4Eighteen: September 2011

Kitchen Floors

Posted By: Kristi

I need your opinions, please. We need new kitchen counter tops and flooring and I am having a hard time deciding on what flooring I like. I want to have a few options to share with Carson and then we can narrow it down together. We have discussed having either marble or concrete counter tops. I really love concrete and would love to go that direction but I think Carson might like marble better. Our back splash it really nice but also kind of busy (in a good way) so I think the counter tops need to be a little more plan. So now, I have no idea what direction to go with the flooring.

I will post pictures of our kitchen cabinets and back splash tomorrow so you can get a better idea of what we are working with. Until then, here are a few pictures of kitchen flooring I have found and am kind of liking.

Any ideas or pictures you could share with me? I would appreciate it!!

Restaurant.com - 90% Off!

Restaurant.com is offering 90% off, ending today! Use the promo code WOW at checkout to receive this special offer.

Note: We do not receive any perks by sharing this information. We just don't like to pass up a good deal. = )

Moments Like This...

Posted By: Stephanie

Early this morning when My Girl woke up for the third time fighting her cold I knew she wasn't going to go back to sleep, she was going to need some mommy love.

I shuffled my feet on the floor with my eyes half open in my attempt to make it to a light without tripping over her toys. I made it to her room, scooped her up out of her crib and headed to the living room couch where I had planned to cuddle her, hoping she would fall asleep in my arms.

We got settled on the couch, her head on my chest, we were tummy to tummy. I lay there thinking that I was so tired yet I didn't feel annoyed or bothered, I chose to feel lucky. I chose to take the rare moment to cuddle her, smelling her hair as she laid so still and silent while twirling my hair in her sweet little fingers.

As the minutes passed I thought about the days the first two months of her life when we spent our time on the couch together each night. The walking, walking and more walking that we did to settle her as she cried. I thought about how much she's grown and how I'm so lucky to be her mom.

I continue to lay there thinking about the joy she brings me when I hear her quietly mutter my name, "Momma, Momma" I rub her back to let her know I hear, I don't respond in fear that I would wake her more if I did. That's when the best moment happened. The moment where I completely melted and I was reminded once again why being a mommy is the best thing about my life. My Girl looked up and me, took her nigh-night out of her mouth and smacked her lips at me twice looking for a kiss. I gave her a kiss and she layed her head back down.

Moments like this make me excited for the next day to come to see what's next in my journey as a mom. Moments like this are what a mommy lives for, what gives us strength through the harder days. Moments like this can not fully be explained, they are just felt.

I love you my sweet girl, thank you for moments like this.

During our first two months together.

July, 2010

Entryway Windows

Posted By: Stephanie

Will, My Girl and I live in a manufactured home that had not been updated in years. Lucky for us, although Will is handy, his dad/my father-in-law LOVES projects. Before we moved in he did some woodwork and put in new floors (I will show you those at a later time) that have been used twice before, starting as a gym floor. I just LOVE knowing they have been used twice before because I like to imagine what type of story they have and even more because you know I love a good excuse to recycle/repurpose!

One of the updates that he did was take out these icky glass pieces in the entryway that look from the dining room to the entry way and vice versa. I love what he did with the holes that were left. A few pieces of wood, trim and stain and we have a great new open space while salvaging the wall that works as a great divider.

It's amazing what a difference it makes to open up a space like this while removing an eye sore at the same time. You may have noticed the difference in wall color from the "before" to "after" photos. That's because Will is a genius painter and painted almost every wall in the house before we moved in. You can see his handy work HERE when he helped me transform our master closet into my craft room.

What SMALL change have you made in your house that made a BIG difference?

(I only call it small because I didn't have to do it. If I were to take on this project I would probably still be working on it haha!)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday!

This is our AMAZING dad, Jeff. He is turning the big 50 today - Whoop! Whoop!

Thank you for being the most amazing dad for us, you are a great person who has taught us a lot over the years and we wouldn't be the same or who we are today without you. Can't wait to see what you look like in another 50 years Dad, because you're lookin' good!

DIY Canvas Picture

Posted By: Kristi

I want to share this project with you even though it didn't turn out exactly how I had hoped. I am going to try it again with high hopes that it turns out a little better.

Here are the details:

Edit any image you want to use (on your computer) and make it the size you want. My canvas was 8x10 so that is the size I made my image.

Fold a piece of tissue paper around a piece of cardstock and tape the edges to the back.

Place your cardstock into the printer and print your image.

Set your image to the side to dry.

Lightly cover your canvas in Modge Podge.

