instafriday

yay yay yay yay yay, it's friday.
i am super exhausted and sleepy today....and therefore stinkin' thankful for instafriday because i can blog without too much planning or thought. :)

and you get a glimpse o' my week.
won't you join in? it's really fun.

my first load of PINK laundry....that's a happy load to fold. :)

last saturday, we took our weekly donut trip to rick's bakery.
the boys got to watch the cake decorators while we stuffed our faces with sugar.
it was wonderful.
and yummy.
and a donut sounds really good right now.....

also last saturday.... mama's 3 boys and a big ol' belly.
that was at exactly one month out.
it's 25 days now, in case you're wondering. ;)

my very tan, very white headed, finny fan.
his back is amazingly dark.
they always get pretty tan in the summer...but having a pool this year has made them little tow heads.
i find them stinkin adorable.

sawyer got a big boy hair cut.
not sure how i feel about this.
he really wanted to have his hair cut like his brothers.
and it's free.
but i kinda miss his floppy hair.

yesterday was free tea day at mcalisters.
that was a big ol' cup of yum.
although, i have to say, i think my tea is better.
it's still nice to have someone make it for you and serve it to you in an icy cup while you're running errands.


okay that's it for today.

i have been crafting up a storm this week.
i made 3 pillow covers yesterday, ripped the seat cover off baby girl's toybox {yes, the one i just recovered} and recovered a chair for the nursery the day before.
it's been fun, but i finally had to get cleaning today because it was BAD.
you know, something's gotta give.
sometimes people ask me how i have energy to do all my projects ....well that's how, i let everything else go so that i can do what is fun to do.
plus sewing is sitting down. :)

okay, friends, have a lovely weekend. :) Pin It

project week continues

three days this week my boys are at our church's day camp.
i've been enjoying my mornings with just me and little sawyer.
and he is an awesome napper {thankyouJesus} so i have a few hours in the afternoon to work on projects and blog.
it's great timing since i am in full-on nesting mode.
not nesting as in, deep cleaning {i wish}.....nesting as in, projects galore for the nursery.
i would rather paint and craft than clean any day.
so you can imagine what the rest of my house looks like. . .

anyhow, yesterday i finished the beast that is baby girl's wardrobe.
i've been searching high and low for a wardrobe for that room since we moved in december.
the room has no closet so it was/is a necessity. 
again, i checked craig's list constantly and also perused thrift stores and flea markets.
mostly i found entertainment units or really old {read: expensive} armoires. 

i finally found a wardrobe for a good price {100 bucks after i asked the lady to do down} at salvation army.
i liked it because it's plenty roomy and already had a hanging bar for clothes.

i may or may not have broken the law to get this bad boy into my van with 2 kids, one of whom was not buckled or in a seat and was semi-crouching underneath it.
don't judge.
i was stressed out enough for all of us.
plus i saw 3 cops on the way home and another child of mine was reprimanding me the whole way home.
i proceeded to tell him how i rolled around in the back of our station wagon growing up without any kind of car seat or seatbelt and i lived through it.
okay, i digress.....

so this was a bit of a bear to tackle and it sat in our garage for a while before i did anything with it.
i decided to wait until it was approximately 150 degrees in our garage to start priming it.
do not ask me why i didn't paint it in the house. i don't know.

so first i sanded it a bit.

sorry for the extremely unattractive/sweaty picture of me....just want you to see my awesome sanding skillz.

then after i wiped it down, i primed it four times.
i know, that is insane.
but the first coat was spray primer and was basically useless.
plus i knew that i was painting it white so i needed it to be primed really good so that red wouldn't show through. 

i didn't do this all at once...i would just come out to the garage and prime it while the boys played around and rode bikes... so it really wasn't too bad.

then it finally got moved into the house on sunday so i could do the last coats of paint inside the nursery.

i did two coats of off-the-shelf white satin.....all during sawyer's naps.
lucky for me, i'm not a perfectionist and i paint pretty fast.

okay so here's the long awaited, finished wardrobe, ready to be stuffed to the gills with baby stuffs.

i love the glass hardware that i found at hobby lobby.

i also recovered my old toy chest today.
this was my toy box when i was little, then my hope chest as a teenager.
it has been recovered five times and has been in many different rooms of our house.

it's nothing super exciting, just some white polyester with subtle lines stitched through it.
i found a remnant of this fabric at a little shop in kansas and bought it just in case we had a girl. ;)
i plan to top the toy chest with a whole mess of fun, girly pillows. :)

okay, off to the next project. . . 

