Guest Room Dresser Re-Do

I first showed this dresser here, and I liked how it turned out. However, once I painted the walls in the guest room I realized the colors just didn't go together that well. 
  

crappy night-time picture, but you get the idea

While I was finishing up the closet in the guest room I repainted the dresser. I went with a light gray since I figured it would look good with the aqua on the walls. It's similar to the gray in the closet, but a little darker.

I ended up doing two coats of homemade chalk paint- the first one was too light, so I added more gray to the paint and got a slightly darker color that was more what I had in mind.

Because the edges had gotten a couple nicks in the original {non-distressed} blue paint, I went ahead and distressed the edges a little so future nicks would blend in better. I also put a coat of wax on top of the paint, which really changes changes the final feeling of the finish. It gives it a much smoother, less chalky finish. I never did a coat of wax over the blue paint, and it always had an unpleasant dry, chalky feel to it.

I left the knobs and handles white, but may eventually repaint them a very light gray or a darker gray so there's not such a stark contrast.

So much better! It no longer clashes with the walls and it ties in with the rest of the room (more on the room itself tomorrow).

Guest Room Closet Makeover

I'm going through each of the rooms upstairs, doing the finishing touches so I can finally call them done. I showed LMS' room here, and the next room I worked on was the guest room. Like the other bedrooms, the closet needed to be re-done, so I started with that.

Once again I didn't get a picture of it stacked full of stuff (we've been storing our suitcases and my massage table in there), but here's  a picture of it empty. I really don't understand the point of putting a clothes rod 6 1/2 feet up, in what will most likely be a kid's bedroom. Who thought that would be a good idea?

Like the other closets in this house, it was severely lacking in usefulness and adaptability. I altered this closet similarly to how I did LMS' closet.

I removed the lower shelf and did some spackling and sanding. After painting the inside light gray, I moved that lower shelf up so it was below the upper shelf at a more useful height. Then I added a vertical divider (that I'd already painted) so I could install some shelves. I screwed into the divider from the shelf above it, then added two L braces at the floor to keep the divider in place.

Next I added my favorite shelf strips. Seriously, these things are so useful! I looked through my wood stash and found pieces of shelving leftover from the library bookshelves- too small for the library, but just right for the narrow space in this closet.

Then I screwed the vertical supports into the studs and added the clothes rod supports and clothes rods. I used my Dremel to cut the metal rods to width because they were about an inch or two too long. The plastic end caps keep the metal ends from damaging anyone/thing and keep the rods in place between the wall and the divider.

After the interior was finished, I took the bifold doors off and turned them into regular doors, just like I did with the kitchen closet doors.

This time I remembered to chisel out space for the hinges and it makes a huge difference in how easily the doors close.

We still don't know if we're having a boy or a girl (one more month till the ultrasound!), so this room could stay the guest room or become a little boy's room. Either way, this closet is flexible enough to accommodate either use.

I used the same baskets and bins I used in LMS' closet. This closet is too narrow for two of the clear file boxes to fit on the shelf, so there's a basket and a file box up there.

So much better! I really like the light gray with the aqua on the walls and the space is now so much more efficient.

For now we're storing baby stuff in the baskets and bin. Once we find out if the baby's a boy or a girl we'll move things around a bit. For now it makes it easier to see what we have - I've slowly been buying a few things here and there to supplement the few things remaining from when LMS was a baby. I don't want to make the mistake of buying things we already have :)

Sunday Funny

LMS has a cold and yesterday I caught her lounging on the couch playing Math Bingo on my phone

Mr M and I were discussing what we'd do for Mother's and Father's Day this year (actual gifts vs. we-bought-X-so-there's-Christmas-Birthday-Mothers-Fathers-Day).

The Little Miss interrupted to ask "If there's a Mother's day and a Father's day, is there a Child's day?"

Mr M answered "That's called every day."

Christmas Dollhouse

Last year I built a play kitchen for LMS for Christmas. This year I built her a dollhouse.

I didn't have time to finish it before Christmas, but I decided that wasn't all bad. LMS could help me decorate the walls of each room if I didn't do it all first.

LMS was very excited and even insisted on playing with it in the car on the way home from my sister's. It ended up next to her in the space between her bench and the front seats, and even though it wasn't really that practical or easy, she managed to play with it and had a great time.

I finally got it caulked and painted a month or so ago, and then we went to Michaels and picked out scrapbook paper to use as wallpaper.

