The way lint would become little clumps in the creases of his tiny palms.  

The fuzzy sideburns and the creased ears that look just like mine. 

There are so many things that I hope to remember about his newborn stage.   

He really was just the sweetest newborn.  Loved to snuggle and be warmly tucked up against your chest.  He would rub his soft cheek against your chest to show just how very content he was in your arms and then his baby fuzz hair would tickle your chin.   

He absolutely loved to hold your hand and smiled from that very first week.

He loved being bundled but as much as he liked his swaddle, as soon as he was out, he would pull his toes up into his mouth…just to play. 

Now that he is crawling, cruising, and has THREE teeth, I feel like his sweet newborn stage is over.  He has officially graduated just to the label of baby.  Caught in that middle ground…not quite a toddler but moving quickly out of infant.  It’s so sad and equally exciting and smile inducing. 

I say all that because I feel like I didn’t share as much as I should about my littlest guy.  I showed that he was present but he wasn’t really the subject of the blog like Will was at his age.  I am just so honored that I was given two of the best little guys in this whole world.  Different and special in their own ways…each with strengths and weaknesses…both with their own little personalities and gifts…and even now I can see how they will be such a great balance to each other and our family.

Now that I am crying over how sweet these boys are…let’s talk something not-so-sweet….baby acne.   

You didn’t know it but Weston had a terrible case of it as a newborn.  That photo above is heavily doctored.  I know it’s really common and didn’t bother me at all but our pediatrician recommended that we treat his skin.  I told her at the first appointment (I believe that he was a week old) that I thought nothing of it and she said ok.  Then at the two week appointment it had gotten a lot worse.  Jeremy at one point asked me “what is wrong with him?!” and of course, I got offended because I took it as I wasn’t taking care of him like I should.  Jeremy had no idea it was common.  I say all this to say…if you are a mom out there with a sweet little babe of your own…it really helped us to treat the acne with hydrocortisone cream. 

Let me explain what our doctor told us.  At the newborn stage, one of the most important things is the personal connection through skin to skin contact.  When a baby has acne, adults tend to not snuggle as much…not want to touch them because they fear they will irritate the skin or cause more acne…but it’s so important to hold them, stroke them and love on them. 

I photoshopped his photos with this blemish removal technique but in real life, the cortisone was just as effective.  I think it only took one thin layer of cream once each day for a couple days to see it really work.  By day four, it was MUCH better.

Of course, we will show all future girlfriends the acne photo.  Don’t want them to think of that sweet little baby and want to cuddle

Ho’s gotta go. 

You heard me.

I got these three hanging wooden “boxes” at a discount store in PA for $5 way back in 2010.  I blogged about it here.  I think they were considered ‘Christmas decor’….but I think they were just calling people dirty names. 

So they sat in our basement waiting for a transformation.  You might say that I sat on them ho’s.  Quote me on that.

Finally it came time to get rid of the ho’s (can you tell I like saying ho’s?!) and transform the boxes into something more useful than three pieces of basement clutter contributor.  All I did was use my sander to remove the existing paint job.  First I started off with high grit paint stripping sandpaper and moved to 110 grit and then 220 grit.    

After they were smooth and wiped down, I taped them up with stripes.  My trick with the Frog Tape on the wood was to apply the tape and then use a damp paper towel to rub it all down and make it’s special PaintBlock stuff work perfectly.  The water makes it activate and combined with pressure, it makes it foolproof.  

The stain and paint I already had on hand.  I just used foam brushes for little projects like this.  I get them for REALLY cheap when they have them on sale at Michaels.  Every once in a while they do a ten for a buck sale or even less and then I get a bunch. 

okay…back to my boxes…I just did a couple thin coats of the gray paint on the exposed areas and then peeled the tape off.

They were already so much cuter than before, right?!

Then came time for stain.  I just wiped it on and then used a few paper towels to remove the excess.  I also stained the bottom and the lip…but not the inside.

I hung them up to dry for a few days before using some spray sealant to put a thin coat of poly on it.

When they were finally dry, I hung them with some chunky nails in the reading room.  I thought since they were in here, that it was only appropriate to have a few books tucked in each one.

I like that they are different than just another set of framed art.  It makes it different and unique.

I still need curtains in there so ignore that…instead just think about how a few stripes can spruce up an entire space.

Have y’all been hanging anything weird on your walls lately?  I wanna hear what the new hot item is to adorn your walls!  Just tell me it doesn’t have dirty names all over it…or does it!?

When we got the space-age-lookin’ MamaRoo, I was doubtful that it would be much better than our standard battery operated swing.  I was wrong.  Oh so wrong.  It is not just better….it’s in a completely different league.  It plays my iphone, it has tons of different ways to swing and you can adjust the recline of the hammock part for little newborns or bigger babies.  PLUS (and this is my absolute favorite feature) it only weighs 14 pounds.  I can literally pick the entire thing up with one hand….which makes moving it easy for vacuuming or switching it to another room.  Oh and one other thing I love…the bed part completely unzips for washing.  Weston’s blow-outs had no power here!  And did I mention no more battery buying?  I probably saved mega money in not buying those D’s every other week.

If our MamaRoo broke, I would have no problem shelling out money for a new one.  I am actually really hoping that 4Moms creates an adult version.  That’s not a joke.  At all.

So now that you know all the reasons we love our MamaRoo….here’s your chance to get your hands on one.  Wahoo!

Here’s what is up for grabs….

• PRIZE :  4Moms MamaRoo
• NUMBER OF WINNERS : (1) One
• TO ENTER : Enter by commenting on this post with “Wahoo MamaRoo!”, and tell me what baby products you splurge on.
• PRIZE SHIPS :  Continental US
• NITTY GRITTY : This giveaway closes on Friday, June 21st at 8pm EDT.  Only one contest entry per email address.  The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be announced in an update to this post the following Monday morning. We will email the winner directly, so please make sure you use your regular everyday email address.

