Mary's Room. made with love.

When our beautiful friend Allison from Allison Marie Photography did Mary's newborn photos, she suggested we capture a few of Mary's room. When I posted pictures to Facebook, people were of course complementary of Mary and of Allison's incredible photography skill, but many also complemented on her room too. My cousin requested that I blog about it. So here we are.

This room is the only one in our house that I've really decorated and certainly the only one that I really love. First, it is a compilation of things made with love from family and friends. Second, it reflects my style so well. Not that I know what my style is, but I think it is in this room. And third, it is so functional.

I have to preface this by telling you that there are a lot of details behind a lot of aspects of this. So if there is a part that I'm skipping over too quickly you'll have to tell me. For example, you want the details of the mobile or footstool, or cornice boards or whatever, just let me know and I can do a post on that.

Okay on with the tour.

Note: All of the good pictures are courtesy of Allison. The others are my quick snapshots. 

The guidelines.
We waited to do anything until we found out gender, so a lot of the decor is based on the fact that we have a sweet little girl. However, we live in a 2 bedroom house so we knew that room would need to be gender neutral enough to be shared. So you'll notice that anything large is neutral. The girly-ness is found in fabrics and details that can easily change. I also know that I.love.color. Grey and white and yellow nurseries are beautiful, but not for me. Finally, I wanted it to be something that would work for a toddler or little one. So low storage for toys, room for a real bed later on, and nothing too delicate.

The inspiration. 
Probably two years ago I was in Nell Hills and saw this beautiful coral paint color. Immediately I asked my friend Julie- "can I paint my kitchen this color?!". Aside from the fact that she is addicted to neutrals, she is also wise and told me no, save it for when I have a little girl. So I bought that little sample of paint and held on to it! So when I found out we were having a girl I knew exactly the base color. But following the guidelines of having a share-able room I also knew I couldn't paint the walls that color. So this is Behr's Delicate Mist. The third accent color was going to be a pale yellow. Faint cooperated with me on that one.
Three fabrics from Sarah's Fabrics were my next bit of inspiration: the coral on the cornice boards, the floral on the window seat cushion, and the periwinkle on the footstool.
Side note: we also painted the trim Ultra Pure White. It had been ivory before and ever time I tried to paint the room a spa-like color, it just looked awful. So hubs agreed to have the trim throughout the main floor repainted white. We've never looked back!

The elephant in the room. 

How amazing is this built-in?! Our neighbors are so very generous. They also happen to be a very skilled carpenter and interior designer duo. They offered to design and build this built-in as a baby gift for us. SO wonderful! I worked with Lindsey to design it- lower shelving for baskets, upper bookshelf, and an attached window-seat/ toy box. Be jealous. Neighbor Jeff and Brett worked hard over labor day weekend to build this custom piece and I spent 3 or 4 days sanding, priming, painting, sanding, and more painting. Lots of work, but oh so worth it. And of course where did the Nell Hills paint come in? Yup. A perfect splash of color that makes it such a statement piece.


The bedding. 

My mom didn't know how to quilt. Keyword: didn't. Would you believe my mother set out to learn to quilt so she could make this fantastic quilt for Mary? I gave her three fabrics that I was using elsewhere in the room and gave her freedom to do whatever she wanted with the rest. I simply cannot imagine a more perfect design. From the colors to the pattern to the loop-de-loop quilting, it is just amazing. Mary will love this one- cuddle with it, stain it, and surely even tear it someday. It is a quilt worthy of display but made with such love that it has to be lived-with.
Of course she made the bumper (don't judge me), and skirt as well. She also made the cover for the window seat cushion.


The artwork.
Brett's sister is an artist and for my shower she made this beauty. It hangs above the changing table (not normally covered in a quilt) and I love looking at it every day.

My cousin is also an artist and did these water colors for us. How fun are these?

Psst- Both of them do custom work so if you are in the market for a piece or two let me know and I'll get you connected. 

I also ordered some prints from Pen and Paint. One says "Trust in the Lord with ..." and the other "Be Still and Know". Great reminders for us as parents. Very intentional quotes and conveniently beautiful.

Other details.

Rug is from Rugs USA. It sheds a lot, but is very thick and soft and was very affordable!

This chair is a Craigslist find. It is a rocker, not glider, but works well for us. And convenient that is came with a custom yellow slipcover. Exactly perfect. And I only looked on Craigslist for about a week or so. It was destined for us.

My dad helped me build these cornice boards. Just some random boards on the sides (1x2 maybe?) and plywood across the front. Stretch fabric over it, staple gun, and hang. It was actually much harder than it sounds, but it shouldn't have been. I'm just not the brightest crayon in the box.