This week I finally glued the paper on the back walls. I had planned on using spray glue and every time I had a little free time to do so, it was raining. I finally had free time that coincided with nice weather and got it done. Unfortunately, the spray glue ended up not working- for some reason the paper wouldn't stick to the painted wood. I tried a glue stick, and that worked pretty well.

We used pieces of patterned and textured paper for "rugs". They can be moved from room to room, depending on where the Little Miss wants them.

Then I let my OCD run wild :) I cut both curved ends off of 4 packages of tongue depressors (about 300 all together) and went to town with the wood glue. I used my Cutco kitchen scissors to trim the edge pieces to fit and used painter's tape to keep everything in place while the glue dried.

 This step was completely unnecessary, but I love how it looks! The whole thing looks just a bit more "finished" than it would with a plain white roof. The Little Miss thinks it looks good too :)

Now she can move in her doll furniture and dolls.

I'm glad it turned out as well as it did, and glad I'm finally finished with it. 

Four months after Christmas :)

Sunday Funny

We tried a year-round schedule this year, so we've been doing a rotation of 3 weeks of school/1 week of vacation, with a 3 week break at Christmas and another in July.

LMS and I have discussed it and agree that we really like this schedule.

However, LMS told me she'd prefer "three weeks of vacation and one week of school".

Hmmm, I don't know what kid wouldn't prefer that schedule.

But it's not going to happen :)

My Annual Allergic Reaction to Spring

Every spring since we've moved here (this is our fourth spring), I've broken out with icky, itchy rashes. I call them poison ivy, and I know at least some of them have been caused by poison ivy, but I'm fairly certain some are caused by a local tree pollen. (I came up negative on all my allergy tests, so they weren't any help in figuring out what the culprit is.)

This spring, I'm now at 4 for 4. Or is that 0 for 4? I guess it depends on your perspective.

In any case, it's happened already: I've had my first itchy rash of the year. I've been dreading it since I knew I wouldn't be able to take prednisone like I have in the past. Thankfully, it's been milder than in the past.

Instead of masses of itching, oozing bumps that spread like wild fire, my legs have just been covered in itchy hives. No oozing and spreading, which is the worst part of it, so I'm not complaining. Too much :)

I have two theories as to why it's been milder this time:

1. I got hit by a different allergen than usual, one that's not as problematic for me.
2. Doing GAPS has improved the state of my autoimmune system enough that I'm not reacting as violently (GAPS is the reason I'm pregnant, after all).

Either one is possible, so I'm curious to see how my next round goes. It never stops at just one round...

****

In other news, I'm feeling "squadgy" these days. Isn't that a great word? I feel like it's very descriptive.

I haven't gained any weight yet, but I'm starting to look like I have. Since I have a short torso the baby is already pushing things up and out of the way, and there's really only one place for things to go: my upper abdomen. Hence the reason I've been feeling squadgy.

Raising A Cautious Child

LMS riding her bike at the park- doesn't she coordinate nicely? 

The shirt is a cute one from Crazy 8.

I've realized LMS is quite cautious. I'm not sure why it took so long for that to finally connect and make an impact in my consciousness, but it did. Once I acknowledged it, I started wandering why she's so cautious. We are always very encouraging and positive, especially when she tries new things. Shouldn't that give her the confidence she needs?

As I continued thinking about it, I sifted through memories from my childhood, and I realized that she gets it from me. As a child, I was also super-cautious.

I missed out on a trip to the corner market with my cousins while staying at the cabin at the lake because I was too scared to make the short trip (despite my mom giving me the ok). The cabin was sold not long after and I never had a similar opportunity.

I had a friend who lived a few houses down, and across the street, but I think I only went there once or twice because I was too scared to walk there.

My mom let us ride our bikes to the library, but I only went once or twice with my older brother, again because I was too scared.

Somewhere along the way I started overcoming the fear and in fourth and fifth grade I rode my bike the two miles to school every day with my sister and a couple friends we picked up along the way. (On the road- no sidewalks! but that's another post for another day- I've been working on it for awhile now.)

Junior high brought a lot of new experiences and I continued to gain confidence as I experienced new things in high school, college, on my mission, and beyond. Not to say they weren't still scary, but at least I did them instead of avoiding them like I did in elementary school.

***

There are still some things I'm cautious about (I don't love heights, for example), but I make the effort to try new things, even if they're out of my comfort zone.

LMS has shown a lot of caution when skiing, ice skating, swimming, and riding her bike.

We have pictures of her when she was about a year and a half old, being held by Mr M in the pool, and she's got a death grip around his neck. She's taken lessons every summer since she was 4, and can swim quite well, but it's taken a LOT of encouragement from her instructors and me and one-on-one time with me in the water for her to feel more confident.