And if you want more info on 4Moms, you can check them out on their Facebook page.  They also have an origami® stroller giveaway going on as well in honor of Father’s Day…so it’s worth it to hit the ‘like’ button!

GOOD LUCK!

DISCLAIMER:  4Moms is giving us the MamaRoo to give away to one of our readers.  We weren’t perked or compensated for it. We’re just doing it because we love you.

Are we skipping around enough for you?! I know I’m not done with the dining room or laundry room or the exterior stuff….but I must share a little update I tackled in my youngest’s room. As you may know, the floor plan on the top floor is a little crazy. It’s not exactly how I would necessarily design it myself but it works for now…and the fact that we had two boys first in our family helps us plan for the future. I’ll explain all that TMI later.

First, the floor plan…

As you can see, there are four true bedrooms upstairs. The master bedroom will probably remain ours. most likely. The guest bedroom will probably remain the guest bedroom for a long time. And the Jill room is actually the “Will” room. There is also a “Jack” bedroom that shares a bathroom with the Will room that we call the blue room. Here’s why…

Oh yes. It is blue. Very very blue. In fact…the color is actually much closer to the background of this photo…

It’s like a member of the blue man group drank neon and then spontaneously combusted on our walls. Oh but it was worst before the new carpet…(cover your retinas!)…

Yes. yes indeedy. That is matching walls and carpet. So we had a bunch of furniture in there at one point and I asked Jeremy to move the bed to the basement…and then I sweated to the oldies moving the dressers. My muscles are humongous now. Seriously…why do I not just move furniture all the time?! It’s like the ultimate workout. I’m waiting for the DIY network to pick up a series on that….Extreme Makeover : Home & Hips.

So anyway…it was a surprise to show Jeremy after he got home one day…the room was finally empty and ready for painting. Almost.

You see, the plan is to have the room ready for Weston by the time he is ready to sleep in there. Right now we are doing exactly what we did with Will…having him sleep in our room at night in a pack n play and then co-sleep half the night until he’s about ten months old. That means we only have about three months to get this space finished. The biggest problem with getting the nursery ready was the fact that there was a big issue with the window…

You see, the window itself is vinyl and is coming out of the wood frame because the wood was water damaged and warped. There was also a fair amount of rot that needed repair. It actually was a literal pain in the foot because the window frame would allow for wasps to nest inside…and we would constantly need to keep the doors closed so we didn’t find those stinging insects all over the house. And every time we had a guest in there, we would spray the window and then put packing tape on the seams. Classy huh!? But better than a wasp sting to the face.

We kept spraying the frame for the nest but we knew that it would just keep happening until the wood repairs would be made. So when the painters came to prep the house for paint, the first thing they did was secure everything and remove the rot. That meant, I could start painting!!!

And then this happened.

Yup. That would be me…in the entrance area of Home Depot with spilled paint all over the floor and on the wheel of my stroller. Erg.

After I got home, silently screamed at lady luck, put both boys down for a nap, I got to work…

It’s Benjamin Moore’s Metropolitan color matched to Behr paint. I was really pleasantly surprised that it covered really really well. I only did one coat and so far, there is only two areas that need a little bit more coverage.

Of course the trim is still the tannish brownish cream color…which is desperately crying out for white. Jeremy and I always said that we would spray the trim after the window got fixed but once we got to the point where the furniture was out, we both changed our minds. We both said…why go through all that stress? It would be such a disaster if the paint got on the carpet and we just don’t want to risk it. So now I am back at the point where I need to do the whole multiple coats of white paint thing to get it right. But the good news is….there aren’t any stinging insects in there.

And the walls are officially painted the very surprising gray. (ok ok…nobody is surprised by that one). Next on the to-do list is paint the trim and then paint the ceiling. Then we are ready for an accent wall (you know me and accent walls!) and then we can do move-in of furniture and then finally move in of our little man.

Although I have to admit…Jeremy and I recently have discussed moving both boys permanently into our bed. We love having them with us. Of course, the whole notion of growing up is completely out of the question.

That’s a recap of what I was yelling at my house with pointed finger and devilish laughter this past week.  That’s right.  The house is officially painted.  It’s not done-done…almost…but the ladders are still here and there are still touchups to be made…so I think that after today (as long as it doesn’t rain), it will be officially complete and I can share the before/after photos.  For now, let’s take a step outside (not literally, please stay with your computer), and take a gander at what our exterior looked like before our painting adventure began.

That photo above is one of the very first pictures we ever took of our exterior.  Our house has brick and stone and a dark gray roof and then there is the brown and brown….and more brown.  I painted the front doors red but the house still looked like dried mud.  So we talked to some folks early on about painting and it all came back with the same reply…it would probably cost between 8 and 10 grand.

That’s where we slammed the brakes and decided that dishing out that much cash at a single time would be not in the near future.  I mean, we needed things like a water heater and a furnace and garage door openers.

Why so much for a paint job?  Well, there was a lot of rotting wood.  See that on the front peak?  Above the columns you can see the paint has complete chipped off and the raw wood is exposed and rotting.  It’s very sad.

The back doors suffered a similar fate….rotting wood all around….

It’s like American Idol…you take away one little thing like Simon Cowell…err…paint…and the entire thing rots away.

The other reason this would cost so much was the fact that the entire back of the house is siding.  It’s very big and with weirdly spaced windows.  And would require a ton of paint.  The front of the house has a lot of different trim work too…so it’s definitely a ‘big crew’ type of thing.

