A Christmas Present to Myself

When we were looking to move into our current rental, one of the first things we asked the realtor was "will we be able to paint here?"And this is why:

 

This is from the kitchen looking into the dining room/living room

From the living room looking into the dining room/kitchen doorway. 

I was too horrified to take more pictures of this. I wish we had the pictures from the listing actually. The place is in good shape other than the original paint choices. These colors were repeated in the bedrooms upstairs: the master being the same intense blue of the kitchen, Little Miss's room the same green, and the office was the same camel color. Now to give our landlords credit, they agreed that they didn't pick the best colors, and told us that we were welcome to paint (I suspect they were a little relieved actually) as long as we picked more neutral colors. 

So before we moved in, we picked some colors and got to painting. This was accomplished over a looong weekend (thurs-sunday), mostly by my Mother-in-Law who graciously flew in to help us, and a few other dedicated friends. I did as much as I could, but 3 month old babies take quite a bit of time. I became rater adept at cutting in though, if I do say so myself. 

We picked Behr Chocolate Froth in satin for downstairs, and the shade darker, Wheat Bread in eggshell for the bedrooms. 

Look! Luna even got into painting! What a good helper...

I love the Wheat Bread color. It is a warm gray, that looks a bit like putty, or clay in a nice cozy way. I would have put that downstairs too... but I can't remember why I didn't. There was a reason though. 

The original plan was to get a quart of a different color for an accent wall in the kitchen and one in the master bedroom. Not wanting to spend the extra $30 it would have cost, I decided to get creative. With the help of a friend- and by help I mean I stole her idea and borrowed her stencil for an extended amount of time- I decided to pull the trigger on the accent walls. I decided on a 12 inch stripe for the kitchen wall, and a semi-organic-modern type stencil pattern for the master bedroom. I decided to just use the extra paint that we had and go for a more subtle tone-on-tone look, rather than an in your face new color. 

The stripes on the kitchen wall took maybe 3 hours total. They were pretty quick, and I love the result. 

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have at the moment, complete with my cookie-cutter Christmas decorations. I will post more later. 

The stencil took SIGNIFICANTLY longer. I think I spent a total of 15 hours on this, stretched over several weeks. I could have saved about 3 hours, but it took me time to refine my technique. I could have also saved some time had I been willing to shell out for a bigger stencil like the one here, but I wanted to keep this on the cheap. So I used that little stencil to make 210 tiles on the wall, along with about 30 half-tiles on the bottom and side borders to fill things in. I was dragging my feet for so long that I made a promise to myself that I would finish it before we left for Christmas break. So it was my present to myself. 

The part that took the longest was making the registration marks, but that was also the most important. It allowed me to do tiles at random and not wait for things to dry, like you see above. Had I been smart, I would have started at the top middle of the wall and used a level. I would have done the registration marks for the top row first, then filled down. What I actually did was start in the top left corner and work down and out from there. In the picture below, you can see how the wall bows a bit, which made things wonky, and I somehow angled upward, so that by the time I reached the opposite wall, I was off by about half of one of the tiles. In the picture below you can see the blue painters tape dots on the very  top stop about 6 in... thats how quickly I stopped being able to get to the top of the wall...

Fortunately though, there are no strong horizontal lines in this pattern, and when you look at the whole wall you can barely tell. Especially when I don't show you a picture of the top or bottom of the wall... :)

I LOVE the result, and it is motivating me to finish up some other changes I will be making. I already have fabric to make a couple shams, and Alex and I are talking about re-painting the (free) headboard and the drawers on the side tables. He even tossed out the idea of letting me paint them a dark gray-ey-purple-ey color. This is big people. This is big. 

6 Months

This may have been my favorite set of monthly photos to take, and s you look through, I'm sure it will be clear why. You will also notice a showcase of Little Miss's new talent. 

(My personal favorite)

 Here you see she notices Luna of to her right, who then deposits a gift. Luna I'm sure left the gift because I was making all kinds of funny noises to get these expressions out of Little Miss. 

 Little Miss takes it upon herself to examine the gift. Mom removed the gift. 

 Luna decides to make her own examination of baby. 

