Domestic Observances

DIY King Sized Headboard

2012-11-26T12:00:00.000-06:00

We recently upgraded to a king sized bed. It's the Sultan Finnvick from Ikea if you're curious (I wanted the natural latex mattress but we couldn't justify the 700$ difference). We looked around for a headboard/bed and didn't find many king sized options for a reasonable price, so we decided to make a headboard. I was going to go the usual plywood route until Mike found that a 36x80 inch hollow core door was thicker, lighter, and the perfect length for a king sized headboard.

We cut 3 yards of 1/4 batting into 3 sheets and covered the door, stapling each layer as we went. I recommend using a pneumatic stapler over a staple gun as we need the extra power to get through all the layers.

After we attached the batting we covered the door in three yards of natural linen, scored for 40% off at Joann Fabrics. I liked how the staples almost look like tufting. We stapled the shit out of this thing to make sure it stayed tight.

We mounted the headboard on the wall with a French Cleat for 15$

Here's the finished product. We're planning on changing the bedding and adding some large Euro shams to match the proportion of the headboard. The whole project cost less than 100$ and took about an hour.

Fall in Photos

2012-11-25T13:20:00.000-06:00

It's crazy that it's already the end of November. These are from instagram so I'm sure some of you have seen them. Although I have aspirations of filling this blog with breathtaking artsy photos with my DSLR, that's just not going to happen. Instead these are my artsy instagram pics, taken in real life with the ol' iphone.

We decorated for the fall in my usual natural, minimalist way with gourds and a bouquet of fall flowers. I can't wait to have children to decorate the house for Halloween.

There were some rainy fall days where I took a go at making chai. The stovetop is the way to go. Olive is not as big a fan of rainy days as I am and requested I hold her during thunderstorms.

I started working as a real live nurse. Getting up at 5:15 and 12 hour shifts are taking some getting used to. More on this later.

We were able to have an early Thanksgiving with the family. It was perfect. There was plenty of food, drinks and shenanigans. It was warm enough for a fire. Goodbyes were harder for me this time as I wasn't able to tell my family when we would be together again. Christmas will be tough not be being home, but we'll make the best of it.

Now it's time for winter and Christmas. Mike's having surgery to repair a frayed labrum in his shoulder, so he'll be off work all of December. It'll be nice having him home. I start working overnights halfway through December, 12 hours, 3 nights a week. Another adjustment, but I think it'll be worth it.

How was your fall?

Meal Plan

2012-11-01T17:49:00.001-05:00

It's been about two and a half weeks since I started Weight Watchers and I'm happy to say I lost 7 lbs and am starting to feel less gross. It's been a little trying sticking to appropriate portion sizes, but being able to eat M&Ms and BBQ Popchips has helped me through. Here are some of the meals from this past week.

Fish tacos with Mexican Vegetable Soup

Pasta with Butternut Squash, Sage and Pine Nuts

Butternut Squash with Lentils and Goat Cheese

Vegetable Egg Rolls with Asian Vegetable Soup (I used a fresh stir fry mix for this)

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad with Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup (use 2 cans of pumpkin puree and 1 Tbsp of Curry instead of 2)

Also, Skinny Pumpkin Cookies