Accentuate the Positive

We live in an old house, it was built in 1928 and we have done SO MUCH WORK to it. New kitchen, new full and half bath, new roof and windows, refinished the floors and wood trim, new paint. Seriously you name it we have touched it.

The latest project on our to-do list was to stencil the wall in the living room. Its been hard to try to figure out what to do with that room because its a long room with tall ceilings. I think this was the perfect fix though.

Now this project took three days start to finish and we learned a few helpful pointers throughout this process. We started in the top center of the wall and found out that our wall is not super level, I could have figured, and as we went to the edges of the walls it started to flare out a bit but the pattern really hid the difference.

We used a spray adhesive for wall stencils which worked like a charm and a 4 inch soft roller. We purchased a gallon of paint because we also need to re-paint the downstairs bath, kill two birds with one gallon. We used paper plates to pour the paint onto it and had a second plate to blot some of the paint. Tip of the trade- you will use a ton of paper towels. We used them to blot paint and wipe the stencil and used them to push the stencil to the wall.

It did not take very long once we got into a rhythm. We also used a blow dryer to set the paint of the previous stencil because there were a few in the beginning that were not dry and when we put the stencil down it pulled up some paint.

Overall I am beyond thrilled with this project. It gives the room a really great height and makes the wall a little something better.

We also painted an accent above the crib for the 16x20 canvas I am ordering. It will be a 4 inch border around the print. YIPPEE!

Our little pumpkin was so good and played while we worked. 

End of Day 1

Tunskies that made the work go faster! 

View from the dining room. 

Corners weren't so bad. 

Close up of the pattern

Almost Done!

Small side project for me - I am installing the curtain rod we cut down on the back of the door to hang the pot lids. Genius! 

A few expressions for you...

She refused to touch it and just ate it until it fell out of her mouth. 

Almost done...

We rehung the art

And FIN! All Done and it looks fantastic! 

I added the embroidery hoops to the side wall and re-positioned the cabinet. 

The desk is new and the chair I bought for $10 and sprayed the cushion a dark color. Whole new look for little money. LOVE LOVE LOVE. It changes the feel of the room and really showcases the ceiling height.

Little Slice of Family Heaven

This weekend was a little slice of family heaven. We took it easy and we all needed it. Addie was kept to her schedule and we worked on some projects.

I needed / wanted some wall art to go above the corner desk I just bought and I needed to do it on the cheap! I saw some people used fabric and embroidery hoops. Hobby Lobby has a super awesome selection of really neat fabrics so we made a trip out there Thursday night to pick them up.

 Before and After! The hoops look great on the wall, the fabric is all from the same maker so it has similar colors and is just enough. 

Perfect! 

Friday night we went out to dinner which was really nice and had a great time. We don't go out often with the baby and it was just really nice. That evening we took it easy and just relaxed. Saturday we worked on the house, went on a bike ride and took Addie to the park. LOVE. 

I put her in the baby swing and she was giggling, aww makes my heart melt! 

She was playing on the slide with Daddy and was in the baby jail bridge. 

 She was getting tired and you can see it in these pictures. I think she is going thru a growth spurt because she has been super sleepy the last few days. After this little trip she went home to nap and I scooted off to Weight Watchers. I stayed the same this week and it was so nice to have happen because I feel like I ate EVERYTHING. This week will be better, I re-read all of my material and have a goal of 13,000 steps a day thats 6 points earned. Last week I earned 50, so it is completely doable.

>>> As I look at my last comments from yesterday I didn't hit my 13k yesterday. The heat is somewhat killer in a house with no air. I walked and walked around the house and picked up by but 8:30 the sweat was dripping everywhere and I just finished for the day.

Meh.

Ce La Vi.

Today we are just trying to stay cool, the house says its 86 degrees. That's just a tad warm. 

But back to the weekend - perfection. We went to Home Depot and was waiting for some paint to be made when Addie was so tired she laid her head on her Daddys chest and his smile went from ear to ear. I started to well up. He just smiled and said he felt his heart melt. Ah love love love. Seriously in Home Depot.

We are heading to VT this weekend and I have not even thought about packing. GAH!

These are my confessions...

There have been a lot of little confessions running around in my head and I just have to get them out there...

1. I suck suck suck at Thank You cards. I know they are so sweet and awesome to get in the mail but they are the biggest pain in my butt. I have good intentions - I just found about 20 written thank you cards for a variety of things. Some even had stamps on them.

2. I was going to say to the woman at Wegmans today about how lucky I am after she commented on hoe pretty Addie is - I stopped myself and said I was blessed. I like saying that WAY better.

3. Although I feel like super mom I can get overwhelmed and I let the food stick to the high chair and the dishes pile up just to jump into bed early.
\
\4. My family year books still have not been ordered, and 2011 is only halfway done.

5. I love my baby girl SO much, no doubt about that. But I also really love nap time. I need the break myself.

6. My head has been full of everything really and I have been having a hard time focusing on my weight loss.

7. Junk food - tastes good. I sometimes think about how I want it to taste horrible and it doesn't. I like soda too ... Boo.

8. I don't read nearly as much as I would like and I am obsessed with electronics.

9. My work is really interesting and I really love it. Who knew I would love health insurance.

10. I have a horrible self image and it is something I am trying to work on. The most amazing part is I believe I am starting to love myself more thru my daughter.  

Those are all the random confessions in my head right now. I still have one more album to finish and her 7 month pictures. I have a to-do list for the house thats a million miles long, but the best part is tomorrow is FRIDAY!

