Now Let's Go Eat Some Cake...

Today I finished number 5 out of 7 major tests. I've got two classes and two more finals to go and I will finally put this semester behind me. My life has been kinda crazy the last few weeks (one uncontrollable outburst of tears at the DMV and two trips to the ER later...) and I am ready to be settled. More on some of crazy happenings in posts to come.

On a positive note, however, I think I did really well on my test tonight. And I am thankful I am almost 1/5 of the way done with this degree. I am also another year older now. And I had a fun weekend celebrating with my family.

My family spoiled me by letting me sleep in, followed by an offer to go to the store alone to pick out whatever I wanted for breakfast. Kevin and the kids thought of some excuse why they had to stay home when I said I wouldn't mind them coming with me. I should have seen the surprise coming. But I did not. Which was so sweet and cool.

Kev and Kay and Emmie had made me a mixed CD which started out with them each singing songs to me, followed by birthday wishes for this year, and a few things they each loved about me. <3. Coolest present ever.

I chose German Pancakes with cottage cheese, sugar free blackberry jam, strawberries and bananas. I got some yummy blueberry lemonade and a bottle of aloe vera juice as well. Yum!

  

After breakfast we headed into town to window shop and to pick up a few items for a project Kev and I had discussed and planned the night before. We decided that we were either going to tackle fixing a set of new dining room chairs I picked up for $10 at our local thrift store... or we were going to refinish our entertainment center. I finally decided on the later and we decided we wanted to do a light gray with chalk paint.

But... one of my favorite furniture stores was on the way to Home Depot...so you know. I had to stop by and fall massively in love with a couch I had no money for. You know. All in a days work. Dreams are good to have.

Anywho... since I didn't want to buy chalk paint (holy.expensive.), I just bought plaster of paris and made my own. I spent $16 total on paint and plaster of paris, $10 for finishing wax and about $11 for dark wax (for that antiqued look). Altogether, my "new look" cost about $37. Not bad for a "free to me" dresser.

My husband and I painted the first coat while the kids were down for a nap. We finished with it about the time the kids woke up, so we headed off to our local pizza joint for dinner and let the dresser sit to dry.

Because I've been dying to try this drink forever (mostly because I think the can looks cool), Kev indulged me and got me one as a part of my birthday dinner/present. I kinda have a thing about trying new drinks with cool looking bottles. Some have ended up better than others. But this one was super tasty. And I was happy to add another cool bottle to my collection.

Speaking of cool, this has got to be my favorite pizza joint ever, mainly for the ambiance. It is centered in an old log cabin up against a hill, with beautiful woodwork on the inside and a really cool looking wood stove in the middle of the room. Plus, the really old video games downstairs reminds me of the arcade at the pizza parlor I grew up going to with my family. I remember being younger than Kale and being so excited to go to Rick's Pizza. It was the best ever.

Excuse my make-up-less-ness and the crazy photos. We were enjoying ourselves. And the one of me was taken by Kay. 

The drive home was beautiful and peaceful and accented by a beautiful setting sun. It's no wonder they call this time of night "golden hour". It was gorgeous.

Once home, we let the kids stay up watching the new Tinker-Bell-Pirate-Fairy-Movie-Whatever-Thing they just put up on Netflix a few months ago (Okay,so I play a little....the hubby and I are kinda closet Tinker Bell fans) while the hubs and I finished the second coat of paint, and the two coats of finishing wax and dark wax. 

I took a few photos that night of the end result. But they're night photos. So it goes without saying they didn't end up looking that great, or showing the true end result. So I decided to retake the photos in the morning so you could see the real difference this piece made to our room.

Funny how the same piece of furniture, with just a different or new color on it can change the whole look and feel! Truth be told, I hated the old brass drawer pulls before we did the project and I had fully planned on replacing them when I finally got the money to. 

However, I think I had a total change of heart. With that new light color, I love the contrast the old bronze gives...and I even like that the color of the drawer pulls aren't even. Some have dark spots and some have a lot of that gold brassy color coming through. So cool.

So! That was my fun birthday project and adventure. It was absolutely the nicest way I could have imagined spending my day. Projects with my husband are the best. We have a lot of fun working side by side together (Thanks again, babe for helping me!)

Anyways, I hope you all have a happy weekend ahead with the some fun projects and adventures planned for yourselves! Tomorrow is Saturday, and as for me and my family... we are going to go help clean up the church! ;] So...here's to hoping we wash off more little finger prints from the window panes than we add! Adios peeps!

A Dresser Turned {Organized} Media Cabinet

As much as I love being a stay at home mom, sometimes I am so thankful for the peace and quiet that comes when my children are asleep. 

I love spending time with them. I love watching them grow. I adore being a mother (especially one who gets to be at home with them!). But sometimes, a girl just gets sick of being yelled at all day!

And I don't necessarily mean just the angry, out of control, upset, too tired screams. It is even the excited (yet  mind-blowingly piercing) shrieks of joy. Or the 'I just stubbed my toe' cries of pain. 

Sometimes this mommy feels like her kids do, a little over stimulated. 

So thank you for letting me blow off some of my steam! Blogging is a good way to de-stress. As is organizing and having an organized home.

Here's a  little peak of some of the reorganization that has gone on around here lately:

This is our media center. It used to be a dresser with a mirrored hutch (it belonged to my grandmommy!). But we ditched the hutch and used the dresser part in our living room instead. We tend to hang most of our clothes, anyways.

