A Weird & Wonderful Week{Part 4}

The Weird...

While Row, my 3 year old, was throwing a fit in public on Wednesday, I very discreetly bent down and pinched his arm while whispering for him to knock it off in his ear. As if throwing the fit in the first place isn't embarrassing enough, he then proceeded to say very loudly: "Ow, mom! Don't pinch me!" I wanted to crawl under a chair...thanks for letting the whole world know I physically assaulted you, son!

Thursday I woke up with a throbbing headache, a kink in my neck, and a stiff shoulder. I felt miserable all day and still decided that I needed to clean all the bedrooms, do laundry, and pull weeds in the yard and garden in 90 degree weather. All of this on top of dealing with my rugrats all day. WHY?? Why can't women take a break? Why do we feel the need to be Super Woman all the time? I don't know the answer but I really wish I could give myself much needed rest, especially when I'm not feeling well, without feeling super guilty!

The Wonderful...

After dinner on Monday I asked my husband to help me out by giving the kids a bath while I cleaned up dinner. He said he didn't really feel like bathing the kids so I asked him if he would rather do the dishes for me then while I bathed the kids (I was totally being sarcastic, thinking there was no way he would rather switch jobs with me!) Much to my surprise he chose to do the dishes! So I got to sit in the bathroom with my laptop while the kids played in the bath and dad did dishes. What is not wonderful about that??

Pizza for dinner Tuesday. 'Nuff said!  

Friday we went to a friends for dinner for a little bit of Surf-n-Turf--grilled shrimp and riblets! It was Uh-mazing. I ate way more than I should have...and then ate some more again!

I woke up to my lovely husband on Saturday. He has been working Saturdays for the past few weekends and it's really hard for me. So it was so nice to have him there. He even made breakfast for everyone. Isn't he the sweetest?

We had a BBQ on Sunday with all of my husbands family that lives in town: his parents, sister and her husband and kids, and his brother with his wife and kids. It was fun and the food was so good! It was a really nice afternoon.

I just noticed that 3 of my Wonderful days involved food. I'm surprised I'm not 400lbs, but I love to eat! 

Thift Store Finds

I popped into a thrift store the other day "just to look"...which never works. But I did show restraint and did not buy everything that I wanted. Kuddos to me! So here are a few things that I picked up...

I grabbed 6 of these plates because the color would look great with my patio furniture and they were $.98 a piece. There were 8 but a couple of them were a little too chipped so I picked the 6 best ones. I also like the rounded square look. I might try them in a table setting this weekend for a family BBQ.

At $.39 and $.49 per napkin I grabbed as many as they had in the colors I liked. The gold looking napkins actually are more of a camel color in person, they didn't photograph well.  I bought 9 of the camel colored ones and 5 of the white.

These little cuties are my favorite from this shopping trip and were only $3.49 a piece. Score! Yea, sure they look tacky right now, but a coat of spray paint and a nice shade and these babies will be looking fly on my nightstands.

Lastly, I picked up 3 of these candle holders for $.49 a pop. They had them in the drinking glasses section and there were about 12 of them, but I honestly don't think they would work that good for drinking out of...weird. I thought they were the perfect size for a tealight candle and they look cute on my patio table.
Total I spent a little over $20. Not too bad for all that, right? I love thrift stores. It takes patience but when you go alone (no whining kids...or husbands for that matter!) you can find some really great deals. They had even more things that I wanted to take home with me but I talked myself out of it...until next time, that is.
So what about you?  Picked up any good second-hand finds recently?

I party like a ROCKSTAR here:

The Shabby Nest: Frugal Friday

A Weird & Wonderful Week{Part 3}

The Weird...

Not having A/C on Monday stunk BIG TIME! Our unit needed to be replaced so we've been dealing with getting it installed. My kids and I holed up in the bedroom where we had a portable unit that we borrowed attached to the window. It does nothing to cool the house, and isn't even all that great at cooling one room, but it felt like an igloo compared to the rest of the house which was in the high 80's most of the day and peaked at 90 this evening! Please, someone come put me out of my misery. A/C technician coming tomorrow night. Hopefully the kids and I don't fry before then!

via

Ugh! The kids would not take a nap on Wednesday, and they are not no-nap kiddos! Everyone was cranky, sleepy, and crying. Including me! They finally crashed around 4:30pm. GREAT. I woke them up after about an hour so bedtime wouldn't be completely ruined, but they still ended up going to bed between 9:30pm and 10pm. WAAAAAY later than usual! That was not fun. AT.ALL.

