materials and such...
The photos of Connor and Abi I just took with my little digital camera and photoshopped them to become duotone. The picture of Carly was one that I scanned and also photoshopped into the same duotone pallet. I think I will update them annually or so...Abi and Carly already look so different to me.

The 16x20" picture frames are all different in molding. I inherited them from my artist grandma. I unified them by spraying them all the same shade of white.

The phrase is one of my favorites (what I used to call the blog) and my dad, through his company Sumo Printing provided me with the vinyl and he even came and installed it (with Connor's help).

Along with the earlier post I mentioned, there was the dilema with above the fireplace. Let me show you what it looks like now:


So where did the grouping of pictures go to? The wall to the right of the fireplace was vacant, so now these pictures have a nice little home in between the pink (free) rose chair and the sofa (craigslist find).


So the living room is ever-so-slowly coming together. I would like to re-upholster the chairs, hang long brown velvet drapes in the windows and change the carpet, also switch out the brass fireplace cover for something less shiny, get a black console for behind the sofa so I can put this really cute lamp on it that my mom got me for Christmas:

Mandarin Orange Cake

Despite myself and all three kids being under the weather (Carly and Abi were up most of the night with a horrid cough and fevers) I decided to be domestic and make a cake from a recipe I found in the Costco Cookbook.  It looked simple enough and very pretty (you must take a look at this link to fully appreciate my failure).

Mine did not turn out to be as pretty as their version.  I have already figured out all of the mistakes I made and will try not to do them again, as this is a very tasty treat.  I am sure it will taste even better when I master the appearance of it.  So with that, next time I will:

1)  Use 2 round cake pans instead of one round and one square

2)  Make sure that the cakes are completely cooled before frosting

3)  Double check the amounts of juice/oranges in each container

4)  Use plain vanilla pudding.  The pudding I had contained small chocolate chips...although I think it helped with the flavor a bit.  Chocolate and orange were meant to be together.

Pillowcase Dress

On Friday I got the itch to sew something.  I have no sewing machine and no super sewing skills.  Next to that, I have no money to spend on the necessities to sew.  What was I thinking?

I did however, inherit a box of fabric and other household items from my Grandma Spencer before she passed away.  So I began digging through it for inspiration.  There was this turquoise blue dust ruffle and the pleated base of it was just enough to do a cute top for Carly.  I also had tons and tons of ribbons on hand that my sister-in-law Andrea donated to my cause when she was cleaning out her home.

I had read about Pillowcase Dresses a long time ago and how easy they were to make.  So after a little research on the internet, these instructions seemed to fit my capabilities just fine.

So I cut out, pressed and prepped the dust ruffle.  I added some different sized black grosgrain ribbon to the bottom and spent an hour and a half at my moms house Friday night using her sewing machine (and expertise) making my first item of clothing for any of my kids!

I am so glad my mom was there to help out.  She encouraged me to use bias tape (which she had on hand) around the armholes instead of extra fabric and was there to calm me when I was worried of making a mistake.

Also while at my moms house, my dad came tromping up the stairs with this very heavy box, the handle made out of a rubber hose.  Inside was this beautiful and very old sewing machine.  I am going to try to oil it up and put it into action next week!  It only does a straight stitch, but at my level...that is all I need.  This was another of my grandma's goodies.  She was a very accomplished seamstress and crafter.  I will have to take a picture of a few of the items she had sewn/made and post them.

I found additional pink fabric in my grandma's box of goodies and plan on making two more longer dresses for both Carly and Abi to wear in the summer.  What a fun, easy and affordable project.

I realized that I have done a few more crafty things around the home that I haven't posted yet.  So I will get on it!