Life on Mars

Best. Reveal. Ever.

2013-02-01T20:42:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the long vacation. We had a pretty major change of plans and our little bundle of joy made his (yes, I was right all along and we had a perfect little boy) appearance 3 weeks early. So I've been very happily distracted from anything non-baby related this week with this adorable little face:

Jack Kilgo

January 28, 2013 at 2:30pm

5 lbs, 13 oz

19.5 inches long

He's named after his father, grandfather and great grandfather, but we're calling him Jack. I have lots more pictures, but I have to get up the willpower to tear myself away from the real thing long enough to edit and post them. So for now, this will have to do.

Praise the Lord for this perfect and precious gift that He's chosen to give to John and I. My prayer now is that we will be parents that are worthy of this incredible child.

"For this child I have prayed and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." 1 Samuel 1:27

Review: Mr. Beams LED Light

2013-01-23T16:42:00.000-05:00

OK, I know. I feel off the face of the earth again and I’m probably going to do it again in the next few weeks. However, I wanted to get this post in before I disappear into babyhood.

In November, I was contacted to review Mr. Beams LED Wireless Motion Sensing Lights. Long name for a nifty little product. We didn’t need it under the counters (John was planning on doing a big under cabinet lighting project as part of my Christmas project… more on that in a later post). However, we had the darkest pantry… I’m talking you can’t see anything in there.

Seriously, I’ve been known to pull out a flashlight to look around in there. So when I had the change to review these lights, I jumped at it.

They were SUPER easy to install (maybe 5 minutes) and made an immediately difference:

(Please don’t judge the state of my pantry. It’s crazy messy and on my to-do list for this year. We’ll call these real life pictures.)

Now, before I reviewed these, I wanted to live with them for a bit. I had bought some inexpensive wireless lights a few months back and they died in about 3 weeks. Now, to be honest, I never remembered to turn them off, but still. Not an effective solution.

So when I saw that these were motion sensing, I thought it might be the solution. They are awesome! They immediately come on when I open the pantry and turn off after 20 seconds of no motion. They have been one of my favorite practical solutions for the kitchen and I highly recommend them. Amazon actually has them on sale right now for $24 for 2, so if you have a couple of dark spots in your house, you should definitely look into these!

2013 Home Goals

2013-01-10T15:00:00.003-05:00

So remember how I’ve been promising preggo pictures? Remember how I was going to take bi-weekly pictures of the entire pregnancy? Remember how I haven’t taken a picture of myself since week 17? Yeah, I remember that too. It was a nice goal. It didn’t happen.

These goals are not like that goal in that I actually intend to follow through on them.

1. NURSERY!

This is top goal because there’s this looming deadline to have it finished. Technically, that deadline is February 18th. However, since I’d really rather not be hanging the curtains as I go into labor, I plan on having this finished by January 31st. The picture above is the BEFORE picture. it doesn’t look like this right now. It’s well on it’s way to being adorable. Here’s where we stand right now:

~~Remove painted wallpaper boarder and fix walls~~
~~Paint ceiling, walls, trim and closet doors~~
~~Add bookshelf, crib, dresser and glider~~
Reupholster ottoman
Add tree/branch/animal decals
~~Replace ceiling fan~~
Hang curtains
~~Hang pictures~~
Make cross-stich sampler (this will make sense later, I promise)

2. Entryway/Upstairs Hallway

I don’t even have a picture of the entryway, but I really hate the color. Plus, I’m hoping to look under the nasty carpet and reveal beautiful hardwood treads… then I’ll wake up from my fantasy.

3. Living Room to Dining Room Transition

This is the second major goal of the year. I will be moving the Dining Room into the current Living Room:

It’s bigger, it’s brighter and it’s the first room you see in our house, so I don’t want it to be wasted space. We’re going to make the current dining room into a downstairs play/crafting area.

This will be a gradual project. First up… popcorn removal and getting an electrician to install an overhead light. The full list is:

Popcorn removal
Add overhead lighting
Replace dining room table
Replace carpet with hardwoods
Add chunkier crown molding
Paint walls, ceiling and trim
Add buffet

4. Outside

There are some big projects I’d like to tackle outside, but I’d be happy if I just painted the shutters and changed out some plants.

I know, I know… you’re thinking,” Only 4 projects, are you sick or something? You completed 6 rooms this year!” Not exactly, I’m pregnant and figure life is going to be pretty interesting over the next 12 months and I might want to give myself a little leeway. With that said, I am not going to be posting 3 times a week for the near future. I will be posting 1-2 times. I love my blog and I don’t want it to become a burden so that I just quit. Plus, I have priorities like my new family, my job and retaining my sanity (hopefully), so those will take precedence.

