Predilections

Just One Little Light

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 12:00:00 +0000

I can't believe it has been almost a year since I last posted on this blog. 2016 was a rough year. Two of the hardest things I've had to deal with in my 40 years happened. I sent my oldest son off to college and we found out that my mom has stage III ovarian cancer (she only has a few weeks left of chemo and seems to be doing really well. The prognosis is good). Both of those things happening at the same time sent me into a serious funk.

Every time something big or exciting would happen--my 40th birthday, prom, a graduation party, drives across the country, among other--I would think, "I should blog about this". But I didn't. I struggled in 2016--especially the second half of the year. And strangely, even though my kids are all in school and growing up, somehow my days seem busier than ever. When I wasn't running my kids around to their various activities I spent a lot of time feeling sad and retreating to my room to hide under my blankets.

The new year felt like a fresh start to me. More so than any new year before that I can remember. After thinking long and hard about my word for the year, I finally found one that I was really excited about. My word for 2017 is "light".

So all of this is pretty much just to say that I started a new blog focused on light (because I am a blog addict and I always feel compelled to create a new space on the web that is just for whatever my current passion may be. I can't help myself). I am not abandoning this blog. I still have plans to post awesome things on it in the near future. I have actually really missed blogging. I'm going to use the new blog as a spot to share ways to spread light, experience light, embrace light, and be a light. I have some ideas I want to share regarding some opportunities for service that I am excited about. I also just want to share the little day to day things that are making my life more bright. I hope you will check it out: Just One Little Light.

See you soon.

15 Minute Meal: Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia with Avocado Cream

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Weeknight dinners are tough sometimes. With four boys in after school activities, sports, music and scouting I often just need to have something quick to make for dinner without buying Little Caesar's Hot N' Ready--again. I love it when I find a delicious dinner I can make in around 15 minutes. I love it even more if it's inexpensive.

Martha Stewart's cornmeal crusted tilapia has been a favorite around here for several years. We usually eat it plain with some sides or maybe a little salsa, but recently I discovered the perfect accompaniment to it: avocado cream. Avocado. Cream. Even the name sounds delicious and full of promise. Most of my family loved it, except for my son who doesn't like avocados and my husband who doesn't like sour cream (heretics!). Fair warning: if you don't like avocados or sour cream you're probably going to want to find a different recipe because you won't like this.

Avocado Cream* (adapted from Clean and Delicious)
Two ripe avocados, peeled and pitted
1/4 cup full fat sour cream (you can use 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt if you want to watch your fat and calories)
1 tablespoon lime juice (or 1/2 of a fresh lime, squeezed--I usually just use Nellie and Joe's Key West Lime juice which I always keep in my fridge)
1/2 teaspoon salt, give or take a little, to taste

Mash up the avocado until creamy and mostly smooth (a few lumps are fine) with a fork and stir in the sour cream, lime juice and salt until well blended and creamy.

Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia* (adapted from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food)
2 pounds tilapia, fresh or thawed from frozen (I buy mine at Aldi and it is very economical)
2/3 cups cornmeal
2 tablespoons paprika
salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt and about 1/4 teaspoon of pepper because my family aren't huge pepper fans)
6 tablespoons olive oil, divided.

Using a large frying pan or electric skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium high heat. In a shallow dish, combine cornmeal, paprika, salt and pepper with a fork or whisk until blended. Coat each side of the fish fillet in the cornmeal and place in the hot frying pan. (I fit five fillets in my electric skillet at once without crowding). Cook for three minutes. Flip. Cook for three minutes more or until golden brown and crispy. The texture should be firm and will flake a little when you cut into it. Remove to a warm plate. Repeat with second batch of fish.
This made 10 fish fillets. It served my family of six (four growing boys) with seconds for those who wanted them and no left-overs.

Quick Black Beans
1 can black beans rinse and drained
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
generous dash of cumin (to taste)
red pepper flakes (optional)

Place the beans in a small bowl. Microwave on high for one to two minutes or until heated through (microwave times vary). Stir in the garlic salt, olive oil and cumin. Serve with red pepper flakes on the side for those who like some heat. I made one can initially but these were received better than I thought they would be so I ended up making another batch. Why not? They only took a total of three minutes to make and were so, so easy.

Serve the tilapia, with a dollop of avocado cream and a side of the beans. You can serve it with a salad, or steamed vegetable, or you can add a side of rice to the meal too if you'd like. Even with all that you can still have a delicious, healthy and well-balanced dinner on the table in about 15 to 20 minutes.

Happy eating!

*You could easily halve both the avocado cream and tilapia recipes for a smaller family.

An Old Irish Blessing for St. Patrick's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Glengesh Pass, County Donegal, Ireland. I drove on that little winding road. Amazing!

Here's a free 8x10 print of an old Irish blessing as a St. Patrick's Day present from me to you. Check out my other free stuff here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Erin Go Bragh.

St. Patrick's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000

A little bouquet of shamrocks that Joel brought me on St. Patrick's Day a few years ago.

St. Patrick's day is just a couple of days away. I love St. Patrick's Day--it's my Irish roots, I think. Our tradition is to have a corned beef, cabbage and boiled potato dinner (and in more recent history colcannon) with Irish soda bread and to watch "Waking Ned Devine" (a perennial family favorite ever since we first saw it back in 1999 or 2000).

I wish I could be back in County Donegal this St. Patrick's Day.

Or Dublin. I'd be happy to be in Dublin too.

A few years ago I made the best soda bread (even if the recipe isn't the most authentic one out there). It reminded me of traditional English scones. I heard somewhere that this sweeter version of soda bread is considered a tea bread and maybe wouldn't normally be eaten with a meat and potatoes supper, but we often make our own rules around here.

I looked at the soda bread at the local grocery store bakery out of curiosity. It was over $4.00 a loaf and it didn't look very good either. This recipe is easy to make, has a nice texture, isn't dry at all and has a great flavor.

I keep thinking I need to not wait a whole year before we have it again. Would you like some? Here's the recipe:

Irish Soda Bread

3 1/4 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cut up

1 1/3 cups buttermilk

1/2 to 1 cup currants (my store didn't have them so I used dried cranberries but you could use raisins too)

1 Tbsp. sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix first five ingredients (sift or stir together with a fork). Using a pastry blender, mix in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk just until moistened. Stir in currants.

Turn dough out onto a well floured board and knead ten times. Shape into a round loaf about 2 1/2" thick and cut a deep cross in the top with a sharp knife. Sprinkle loaf with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake on a greased cookie sheet or on a baking stone for one hour or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack before cutting into wedges and serving with real butter if desired. Yum.

Yeah, that's me and James Joyce in Dublin.

Now if only I had a peat fire, I could curl up with James Joyce and be completely happy. Erin go bragh.

A little Irish wisdom for you in parting.

Five Things I'm Loving This Friday (Episode 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 20:55:00 +0000

I had a little down time today and decided to share some more Friday favorites.

1. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS.
My friend Danielle sent me a link to "Stressed Out" by TWENTY ØNE PILØTS a few weeks ago and I have listened to a bunch of their stuff since then. I'm digging the pop-punk vibe of this band. It doesn't hurt that they hail from my high school home state of Ohio. Also check out their songs, "House of Gold" and "Tear in my Heart". Disclaimer: the latter two music videos are a little weird but the music is definitely catchy.

Source.

2. Men's Fashion.
In the last year or so I have discovered that I love men's fashion. Is this weird? Maybe, but as ZZ Top wisely observed, "every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man." I guess I can't speak for every girl, but I love seeing my husband and sons dressed up. When we went to the UK I noticed that European men are really well dressed as a general rule. I started a Pinterest board several months ago for fashion advice and ideas to share with my husband and just recently I started following a couple of men's fashion Instagrammers (@chrismehan; @jtjaarda; @callmemistersteven). Did you know "#chestie" is a thing? I was slightly hesitant to check out that hashtag (as you might imagine), but I was pleasantly surprised to see the whole feed was lots of headless torso shots of men wearing dapper bow ties, crisp button down shirts, pocket squares, cuff links, stick pins and nicely tailored jackets. Like these:

Source.

Also we randomly started getting a Charles Tyrwhitt catalog in the mail and I'm in love.

3. Podcasts.

Okay. So, I love these every day. This is no secret. I've shared some of my podcast love before but here are a few more that I've discovered and am enjoying:
99% Invisible
The Memory Palace
The LifeBeats Project
I like podcasts because I can put them on while I'm dong otherwise mundane work like cleaning my room or folding laundry and I feel like I'm learning something.

4. Vintage Photography.
This appeals to my love of history and my love of photography so I've enjoyed perusing a few vintage photo sites in my spare time lately. I love it when I come across gems like these. . .

Targa the elephant disembarks from the circus train in the Bronx as most of her young visitors watch (1963). |Photographer Paul Rice. Source.

The pet fawn of Brad Curry of Galesburg, MI watches him depart from home every morning on his school bus (1960) | Photographer: UPI Telephoto. Source

and this:

Dapper skater in 1937. Source.

5. Easter Candy.
Easter candy > all other candy. This is truth. Don't try to dispute me on it. I pretty much love it all--Cadbury Creme Eggs (don't hate. I've found that a lot of people think these are gross, but I LOVE them), jelly beans (I'm partial to the Jelly Belly variety), malted Robin's Eggs, Reese's Eggs, Peeps, marshmallow eggs, those carrot shaped packages of orange Reese's Pieces. . .

I even tried the weird carrot cake flavored Hershey's Kisses and they aren't half bad. Confession: yesterday I ate a good quarter of a bag of SweetTart jelly beans and found myself feeling ill and craving broccoli afterwards, but Easter comes but once a year so I have to get my fix while I can.

Other Stuff I'm Loving:
Laughing at this guy
Loving this spiritual enlightenment
Giggling over this Etsy store
Re-watching this on Netflix. Again.
Imagining I'm real life friends with the writer of this blog.