We saved and saved and saved.  We tucked a little away here and there and it seemed at times that other big expenses would pop up (that’s normal life though, right?!) so we finally got to the point financially where dishing out 10K wasn’t gonna mean selling off a kid.

Jer did all the research. He looked at local reviews and TrustDale.com, and we decided on getting three different quotes from folks listed with high reviews.  The first one was a local handyman who quoted us just under $6K for all the painting (not including the wood and only 1 coat of paint).  The second was a local painting company that came in around $8.5K for all the painting (two coats but no wood repair).  The third and final quote was from a company that franchises called CertaPro Painters.  Our local guy was Scott Pierce and I have nothing but good things to say.  They quoted us as $7K with an additional $ for wood repairs.  Jeremy negotiated with him and said if they could do the whole list of repairs for under $500, we would sign right then and there.

Scott agreed and handed over three huge paint decks for me to choose from.  I knew that I would be buying a huge number of samplers.  Since they recommend Sherwin-Williams, we decided to pick a Sherwin Williams color and avoid any issues with color matching.

The first five…

and then five more on doors out front.

When it came down to it, I learned some really important things about choosing exterior paint.  Here are my best tips:

• always test paint…it’s way cheaper to test a color than repaint the whole house
• test the colors on all four sides of the house and against different areas like next to stone, brick, porches, and ceilings
• exterior colors appear much lighter than they do on paint swatches
• try photoshopping your exterior before painting to see if you can figure out what looks best
• look at test paint in morning, afternoon and evening light…as well as with any exterior lighting on.
• remember that if you like a certain color paint, you can always have it darkened up to 200% or lightened

We took the photoshopping thing seriously after the first five test pots…here’s how it looked with all the brown…

We tried the trim in the front with a darker color and felt like it was too dark… like a tudor style gone wrong.

Cream or white was just way too bright and really took away from the stone and brick.

So we decided to try a light to medium gray…something that we could pull from the stone color.  We liked it slightly lighter on the columns…but liked the ‘disappearing act’ it pulled on the upper windows when it was slightly darker (you can kinda see what we mean below).

In the end, we knew that we wanted a gray that was slightly muddy (to match the color of the stone…not necessarily the brick because it wasn’t as prevalent on the front of the house and the front is priority one) and light enough to give a tiny bit of contrast to the roof line but not too light to steal our stone’s thunder.

So that’s how we chose our house color.  I can’t wait to show you the end result…just as soon as this rain clears up and they finish touching up!  Cross your fingers that it will happen today.  I guess one more day isn’t a big deal after you wait two years, right?!

Yard sale season is upon us and I could not be more excited.  I love yard sales more than any other thrifty shopping experience.  Maybe it’s because of the personal stories that are found when you paw over someone else’s cast off goods.  Maybe it’s because the prices are ridiculously low.  Maybe it’s because usually there is fresh air, warm sunshine and the yard/garage/driveway turned into makeshift stores.  Whatever the reason, this is the season to break out your quarter jar and head out for good deals.

I found this watermelon tray at a recent estate sale.  It was marked $1 and I was there right before the sale was supposed to end…so I offered a quarter and the lady happily agreed.  Most times at yard sales, they throw in things for uber-cheap or even free at the very end just to avoid having to move it back inside the house or drive it to a donation site.

I sanded it down and primed it to get rid of the watermelon motif.  I dig watermelons…I do…but it looked especially rough on the outside and the corners…so a makeover was in order.

I knew that I wanted the bottom of the tray to be different than the edges so I broke out the regular green Frog Tape to protect the edges from any stray paint.

Then I used a little stencil brush and my Martha Stewart stencils to create a little pattern on the bottom.

In the end, I loved how it looked.  It was perfectly imperfect…and much more updated that Sir Watermelon.

This is about when Jeremy walked in and said “oh, another white tray huh?!”.  ‘How many white trays could a girl possibly have?’, I thought.  I started counting in my head.  When I got to four..I quickly replied “No way…this one is gonna be…um…uh…red!”

And then I broke out the sensitive surface yellow Frog Tape and some red paint.

Now it looks way more updated and makes the perfect serving tray for a couple drinks and a small appetizer.

In order to protect the tray from future chipping or wear-n-tear, it’s a good idea to use a protective clear spray.

I honestly can’t wait for the next yard sale…let’s all pray that there are lots of ‘quarter finds’ for us all!  And a strawberry daiquiri waiting for us when we get home

One of our favorite tools in the ole arsenal is the Graco TrueCoat Plus II.  We got it right before the office makeover and it has saved our hineys on multiple occasions.  Basically, it can achieve that professional finish every DIY’er wants in less time.  A whole lot less time.  Sure it took us eight months (umm…nine months…ten…is it done yet?!) to complete our kitchen, but not because of this bad boy.  We flew through painting the cabinets stage like Taylor Swift with her boy-toys.  And painting the office trim and wainscotting was amazingly fast.  And did I tell you about painting the furniture in the office?  awe-some.

So needless to say, this is one tool we can’t DIY without.  Even the professionals, aka the Petersiks, now use it.  So here’s your chance to get your hands on one.  Not a Petersik, but the Graco TrueCoat Plus II.  And if you want more info, you can check them out on www.saveyourweekend.com or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

So now that you have heard all about how much we love our own sprayer…here’s how you can get your own paint speckled hands on one.  Here’s what is up for grabs….

• PRIZE :  Graco TrueCoat Plus II
• NUMBER OF WINNERS : (1) One
• TO ENTER : Enter by commenting on this post with “Save My Weekend!”, and tell me what project you’d love to tackle with the Graco sprayer.
• PRIZE SHIPS :  Continental US
• NITTY GRITTY : This giveaway closes on Friday, June 14th at 8pm EDT.  Only one contest entry per email address.  The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be announced as an update to this post the following Monday morning. We will email the winner directly, so please make sure you use your regular everyday email address.