I recovered an old footstool. And when I say old, I mean my parents got it at a garage sale about 15 years ago. So yeah. Just recovered with some batting, cotton, a staple gun, and hot glue. Nothing fancy, but I figure I'll be ready to get rid of the footstool in two years or less so it doesn't have to last forever.

The side table is also the Nell Hills coral. It is a fake wood little nightstand that we got from Target in about 1999. The drawer was broken, but a quick trip to Ace hardware and I'm proud to say it is back in order. Proud of myself for fixing it :-)


The "changing table" is a $20 garage sale dresser. I painted it "white" in the dark garage and brought it inside to find that I had actually painted it Delicate Blue to match the walls. Whatever, it works.

I made this mobile using fabrics from the quilt cut in circles and hung from fishing line. Mary is just starting to notice it, but I'm convinced she loves looking at it.

My mom found this marionette on Craigslist and gave it to Mary for Christmas. To us, it is the Lonely Goatherd. I'm addicted to the Sound of Music and sing that song to Mary all the time. This antique goat is a great top-shelf treasure!

So many more details to share, but I think that covers the majority. Thanks to all for contributing to this beautiful room! This sweet girl is so very loved by so many. Speaking of which, I think she is waking up from her nap. Good timing.

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Things I do that are weird

I don't really have anything to write about, but I don't want to leave yall' without anything to read. So here are a few things I do that are weird. Or cool. Ya know. Depending on how you view things.

I substitute flax meal for eggs in cookies and sometimes breads. Not cakes. One tablespoon of flax meal and three tablespoons of water. Let her sit for a minute, then just toss it in when you would the eggs.

I use a nail buffer on my toenails.

I clean my coffee pot with vinegar. 1 or 2 cups of white vinegar and 6 or 8 cups of water and brew with no filter (no coffee. duh.) Then pour out that water and run through clean water once or twice. Fresh as a daisy.

I wake up in the middle of the night and realize I left towels in the washer.

I freeze fruits and veggies that are approaching their shelf life. If you know you aren't going to finish your grapes before they wrinkle, freeze them. Eat them for dessert later. If you have half an onion in your fridge and you're about to head out of town, dice and freeze. Mexican dishes and breakfast burritos love frozen onions. And I love having them pre-chopped.

I file my personal emails. If you don't know about Google filters you need to.



In other news, you need to know about Micah | Michelle. Lovely couple singing simple and lovely songs. This morning I'm enjoying Sharpened in Time, a song about the joy of marriage. This is one to dance to in the kitchen :-) I'll leave you with a few lines...

We've got an easy kind of love. The kind that makes you say at the end of the day it's more than I deserve.

Not that it's never been work you see, but in this life somethings will be worth the effort.

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life in the fast lane

We're in our mid-twenties. Therefore we move fast. Actually, I have always moved fast. I try to fit as many things into my day as possible which is why I'm always 5 minutes late everywhere I go. But that's another story for another day.

We are just busy busy people. And we love it.

Here's a few days in the life*:
Warning: this is long and it is not fancy. It is very matter-of-fact. A true play-by-play. 

• Thursday night got off work at 6:30 after emotionally hyper-ventilating cause work was nuts. Changed and mowed the lawn. Friends came over at 8 for hot dogs. They left at 10. 
• Friday worked until 3:30 then bailed early to go pick up some last minute birthday/ mother's day/ wedding gifts. By 4:30 I was at the park picking up a packet for a race on Saturday morning. By 5:30 we were at the neighbors helping them move a couch. By 6:30 we were on the plaza in Royals attire picking up my in-laws for a birthday/ mother's day celebration. At 11:00 we arrived back at home in time to put some laundry in the dryer before bed that had been there since 6:20. Be sure to step over the massive amount of water gathering at the base of the stairs and soaking the carpet. Deal with that later. 
• Saturday morning at 6:15 we're out the door for a race. You know, the "is that really possible?" race. I ran (and walked). Bestie ran. We were alive and out of the park by 9:00. Home, shower, bestie back to the Plaza to meet his parentals and I to a wedding brunch then to get our nails done. I finished at 1:45 and was to the baseball field by 2:15 where I produced a fair amount of glisten while watching the kids bust out another win. At 3:15 I was back in the car heading home. Don't shower before the rehearsal dinner. Just spritz with perfume (I'll get complemented on this later). Pick up the house a bit, try to kill as many ants as possible, catch up on some blogs, then start doing hair and makeup at 4:15 to be out the door for a 5:00 rehearsal dinner. By 8:30 we're on the road again. This time we're off to see my fam. The night is young, doncha know?! At 11:00- give or take 20 minutes- we crash. 
• Sunday morning at 7:45 alarm goes off. Hit the showers and dry the lions mane before heading to a dear friend's wedding day preparations. More on the wedding later. Hubs is heading to church then to brunch with friends before he joins me for the ceremony at 2:30. I leave the wedding at 6:30, stop at the store to pickup snacks, arrive home at 7:10. Hub was able to leave the wedding early to come home and clean because friends are coming over at 7:15. We sit and talk about what it means to be in the kingdom of God. More on that later. They all leave by 9:45. We have just enough time to pick up, load the dishwasher, watch an episode of Parks and Rec, and crash. 
• Today I left work at 6pm which is pretty standard. Good thing dinner is in the crock pot because by the time we get home, feed the pup, eat, clean up, and fold some laundry its time to head out to grab coffee with a friend at 7:30. By the time you leave the coffee shop Sam's Club is closed and you don't have a chance to get toilet paper or creamer so you just head home thinking about how I need to pick up creamer (and a coffee for 7 people by 7:30am) to be ready for an 8-hour meeting that starts at 8am. Don't think about it. When I get home at 9:20 hubs is working in our home office and I'm left wishing I had time to go for a run and staring at the laundry and the dust on the furniture and the piles on the counter and I just don't wanna...