New Beginnings: Adventures in Young Women

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 14:00:00 +0000

New Beginnings is an annual event at our church for all young women (ages 12 to 18) and their parents (and any girls who will be turning 12 in the coming calendar year) to help them learn about the Young Women program. We don't have any new young women joining us this year so we decided to keep our New Beginnings program simple.

Our young women are all very young, so rather than placing the responsibility of carrying out the event solely on them, we gave them half a dozen themes to choose from. We all shared ideas for decorations, food and what the program should entail and how we could relate it all to the chosen theme

The Invitations: The theme the girls decided on was "Adventure". They helped with planning, decorating, and refreshments. I made invitations and decided to look at the Indiana Jones Trilogy (I say trilogy because The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull doesn't count--Aliens, Steven Spielberg? Really? Aliens?) for inspiration.

The Young Women with some of the props from the skit. The Young Womanhood Medallion in the purple velvet box accidentally got obscured by one the crepe paper vines. Oops.

I couldn't resist sneaking this cute picture of my son into this post.

The Program: We began the program with an opening hymn and prayer. I gave a brief introduction and then we jumped right into the skit. Afterwards we asked the bishop to say a few encouraging words to the Young Women and then we had a closing prayer and refreshments.

The Skit: During one of our Wednesday night activities, the young women and leaders collaborated on a fun skit to tell about the different classes in the Young Women program, and to explain a little about Personal Progress. We tried to incorporate some of the Young Women values and address some of the issues young women encounter with Personal Progress as well. My first counselor, Hannah, took on the job of coming up with a cohesive way to put it all together. She did most of the writing (with a few edits from me) which was a big undertaking and I think she did a fantastic job. You can read it below:

Adventures in Young Women

Characters:

--Narrator: A Leader

--Nevada Miller: A Young Woman

--Alaska Smith: A Young Woman

--Wyoming Johnson: A Young Woman

--Utah White: A Young Woman

--Discouragement (Enemy of Personal Progress #1): A Young Man

--Laziness (Enemy of Personal Progress #2): Another Young Man

--Young Women President

Props:

--The Young Women Torch

--A pedestal (we used a wooden carved plant stand)

--The Young Womanhood Medallion

--A canvas satchel containing: a map labeled “Patriarchal Blessing”, a compass labeled “Scriptures”, a walkie talkie labeled “Prayer”, and a miniature temple or representation of one such as a photo

--A Sword and Shield labeled “Testimony” and “Virtue”

--Signs for Enemies of Personal Progress to wear: “Discouragement” and “Laziness”

--Several different necklaces (at least a dozen or so)

--Plastic skull

--Scene Change Cards (optional)

Episode One: The Beehives and the Raiders of the Lost Medallion

Narrator: We join our heroes, the Beehives: Nevada Miller, Alaska Smith, Wyoming Johnson and Utah White, on their Personal Progress quest. As these Beehives enter the Young Women program they begin to learn how to work together in harmony as they strengthen their faith and stand for truth and righteousness. This is a time to arise and shine forth (Utah White grabs the YW torch and holds it for the rest of the skit). They see the end of the journey in the young womanhood recognition medallion.

Young women enter, and pause about halfway to the front of the room. They see the pedestal with the medallion.

Alaska: So what was it we were looking for again?

Wyoming: The Young Womanhood Recognition Medallion? Or something. It's said that we can only get it when we finish our Personal Progress, but I heard our leaders saying that they keep it in here to keep the young men away from it.

Nevada: Yeah, I heard a couple of years ago they tried to make off with it and that's why they have their own program now, instead of just scouts.

Alaska: So where it is supposed to be?

Utah: I heard the leaders talking about how they keep it in a cave (holds the torch aloft looking around).

Alaska: A cave?

Wyoming: (In passing, matter-of-factly) Yeah, our leaders are really weird.

The young women walk further into the room.

Nevada: Is it that? (points at the pedestal with the medallion in the center of the room).

Utah: Must be. There isn't anything else in here.

Utah dramatically tries to take the medallion; all get chased out of the room by a boulder (exercise ball rolled by one of the leaders).

Episode 2: The Mia Maids and the Temple of God (before reentering the room, the Young Women arm themselves with the sword and shield located in the hallway)

Narrator: Mia Maids learn about love, faith, and purity as they strengthen their testimony and accept and act on the young women values.

Girls rush in through other door as if still running from the boulder.

Utah: That was close.

Wyoming: Almost too close. I didn't realize there was this much work involved to get the medallion. Good thing we found this cool stuff (motions to sword of testimony and shield of virtue). I have a feeling it might come in handy on this journey.

Nevada: For sure. Let's just rest for a bit and try again.

The young women begin chatting quietly. The Enemies of Personal Progress, Discouragement and Laziness, slink into the room unnoticed by the girls.

My two oldest sons played the Enemies of Personal Progress in our skit. They were good sports. Also, I bribed them with food.

Alaska: Is this all really worth it? I look at my book and the experiences left to do I get so overwhelmed that I still have so much left to accomplish.

Discouragement: So why don't you just quit? It's not like it's all that important...

Laziness joins in and both ad lib, continuing to try to convince the young women to quit working on Personal Progress. Nevada takes out the sword of testimony and battles Discouragement and Laziness and wins, chasing them out of the room. She rejoins the group, exhausted but triumphant.

Utah: Wow. That was another close one. This isn’t easy, but like our scripture theme for this year says, we must "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men" if we want eternal life and that young womanhood medallion.

Wyoming: Look. I’ve got some tools here to help us on our adventure (she reaches into the satchel and hands each of the young women and object: a map--patriarchal blessing, a compass--scriptures and a walkie talkie--prayer).

Alaska: These are just what we need! I also think we should make time for a temple trip before we continue on our journey.

Wyoming: Great idea! I always feel better after I go there (she pulls out miniature temple or picture of the temple and holds it up for all to see).

All agree and exit together.

Episode 3: The Laurels and the Last Crusade

Narrator: The journey nears its end as the young women finish their preparations to make and keep sacred covenants in the temple. In this Last Crusade through all their hard work, the young women will receive that holy grail of the program, The Young Womanhood Recognition Medallion. They have found that to reach this ultimate goal they must follow in the footsteps of Jehovah, be penitent and take giant leaps of faith along the way.

Girls enter through back door and walk to the front. They find their Young Women President standing by a table full of necklaces and different medallions (a quick scene change occurs when the young women exit at the end of scene two).

Young Women President: One of the Young Women values is Choice and Accountability. You must choose, but beware-- (holds up plastic skull) the last young woman that was here, chose poorly.

The young women come forward to look at the choices and ad lib debating which is the correct necklace. After a little discussion, they notice the Young Womanhood medallion and remark on the picture of the temple on it. They decide that must be the correct choice. They present their choice to the Young Women president.

Young Women President: You chose wisely.

Cheering. The young women hug each other and give high fives before galloping off into the sunset.

Narrator: The Young Women program is an adventure. It can be a challenge at times, but young women can experience true joy as they stand as witnesses of God, strive to live the young women values, prepare to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple and enjoy the blessings of exaltation. What an incredibly happy ending!

Fin.

On they go to vanquish the foe!

The Decorations: I brought some ~~junk~~ artifacts that one might see in Professor Jones's office or on one of his adventures from my house and we used them as simple decorations to set the stage: a lantern, topiary, plastic skull, vintage camera, a couple of souvenirs my husband brought home with him after living in Chile for two years, a rock with a face that my little boys had in their rock collection, and a couple of fossils. We covered the table with simple brown paper and we snagged the old bedraggled world map from the church library and hung it above the refreshment table as a nod to Indiana's world travels. The young women were excited to make paper gems a few weeks earlier. They put them all over the room and hung crepe paper vines.

The Food: I love having fun with the food when we're doing themed events. The young women and leaders had lots of great ideas and my second counselor, Liz, did a large part of the food preparation and even made cute little signs labeling things so people could see how different things on the menu tied into our theme. Liz is an excellent cook and has even done catering before so all her food was deliciously on point. The young women and leaders made some contributions to the refreshments as well, but Liz gets major props for all her hard work.

Our Menu:

Quicksand (Vanilla Pudding with Vanilla Wafer crumbs) and Whipped Cream--"Don't SINK Below Your Potential" and "WHIP Your Testimony into Shape"
Black Forest Cake--"Beware the PITfalls of Satan"
Shrimp Dip with Crackers--"Don't SHRIMP on Personal Progress"
Hot Ham and Cheese Sliders--"Don't Let Your Scripture Study Slide"
Ants on a Log--Remember all those bugs in The Temple of Doom? Ew. Also there are the killer ants in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but we're not counting that movie, remember? ;)
Warheads--"Be a SOURvivor"
Gummy Worms--a reference to the snake pit in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana's fear of snakes (because gummy worms are more readily available than gummy snakes).
Ring Pops and Chocolate Gold Coins--because every adventure needs treasure!
Kool-aid--"Cultivate a Thirst for Knowledge"

These paper straws I had in my stash looked like mini dart blowers.

The event was a lot of fun and a great success. I so appreciated both of my counselors really stepping up for this event. The young women loved it because they got to play such a big role in the planning and execution of it. It really gave them ownership and pride in how well everything turned out. We decided to share it all--skit, menu, decorations, everything--with the hopes that someone else out there can benefit from our ideas and hard work. Hooray for Adventures in Young Women!

Mormon Prom

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 14:00:00 +0000

The last weekend in February was the Mormon Prom. It was big dance for all the youth ages 14 to 18 from our church all across upstate New York from the Buffalo Stake on the west to Albany Stake on the east. There were a lot of kids (I heard estimates of upwards of 350) there and it made me happy to see them all together having a great time, in a safe and uplifting environment.

There was dancing, food, a games room, a photographer, and a service project for people to participate in when they needed a rest from dancing. One of the kids from our congregation invited a couple of friends from the school football team so Joel hung out with his football squad for the evening. I asked Seth if he wanted to invite some school friends, but most of them were on their senior trip to Florida (which we passed on because it cost almost as much as a semester of college at Seth's first choice school) but he found some very cool kids to hang out with and I think it took his mind off missing all the fun with his school friends.