2012 Resolution Check

2013-01-02T13:59:00.002-05:00

So in 2012, I set three types of goals for myself: Blog, Personal and Home. So I’m going to do the same thing for 2013. But first, let’s check in on the 2012 goals and see how I measured up.

BLOG Resolutions for 2012:

Hit 350 followers by my 1 year blogiversary in April. – Check!
Start having guest bloggers - Check… kinda. I had a few and then stopped.
Hit 500 followers by 2013. – Check! Currently sitting at 577 Feedburner subscribers, 60 Linky Followers and 226 Facebook likes.
Most importantly, I’d like to stop comparing my blog to other blogs. I want this to be a creative outlet for me, not a job. – Yeah, this one’s a work in progress.

Personal Resolutions for 2012:

Stop biting my nails. – Check! I’ve now gone 2 1/2 months without biting. Yay!

Home Resolutions for 2013:

Rooms I’d like to update:
- Master Bedroom
- Guest Room
- Entry way

We didn’t get the Entryway, but we did add the Mudroom (again), finished the Kitchen, Guest Bath, Master Bath and started on the Nursery.

We have a lot of work to do outside including but not limited to:
- removing some trees in the backyard – I talked John out of this one for now
- replacing our fence – Check!
- adding some privacy trees – nope, that’s back on the list for this year
- adding a garden – Ditto.
- painting the shutters – Ditto.
- adding 2 columns to the front of the house - Check!
- painting the front door (again) – nope
- reseeding the lawn (again) – Check!

Overall, I am totally happy with what we accomplished in 2012! It was a busy year, but my house is a million times more in order than it was in 2011. Almost the whole downstairs is done. We have the Living Room left and that’s definitely on the list for this year, along with the Entry way.

Favorite Projects of 2012

2012-12-27T09:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long hiatus. My attention hasn’t really been on blogging or projects lately and I hate posting “filler,” if you know what I mean.

Can you believe it’s the end of 2012? I feel like I was just writing this post for 2011 (check it out HERE if you’re interested).

#10 - Upholstered Valance

I love this valance. It pulled the entire room together (see the room down on #6). For those of you who are wondering, the valance has stayed in place this time.

#9 - Spray Painted Striped Curtains

This is one of those projects that I kind of made up as I went along and it worked out! For the record, the Guest Bedroom Makeover is probably #11 on my list and should you want to check it out, you can do that HERE.

#8 – Sofa Table

It may not look like much to you, but this table has improved my life:

It provides a warmth and a “completeness” to this room that it was lacking before. Plus, now that I’m way preggo , the coffee table (and my drink) feels very far away when I’m curled up in that corner seat.

#7 - Antique Silver Leaf Frame

I picked this picture up from a flea market in Asheville over the summer.A little spray paint, a little silver leaf and a little glaze gave me this beautiful antiqued finish on the frame. Honestly, the picture looks so much better because the frame is pretty!

#6 - Master Bathroom Makeover

Don’t you love how much difference some paint can make? I mean really… that’s ALL that changed in this room. It’s a much brighter, happier place to wake up to and get ready in the morning.

#5 – Mudroom

Yeah, I’m basically the luckiest girl in the world. My husband is so incredible and I’m so blessed. He put so much work into this room and I LOVE it. It was important to me to have a pretty laundry room because that door at the end is our half bath and the only bathroom on the first floor, so all of our guests come through here. Now I don’t have to cringe when they walk through. (For more proof that my husband is pretty much incredible, see #2).

#4 - Burlap Wreath

This was my favorite kind of project. Quick, simple, cheap and turned out great! I left this wreath on my door from May through November and just changed out the accessories.

It also doesn’t hurt that this is my most pinned, most viewed post ever with over 61,000 pageviews. That’s triple any other post. Crazy and thanks to everyone who pinned it!

#3 - Striped Bathroom

This is another one of those before and after’s that are just amazing all because of some paint. I love this bathroom now. It just makes me happy, which is great since I’ll be using it A LOT more in the coming years.

#2 - Kitchen Countertops and Backsplash

Let’s just step back and remember where this kitchen started:

The picture on the left is our kitchen when we moved in. On the right is after removing upper cabinets and painting. We never changed the layout to save money and I’m so glad.

By far, this kitchen makeover has made the biggest difference in the way I feel about my house. I love cooking in this kitchen. Plus, every time I wipe the counters, I remember what a gift and labor of love this was from my husband. He worked so hard and did such an incredible job. I am so grateful for him.

