remodeling this life

Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway Winner

Emily — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:19:06 +0000

The winner of the $50 giftcard to Lisa Leonard Designs is Alison from This Wasn’t In The Plan. Congratulations, Alison! Thank you everyone for entering and a huge thank you to Lisa for the generous giveaway!

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!

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Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway Winner

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Link Love

Emily — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:00:23 +0000

Before I share a few gems from my reader this week for your weekend reading pleasure, I have a couple other linky things to share.

I started a tumblr a while back, then my computer died and when I got my new computer, I forgot all about it and never added the bookmark back. I finally did add it recently and have been tumbling a few things. It is much easier to share things I like around the web than doing these link roundups, but I still enjoy these. You can let me know if you don’t find them valuable. I try to keep them simple, not giving too many links each time I do one.

I also created a facebook fan page. If you’d like to be a fan of Remodeling This Life over there, I promise I’ll keep it simple over there, too. (Maybe that should be my new blog tagline. I’ve been thinking of changing it.)

Don’t forget that the Lisa Leonard Designs $50 Giveaway ends tomorrow. Leave a comment to be entered and I’ll be randomly choosing the winner and announcing it tomorrow.

And now, here are some links from my reader that I enjoyed this week:

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Link Love

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Savor The Small Moments

Emily — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:00:09 +0000

I woke up at 5:45 this morning to a bright flash of lightning followed by a loud clap of thunder. The loud crash of thunder was followed by the tiny sound of 4 feet shuffling across the tile floors into my room. Soon, my kids were wrestling for the best spot curled up next to mama. I had to quiet them by reminding them I have two sides. And the best kind of sandwich is a mommy sandwich. Soon, I had two kids surrounding me, and I was the filling. There was no more thunder, just some lightning illuminating the sky and the sound of raindrops against the bedroom windows to enjoy while the kids drifted back to sleep. Trapped there on the bed, instead of dozing back to sleep myself, I laid still enjoying the quiet sounds of mother nature mixed in with the sweet sounds of tiny heartbeats next to me.

Later in the morning, hubby arrived home from work. Since he works outside, he was sent home due to the rain. He helped me pack lunches, helped put socks and shoes on the kids and we took them to school together. After my Tuesday morning duties of school drop offs and school volunteering were over, we planned to meet back at home for some quiet time just the two of us. A true rarity round these parts. I walked in the door to the phone ringing to pick a sick kid up from school. So much for plans. After picking up my sick son, we arrived back home where I found myself curled back up in that same bed I’d been in a few hours ago but this time to settle a sweet boy to sleep. He napped, I napped. A true gift in the middle of the day on a Tuesday.

I woke up and left him there snoring, tucking the covers over his tiny body a little tighter. I found hubby and asked if he wanted to sit with me and have a chai tea. I asked if he’d like to play cards, too. We sat, sipping our spicy tea, playing gin rummy. It took a few turns before we both remembered the rules. We’re a little rusty at slowly passing time with card games. After we’d been playing a few minutes, I realized that the last time we’d played cards together like this was when I was pregnant with our first child. Two days before my scheduled induction for being 10 days overdue, we sat in a kitchen 1500 miles from here at this same kitchen table, laying out sets of 3s and 10s, timing contractions in between discards. That day, more than 5 1/2 years ago feels like a lifetime ago. I can still remember the heat from that July day in New York. I remember checking my watch over and over. Could this really be it? Could I really go into labor before my induction? Am I really about to be a mother? Will I know what to do? What if I don’t know what to do?

Today, I sat at that same table and so many memories rushed back. A table full of dents, covered in glued on glitter, telling the stories of the most mundane moments that a family has spent together. The same table I sat at as a child for every bowl of Kix cereal before school and every family dinner. I thought of how when I was younger, my parents, brother and I all had our own spot at that table. I remember glasses of milk left there long after the evening dishes were done until we drank them. I remember cinnamon rolls and tangerines spread on that table on Christmas morning.

Small moments happen everyday. The moments we’ll remember most aren’t the ones that are planned weeks in advance and cost the price of admission and concession stand food. The biggest moments are the small moments. The ones that happen right in the midst of the chaos and the mundane. Savor them.

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Savor The Small Moments

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Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway

Emily — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:01:54 +0000

Do you know how much I love Lisa Leonard? So much so that when I was at Blissdom, I spend two days looking for her. And every time I found her, she was talking to so many people, I wouldn’t have dared go up to her and interrupt. Then it was getting to the point that if I wasn’t brave, I was going to miss my chance. I am such a wallflower really. Finally, with Lindsay by my side, I went over to her. She was on the floor talking to a bunch of fabulous people and she stopped talking to them and hugged me, then Lindsay. Then she was as doting and loving on us as we were on her and I was in bloggy crush heaven.