GOOD LUCK!

DISCLAIMER:  Graco is giving us the paint sprayer to give away to one of our readers.  We weren’t perked or compensated for it.  We’re just doing it because you deserve it.

INSIDE & OUTSIDE PROJECTS:

• Kitchen Progress Continues (& continues & continues…)
  • throw a party – the island is done!
• play table gets a new topper.
• anthro sells one.  pottery barn does too.  mine caused revolt.
• a few garden plans
• a fire pit.  boom.
• misspelled subway art.  it’s a keeper.
• apparently the kitchen bell is a very popular thing.
• this is a long time coming.
• pollen is not your friend.
• yay for spending money on a new dining room table.

FRIENDS & FAMILY & PERSONAL POSTS:

• Bower Bunnies
• A party even Walt would enjoy
• We went to Chatty.  We ate cake.

PHOTOGRAPHY & EDITING POSTS:

• alert etsy sellers – improve your product photography
• our first house photoshoot
• one heckova before & after

HAPPY PERUSING!

p.s.  we have an amazing giveaway for you at 10am…so come back to enter and win!

Recently one of my favorite play dates was strawberry picking.  I can’t wait to go again.

I imagined it would be like this…fields and fields of perfect strawberries and my eldest gently plucking each ruby gem off the plant and admiring them before placing them ever-so-kindly into the bucket.

In reality, it was a muddy field with ants and lots of rotten strawberries amongst the good ones which were hidden out of view.  The kids were hot, and miserable with mud in their shoes and no interest in picking strawberries except to throw them or squish them.

The kids picked maybe five each.  It was nothing like what we imagined.  But in the end, we all had fun…went home with a bucket of strawberries and the kids enjoyed each other.

My friend Charity is really sweet.  She is always up for an adventure and is a stay at home mom that does it all and then some.  I love that about play dates.  being able to share life with other moms.  learning from other women.  seeing their hearts and digging into how they are using their time to change the world into a better place.  I am just a huge huge fan of play date moms.

Her kids are beautiful so just be prepared to be all achey in the uterus area.

I just love seeing Will form his little friendships with them.  It’s crazy to hear them teach him Spanish words (apparently we are REALLY behind on language training)…and to see their little imaginations and reality collide.

And yes, there was a fair amount of strawberry eating.

Lighting was really harsh for pictures but I like how some of these turned out.  I just can’t believe my little boy is so big…

He is amazing.  It’s probably the mom in me talking…but seriously, have you ever seen a cuter kid?!

The correct answer here is no.  no you have not

p.s.  What are some of your favorite things to do at a play date? I need to stock pile a back up list and need your suggestions!

INSIDE & OUTSIDE PROJECTS:

• Kitchen Progress Continues (& continues & continues…)
  • installing corbels in tile
  • white washing is for everyone!
  • standard cabinets turned piece of furniture/island
• Will is growing!  Here’s how we keep track of how much!
• Easy euro pillow cover how-to
• Put a bunch of shelves in it!  Part 1 & Part 2
• DIY a healthier home

FRIENDS & FAMILY & PERSONAL POSTS:

• Weston’s birth story and PHOTOS!
• Jeremy got laid off.  Here’s the story.
• I was in a book.  And a magazine. Best.Day.Ever.
• How I motivate my man to say YES.
• I miss them.

PHOTOGRAPHY & EDITING POSTS:

•  Remove a blemish
• Four ways to lighten a photo

HAPPY PERUSING!

Sooo….that being said….this is not something creative….just really really cheap.  And a long time coming.

Jeremy’s dad came down in October (with the impending birth of his grandson nigh) and used his chainsaw to help cut down a few fallen trees in our woods.  Our lot has a lot of wooded area and when trees fall across four-wheeling paths, it makes it hard for Jeremy and our four-wheel-lovin’ neighbors to get around.  Jeremy has since bought a chainsaw…but at the time, we needed help.  So Pastor Dad to the rescue!  While they were headed down to the woods, I mentioned that I would like a few logs for outdoor side tables so if they had enough sections that would work, to cut a couple good ones to bring home.  I’m sure that they would never mess with a very pregnant lady.  Of course, they delivered.

I read that the logs have to sit awhile inside a garage for all the wood to dry out and the critters to crawl out.  I took the definition of ‘a while’ as ‘six months’.

When Will told our friends at church that we had trees growing in our house, I knew it was time to start this project.

A lot of tutorials recommended using a hammer or a chisel or something to scrape the bark off.  I had a lot of rot too that I had to remove…this is no joke of a task.  I found the best way is to use a chisel and do it from top to bottom and then lay the log on it’s side and scrape it with the edge of the chisel like you would try to scrape the burnt bits off a piece of toast.

It will come fairly clean.  It’s tedious and dusty work and I highly recommend wearing gloves and a mask because sometimes the log has a mind of it’s own.  (see those little holes below and what looks like tiny worm trails next to them?  that’s termite marks I believe, which are really common here in Georgia.)

It doesn’t have to be perfectly clean because you will be taking some stuff off with the sander…you just want the major chunks off.

The top will have loads and loads of cracks…but they are all part of the individuality of the piece of wood…so don’t try to fill them or sand them away.

Then comes time for sanding.  I used the lowest grit sandpaper I could find.  Mine was 36 grit and it’s for stripping…which it did very nicely.  The one below on the left is sanded and the one on the right is not….see how beautiful?

After I got the big stuff sanded off, I used 100 grit for smoothing it out and removing any noticeable splinters.