#1 - Nursery

So, the nursery isn’t finished and I don’t have any pictures to show you, but it’s coming along perfectly. I love that room. More than the project itself, this is my favorite project because what (or rather who) it represents. The Nursury represents all that is to come in 2013. 2012 has been an incredible year and I’m actually overwhelmed as I think of how much better 2013 will be. The Lord has so abundantly blessed me and He’s about to bless me in a completely new way.

I’ll be back in the New Year with regular posts and updates. I PROMISE I’ll bring you a bump picture, which hasn’t happened since 17 weeks (how is that 15 weeks ago???), a 2013 project list and regular updates. Have a wonderful, safe New Year!

Linking to:

A Day of Silence

2012-12-17T08:12:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas Tour

2012-12-13T08:48:00.003-05:00

I can’t believe how late I’m posting this! I’ve head our Christmas decorations up since the end of November, but I haven’t had time to post about them. I know by now you are all a little over seeing everyone’s Christmas decorations, but you’re getting it anyway. So get ready for a photo-filled post.

Family Room

I’ve become very sentimental about my Christmas decorations. Many of them have a deeper meaning to me. The wreath is just like one that my Mom has hung at our house for years and I’ve always loved it.

Plus we made mine together last year. The Santa is part of my Dad’s collection that he’s had for a long time and last year, he gave this one to me. Each is handmade and hand-painted. They are all truly beautiful.

And Rudolf is one that my Dede (my maternal grandfather) made years ago. He passed away 9 years ago and it reminds me of him every time I see it.

This Santa picture is new this year. I found him at HomeGoods for $12 and I just love him. He’s so jolly. Plus he’s covered in glitter, so that’s always a bonus for me.

Entry Way

I found the preserved boxwood wreath this year and knew it would look perfect over the mirror. I love the little touch of green. Sorry about the quality of the picture. For whatever reason, I can not take a decent picture in my entry way. The lighting in here is terrible (I plan to correct that one day).

Dining Room

I didn’t spend a dime on my table this year. The centerpiece is scraps from the tree, berries from my yard and leftover ornaments arranged in my dough bowl. Everything else, I already had.

if you look closely, you can see our Christmas tree in the background of the photo on the left, but here’s the full version:

He’s fat and fall and about as tall as we could go (notice how the star literally touches the ceiling), but I LOVE this tree. He’s perfect.

Merry Christmas!

Linking to:

Crafts of Christmas Past

2012-12-06T10:42:00.001-05:00

I know… where have I been? I don’t know… time is getting away from me. Christmas is busy around our family and at work and I just haven’t had time to craft, blog, take pictures, etc. My goal for the month is not to stress myself out with that stuff. I just want to enjoy this month, so I’m probably only going to be posting about once/week until after the new year.

Plus, I’m feeling a little uninspired and most of my craftiness is going into the nursery anyway. So since about half of you weren’t around this time last year, I thought I’d show you some of the crafting I did last year and claim it for this year too. Plus when I started looking back, I did enough crafting last year for both years.

Vintage Ornament Wreath

By far, my favorite is my Vintage Ornament Wreath that I made with my Mom. She has had one of these wreaths for years and it’s always been my favorite decoration of hers and now I have one at my house. Check out the tutorial HERE.

Ribbon Card Holder

Next is the least crafty but definitely a fun decoration. I used $2 worth of ribbons, 3M strips and mini-cloths pins to display my Christmas cards. I love to display the Christmas cards we receive but I never had a great way to do it before and I don’t have the wall space for one of those huge holders. This is perfect and doesn’t take up much wall space.

Silver Pinecone Wreath

This is a “semi-homemade” craft. I bought a basic pinecone wreath at HomeDepot for $20, spray painted it silver and then coated it in glitter. I liked it so much that I left it up through Julylast year. #ChristmasinJuly I think I can get away with February since it’s very wintery, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a July decoration.

This hangs in my powder room and I always have a candle lit in there. I love how it sparkles in the candlelight. Check out the tutorial HERE (even though I basically told you how to do it).

NOEL Pottery Barn Knock-Off

This is a great decoration for a bookshelf or as “filler.” The only thing I wish I’d done differently is use chunkier letters and to put some kind of wooden piece on the back to act as a stand. I might add that this year. Maybe that can be my craftiness for the year? Pathetic, I know.

There you go! Hope you get a little inspiration out of my recycled Christmas crafts.