Cause Baby You're A Firework

As everyone knows yesterday was the 4th of July and what a wonderful celebration. Happy birthday America! I am glad that we have parades and fireworks because it is important to remember. We had a simple day planned, parade in the AM, rocket launching and then a bbq leading up to the fireworks.

The parade was very nice, our town does a great job. I noticed a woman with a badge and some big cameras snapping some pics of my little lady and next thing ya know its so and so from the newspaper. Sweet! She took our names and told us to look in the paper. Obvi, first thing this morning I wanted to see a paper. I had hubs looking and I searched online. BAM. There was my little lady celebrating her 1st Forth of July. How sweet!

HERE'S THE PICTURE

Here are the rest of them

She looked absolutely adorable! We bought a onsie last year from Target and it was adorable. I remember buying it being being pregnant and all. I found a few super cute little accessories for her and she was SO STINKIN CUTE! Seriously - we were stopped at Wegs a bazillion times. It was a nice sunny day and she was looking so edible!

 Seriously! Seriously. Love love love love love! 

Speaking of edibles we had a bbq that evening for some friends and family. We threw it together kinda but I think it was really nice. I made some chocolate covered pretzels and a parfait, we had the usual burgers and dogs with some flair. And we just tried to stay cool cause damnn was it hott! 

I also made paper rockets to hang from the trees outside, so super easy and perfect for the occasion. Thanks Pintrest!

What would the 4th be without Rockets! It was the annual Rocket Day!  Unfortunately a new baby who needs sleep and to not be in the sun at 1pm stayed home and so did her mommy. So these pictures are hubs work. Very nice very nice!

We hung out until it was time to pack up and see some fireworks. We woke up the little munchkin and off to the high school we headed. It was perfect, Addie loved it and was super tired. We watched the moon rise over the trees to fireworks with my little family. Pure perfection.

I also managed to squeeze in a project too. This one had been in the making since last week. I bought the bin from the dollar store. Holla! I needed a toy bin for the living room. Perfect, small compact and potential. I purchased some clothesline from BigLots and dye from Joanns. Quick dye job and a few sticks of hot glue and bam bam. Pretty right!?!

At the end of the day, I was zonked. I checked my pedometer and I was at 25,500 steps. Yea wow. Thats the most I have had ever. It was equivilant to 10 miles. Who knew! But I was tired, we all slept well last night and it was back to the grind today. Best part is its almost FRIDAY! I have our list of chores and projects to get done this weekend too.

For now its laundry and some tv! Wahoo!

Working Weekend

So this weekend came and went, we didn't hike Saturday and I am totally ok that we didn't because we have just been so tired. Our little lady has been off schedule since our vacation and its just taking some time to get back there. I also got one of those baby center emails saying I may notice she wakes up FREAKING OUT - not quite how they worded it but you get my point - and looking for mom and dad. Well thats exactly what happened Thursday night. She had the big tears and the pouty lip and the crying so hard her face was red and she couldn't catch a breath type cry. I knew it wasn't hunger but still how do you comfort her enough so that she will go back to sleep. A bottle?! Yes thats the answer but its a slippery slope. You don't want her to get dependent on it. Ugh. Parenting.

For some cuteness before the I show off my work! 

Enticing her to move. 

Anywho we had our late night party and it wore us all out. So this am was pretty quiet. We went to WW, I am down 2. That pretty much just puts me at +1 from vacation now. I am ok with it too. I know I am working and I know the places I can improve. I am navigating this foreign territory and trying my hardest to make it all work.

What I really wanted to write about was the fact that I have a bazillion little projects going on right now and they are really coming along. I decided I was sick of looking at my house unfinished and its just time to finish it.

I completed this project this weekend - took it from drab to fab. Ha. Super easy. 

 A part of me really enjoys Addisons room and mostly its because everything has a place and its almost always organized. It makes my heart sing. It makes everything groovy. Yes. I did that. And you started brain singing the song. Ha. Back to the subject... So I have been really trying to finish all the rooms. This weekend I tackled the office and I tackled hard! I have forever wanted to add something to this wall.

So I did. I was looking online serious as anything but nothing was really popping out at me. I wanted to take the baby to the store to get some other things on my list and we went walking around the home improvement area and I found this.

Awesome! We have had two blue accents in the room but I had nothing to tie them too. Originally I was thinking of getting rid of them but I knew I needed to somewhat lighten, brighten and of course declutter. I also started to declutter the hutch and I added the two red baskets - FROM THE DOLLAR STORE NO LESS. Seriously. Now they aren't super sturdy and I may be able to fix that later if I really care but they so work. And were a buck. So I got a bunch in different sizes.

After the hutch I decided I needed to do something about the bookshelf. The funny thing about this bookshelf is that I have had it since my freshman year of college. I put it together wrong and with the heel of a shoe. Hubs thought I shouldn't even waste my time but I already had it and didn't want a new one. It worked and served its purpose it just was not pleasing to the eye. So a few hours and some spray paint - Voila! I also added the fabric to the back of the shelves to give it some funk. Cute right! I threw in some more dollar store baskets and fin. I have to add some wall art near the closet and I ordered some nesting plant stands near the window. I also refinished those clear plastic drawers that everyone has, so EASY. Love spray paint. 

We watch Justin and Olivia this weekend and someone liked Addies toys. 

 I am so almost there and it feels so good.

More to come as I finish the office hopefully this week.