Then came time for varnish.  Since my tables were gonna be staying outside, I went with Spar Varnish from Rustoleum (it’s what we used on our outdoor table and side tables and has held up nicely).

It makes the wood look darker at first…like not as gray or dry….more like it’s natural “after-a-morning-shower” type look.

Here are both after two coats of varnish on the sides and nothing on the top.  It’s pretty shocking how much beauty is in two stumps.

Then came time for the tops.  After seeing quite a few with painted tops on the interwebs, I decided to do the same with mine.  Of course, I wanted to use what I had on hand and this Behr Indoor/Outdoor Hi Gloss paint has been in my stock pile for a while.

Here’s the top pre-paint…

and here she is now:

The edge was not perfect (I could always go back and sand and revarnish later if it bugs me) but for the most part, it was a fairly decent line.  I didn’t tape or anything…just used a brush to stroke from the center to the edge.

Personally I love them so so much.  I think they work and look divine.

It’s perfect for a glass of Bahama Mama or a sippy cup of apple juice….and they are so darn honest looking.  Is that possible?  Can wood look honest?  It’s just like they were always supposed to be there.

I do not recommend lifting them yourselves though…these beasts were HEAVY.  I kept reciting “lift with your knees, not your back” and I still was sore.

And you wanna know the best part?   They were FREE!  Yup.  Zero dinero.  No moolah.  Absolutely positively free as a bird.  Everything from the wood to the varnish to the paint to the sandpaper was absolutely free.  Now who here loves them as much as I do!?  Because honestly I don’t think that’s possible…

p.s.  who is shocked I got through that entire posts without a single ‘wood’ or ‘stumpy’ joke?!  ::mindblown::

p.p.s.  today is the five year anniversary of this blog.  holy moly.  ::mindblownagain::

INSIDE & OUTSIDE PROJECTS:

• Kitchen Progress Continues (& continues & continues…)
  • Cooking with GAS!
  • Caulking & Hole Blocking
  • Battle of the Paints
  • A kitchen sneak peek
• A cool tool for designers
• Sally – finally something you can do with all those shells you collect at the sea shore
• It’s their size and their style
• so cheap anyone can make one
• jute wrap it
• Chattanooga Printable
• A noodle makes a lovely wreath
• Coffee table makeover
• how to make a fabric flower (with a video!)
• Our gutter troubles
• I love painting baby clothes

FRIENDS & FAMILY & PERSONAL POSTS:

• Weston’s Birth Story – Part 2

PHOTOGRAPHY & EDITING POSTS:

• Liquifying
• Make a Watermark
• White Balancing
• Creating a Silhouette

SPONSORS:

I don’t like to brag but I really do have the best sponsors.  They are constantly updating their products to make sure that they have the best of the best in style, quality and price.  I am always on their sites for inspiration and trying to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s hot.  If you are looking to update your flooring, tile or fixtures, I hope you look into their products too!

Impressions Hardwood Collection has beautiful quality hardwood floors. The huge variety is my favorite feature.  And they sent us some sample boards to get some info on their products…these are no joke.  QUALITY.

I’m obsessed with The Tile Shop. They are blogger friendly….blog reader friendly….and carry the best.  If you have a showroom near you, it’s worth your time to go check it out just simply because it’s like a dream world.  I am digging their stacked mosaics.  awesome.

Kitchen Resource Direct has the cheapest wholesale prices for cabinets the internet has to offer – price guaranteed!  That makes it worth it right there.  Anyone looking to update your kitchen?  This is the place for you.

I can’t wait to show you more picks from Golden Age USA.  I love me some window shopping…and this place could get me the chills for hours on end!

Interested in becoming a Bower Power sponsor?  Email bowerpowerblog@gmail.com for more rate info and how your ad could be seen by thousands each day!  HAPPY PERUSING!

So when I think about not finishing one vital thing in the kitchen since September, it does seem a little slackerish.  A little half-rear-ended.  a little lazy.  I’ll just go ahead and tell you about it.

We had a down-draft stovetop.  And nature dictates that hot air rises.  Therefore I hated the down-draft.  It just didn’t seem as effective as I liked.  Then we found a UBER-discounted gas stovetop.  It just seemed serendipitous that we have a gas stovetop and a vent hood over it.  My darling Jeremy built a great surround for a regular over-the-stove-ventilation hood.  It looks still very custom.  So we went from this:

to this:

You can read about that transformation here.

Some of you may remember that the solution to the overhead ventilation problem was to take the vent pipe and take it up into the overhead cabinet and through the wall into the room on the other side (which happens to be the laundry room).

Our luck continued because in the laundry room, there is a bunch of cabinets that run along one wall.  And since that set of cabinets really isn’t boasting much functionality on top…it seemed like the logical choice to run the vent pipe along the top of them to the exterior wall and then either build a bulk-head or some kind of ‘blocker’ to help hide the pipe.  WHEW.

The crazy (read: lazy) part is that we vented the hood up and into the laundry room and then stopped there.  We knew that eventually we would vent it outside but it got pushed back…what with having a newborn and all that.  I didn’t complain about it because I knew that when Jeremy got the kahoonas to climb on a ladder (we are both REALLY afraid of heights) that he would tell me.  Plus, every single time I cooked something, the heat from the vent was only about five feet from a fire alarm which would inevitably sound the siren and it was more than enough reminder to both of us that this project was left unfinished.  Fast forward seven months and now that we have started the laundry room makeover, we both knew it was time to tackle this vent issue.