She’s so sweet and wonderful, even moreso in person than I would’ve imagined.

Can you tell I heart her? As fabulous as her jewelry may be, she is a million times more.

Recently, she sent me this necklace. One of her new designs, it’s the vintage frames necklace. Swoon.

As pretty as it looks laying on my bedspread just waiting for one of my kids to come swoop it up and break it or lose it, it looks really pretty on, too.

In keeping with the frames theme…tell me…what other necklace would look so beautiful hanging from a frame?

All of her work is so amazing, and I feel so fortunate to call a few of her gorgeous pieces mine.

Today, the lovely Lisa is offering a $50 gift certificate to her shop. Just hop on over to Lisa Leonard Designs and browse around and come back and comment telling me what you’d like to buy if you win.

Thank you to Lisa for the gorgeous necklace and the generous giveaway!

Giveaway is open until Sunday. I’ll announce the winner then.

Please visit Remodeling This Life to read more great content or to leave a comment!

Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway

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Displaying Children’s Artwork and Photos

Emily — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:00:44 +0000

Last week, when I showed you the adjustment I made to the living room, I got some questions about where the armoire came from. It had been in my son’s room. A while back, we finally got around to doing a complete overhaul in his room, which can be found here little boy’s bedroom makeover.

When we moved the armoire out of there, it left a whole corner of his room empty. I didn’t want to go out shopping to fill the space, so we used what we had to make him a shelf where we can display favorite books, line up trains, and display photos and artwork.

His room is not this green, who knows what I did to mess up the lighting in that photo, but it’s not hard for me to mess up! Hubby painted the wood and installed the shelf. I bossed him around about what height it should be and he got cranky. Then when it was all over he admitted it was nice where I wanted it. I win!

In case anyone is curious about some of the things on the shelf, on the right hand side, there is the easy DIY wall art for kids that I made and posted at Living Locurto earlier this year. Over on the left is a leaning photo tile.

I used some of my favorite frugal stuff – jute twine and clothespins – to make another level for displaying photos and his artwork that he brings home from school. I like how non-commital a shelf and some twine and clothespins are. I can change out the artwork (we get so much new art from school every week, I sometimes feel like I am drowning in it) and photos and move them around all I want without harming any walls or frames in the process, like I did during the family photo wall project.

Remember the advent calendar I made in December? When I was packing up everything after the holidays, I decided to leave it up and use it as a message board. I had just decluttered it the day before I decided to take a pic and share it here. Some friends have come over and thought it was neat, so I figured it was worth sharing. It is often full of stuff like appointment cards and the occasional note, coupon, or whatever else seems appropriate at the time.

Apparently, I am a fan of the clothesline look!

How do you like to store and display favorite artwork and photos?

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Displaying Children’s Artwork and Photos

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Link Love

Emily — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:58:36 +0000

This was a long bad week for my family in terms of sickness. 2 ear infections and one sinus infection between my two kids, and a cold for me made for a cooped up, lazy week at home. I do like the extra naps and snuggle time I get but I would love a week of no doctor’s office copays and would like my kitchen to look more like a kitchen and less like a pharmacy.

While I’m snuggling congested kids, here are some links for your reading pleasure that I enjoyed from my reader this week:

Forgive My Rambling Heart
Don’t Wait For Something Special
Real People Don’t Live in Magazine Spreads
8 Effective Ways To Raise Frugal Kids

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Link Love

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Running Up Debt

Emily — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:00:40 +0000

The first credit card I got was a Visa that I signed up for after getting an offer in the mail. I was 19 years old and in college. I didn’t need the card (then again, who really needs a credit card?), but I thought it would be a good way to establish credit. The first thing I bought with the card was a pair of Adidas trail response running shoes. I paid $73 and hit the pavement in those shoes until they were completely worn out.

After buying the shoes, I went home and put $73 aside to make sure when the bill came, I could pay for them in full. When the bill arrived and I wrote the check for $73 to pay it off, it was exhilarating. I felt so responsible and grown up.

Each month for a while, I continued to do the same thing. I’d buy one or two things, wait for the bill, and pay it in full. I bought a table and chairs from Crate and Barrel for $400 and really felt grown up then. I’d bought furniture and paid for it when the bill came. I was really getting the hang of being mature and responsible, I thought.

During this time, I was in college living in a condo hubby and I had bought together and working two jobs – one as a nanny every weekday afternoon and one at IBM on Saturday and Sunday mornings at the front desk. For a college kid, I made good money in addition to the money hubby was making at his job.

