Friday, February 26, 2010

how i clothe 3 boys

that is one stack of many.
i have been a busy little bee this week.
i'm getting ready for Rhea Lana's Children's Consignment Sale next week.
my dear friend Ashley owns our local sale and i have been one of her managers for the past few years.
Ashley's sister is Rhea Lana.
i love working at the sale.  they have it twice a year and it's so fun to do something out of my normal routine.
my very favoritest thing is to check people out and scan the barcodes.
i think it fulfills my childhood dream of being wal-mart checker. :)
i also love the sale b/c i basically clothe my children for free.
i usually break even or make more money in selling the clothes they've grown out of than i spend.
love. that.
i am so fine with my children wearing "like new" clothes.
they're boys, they ruin 82% of their clothes anyway.
whatever money i have leftover that i don't spend at the sale, i save for whatever comes up, like easter outfits or shoes, etc.
you should really look at the website b/c there are Rhea Lana's franchises all over the country.
so i'm busy this week hanging, tagging, & pricing all my stuff.
it's takes some time but it's sooooooo worth it! 
anyhow hopefully in a little over a week i'll have a big fat check to reward me for all my effort. 
and by effort i mean watching american idol on the computer while i stuff my face with cookies and price clothes at the same time. 

happy friday everyone! have a great weekend. :) Pin It

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

the new floors, revealed

okay so i really didn't want to show pictures of our new floor until we got a new rug. 
the chocolate brown rug on a chocolate brown floor looks ridiculous.
but some of my friends, coughshannoncough, are being persnickety and want to see pictures now.
so here is my new floor in all it's vinyl glory!
 yep, you read that right, vinyl.
we were planning to go with laminate.
then lumber liquidators was having a president's day sale and we couldn't say no to 39 cents a square foot.  yeah, i know. 
and, i love it.
we loved the carpet in our house when we first moved in.
it looked all shaggy and fun.  it has flecks of other colors in it so i thought it would be perfect for kids.
yeah, well it looked good for about 3 months.
then we realized it was really cheap carpet.
in the hallway it looked especially worn & dingy & was bunching in one spot.
not pretty.
here's our crisp hallway now.

i especially love how it looks in our pantry.
it was always weird to me to have carpet in the pantry.

don't worry, i'm on the search for a new, lighter rug.

and because i know you want a before and after. . .
i really thought i had taken some before pictures.
apparently not.
so had to dig around and find a pic from christmas.
so sorry.

i am so happy with it.
we still have to get the transition pieces put in and then i will really feel like it's complete.
of course one project always makes me want to do another. . . Pin It

Monday, February 22, 2010

to' up from the flo' up

it started friday night with the ripping o' the carpet.
first we moved all of our living room furniture to various rooms of our house.
the couches and book shelves went right smack dab in the middle of our kitchen.
the boys thought it was pretty exciting to have couches in the kitchen.
they said it was their pirate ship.
avery even made a flag for it.

our friend zach helped us rip out the carpet and pry up those little wood nail strip things (that's the technical term).
this was actually pretty fast and easy.
zach laid a big strip of the torn up carpet in the middle of the living room so we could pile all of the wood strips on it.
then we rolled that up and piled it in the garage with the rest of the carpet rolls.
next, we swept up all the dirt & dust we could.
it was evident that the builders were in a big, fat hurry when they built our house.
we bought it in 2005 (4 days before fin was born) at the height of the real estate boom and we were at their mercy.
we found razor blades, random bent nails, etc.  i'm surprised we didn't find someone's diet pepsi can laying under there.
speaking or razor blades, we used this bad boy to scrape up any bits of dry wall, paint, etc. to make the floor smooth & even.

before we called it a night, i mopped the floor so that we could start with a clean(ish) slate in the  morning.

i had to leave a little message for my hottie. (blurred out some so you don't start stalking me).

the boys were beyond excited in the morning. we let them bring their scooter and plasma car in to ride around on the slab before we got started.
for the morning I mostly ran around with the boys getting extra tools and keeping us out of the way.
zach came back to help and our friend dave joined us as well.  they were such a huge help!
from the afternoon on, i was able to work with aj & dave.  
our boys were such troopers during this process.  they played outside, played in their room, played computer and watched too much t.v.
it was a long day, but i think dave said it best when he said, "mama said there'd be days like these." :)
the hardest part was cutting around all the door ways.
you really have to plan out how you're going to lay the planks.
you can't just start slapping them down willy nilly.
thankfully dave has remodeled a bunch of homes and is super knowledgeable about all things construction/handy.   he was invaluable.
he helped our non-handy minds grasp what we were supposed to do.
aj and i burned the midnight oil to get it all done.  but we made it and were in bed by 1:30 a.m.
it felt so good to wake up to the hard part being over.
sunday we moved all our furniture back and even got a little nap. 
now we just have to get the transition pieces put in and it will be complete!

i'll post the finished product sometime this week complete with before and afters. 
here's hoping for a sunny day to get some good shots.  :) Pin It

Friday, February 19, 2010

what's goin' on

 Wooty Hoo Hoo!  I'm so excited!
I can't believe we're finally doing it. 
I'm a little nervous about all of the work that is ahead of us.  But I know it's gonna be so worth it.
We are blessed with great friends who are coming over tonight to help us rip out the carpet.
Then tomorrow these bad boys go down!
also exciting is the fact that i found my camera!
on. my. desk.
yes, right where i download pictures every day.
i'm a smart girl.

anyhow, it was just in time for some nice weather we've been having. 
high's in the 50's.  not balmy by any means.
but the kids can play outside and i can see the sun.
and sawyer can eat dead grass.

we took a little walk to our neighborhood "park."
aj worked with avery on his bball skills.
avery's finally taking an interest in it.

sawyer's getting to be quite the little walker. 
it's so stinkin' adorable.
i love how he holds his little hands up the whole time and high-steps it around.
and here are some little things that make this girl happy:
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

happy things

i love everything about this sweet nursery
i love that antique dresser painted white. 
I'm on the hunt for one to use in our entryway or as a sofa table.
i love this chalkboard.  such a fun idea.
the lettered cottage is one of my fav-o-rite design blogs.  i love love love her style.
meg duerksen's blog, whatever is my #1 favorite blog to read.  i get so excited when i see a little number 1 pop up beside her blog in my rss feeds.  her house is dreamy with a captial D.

