Uggs, Tang & a Centerpiece

Okay, I have never been a fan of Uggs. I can't get over the slipper-ness of them. I know they are in style, I just can't do it. But I can make Susie do it...

They aren't real Uggs, but they do look similar. Funny thing is I actually do like these ones... I think the split down the middle makes them less tube sock /slash slipper. Anyway, Susie wasn't sure at first (trying to pry them off above), but after further investigation, she decided she could rock them afterall...

I think she wanted to say, "Mom take a picture and show Leah my new Uggs." Leah is our fashion advisor/friend/Mark and Susie's Godmother. Leah should blog about fashion more because she gets it and I really need help. Anyway, one more thing, see the book on the table in the above picture? She loves books, and I don't mean kid books...

She turns the pages, one chunky handfull at a time, very carefully and purposefully, front to back, back to front, front to back, over and over and it keeps her busy for quite some time. But it has to be paper pages - none of those cardboard baby books for this one - she is interested in real learning. Her favorites are my Exhaustive Concordance and Old and New Testament Word Studies. Those are some big books! With no pictures, that is for sure!

Anyway, as Susie figured out that her new boots did not, in fact, weigh 17 pounds each and she could, in fact, still walk while wearing them, I was working on cleaning this whatever-it-is-in-hard-water-that-stains-things-orange off my dishwasher interior...

Nasty. That dishwasher was immaculate when we got it. It has had wayyy too much hardwater through it since then. Some people had told me to get some kind of crystals from the pharmacy, but mine didn't have them. Then my handyman extrordinaire told me to run a container of Tang through it. I am always afraid of these outlandish ideas. He assured me a mutual friend of ours does it all the time and nothing bad happens. I tried a couple table spoons at first and I could tell it was working, so I tried about a cup, and it worked a little more. I had this mental picture that it was going to fizz and overflow all over my kitchen, but that wasn't happening, to my surprise, so I threw caution to the wind and dumped the whole tub in (it was probably about a 3 to 4 cup tub). The result:

I know you are all going to think those pics are doctored (even the husb did). They are NOT tampered with in any way besides adding the words. The first one was taken in the morning while it was still dark outside so it has the yellow glow of artificial light, while the after was taken with the morning light shining through the window. Look at the details though, you can tell that stuff rocked! Very pleasantly surprised! I like my dishwasher again, even though I have to wash the dishes before it washes the dishes. FYI, the product review I posted when I got it may have been a bit premature. Sorry folks.

So, last but not least in this circus of a random blog post is the centerpiece I made for my mini-late-Thanksgiving table today...

My mom and I saved some sparkling cider and wine bottles, I cleaned the labels off (soaked in warm water then scrubbed with rough side of a sponge), shaved a taper candle smaller (mine are fat Ikea ones), and stuck them in. I like it. I ended up doing a burlap table runner and I really liked the contrast of the dark, shiny bottles on the rustic burlap.

Belated Happy Thanksgiving to y'all -- I was not able to blog during the holiday.... I was heavily burdened with attending four - you read right, FOUR holiday dinners. The last of which I cooked myself - and the turkey, potatoes, green beans, yams, and gravy that were my responsibility all turned out pretty well! It was miraculous. Hope you all ate tons and experienced the blessings of home, food and family!

Self-Family-Portrait

I was hired to do a family photo session this Sunday after church, so I took my own fam out before church to test out the park I planned on shooting in.

On the third attempt of setting the timer and running like crazy back to the fam to pose...

They don't have much patience for photo shoots, so I was happy when I went back and checked the camera and we were all decent, and it was cold so we were done, but not before I got this shot of the people that mean the world to me...

That man is handsome! Those kids are adorable! I am a blessed girl!

BTW, that is not static in Susie's hair. Some days she is Susie Bieber, and some days she has a cornsilk fro. I never knew a cornsilk fro was possible. Until now.

Anyway, I have wedding photos to show you, and a brother and sister shoot and that family session, so stay tuned. Now, I have to go edit!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Yesterday we had a light dusting of snow when we woke up. The tiniest flakes I have ever seen were falling all day but not amounting to much. Until the afternoon, while the kids were napping, it finally started accumulating a little...

I went outside to take water to the critters (theirs was frozen solid) and snapped a few pictures...