I tagged along as a chaperone and was lucky to get to spend most of the evening visiting with one of my best friends from when we lived in Rochester.

Football squad.

Brothers.

Several of the boys were a little shy about dancing at first but after awhile they loosened up and had a great time.

These kids were best friends when we lived in Rochester. My friend Danielle, reminded me that they were 6 months, 18 months and 3 years old when our families first met and now they are in high school. It was so fun to see them all together again.

It was soul renewing to get to visit with one of my dearest friends, Danielle. We missed our friend, Amy. The three of us together are an unbeatable trifecta.

The youth could take a break from dancing and tie fleece blankets for the elderly and sick children.

I loved this picture. I borrowed it from some kid that I don't even know. I really hope he doesn't mind.

I'm trying to soak in every moment I have with my boys. Seeing how fast the years have flown by has made me realized that all the cliches about kids growing up too fast are absolutely true. Seth will be going off to college this fall and even though that's the goal and what you want for your kids--for them to grow up and be independent adults--it is still heart-breaking in a very real way. But let's not think about that because I don't feel like bawling right now. Let's think about how handsome my boys are and how grateful I am for the good friends and this fun experience they were able to have.

Limits Unknown

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Here is the last of three prints that I made for my younger boys' room that I promised to share.

8x10 inspired by The Killers and Pendleton Woolen Mills National Parks Blankets.

Back at the beginning of the school year we chose The Killers song "Be Still" as our theme for this school year. I love the lyrics of this song. It is full of messages that I want my kids to internalize: life is hard; there are people who will try to drag you down but you can rise above all that; you have infinite worth; remember who you are and stay true to that; you are special.

It also reminds me that my kids will be on their own all too soon and I need to take this time to teach them and prepare them for the world. If you haven't heard it before, give it a listen. I love it and I think it is really beautiful. The whole Battle Born album is fantastic. The Killers have become one of my favorite bands.

So there you have three prints that you could use to make a nice little grouping on a bedroom wall. It's like a ready made gallery wall starter kit. You can download these prints free for personal use. Please don't post them on your own site. Showing a photograph of a room you have decorated with them is fine (I'd love to see what you do if you use them) but please give proper credit and send people here to my blog for the downloads. Just right click the image and save as. I usually save to my desktop so I can find whatever I've saved easily. Don't forget to check out my other free creations here.

Buffalo Plaid Buffalo Print

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Here is the second of three prints that I made for my younger boys' room that I promised to share.

5x7 inspired by The B52s and America's National Parks

I've been a little obsessed with buffalo plaid lately so I thought why not make a buffalo plaid buffalo. My 8 year old made sure to point out to me that this is actually a bison. Yeah, I know buddy. Thanks. Our family has spent quite a bit of time at several national parks. We love them and have happy memories of those times so I wanted this little print to be a kind of reminder of that.

If you want to share this, please give proper credit and send people here to my blog for the download. Just right click the image and save as. I usually save to my desktop so I can find whatever I've saved easily. Don't forget to check out my other free creations here.

Don't Grow Up Print

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Here is the first of three prints that I made for my younger boys' room that I promised to share.

8x10 inspired by my youngest's love of Peter Pan and this.

It's too late for my older boys--they are full blown teenagers--but I'm determined to keep my younger boys young for as long as possible.

If you want to share this, please give proper credit and send people here to my blog for the download. Just right click the image and save as. I usually save to my desktop so I can find whatever I've saved easily. Don't forget to check out my other free creations here.

Teen Boys' Room Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 21:35:00 +0000

I saved the best for last.

Just kidding. Out of all the rooms in our house I have done the least in this room (other than putting a hole in their ceiling with a broomstick handle because I wanted to see what was under the ceiling tiles).

I've honestly been kind of dreading sharing this room because it needs so much attention. On the other hand, there's probably more potential here than anywhere else because I haven't done hardly anything.

Figuring out how to decorate a room for two teenagers who are just about as opposite as brothers can be adds a whole new dimension to the challenge of designing for boys. So, consider these the "before" pictures and hopefully in a couple of months I will have some impressive "after" pictures of their space to share.

Like the other bedrooms, this room is pretty small. Because of the size, there isn't really an alternative furniture arrangement that works. Two beds, a nightstand, and a dresser pretty much take up the whole room.

Looking into the room from the hallway.

The cinder block bookcase is a temporary solution for some of the boys books. We needed the bookcase to be small because access to the attic is also in this little corner (behind the bifold doors to the left). I thought I should get my oldest son ready for being a poor college student since he will be graduating this year and heading to college in the fall. Ha. I already had the wood so it cost me less than $5 to make it. It isn't beautiful but it is functional. I'm calling it dorm room chic.

The beds are also cheap. They are just frames with mattresses. No box springs. They are almost more like cots, but they are reasonably comfortable because we got decent mattresses. The boys' room before we moved had bunk beds, but the bunk beds did not fit in this little room so we had to come up with an affordable solution at a time when we had just spent all our money on buying a house. Eventually I'd like to get some real twin beds with headboards. That almost seems downright extravagant. ;)

The room needs to be taken down to the studs. The walls are textured plaster over paneling. My oldest son calls it "hideous". The room is painted a pastel yellow that I actually kind of like, but it isn't a hit with my teenagers. I had an American flag hanging on the wall behind the dresser to hide a crack that runs pretty much the whole height of the wall but I took it down not long ago and put up the picture of the ship instead.

The dresser is in dire need of refinishing and it is on the short list of things I want to do in the house soon. It was a thrift store purchase by a friend who then handed it down to us when she moved so it is old and worn and looks awful in it's current condition, but I think it has some potential.

You can see a little of the texture (and the crack I mentioned) in the above photo.

The floating shelves were here when we moved in. They aren't my favorite. At one point someone put something too heavy on the bottom shelf and it started to pull the shelf off the wall just a little bit so now I always feel like everything on it is going to slide off and give my 14 year old a concussion in his sleep. I put some books on it for the photos, but I'll probably take them off before he goes to bed tonight. Ha ha. When we rip out the walls we'll take them down and may end up putting them back up or replacing them with something else.

The ceiling is a dropped ceiling like the rest of the house, but as I mentioned before it has a hole in it. When I knocked the hole in it I was hoping that the wooden floor from the attic would just be underneath because that could make a pretty cool looking ceiling, but it looks like that isn't the case.

My favorite things about the room are the wool Italian army blankets that I bought from an army surplus place for their beds.

I also like the little table between the beds that I sanded down and painted with olive green milk paint last year. The rest needs serious help.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Unlike all the other tours of my house that I have shared up to this point, I am not actually going to share all the changes I want to make in this room because I think it will make a more dramatic surprise when I share the finished room. I was stuck for awhile but I have started to get a pretty good idea of what I want to do. I am, however, open to suggestions if you have any great ideas you want to share with me.

That concludes the tour of our 1920s Cape Cod home. In a few months when the weather warms up I'll share a tour of our walk-up attic (don't get too excited--it's an attic) and our yard. I hope you've enjoyed these glimpses into our living space. Make sure to check back here on the blog often for updates to the rooms I've shared here, plus lots of other stuff too. I'll be sharing some of the prints I made for the younger boys' room in the next week or so.

Younger Boys' Bedroom Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 20:58:00 +0000

I've been on a mission to make the younger boys' bedroom a little more grown up. I have a lot of things I'd still like to do in here but the first thing I wanted to do was to update their gallery wall. I had a bunch of art on the wall and it was cute but it was also really young.

GALLERY WALL BEFORE

It was the same stuff that I had had on the wall since my youngest was 4 (he's 8 now) and my second youngest was 7 (he's 11). It was time.

GALLERY WALL AFTER

I'm still in the process of tweaking this a bit. I'm not sure how I feel about the ampersand and the star--I was wanting to tie some of the colors in one of the prints together, but I don't know if they work or not. I might just paint them both black. I'd also like to replace the photo I took at Acadia National Park (in the center) with an Ansel Adams print.

I tried to involve my boys in making choices for what kinds of things they'd like on their wall. I also wanted to use the nail holes that already existed in the wall. The result is a pretty eclectic assortment of art that kind of took on a life of its own as I tried to add in various requests and make everything look cohesive and balanced. I made four of the prints on the wall and I will share them eventually, the rest is a hodgepodge of stuff I found on Pinterest and stuff I already had.

When we moved in there was this odd little corner in the room. I decided it would be perfect for a built in desk so my husband helped me build one.

The idea was that my kids could sit here to do their homework. More often than not it becomes a place to pile junk, or to sit and make origami finger puppets (my 11 year old's latest obsession) but I'm still holding out hope that they will use it for its intended purpose one day.

Aren't these Hardy Boys books great? They are part of a larger collection that a friend gave us when we lived in Rochester. I love them.

I found the shadow box frame on clearance for $5 so I filled it with a bunch of stuff from my boys' rock and fossil collection. It was all just sitting in a box and now they can enjoy it a little more.

I'll eventually replace the cork board with a larger one. This is one that I just already had in the basement. The shelf with the colorful canvas bins might also be getting a makeover to help it look a little more grown up. I haven't exactly figured out what I'm going to do yet, but I have ideas. I had all the boys' hats on the pegs but they are home from school on winter break this week so the hats didn't even stay on the pegs long enough to act as a photo prop. I found the red folding chair in the basement when we moved in. It was gross, but I cleaned it up and it makes a nice distressed, vintage chair for the desk.

To the left of the desk is the closet. I stuck the dresser in there because why not. It fits and it frees up more space in the room for my kids to play.

Keep looking to the left.

I like this poster, but I have plans for a map wall here in the future.

Our pet snake, Sir Hiss-A-Lot, lives on top of this bookcase by the window. Snakes are my favorite pet because I am not the best pet owner and this one doesn't require anything from me other than to fill his water occasionally. My husband takes care of the feeding and stuff.