:) Pin It

eye candy

i promised to show you a really fun project today.
i am so excited for you to see what i've been working on. 
i'm pretty sure this is going to be my favorite thing in the nursery. 


okay are you ready?

here it is!!

now tell me that is not the yummiest thing you've ever seen. 
oh my, i love it. 
it makes me so happy. 
i have to go in and stare at it every time i pass her room. 


so let's get down to the nitty gritty of how she came to be. 


so from the day i started dreaming up little miss's nursery, i knew i wanted a chandelier. 
also, if you know me, it had to be cheap. 
what's the fun in buying something straight off a store shelf anyway?


i was spoiled from my last chandelier redo and had my heart set on finding a fixture for 5 bucks. 
it was not looking good...i looked at every thrift store and perused craig's list, to no avail.
but alas, my waiting paid off. 
last satuday i stopped into potter's house thrift and found this beauty for $4.87.
i may have hugged it to my chest and ran {waddled} to the checkout.  

i personally believe Jesus just wanted to give me that chandelier so He had it there for me. 
He's sweet like that, you know?


anyhow it had white globes with it that i had the thrift store keep and the arms were facing down. 
i twisted the arms up and AJ tightened up all the screws for me. 
then he jimmy-rigged it up in the garage so i could spray paint it. 


if you follow me on instagram, you already saw this picture...but this was my little hint of things to come. 

a few coats of watermelon gloss later....

to get her all gussied up, i found some jewels & clear bead garland from hobby lobby. 
the jewels were half off in the wedding department and the garland was half off in the christmas section.
because of course, hobby lobby has christmas stuff out in july. 

because the fixture had globes, there were already holes for me to wire the garland and clear gems to. 
i just sat on the floor and played around with it until it was sufficiently gaudy. ;)
i also used some hot glue for the strands of garland that went from the top to down to the arms. 


my awesome husband took down this beast . . .

and with the help of a ligting assistant friend, installed this lovely piece of glam. . . 

should a light fixture make me this happy?
probably not. 
i just love how it sparkles and i love that rich bubble-gummy color. 
i also love how you can take an ugly, brassy light fixture, and make something so fun & happy out of it. 

and by the way i have never liked pink until now. 
baby girl is bringing something new out in me. :)

okay, so here's the progress on "project baby girl room" as of now:

i still have a ways to go...but it's coming together.
you can't see it, but there's a wardrobe in there that i'm working on right now. 
i need to add a coat of paint this afternoon and it should be ready to go. . .  can't wait to start hanging baby clothes in there!



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a dresser for her.

we made some F-U-N progress on baby sister's room this weekend. 
it is so exciting to see it start coming together. . . all these visions i've had up in my head are starting to come to life.
the closer we get to baby girl's arrival, the  more excited we become.
29 days and counting!!!

last week i revamped her dresser.

do you remember what it looked like before?

i found it at a second-hand store for a really great price.
it was in perfect condition and really well built.
the drawers are made from cedar and are lined in this lovely vintage goodness:

i didn't prime because i knew i wanted to distress it, but i did give it a light sanding. 
i spent sawyer's naps painting it out with valspar's tropical spray {paint & primer in one}.
i spray painted the hardware with some ORB spray paint i had in the garage...trying to cut costs where i can. ;)

and here she is in her newly painted glory...

the second picture is reading a little more green than it really is...the lighting is really hard to get right in that room for some reason. 

this was a really easy project and i love how it turned out.
i've already started filling the drawers with little girly things. :)

i have another really fun project to show you tomorrow.
get excited. Pin It

instafriday

instafriday = our life in cell phone pics this week . . .

 super yummy, summery tea inspired by julie. 
 

my lunch last saturday.
basil, tomato & olive oil. . . compliments of the farmer's market. 
i l-o-v-e the smell of fresh basil. 
oh and let's not forget the route 44 sonic ice to go with it.
when aj handed me my cup of icy goodness, i was having a moment with it...he said, "are you moaning??"
i may have been a little too excited about my cup of pellet ice.

i told him, when i'm in the hospital, i want people to bring me flowers and sonic ice. :)

my beautiful pillow, handcrafted ~every detail~ by sweet people in deraduhn, india.

self portrait out by the pool. 
we are having, what our weather guy calls, a "historic heat wave."
i love the south, i really, really do.

i can't see my feet.
which is a good thing because they are swollen beyond recognition.

finley has swim lessons this week.
it has been amazing to watch his progress this summer . . . having a pool has been the best thing for him.
he's a little fishy now. :)

oh my word, can you stand the cuteness of baby girl shoes??? i cannot.

i am nesting like crazy. wish my body would keep up with my mind.

i got the dresser finished...can't wait to show you!!
it is perfect.