Linking to: Centsational Girl

Striped Bathroom Reveal

2012-11-26T10:35:00.003-05:00

This room has been complete for two weeks, but I finally cleaned it and took pictures, which is always the step that takes me the longest. I LOVE how this bathroom turned out. It’s EXACTLY what I had pictures in my head from the stripes to the towels to the shower curtain. It’s great for future kiddos that will be the primary users but also works for adults when guests come and use it.

Let’s just remind you of where this bathroom started… It had really great bones. We didn’t need to change any fixtures and I liked the beadboard on the walls. But… I HATED the paint job…

So the biggest project in here was covering the purple paint with grey diamonds. More on that process HERE.

I made the shower curtain and I love it. I found the fabric on Fabric.com and knew that it was the inspiration for this bathroom.

I found the fun towels and round bathmats at Target. The towels were only $4.99 each! That ended up evening itself out with the monogramming, so it was good that I got a good deal. I love the pop of lime against the blue.

This room just feels so much brighter and happier now.

Linking to:

Thankful…

2012-11-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today I am thankful for so many gifts that the Lord has bestowed upon me. I am humbled by the incredibly blessed life that I lead. Here are just a few of those things:

1. The gift of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross

2. My sweet husband. John, who is absolutely the world to me.

3. This little one… I can’t wait to meet you in just a few more months!

4. My sweet family. So excited to spend some quality time with them this week.

5. My wonderful encouraging readers… that’s you! I truly consider each of you a friend and look forward to every email and comment you send me. Thank you!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family and friends and all the things you are thankful for.

Recipe: Apple Dew Dumplings

2012-11-20T08:52:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving week! I hope you have plans to share a big turkey with some wonderful people. We’re heading to my parent’s lake house tomorrow for a couple of days to celebrate the holiday.

If you’re looking for a last minute dessert idea, I’m here to help you out. Plus, this is one that the kids can help make as well.

A friend introduced us to this recipe last year and we love it.

Ingredients

1 Stick of Butter, melted
1 Cup Sugar (did I mention it was healthy, too?)
1 t. Cinnamon (or to taste)
1 t. Vanilla
2 Large Granny Smith Apples, peeled and cored
6 oz Mountain Dew
2 Cans Original Crescent Rolls (or Big N Flaky for fatter dumplings)

Mix melted butter with next 3 ingredients. Cut apples into eights. Roll each individual eighth into a crescent roll and place into a glass baking dish. Let them have a little room between them or they’ll be a little mushy on the bottom. The spoon butter mixture over each dumpling until empty. Pour mountain dew over the top.

Yes, I know Mountain Dew is a weird ingredient. It’s delicious. Don’t worry.

Bake for about 25 min at 375 or until crescent rolls are done. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes. Serve with ice cream.

These are always a hit when I make them. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Linking to:

Rustic Fall Party {Rehearsal Dinner}

2012-11-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

So remember how I spent the whole summer planning a rehearsal dinner for my brother-in-law and new sister-in-law? And remember how pretty it was and how great it turned out? Oh, you don’t remember anything about it? That’s because I didn’t take a SINGLE picture that night!!! #bloggerfail

Thankfully, Kathy Powell of Moore Photography came to my rescue in a big way. She is an incredibly talented photographer based in South Carolina and took better pictures that night than I could have ever attempted anyway. If you need a photographer in the southeast, everyone was so pleased with her. Super easy to work with.

Anyway, now I can show you how the actual party turned out!

The dinner was held at an awesome historic carriage house in Columbia, South Carolina and it was the perfect fall night. I’m not going to jumble everything up with a lot of words, just know that great people + beautiful weather + boiled peanuts = good party.

Linking to:

Review: Frog Tape versus Scotch Blue

2012-11-12T10:23:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend.

This is in no way a sponsored post for either Frog Tape or Scotch Blue. When I was putting the stripes up in the bathroom, I used A LOT of tape. If you’re interested in the actual tutorial, this is a good place to start: How to Paint Perfect Stripes on Wall by Centsational Girl It was very helpful to me and I may be prejudiced, but I think my stripes are pretty great:

I will say that putting up the tape was a two person job. John held the laser level in place while I put up the tape along the line. Our laser level had a way to mount it, but it used pins and I didn’t want a billion little whole in my wall.

OK, so back to the Frog Tape versus Scotch Blue with Edge Lock. I used mostly Frog Tape because that’s what I had on hand, but I did use plenty of Scotch Blue to get a good idea of both.

In this particular picture, you only see a little of the Scotch Blue but there was a lot more used in other areas.