The poor chickens were hunkering down under their house... if it is going to be a hard winter, I really need to figure out different housing for them that would accommodate a heat lamp. Poor ladies.

This was when the snow first started sticking... now we have more like four inches...

That is not a great representation because the snow fell through the holes in the table and chair before it finally plugged them up and started piling up, but look at the fence in the background and the edge of the lawn- there is a good four inches in most places.

Mark and I had talked about decorating for Christmas soon, so when he woke up he immediately wanted to get out the Christmas lights. I couldn't fight it any longer; I busted out our favorite Christmas album...

It is 'rock orchestra' Christmas music and the album is a story, from start to finish with original music as well as traditional Christmas songs mixed throughout. Seen them live. Love. Read the reviews on that link.

And we put out some of our decorations (no lights yet). I also tested out something I always want to do but never remember at Christmastime - wrapping presents in newspaper!

Do you think I'm crazy?! They do it in Pottery Barn catalogs every year, along with brown paper wrapping, which I have done in the past. I think I like it, but I may pick up a Little Nickel, because I like it better with just print; less graphics and photos. What do you think? I plan to do all our presents this way and love that I don't have to buy three styles of wrapping paper which won't get used up and I will feel guilty over not using when I buy three more rolls next year. =) Is that just me?

I plan to do a house tour while my house is decorated for the holidays and after I get a couple big projects done.

So, what about you? What are your favorite decorations, music, or traditions for the holiday season?

Tea Towel Pillow Cover

While on the state surplus run, Leah and I stopped in for lunch at Ikea. We had no room for anything else in the van, but had planned on eating at Ikea and we were both craving their trademark meatballs, so we breezed through. On the way through, I happened to spot some cute dish towels for $0.49/ea, and had to snag four of them-- I could fit them in the van for sure. Leah keeps mentioning a blogger who has towels folded in a locker basket by her sink and I am planning on stealing the idea. Before I could get to that, somehow I had an epiphany to cover a little pillow with one, though!

The dish towel folded over the pillow perfectly, matching up on all sides.

I tied a bulky knot at the end of my thread (a loop would have been better), and hid it by starting on the inside between the two layers of dish towel, and sewing a simple straight stitch by hand right on top of the existing hem stitches, down one end and then the long side, then pausing to slip it over the pillow...

I pulled it all the way on and then closed up the last edge by finishing that straight stitch, tying it off in between the seams and cutting the thread.

I am really happy with the way it came out! It is homey and has character; it almost looks old! Now I can't wait to get two fluffy new down pillow forms for my couch and sew up something similar... maybe linen... mattress ticking... or burlap... or even corduroy... oh the possibilities!!

I should have waited and taken pictures in the daylight, but I am impatient. =)

State furniture, weird children & a haircut

Some of the items I got from the state have found homes and purposes around the house.

These are the goblets (or parfait glasses?)…

I decided to be fancy and drink my orange juice from one yesterday morning (after I scrubbed them within an inch of their life =). I hope they will inspire me to set the table more often – I am really lazy about that.

We use one of the desks for homeschool and find that it is fun and both Mark and I enjoy using it…

I know it is floating out in the middle of the room, but I have a tiny house and no other place for it. It is pretty functional there, though, with a view of our chalkboard (I'll show you that area when I get it set up soon) and close to the kitchen so I can be getting stuff done while he works on assignments.

I had planned on storing the other desk in the attic until Susie started school, but it found an interesting purpose before I got around to putting it in the attic…

For the time being, it actually makes a cute, unique and functional side table, which I had been needing anyway. Can’t beat a $1 side table! I stashed the remotes and current study/reading materials inside the desk…

Now I just badly need new lamps! Mine are so cheesy.

Speaking of cheesy… I had Mark helping me try to take a self-timer photo on the camera to show you my new haircut, because it needed a focal point while I pressed the timer button, and he was hamming it up…

Then he says, “I want to take a real one, mom” so I oblige…

Okay…. how is that ‘real’?

Then I decided to just set up the camera and let him push the button, so he did, but he said I needed to hold Susie Bieber for the picture…

Is she astonished or cross-eyed? I can’t tell! Crazy kids! But that is the cut… do you notice a big difference? I got ‘bangs’! Here is a better shot I did in the mirror…

I know they barely qualify as bangs. I am deathly afraid of bangs. Last time I got ‘bangs’ they were too long and when I excitedly showed hubby who likes the 90’s ‘bumper’ style bangs… he said “I thought you said you got bangs.” They didn’t cut it – being too long they just ended up behind my ear. So this time I closed my eyes and mustered my courage and told my hair cutter to go a little shorter than last time. They are pretty much what I was picturing I guess, but I am still getting used to them. Change is always fun, though!

