Spring is here...for 5 minutes.

Mother nature has given us an evil teaser of spring this past weekend, here in southern Wisconsin.  I say evil because the next snow storm is scheduled to hit tonight.  Grrrr.  Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.  But the weekend weather has me wanting to rid my house of every last winter decoration in favor of greens and light colors.  Cozy plaid throws and fuzzy pillows must go!

I picked up two packages of dried greens from Hobby Lobby about 2 weeks ago when they were 50% off.

You actually get quite a good amount of greens with these and I was able to spread them throughout the house.

I split them up in vases and glass bottles and even stuck some in a wreath.

I still love my Rosemary plant that I got during Christmas (and its still alive!!)!

I took down all my red from my shelves and added some blue accents with some faux greens.

That cake stand with the blue base can be found in the $1 section at Target.  They are actually $5.  

I even had some left over the decorate my floating shelf in my living room.

This change in weather is giving me some much needed motivation for getting some kitchen projects completed.  We finally bought a new dishwasher which will be delivered and installed next Monday.  I am itching to get the island completed and tackle replacing the counter tops and installing the new-to-us sink and faucet (which I bought off Craigslist like 2 years ago!).  Now to see when my favorite handyman is available to help;)

PSA and a spray paint project

I know I have been slacking here.  Believe me, I know.  I don't feel good about that.  I love this space that allows me to share my creativity.  It allows me to purge my ideas and thoughts and clear my head a bit.  So I don't have these things clogging up my brain and pouring out of my ears.  So you know I feel my lack of activity here.

I guess you could say I am in a bit of a funk.  I feel like this space, this blog, is having an identity crisis.  There are many reasons for this.  First, I am kind of a crazy person and my obsessions interests change over time.  I go through phases of needing to pour my heart out about all the feelings.  The feelings about motherhood and growing up and experiences.  And then, I won't need to do that and I will redecorate my house.  I will become engrossed in doing DIY projects and feel the need to document them here.  Only to then devote myself to a strict half marathon training schedule for 3 months in which I set my alarm for 5 am and run 5 miles before work every other day until the race day is done and I quit running altogether.  But then, I will pick up reading with a vengence and my head will be in books for months.  Devouring them at a rapid pace to feed an appetite for getting lost in another world.  And not all of these interests make for interesting blog posts.  Hence, crickets.

Second, I understand that oversharing in this day and age is considered by some a disease.  I have to think about how my sharing of my children's experiences will affect them when they are older.  I am not against a little parental humiliation but too much information out there reaches a critical level bordering on breach of privacy.  Problem is, there are no hard and fast rules about this and each person has a different tolerance to this.  So I started shying away from so many posts about my kids, keeping only to birthday letters or major milestone markers.  But I am in the trenches of this parenting game.  It consumes me day and day out and leaves little time for much else.   Which leads to me last point....

Third, I am just busy living.  I am working my day job and figuring out this Craftshop business and cooking dinners and bathing kids and getting oil changes and taking road trips and going to Vegas and folding laundry and attending parent-teacher conferences and spray painting my light switch and outlet covers and Fitbitting and throwing birthday parties and nursing the pinched nerve in my back since New Years day.  And sometimes I even need to get some sleep.  And blogging, at this time in my life, has taken a back seat to all these other things a lot of the time.

So anyway, that's were I am at.  Sometimes it will be slow going here and sometimes there will be some regular posts.  And it is probably not going to be consistent content.  It will jump from DIY projects to feelings to some of my motherhood life.

Now that I have that off my chest, do you recall I mentioned that I spray painted my lame, yellowing light switch and outlet covers?  Lets talk about that more.  I had already spray painted the ones in my dining room several years ago when our dining room was painted a Merlot color.  Now that the dining room is a more neutral color, I wanted to spray paint them a lighter color.  But I was not sure what color.  Until I stumbled on another blogger that spray painted hers gold.  I could not find the exact paint she used but I could find this...

So I got busy removing all the covers.  I washed them in soapy water and dried them.  

I had a piece of foam that I pushed all the screws in so I could spray them easier.

 
I put 2 coats of spray paint on the screws and covers and let them dry for 3 hours but should have let them dry overnight because they were still tacky to the touch when I was putting them back on.  But here is one of them...

 I do plan to spray the register thing near the ceiling soon.

I love it!  It was the right choice for me.  Does that mean that I have to remove all the silver in my house and replace it with gold so its all matchy-matchy?  Nope!  I prefer a mix of finishes.  It is way too stressful to make sure everything is the same finish and it will look one dimensional anyway.  So go ahead, I give you permission to mix those finishes!

2

Dear Sydney,

You turned 2 exactly 2 weeks ago.

You are a little thing, but a mighty thing.  Always quick to exert your independence with every.single.thing.  "I do-ed it!" rings in our ears all day long.