Putting up the tape: Scotch Blue wins this category hands down. In clung better on the first swipe than Frog Tape did. With Frog Tape, we found we needed to go over the tape multiple times before it really stuck, even then while I was painting it was peeling up in spots.

This is where the importance of “sealing the lines” comes in. Once your tape is up, cover the lines in your base coat color. That way, if there is any bleed, then the color that bleeds is the color that’s already painted, not the color that is your accent or stripe color.

Crisp Lines: I really couldn’t tell a difference between the two. Both had equally crisp lines as long as they didn’t pull off paint (see below).

Removing the Tape: This is where Frog Tape won by a mile in my opinion. Frog Tape pulled off cleanly and required very little to no touch up afterwards. Scotch Blue not only pulled of TONS of paint, which makes for lots of touch-ups, but it also didn’t really want to come off at all. We had to use a knife and cut along the edge of the tape to help it come off. When you used about 700,000 feet of tape, this is not ideal. This is an example of the Scotch Blue removal process:

You can see some bleeding at the top, but that’s probably user error. The big problem is the HUGE patch of paint that peeled off along with the tape and that was after using the knife on the edge.

In John’s words: “This blue one really sucks. Don’t buy it again.”

I consider him a pretty impartial judge, so in our house, Frog Tape rules from here on out in spite of the issues of it initially not sticking. I guess we’d rather have it not stick enough than to stick too much?

Review: Dutch Boy Refresh Paint

2012-11-07T08:21:00.005-05:00

I was given two gallons of paint by Dutch Boy to review their new Dutch Boy Refresh Paint. I knew immediately that I wanted to do the bathroom. Unfortunately, I was not immediately able to actually paint the space though… in fact, it too me over two months to get around to it. Let’s just use the preggo excuse here too… yep, I’m getting a lot of mileage out of that one.

But, I finally did it and I showed you a sneak peak on Monday of the bathroom that went from this:

Sorry, this is the best picture that I have that shows the horrible purple and grey diamond motif.

It was so abhorrent to me that I couldn’t bear taking real before pictures.

to this:

I’ve been thinking long and hard about this review. It’s hard to review a product when most of the features are not yet noticeable. So I’m just going to run through the Key Features that the paint promises and talk about what I can.

Key Features

Exceptional Hide and Durability – The durability will have to be determined. I will try to remember to do an update post in about a year to let you know if it’s actually durable.

As far as the hide, I’m gonna have to call it like I see it on this one. Granted, I was covering dark purple paint with white, so you gotta give them a mulligan, but I did two coats of Zinsser primer before using the “self-priming” Refresh paint and I still had to do two full coats of white refresh paint. I was really hoping to get away with just one. After the first coat of pain, I could still see some purple coming through.

Gives mildew-resistant coating - I used it in the bathroom, so this’ll be included in the next update.
Zero VOC† / Greenguard® Indoor Air Quality Certified - Yay!!! loved this. There was essentially no odor and I was able to paint this room without using a mask. This isn’t just important for pregnant people, but for people with small children in their home.
Limited Lifetime Warranty
Reduces Household odors with Arm & Hammer odor eliminating technology

I’m counting on this one and again, I’ll update you in six months. I used this paint in both the nursery and the “baby’s bathroom” because this is where I’ll be washing out those cloth diapers that I'm planning on using. I think this feature is really cool though. Dutch Boy put Arm & Hammer in the actual paint, so odors in the room are supposed to be absorbed into the walls and trapped there.

So in my opinion, if this one feature of this paint works, then it’s worth using it in every bathroom, kitchen and nursery in the house (which I did use this in the nursery as well). I mean, let’s be real… nurseries have some very interesting odors going on.

So, all in all, it was a paint. The colors were true, which is a big thing for me,it applied easily and it had excellent coverage. For example, with one gallon of the Ultra white I covered:

2 coats on the upper walls
1 coat on the beadboard
1 coat on the trim in bathroom and nursery
2 coat on the window in the bathroom and the nursery
1 coat on the cabinets

I really kept thinking that I was going to run out, so I was impressed when I finished and had a little leftover. But all in all, this is a paint that will need to be tested over time to really tell if it stands up to all of it’s promises.

Catching Up…

2012-11-05T08:47:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday! Our trip last week was amazing. We had such a good time and it was so perfectly relaxing. Nothing better than staring at this view while its 45 and windy and we’re inside sitting by the fire and reading a book.