The Motherlode

In trying to set up a “schoolhouse” atmosphere for homeschooling, I ran across some privileged information. Actually, it is not privileged, it is public. But apparently y’all don’t know about it. This information was so intriguing, Leah and I had to load up in the VAN, and drive almost two hours one way, to verify this information and experience it for ourselves.

I present to you… state surplus.

It may not look like much there, but, oh what treasures are hidden, like diamonds in the rough…

So here’s the deal… whenever a state-run agency doesn’t need something (from a ballpoint pen to a vehicle, to real estate), they sell it through auction and/or their warehouse sales.

Crazy stuff.

I have a netbook but for some reason I wanted to take home one of these clear edged keyboards…

I am such a sucker for office supplies… I may have come home with some organizing accessories…

There were file cabinets in an array of colors (this is only a small sampling)…

And chairs, oh the chairs all wanted me to take them home! Am I strange? These were cute muted colors…

And I lingered longest over this sea of chairs I think…

I was just looking for ones I had an excuse to bring home. I found a couple. Those orange ones near the bottom were cute, and up in the back right those ones in yellow, red and blue? They are very cool. I don’t know what material they are made of, but it gets me every time.

I made Leah push the cart and babysit my children throughout the duration of the trip. She knows that is the price she pays for shopping with me.

Oh, that 50% off sign lied… EVERYTHING was 50% off.

There were bin after bin after bin (literally) of what I’m guessing were pocket knives that had been confiscated at schools and such…

And even tons of cars in the parking lot for sale, including dump trucks, school buses and cop cars…

Don’t worry, I didn’t buy a cop car. This is what we came away with between the two of us…

Minus the shopping cart and the rolling trolley thingy. And there is one book case already in the back of the van. This stuff was stacked to the ceiling, and we almost had to take it all out to buckle Mark when he yelled "I'm not buckled!!!" as I tried to drive off, but was able to stretch over the pile and reach the buckle with one hand.

The breakdown? My purchases were -

three hard plastic chairs @ $1/ea (that is not a typo)

two desks @ $1/ea (again)

wood play kitchen $5

scale $1

game $1

pull-down map $2.50

school chalkboard with cork top rail $5

six glass goblets at $0.25/ea

five wire baskets @ $0.50/ea

two laptop chalkboards @ $0.50/ea

Grand total $26. and some change!

That is amazing! You might feel like I paid $26 for a pile of crap, but I have been on the market for this stuff and these deals were amazing. I had purchased a flimsy chalkboard online for $48 the same size as the one I got for $5! And I priced a real one (like the one I got for $5) at well over $300 new! And those $1 chairs are $80 new!

I’m loving all my school house stuff. And since I love you guys, I will share the ‘privileged’ information with you all. Just in case anyone else out there is crazy enough to check it out.

Here is the auction and store information. Note: the 50% off at the Auburn location was due to the upcoming consolidation of two warehouses, and in the coming weeks it will change to 75% off and then things will be sold by the pallet. After that they will be moved to the Tumwater location and that location will remain open without the discount. Still, I would have bought the chairs and desks if they were $2 instead of $1!!

I am going again tomorrow (that crazy) to show the goods to another friend and to pickup some stools that I was retarded not to buy the first time. I’ll try to get back here tomorrow to link you when Leah tells us about her purchases and to share what homes I found in my home for the new finds. That was a weird sentence. Time to go to bed!

Inspired

Now that I got the media outta my face, I have been bustling around my house getting things done and totally nesting. I have been inspired by Nadine's Pantry, Organic Dollar's home (her blog tells us how to be frugal + organic, but you would be impressed if she blogged a house tour =) and pantry, and Humble Pie's blog, to get organized in my kitchen. I don't have a pantry to stock my staples in, so I have to cram them into a corner cabinet and a drawer. I think I will add some wall shelves in the dining room and stock some staples in cute containers there as a sort of make-shift pantry.