You are a girly-girl with the sweetest heart and the sweetest smile to match.

Today at your 2 year old appointment, you weighed exactly 24 lbs and were 34 inches long.  You screamed and cried while you were weighed, measured and examined.  At one point, you even tried to fold your little body into my belly.  You would NOT be won over by the doctor, CMA or NP student. 

 But I knew you would do that.  You are quite shy with most people you don't see very often.  Not unlike me as a kid.

But you are quick as a whip, knowing many of your colors and even doing some counting.  You are so very silly.  Your brother always says, "Sydney's hilarious!"  I have never met a sillier kid!

One request, could you try not to be such a stuntwoman?  It's freaking your father and me out.  Try to stop jumping recklessly off the couches and out of the car the second I unbuckle you.  We would really appreciate that.  We are quite relieved that your trust-falls-off-the-counter phase is over.  It was completely heart stopping.

And I will try to take more pictures of you like I did for your brother.  I will do better to photo document your growth and early life.  I am sorry I have been really slacking at that.

Even though I have only held you, rocked you, kissed you and loved you for 2 short years, I feel like I have known you forever.  You are like and old friend.  Some one I have known and who has known me my whole life.  We get each other.  Completely.

I am so thankful every single day for you and your brother.  Even though it means I never pee alone and have to share all my food with slobbery mouths.  And my body is now forever "softer."  Along with my heart.

I am We are thoroughly enjoying you in all your two-ness.

 "Mommy, I done!"

So, I cheers my wine with your sloppy, drippy whole milk sippy.  On to bigger and better adventures together!

Love, 

Mama

Fireplace wall update

My first big project of the year is about done!  Which is NOT any easy thing to accomplish between momming, wifing, working and co-running Craftshop.  Some days I can barely make it into my bed before I am already falling asleep.  So why bother doing any house projects?  Well, why does anyone do anything?  Because they want/like to do it.  I love making my house comfortable and pretty!  And I actually do enjoy the whole process, from the idea phase to the planning phase to the implementing phase to the finishing and enjoying phase.  Now, many of my "projects" don't make it past the ideas or planning phases but I still enjoy that as well.  But every once in a while, it is nice to have someone else step in and help get the project done faster.  I thought I would be doing this wall myself but help came in the form of my dad, and the hubs and son jumped in to assist and before I knew it, it was done and I just had to do the painting!  

Here is what it looked like before...

 And here is what it looks like now...

 Makes a difference, right?  Here are some pics from the construction phase.  I gave my dad a drawing with measurements and he cut all the wood and brought it to my house to construct.

Putting together the frame with lots of "helpers";)

My dad cut the trim where the frame was going to go so the frame would be flat against the wall.  I then had to take the lights down.

And the frame was placed on the wall and screwed in.

Then the planks were nailed in.

 #putthementowork

And then the edge trim was nailed on and I applied 2 coats of paint.  I still may add some trim/moulding at the top but that is for another day.

I also added a set of shelves to the other side of my buffet because I loved the ones on the right so much.

Seriously the easiest project ever and adds so much to the room.

New year, new projects

I have all kinds of plans swimming through my head for our house.  Some are small and fairly inexpensive and some we need to win the lottery to execute.  Many of my smaller scale, don't need to win the lottery to accomplish projects will take place in our kitchen/dining room.  

For as long as I can remember as a kid, I have been obsessed with window benches/seats.  I dreamed of lounging/reading/eating in a window seat.  I don't think I even knew anyone that had one which must have made them all the more coveted.  Fast forward to me at 26 years old, buying a house with a perfect place for a window seat and the idea didn't even dawn on me until 10 years later!  I can't believe it took me so long to see what was right in front of me, the perfect place for a window seat! 

Sure, it looks just fine like this but isn't it just screaming for a built-in window seat?!?  Yes?  No?  Well, I think so and I will build some storage in it too.

Moving on.  I have some more ideas for enhancing the fireplace wall following the most genius furniture move of 2014.  Here is what it looks like in its current state...

Looks fine now but wouldn't it look more purposeful with some architectural detail in the form of a "wall" that is planked and is wider than the fireplace and goes up to the ceiling with some trim and crown molding?  

And wouldn't it be even better if those hideous cords could be hidden?  Yes?  Are you still with me?  Well this project should be done in the next few weeks and you can see if you like it after the reveal.

Finally, the project that is most involved and requires some custom work by my dad is my kitchen island makeover.

It is perfectly functional and does the job right now but don't you think it would be nice to have some storage and a beverage fridge under it and have it a bit longer with a nice butcher block counter top??  Yes?  Can you envision it?

Of course, this will lead to a lighting change in this area but I am up to the challenge.

So I am hoping to get these projects done before June.  And will this be the year that I give in and paint my trim white already???

Stay tuned for reveals!