And we'll end with another favorite. :)

So the big update:

Little Miss is now accomplished at sitting up. She can balance for several minutes while she is calm, but if she gets distracted or excited- over she goes. She has also finally remembered how to roll over, and can do so at any time, albeit in only one direction and only from front to back. She rocks from side to side pretty well on her back though. She is also starting to grow a bit more fluffy hair. It's hard to tell what color it is- in some light it has a bit of a reddish tint (as do her eyelashes) but one thing is for sure, it's pretty light! We'll see if it ends up straight like mine, (please oh please!) or wavy like her Daddy's.

We've also started on solid foods. attempting to feed her solid food. That deserves a post in its own right.... Let's just say we've taken a few steps back, and she's doing ok. It helps if I just give her the spoon and let her chew on it. Otherwise it all goes in and right back out.

Things that make her laugh: peek-a-boo, being sniffed/licked by dogs, 'munching' on her belly (but not blowing raspberries), being tossed around, dancing, singing, and her reflection.

She is still as happy as ever. Can't wait to see what her 6 months stats are this week!

I forgot to mention her talking! She repeats buh and puh over and over again. She is blowing raspberries with her lips and her tongue, and generally exploring her voice. She talks most when she has a few minutes to herself either in her chair or on the floor. She is more fascinated by my face when I try to talk to her and she stops talking herself. 

5 Months Old

She found her feet this last month. That means she'll never have two dry socks on her feet again, ever. Not that socks stayed on very well before, she inherited my loooong and skinny feet. In the last month, we have conquered: a cold, two four-hours flights (like a champ!), first bites of rice cereal, and grabbing those feet. she has also rolled over a total of 4 times on her own, but that was 5 weeks ago and she refuses to try again. We are also up to a total of 5 nights of 12 hours of sleep. Not in a row mind you, total. That isn't too bad considering all the time zone changes and the coughing and sniffling we've done. I'm crossing my fingers that we may see a few more long nights of sleep. :)

Baking Season: Failure!

All-in-all, Hubby's birthday cake turned out LOADS better than last year or the year before. In fact, it baked perfectly, (I actually followed the directions on the back of the box *cough* and mixed the batter for 2 min!) and it frosted well too (what? you have to wait until the cake cools completely?)!

But then I tried to decorate it. For simplicity's sake- and so we don't burn down the house- we usually just get the number candles for decorations. Didn't get one of the numbers this year, so I decided to try the stenciled number on top of the cake trick, as seen here.

I cut out the numbers, sprinkled the powdered sugar, and covered the cake to surprise hubby when he got home from golfing. I was pretty proud of myself, I must say. Although I had one little thought that maybe I should have waited to put the sugar on the cake....

Several hours later when I pulled out the cake to sing with our friends, the powdered sugar had absorbed the moisture from the frosting and all but disappeared.

Lesson Learned: Wait until the last minute to do your powdered sugar stencil. Or it will disappear and so will all traces of your cake decorating skillz.

Shucks.

The remains of the 2 from the pintrest-inspired fail. 

Baking Season: Success!

I normally don't have the patience to do a whole lot of baking or cooking. We eat homemade meals, and that tends to burn me out in the kitchen (wimp, I know!). In fact, I haven't made a batch of cookies in years! Hubby though is the master baker. He has perfected his technique for chocolate chip cookies and I am more than happy to reap the benefits.

This week however has tested my mettle in the kitchen. It started with pie and, baby, it ain't over yet!

The pie was for a pie baking contest at the church Halloween activity. I had no intention of competing, but I had a large bag of frozen blueberries (Costco, Woot!) that had been sitting in the freezer too long. The twist comes when we are feeding the Sister Missionaries and we discover that one Sister has a sensitivity to processed sugars. The poor girl rarely gets dessert, and I decided to come to her aid. Having watched my sister-in-law recently test the Williams-Sonoma blueberry pie recipe, I was feeling a little more adventurous than usual. The pie was delicious by the way, but I wanted something a bit simpler for this Sister. So I used the simple Better Homes and Gardens basic double crust and berry filling recipes with minor adjustments. The main difference really being that I used honey instead of granulated sugar for the filling.

Pie Crust:
 2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
8-10 Tbsp cold water

I've had several friends express anxiety at making pie crusts. Friends, if I can do it, you can do it. I don't even have a pastry cutter. I rock it old school with two butter knives to cut in the shortening. The trick is to not over mix when adding the water. Add it 1 tablespoon at a time, and just barely push it around with a fork until the flour has soaked it up, the push it to the side and add another tablespoon of water. No mixing or stirring here! The amount of water you add will depend on the temperature and humidity of the day, that is why is gives you a range.