My boys have bunk beds and while they are great for space they are a pain in the neck to make. These beds are made to also work unbunked, but we just don't have the space in this room so this is how they will stay at least until an older brother grows up and moves out of the house (don't get the wrong impression--I'm sad about this, but I know it is coming very soon). My boys also seem to like sleeping with their heads away from the wall for some reason which seems upside down to me, but I'll humor them for now. There is a bedding update happening soon so keep your eyes open in the future for that.

This little bookcase will probably get a paint job sometime soon. I love yellow, but it almost seems too juvenile for what I'm going for in the rest of the room.

The room is a work in progress, but like I have said before, I have to make these improvements just a little bit at a time:
--Replace paneled walls with drywall and replace ceiling
--Install overhead lighting
--Paint walls and window casing
--Window treatment
--New bedding
--Tweak gallery wall
--Paint/update some of the furniture (yellow bookcase, wall shelf, etc.)
--Map wall on small wall above snake terrarium

Boys rooms are definitely a challenge for me. I have four boys so you'd think I'd be a natural at this but nope.

Upstairs Bathroom Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 20:06:00 +0000

We have one bathroom upstairs. That might not sound like much for a family of six but with the other bathroom downstairs we manage just fine.

This is definitely the girliest room in the house. I bought the shower curtain years ago when I was feeling overwhelmed by all the blue in my life and the rest of the room follows suit.

To the left as you enter the bathroom is the sink:

The vanity cabinet has only ever been primed so I need to paint it.

I love the beadboard, the fancy mirror/medicine cabinet, and the vintage wall sconces. They go well with the shabby chic vibe I already had going with my pink toile shower curtain.

And to the right when you enter the bathroom is the shower:

Behind the shower curtain is an avocado green tub and some tile that is in desperate need of re-grouting. It isn't very attractive. I didn't think you really needed to see it. You can take my word for it.

Between the shower and the outside wall is the toilet:

I love my HIS and HERS towels that my mom made for us. Aren't they fun?

Across from the toilet there is a little cubby hole shelf area for towels and stuff, and a laundry basket:

This little curio cabinet (above) is just sitting on the floor right now until I decide on a permanent home for it. I don't love it here but it is functional and not unattractive so for now it is fine there.

That's it--my shabby chic, pink and brown, upstairs bathroom with the 70s avocado bath tub. What do you think?

Short term updates:
--Re-grout shower tile
--Caulk around tub and fixtures
--Paint vanity cabinet
--Paint around windows
--New curtains (the current ones are okay but one of them is stained from where a mud dauber wasp -built a nest ON the curtain last summer when it found a way through the window screen).
--Find a spot for the curio cabinet
--Refresh wall and ceiling paint in a few spots as needed

Dream home updates:
--Knock out the little cubby wall and expand the vanity area to allow for double sinks.
--Get rid of the avocado tile and tub altogether and replace with something more updated.
--Replace the floor that was water damaged when one of my children (who shall remain nameless) flooded the bathroom two Thanksgivings ago by plugging the sink, leaving the water running, and shutting the door so no one knew what was going on until water started pouring through the living room ceiling.
--Replace the tile ceiling with a drywall one.
--New overhead light fixture/fan.

Master Bedroom Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 19:58:00 +0000

We got 27+ inches of snow last night so it is a snow day here. I love snow days (at least this is what I keep telling myself to distract myself from the fact that the weather is horrible, we have more than two feet of snow and my husband was in a car accident last night because the roads weren't plowed). I love cozying up in my home with no where to go and no place to be. It seems like a good day to share the first upstairs room on the tour of our 1920s cape cod cottage.

When we were looking at this house the realtor called it a one and a half story (which is a little misleading in my opinion since the top floor has ceiling heights to match the downstairs). However, the top story only extends to over the kitchen/dining room and not the full depth of the house. We have three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. All the bedrooms are a little on the small side.

The master bedroom is the first room to the right at the top of the stairs. It isn't fancy like I often think master bedrooms should be, but it is comfortable and restful and cute and those are all important things too.

The first thing you see looking into the room is our dresser. It was a curb-shopping purchase when we lived in Rochester ($0.00). One man's trash and all that. I have plans to paint it and replace the hardware. This is one project I am kind of eager to tackle (unlike the China cabinet in the living room which intimidates me).

I made the bench in wood shop in 8th grade. I was inspired by many of the rooms in bed and breakfasts we stayed in last summer in the UK and decided to put a little herbal tea station on the bench. Someday I will buy myself an electric tea pot so I don't have to schlep hot water up the stairs, but this works for now.

I sewed the curtains. They are cheap, simple rod pocket curtains. I didn't even bother lining them because that would have been too complicated for my limited sewing skills, but I love the large red and white check. Someday I might replace them with something more expensive/quality.

There are two closets in this bedroom. My husband calls them the Carroll and Tolkien closets ("The Hobbit" closet--pictured above; and the "Through the Looking Glass" closet--to the right of the Hobbit closet). I'm not going to lie. I kind of hate the mirrored closet doors, but until they aren't functional any more they will probably remain.

The rug is from Aldi (yes, the grocery store--I love that place but that's a post for a different day). I think I paid $10. The bed is from IKEA. It is one of the few furniture purchases we have actually made during our marriage. Everything is cheap but functional.

The bookcase next to the bed serves as my nightstand right now. I'd like something different eventually. Matching nightstands perhaps? My apple lamp (as one of my kids calls it) was $2.00 on clearance at Target. Two. Dollars. Good deals make me giddy.

This painting was done by my great aunt Lois Black and was a gift from my Grandma Carter. She (Aunt Lois) had some stuff in the Springville Art Museum in Utah at one time (I don't know if it's still there or not. Does someone in Utah want to go check for me?). I don't know where this scene is supposed to be but sometimes when I am feeling like I need to get away I will lay on my bed and look at it and pretend I am there and it calms me a little bit.

Via The Black Apple (from my friend Kitty).

Heasley Mill Phone Box, Devon, UK. Photo by me, Jill Dunn.

I have a couple of other little things on the walls--a card that my friend gave me before I moved that I popped into a frame and an enlargement of a photo I took in Devon last summer. A cute primitive style needlework picture is beside the bookcase on my side of the bed and my back scratcher is there right within reach.

I don't have a lot of changes that I'd like to make to the master bedroom, but there are a few:
--new ceiling and overhead light fixture
--eventually replace paneling with drywall and replace crown molding
--matching nightstands
--paint dresser
--paint window casing? Update curtains/curtain rod
--Closet updates

That's it for the master bedroom. Simple and sweet. Now I'm going to go crawl under the covers because I'm freezing.

Family Room Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 17:43:00 +0000

I like for the things in my house to have a story and our family room does a better job of that than just about any other room in my house. I love the natural light in this room from all the windows. We hang out here a lot. It is comfortable and homey. We keep a few blankets on hand in the winter so we can snuggle up on the couch and watch Netflix or have family movie nights. It's a good life.

The photos above are taken standing in the dining room and looking into the room. At some point I'd like to get an accent/area rug and a coffee table to go inside the U of the sectional, but for now we get a lot of use out of the ottoman. Below is the gallery wall that is to the left (south) when you are standing facing west (towards the large windows).

Items on the gallery wall represent places we've lived and experiences we've had. When our friends gave us the brown sectional it took up most of the room (not complaining! We love it. We needed the seating and it is very comfortable and cozy) so it was important to me to inject some personality into the room and I thought a gallery wall would be a great way to make that happen.

The two western paintings have stories of their own too. We purchased the one on the left in Wall Drug, South Dakota on our transcontinental road trip a couple of years ago. The painter is Harvey Dunn (not sure if he's a relation or not). The cowboy roping the calf on the right is an original that my husband got for his birthday several years ago. Both paintings remind me of our pioneer and western heritage.

Here's the view looking into our back yard. We only have a couple of trees, but I love them. Sometimes on winter days when the sun is shining I just want to lay on the couch and bask in it like a lizard as it comes through these windows.

The back door leads out onto a deck. We get a lot of traffic through this door so carpet is not an ideal floor choice for this space. As I mentioned in the blog about the front entry, I love slate tile. I'm not sure how cost effective that would be in a space this size. Probably not very. If we went with tile or hardwood I would put a large area rug in the room for warmth.

The closet doors have been broken almost since we moved in. They are a pain to deal with so I've toyed with the idea of just taking them off altogether. It might be fun to convert this closet into a little craft nook or office area. We don't need the space for coats, but the shelves inside are great for housing board games and DVDs. If I leave the doors on they will need to be replaced with something better eventually. Another possibility is to convert this into the pantry that I don't have in the kitchen. I haven't decided what I want to do yet.

Above are a couple of pictures of the view from the couch looking towards the kitchen/dining room. I wouldn't say our house has an open floor plan, but it is pretty open nevertheless. When you are sitting in the middle of the couch you can see all the way to the entry at the front of the house so it does a pretty good job of helping us feel like we're all together when the family is all home (and downstairs).

I would love to move this bookcase and install some floating shelves in this little corner. That is one of the projects that I will probably end up doing first in this room because I think it will be fairly cost-effective. I don't mind the blue paint, but I will probably paint this room eventually too. No rush on any of the projects. It is a functional room as it is.

List of eventual improvements I'm considering for this space:
--Built in shelves on the wall where the tall bookcase is
--Replace carpeting; slate tile or hardwood with a large area rug for warmth?
--Paint
--Coffee table
--Replace closet doors
--Convert closet to a craft nook, small office area, or pantry
--More???

What changes would you make in this space?

This concludes the tour of the first level of our home. The three bedrooms and upstairs bathroom are next on the agenda.

Laundry Room/ Downstairs Bathroom Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 18:54:00 +0000

The first room I did anything to when we moved into our house was the laundry room/downstairs bathroom. I wish I had taken a before picture because I've actually done quite a bit in here.

The room was painted yellow, but it was a little too bright and had too much green in it so it almost bordered on fluorescent. The wall behind the washer and dryer was just white and there was a smallish (around a foot wide), coated wire shelf screwed to the wall. There was a large hole that was cut in the drywall for the washer hose and dryer vent to go through into the basement. The wall where the hooks are now had a large industrial looking metal hook that was partially coated with orange vinyl. The shower is that goldenrod color that was popular in the 70s and there wasn't really any window treatment to speak of other than the mini blinds. The flooring is the same laminate flooring that is throughout the rest of the downstairs (except for the family room). It was all as ugly as it sounds. Maybe more so. Not anymore.