You'll have to forgive me for not getting a before picture of the messy drawers. I think I was a little too eager to attack the the insane amount of junk and clutter that had been shoved into every drawer of this entire unit for the last year or so.

And it was like Christmas. Seriously, these drawers were the gifts that would not stop giving. How did I fit so much stuff in there?

I felt like doing a touch down dance when I realized how much of it I could just donate or throw away (One less pile of crud to worry about finding a place for!)/ And maybe a little kick in the pants at the same time when I realized how much garbage we had been carrying around, move after move. 

For realz. I hate clutter.

Anyways, when I started the mudroom/command center project (which you can check out here) I suddenly had the brilliant idea to start emptying out our hall closet at the same time.

Because it is always a good idea to start a new project when you are not even a quarter of the way finished with the first. 

;P

But, I had a sudden epiphany of where I could use a previously unoccupied piece of furniture, and emptying the closet was the first step to getting things where I wanted them to go.

So, out went all the junk, which mainly ended up being lots of coats (huh, go figure.) and all of our board games, dice sets, and cards.

And there they sat, in  a pile behind my basement door for the next few months...until I did this:

Seriously, a way better use of our media cabinet than before. And a way better spot for all of our games than being stuffed in a closet (or for that matter, behind a door ;]).

The useful things that used to be in the media center found new homes. Most of our electronics made their way into more organized bins that were placed in the hall closet (which I'll share more about later next week), except for our major devices such as our laptops, i-Pad, DVD player, and Roku.

While our computers and i-Pad received their own new dedicated drawers, our Roku, DVD player, and wireless router all found themselves now living below the deck.

Which, honestly, is a change that I just love.

 It really clears off the media cabinet and makes it look so much more clean and pristine. It is getting me pumped up about giving this unit a total make over.

 It isn't in the budget right now, but it is in the plan to give this piece a major face lift. I just have to decide what color I want to paint it! Honestly, I change my mind about it...once every day.

Decluttering and reorganizing it, however, has only made me that much more excited about getting it all finished and put together!

Seriously, I could handle all the screaming and yelling if I had a pretty and perfectly organized media center, right? 

Okay, so probably not!  But it's totally worth a shot! ;p

What do you do to de-stress after a long day of Mommy Duty? Am I just crazy uptight? There are some days where I just feel like all of my brain cells are slowly but surely being obliterated, one scream at a time. What helps you break through those feelings of  being overwhelmed? 

Honestly, I really just think I need to go take a cruise to Hawaii. By myself. Like right now.

No More Naked Windows...

Wuh-uh-elll, today I am SUPER excited (I mean like S-U-P-E-R animada) to share with you a recent update we made to our living room. Admittedly, I am way too proud about it. All I did was put curtains up.

BUT I PUT CURTAINS UP!!!

And it only took me like, 5 months! I understand that you may not be able to fully appreciate or comprehend how super speedy this truly was ;].  But  5 months! I mean, we're talking a record breaking number here, baby. I've never done it in less than ... well, probably 12.

Add or multiply by a few... ;]

It is especially speedy, if you consider that I chose to sew the curtain panels myself. And I don't sew. Like.. ever. Never ever ever. I happen to hate sewing in reality. But I love it in theory. Sometime the two of those concepts should hook up. Then I might actually sew more.

 But the major cherry on top of the pie, the real real real reason I am so pumped about my living room curtains is not only  that I was able to make them by myself, I was also able to install them for free using things we already had around our house.

And in case you're wondering, no. We didn't have the normal curtain rods and hardward on hand. So I had to improvise.

Enter this photo from marthastewart.com:

                                                              Source: marthastewart.com via (Megan) on Pinterest

I loved the idea of using a shelf and shelving brackets to create a  window treatment. But I had a problem. I didn't have any shelves long enough to go above our windows (they are 4 feet wide). And I didn't have money to go buy any, either! I didn't even have the budget to go get normal curtain rods and hardware, for goodness sake!

But I did have 4 white, iron brackets from some shorter shelving that I no longer wanted to use. And I also had two shower curtain rods we no longer needed (our new place came with their own!). And I thought, well...it may end up looking totally junky. But... then again. Maybe it'd look okay.

So I decided to install the brackets above my living room window.

Because I had no shelf, I put them up high enough so that the top portion of the brackets were flush against the ceiling.  I also spaced them about 6 inches out from the window's edge on each side.

Well. Actually, that's a lie. First I put them right alongside the outer edges of the windows so that I wouldn't have to use my measuring tape (save some time, right?). And then when I was finished, I realized that once I added the curtains, with that placement of the brackets, the 3 outer inches of the windows on both sides would be left uncovered.

Ugh.

When in doubt... always use your measuring tape.  Anyways. Once I got the brackets up, I used some sheets we weren't using to make my curtains. I put them on the shower curtain rod and slipped the rod through my brackets.

And suddenly, my windows were naked-less! And I totally didn't mind how it looked. I mean, obviously, it could look better. But, considering the price tag... I love it!  Funny how curtains can make a place look much more like a home.

So that was my recent mini decorating miracle. I've gotta say. I really love Pinterest. I've been able to do so much of what I love to do, without having to wince about the price tags! Thank you blogland  for all of your sharing and awesome ideas. You make my day. Every day!

P.S. I apologize for the cruddy pictures. There was no good lighting, day or night. Well... obviously night doesn't have good light. But it was gloomy all day too. Made for bummer pictures! Man!