Thursday I had a massive migraine! I get them occasionally but its been a while since I had one that bad. Over halfway through the week and it seems like a lot more Weird than Wonderful has been going on...oh, and J's 3-day weekend has been cut short since his boss called and told him he needed him for a few hours on Friday...and Saturday. A few hours is code for "Give up your weekend". All you stay-at-home moms know that an extra day off work for the hubs is like crushing your man's hand during labor: it doesn't due anything to relieve your pain, but you feel alot better knowing you're bringing him down with you! Same goes for having the hubs home with you to deal with the tantrums, spilled goldfish crackers, and diaper changing.

via

The Wonderful...

It seemed like FOR-EV-ER for the technician to come fix our A/C Tuesday. But it's finally fixed. And just in time too since a heat advisory was issued last night! It's so nice to be able to sit comfortably in my house. Simple pleasures....

I had such a nice day Friday. My son, Row, had his swim lessons in the morning and even though I forgot his goggles he did excellent! (He freaks when the water gets in his eyes usually). Then I took the kids to their playdate at the park with a small water play area. They had a blast! And I love getting together with girlfriends and our kids. It's like a playdate for all of us! Even though it was hot out it wasn't unbearable. And the sun wasn't too glaring. All in all it was a good day.

Went to a family BBQ on Saturday and had a lot of fun. The kids played til they dropped with their cousins and the adults ate, drank and laughed. A pretty great way to spend a summer Saturday.

Sunday I saw my adorable nephews who I haven't seen for a couple of months (my inlaws-J's sister and her husband-live 2 hours away). Crazy how much little ones grow in such a short time. One nephew is a month older than my son so they get along famously and are always excited to see each other. And the other is the cutest, sweetest 7 month old ever. I made sure to get lots of kisses to tide me over 'til the next time we see them, which is actually in 2 weeks for our 2nd annual family camping trip. We'll have to wait and see whether I file that weekend under Weird or Wonderful... :-)

To Be...Or Not To Be?{Thrifty Finds}

How about a peak inside my "workshop" today? I decided to do a post about some of the big upcoming furniture projects I have in store. Hopefully I will be completing most of them this summer. So let's take a virtual walk around my home, shall we? These first few items are all stored in the garage...

I picked up this cute lil gal on Craigslist not too long ago for $5! The plan? I am going to paint the flower detail (which is around all 4 sides of the table) a navy/midnight blue. I haven't found the exact shade yet. Then I'll paint the rest of the table white, including the detailing, and "antique" the detailing so the blue shows through roughly. Sounds crazy, right? Trust me, it'll work.

I bought this trunk years ago on Craigslist as well. I think I paid $50 for it. I had every intention to use it as a table but just never got around to it. I had J pull it down from the attic last night, 'cause with me out-of-sight-out-of-mind is my Achilles heel. Well, that and gummy worms, but that's off subject. So my plan for this bad boy is to paint him up something pretty, give him a shabby chic look, and place a piece of glass on top as a table top to give it a flat tabletop. I haven't fully committed to a color yet. J thinks white. Which of course would look good, but what about something more? I don't know...any ideas?

Another Craigslist find here. I am going to place it in the dining room to use as a buffet and I really need it for extra storage. I love the fact that it stands on legs and the drawers are roomy. It's definately in need of some TLC. The hardware will be replaced with some cute glass knobs and it will get a coat of paint too...maybe a peacock blue?

I got this whole set for $100 on...well, Craigslist of course! The gal painted and tried to shabby chic it out, but it just looks a little more shabby than chic. It's hard to notice here in this picture. Also it tilts down toward the back left corner, look closely, you can see it.  I'll just repaint it and spruce it up some. I might keep the seat covers the same. I like them, but she didn't add any cushion hardly so they aren't very comfortable. That needs to change. I am debating whether or not to keep the chairs black or do the unexpected. J would say keep them black, but what do you guys think?