My bathroom redo started with a yellow shower curtain that I found on clearance. I think I maybe paid $7.00 for it. I knew replacing the goldenrod shower wasn't feasible so I decided to work with it instead of fighting against it.

The first thing we did was paint. I feel like I need yellow because of how gray it is here all the time. I love yellow, but I love warm, buttery shades and the florescent yellow wasn't cutting it for me. Around a year and a half ago, the sister missionaries from church wanted to come and help paint for some of their service hours so I put them to work. They got a great start on it for me and then I finished up after they had to leave.

I wanted to do something interesting behind the washer and dryer. I looked at wallpaper on line, but it can be pretty pricey. I ended up wallpapering the wall with some $3.00 wrapping paper from TJ Maxx. It was a nice thick wrapping paper so I just decided I would go for it and try it out. If it didn't work I was only out $3.00 and the cost of the wallpaper paste. I purchased a bottle of roll-on wallpaper paste at the home improvement store and it worked beautifully. I only had a partial roll of paper when I got the idea to wallpaper with it, so there wasn't enough to cover the whole wall. I wanted to install a shelf anyway, so when we put up the shelf, we just put it a little above where the wallpapering ended. I used a tension rod and two really cheap curtain panels (which I cut in half and sewed into four panels to be wide enough to stretch the length of the wall) and installed them under the shelf. This covered up the ugly but necessary hole in the drywall and the hoses and electrical outlet and camouflaged the fact that I didn't have enough wrapping paper to paper the whole wall.

I sewed a simple valance for the bathroom window and made a matching cornice board out of Styrofoam to go above the shower rod to give it a more complete look. I replaced the ugly orange metal hook with these hooks that I picked up on clearance at TJ Maxx several years ago. I used a few picture frames I already had and filled them with printable art I found on Pinterest and a couple of prints from Etsy. I put the little round table in the corner for my kids to keep their toothbrushes and a couple of combs in and the rest was just filling in the details with a few accessories.

I love this little room. The main issue is that it is cold. It is part of an addition to the house and it isn't properly insulated. At the moment with things the way they are we can't shower in this bathroom in the winter because the water freezes in the p-trap. My husband is going to install a pipe warmer thingy (very technical, I know) and I'd like to get a small space heater for the room. I'd also like to replace the dome light with something cuter. I don't mind the floors, but I feel like tile would be more practical in a bathroom/laundry room so that's a possibility for the future as well.

Here's the complete 360 degree view around the room:

The two pictures above are looking in from the kitchen doorway.

This is a closer up view of the shower area. The door opposite the shower leads to the basement (you will not be getting a tour of the basement any time soon. I lovingly refer to it as "the pit of despair".

Now turn around 180 degrees and this photo below is taken standing by the shower looking back towards the kitchen. The washer and dryer are just out of sight on the left.

This (below) is the view to the left when you enter the room.

Now, if you turn around 180 degrees again (are you getting dizzy?) you can see the washer and dryer wall (basement door to the left)

And here are a few more gratuitous detail pictures because it is too hard for me to decide which ones to share:

Recap of changes I'd like to make:
--make the room warmer
--replace dome light
--replace laminate floor (with tile or possibly vinyl?)

My thrifty redecorating budget:
Shower curtain--$7
wrapping paper (wall paper)--$3
Shelf and brackets--under $25
Fabric for valance and cornice board-- approximately $10 (used a coupon)
Miscellaneious--$30ish (hand towel, wallpaper paste, etc.)
Paint--about $20
Shopping my house for accessories: FREE
Total renovation cost: UNDER $100!

Dining Room and Kitchen Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 23:20:00 +0000

The dining room and the kitchen are the heart of our home. These are two of my favorite rooms in our house and it's a good thing because with four boys in our family we spend a lot of time here.
I had some concerns about the kitchen before we bought the house, but it has worked out great for us. The double ovens in the wall are very small but I am able to fit a 20 pound turkey in one at Thanksgiving and a couple of pies or baking sheets of rolls in the other, so it has actually ended up being better than having a single large oven. Last year we had to get a new dishwasher and this year we had to replace the disposal because the casing was cracked and leaking. There are a couple of other projects that won't be able to wait on (a leaky faucet, for one) but for the most part any major upgrades are a long way down the road.

The Dining Room
I'll start with the dining room since that is the room you walk into from the living room. You can see a sneak peak of the family room beyond.

Our kitchen table seats the six of us fine but it is a little on the small side. Our younger boys take advantage of the stools at the counter when we have company for dinner. Anytime we have a large meal we end up putting the food on the counter because there just isn't room on the table. In my dreams we have a huge farmhouse table that fits everyone with lots of extra room for the amazing meals I prepare. There is a bench on one side of the table and chairs on the other. I have plans to paint the chairs (although I haven't decided exactly what color--black or farmhouse white--and what type of paint I'm going to use yet). The table needs to be refinished but not so much that it is a priority. I'd love a different chandelier eventually, but there is nothing wrong with this one so it will stay for now.

To the left of the table, the little green cabinet holds all my kids' school and homework supplies. My husband and I have talked about pulling off the paneling on this short wall and seeing what's behind it. We think there could have possibly been a fireplace at one time since there is a chimney that comes out of the roof in the same central location. Even if there never was a fireplace we've dreamed about the possibility of installing one here. I would love to have a fireplace. I think it is one of the things that this home is lacking. One short term solution I'm considering is putting a salvaged mantle here. That would at least give us a spot to hang our stockings at Christmas.

On the other side of the table we have a nice big window. I'd love to put a window seat or a deacon's bench in this spot someday. The dining room is pretty spacious so I think we could do that without making things seem too crowded.

I have more cabinet space in this kitchen than in any home I have ever lived in but there is no pantry. I've been thinking of pantry solutions and I'd like to use the wall with the Cerasota Flour lady painting that belonged to my Grandma as a pantry wall by putting some shelves or a cabinet of some sort there. I don't quite have it figured out yet.

Below is the view looking into the dining room from the family room (with the living room and front entry beyond). I bought the little bookshelf when we first moved to Oswego to house my cookbooks.

And here's a final view of the dining room from the kitchen before I move on to that room:

Recap of possible future changes for our dream dining room:
--Huge farmhouse table
--New ceiling and chandelier
--Possible built-in window seat or deacon's bench
--Some sort of pantry solution
--Fireplace or salvaged mantle
--Paint chairs, large mirror frame?, walls? Refinish table.
--Rip out paneling and put in new drywall. Fix baseboards where they aren't mitered properly
--Replace laminate with hardwood

The Kitchen
I love my kitchen. It is pretty functional. It is spacious with quite a bit of storage. A dream kitchen makeover would be pretty extensive--a new vent hood, subway tile, a farmhouse sink, new cabinets to the ceiling, a nice island, etc, but honestly I am mostly happy with things the way they are and I can live with them this way for a very long time. The one thing that I would really like to upgrade within the next several years is the counter tops. I have thought about wood, concrete, granite, or maybe even just a nice laminate (laminate has come a long way). I'm in no hurry to decide since we definitely don't have the money for this upgrade at the moment. One of the previous homeowners painted them, and although I don't mind the paint at all, it is starting to wear off and is looking pretty rough.

I'll start at the fridge and go clockwise around the kitchen.

I love having a flat ceramic stovetop. We are messy cooks in this family and it is terrific when it comes to cleaning it.

I really wanted a tray to organize some of the stuff on my counter but after an unsuccessful thrift store hunt I remembered this box that I had up in the attic. It came as packaging for some Melissa & Doug toys and was natural wood. I just rubbed it with some scratch remover to give it a darker color and it contains everything nicely.

I got my cup rack for free with a birthday coupon from World Market a couple of years ago. It was on sale and I had a $10 off $10 or more coupon. I don't know if they still send out those coupons but it would be worth your time to sign up for their Explorer Club if they do.

I love that I have a window over my sink. I didn't have a window in my kitchen for the whole seven years we lived in Alabama and I have to say that a window over the sink is a necessity for me now. The view of the neighbor's house isn't ideal but I can soak up the sun while I do dishes and that makes me happy. I'm hoping to hand a bird feeder outside this window at some point so I can do some bird watching.

I like this corner because it has a cool rotating corner cupboard. It's the little things.

This door leads to the laundry room/downstairs bathroom (up next on the house tour agenda).

The last stop on the tour is my plate wall. I like to change it seasonally. I'm always on the look-out for interesting plates so I can switch things up--there is a stack of plates in the cupboard above my fridge for when I need a change. I've been collecting these for awhile. My favorite place to look for new plates is the thrift store, but I've gotten plates on trips, as family heirlooms and even just regular old Target and Walmart. I made the bakery sign from a plank that I had. I printed out the letters with my computer and used them as a stencil. It was cheap and I love the way it looks on my brick wall.

Recap of most pressing (and most realistic) updates:
--New faucet for the kitchen sink
--New counter tops
--Fresh paint

Recap of possible eventual updates for our dream kitchen if we end up living in this house for the rest of our lives:
--Switch out the laminate flooring for hardwood
--New pendant lights over the peninsula
--New cupboards to the ceiling
--Farmhouse sink
--Subway tile backsplash
--New vent hood
--New windows over the sink
--New appliances (fridge and oven)
--Replace ceiling and wrap ceiling beams

So, that's my kitchen. What do you think? What changes would you make?

Living Room Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 17:05:00 +0000

In my last post I showed you the smallest room in the house. This time I'm showing you the biggest (unless you count the kitchen and dining room as one room--which it kind of is, but whatever). Last time you got a sneak peak of our living room from the doorway of the front entry. Below is the view from the dining room doorway looking towards the entry.

Our living room runs the whole width of the house (north to south, parallel to our road). It is a long and mildly awkward space and also the only space large enough to accommodate our two largest pieces of furniture--our hand-me-down china hutch and our free piano.