Also, foil around the edge of your pie while it bakes will save you every time!

Pie Filling:
5 cups blueberries (frozen works just fine)
3 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon

The cookbook recipe calls for 2/3-3/4 cup of granulated sugar, but when I called my awesome SIL for help (she always knows!), we read that honey is sweeter and richer than white sugar. Hence the reduction. The cookbook also calls for either lemon zest or cinnamon, but I decided that since the honey had a darker, richer flavor, I didn't want to go too bright with the honey. So cinnamon it was. Also, if you use frozen berries, the honey will also freeze when you add it. Fear not and keep mixing, it will turn out ok.

The pie was DELICIOUS. It was rich and just sweet enough, and perfectly flavored for fall. I would definitely go with lemon for a summer pie, but the honey and cinnamon were perfect for the season. This will be a make-it-again pie. Which is a big deal for me, the non-baker.

Also, it was eaten too quickly for me to snap a picture, and not to toot my own horn, but I got a prize. That's right, I wasn't even trying and I was voted one of the lucky winners.

Make this pie. It is good.

The end.

First: 10 MInute Drawstring Pouch Tutuorial

That's right friends, I sewed something. And I took pictures of it! The sewing something is not the surprising part, but the taking pictures part is. The posting of the pictures is particularly mind-boggling. Blogger and I have not been getting along recently, and we've been fighting about pictures. 

Regardless, here is what I made:

What: Drawstring pouch for sunglasses

Materials: Two scraps of different fabric, and 8-10 inches of ribbon or twine or string. 

Why: Because I'm too cheap to buy a sunglasses case. Or nice sunglasses for that matter. They're sentimental. But I do want to protect them. 

How long: 20 minutes. This includes time for photo taking, two phone calls, and some very loud and distracting thunder and lightning. 

How: Allow me to show you

1. Size it up. Allow room for seams. Approx. 1/4 inches on all sides. 2 inches for the top. 

2. Pin it up. Pin all the way up one side, and leave about 1" space at the top of one side. If you squint you can see the seam stops well below the pin on the left. 

3. Repeat with second fabric. I chose a nice flannel (because I already had it) to be a soft liner for the sunglasses pouch. You can see here how I left a space at the top of one side of each pouch. 

4. Pin the pouch tops right sides together. Match up the sides with the gap. Sew all the way around the tops of the pouches. Skip the gap. 

5. By now you should have a long rectangle of fabric that is "inside out" with a 2" or so gap in the middle. Pin the lips of the gap back. This will be where the drawstrings come out. 

6. Carefully  sew the hem of each lip back. Do not sew this opening shut. You may need to roll back the lip that you are not working with and pin it. It should look like this when you finish this step.

7. Fold your long rectangle in half where the two sections of fabric meet. Match up the corners and sew at a 45 degree angle at both corners. Cut off the corner. This step will prevent the pouch from getting twisted, tangled, or infuriatingly inverted.

8. I don't know I don't have this picture, but reach through the lips of the gap that you sewed shut is step 6. Grab one of the corners, and pull is out of the gap. Pull gently until you have turned your pouch right side out. All of your seams should be hidden on the inside now, the corners are secured to one another, and you have the gap for the drawstring.

9. Now we need to sew around the circumference of the top to make a pocket for the drawstring. Locate the bottom of the gap, and use that as a guide.

10. Grab a safety pin and your ribbon, thread, twine, or whatever you are using for the drawstring. Attach the pin to your ribbon, and thread it through the drawstring pocket. Go around the whole pocket twice as shown in the next pictures. This will help keep the pouch closed when you want it closed.

11. Tie off your ribbon and you're done.

The Skinny

I am a known "late adopter" (though I am not old, or uneducated... just reluctant) of all things related to technology, fashion, and... life. Remember how I said I'd never buy skinny jeans?

Well I didn't buy any.

I made them. Or "re-fashioned" them as some would say. I like them because they were free, and they fit my athletic legs much better than something store bought would.

I still feel a little funny wearing them because they are new to me. But I do like them. Maybe I'll get the courage to make another pair one day!

Awesome

(the above title is in fact a reference to one of my current favorite shows, available on Hulu, called Chuck)

I've found that its really easy for me to read blogs, and articles online that make me wish I were doing something different. When I have a stack of papers to grade, its especially easy. So earlier today this week I was looking at blogs thinking to myself things like: I wish I had a sewing machine and I could make awesome things like that, I wish I had a home so I could paint my house like that, I wish it was summer so I could try to plant that in my garden. But then I realized today, that I have done alot of awesome things recently. And I have more awesome things coming my way. So here is a list of awesome things that I have done/made/seen recently. With pictures to come on some of them.

