Mini Makeovers

I'm slowly making progress on my girls room.  Bit by bit it's coming together, and here's a couple befores and afters.

First, the  nightstand.  Inherited from my sister.  Love the lines; the fake gold leafing  not so much.  I sanded it down, primed it, then painted (the same paint I used for her walls) and distressed it.  J made fun of me ('okay, so you're making it the 'right' kind of old and beat up.  Gotcha.')

Before

After

Next, this darling lamp was another hand me down.  It didn't have a shade when I got it, but I fixed that problem by buying just the right shade for Girlie's little nightstand,

 and following this tutorial for making rosettes, using this stuff:

came up with about 18 of these:

to make the finished lamp! 

Love mini makeovers!

Sometimes words are worth a thousand words, too.

One of the best things about my kids is the notes I find all over the place.  They love to write things--conversations they overhear, lists of rules for their 'clubs', name tags, books, scripts for plays.  It's really delightful to see what they've got going on in their minds, as well as really funny spelling. 

One time they were playing hospital and brought me a doll to examine.  They have some old medical forms from my dad that they like to play with, and they handed me the doll's medical chart.  She suffered from anxiety attacks, meningitis, and chronic constipation.  Apparently.

And if pictures are worth a thousand words, then these pictures of words are surely priceless.  They tell you that:

we've been drinking the kool-aid,

 

Sammy is resigning from trash duty ("Dirty l job l is l over l for l [Sammy]"),

Girlie's got a future in event planning and advertising,

and Sammy still believes. 

(He was very concerned Santa wouldn't know 'we're not going to be here for Christmas')

Merry, Merry (& Christmas Mantel How-to)

Christmas decorating this year has been fast and furious.  I made a big push the Saturday after Thanksgiving (after a rest from Black Friday), and haven't done anything since.  But, all is merry and bright here anyway.

I added some vinyl lettering above the archway.  J was thrilled. ;)

You'd think considering my background I'd have a nice, orderly, tastefully coordinated tree. You'd be wrong.  We've got all kinds of ornaments from preschool hand deer to Strawberry Shortcake on there; souvenirs from vacation, and--my favorite--ornaments from the annual Christmas party.  It's full of great memories.

I wanted the mantel to look really abundant this year even though it's very shallow; here's how I did it:

I attached a large garland to the front of the mantel by tying loops of jewelry hemp (you could use yarn) to the garland, and taping the loops to the mantel using white artist tape.

Then I wove in white lights and berry garlands, hung giant red jingle bells and snuggled pine cones in to it.

 Then I hung the stockings behind the garland.

Then I added a second, thinner garland against the wall.  Between the garlands I added candles (some flameless, on a timer).

And taller candles.

And a berry topiary.

The finished mantel!

Click here for ideas from last year.

Dec. 2, 2010

Today was a bad mommy morning, which was unfortunate for all involved.  No sleep, baby fussing, Buddy screaming during his diaper change because he's had some wicked diaper rash and I would totally scream too if I were him, Girlie was dressed head to toe in solid RED (boots included), and about the 80th time Sammy whined, "But I reaaaaalllly want to wear this {summer} shirt to preschool {in 39 degree weather}!" I snapped and hollered--hollered--"NO, okay???"

He burst into tears.

I felt awful.

It was all me, and I knew it.  I should be able to keep it all together, but I can't sometimes.  Wracked with Mommy Guilt I apologized and hugged him.  He was still sad.  I think it cheered him up on the way to school when he and Girlie came up with the brilliant plan to buy a litter of puppies to wake them up in the morning instead of me.  And also when they read in a book flap that the author now "worked in New York City as a tutor." (Wait for it...)  Talk about hysterical laughter.  Even I snickered a little.

The holidays are so busy, and hard as I try to simplify, I think basic life maintenance requires so much that anything extra (like having friends over Sat) creates a bit of a crunch.  Bless his heart, J (the man who has programmed himself into my phone as "Lova Lova") tried to help me out by buying the "2 hours, 2 house cleaners" groupon.  When they didn't show up yesterday, as planned, I realized that it probably wasn't going to work out (long story) and the whole "clean the house" bit was tossed carelessly back onto my To Do list.

I had a few things to get for Saturday so I ran to Costco, which we all know is the best place to drop $200 without meaning to on oversized stuff that you probably didn't need.  I passed by the pink Barbie convertible (the driveable kind) on display and wondered if I could fit in it and what J would say if I showed up with it.  I'm sure I'd be the talk of the neighborhood, buzzing around in my shiny pink wheels.  I think I'd feel pretty carefree with the wind blowing through my ponytail, which I could use right now. 

When I got home from Costco, both of my babies were asleep.  So I put away the cold food, grabbed my laptop and climbed back into the van to wait the 1/2 hour before preschool pickup.  So here I am blogging.  In about two minutes I'm going to take off.  Wish me a better mommy day.  I think I'm going to need it.

(1:32 p.m.  After I picked up Sam Sam from preschool, he came home and threw up.  A lot.  So, I spent half an hour cleaning up vomit--and trying not to myself.  Awesome.)