So I blog. And I tell you how I feel.

And in two days a man will arrive at our house and he will give us an estimate of how much it would cost to have pros come clean for us once a month. To give us a little bit of life back. Is this lazy of us? Maybe. It is needed? I don't know. You see that big long story a lead in to what I will write tomorrow about my feelings on this concept of hiring a cleaning company. It will be shorter. I promise :-) See you then!

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COLOR!

I love color. Color is sooo important. I don't understand people that only decorate with whites and grays. Don't get me wrong, I love white and gray, but you have to have some color POP somewhere. Like in a fabulous chunky blue throw or a set of 3 abstract colorful paintings ;-)

For me though, I need major color. So when this picture came to my inbox I just about yelped like a puppy!

It is so fun and full of life while still being casual and welcomng! I want to know where I can get those curtains and pillows. Someone please find them! I want the wide open windows and I especially want the flowers on the coffee table and on the armoire. Have you ever noticed that all beautiful pictures of home decor contain flowers? Maybe that's just how Better Homes and Gardens does it because of the "gardens" factor, but I love it. 

I'd pin this now but Pinterest is blocked at work. For good reason, let's be honest.

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Planning to purge

Tomorrow I plan to dig through a few crannies of our house and purge stuff. So riddle me this, blog friends, what does one do with:

• Old CDs that have been loaded into iTunes and have since been sitting untouched in an old CD folio thingy for the last 3 years?
• Old jewelry that I don't wear anymore? Think target style, not Gold-Stash-for-Cash. I wish...
• Old files that need to be shredded but our shredder doesn't work?  

Open to suggestions...

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oh Christmas tree

My fam an I, we love our Christmas trees. It's kind of a big deal deacorating the tree every year. My bestie says it's "sacred" to us. Not us as in he and I. Him and I. Him and me. Whatever. The "us" is in reference to my ma, and pa, and sister. We love us a good tree. We used to always get real trees, but a few years ago we made the switch to fake. Let's not call it fake, let's call it artificial. Euphemism. 

Anyway, this year, pops surprised us with a new one. A big'un. 

But first let's talk about the littler one at our lovely little home. 

We don't have anywhere to store a fake artificial tree,
so each year hubs and I get a real one.
Our first year we actually went to a tree farm
and my burly man chopped it down. :-)

Yes. I wear short sleeves in December. Cut a girl some slack.

Last year and this year we got our trees from a chain store.
Please forgive us. She's cute though!

The best thing about our tree is that it's covered in ornaments that are special to us.
Each year my parents give my sister and I, and now hubs, ornaments on Christmas Eve.
Then when we got married we had plenty of ornaments to start our tree.
They are all dearly loved.

Por ejemplo:

This bear I've had since the beginning of time. So sweet :-)

This little baker angel. 

She has measuring spoons for hands and is holding a little heart cookie cutter. 

A KU basketball garden gnome ornament.
Reminds me of White Owl. Love him.

This little felt stocking is one of three my mom stitched for me last year. 

It is made with beads from her wedding dress. 

These were the same beads I used as part of my hair pin at my wedding.

Okay now think big people... 

Imagine all of those lovely little ornaments

each with a wonderful little story

on a ginormo tree. 

Insert, my dad's surprise:

It is twelve feet tall and beautiful :-)

Now there is something else to mention here. 

Christmas is beautiful. And joyful. And fun. [And stressful]

 But Christmas is mostly humble. 

It is built on the truth that God humbled himself to save us.  

Glory be to God.

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If i had a twitter account

it would say things like

laziness= wearing high heels and workout clothes to take the trash out because my high heels are still in the kitchen where I took them off and my sandals on the floor of the living room are too far away

in 140 characters or less.