I've struggled with the furniture arrangement in this room. If I had my preference I would probably divide it into a sitting area but with a love seat and a couple of chairs instead of a table, and an office area. It kind of functions that way at the moment anyway. From 5:45 to 6:45 am every school morning, all the high school kids from church meet in this room to study the scriptures before school (Early Morning Seminary). When a friend asked if I would like this table last year I thought it would be a perfect replacement for the cheap folding table the students had been using. I think it looks great in the space and it is functional as well. We bought the rug at a local bargain place for $30 (it is a flat rug with no backing but I'm pretty sure it is real wool) when we noticed that the floor was getting a little scuffed up where some of the high school kids were scraping their chairs on the floor. It ended up not being quite large enough to help with the scuffing problem but it looks nice.

My china cabinet is to the north and west of the table. I use it more as a kind of library/display cabinet rather than just filling it with dishes. Right now it's just housing some simple winter decorations but Valentine's Day trimmings will be making an appearance in it soon. I've been wanting to paint this piece for years but for some reason I am just really kind of chicken to start such a big project. I don't know why. Maybe 2016 will be the year I get it done.

I love for the the things that I decorate with to have a story. I love this angel. It is a souvenir from the Cassidy's ancestral home in Donegal, Ireland. I was able to travel their with my mom and sister last summer.

The piano is situated opposite the china cabinet. We got it for free several years ago when we lived in Rochester. It plays but it has a weird black finish that almost seems like someone just rubbed the whole thing down with black shoe polish (the black comes off easily with a damp cloth). It's fine. I've gotten used to it and I don't think it's hideous or anything so it will probably stay the way it is for a long time. Maybe forever. My friend Mary helped me recover the bench around 4 years ago, but it needs to be recovered again, so I'll add that to the list as well.

Meet Diana (AKA Artemis). She belonged to my grandpa. I love her. It's so nice to have another girl in the house sometimes. ;)

The blue chair next to the piano was a hand-me-down we got from a friend (who originally purchased it from a thrift store) when she was moving around 10 years ago or so. It's in need of a little TLC. I really like the shape of it and I'd like to reupholster it at some point but that is something else that I don't know how to do so again, the chicken part of me comes out. Bock, bock, bock, bagawwwk. I received a beautiful painting for Christmas that I'd like to get framed to hang above the chair. The shelf will go somewhere else when that happens.

On the end of the room opposite the make-shift seminary classroom, we have our office area. This is the only place in the house that we have an Internet hook-up available so it is situated here by default. Ah, the joys of living in an older house! We have a small desk that is really only large enough for the computer (which my husband refuses to place on the floor), monitor, and the phone, and then a separate table (behind the desk in the adjacent corner) where the wireless printer and a lamp live. The desk was another bargain find. We paid under $100 for it. It is solid wood but the finish was kind of cheap and although it looked great when we first got it, it is in dire need of a paint job. In my dreams I have a computer hutch of some sort--large enough to accommodate all the computer paraphernalia and with doors that we could shut to hide away all the ugly, but that isn't likely to happen any time soon. Instead I have these salvaged shutters on the floor to hide the cords and router. I am open to suggestions for other ideas if anyone knows what to do with computer cords to get them out of sight.

Get this print for free HERE.

Near the computer you might have also noticed our dinosaur of a wall-unit air-conditioner. It may not be much to look at but it works wonderfully. There is no central air in this house, but this old gal makes hot summer days tolerable. I'd like to figure out some way to camouflage this when it isn't in use.

Like the entry, this room has sandpaper walls--textured paint over old paneling--and a dropped ceiling. There are a couple of beams that I'd like to wrap to give them a little more character and presence. If they have to be there anyway why not embrace them, right? I want to paint but my husband keeps saying let's wait until we re-Sheetrock the walls and ceiling. The floor is laminate. It isn't unattractive but it isn't holding up very well either. With four boys we put a lot of wear and tear on our stuff. There are no ceiling light fixtures other than the hanging light over the table that I put up with a $15.00 hanging light kit, so sometimes it feels like a cave (especially in the winter).

Here's a view of the two ceiling beams.

Looking towards the stairs.

Looking towards the street.

So, to re-cap, here is the wish list of changes I'd like to make in this room if this ends up being our forever-house:
--Paint the china cabinet
--New drywall, ceilings and paint
--Install overhead lighting (we're leaning toward recessed lighting)
--Wrap beams
--Hardwood floors
--Computer hutch of some sort
--Reupholster blue chair
--Reupholster piano bench
--Camouflage wall-unit A/C
--Get art for the wall behind the chair framed

The list of improvements to take care of in this room isn't too daunting, but a couple of the things we do need to address are kind of big. I've lived with it this way for two years without being too sad about things though, so as with the other parts of the house we'll just do a little at a time and make it work with our budget.

Front Entry/Mudroom Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 14:30:00 +0000

It's often good to start small and work your way up. I'm starting my home tour with the smallest room in our house--the front entry. I feel like it isn't really fancy enough or large enough to qualify as a foyer. If you read my last post you already got a little sneak peak at my front entry (remember the fingerprinty mirror?). We use our front door a lot. My younger kids' bus stop is our front yard so they go out that door every morning (and forget to close it almost every morning. Argh!). Our mail box is on our house so almost every day I open the front door to get the mail.

Below is the view from the threshold of the front door looking into the entry area. This is what anyone who comes to our door sees. Not super impressive. That closet straight ahead is unattractive but necessary. It holds all our winter gear, hats, purses, jackets, spare computer cords and cables, our ice cream maker, and vacuum, among other things. Converting it to something cute like this isn't really practical but I do love the idea of replacing the decrepit doors that are always coming off the track with something like this (I really love the idea of sliding barn doors too, but I'm not sure the space would accommodate them).

If you look to your left you see this (fingerprinty mirror):

I love this little console table. It was a birthday gift from my in-laws last year and it makes me happy.

If you look to your right you see this:

This bench was a gift from the in-laws for Christmas. It also makes me happy (have I mentioned how great my in-laws are?). I put a couple of pillows on it to prevent it from getting scratched up. Eventually it would be nice to have a custom cushion on there. I love all the storage for our hats, gloves, scarves and such. It is very practical at this time of year for friends to come in, sit down and take off their boots and put them on the boot tray (the tray of rocks to the right). For some reason my boys' friends would rather leave their boots on the floor in a muddy puddle of melted snow and salt though. Maybe my dollar store rocks in the boot tray intimidate them? We're working on that.

Because of the problems we've had the last couple of winters with the melted snow and salt puddling in the entryway (despite our efforts to provide a boot tray for visitors and family), I'd like to eventually replace the flooring with something more durable. I'm really in love with slate tile at the moment, but we'll see.

As you exit the front entry this is your view into the rest of the house:

I'll come back to this when I give you the front room tour.

Okay, now turn back around slightly less than 180 degrees:

I don't love the weird little window--I'd like to enlarge that. It doesn't look bad here, but it is especially unattractive from the outside. Also I really don't love the mid-century three window door. It is just a cheap door and I'd like to replace it with something more cottage-y. Those are other upgrades that I'd like to make eventually, along with taking out the weird sandpaper textured walls and replacing them with SHIPLAP! or maybe just regular old dryway which I think would also be great.

So hopefully that kind of orients you a little. Here are a couple more pictures from another angle standing inside the entry way.

Detail of the console table.

And a couple more photos of details that didn't get picked up in the first pictures:

These are the current curtains I have in the entry way. They are actually cloth napkins from Target. I have plans to replace them with a valance of some sort. I'm thinking buffalo check. Are you surprised?

This is the light fixture. It is a little too low for our tall family (two members of the family are over 6'2" and three members still growing). We'd like to replace it with something flush mounted if we can find something we like so that people don't feel the need to always be ducking their heads when they come in through the front door. Also, as you can see the one shade is chipped so that needs attention.

So, here's the breakdown of changes I'd like to eventually make:
--Remove sandpaper textured paneling and replace with shiplap or drywall
--Replace tiny window with large multi-paned window
--Remove dropped ceiling and replace with dry wall
--Replace front door
--Replace closet doors
--Lay slate tile
--New valance
--Replace light fixture
--Cushion for the bench

I figure it will probably take at least 10 to 15 years (or more!) to get all of these projects done and realistically some of them may never happen. We just have to do little bits at a time due to our budget constraints. Also my husband has absent-minded professor syndrome (we suspect ADHD) and a very busy work schedule during the school year and I'm not very handy when it comes to things like drywalling. And then there's the whole thing about sending our oldest off to college in the fall so that will definitely put a kink in the renovation budget as well, but we'll figure it out.

I like this little room. I think it's pretty cute and although I have listed all these changes I want to make, I'm happy with it as is for the time being.

So, what do you think? Do you have any great idea or inspiration for this space. Please share your thoughts.

My Personal Fixer Upper and Budget Decorating Background Story

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 20:35:00 +0000

Apparently I live under a rock. A couple of weeks ago when I was sick I found Fixer Upper on Netflix and started watching. My sister had told me about it and about how she wants to move to Waco, Texas now, so I was intrigued. About five minutes into the first episode I was hooked. It's right up there with The Great British Baking Show for me. I went through the entire first season (all the episodes they had on Netflix), a whole box of Kleenex and a gallon of orange juice in about two days. It helped me keep my mind off of how my head felt like it was going to explode.

You are probably wondering how the heck I hadn't heard of this show--unless you also live under a rock. We don't have cable TV. We don't even have a decent antenna. When I want to watch Downton Abbey I have to bundle up in a parka and mittens to go up in our refrigerator of an attic to watch PBS since that is the only place we can get any TV reception (or heaven forbid--wait until it is on-line). I was not to be deterred though. I went searching for Fixer Upper episodes on-line and I ended up downloading the HGTV app and have been making my way through seasons 2 and 3 to get up to date I'm trying to show a little restrain and pace myself though. Plus I'm not really all that sick anymore so I don't have a legitimate excuse to lay in bed and watch Chip and Jojo all day.