She's taken ice skating lessons, but would rather hold on to one of us or a stack of buckets because  she's afraid of falling.

She's had two years of skiing lessons and has the skills, yet she just doesn't think she can do it- it's too scary and she doesn't want to fall.

She's been perfectly content to keep using her walking bike without the pedals, thankyouverymuch. We ride bikes with friends at the park and they all use pedals, but she did a pretty good job of keeping up with them and didn't think she needed the pedals.

***

I learned to ice skate as a teenager and I took ski classes in college, so I don't have a point of reference for learning those at a young age.

As I've recognized her reluctance to do things, I've tried not to push too much. We haven't done skating lessons again because she didn't truly enjoy it. She does like skiing and swimming once she gets out there, so we've continued taking lessons in those areas. And we waited till she said she was ready for pedals before putting them on (we bought her a walking bike two years ago specifically designed to be used with and without pedals). I kept asking her if she wanted them back on and she kept saying no. Then a couple weeks ago, she came to me and said she wanted to try the pedals. I asked if she was sure, because once I put them on, they weren't coming back off. She said ok, and on they went. It's taken a little practice, but now she's confident and ready for a bigger bike.

***

Are we truly encouraging her, or are we pushing her to try new things too soon? Are we causing more problems this way, or helping her overcome her cautiousness?

Thoughts?

Age Appropriate Clothes for Little Girls

In the last year the Little Miss has outgrown toddler sizes and moved on to the dreaded girls sizes.

I say dreaded because I've been dreading this prospect since she was quite small. I've noticed a lot of stores have super cute infant and toddler clothes, but once you hit size 6, you leave cute behind.

I'm quite particular about the outfits LMS wears: they must be modest, age appropriate, and not plastered all over with characters or other "advertisements".

For some reason designers make clothes for 12 year olds, then just size them down to hit the range of sizes from 6 to 12/14. And the designs are frequently too old for 12 year olds, so why would we want to dress our 6 year olds in them?

This problem has been most obvious at Kohls and Target (my main sources of clothes for LMS), where I have previously been able to find really cute outfits for LMS. Now that she's in the bigger sizes, it's a lot harder and I've started looking at other stores for cute, affordable clothes for the Little Miss.

One store I've recently become enamored with is Crazy 8. It's owned by Gymboree, but is more affordable. When LMS was younger I found cute outfits there and occasionally even managed some good sale prices. Now that she's bigger, the outfits aren't as cute and even clearance prices aren't very good.

Awhile back I was at Gymboree, looking for spring/summer clothes for LMS. I was unsuccessful, but as I left, I noticed the Crazy 8 store across the way. I rarely go to the mall, so had never been in one at that point.

I was pleasantly surprised by both the selection (cuteness in LMS' size!) on the clearance rack and the prices. I found two dresses, two skirts, and two shirts, all priced under $7 a piece and perfect for warmer weather. At those prices, I couldn't resist buying more clothes than I usually do at one time. I usually buy a shirt here, a skirt there, and so on.

I've since been back and bought a few more items, though some of them are long sleeves that we'll save for cooler weather. I don't mind storing clothes till the next season if I find cute pieces at great prices.

Where do you find cute clothes once your little girl isn't in the toddler sizes?

Sunday Funny

LMS is the perfect age to take with me when I look at baby stuff.

We were in Target awhile ago and I pointed out a cute tiny denim skirt with ruffles on the bum and LMS oohed and aahed over it. Then she pointed and squeed over a tiny ruffle tutu skirt. If we have a girl, it's going to be hard controlling LMS in the infant clothing aisles....

Now every time we go to Target she wants to look at the baby stuff and talk about how cute it all is. She's going to be a great older sister :)

Sprout Cub Scout Neckerchief Slide

This month the boys are planting seeds and building planters, so I decided to do a plant-related neckerchief slide.

I used 1.5" wood discs as the base, then hot glued a short piece of thin green yarn for the stem. Then I hot glued a small piece of tan craft foam across the bottom as dirt. The leaves are foam stickers that came in a package from JoAnns that included hedgehogs, snails, and lady bugs. I peeled the paper backing off, then added a dab of glue to the wood before sticking the leaves on. The last step was to glue a piece of conduit to the back.

Before we went to scouts, I had all the pieces pre-cut and ready to go: all the boys had to do was glue the pieces together using a low-temp glue gun (under supervision, of course).

These were the only leaves I could find, and I think the whole thing almost looks a little like a tree, but they're living plants, so it's all good :) If I was more artistic, I might have cut and drawn our leaves, but I didn't have the time or energy to mess with that.