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Damage

First- I'm mostly back to normal from the cold. I still have a lot of junk going on in terms of congestion, but nothing too terrible. I managed to make it through multiple conference calls held while laying in bed. I wasn't ridiculed for leaving a voicemail and saying my name was Mrs. Block. I didn't do any real damage from my using the wrong words or just forgetting words or just forgetting what I was talking about mid-sentence. And even though I through I got out milk to make mac & cheese and proceeded to pour the whole thing down the sink drain instead of into the pan with the mac and the cheese, I still had an edible dinner. Not too much damage was caused from the cold meds I took. Just a few side effects. Speaking of which, I knew I needed to leave work when I actually had to ask someone whether I should use "effect" or "affect" in a sentence last week. SOOO not me.

What were we talking about? Oh yeah, damage.

Gus Gus. That shall be his name. Except I'm sure that he's not as cute and innocent as the real Gus Gus from Cinderelley, but I don't know the names of many mice.

We have mice. Well, I prefer to imagine that there is only one, but I'm sure I am being naive on that. And this mouse is a clever one. I put out two mouse traps, but Big Mack ate them. The traps, not the mice. Hubs put out two more with my crummy mack and cheese. Gus Gus took the food and the trap didn't snap. So hubs put peanut butter on it. Can't get that so easily!

Do you know what he did?

He kicked him... he was injured, injured bad.

No he didn't. And he wasn't. But what he did do was eat all the stinkin peanut butter!

Rude.

That's all.

Good night :-)

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65 wonderful minutes

What do you do on your lunch hour?

The people I work with go out to eat. I even have one former co-worker that admitted to never having brought his lunch in the 4 years he was at the firm. Whaaa?!

Well my lunch hour is just a bit different maybe. But no less wonderful.

Today's lunch hour. The play-by-play.

Drive home. Windows open.

Arrive at home: Remove heels, untuck shirt, roll up sleeves, kiss the dog.
Then: GO!

Toss in a load of laundry.
Clean off night stands.
Make the bed.

Empty the dishwasher from last night. Reload.
Grab a turkey sandwich. Complete with roasted red peppers.
Because roasted red peppers are to turkey as biscotti is to coffee
Wipe off the last of the crumbs on the counter from breakfast this morning and dinner last night.

Sort the mail.
Pull some weeds.
Open the curtains to let the day shine in.
Admire new pillows. Long for some yellow and orange and pink ones too.

Put away the iron.
And the starch.
And the hangers that grace the chandelier.
Why were they there in the first place?
Because logically thats where hangers go.
Pick up the bathroom and the P.J.Mama's that were left on the floor.
Peace at my friends. Hi there friends!

Grab a spoonful of rocky road.
Say "SO we meet aaagggaiiin Rocky Road" as they do in Nederland, Colorado.
Contemplate baking cookies again, but decide I don't have time.

Hit the road, Jack.
Arrive back at work 65 minutes later.
Because really, 60 minutes is just not enough for my fun-filled lunches.

Sometimes my bestie asks why I take the time everyday to put away the same things that we know will just come out again the next day.

Because, my love, lunch tomorrow wouldn't be nearly as much fun :-)

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I'm so overdue it's kinda pathetic

I haven't had much to write about lately. Which is kinda odd for me.

I could tell you about how I went to see the King and I with my dear neighbor.
Or how hubs and I went with two fantastic friends to The Sound of Music.
Or how I then considered trying out for the Theatre in the Park.
And then came back to reality.

I could tell you about the storms we had last weekend.
And how our power was out all the live long day.
Or how our air conditioner was leaking.
Until this little old man that looked like Henry Bloch and he came to fix it.

I could tell you how Mack-a-poo has been napping on the beds.
Or how I was really grouchy recently at work because someone let me down.
Or about how I felt gut-wrenchingly awful about how much of a grouch I was.
Or how I really like Excel.

I could tell you about reading The Cross Centered Life.
Actually I think I'll just tell you to read it. Do it.
It's approximately 100 miniature pages that you'll never regret.

I could tell you about how I'm sore from a kickboxing class yesterday.
Or about how the Rangers won last week and I'm stoked for their next game.
Or how we toured the Sporting KC stadium tonight and it was great.
Or how we won tickets to a game on June 6th and are pumped.
Or about how hubs excitedly told me my tulips were starting to bloom today.
Or about how I haven't been taking pictures of anything.
Except for these cookies. Cause I love them dearly. Make them.

Chocolate Cherry Heart Smart Cookies.

 

Can I just say that pic is mine and not from the recipe?

Not that the photography is anything to write home about, but the cookies seriously are.

Tip: Use flax meal instead of eggs and cranberries instead of cherries to make my persional versheyon.