Over the past week, we have been able to get some work done… actually, I feel like it’s a lot of work. We finished up the stripes in the guest bathroom. Here’s a little sneak peak:

I love them. Anything is better than the purple and grey diamonds that absolutely made this room feel claustrophobic. On Wednesday, I’ll be posting a review of the Dutch Boy Refresh paint that I used and at some point I’ll also talk about how I did the stripes and my opinion on Frog Tape versus Scotch Blue with Edge Lock (I used both in this bathroom and I definitely think there’s a winner).

We also painted the nursery and all the trim (sorry no pictures of that), bought a dresser and painted it, and John made a trip down to Florida to pick up some AMAZING furniture from his cousin, including a glider for the nursery. That was the world’s longest run-on sentence. Hope you followed.

The downside of all that is that John and I are now seriously feeling the effects of allergies/cold or whatever and have just felt yuck lately. So, that’s the update on us! Sorry there haven’t been any preggo pictures lately. I have gotten super slack about it. I haven’t taken one since 17 weeks and today I’m 25! Where did those 8 weeks go???

For those of you in the Northeast, I hope you have power and are warm and have everything you need! You have all been in my prayers for the past week.

5 Fall Favorites

2012-10-30T08:00:00.000-04:00

John and I are in the mountains the next few days enjoying the fall leaves and our last trip as a family of two before the little one arrives!

I mean really, does it get better than this? A few days here:

one of these:

some delicious food and putzing around the little mountain towns... sounds like the perfect Babymoon to me

Today, I’m guest posting on Tiffany’s blog, Living Savvy and talking about my 5 Fall Favorites! Check it out:

The Nursery: The Plan

2012-10-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

Here’s an interesting fact: the last 5 months have been the fastest and the longest ever. One minute, I can’t believe it’s October. The next minute, I can’t believe it’s not February yet. Though it’s a good thing that it’s not February because I definitely haven’t started the nursery yet. BUT I have a plan (or most of one).

Here’s the room. It’s directly across the hall from our room (maybe three steps). I’ll get you some better before pictures.

Here’s what I know:

The wall color is going to be the green (it’s actually a shade lighter than that but I couldn’t find the actual color). And the ceiling is going to be pale blue. I’m going to use the Jenny Lind crib that I used when I was a baby, but there may be a color change. I haven’t decided. The bedding is going to be exactly like the picture. It’s Pottery Barn’s Scallop Pique Nursery Bedding. Simple and classic. I love it.

The big impact is going to be a accent wall with a fabric tree. I am so excited about this. I love all the different colors and patterns on the leaves.

My husband’s family is giving us an upholstered glider and I’m so excited about it. It’s similar in style to the one above but I’ll need to get a new slipcover for it, but I haven’t even started looking at which one.

I’m hoping to pick up this dresser this weekend. I love the details of the dental molding and the sides. This will be the changing table/storage in the nursery:

Obviously, there will be some painting to be done to it and probably some new pulls, but for $50 I get the dresser, mirror and side table (which will probably go next to the glider).

My goal is to have the big elements done by Thanksgiving, so that’s painting, the tree, dresser, crib and glider. That way I can enjoy the holidays and not really stress about finishing things up until January.

Here’s the to-do list:

Repair the walls from previous wallpaper removal
Paint the walls and ceiling
Replace the fan
Buy/paint dresser and night stand
Paint crib??? Maybe, maybe not.
Hang curtains
Make fabric tree decal
Hang artwork and mirror
Purchase slipcover for glider
Reupholster ottoman.

I’ve got my work cut out for me but I’m excited about the plan and can’t wait to get started!

Me and My BAD Ideas

2012-10-23T12:54:00.001-04:00

So did I mention that I have been in a little bit of a blogger/home decorating funk lately? I just haven’t had the time or energy to tackle things on my list. This past weekend I started in on the Guest Bathroom/Baby Bathroom. It looked like this before:

Bad Idea #1: I didn't take any before pictures so I’m stuck with the pictures from listing when we bought the house. Awesome right?

I ~~hate~~ (hate isn’t strong enough) ABHOR the purple walls and grey diamonds. I try not to go in this room EVER. However, with a baby making its debut in under 4 months, I’m going to be in this room a lot more. So I decided to tackle it along with the nursery. Great plan right? WRONG.

In my defense, everything in this room is pretty much done other than a new shower curtain, new towels and new paint.

Bad Idea #2: I thought it was going to be a easy project. NEVER EVER SAY THAT. It always leads to bad things.

So far, this has been a pain. I had to sand down all the walls because those diamonds had some serious ridges and would be pretty obvious. Then 2 coats of Kilz and 1 coat of white paint later, I still need another coat of white paint before I start in on the stripes.

