Lately...

Yep, been at it again. PROJECTS!! I feel like I'm running out of time. I have all this stuff I want to get done before the baby gets here because I know that I will be acting the part of udder for quite some time before I can get going on more projects with any amount of gusto. :) You know, I haven't even gotten the 0-3 months baby clothes out of storage, yet? We got a free dresser from a very sweet family from our homeschool group and it needed a bit of fixing up. Sam has a couple more things to do to it to make it functional and then it will go into Ailey's room and be the baby's dresser. Until then, I really don't have a designated spot to put it all. So, I've been keeping myself otherwise occupado with PROJECTS!!! Here, let me show you:

I've wanted one of these for a while, but couldn't find one I really liked. I really wanted an all metal one that just looks like a bare tree, but the ones I found were around $40. Yeah, not really justifying that purchase. So, when the boys and I were in Target the other day, we took a stroll down the $1 aisle and they had these for $2.50. Good enough for me!

I got these eggs at Hobby Lobby a year or two ago and now I have a tree to put them on. Because, you know eggs hang on trees and all..... The pot part will eventually get a new paint job and it will probably grace Ailey's room sporting hanging birds or whatever I come across in the not-so-distant-future....

This is my dining table "structure". I really like it because its rather absurdly out of proportion. :) I'm going to get a square bamboo or rattan platter of some sort to put under it....when I get around to it.

This is my first attempt at a fake flower arrangement. Normally, I wouldn't go that route, but I wanted to do something rather large and Asian-y here and this is what I found at Hobby Lobby to work with.... I'm not satisfied with the total placement of all the excess pieces (candle and plant), but I'm rather proud of the actual flower arrangement. That bookshelf is going to get painted and I'll probably rearrange everything all over again....cuz it'll bug me until I do. :)

Ok, here is the texture technique I did in the dining room. I finally got it textured, primed and painted! Woohoo!

Here's another aspect of the texture finish. I actually got a compliment from a construction friend of ours. He said I did a better job than some of the so-called "professionals" he works with. That was a very nice compliment.

I made this for Ailey. I started out only intending to make the flower princess scepter and then got to wondering if I could make a crown. Of course I googled for ideas and then just took the stuff I had on hand and came up with this one. The pink ribbons on the scepter are actually from a hair band that was found in the $1 aisle on the same visit to Target. Man, I really find some interesting things there at times! Anyway, I googled how to do that to, just to make sure my technique would work.

This set is for a little girl in one of Braden's classes at homeschool co-op. Her mom asked her who she wanted to invite to her party and she said, "Definitely Braden because he's handsome!" I told her that she's gonna have her hands full with that one! :) Braden's really excited about the party.

This is a close-up of Ailey's crown

Close up of Ailey's scepter

Close up of other crown

close up of other scepter

I know...it just keeps going, doesn't it...I can't do nothing....Ok, these are the pillows I made to keep the couch company. We had a mismash of pillows and I'm trying to get the living room somewhat finished up. See that green fabric on the side pillows? I'm loving it! Feeling the need to go and buy the whole bolt. I've got plans I tell ya....I probably totally overdo it, but its my house, so who cares?!

This was my 3rd project involving applique. The green, orange and brown are all appliqued onto the cream fabric. I even found that my sewing machine can imitate a surger. Yay! Oh, and the frog knot embellishments were made out of cord after I googled how to make frog knots. After many attempts at trying to get the right size and all that and actually trying to make it two separate pieces that button in together, I got a clue and just tied a know in the middle and tacked it on. Much better!

I really like how this one turned out. Its the beginning of my orange accent extravaganza...oh, yeah!

We also have a special occasion coming up this week on Wednesday. Here is a sneak peak:

Oh, yeah and Sam has been pretty busy. He is making me a larger pantry by closing off the closet in the garage and putting in access through the kitchen. We are going to take out the pantry that is in the kitchen and make a long counter/breakfast bar combo and open up the kitchen to the living room area more. Its a multi-step process, of course. Here's what he's done so far...oh, and the kids have a really good time playing in there:

He had to take the fridge out of its nook to knock out the wall.

fridge nook

This is the garage closet still open to the garage. (Ignore the mess...it gets cleaned up on occasion;)

Knocked out wall.

Look at that handsome man! I get to whistle at him. ;p

Door installed. Notice he vacuumed the floor and cleaned it all back up! Talk about speaking my love language!!! :D

He has to put up drywall and build up the floor inside the closet as well as finish installing shelves, but he's well on his way and then I'll have a much larger space to store stuff. Its gonna be GREAT!

Yesterday....

After a lengthy visit to Target yesterday, we came away with four pairs of shoes instead of three (Ailey lost one of her flip-flops while we were in the store:), some shirts for her since I really don't want to see her going for the tiny t-shirt look with her belly sticking out and some more child safety devices. I got some of those locking zip-tie type things that keep cabinet doors closed and a lock that goes on the fridge. I put them all on last night and Ailey discovered the lock on the fridge this morning and was quite dismayed. She said, "Its locked, Momma! Won't open!!!" To which I replied, "I know, mmmmwwwhhahahahahaha!" Well, maybe, I didn't quite say that, but I was highly amused because she figured out that the lock was new and was the reason she couldn't get into the fridge all by herself. Yay!