But I just don't have much to say on any of those topics. So I'll just say TTFN!
However, I've learned that few people know what that means. Well, you know, you just don't remember. I'll give you a hint.

T-I-double-guh-errrr!

Still no?

Okay well watch this. Enjoy.

And because I know you loved that, watch this one too

I can't stop smiling. I hope it had that effect on you too :-)
And while we're on the topic: affect is a verb, effect is a noun. Thats all.

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The table flop

Once upon a time

In a blank and bare basement

There sat a large coffee table

The table was primarily used for feet and food

But its large size and light color made it stand out too much

Especially in an otherwise perfectly put together space

BAH! Got you on that one.

In that land was a crazy blog reader

She read a little too much

Thrifty Decor Chick and Centsational Girl

and thought she could tackle the world with a spray paint can.

False.

End of the fairy tale, folks!

Here's the skinny on the stitch:

Before

 

And after

This after is upon completion of:

2 coats of primer

3 cans of spray paint

2 coats of latex based paint

and 2 sandings

In summary, I don't like it.

The black is great and matches our TV stand (as you can see)

But I can't get the paint even and it's killing me slowly. 

Plus it just feels like paint, ya knows what I'ma sayin?

Maybe a sheet of glass is in order for the top.

Or another round of sanding and painting and polyurethane.

Or maybe just contentment.

Yes, a nice thick dose of contentment should do the trick.

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laundry

Have we talked about laundry before? If so, I apologize. If not, you're missing out man.

I was talking recently with some good friends and I asked which of them usually does the laundry. They thought for a minute and decided that which ever of them needed something done would toss in a load and that's how laundry got done.

That is also how laundry worked at my house when we were growing up. If you needed your jeans clean for tomorrow you best grab everyones jeans and do a load.

Today our laundry is best described as constant. This is what happens when I save up for one laundry day a week:

 Or maybe this

That is a queen bed folks.

And then I want to curl up and cry myself to sleep.

So I try to do a little laundry every day 'round these parts. I still don't like it. But I don't hate it quite so badly.

If you'll excuse me I need to go clear a smaller pile of this laundry-wonderfulness from my bed tonight and go to sleep.

Thanks for sharing in my woes.

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Alive and kickin

Boy I feel boring. I haven't posted in several days cause I haven't had anything to say! Well thats not entirely true. I really wanted to tell you about laundry. But I left my picture of it on my camera at home. Womp womp. Because laundry is really exciting and I know you would have loved it. I'll tell you about it when I get home.

And to be honest with you, what is a blog post without any pictures? Unless its a good story, its pretty lame. No offense people. Anywho, here's whats going on:

Friday night we went to see my sister-in-law's art show and ya know what? I was downright mean to everyone that night. I was coming down with a cold and was irritable and grouchy so I didn't enjoy it. To all the people in the wake of the storm of my attitude that night, please forgive me.

I spent 5 hours in the garden on Saturday. Lesson learned: Do not. I repeat, do not ever put down two layers of plastic in a garden to keep the weeds out. That's just plain cruel. It causes the whole garden and all the mulch to mold. Did you know mulch molds? It does. Then you have to dig it out. For 5 hours.

Sunday was crazy. Just lots of stuff to do to prep for Monday.

Monday was crazy too. I slept just under 5 hours (yes, thats good for curing a cold) and got up at 4:45am to get myself looking business appropriate and out the door in 15 minutes and on to the airport and to Raleigh. My mucus-inflated-head was about to explode on the going ups and my queasy-measley-stomach barely survived the coming downs. But, thanks be to God, I made it without bursting into tears or using the little white bag in the seatback. And here I am in Raleigh.

The project is going well so far. And we have had beautiful weather. But ya know what? I DO NOT EAT 3 MEALS A DAY! Aside from missing my roomie and dog like crazy, that is the worst part about travel for me. Did you know that some people only eat 3 times a day and they don't usually have chocolate at those meals? It's terrible. I'm a 5 meals, 4 servings of fruit, and 3 servings of chocolate kinda person.

But hey. I'm alive and kickin. How bout you?

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stubborn little dishwasher

Technology is really great when it works. And really terrible when it doesn't.

You don't know what you have until you don't have it anymore.

These thoughts come to mind when I think about this:

Ya know what that is? It's a stubborn dishwasher, thats what.

Ya know why? Cause that picture was taken after I ran the sucker. Twice.

The soap doesn't dispense. It just gets hard and ends up in one big clump.

Yeah. She's broken. Again. And I'm mad at her. Again.

My dear happy blonde friend doesn't have a dishwasher in her apartment.

Which might not be a big deal to a man that eats frozen dinners and ramen.

But this girl is a cook. And a baker. And an entertainer.

Yeah. She washes it all by hand in her minature kitchen.

And I admire her deeply.

Especially in moments like this.