Updated Little Girl's Closet & Room

This project took awhile (I started LMS' room 2 years ago when we first moved in) and went through a couple of incarnations before it finally got to a point where I can call it finished.

The closet is deep on both sides, which caused problems when it came to figuring out the best shelf/closet rod combination.

It started out as this:

not a great before picture, but it's all I've got

Then looked like this:

Then I ripped out the shelves and clothes rods and built some stand alone shelves and it looked like this for the last year and a half or so:

The problem was that the walls aren't perfectly straight, and the shelves ended up not fitting nearly as well as I had thought they would. This was pretty discouraging and I just left the closet like it was for over a year. During that time, I contemplated how to change things so they'd be more efficient and practical.

Last week, during spring break, I finally got to work on the closet.

I sanded the spackle that I had put on the walls after removing the old shelf supports, then put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. I really like this color and think it works great as an accent to all the purple in her room.

I had removed all the trim when I was going to install the stand alone shelves, so after the paint dried I reinstalled the trim and added the supports for the original ridiculously-high shelf and new supports for a lower, more useful shelf. I didn't want to mess with painting an 8' shelf top and bottom, so I took the easy way out and purchased a melamine-covered board from Lowe's for the new lower shelf.

Then I installed my favorite shelf strips on the walls on either side of the closet and searched through my wood stash for shelving. I had prepped some wood for shelving when I first started working on the closet, so I was able to cut down those pieces to the length and width I needed and only needed to paint one new piece of wood for a shelf- bonus for me!

One thing I noticed is that the left side of the closet is about 3" shallower than the right side, so the shelves are not interchangeable from one side to another. No idea why there's such a difference, but that's how it is.

After getting the shelves in, I needed to get the closet rods up. I ended up using pieces from Rubbermaid, which definitely aren't the cheapest, but they do exactly what I want them to do. I installed 3 vertical supports (they're screwed into studs), then 3 sets of rod supports at different heights to accommodate different items of clothing. The rods come in a set of 2 that fit together and are adjustable, but because of their length I ended up using one for the lower rod and the other for the middle rod. They're a bit long, and I haven't yet made up my mind about cutting them down a bit. I used a full two piece set for the top rod.

Once those were up, it was time to organize LMS' clothes. The large metal-framed canvas baskets (found at wally world about a year ago or so ago) were too wide for the space on the left, but I found some woven baskets at Lowe's that fit just right. We hung some clothing up and put the rest in baskets.

I then went all ocd and made tags for each basket, which I've actually wanted to do for a long time, and I feel so much better now that I have, even if it did take awhile to do them all :) I safety pinned the tags to the canvas baskets and threaded ribbons through the holes in the woven basket.

We store off season clothes and clothes that are too big in these file boxes I found at Target. I love them! They have hinged lids and work great for storing things in closets. I use them in our closet for Mr M and my off season clothes as well.

I love how much more functional (there's that word again!) LMS's closet is and the fact that she can actually see and reach all her clothes. I've noticed that she tended to wear whatever was on top of the basket, rather than wearing all of her clothes.

When we organized her clothes, we also switched out her cold weather clothes for spring/summer clothes. Just in time for weather in the high 80's- nothing like instant summer! Now she can see all her cute outfits (several of which I found on clearance at Crazy 8 a couple of months ago and have been saving for warm weather) and actually wear them.

A couple little details I love:

I switched the boring brass knob for a glass knob. It didn't come with the metal flange, which I had to buy separate. It's smaller than the original though, so the screw holes are over the original knob hole. Right now it's held together by the central screw that extends from one knob to another. Still thinking about a fix for this issue.

It's a nonfunctioning knob now- the glass knob didn't accommodate the tongue mechanism, so I just removed it. LMS doesn't like having her door closed and we don't think kiddos need to be hiding behind closed doors, so it's not a problem for us.

I also switched out the boring wood knobs on the closet doors for these cute purple polka dot knobs I found at Hobby Lobby.

And I finally hung pictures and hemmed the curtains:

Now that I finally have LMS's room finished, we're probably having a girl :) But I had that in the back of my mind as I worked, so everything can be rearranged a bit and still work with another little girl in this room. And if we end up having a boy, then LMS has lots of room to herself still.

Cloth Diapering

image source

Has anybody out there cloth diapered?

My mom used cloth diapers on most of the kids in my family, but they've come a long ways since the days of prefolds, diaper pins, and plastic pants. {thank goodness!}

I wanted to use cloth for LMS, but we couldn't afford the initial investment to do so. It would have saved us money in the long run, but we just couldn't come up with the money to get started.