Chip and Joanna Gaines. Aren't they adorable?!

The point of all this is that Chip and Joanna Gaines lit a fire under me. I'm practically aching to do some home projects now. I'm not a professional designer or interior decorator by any stretch of the imagination (although I did take that one class in college. . .), but I do really enjoy trying to make my house cozy and inviting. I have lived my whole married life on a pretty tight budget--some times have been harder than others--but I have been extremely blessed. I don't want to understate this. Our family and friends have helped us through some really hard times on so many occasions. People have been so generous with us and God has blessed us more than we could hope for. But, even though I know we are blessed, we are still a one income family whose primary bread-winner is an academic (i.e. still on a tight budget), so I have tried to learn to make do with what I have and I have tried to make my house a home where my children want to be and where I am happy to spend my days.

Most of our furniture was handed-down or given to us as gifts. We bought bunk beds several years ago at Sam's Club when my two older boys were little. We purchased a headboard from IKEA a few years ago for the master bedroom and we bought a kitchen table and bench from K-Mart for $100 when our old secondhand table died several years back. We have a couple of bookcases and accent tables that I have gotten good deals on over the years, a few thrift store finds and that's really about it for furniture purchases. We've also managed to score a couple of road side rescues. A lot of the things we have aren't what I would choose if I had unlimited resources, but they were free so I am extremely grateful that we've been able to fill up our house with furniture in this way. I'm learning to embrace the budget decorating life; it takes patience. Things don't come quickly. We have been married over 18 and a half years and we still have never purchased a couch (don't worry we aren't sitting on the floor though. We've been given several hand-me-down couches over the years). Contentment does not always come easily to me. I'm trying to cultivate gratitude in my life and not to compare my life and situation with others' lives and situations (especially when I see some of the gorgeous homes that Chip and Jojo have created for the folks in Waco). It's a work in progress.

I guess I'm telling you all this as a disclaimer. I've started taking photos of my house as a way for me to inventory each room so that I will have a visual record to help me decide and prioritize projects for each space. I know I don't have Joanna Gaines's magic touch, but I was thinking I would post some of the pictures on this blog. Some pictures will be "before" pictures so that I'll have something to compare to as I complete projects and improvements. Some rooms are already as good as they are going to get for awhile. I can't afford to do any drastic remodels so my updates are likely going to be of the a-gallon-of-paint-here-or-a-new-light-fixture-there variety. I'm not sure how many people are actually interested in seeing where we live, but I know we have some family and a few friends that might appreciate it. There are a plethora of updates and changes that I want to make but even though my husband is a bona-fide professor now and we aren't starving students anymore, we still have four growing boys to feed and the budget is still a little lean at times, so these things are going to have to happen gradually. I figure it might be interesting to look back in a few years to see the progress we've made.

These will be some pretty honest photos (think fingerprints on the mirror that I didn't notice until after I took the picture). Our home is humble. It is definitely a fixer upper. We have ugly dropped ceilings, uneven floors and some pretty shoddy workmanship from previous homeowners attempting DIY projects. Even so, I love it. I love that it is ours. I love it for its potential. I love it for what it represents for our family. I love the memories that we are creating here. I love that I get to share it with my favorite people on earth. So, if you are interested, stay tuned for some room-by-room photographs.

On the Bright Side

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 01:22:00 +0000

Yesterday I woke ten minutes before the meeting I was supposed to be attending--24 minutes from my house. I made a couple of frantic phone calls, left a message that I'd be half an hour late, hurriedly got ready and jetted out the door. I was driving through town (not speeding and making complete stops at stop signs) when I saw a police car turn on its lights, make a u-turn and head my direction. Shoot. I honestly had no idea what I had done, but I pulled over. My window was frozen and wouldn't roll down so as the police officer approached I opened my door. He told me to close my door and I explained that my window was frozen which gave him a little bit of a chuckle. He asked for my license, registration and proof of insurance (which I was having a hard time finding in the mess that is my glove compartment), told me my back driver's side tire was low and then explained that he had stopped me because my safety inspection was expired. It had expired at the end of December. Five days earlier. I had totally forgotten about it in all the holiday bustle. Apparently the new inspection stickers are blue and my yellow one "stuck out like a sore thumb."

He told me he'd make life easier on both of us and let me off with a warning but he still had to go run my license and insurance and I still had to sit there and wait while the clock was ticking and I was getting later all the time.

After a few minutes he came back, told me everything was good but to take care of the inspection "ASAP, because you will get pulled over again with that yellow sticker" and wished me a better day.
I went on my way relieved but feeling badly that my friends had to wait for me. I picked up Hannah who had been waiting patiently for a ride and we made it to the church for our meeting forty-five minutes late. When we walked in, Liz had just heated water for hot chocolate. She had a table set up for our meeting with muffins and bananas and orange juice! What a welcome sight! I hadn't had a chance for breakfast so I was extra grateful for her thoughtfulness.

She said when she had gotten my message she knew she'd have enough time to go to the store. Despite the rough start, the events of the morning left me feeling very blessed and loved. Bonus: we were able to get a lot done at our meeting.

I had thought about driving into Clay (the closest town with a Target and a Hobby Lobby) but I felt like I shouldn't press my luck so I headed home after dropping Hannah off. There was a beautiful cemetery near Hannah's house that I couldn't resist stopping to take some pictures of, then I drove the scenic way home because I was thinking about my word of the year and wondered what I could notice on my drive that I hadn't noticed before.

When I got back into town I decided to go get my inspection done on my car. The garage hadn't gotten their delivery of blue stickers in yet so I had them check my tires (they put air in all four of them) and promised to come back today then I ran a bunch of pointless errands and did a little grocery shopping.

Sorry. Food pic. I just thought the marbled rye bread was so pretty though.

I wrapped up the day by making Reubens for dinner and playing some Slap Jack with my boys.

This morning I remembered that I hadn't gotten cereal yesterday. I like buying cereal in the industrial sized bags from Walmart (my kids have been known to eat one of those 40-servings-per-bag bags of cereal in less than 24 hours in the past), so I went back out today. I went back to the garage--still no stickers; check back tomorrow--and then to Walmart for the cereal.

When I came out of Walmart I had a flat tire--and get this--it wasn't even the tire that had been low yesterday. It was not just low on air. We're talking flat flat. Like the hubcap was almost resting on the pavement flat. *Sigh*.

I don't have a cell phone, so I walked back inside, waited in the line at customer service and then asked them to borrow their phone. I called David and he stopped at home and got our tire inflater thingy and then came to my rescue.

We were able to pump the tire up enough to drive the car home before the inflater's battery died. The battery is charging as I type, but it's looking like we'll probably need to buy a new tire. Bummer.

I was thinking about it though, and while getting pulled over and getting a flat tire are not ideal ways to start a new year, things could have been worse in both situations. I could have gotten a ticket. I could have gotten the flat tire on a much colder day, at night, out in the middle of nowhere, with no phone, and a car full of kids. I guess the moral of the story is, I'm blessed.

The sun was shining and we had blue skies today. It was a welcome change from all the gray days we've had lately.

Also, I think my word of the year was inspired. It really helped me to notice the positive things in both of these situations. Things could always be worse I guess. Things could be like they were at this time last year.

Press Forward with a Steadfastness in Christ

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 22:30:00 +0000

The youth theme for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 2016 is:

"Ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ having a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men." ~2 Nephi 31:20

I created this 8x10 print to display in our Young Women room at church so that we can recite the scripture every Sunday (and hopefully have it memorized before too long). I love sharing my creative efforts here on my blog so feel free to print this out if you have a use for it.

I hope your year is off to a good start. My kids went back to school today, except my oldest who had an icky stomach bug--and the temperature outside has dropped (single digits this morning!) so it really feels like winter now. I'm staying inside tonight and frying some chicken. Comfort food. Mmmm-mmm. Stay warm, friends!

Credits:
This print was created by me (Jill C. Dunn at Predilections) and is free for personal and non-commercial church or home use. Please give proper attribution if posting on-line.
Inspiration here and here and graphics here and here.
Fonts used: Abraham Lincoln, Peas & Carrots, Isabella Script, and Bergamot Ornaments

Word of the Year for 2016: Notice

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 02:25:00 +0000

Notice. Noun: attention, observation; Verb: become aware of.

Here's what I'm noticing at the moment: the headache I awoke with this morning--and which plagued me most of the day--is completely gone. The Christmas decorations are put away (mostly). Our house smells faintly of pine and bacon. We've eaten our traditional New Year's meal of collard greens and black eyed peas and I feel satisfied but not stuffed. It is dark and reasonably quiet at the moment for a household of four boys. The family is settled down to play some video games or do some reading and I am wrapped in the blanket my sister sent for Christmas clicking away at the keyboard while the wind blows quietly over the fresh snow outside my window.

Source

For the last several years I have chosen a word of the year to guide my goals and resolutions; I've had great success with this approach. I have tried to display my word in my home so that I am reminded of it often. This year I've chosen NOTICE as my word of the year. I like words that can be widely interpreted. Synonyms for "notice" include: attention, observation, awareness, consciousness, perception, regard, consideration, watchfulness (for the noun form), and observe, perceive, note, see, discern, detect, distinguish, mark, watch (for the verb form). I think that all the different interpretations of my word will help to keep me engaged and interested for a full 366 days (2016 is a leap year).

Source

As I was talking with my sister on the phone a few days ago about what my word of the year would be, we were talking about some of my thoughts. I told her about how I want to focus on being happy and content, feeling and expressing gratitude, finding opportunities to serve, the little moments and memories that we are creating (especially because my oldest son is a senior in high school this year and will be going off to school before the end of the year), and becoming an all around better person than I was last year. I wanted a word that would encompass all those things and suggest action rather than passively letting life happen around me. She suggested "notice" and I thought it was perfect.