I'm not even going to show you a picture of the pile of dishes in my kitchen.

I just can't bring myself to do it.

We're just not at that stage of our relationship yet, okay?

Possible solutions to my problem in order of preference:

1. Kick it til it gets its butt in gear.
2. Turn up our water heater. I'm not convinced the water is getting hot enough. Something is wrong with our hot water throughout the entire house though. I've been trying to ignore that fact for over a year now.
3. Go all Macgyver on the stinker and take the sucker apart to see what is blocking the water flow.
4. Call a pro. Thats a last resort. I've had to have those people out like 3 times already and they're expensive.

Wish me luck. I'm goin in...

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what I did and did not do

Things that I did and did not do this weekend:

I DID decide to tackle the garden. The daffodils didn't bloom this year and I read that its cause they get overcrowded and you have to dig them up to separate them every five years or so. So I did. I dug up 3 of my 5.

  

 

Look at all those bulbs from just one plant! They certainly were overcrowded.

I did NOT pay attention to the fact that they are supposed to be dormant (aka. all leaves are dead) before you dig 'em up. Ooops... Bye bye daffodils! 

I DID get really irritated with the ground cloth/ weed protecting plastic that was throughout and ripped it all out with vigor. 

I did NOT clean up the mess I made. And then it rained on my mess. Ooops. 

I DID have a productive weekend with the hubster backfilling the driveway. 57 bags of soil and four trips to Lowes. It looks great. There are no "I did not" statements with this one. We worked hard and we DID it.

I DID spend my Sunday afternoon baking these cute little Easter basket cupcakes- idea courtesy of Bakerella as well as some robin's egg cupcakes. Good times. I did NOT eat a single one until after dinner. Proud aren't you? Hooowever, I did NOT touch the laundry or sweep the floor. Not even once. Ooops.

I DID enjoy deeply the sermon from church and then had a great dinner with the fam. I did NOT regret a moment of that.

I DID go to the dentist today and when he asked me if I drank soda I said "...no?..." I did NOT tell him about my sweet tooth and bad baking habits. Ooops.

And last but not least, I DID come up with some kinda terrible itchy thing all over me somethin' terrible! I did NOT get rid of it. HELP!

YOUR TURN: name one thing that you DID do and one thing that you did NOT do this weekend.

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the short/long weekend

My weekend in a very big nutshell:

Friday- Clean clean clean clean clean.

Tell me, how do you clean? I mean, what is your process? You think you don't have one? Oh I bet you do!

Growing up when I was cleaning my room I always started by making the bed and then piled everything on the bed that needed to be put away. Anything that needed to go somewhere other than my room went in a separate pile.

Some people clean categorically. You know where you do all the laundry, then you put away all the clothes, then you dust everything, then you vaccum everything, etc.

Others clean geographically. You know where you clean the kitchen, then move to the living room, then to the bathroom, then to the bedroom. I could never do that.

I think I do it surfing-the-internet style. You know where you pick up a pair of glasses in the living room and take them to your glasses case in the bathroom where you find a dirty towel that needs to go to the laundry room where you find a load of laundry in the dryer you had forgotten about which you bring upstairs to your bedroom to fold and find your work clothes still lying on the bed which you go to put away and realize the iron is still sitting out in the office... and on and on. For hours. And then none of the rooms look any better because I've just moved things from one place to another :-) Thats my style.

Anyway, Friday during lunch I was a little internet-surfing-style-cleaning-tornado. I made some significant progress and then worked on it for another few hours after work before we went to dinner at Kona Grill. (Sidenote: If you haven't been there yet, you should go cause its tasty. It's even tastier when your sister is manager and takes $20 off the bill and buys you a dessert. Thanks dude. And if you're nervous about it, do a trial run and go for their lunch special cause its awesome.) Anyway, the house is clean now. Oh and how did we end our night? An 11:58pm Groupon purchase for a visit from professional house cleaners. *Cheesy grin*

Then Saturday was mostly uneventful except hanging out with family and friends and spending too much money. I hate the spending part. But I like the friends and family part.

Then Sunday was the race. The Trolley Run. Long story short- Mack did not do well with the crowds so while I was there to cheer on hubs, his brother, and his brothers wife, I didn't see them cross the finish line. nor did I see them after the race amid the thick crowd. We had to bail. As such, I have no photos for you all. Sorrrry. I'm still recovering from the guilt of it all... But they all finished in great time and I'm proud of all three!

I tried to make Barefoot Contessa's Chunky Banana Bran Muffins. I'll admit that muffins aren't my specialty, folks, but I'm not bad at them. These were not my fault. They were just inexplicably bad. Don't those look like just really bad chocolate cupcakes? Poor hubs keeps thinking thats what they are, taking one bite, and throwing them away.