Until then, I figured I do what I could with what I have. It was just your basic toss the junk and put things back routine, but during the reorganization I reminded myself to follow my own advice and use pretty containers...

I replaced many crumpled, half-empty, non-air tight bags of staples with jars or canisters...

It made a much cleaner, not to mention fresher, pantry.

I used pitchers to corral cereal, keeping it fresher and putting those plastic pitchers to good use again (I have glass ones and so never used these anymore). I also put the oatmeal in a canister and the granola in a jar and used a basket to keep the snacks together.

In family news, Susie is walking now, at 11 months and is perhaps more of a daredevil than her rough-n-tumble brother even was. The past few days have looked like this...

Okay, grandma was just out of the photo on that last one, in case she needed to be caught. She is such a climber! Look at that face! "What guys?"

Take a Number

I have been admiring all the numbered accents that are popular lately, and for some reason hadn't gotten my mitts on anything numbered ... until tonight!

I had gotten a crock at Target and not been completely happy with it - it feels like it is supposed to look old but they didn't do a good job so it just looks blah. It was better than the one it replaced so I decided I could live with it. Well tonight after dinner I told husb I was "getting outta this house!" and ran to the garage with a few spray paint projects under my arm, and right before slipping out the door I grabbed that crock.

I made a quick stencil, and copied Young House Love's glass etching project procedure (using spray paint instead of glass etcher), and ...

Now I love the crock! And do you know what funny thing happened? The paint came out a little splotchy, and the "7" came out uneven and then I got a scratch on it peeling my stencil off (I used the wrong kind of tape), so I decided to run with it - I gave it a few more scratches and now it has a little character to it.

Makes me want to get rid of all those rubber utensils and go thrift store hunting for some well-loved wood and metal ones to fill it with!

Quick fix for a little boring ceramic. Now I am officially on the numbered accents band wagon... what home accent will it stop at next?

You gotta try this!

Last week I was driving with the kids and Susie started fussing so I turned up the radio. The song that assailed my ears was totally inappropriate. I didn't realize it, but I had been slowly getting fed up with media and that song was the last straw. I turned the radio off, irritated that the general public embraces such content as okay, but also angry at myself for not having the patience or strength to listen to a tiny bit of whining, and instead of calling on God for that strength, seeking immediate relief in something that glorifies Satan, not God. When Ty came home that evening he went to turn on the TV after dinner and said, "What's wrong with the TV?" I said, "It's unplugged." and smiled sweetly. He said, "...why?" I said, "We are having a no-media week." Amazingly, he just said, "Okay" and he was the one who held me to it when I wanted to cheat later on in the week, and decided to keep it up after the week was over!

We ended up cutting out TV/movies completely, any music with words (including talk radio) and internet surfing that first week. Now we are okay with movies for date night or family movie nights, and I do read my blogs again, but still don't do any surfing or social sites. Since making the change, I have felt so much more peace, had more patience and gotten so much done, since I am not distracted by the TV going all day, or the radio interrupting my own thoughts in the car. I also lost 4 pounds during the first week, by only making this change! We decided to keep it going - we are now on week two, and aren't feeling like we are missing out at all.

It was interesting, for the first few days I would get those old songs stuck in my head out of nowhere. But now, feeling this peace, I keep thinking about 2 Corinthians 10:4 & 5, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

I highly recommend going media-free for a week, or even a day. It puts things in perspective, and lets you focus on the things that really matter.

Custom Wall Collage Frames, Two Ways

Quick easy and cheap project... make your own wall collage frame! The ones in the stores can be up to $50 and they are pretty plain and store-bought looking. I got this one at a garage sale for $3, added glass for $14, used $0.89 wrapping paper to create a warm patterned backdrop on foam board, and $2.76 in scrapbook paper to mat each picture...

I think it looks warmer and homier (is that a word?) than the store bought ones and it was pretty affordable...

I might end up adding a jute string that it looks like it is hanging from, and a decorative hook. The frame is pretty beefy so I will have to test out the proportions. Also, I have not decided yet if I will leave these pictures or keep updating some of them. Most of them are big memories so they might just all stay. If you wanted to keep it up to date, you could do it like another wall collage I have behind my couch...

In this collage, each picture is not fastened to the scrapbook paper mat, instead, each photo slips into photo corners, so they can be easily swapped out...

that is, IF your family ever schedules a photo shoot so you can have an up-to-date collage!