Plus, the beadboard and all the cabinets look nice and painted in the picture but in reality they were only primed and very streaky, so I've done a coat of white on those.

So now the plan is to get the painting done this weekend, skip the towels and shower curtain (because I have to make the curtain) and move on to the nursery. My goal is to get the bathroom done and the nursery painted by next week.

Bad Idea #3: Trying to get two rooms painted in a week while you’re 5 months pregnant. Ha!

But here’s the thing, my husband’s sweet family is giving me a really nice glider which he is going to pick up next week and I’d really like to be able to move it into a painted room so that I don’t have to move it back out.

Meanwhile, thanks so much for all the helpful comments on Facebook and on the blog last week about my Baby Registry Dilemma. You are all wonderful!

Recipe: Slow Cooker Lasagna (or Spaghetti)

2012-10-17T11:31:00.000-04:00

OK, so this is one of my go to recipes for company, nights that I know I’ll be pushed for time, or really… just when I want it. Definitely one of the easiest recipes but it’s always a hit.

I am NOT a food photographer. I haven’t figured it out, but I promise it tastes better (and looks) than the picture suggests.

NOTE: You can make the sauce as a GREAT spaghetti sauce or you can make it ahead so you don’t have to cook spaghetti sauce first thing in the morning.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Sauce Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef (7-10% fat is best)
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 t each: salt and oregano
1/2 t each: dried basil, red pepper flakes
OPTIONAL: 1 T. Balsamic Vinegar (my husband likes a sweet sauce and this adds that well)
Filling Ingredients:
16 oz. skim ricotta cheese
1 T. Italian seasoning
1 t. garlic powder
2 c. part-skim mozzarella
dry lasagna noodles
1/2 c Parmesan cheese

Steps:
1. Sauté beef until caramelized, add onion and garlic. Continue cooking until meat is brown. Add remaining sauce ingredients. Simmer 5-10 minutes.

SAUCE IS DONE! It’s that easy, so good and actually a very low calorie sauce. It’s adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe.

2. Stir together ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

3. Start layering ingredients in the slow cooker. First add a thin layer of sauce, then two layers of noodles right on top of each other (you will have to break them some to get them all to fit in the round slow cooker). This is especially important if you are cooking it for 8 hours or more. The noodles will absorb a lot of liquid and the double layer helps them to not get mushy. Then a layer of ricotta mixture and then a layer of sauce. Start over. I normally get 3 layers of sauce and noodles and 2 layers of ricotta, so you are finishing with sauce.

TIP: If you run out of sauce, it’s ok. Top the last layer of noodles with whatever pre-made pasta sauce you have on hand or a little bit of plain tomato sauce. You only need a little liquid so that the top layer of noodles cook.

4. Cook in slow cooker 4-6 hours or longer. The longer you cook it the less sauce you will have.

5. Top with mozzarella & parmesan and let sit long enough to melt. I like my cheese to be a little browned, so I take the whole insert out of the slow-cooker and put it under the broiler in the oven for 5 minutes, but that’s optional.

Done! Hope you enjoy!

Linking to:

Help! Baby Registry

2012-10-16T08:26:00.002-04:00

Calling all Moms! I need help.

I am starting the process of baby registries and it’s more than a little overwhelming. Way worse than registering for a wedding. I mean, seriously, this is what I see when I walk into Buy Buy Baby or Babies R Us:

a WALL of pacifiers? Why are there so many choices? Which ones do I get? Here are my questions and I need you all to weigh in:

1. Convertible car seat or infant car seat? Which is your favorite? Is it worth it to spend the extra money to get the infant car seat so that you have the carrier or is it not that big of a deal?

2. Has anyone used cloth diapers? What’s your favorite brand? Do I need to use disposables for newborns? I’ve heard they don’t fit well when they are very small. How much laundry did you do?

3. What is your one favorite product that you couldn’t live without?

4. What is something that you thought you needed that you really never used?

5. What the crap is a bunting and a splat mat? (these are on the “registry checklist”")

I know, I know. I promised that I would have something interesting to post today. Does it count if it’s only interesting to me? I am going to post a delicious Slow-Cooker Lasagna recipe tomorrow!

Blogger Fail

2012-10-15T09:08:00.003-04:00

Whew… that was a busy weekend. So excited to have a new sister and the wedding was gorgeous.