Somewhere along the way, probably after I got a bill for more than a few hundred dollars and I noticed the “minimum payment now due” box, I realized I could just pay a little of the bill and keep the money in my checking account for more shopping. I got out of control fast. My credit limit kept getting raised, my minimum payments were so enticing, and oh how I loved shopping.

A combination of impulsivity, a desire to fit in, and an eating disorder at the time played into the ugly change in course from being responsible to being in complete financial trouble. It went from just the Visa card to a Mastercard too, then a card to all of my favorite stores – Jcrew, Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Express. While I starved my body of the food it needed, I was leaving a hole that needed filling and I filled it with clothes. Clothes in really small sizes that gave me a false sense of esteem. I had huge credit card balances and a closet full of size 0 clothes.

In just a couple short years, I had run myself over $10,000 in credit card debt, transferring balances to new cards, signing up for additional promotions, waiting impatiently for my limits to be raised so I had more to spend. I had $1,500 on a card, would pay $100 to it and call every day until that $100 posted then go out and spend the new available balance. I missed payments, I made late payments, I overdrew my checking account too many times to count.

It’s not easy to tell this story. It’s not easy to look back on a time that I would’ve done anything to fit in and be accepted by people that were impossible to please. I had reduced my self worth to what other very misguided people valued – things that clearly mean nothing but meant the world to me then.

The details of my debt story make it look like this story is only mine. My path into debt and the underlying factors that caused it may not look like anyone else’s. At the heart of debt are a few things: living beyond one’s means, a lack of control, and a false sense of what is really valuable in life.

At 22 years old, with a boat load of bills to my name, an eating disorder to kick to the curb, and a loving husband, I decided it was time to turn things around. I emptied my wallet of plastic and I hung up my running shoes.

Was it as easy as I thought it would be? No, it was not.

To Be Continued

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Running Up Debt

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Just Do It

Emily — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:07:27 +0000

I have had the hardest time making my living room how I want it. Because it’s the room where we spend so much time, I need it to be functional and family friendly. It’s also the room that our front door enters into, so I want it to look nice as it’s the first room anyone who enters sees. I have moved furniture in and out, rearranged furniture, painted furniture and then repainted it, all to try to make this a room that everyone can enjoy and I can live with.

A couple of things were keeping this room from being one that I loved. We had a huge wall entertainment unit that was simply too big for the space, and had so many shelves that if they were filled, it looked too cluttered and if they weren’t filled, the space looked too bare. I also wasn’t a huge fan of having my big, old tv being exposed.

(a very old photo of when I was first putting the room together)

Imagine that wall unit full of stuff, and one day I decide it’s time to just do it. Move the thing out and put in something more practical. So then all that stuff is all over the living room. Say, like this:

Imagine I decided to do this the day before having a party here at the house. Nothing like a deadline to force me to get it done, right?

I asked my very strong boys to move in the armoire and they obliged.

I had this big Pottery Barn coffee table and matching end table that were given to us free when friends were getting new furniture. The coffee table was simply too big. The kids didn’t have room to play, and we could barely walk through the room. I sold the coffee table, leaving open space for the kids to play on the floor.

The end table was a mess from a combination of things. I made sure it looked extra terrible for the before photo just so when I was done with it, the after would look even better.

I thought up a million and one reasons to keep putting off painting the table but in a burst of energy, fueled by sunshine on Sunday, I just did it.

after

Now, we have a room the kids can enjoy and play in, piling up toys and building train tracks across. We can walk through the room from any angle, I can close the tv into the armoire, and we created the area in the corner with the chair and lamp where anyone can curl up and read, but it’s still close enough to the couch that we haven’t lost the conversation area from before.

I’m glad I stopped making excuses and just did it, making a room I love and spending zero dollars in the process.

I’m adding this to Trash To Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented and DIY Day at A Soft Place To Land. Check them out for lots of neat-o projects around blogland.

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Just Do It

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Gussy Winner

Emily — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:32:35 +0000

It is the most beautiful sunshiney day here today. We’re all in t-shirts and shorts, have enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood, been playing in the yard and I even started a furniture painting project out on the patio. I didn’t realize how much I missed the warm and sun until it came back.

The winner of the $25 shop credit to Gussy’s Shop is Jackie from The Sweetest Petunia. Congrats Jackie and thank you everyone for entering!

I have another giveaway coming up soon that I am really excited about, so stay tuned.

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

Please visit Remodeling This Life to read more great content or to leave a comment!

Gussy Winner

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Link Love

Emily — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:51:55 +0000

Links from my reader that I enjoyed this week:

Please visit Remodeling This Life to read more great content or to leave a comment!

Link Love

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