******

in other news, i still can't find my camera.  trying not to panic. 

i am itching for Spring.  i've tried to be a good sport, but i'm just really over winter already.

we are starting a big project this weekend and i am so excited!  would really like to have my camera back to take before and afters......





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Monday, February 15, 2010

we love.

we had a great Valentines. 
saturday night aj & i got to go out on a hot date.
it was wonderful.  he is my best friend and i love spending time with him.
we even got to go to a movie! so much fun.
he brought me these gorgeous white roses.  he picked white b/c of my love for all things light and airy these days. :)  such a thoughtful man, he is.
sorry these pictures are kind of cruddy. 
i can't find my camera for the life of me.  seriously, how does an obnoxiously big camera get lost in this little house? 
these were taken with our old camera.  and i was reminded why i love our canon xs so very much.
anyhooooo,
we had a lovely valentines breakfast on sunday morning.
aj made pink pancakes.  i made the table and pretty and valentinesie.
he even made special valentines shapes.
he's so sweet like that.
we love making holidays extra fun for our boys.
i think it unites our family when we have our own special traditions.
i wrote on a heart for each boy with things we love about them.
i want to start doing that every year.

they each get a little something fun.
i hate showing pictures of the boys with messy faces.
but it's real life here, baby.
and sawyer doesn't eat a meal without covering himself. his face.
his hair. his ears. in between each finger.  each nostril. his entire chair and the floor surrounding and if i'm lucky, the wall.
but he sure did enjoy that pancake!
hope you all had a wonderful day loving on those near you. Pin It

Friday, February 12, 2010

it can be yours.

Do you love this house?
of course you do.
it is awesome.  just the kind of house i dream of living in.
this is our friends' house that they are selling.  boo hoo for them. boo hoo for us. :(
yay for you.  it can be yours.
if you want to live in siloam springs in a house full of character, click here and buy their house.
just to whet your appetite:
i am love with their real wood floors and wood burning stove.  it's so dang cozy in there.
those windows are to die for.

seriously, if we could live there, it'd be sold. to me. that is all. Pin It

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

a sweet teacher gift

a cleaned out starbucks bottle
red m&m's
a little scrapbook paper, ribbon & modge podge
super easy and sweet!
just a little something to say thank you.

i got the printable here.
really really wish i would have found living locurto about a million years ago.  Pin It

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

in which i ramble.


we are having yet another snow day.
i don't remember a winter like this.  snow after snow after snow.
it is so pretty.  but i am definitely starting to get the itch for spring.

we've done a lot of nothing today.
avery and i worked on his valentine's box.
we used a picture from Family Fun for the idea.
avery loves that the friendly monster will eat his valentines. :) he wanted to draw spots on the teeth because "monsters don't brush their teeth."
finley and i (and by that i mean finley handed me pieces and watched me) built this space shuttle from a kit they got for christmas.
he's so proud of it.
yes they're still in their pajamas.
do you like avery's ensemble? 

i've been looking through so many paint chips to decide what color to paint my living room, kitchen and hallway.
aj's mom is coming down soon to help me paint!  i'm so excited.
she's a great painter and she enjoys it.
that is the one thing i asked for for christmas.
i taped several samples up on the wall but i'm still undecided.  i just know i want something light.
the whole house was painted the same color when we moved in (4 days before finley was born) and i am so over it.
we've painted most every other room in the house.  also the builder painted everything with flat paint.
hello!!  that took about 5.7 seconds to look cruddy.

sunday night we had our community group over for the superbowl.
i made these wings.
holy cow they were so good! 
i didn't even think I liked wings. 
they were gone fast.  i've been craving them ever since. 

our office couch is a necessary evil.
it's old & brown and totally clashes with everything else.
but it's a sleeper sofa so that's nice when guests come.
we got it at an auction for $40.
the color is driving me batty though.
so i quick threw on this cream colored t-shirt sheet and a bunch of neutral pillows.
it doesn't look great, but a whole lot better than it did. 
i was inspired by her.  she makes sheets on furniture look so good.

and there's sawyer with his mullet. 

also all i can think about lately is how i want to sell everything we own and go overseas and hold orphan babies all day long.

the end. Pin It

Monday, February 8, 2010

a good idea.

i started seeing these doo dads when finley was a baby.
i'm pretty skeptical about marketing ploys.
honestly i thought they were a silly gimmick to get parents to plop down more money.
i thought, how can that even work, they'll just pull that lid off and dump it out.

i decided to give one a try. 
i bought one for sawyer at target.
it. is. awesome.

it seriously works so good.
it is perfect for the car.  
i just fill it with random snacks & then hand it back to him and it entertains him for so long.
which is amazing, b/c he's not the most content little baby in the world.
knock on wood, he hasn't thought of pulling the lid of yet.
and he pretty much just takes one out at a time.
that's just amazing to me.  
so that's my new favorite invention.
 
i've also seen this one that looks good too.

 just had to let y'all know, these are for real! Pin It