Source

I have a friend who has had a difficult year and I recently asked her how she was doing when I saw her. She answered, "fine", but I pressed her and asked how she was really doing. A few days before Christmas she told me that it meant so much to her that I just noticed that she wasn't really doing fine. She felt like I cared (because I did) and it helped her to feel loved and not so alone. She said that if only more people would notice others and reach out to them, the world would be a better place. I can notice and I can act on what I notice. Through noticing I will bless my own life and the lives of those around me and, in my small way, make the world a better place.

Source

This year I hope having notice as my word of the year will help me:

--detect the beauty in my life, my circumstances, and the world around me

--consider my blessings and note them with gratitude

--mark the little things that make life pleasant

--first observe, then serve

--be aware of everyday moments with my family (because they are the fabric of eternity)

--be present and mindful

--attend to the things that need attention

--watch and pray continually

--see God's hand in my life

--consider how I can grow closer to Jesus Christ and my Father in Heaven

2015 was a pretty great year, but I am excited for all the possibilities of 2016. I've noticed that it's off to a great start already.

Source

Word of the Year 2015

Word of the Year 2014

Word of the Year 2013

More "Notice" Inspiration Here

Do you have a word of the year? I'd love to hear about it. Tell me in the comments.

Top (and Bottom) Blog Posts of 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 20:23:00 +0000

Happy New Year's Eve! The year is drawing to a close so I decided it would be a good time to review and get a little nostalgic about what happened here on the blog in 2015. I'll be sharing my word of the year for 2016 tomorrow so check back then as well.

I did some tallying and the results are in:

Top 5 Blog Posts of 2015:
The "Embark" post is clearly the far and away winner in the most hits category. It also wins the most-pinned on Pinterest category hands down.

1. Embark (4946 hits)
2. Confessions (372 hits)
3. Introducing the 2015 Word of the Year. . .(205 hits)
4. Bliss (202 hits)
5. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (200 hits)

5 Most Under-rated Blog Posts of 2015:
These were a few of my most under-rated posts. Honestly, these are probably some of my favorite posts of the year despite their low ranking. Maybe it's because a couple of these entries are rather lengthy. I heard one time that good blog posts should be short and sweet to keep the reader engaged, but sometimes I wax verbose. Maybe that makes me a less than ideal blogger, but it's what I do. You should check them out so they can feel the love they deserve.

1. Autumn in New York (19 hits)
2. Mountains and Molehills (20 hits)
3. Beautiful Day of Peace and Rest (23 hits)
4. How Not to Move (33 hits)
5. The Great Hall, Hadrian's Wall, and Arrival in Edinburgh (40 hits)

Which posts did you enjoy most? What would you like to see on this blog in the coming year? Tell me in the comments.

December, Christmas, and the Week After

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 22:40:00 +0000

We opted for a digital Christmas card this year.

December was ridiculously busy. In addition to all the concerts, programs, parties and activities I managed to schedule several eye doctor, pediatrician, and dentist appointments as well as an important meeting at school (in six months when the end of the school year approaches I'll get to do it all again during the other busiest time of the year. I really need to get on a different six month schedule). With everything we had going on the month flew by. I definitely felt frazzled but it had very little to do with the approaching holiday. The days since Christmas have been blissfully peaceful. We have lounged in our sweats, watched movies, chatted on the phone with long distance loved ones, played new games that we got for Christmas and eaten our combined weight in sugar (Blegh. I see more vegetables in my very near future).

With the new year approaching I've been excited to set goals and figure out my word of the year. I think I have it, so stay tuned for when I reveal it in the next couple of days.

Until then, here is a recap of our December/holiday happenings:

Band and chorus concerts--wind ensemble, orchestra, 6th grade band, 3rd and 6th grade chorus, Tuba Christmas.
Appointments *yawn*--3 dentist, 2 pediatrician, 2 eye doctor, 1 school meeting, a team term paper project for my oldest son, daily after school practices for indoor track for my second son
Parties/Activities--1 school event (Cuddle Up and Read); Lights on the Lake with the young women from church; church Christmas party (I was in charge of decorations); Star Wars premier (I created a Han Solo costume for my oldest to wear to school that day and to the premier with some help from my dear friend, Wendy); more than half a dozen meal dates with friends; a Latke party; dinner appointments with missionaries from church (including a raclette party); S'mores party with friends; ladies night Christmas party (including a hilariously fun game of charades); Christmas Eve shepherd's dinner with friends; 1 trip to the Scholastic warehouse sale in Syracuse with Wendy. making/decorating gingerbread cookies; decorating a gingerbread house with the family--complete with a shredded wheat thatched roof; driving around to see Christmas lights with the family and trying to fit in all the special holiday traditions and activities in between regular homework and life.

Decorating the tree.

Han Solo costume in progress.

Church Christmas party decorations. Photo credit: Holly

The awesome mural made a trip all the way from Samoa to be featured in our church Christmas party decorations.

Favorite part of the evening at the church party: seeing all the children gather around the baby Jesus.

Wise man.

Dinner and gingerbread men decorating.

Lights on the Lake in Syracuse

The finished Han Solo costume. It was a thing of beauty.

Star Wars day at school was a big success.

One of the many appointments we had to fit into our busy schedule in December.

Sporting our lava-lava from my friend Ester.

Raclette party!

We got just enough snow to make a snowman.

I love giving gifts--even just simple ones--wrapped up in pretty packaging.

Thatched roof in progress.

The finished gingerbread house.

When we drove around to look at the lights we decided this house was the winner. Gorgeous!

I made a fruit cake for the first time ever this year. It was seriously delicious. The whole family loved it.

A friend gave us a s'mores maker before Christmas so we had some friends over to try it out.

The Elvis: toasted marshmallow, peanut butter cup, banana, and bacon on graham crackers. It was pretty delicious.

Part of our fare for our shepherd's dinner./

Christmas Eve scripture reading. Photo credit: Holly

Delicious food on Christmas Eve. Photo credit: Delaina

Christmas Morning.

The tooth fairy left a note in the boys' stockings since she fell behind right before Christmas.

Christmas morning Legos.

Lots of presents under the tree.

Opening the big present for the family from Grandma and Grandpa.

It was a new bench for our front entry. I love it so much!

My brother-in-law did some sleuthing to figure out that I wanted a nut grinder like the one my mom had when I was a little girl.

New hat. New vest.

Checking out the loot from Santa Claus.

This is how teenagers do Christmas morning.

My brother got me some Han Solo in carbonite silicon molds so I had to try them out by making some chocolates Christmas afternoon. Love.

We went to see the premier of Episode VII so we've been back tracking and watching all the old episodes again.

I love our kid friendly tree. Maybe next year we'll have a real tree topper but the Santa hat does give it some whimsy.

You can check out a few 15 second clips of my kids' concerts on my Instagram account if you're interested.

Also, here's our Christmas newsletter from this year for anyone who didn't see it and is interested.

Dunn Family 2015 A to Z

A—Arrow of Light. Nate turned 11, earned his Arrow of Light and crossed the bridge into Boy Scouts. Now we have three Boy Scouts in the family and one Cub Scout.

B—Baptism. Danny was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by his oldest brother, Seth.

C—College applications. Seth is a senior this year so he has spent lots of time writing essays and filling out college applications.

D—Driver’s permit. Seth got his driver’s permit earlier this year. Now to convince him that driving isn’t so bad and get him behind the wheel more.

E—Eighteen. David and Jill celebrated 18 years of marriage in June.

F—Football. Joel played football in the fall. He started out as a kicker but soon found that he showed promise as a wide receiver.

G—Gorges. We went to Ithaca on a day trip with David’s brother Sammy over Thanksgiving break. It is indeed gorges.

H—Han Solo. Seth made a convincing Han Solo with his fantastic homemade costume for Star Wars day at school and the premier.

I—Ireland. Ireland (the Cassidys’ ancestral home) was the first stop on the trip of a lifetime to Ireland, England and Scotland that Jill went on with her mom and sister.

J—Job. After nearly 17 years as a stay at home mom, Jill got a job as a substitute at a preschool/daycare.

K—Kids. This is our last year with all four kids still at home. Grades 3, 6, 9, and 12—ages 8, 11, 14, and 17.

L—Learning. We love learning. This year we’ve learned all kinds of new things like the Deseret alphabet (David) and that the English make their toast with a toaster like the rest of us (Jill—if you have no idea what I’m talking about you can visit my blog and search “toast”).

M—Music. Music is a major part of our family with 3 of 4 boys participating in multiple musical activities.

N—New York Times. New York Times science writer Carl Zimmer quoted David in an article he wrote about transgenics. Too bad it happened because a Harvard scientist scooped David’s research.

O—Orthodontia. Seth still has around six months left in braces.

P—Predilections: Jill’s blog. Check it out. All of our best adventures are recorded there, plus some other fun stuff too.

Q—Quiet. Life is never quiet around here. If you live with four boys you know what I’m talking about.

R—Running. Joel ran on the track team in the spring and is currently participating in indoor track.

S—SUNY Oswego Professor, Dr. Dunn is halfway through his third year of teaching. He remains a favorite among students (and has a chili pepper on ratemyprofessors.com).

T—Two Funerals. The family flew to Utah in the spring for David’s grandma’s funeral and Jill went to Washington for her Grandpa’s funeral in June. We’re grateful to know that families can be together forever.

U—Utah. About a week after Jill returned from the UK, the family traveled to Utah for Grandma Cassidy’s graduation from BYU and David’s sister’s wedding.

V—Vision Therapy. Joel completed vision therapy with great results. Danny will probably begin vision therapy after the beginning of the New Year.

W—Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Jill escaped the harsh NY winter and visited her sister and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida for a week in March. It was a dream come true.

X—X-Rays. Just kidding. The only x-rays we had were at the dentist’s office, but we did have one ER visit when allergic Nate got stung by a bee.

Y—Youth. Jill and David both volunteer time to work with the youth at church. Jill continues to work in the Young Women program (girls ages 12-18). David teaches primary (children ages 4-6) in addition to his duties as a member of the Elders Quorum presidency.

Z—Zzzzz. We hope we didn’t bore you to sleep with all our news. It has been a busy year. We think of you often through the year and wish you all the best for a wonderful new year.