In all the business of the rehearsal dinner and wedding, I became the worst blogger ever. I didn’t take a SINGLE picture all weekend (the one above was from facebook). I mean, really, I spent the past 4 months planning the rehearsal dinner and have nothing to show for it. Thankfully, there was a professional photographer, so I’m hoping to get to show you some of those pictures when they are available.

Anyway, I’m back and I will have something interesting to show you tomorrow if it kills me.

Be Back Monday

2012-10-09T11:00:00.002-04:00

It’s finally here! My brother-in-law and his fiancée are finally getting married in just 3 days. It’s going to be amazing. I am finalizing the details for the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night and basically all of my craftiness and energy has gone into that for the past 2 weeks, so I’m sorry for the lack of interesting posts… or posts in general.

I’ll be back Monday and hope to have lots of pictures and fun things to show you from the weekend!

For now, I’m just so excited for this couple:

Me in Numbers

2012-10-05T09:28:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday!

My friend Cassie at Primitive and Proper shared a really fun post yesterday and challenged us to share a similar one called “Me in Numbers.” It’s essentially a challenge to back away from the stats and figures of our blog and get to the numbers that really matter to us and make us who we are. So I thought I’d play along. I will say she was much more sharing than I will be… bra sizes and weight will probably not be published on this blog… EVER.

I am 30 years old. I had a hard time with it at first but I’ve adjusted and I think it’s going to be a pretty great decade.

I have 1 Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I have been married for 4 years and 9 months. My husband John is the greatest gift that God has ever given me.

I am currently 20 weeks pregnant (half way!!!!) That is the second greatest gift.

I technically attended 4 colleges and received just 1 degree, which was not in the plans but each college allowed me to meet some of the greatest people that I am proud to call friends.

I have had over about 250 stitches over the course of my life. I am accident prone to say the least.

I’ve been blogging for 1 year and 6 months now. I have no idea why I started. It was definitely a whim. Sometimes I’m glad I did it and other times, I struggle with the pressure of it.

I currently have about 40 game pieces for McDonald’s Monopoly. I’m addicted to it every year. I don’t know why. I know I’ll never win.

I have worked at my current job for 5 years and 6 months.

I read 52 blogs regularly but I subscribe to over 300.

I have around 650 followers. My goal was 500 by the end of this year and I’ve definitely accomplished that.

Last month, I had 42,000 hits. It’s nothing compared to some blogs and it’s a ton compared to others. I try not to compare my blog to others anymore, only to myself and what I want to accomplish. That was my best month ever and I’m happy with it.

My most popular post ever is my Burlap Wreath tutorial with 26,600 hits.

This is what Cassie said yesterday:

“I am more than a number. You are more than a number. You are more than facebook fans, followers, pageviews, or pins. Do not let numbers define you.”

I think this is such an important reminder. My blog is a big part of my life, but it also has very little to do with what makes me… me.

Fall Decorations

2012-10-01T09:13:00.002-04:00

So I definitely decorated for fall on September 1st. I do it every year. I just can resist. But I did have enough restraint to not show you the decorations until October 1st, so that counts for something, doesn’t it? I thought so.

Let’s start with the front door… where else?

Remember my Burlap Wreath tutorial from the spring? I just changed up some of the accessories with a big orange K and some fake leaves and it’s perfect for fall. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to cover up the floral wire that I used to attach the K, but you can’t tell unless you’re right up on it. I added the Mums to the steps, but I still need to add some pumpkins to jazz it up. Like my seriously overgrown ivy? Yeah, I need to spend some time in the yard.

I like the berries mixed with the pinecones. I had just pinecones in there but it didn’t pop until the berries were added.

Finally, in the sunroom, I just added a simple fall wreath to the center of my tobacco basket and I like the effect. The layers of the brick and the old wood and the fall leaves is really pretty.

I guess I couldn’t be bothered with moving the spray paint on the table before taking the picture. I’ll be adding some more decorations throughout the season, but these little changes added a lot of fall warmth to the rooms.

Busy, Busy and 2 Winners

2012-09-27T10:51:00.002-04:00

I know I’ve not been posting very regularly for the past couple of weeks. Sorry! Life is busy and work is busy. I did want to stop by and let you know the winners for the Royal Design Studios giveaway:

Erin @ His & Hers Blog and Kelly @ Corner of Main Blog

Ciongrats girls!!! Erin, I sent you an email. Kelly, I don’t have yours so I commented on your blog

In other news, we had our mid-point ultrasound this week. Here’s my sweet little one (who is 12 inches long and 10 ounces):

He/she (no we didn’t find out the gender) is doing great and wanted to let us know:

Yep, that’s a big thumbs up. My child already has a great personality