The first thing that we did was buy some materials.  Here is what we needed to complete this project…

• 6″ Exhaust Vent Hood $12
• 6″ x 60″ Galvanized Duct $9
• 6″ x 10″ Galvanized Duct Elbow $5
• 6″ x 6″ Galvanized Duct $5
• Reflective Foil Tape $5
• Extra large kahoonas for 24′ ladder climbing $priceless

Total : $36 and a little more for extra baggy underwear

So the duct from the hood was already coming through the wall and into the laundry room.  So the first thing we did was figure out the right configuration of the elbow duct to make it extend along the wall.  After Jer got it twisted the correct direction, he fit it over the existing duct and then I held it in place while Jeremy taped it together.  The tape isn’t necessarily for it to stay together…but it does help with stability.  The main function of the tape is to help keep hot air from escaping the seams.

Then the shortest duct (the 6″x6″) got slipped inside the elbow…it’s like one of the connectors to make everything more seamless).

Then Jer put the longest duct over the end and ran it all the way to the wall.  He just held in place while tracing the edge.

This is where a little math comes in play.  You want to find your studs and make sure your hole doesn’t run into one because then your pipe can’t go through to the outside…so measuring from both walls, at 16″ increments, you should be able to calculate if you have a stud.  We also triple check with a stud finder (which we have found sometimes to be inaccurate so this is never our first choice) and a couple nail holes.

Then using a drywall knife, Jer cut out the hole.

See that stud?  Whew.  It was right on the edge so it worked out.

After we removed the insulation, it was time to drill through the house.  EEEK!

Jer used his new tool (a Milwaukee hammer drill) to drill through the exterior boards and siding to mark the edges of the circle.

SCARY!

But not as scary as this…

Yup…after marking the holes, he was able to get the blade of the jigsaw inside the boards and cut out the hole completely.

And this was done 24 feet in the air.  That to us is like 24 million feet of torture.  He might as well be doing stunt work on the side of the Empire State building.  But it wasn’t over yet.

Then came time for fitting the exhaust vent hood in the hole and attaching it to the house with exterior screws.

My man is so brave.  Seriously.  I would have just hired this out.  I’m such a chicken when it comes to heights that even watching him made me sweat.

After it was all screwed in (the sealant is something we wrote into our ‘house painting’ quote so we knew someone else would take care of it in a couple days), we headed back inside.

At this point it was simply a matter of cutting the longest pipe to the correct length.  We already had metal snips so that was easy.

This is where that long pipe goes…

And you put it in place and then tape the seams.

Bada boom bada bing.

Since we had the foil tape already pulled out, we decided to switch up the tape in the first part of the hood.  Some of you may remember the explosion of minds when we used duct tape on our ducts.  Literally.  There was some freaking out going on.

But like I said before…we didn’t have the right product on hand so we made do and thought of the entire thing like an experiment to see how long the duct tape would last.  Well the results of the experiment are in.  It definitely lasts at least seven months.

It was still sticky and nicely adhered…not crumbly or flaky or dry like it can turn after long exposure to heat.  It does look white because it was exposed to the spraying that we did to the cabinetry…but despite a little paint ‘dusting’ we see no real change.  So now all those folks can sleep at night knowing that all is right in the world

Of course, both Jeremy and I are extremely glad this project is finally Dee Ohh Enn Eee.  It is so nice to be able to cook salmon and not worry about our laundry smelling fishy.  And my children are no longer gonna be screaming at the fire alarm.  And everybody likes a $36 project and extra large panties.

So have you ever put a project off?  or did a project and experimented with a different product just to see how long it would last till you did it the right way?  Or perhaps you just wanna talk about your fear of heights and how it has kept ya from tackling something?

I’ve never done a day in the life kinda post before.  I just figured that it would possibly be the most boring thing ever.  EVER.  I mean, why would anyone in their right mind want to hear about what a stay at home mom does during the day with her two kids and playdates and cleaning and cooking and such.

So I get it if this is not for you.  I get it.  Truly.  And obviously…this is just one day that I chose to chronicle.  More for me than anything.  So that I can look back at it in a month or a year or five, ten, twenty years and see a tiny flash of my used-to-be life.  And to be perfectly honest…because Wendy’s sponsored this post, they made it happen.  This is part of their Sweet made Sweeter promotion…which is about their new Waffle Cone Frosty but honestly, it makes so much sense to me as a mom for this post because sometimes it really is the little things like a quiet moment, or a kind gesture, or even a special treat that make our life so much better.  It should be noted that every day is different for us.  Every day is new and fresh with it’s own challenges and lows and highs and joys.  It’s real.  It’s not always perfect.  But it’s ours.

7:15 am.   Weston wakes me up by making tooting noises with his paci.  Weston co-sleeps and usually Will sneaks into our bed during the early morning hours if he has nightmares, so both boys are in my bed this morning.  I pick up Weston and nurse him over in the chair and leave Will to keep sleeping.  I don’t even remember Jer giving me a kiss in the morning to say goodbye, which means that I was OUT.  I put Weston in the jumper and I hop in the shower.

8:00 am.  Will wakes up and he immediately asks to go to the bathroom.  I am so proud of him for potty training so easily…and this morning I say a thankful prayer that I don’t have to change the sheets.  We all head downstairs.

8:15 am.  I start breakfast and the boys play on the blanket and the train table in the living room.  It’s just eggs and toast today so it’s literally ready in three minutes time.

8:20 am.  I sit Weston in the walker and Will and I sit down to eat.  I shove the food in my mouth because it seems like Weston decided the blanket was more comfortable.  I sit him back down on the blanket to find the entire back of my arm is wet.

8:30 am.  I finish cleaning up Weston’s blow-out.  Curses on the fact that the laundry room is still out of commission.  Throw his jammies into the potty to soak and bundle everything else to put in the wash later.