Zekey and Braden got to pick out their own pair of shoes each. Braden was in the process of putting his running shoes on a few days ago and pulled one of the straps right off, which of course was the motivation for our little jaunt to Target in the first place. Braden picked out a pair that looks a lot like a pair that Sam has and when I remarked that they looked like Daddy's shoes, he said that's why he liked them so much. I LOVE that!!!

Zekey found a very interesting pair of shoes and chose them even though they are a good 2 sizes too big. He's able to get them on easier than the ones he was wearing all the time. He kept running around in circles in them at the store in complete happiness. It was pretty funny to watch. When Sam saw them later, he really liked them, which just made Zekey all the happier. :)

I ended up getting Ailey two pairs. She needed new flip-flops anyway, but I wasn't intending to get her any just yet. Oh, well. The new ones are shiny and have sequins on them. She likes shiny, too. :) She grew out of her white dress shoes, so when I saw a stinkin' cutie pair that basically looks like glittered, crocheted mary janes with a shiny ribbon around the opening, well, I was drawn to them, I must say. She's really funny about shoes and kept trying to try them all on, so I couldn't tell which ones she was most drawn to. That just means I still get to pick them out for now. Hehe.

We also had to go to a dentist appointment for Braden. Its the second time he's been, but he doesn't remember the last one. Its was more than two years ago. He did such a good job! He went back there by himself and did what they told him and his teeth look great! He got a fluoride treatment and he kept trying not to swallow, which was funny. I told him the more he swallowed the faster the taste would get out of his mouth. :) He also had to get sealants put on his molars and afterwards was being funny with closing his mouth. I'm glad he's getting that done at his age and will continue to be able to get them because maybe his back teeth won't look like mine all metal-ly! ;p Oh, he also got a case of the giggles because the dentist was commenting on his latest loose tooth and Braden kept wiggling it with his tongue and the dentist was pretending to be grossed out by it. That was fun. :)

Well, I'm thinking I'll be priming the walls in the dining room today. I'm able to open the doors for air flow. We shall see how that works out with the wet paint and the kids. Hoh, Boy!! Here we go...

Busy-ness

Well, I finally got the rest of the texture on the walls in the dining room. We are talking about taking out a wall and the breakfast bar in the kitchen to open it up, so one of the walls I textured is gonna stay unpainted for a while. I was going to paint yesterday, but it was snowing and then freezing cold the rest of the day, so until I can leave a couple of doors open for ventilation, its going to have to wait.

I had taken the curtains off of the front picture window in the living room and the back sliding doors in the dining room so I could finish texturing and boy did that make a huge difference in temperature!!! COLD!!! So, we took ourselves off to Lowe's to try and find something to hang up the bamboo poles Sam's parents brought me back in the summer that I had waiting to be used as curtain rods. I found something suitable and also had some chain links that I decided would do well as tie backs. I was very proud of myself for allowing holes to be drilled into the living room walls. That texturing process took a super long time and I have resisted putting any holes in the walls since the summer. Yay, me! ;p I still have to modify the curtains, but that will just have to wait its turn. Got some other projects I'm working on. I really need to start taking more before pics. I never think about it.

So, Ailey has been having some adventures in messiness and driving her parents crazy! This week so far she has spilled syrup on the carpet in the kitchen, (I know! Who puts carpet in the kitchen?!), taken the clothes out of her drawers and spread them around the house...several times, gotten into the refrigerator twice - once to get the sliced cheese, tear it up into little pieces and spread it all over the couch and the second time to get the eggs out and drop two in the doorway to the hallway and 5 in the doorway of the boys' room and last, but not least, to dump out the remaining milk in her cereal bowl, get the chocolate syrup that I left out on the cabinet, leave a trail in the dining room, "pour it into the bowl", put a good coating on the bottle, her clothes and hands and face and then leave a nice little puddle on the boys' room floor. Yay! She's also had issues with sleeping in her bed this week starting with me putting her back in her bed about 5 different times over the space of 2 hours after hearing her get up, go into the boys's room and finding her on the top bunk bed with her blankie in tow. Then, it was Sam's turn to put her to bed 3 more times after she got her clothes out and strewed them in various places in the house, including the living, dining and bath-rooms. The whole fiasco ended around 12:30 am. The next day, I put two of those child safety door knob doohickeys in strategic locations: one on the pantry door and one on the bathroom door, which also does double duty on the inside of Ailey's door at night. When I first put them on the doorknobs that morning and she couldn't get the doors open, she threw a hissy fit and I admit I had a good chuckle along the lines of "MMMmmmwwwhhhhahahahahahahaha! Yes, I did. :)

The boys are also in the mess making business, but not anything close to their sister. AND they get to clean up their own messes....for the most part. As much of a fan of cold weather as I am, I think I'm ready for it to warm up a bit and dry out. Having to keep the kids inside for this long is taking its toll! I wonder if the house or my sanity will survive? We shall see!

I am excited that Sam has gotten to work out in the garage in his "wood working shop". He and the boys have been manufacturing all sorts of things. I requested some decorative shelves and the next thing I knew, Viola! they appeared! Woohoo! I've put in an order for a few sets of floating shelves, too. If I don't get myself in gear and sand, putty and paint the shelves he's already made, I'm going to be wading through a pile of shelves before I know it! :)

Snow Days

I think February is just the month for snow here. It snowed nearly the same time in the same month last year. Last year, however, I was not preggers and got out and played in it with the kids. This year that wasn't happening, so they didn't seem to have as much fun. :( Oh, well. Here is yet another barrage of photos that captured our short-lived snow day.