I bought this table at an antique store. It was so cute but has since taken a beating from little people pounding it with sippy cups and toys. I'm just going to repaint it. Not sure on the color yet...maybe something similar to what it already is. By the way, this is the new chair I ordered on Overstock that I talked about in this post. Isn't she adorable?

This Ikea shelf I paid $100 for about 5 years ago. I like it, but I want to add a back to it to hide all the cords and hoop-lah. And J broke one of the shelves trying to stand on it (yea, a grown man standing on a shelf held up by small pegs is not ok! I wasn't home when he did this...) so I need to fix that still. I also might paint it and I'll be removing the baskets and doing some different styling on the shelves.

There are a couple of projects in the works too but I don't have pics of it yet. A big one though is a new round dining table and chairs. The set sitting in the diningroom now shown above was actually intended for the kitchen (without the leaf in it, just a 4 person kitchen table) but it's been in the dining room for now while I was on the lookout for a round table. I have the table stored in my sisters garage but have yet to find suitable chairs. I can't start on the table until I have the items in the garage done due to lack of space. My husband wants his garage back! (For some reason he thinks cars belong in there!)

So there you have it. All that is to come. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I'm really trying to bang these projects out along with a few other projects around here too. One a week is my goal. We'll see how that turns out...
So what do you think? Any suggestions or ideas on how I should finish these? What are some of your summer projects?
Happy Friday!

I Linked Up With:

Funky Junk Interiors

The Shabby Nest: Frugal Friday

Addicted 2 Decorating

DIY Pillow Covers-No Sew!

I do not know how to sew. I have a machine sitting somewhere in my mess of projects in the garage that I have yet to use. I've always wanted to learn but with taking care of my home and kids and just life in general I feel like I haven't had the time to learn yet. But while working on Cakes's room I knew I wanted to make some throw pillows for her bed. I bought 2 square pillows inserts from Ikea for $1.99 and an oblong insert from Walmart. I think it was about $3. Then it was off to the fabric store. I purchased 4 different fabrics, 1 yard each (I was thinking of maybe using a solid print on the backs of a couple pillows but changed my mind).

I just love, love, LOVE the owl print. Too sweet!
Using steam-a-seam, scissors, and an iron, I hacked made 3 pillows in under an hour. It probably could go faster if you're not screwing up repeatedly like I did! I still need to redo the owl print pillow. I was getting lazy and it turned out more like a pillowcase than a throw pillow. It's too baggy. But I was done for the day.

Originally my plan was to throw the pillows in her crib when the bed was made, but while checking out Hi Sugarplum's blog I saw another awesome idea. Using throw pillows, a sheepskin rug, and a breakfast tray, Cassie made an adorable art station in the corner of her daughter's room. You have to check it!
Now Cakes is only 15 months old so an art center is a bad idea. But she has an awkward corner in her room that was just begging for something to be put in it. So I decided to make her a reading corner. Her bookshelf is on my "to-do" list, but it will be the closest piece of furniture to that corner in her room, besides her bed, so a reading corner seemed practical. I didn't want to spend the money on a sheepskin rug, so instead I chose a thick and fluffy fleece fabric from Hobby Lobby which was 30% off, costing me about $7! It is the softest thing EVER. I tucked it in her corner and plopped the pillows on top and voila! A reading corner!

It's not finished, but close. I'm planning to cut the straight squared edges of the fleece to give it softer lines, maybe a swooping edge of some sort, and I'm also thinking of making it a little thicker by adding some quilt backing and sewing a bottom on. Just waiting to figure out that tricky sewing machine! I guess I can always do it by hand too. Now that I can do!

So what do you think? Any ideas of how else to spruce up Cakes's reading corner?
(Sorry for the poor pictures, my digital camera is having issues still)

Be sure to comment, I love to read what you have to say!

I linked up with:
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The Shabby Creek Cottage

The Shabby Nest: Frugal Friday

Addicted 2 Decorating

A Weird and Wonderful Week{Part 2}

The Weird...

While checking out at Home Depot on Wednesday I got caught up in a conversation with the really friendly cashier there. After a minute I saw someone step in line behind me so I said good bye and turned to grab my cart and ended up running smack into the little old lady behind me buying a tomato plant that I almost knocked out of her hands and into her face! I was so embarrassed (but really, she was standing like 3 inches behind me! Back up, fool!) Then I had to return to Home Depot a couple hours later and was helped by the same cashier, who felt the need to remind me that I was the lady who had ran over the old woman in line. Why bring that up? I know who I am! 