9:00 am.  Start Will on his ‘school’ while I wrap on Weston and do the dishes and try to do a round of picking up/vacuuming/dusting between helping Will.  Today his school involves two pages in his activity book (which he needs my help), doing some lacing cards, and playing with his ’sorting elephants’.

9:30 am.  I’m pooped already.  Will’s mentally done and just wants to play cars so I put all the ‘school’ stuff away and we all sit on the floor to play/read/sing/crash stuff.  Weston is learning to crawl so I grab my camera.  The slow crawl is one of my favorite sweet moments in a baby’s life.

10:00 am.  Will’s independently playing so I nurse Weston again and then get up and start gathering supplies for my morning project.

10:30 am.  Weston goes down for his morning nap.  I want to paint the laundry room ceiling so I encourage Will to play right outside the door with his rice box (it’s a giant box filled with white rice and he has digger trucks that make a huge mess…but this morning, it’s the price I’m willing to pay for a white ceiling).

11:00 am.  I’m done.  Will’s bored of the rice and has started “feeding the shoes”…aka putting rice in all the shoes near the door.  I set up Will on his bike to ride in the yard while I sweep the garage and fish wet, dirty rice outta Jeremy’s mountain biking shoes.

11:30 am.  Our play date friends finally arrive.  We try to have play dates at least three times a week and this time it’s with my friend Charity and her kids, Nicky and Natalia.  The kids play out in the yard with all the trucks while Charity and I make lunch.

12:30 pm.  Weston is awake so we pack up all the stuff we need to head down to the creek.  The kids all want the same shovel.  There was fuss over the sunscreen.  Then Weston tries to eat a handful of sand.  And then the kids discover the ‘little fish’ and the waterfall and the smooth stones and all is well.  I nurse Weston while my feet are still in the running water.  Sweet indeed.

2:00 pm.  The kids are starting to get too cranky…looks like we need a change of scenery.  We head up to the house and take out the baby pool for them to splash around in.   They decide the funnest part is squirting each other in the bum with the hose.  Weston munches on some baby puffs followed by five minutes of comfort nursing.  He’s getting tired.

3:00 pm.  We promised the kids ice cream if they ate their lunch so we head to Wendy’s for a new frosty in a waffle cone.  It’s perfect.  Weston falls asleep on the way there.  We are a rugged looking group…and the little old lady in the back booth is looking at us with big smiles.  While we wait for our cones, she exits and tells me that she remembers when her kids were that age and to cherish these times.  I promise her I will.

3:40 pm.  Hugs all around and the kids are buckled to head home.  I remember that I need to stop at Sherwin Williams on the way home for paint samples.  By the time I get there, both boys are completely out.  I call the store and ask if I can just drive up to the side door and hand them my swatches through the window.  They know me by name (aka crazy picky painting lady with two crying kids) so they agreed.  I give them all five color names and my debit card and they deliver my samples back out to me.  I thank my lucky stars for living in a small town and spend my time in my car emailing.

4:10 pm.  I remember the bag of old clothes in my trunk and drop them off at the local thrift store that helps folks with drug and alcohol addictions.

4:15 pm.  Finally home.  I transfer each sleeping boy upstairs.  I walk like a ninja so I can keep them asleep.  Both boys sleep the afternoon nap in Will’s room.  Then I look around the house.  It looks like we were robbed.  Nope…no burglary here…just a detonated bomb.  I start picking up.

5:00 pm.  The house is partially picked up…I’m done with approving comments and reading my favorite bloggers and then I eat a handful of Almond M&M’s.  I need something stronger…I stare down the can of Coke in the fridge and settle on a glass of Crystal Light iced tea.  I grab a handful of mini foam brushes and my paint samples and head outside.

5:30 pm.  The flowers are all watered…the paint is drying for when Jer gets home…the kids wake up and I find both of them in the pack n play (Weston’s bed) playing with their lovies.  It’s so cute to see them, that I run to get my camera.  I notice Will’s bangs are scraggly – take him outside and do a five second snip.  He freaks out….too soon for any post-nap activity, I guess.  He insists that he needs a new shirt because the current one has hair sticking to the ice cream drips.  One new outfit later, he’s happy as a clam.

6:10 pm.  Daddy’s home!  All is right with the world!

6:30 pm.  I show Jer the paint colors…and the new laundry room ceiling…and the info we need for signing Will up for soccer and preschool for next year.  Then Will does his routine of “what I did”….basically a full run down of things Will did that day…sometimes he only repeats what I tell him and sometimes there is some embellishment.  Today he told Jer he saw a dinosaur down at the creek and that he peed on an ant.  That last one is very well true.

6:45 pm.  Jer moves both the washer and dryer back into the laundry room for me.  I am amazed at his strength.  Then he heads downstairs to do his workout while both boys play cars down there.  I get three loads sorted and ready.

7:15 pm.  It’s already late and I haven’t started dinner yet.  Jer will be done soon and usually he plays with the boys outside while I try to make something.  I pull some random goods from the fridge and start googling Pioneer Woman recipes on my phone.

8:00 pm.  Dinner is finally finished.  I couldn’t make 95% of Pioneer Woman’s recipes because I didn’t have any heavy cream.  So I go back to my cooking comfort zone of pasta with chicken in some kind of sauce (this time it was artichokes, mushrooms, white wine, cream cheese and capers).  It’s no Pioneer Woman but it’s tasty enough for all of us.

8:45 pm.  Immediately following dinner, I nurse Weston and Jer tries to get Will to eat more.  Jer tells me all about his plan for Saturday’s mountain biking ride.  I tell him about the volunteer opportunities for the women’s group I started.  We both dream about how cool it would be to buy a super old house at an auction and renovate it.  Then I could use it as a photography studio or rent it out for special events.  We both laugh and know it’s just a dream…but a good one.