Now that we're expecting another little one, I've start thinking about how we'll handle certain situations, the gear we'll need, and so on. Which brought me back to the cloth diapering question.

I've done some reading about it, even purchasing an e-book that was very informative and encouraging about cloth diapering.

But... I'm still hesitating. I'm just not convinced it's for us.

Pros:
- Cheaper in the long run
- More eco friendly

Cons:
- I do laundry once a week and have no desire to do it more often. Cloth diapers would need to be washed every other day at a minimum.
- Can cause clothing to not fit properly. I like a nice trim diapered bum- they fit in all styles of clothes without a problem. Cloth diapers can result in large "fluffy bums".
- Can be a pain to deal with when out and about.

I've considered using cloth diapers at home and disposable diapers when we're out and about, but that seems like it'd still be a lot of work and would require extra planning on my part. I'm just not sure that would actually happen. {just being realistic here}

Have you used cloth diapers? Was it a positive or negative experience?

March Goals Re-cap

Ever had dill pickle potato chips before? They're not too bad- we had them at the Canadian section of Epcot (it's a Canadian brand), though I'm sure that little bag we bought cost more than this big bag I found at Marshalls. And yes, those are ketchup flavored potato chips next to them. ewwww!

I updated my goals in January and here's the progress I made in March.
February's progress can be seen here.

A few goals under Health:
1. Stick to GAPS
Just like in February, this was a bust since the nausea, loss of appetite and super sensitive sense of smell made it impossible to do any cooking myself. Things did improve toward the end of the month and we're easing back into GAPS this week. I've been getting back into the habit of cooking and meal prep and now just have to sit down and do a menu and shopping list.
2. Train for and run at least 6 races by the end of 2013 (at least one half marathon, preferably two)
I've run 3 races now- one 5k, one 4 miler, and one half marathon. I thought about registering for a local spring half, but decided not to since I'd be doing it just to cross it off my list- I wouldn't be able to get a decent time and would not be properly ready for it. I did register for a 5k at the beginning of June, and I don't anticipate any problems there, even if I do have to walk part of it. I'm still running regularly (though at a reduced mileage/intensity) and can feel the changes in my body already as the baby co-ops my oxygen.
3. Consistently cross train and strength train
I haven't added cycling and strength training, though I'm still finishing projects around the house, which is a kind of strength training :)

A few goals under House:
1. Clean up drips and do the final touches in each room
I  am working on finishing the kitchen. Once I finish that, then I can move on to the touch ups.
2. Build and install shelves in all closets
I did the kitchen coat closet and it is soooo much more functional now- I love it! The pantry is also finished. In April I'll work on LMS's closet and the master closet.
3. Build homeschool cabinet
Finished the design, but haven't had time/energy to start yet. Finally got extra furniture moved out of the living room and now have the space to build it, so a step closer.
4. Build kitchen table
Again, haven't had the time/energy yet.

A few goals under Homeschool:
1. Continue to be consistent at keeping to the schedule
We're doing pretty good at sticking to the schedule, though we have had to be a bit flexible with the fatigue I've been experiencing and we have not managed to get an earlier start in the morning.
2. Be more present
Still working on this one, but I suspect this is one of those on-going ones that never quite end.

A few goals under Habits:
1. Practice the piano and violin consistently
Yeah, these haven't happened yet- no time or energy.
2. Index several batches every week for FamilySearch
Nor this one.
3. Have more meaningful daily scripture study (start journaling as I read)
I've tried several journaling options and I'm not convinced that any of them are working for me. I had hoped that journaling would help me get more out of what I read, but at this point I'm not sure it will. I have a few other things I'm going to try in the meantime, and I'll revisit journaling later.

How did you do with your goals this month?

Spring Break

I have several half written posts I was going to post this week, but it's spring break and most of LMS' activities were canceled, so I'm taking advantage of the extra time to finish up some projects around the house. And getting ready for our yard sale this Saturday. Yep, I'm a busy person.

I'm making good progress, but it doesn't leave time for blogging :)

I should have pictures to share next week, but in the meantime, here's some pictures from this weekend. We did the Easter egg hunt on Saturday, and the weather was cold and drizzly on Sunday, so it all worked out well.

We found LMS' dress at Marshalls- the same store we found last year's dress. Ok, it looks like I got that one at TJMaxx, but they're owned by the same company, so they're basically the same store. Anyway, I like the cute, vintage-y vibe it's got going on.