As I described to a friend, they are the kind of muffins you might find in a elementary school cookbook- someone somewhere likes the choking overabundance of molasses, but generally speaking they are terrible. Maybe someday I'll get up the guts to try them again and substitute out some of the molasses. As you can see, the bowl is still full.

They will probably be in the big scary black bin come trash day. I hope they are shaking in their boots right now.

After the race and the bad muffins, we helped with the waddlers in the nursery at church. So fun. I love those kids a lot. Then my bestie went to the Royals game with some coworkers and I went to the nursery to buy flowers and then to my 4 year old cousin's birthday party. It was awesome! Then off to church again then back home to spend time with the women in our group. I love them all a lot. Then, I crashed.

The end. This was a long one. You're a trooper. 2 brownie points for sticking through it!

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double-wide

Dear blog- I've missed you the last few days. It's been busy 'round here. Today I'll try to focus on just one thing to talk about...

Today I told a co-worker of mine that we got a double-wide this weekend.
His response: "a trailer?"
My response: a really dude? glare
Classic. But no. A driveway. And she's a beaut I tell ya.

Our old driveway was nothing to write home about. Not in complete shambles, but not large by any means. And we are- what some might call- people, people. It is rare that it's just the two of us home on any given night or weekend. And since you can't park on the street in front of our house, our dear guests have to park a block away. That's kind of an exaggeration, friends, how else would you describe it? Anyway. Even my roomie's dad at some point offered us money to get a second driveway just so he would know he'd have a place to park when they come in town. HA! This single drive thing has other implications as well such as the "I'm taking whichever car is in the back when I need to bolt out the door in the morning because I'm 57 minutes late" factor which often results in work papers, purses, etc. going to work with the wrong person.

Cut to the chase, Sam. Cut-to-the-chase!

Out with the old

And in with the new

She's perty, isn't she? Only 3 more days til we can park on her. And the daddy discount on the price took from excruciatingly painful to just really uncomfortable. Concrete is expensive.


My neighbor came outside to take pics of the boys and I helping my dad to pour (we weren't much help) but as soon as I get those pics I'll post them.
While we're on the topic, let's have a little lesson. This is called concrete. Not cement. Cement is the stuff that you add to rock to make concrete. These words are not interchangeable, contrary to popular belief. Look, you learned something today! *Cheesy grin*

Next weekend's project is dealing with the aftermath- the back-filling. And planting. Soooo excited for gardening. The problem with gardens is that they require patience. Except for the ones on KU's campus where they just plant things and then go through and dig them all up when they stop blooming three weeks later and plant something different instead. Those people... pshaw!


Tomorrow's post will be on grass. And fences. You catchin what I'm driftin?

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I need to stop now

Tonight the roomie is at a happy hour and I'm just fiddle-fartin-around (I got that phrase from my manager and now I use it a lot) so I went to Lowes even though I prefer Home Depot and got some paint chips because lately I've been inspired to repaint our kitchen and our bathroom. Some things you should know about me, our house, and paint:

• I want to paint everything yellow. Everything.
• Our entire house is beige- blah- with two exceptions:
• A guest room that went from beige to a light yellow and took four coats. Four. Four! Yes, I'm still recovering.
• An office that I painted this terrible dinner mint green, regretted immediately, told myself I'd live with it for a while which I did for about six months before I had to fix it. I went and got a safe cream color and guess what? It matches our trim exactly. I left it and gave up. 
• I'm terrible at painting so my hubby wants to hire out every job. I even spray painted our storm door and there are paint marks on the middle of the glass. How do you do that? I'm terrible. That's how.

Back to the paint chips. I put them up on the wall in the kitchen...

Maybe, just maybe, I should lay off the whole pretending to be decorative until after spring. What do you think? I'm pretty sure I have every possible shade of pastel on this wall. *Sigh*

I just need to stop now. 

Contentment is good.

"Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." 

1 Timothy 6:6-8

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a joco girl's troubles

Last week I tried to be crafty. I was at Half Price Books looking for a book for my roomie and a lightbulb came to me. Or a thought cloud. Or whatever. I think it was a lightbulb cause it was BRIGHT! Suddenly I knew I had to go to the gardening section, find pictures, of flowers, and frame them. I've been telling some friends lately that I needed something interesting for our living room wall to bring in a little bit 'o fun and this would be the perfect thing. So I found this great book called "Flower Pictures." Descriptive right? Its like it was made just for me. And it was $7.