Cakes's woke up Saturday morning at 5:50am...for no particular reason! After staying up with friends 'til almost 2am we were not happy...at all.

We arrive home Sunday from our weekend away and it's 91 degrees in our house! Our A/C is broken and it was in the 100's here this weekend. Not. Happy. At. All. What a way to be welcomed home. Our new unit will hopefully be installed tomorrow. Hopefully...

The Wonderful...

My sister called me on Monday to invite me to an afternoon movie with her and my dad. The super cool thing is my dad bought my movie ticket and my friend who has an in-home daycare allows drop-offs so I was able to drop off the kiddos and make it to the free movie for a nice break from the kids (who were giving me a hell of day, let me tell you!) It was just the break I needed.

Both kiddos spent the night with grandpa on Tuesday, which was heaven! Hubs and I had a night alone in our own house for the first time in over a year! My son has spent the night away plenty, but this was Cakes's first time staying with grandpa. I was a little nervous about how she would do away from her home, but I got over that as soon as my man and I plopped down in front of the TV to watch a movie with mojitos and pizza from our favorite pizza joint! And we were able to watch the whole movie, in one sitting, without the volume blasting! (Parents, you all know what I mean!) Aaah, such simple pleasures are taken for granted when you're childless...

I got my new chair from Overstock delivered Thursday! It is too cute. Now it makes me want to hurry and get all the other projects done in the living room so everything will start coming together nicely. I'll take a picture of it sometime next week and post it.
Update: Check out the new chair in this post!

We left for Hood River, OR on Friday, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from our home. We stayed with some friends for the weekend and had a blast. We went paddle boarding and did a little shopping, and pigged out all weekend! What more could you ask for?? Well...kid-free next time would be great, I guess! But until then I'll be glad for our little family getaway.

Check out last week here! Thanks for stopping by :) Feel free to comment on how your week went. I'd love to hear about it!

Outside My Door...{Table Makeover}

Come and knock on our door....we've be waiting for you...
Sorry, when I titled this post that was the first thing that popped in my head! I had to get it out.

Anywho, I have been working on making a small sitting area on our back porch outside the slider door to my bedroom. Hubs and I like to sit out back in the evenings when the kids are in bed and relax, but it's not really a relaxing kind of spot. Just bare. So I snagged a small kids table from my garage that my sister-in-law passed on to us after her kids outgrew it and my son was born. It used to sit in the house but he already has a small table and chairs set and it was really just taking up space. Plus. there were no chairs to go with it. Here it is in it's original state:

And here is a shot of it after I zapped some life into it:

Pretty sweet, huh? It was super easy and only took about an hour to do (minus the time it took for me to run back to the store for more paint!)
I started out by sanding the top with an orbital sander to remove some of the finish and help the paint stick. And then did a quick pass on the edges and legs with a sanding wedge to scuff them up a little. After wiping it down I went to town with the spray paint. The color is Rustoleum's Aqua in satin. Hubs wanted something "beach-y". I did the legs and under parts of the table that would show first, giving it about 2 quick coats.

And then I flipped it over and did several coats on the top. At least 5. It didn't need that many, but my husband was being weird about it. After it dried I added a protective coat of spray to repel water.
And here it is in its final resting place! So cute, right?

I painted these clay pots below with some leftover paint from my sons room that we had sitting in the garage and planted some of my herbs in them (basil up top, mint down below). And I gave the plastic flower box a coat of paint using the leftover Aqua paint from the table. The plant stand I got from Ikea years ago and has been collecting dust in a closet until now. My trigger finger is itching to paint it! But for now it'll remain this way.

I have more ideas for this space to come, including cushions for the chairs, a mirror for above the table area, a rug, and something cute to place on that adorable table. So here is a wide shot of this part of the patio outside my bedroom door. Sorry for the dirty patio. I didn't want to have time to sweep it off.

So, what do you think of my revamped kid-turned-patio end table? Any suggestions for outdoor decor?




I linked up with:

Funky Junk Interiors



The Shabby Creek Cottage

Beneath My Heart

Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

The Shabby Nest: Frugal Friday