Take your tissue paper image off of the cardstock and place it on the canvas. Starting in the center working your way to the edges, smooth out all of the bubbles and wrinkles. *Take your time, I was anxious and should have slowed down and completed this step.*

Once you have removed the bubbles and wrinkles coat the entire picture with Modge Podge and let it dry.

This is how it turned out, not fully dry yet. McKnight's face looks a lot lighter then this picture shows. Because I didn't take the time I should have to smooth out all of the wrinkles, I am going to try using an exacto knife to make a little cut and smooth it out. I think this would also look even better in sephia instead of black and white.

I will try this again soon and show you how it turns out. I think it is good to show that projects don't always turn out perfect, that way you can learn from our mistakes. We would love to save you some time!

How to Clean Glass Shower Doors

Posted By: Kristi

Howdy! I am waiting for a project I am working on to dry so meanwhile I thought I would share this handy cleaning tip I recently learned.

Instead of throwing away dryer sheets after they have been used, set them aside to clean your shower doors.

I hate showing you this, it is pretty embarrassing but for the sake of the blog...

these were our shower doors before cleaning them.

GROSS!

Next I put a little water on my (used) dryer sheet.

Scrub away...

Rinse the glass and you are done!

The picture above is before I rinsed the glass, I forgot to take another after..oops! It is not streaky at all once you rinse it.

This really works! I was amazed too. ; )

You will be hearing from me again soon, my project is almost dry!!

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Toddler Tuesday - What's in the Drawer?

Posted By: Stephanie

“Curiosity is the backbone of a child’s development of competence. From your baby’s earliest perceptions onward, he will want to feel and explore everything and experience the world through all of his senses.” – Jackie Silberg

This is an older picture of My Girl from May, 2011. Although she is a bit older now NOTHING has changed. Every time I'm in the kitchen she goes to her drawer that I have placed Tupperware items that she can not hurt herself on (no sharp edges) for her to play with. As she has gotten older the way she plays with these items is different. She went from pulling everything out and just being amazed with the drawer and the things in it to making noises by hitting them together and now she is exploring the options of fitting different size containers together. If you have a child that needs a lot of change you can rotate what items are in the drawer.

If you don't already have a drawer or cabinet for you child to play in while you are working in the kitchen you are missing out. They love it AND it really keeps your little one busy while you get things done.

What does your toddler like to play with in the kitchen?

Small Closet Solution

Posted By: Kristi

Our home was built in the 1940's and so the closets are small. Seriously, tiny.

We needed a solution, we were tired of our clothes being in different rooms. We decided to make the bedroom next to ours a dressing room. Someday, this room will be our babies room but we still have a while for that so until then, here is our new dressing room...

The clothing rack I bought at Fred Meyer on sale for $39.00, regularly $69.00. Here it is on Amazon. I also had a coupon that said if you spent $49.00 on storage items then you would receive a $10.00 Fred Meyer gift card. Perfect timing!

On one of the shelves I keep some of my jewelry, perfume and my wallets. The orange wallet pictured above is by HOBO. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my HOBO wallets. They are a little spendy but so worth the money!

We had the small chest laying around and I decided it would be perfect for some of my shoes. The box underneath holds my wedding dress. = )

We already had the chair and table. The chair has been handy when putting on pantyhose and shoes and underneath we keep our scale. The table next to it holds Carson's cologne, clutches, sunglasses and more jewelry.

I hang earrings from the bird cage. I bought the bird cage at a garage sale for less than $10.00.

Carson's clothes rack we already owned. It is $14.99 at Ikea.

The ladders are from a shelf that broke. I decided they would be perfect for holding some of our extra items.

I am loving this solution. When we do have a baby and wont be able to have this room anymore, we will buy a armoire for our bedroom. Until then, we are making use of this room that we weren't using and we didn't have to spend extra money on a new piece of furniture.

Do you have any other clothing storage ideas for us?

German Pancakes

Posted By: Kristi

Hi, friends!! I know, being MIA is so not cool. Sorry about that! As Stephanie told you, our mom was in the hospital last week (she is home and doing MUCH better!) and we were also busy preparing for the 50th Birthday party we threw for our Dad last night. It turned out great and we had a ton of fun! Steph, Will, Carson, Maci and I all teamed up to make sure everything was ready in time. Will and Carson went on Goodwill and dump runs (the party was at our house so we had to get rid of some things) and Steph, Maci and I cleaned, grocery shopped and cooked.

Will helped us remove some metal poles from our yard, we have been wanting them out for a long time now so we were very grateful. = ) I told you, Will is AWESOME!

This morning we were pretty exhausted and hungry so we decided to make German pancakes and be lazy all.day.long. It has been perfect! Have you had German pancakes before? They are tasty! You should give them a try.