Long story short:

• Flipped through the pages several times enjoying the book.
• Cringed a little as I cut out seven pictures
• Found seven wooden 8x10 frames at Target for $4 each -HOLLER! They don't even have them online, thats how much of a bargain they were.
• Went to Hobby Lobby to get mats but they were $2 each and I thought that was a little expensive for white cardboard so I drove like 5 miles to Michaels where I found them for... are you ready for this?... $2.49 each. Hobby Lobby was closed so I just bought six of them. Yes, six. All that driving must have impaired my brain cause I completely forgot how many frames I had. Whatevs. I'm not going to calculate how much I lost on that little escapade, but I'm going to pretend like it was less than the cost of my hazelnut latte yesterday.
• It snowed.
• KU lost. Oohh the pain of it all...
• I went to work on craft-therapy matting, framing, and hanging. I even used a level folks. A LEVEL WITH A BUBBLE to make sure all seven :-) pictures were perfectly straight. The pretty little crocuses, mums, roses, gardenias, peonies, etc were all smiling at me!
• Then hubster comes upstairs...

I will start by saying that I love this man dearly. And besides, he was right. He looked at my pictures and said "why are they so straight?" Everything is so symmetric in this room! I can't help it! I'm a business person.

So the question to you my, dear friends, is how do I make my six little lovelies not so straight?
I would cluster them, but our room is too long. I would hang them on pretty little ribbons, but I'm not sure thats the right move. I would put a plant on one side of them to add a little somethin-somethin, but I kill plants. (Ironic? Indeed.)

As a bonus, can someone please find me some replacement pillows? I need something cheap that will be fantastic with my new photos.

AND THEN don't you love the "and then" in stories?
Last night, a great friend of mine stopped by.
Hubby- "It's pathetic that these are the kinds of problems we have: how to hang our pictures in an interesting way."
Friend- "You have to make the world's problems your problems"
Hubby and I- Humbled. That's why we call her "friend".

Okay maybe that wasn't exactly long story short, but I'm not very good at "short." Just deal with it, people.

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welcome home, home

New York was great (see my last post for the in-the-moment-hectic-post). I don't have any pics though cause I couldn't stop to take them. Sorry... Anywho, it was good to spend time with the in-laws and laugh and snarl and freeze our patooties and walk our feet off. And Mary Poppins on Broadway was especially wonderful. BUT all in all it was good to get home. It only took about a bajillion hours in airports and on planes to get home, but once we got here our little gray house said WELCOME HOME!

Some of the ways it said "welcome home" were very sweet. Like the fact that all the trees are starting to bud and the grass is greener than before and my daffodils are in bloom and I have access to my own food. Other ways were not so sweet. For example, the piles of running-out-the-door stuff, and the dust bunnies, and the mucky bathroom, and the dishes, and the laundry. Yes, my laundry said "welcome home" in a very grouchy, sarcastic sort of way.
 

In the beginning was the laundry.

And the laundry was on my bed.

And the laundry was my bed.

You see yesterday we got home at about 2:30am, found Mackster with a red and swollen eye, slept for about 5 hours, went to work, left work to take Mackapoo to the vet he will live now, went back to work, went to a "beauty appointment" (one of the terribly painful ones that shouldn't count as a beauty appt), went to the grocery store to stock up since we'd been living on popcorn and cereal, and came home and crashed real early. Tonight it was back to the grind! I prepared myself by listening to "Happy Little Working Song" from Enchanted at least 4 times today. It certainly helped :-)

In order (post work of course):

• Homemade pizza and salad. I cheated by using pre-made dough though
• Dishes.
• Vacuum. Everything. Possible. Even move the bed to get under it.
• Clean window sills. Yes. I really did that. Proud?
• Started to tackle baseboards and thought better of it.
• Dust mop.
• Mop.
• Hubby comes up from the man cave where he has been hanging out with his pal enjoying March Madness and says "ah! Just looking at the floors gives me heartburn!" The fact that I had the ability to laugh at this comment and not immediately drop to my knees scrubbing is quite the accomplishment if I do say so myself.
• Clean all kitchen appliances
• Scrub bathroom. Notice mold growing where our sink is evidently leaking. Shrug it off for today. 
• Dust everything in sight.
• Trip to Target. 
• Baked a batch of peanut butter blossoms. 
• Folded the massive pile of 5 loads of laundry that had accumulated throughout the night including all bedding.

I did not tackle the paperwork taking over the office. The office is just a very very scary place these days. I think I need a shredder to start picking up after my darling. His bosses nor his clients will mind if I just shred it all, don't you think? 

*Sigh* So I just ended my night with a handful of peanut butter blossoms Wait, did I say handful? I meant serving. Yes, definitely just one serving and sipping a little bit of Bota out of plastic cup.

And to top off my night my convo with my roomie goes as follows:
"What detergent did you use? It smells like we were at the pool all day." 
"That's because I used bleach."
"Why?"
"To get the smells and bacteria and whatnot out."
"Who told you to do that?"
 *Smile*

Yes, welcome home indeed :-)

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