1. Yesterday I got up at set my alarm for 05:00 hours (thats military time for 5 am) and got up at 5:20 to go for a run. And I liked it. I was on time to work. I was not stressed in the morning. I had time to stretch. Same thing planned for tomorrow. Running every day when you were a bum like me could only hurt your knees you know.

2. I made a skirt. From a pair of jeans that didn't fit. The jeans were from Banana Republic and had the most delicious denim. They were also free because they didn't fit my sister-in-law. I may live and die happily in this skirt.

3. I made a pair of skinny jeans. I told myself a couple years ago when I saw the first skater-kid wearing skinny jeans that I would never buy a pair. Soooooooo, I won't. But that doesn't mean I can't make them from my $12 Old Navy jeans that are fading because I wore them so much. Besides, they fit into my cute Christmas present boots when my other jeans don't. Pictures to come.

4. I made a lunch bag. Out of leftover canvas from making pillow covers. Lets just say its my little attempt to be 'green'. Don't tell Dad. He'll launch into a speech about Al Gore etc. etc.

5. Acceptance letter to medical schools. Not for me silly, for Hubby! Now we have two. One from CO, one from CA. This may be a difficult decision. But given my love affair with the Pacific Ocean, it may not be. We'll see.

So that's five awesome things the past couple weeks. I'm feeling a little better now. Perhaps I'll make it through Friday without tearing my hair out, or flying south for the rest of the winter.

What awesome things have you been up to?

Calling in Sick

There has been a bug going around school the past couple weeks, and it looks like I didn't escape this time.

But, it has been nice to have some good quiet time at home with the loyal hound (when I'm not napping or in a feverish, shivery stupor), and actually see hubby in the morning. I've also missed scenes like this to enjoy with my breakfast.

The picture certainly doesn't do it justice, but the kitchen window above our table faces east, and we have a glorious view of sunrises, and the mountains from our "breakfast nook". It makes me wish I was a morning person all the time! Unfortunately, we also have a nice view of the back of a slightly dumpy apartment complex, and an incredibly dumpy parking lot behind the house. Enter cafe curtains.

I made these when we first moved in because I loved the light, the blue sky, and the mountains. I couldn't find decent cafe curtains for sale though. They were all very... 90's. They were long, sheer white panels on sale at Target that I chopped in half, folded, ironed, and glued in place to make pockets. With a nice tension rod they are perfect. They are even high enough that no one can see in!

I also wanted to show you these. I made these pillows this fall with the help of Nana, one of Hubby's Grandma's near us. I wanted some pillow covers, and I was feeling unusually crafty. So we made 5 pillow covers that day! Originally I wanted a green pattern, but instead I grabbed some canvas, and called it good.

Anyway, after months I finally put the button closure on the long pillow. I sewed on the buttons, and used satin ribbon for the loops. I've also been busy doing other little projects- I have nephews coming soon! (I'll show you later so its a surprise to the Mommy)

New Project??

I found something AWESOME I want to try. Some of you may not think its awesome, but I think its super cute and would just be fun to have. Its a chalkboard globe! You paint the water and continents different colors then you can write on it! I love it.

Maybe someday.

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the other projects I finished this summer. I did indeed finish them, and I need to get some pictures up. They look awesome by the way...

Dear Mom

Mom, I don't think you read my blog regularly, so I'm confident that even though I'm making a post about your birthday present, you will still be surprised. Coming your way soon, inspired by this post.

Drat, the picture won't upload. But its some hand embroidered napkins. Mine will be Christmas themed. Happy birthday Mom!

Ugly Ducklings

Being unemployed this summer has given me ample time to work on various projects including these uglies. Alex spotted this one at a yard sale and dragged me over to see it. I've been looking for a chest like this for weeks!I love how one of the kids carved "MOM" above the ugly flower sticker thing. One of the back hinges has torn out of the wood (an easy fix with some wood glue and some longer screws) and its a little tall, but I think I'll rip off the bottom facade and give it some stubby round feet from home depot. It has a nice veneer, so I'm not sure if I'll paint it or stain it. Its also cedar lined. I'm very excited.
This ugly dresser and its taller 5-drawer mate was a freebie from our last landlord. Both are missing little from panels, and both have already been sanded, stained and painted. We also replaced the handles (already done in the pic).
I still need to seal both, but the overall is supposed to be like this dresser. Not an exact match of course, but much cheaper and still classy.