9:00 pm.  Bath time.  This is Will’s favorite now that Weston is old enough to sit up.  I read the Bearenstain Bears book while the boys play.  Jeremy is down stairs cleaning up dinner.

9:30 pm.  Jammies are on!  Boys are ready and so am I.  Will decides he wants Daddy to read and put him down tonight…so I give hugs and kisses and take Weston into our room to nurse while Jer does prayers/books/and songs.

10:00 pm.  Weston nurses and is down.  I put him down in his pack n play (we moved it back out of Will’s room into our room) to sleep for the night.  Then I break out the computer.  On the agenda: sorting photos, editing some pics of the boys, answering more emails, approving comments, and starting the post for today.  Jer walks in with a tall glass of water for me, two bowls of ice cream for us both and some paperwork for the blog.  He starts an old episode of Shark Tank.

10:30 pm.  Will walks in with great urgency and tells us he needs to pee.  I remember Westons jammies are still soaking in the toilet.  I fish them out and throw them in the washing machine while Jer helps Will back to bed.

11:00 pm.  Will walks in again to tell us that he sees a dinosaur.

11:30 pm.  Will walks in again to give us ‘birthday cards’. They are of course, imaginary.  This time, we threaten to take away his tractor.  He falls asleep in his teepee.  Jeremy is up past his normal bedtime so he kisses me goodnight and heads to bed.

12:00 am.  Weston wakes up.  I know his teeth are bothering him.  I try comfort nursing him but he just gets mad because he’s not hungry.  I come to grips with the fact that my blog post won’t be finished…and break out the numbing stuff for his gums.  I walk him around for thirty minutes to no avail.  Jer gets irritated because he needs to be sleeping.  I confess that I am at the end of myself right now…Jer takes Weston so that I can finish signing all the paperwork.  Jer has him asleep in under five minutes and heads back to bed.

2:00 am.  All Bower boys are asleep and I am still up…this time trying to upload photos to a blog post.  I realize I am dozing when I hear Will crying in his room from a nightmare.  I go in to check on him and move him into his bed.  Then I lay in bed and play three games of Candy Crush on my phone just to get my brain to calm down again and finally fall asleep.  I fall asleep swearing to myself that tomorrow I’ll try to get a nap…and send myself a note to wrap the birthday presents/shower presents in the kitchen, clean up the bathrooms for ladies group tomorrow and to send out the thank you notes that have been sitting on my desk for the last two weeks.

4:00 am.  Weston starts fussing again and I nurse him in our bed while half asleep.  He co-sleeps for the rest of the night.

So that’s it.  One little day in the midst of our crazy.  I’m sure that most moms out there have their own version of crazy each day .  We have triumphs and failures.  We get involved and try to stay on top of the mess.  We love our partners and our kids and our friends and family.  And that in my book is beautiful.

 disclaimer - this is a sponsored post by Wendy’s Waffle Cone Frosty.  All opinions and memories are 100% mine.     

That being said…I really wanted to do a funky and fun setting.  Something with a modern edge and still make it youthful.  And nothing says modern and fun like a fun citrusy color scheme.

It began with this bright green giraffe print fabric.  I got it at a discount fabric store for a photo shoot but ended up never using it.  I stocked it away because I knew that I loved it enough that one day I’ll get to use it for something.  maybe a poof or floor pillows?  Anyhoo…after I had my ‘tablecloth’, I decided to make a cool modern runner out of round mirror chargers (they are called candle dishes at Hobby Lobby) and stack a set of three vases…one with flowers, one with faux artichokes, and one with faux oranges.

The place settings are actually serving dishes that have stands but I just removed the plate for a simple and modern clean-lined dish.  The simple napkin (with silverware rolled up inside) is another clean-lined way to present a dish…and it doesn’t hurt to have another splash of pattern.

I have a lot of fake fruit.  It’s weird.  My mom has it too.  I like it because its always fresh looking.  It’s never surrounded by fruit flies and still can add color in a very natural and organic looking way.  Yes…fake fruit can look organic

A good price is a dollar a piece or less…and you absolutely must be picky about how it looks.  You can get fake fruit for a buck each and it looks crazy fake…like straight preschool play kitchen fake….so be picky and look for texture and color variation.  My favorite spots to find winners are Pier 1 and TJMaxx.  Sometimes Hobby Lobby and Michaels has good stuff but its rarely on sale.

The bouquet was again…another Walmart set…I took out the crazy flowers that didn’t go with my color scheme.  The church gave this one to me for Mothers Day so it’s especially beautiful

that lemon is not fake.

Oh and here’s one more way to think outside the box…hold up objects and try to think of ways that it can be used for a table setting outside of it’s normal use.  The napkin rings I had were bright pink (a West Elm gift from a friend) and I wanted a little more pink in the rest of the table, so I tested out various candles to find that they are the perfect size for mini votives too.  If I was serving hard boiled eggs, I could balance the egg on the pink napkin rings or use them as a cuff for a bunch of flowers.  It’s all about using what you have, right?!

Okay…so this was my fifth and final table setting for this week…so glad table setting week is over and I got to share these with you.  If more table settings are your jam, there is over twenty more in the table setting gallery.  AND today is the linky party day for table settings!  Hooray!  If you took the time to blog about your own table (either in the past or just this week), I would absolutely love to see it.  Here’s how we do it…

• click on the blue “Add Your Link” button at the bottom of this post – it has a blue frog head on it add a link to your table setting blog post in the url field (please do not link to your home page) for “name” write a short descriptive name
• If you’d rather just link over to your table in the comment section, feel free to do that – or even add a link to a free photo sharing site like Flickr with your pics if you don’t have a blog (remember to set the gallery to public so we can all see it).