also, i have to give a shout out to my girl, kira. 
she is the one who is helping make my blog look so great & doing all the technical details that are required to do things like buttons, favicons, etc.
do you see the little banner over there? ----------->
i have an it's good to be queen facebook page now! you can also sign up for my blog feed, look at my twitter, pinterest, & email me. :)
i am so thankful there are people who understand computer codes and don't want to scratch their eyeballs out. 
thank you kira! you are my hero.

okay join the instafun here:



happy weekend!! Pin It

put some rasta in your pasta

a while back my dear friend, betsy, made me this awesome pasta dish, rasta pasta. 
it is so yummy that it has become a staple in our house. 

i also like to make it for meals for people who've just had babies or need a meal in general.
usually i get ideas of what to make for people from what people have brought to us. 

if you want to give it a whirl...here's what you need:

1 8oz. box of bow tie pasta
1tsp. chopped garlic
2Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
1 cup broccoli florets
1 medium red bell pepper, roasted
1 cup grilled chicken, sliced into strips
1 cup Alfredo sauce
1/8 cup prepared basil pesto
1tsp. italian seasoning
2Tbsp. shredded parmesan cheese.

also, a helper with a snowflake apron.

Cook pasta, drain well and set aside.
i double the recipe but just use one 12 oz. box of bowties and it's pleeeeenty.  
 
In a saute pan, saute garlic in olive oil.
Add spinach, broccoli, red pepper and grilled chicken; toss to combine .
{sometimes i roast my own red bell pepper, this time i used the kind from the jar}

also, i bought a big pack of chicken breasts, marinated them in teriyaki  sauce & grilled them on my george foreman ahead of time.  
now i have a bunch of grilled chicken breasts, ready to go for recipes & salads. 

i love how colorful it is. 

okay back to the recipe.....

Stir in alfredo sauce and pesto, simmer 5 minutes. 

 i love pesto....yummmmm.

reheat pasta if necessary.
 pour alfredo sauce mixure over bowties.
sprinkle with italian seasoning and parmesan if you want.  
serve immediately.

despite fin's face {he was worn out from swim lessons} everyone actually eats this really well. 
finley and avery always have to ask about the bell peppers, they're leery of pepper-looking foods, but they always eat it really well .  
of couse we don't give them a choice. ;)


this is also really yummy as leftovers.  i just ate it for lunch, actually.  

okay, enjoy! 
let me know if you try it. :)
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baby girl headbands

 

i am having the most fun making sweet little headbands for baby sister. 

at night when the boys are all tucked into their beds, aj & i sit on our bed and watch some randar show on our computer...and i make hair doo-dads for our sweet girl.  

i love it. 

it fulfills my need to craft and also gives me the immediate results that i l-o-v-e. 

plus i have a stash of adorable hair flowers for 1/bazillioneth of the cost of buying them retail. 

 

it started with this one. 

i have had so much fun shopping around for materials & dreaming up new ideas. 

i can't wait to see them on her sweet baby head. 

simple and sweet. 

if  any of y'all have inspiration photos of hair pieces that i need to try, pretty-please send me a link.  :)

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instafriday

i'm linking up once again with jeannette's instafriday.



so here's a glimpse at our week, through my cell phone cam . . .

avery asked if he could draw on his face with washable markers.
then he came out of the bathroom.

ummmm. . . okayyyyyy . . .
creepy.

my mom got us gift certificates to tropical smoothie so the whole fam loaded up & went for a treat last saturday.
it was well over 100 degrees, so it was perfect.
they were super yum.

pretty typical thermometer reading on my swagger wagon these days.
i'm pretty sure it never got this hot last summer.
it's just a special bonus since i'm pregnant. yay.
i always say i'd rather be hot than cold, and believe it or not, that still holds true in this oven-esque weather.

my saving grace, sonic ice.
i am addicted to it.
i want to be crunching on it at all times.
for the past 2 weeks, during the big boys piano lessons, sawyer and i have gone to sonic for a nice cold cup of that ice.
i need to just go by myself some bags of it and call it good.

i found a dresser for baby girl's room!!!
so excited!
i bought the paint for it today.
a pale aquaish color.....what color should i spray the hardware?
ORB? {oil rubbed bronze}
or splurge and buy glass pulls and knobs like i did for the wardrobe?
that's a lot o' knobs & pulls there, people.

and this from target.
really???
i really felt like i was shopping at 5-7-9 in junior high again...so much of that style has come back apparently. 
i'm sure someone could look just adorable in these.
but i'm kinda feeling like these have jumped the shark.  
or maybe i'm just old and fuddy duddy.

i'm very happy that it's friday.
i am worn out. 
i feel like my body is just done being pregnant and starting to shut down.
everything is so much work and i am exhausted all the time again.
so thankful i'll have aj home to help & be the fun parent for the weekend. 
plus we get a date nite tomorrow night.
plus, i like him and i want him home all the time. :) Pin It