Garden

I'm pretty pleased at how my garden is coming along this year! We've made some significant improvements from last summer (ie. we have a hose instead of carrying water in a 5 gallon bucket...) which was a great learning experience. I also added several new flowers and veggies to the garden, and it has been wonderful and delicious so far.

In the ground this year we have:

Veggies-

Romaine lettuce

Baby leaf lettuce and something or other- the stuff you see in a spring mix salad form DOLE

Sugar snap peas

Nantes carrots

Danver carrots

Ft. Something strawberries

Armenian burpless cucumber

Black beauty zuchhini

Some giant pumpkin

Blue Lake Green Beans

Spicy globe basil

Beefsteak tomato

Early girl tomato

2 Roma tomatoes

All from seed this year but the Basil and Tomatoes! We'll try those when I have actual facilities... in 10 years or so....

Flowers-

California poppies

Dahlias (not sure which bulbs survived the thrashing from Luna this year, it was epic)

oodles of sunflowers of various varieties

Wildflowers from a seed packet from my Momma (I have cosmos, some other daisy, and it looks like Lupine coming up from those seeds, I'll let you know when they bloom!)

Bearded Irises

Daylillies

and other potted flowers

The Lettuce has been feeding us at least one good sized salad every day for the last 3 weeks, and its still going strong. I figure with the money we saved not buying heads of lettuce or pre-washed salad mixes we've already made up the money we spend on compost and starts and the hoe this year! That doesn't even include all the strawberries we got or the other things that aren't ready yet. (though the tomatoes are the size of grapes, and the sample carrot I picked yesterday was almost ready)

Everything seems to be growing just fine, and now that its all established, it doesn't mind the heat too much either. The biggest problem we've had so far was slugs- I had to plant my peas 3 times because the sluggies kept gnawing them all the way down. But we got some pet safe slug bait and they've done just fine.

Spring Break Thoughts: Garden

My garden is (mostly) coming along already, and I'm very excited. Though I do have an uninvited guest. Morning Glory might be the bane of my existence right now. There are some very pretty "domesticated"varieties that are sold in seed packets, but my nemesis is not pretty, is not an annual, and refuses to die from anything short of napalm (which I'm sure my brothers would obligingly concoct, but I want my house to stay standing). They are coming up because the main root system was never pulled out last year (thanks)...

Aside from this infestation, things are going well. I salvaged my strawberries from last year from the last house along with a Hosta, Jacob's ladder, and some Coral bells (I forgot the exact variety). These perennials are all doing well, and the strawberries have even flowered! mmm...

As far as seeds go I planted some California poppies that are coming up nicely, and just recently lettuce and carrots. The only things not coming up well are the sugar snap peas. Not sure if they're being strangled by morning glories or eaten by slugs. Maybe I'll start some indoors and see how they fair.

Projects

Mental note to add this one to the list for the near future. Making throw pillows! It just looks so easy and fun.
Click here for the project.

Repurposing

Along with my new obsession with DIY projects (none of which have happened yet. C'mon spring!) I've seen some really cool and creative ideas for repurposing old and perhaps beloved objects that don't get used in their 'normal' way. I thought this idea from Real Simple was so pretty!

Another thing I found (at the top of the closet in a dusty box) was a beautiful cakestand we got for our wedding that I never thought I'd find a use for and wanted to return forever. Well, not I'm in love with it being on my dresser. I'm using it basically for the same purpose as this picture frame, and the picture frame will be used as a tray on my side-board dresser. :)

This is fun! Its like shopping, but in dusty boxes in my own closet!

DIY

Thanks to my friend Amy, I've become addicted to the idea of some really cool DIY projects. DIY stands for dot-it-yourself fory those of you who don't know. She invited me to an ottoman fixing/headboard making party this friday, and I think if I can swing it I'll go.

This is definately the old fashioned method of motivation for me. I feel like my mom has hidden a toy on top of the fridge again and I can only have it when I do so many spelling asignment. (I was an abysmal speller as a kid, and very small so the top of the fridge was insurmountable)

Regardless, I'm now determined to make my own awesome ottoman with pillows to match. Something like the one on top, but a little more my style. Next stop- re-staining some dressers...