Saturday, July 28, 2012

Pinned it, Made it, Love it - Cork

Seen first here:


Tutorial Here: Ikea Hack

In a very eventful trip to Atlanta last week, TT and I were on the search for these:
$3.99 for 3 Cork Trivets, Kitchen
I planned to use them as baby shower door prizes, cute little fabric cork boards.


I cut out the fabric and lightly modge podged it on, I didn't want the fabric to slip and become uneven while using the hot glue gun. Had I really paid attention, I would have cut circles.

The gluing was a little difficult, trying to pull the fabric tight and not get burned. I used a butter knife as my tool, all the while thinking that I really need to invest in some thimbles. The backs, with all of the ruffling fabrics, look a little rough but maybe no one will notice.


Because I wouldn't notice if I had these hanging on my walls. I would just love them instead.



Showering Baby Bo

I know my letters, mama, I got this okay?!
Baby Bo is going to be a great addition to the family of friends. We can't wait for his arrival in September - and Mellow is excited to share his birthday month. It's the talk of the town. IN anticipation, I've been jealous {Nursery Envy Printables} and crafting like crazy. Mellow, of course, has been helping too. He's been in charge of the lettering. We took simple, 3D craft paper letters and vintaged them out with light blue. I gave Janie brown and white polka dot ribbon to hang the letters up with, so maybe she will grace us with a picture.

Next, I found this super cute fabric for bunting. I didn't add hanging instructions, but there is always FaceTime:

The puppies just made me grin. I also used the same fabric to make some crib pillow wedges (like these). We used them to gain a better night's sleep with Mellow, he hated to be swaddles and we were worried about his rolling over skills at 4 days old.

To add to the craziness, I went ahead and decorated her walls.

personalized print by OneRadMother


And I put a few things together for the shower...like these cork board door prizes. We packed everything up and headed to the shower about three hours early. I knew that if I waited for a sane and reasonable time to arrive, we would be late. Elizabeth happens to live across the street from the neighborhood park and we made full use of the playground.


The other fun was had with the babies and friends who showed up. Polly and Elizabeth were the two beset shower throwers ever. They are resourceful, excited, and crafty in their own right.
Elizabeth's AH-mazing diaper cake. I am so impressed!
Nene, Alice, and Tricia appreciating Polly's dishes
 We spent lots of time gossiping and baby tending and mauling the Mama-to-be's belly. She didn't seem to mind. Elizabeth's husband patiently kept Mellow occupied by allowing him to help tend to Baby Nicolas - Todd was truly great. The day couldn't have been any better.
Mama! Her blog's here: Merely Peeking

Friday, July 27, 2012

Friday Five: Summer, Week Seven

1. Despite simple neglect and hungry deer, our tomatoes have finally started putting out. It's been a tomato sandwich kind of week - my kind of summer.


2. In preparation for school, I've been seriously working on bed time. TT has been working on bed time, too, since we've been in bed before 7:30pm twice this week and slept all night after a day at the pool. If we have a good, filled, exhausting day we can do bath, books, and bed by 9pm. He still struggles falling asleep and I still sit next to his bed until he is snoring {but we ARE working on this}.  My favorite time is the book time, when I snapped the above pictures unknowingly. As we approach our {my, he still has two more} last week of summer vacation, I know that 6am wake-up call will be early for everyone.

3. In anticipation of all this pool time, Mellow has not only been wearing his bathing suit everywhere but has also becoming unabashedly attached to a pair of lime green Wall-E Crocs. I want to ask him if he's a vacationing 60 year old from Wisconsin.

4. As smart as I think I am, I am often slow on the uptake. A few weeks ago I painted our bedroom white. Or so I thought it was white. I my very standard fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of way, I grabbed the first can of paint I saw in the garage, sure that the outdoor primer would most effectively leave my walls white. Yet, each day, the walls don't look white. When I finally asked B about it, he was all you used that outdoor primer, didn't you?  Yeah - slapped it all over the ceiling, walls, doors, and trim to make everything white. The primer was tinted. Don't the walls look a little silver to you? Because they are. Damn. Now I have to paint the ceiling, door, and trim again. That pants thing didn't work out so well.

5. I'm no housekeeping genius. I am generally inexperienced and glad for it - as much as I complain the mere 1500 square feet in our house don't take much beyond a sweep and dust. Recently, I realized that my like has been lacking two things: Brillo pads {shower and stove} and Color-Safe Bleach. Even with the very harsh chemicals, a Brillo pad cleans the hell out of anything it comes in to contact with. Despite our hard water, my shower is sparkling. Color-safe bleach smells great and leaves everything gorgeous - and I don't have to separate the laundry. Mellow informed me the other day all Daddy says you are bad at cleaning but good at being thoughtful. I didn't mind the sentiment, just leave me the brillo and bleach.


Thursday, July 26, 2012

Turning Four

In preparation for pre-school, Mellow needed to attend his three year-old check-up. Yes, I know, he turns four in September. Yes, I know, this probably should have been done eight months ago.

Our ped's office is heavy on the guilt. The OBGYN and the dentist will schedule appointments a year in advance, all will May 23 2013 at 4pm be okay with you? {Like I can make plans like that. Sure. Book me. I'll still have everything intact that you want to look at}. The ped? You call him up and the nurse is all well, hasn't he been in for his three year old check-up? Really? Okay, then we need to do that tomorrow. We really should have seen him eight months ago. Really? Because when we were there in March, no one mentioned a missed check-up. Whose fault is that?

Yeah. Mine. I know. Bad Parenting Moment #597.

Mellow performed bravely for the doctor, identifying all of the eye chart pictures and passing his hearing tests. He asked the nurse a hundred questions about the pricking of the finger - then proceeded to ask the doctor two thousand more about every jar and band-aid and tool in the room. When the ped motioned to open the cupboards, I knew we would be there longer than our allotted hour.

When the doctor asked Mellow his favorite food, he proudly piped up BROCCOLI. It's healthy. He's only eaten broccoli a brave handful of times, usually mixed with mac n'cheese. Clearly, he's on Team Mom. The doctor look at me, eyebrow raised, for verification and I just smiled and shrugged all, clearly, we're both awesome.

 Now, we're ready for school to start.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Driving Mrs. Crazy

Despite vacationing, I have a very strict we don't stay at home schedule. TT has bore the brunt of our non-homeness, along with the poor little sitters at the gym. We are up and out of the house early, swimming in the afternoon, with only an hour or two to ourselves before Daddy arrives home. This has been our routine most days, whether there is something to do or not. Because, if not, I will do things. Things that no human being should ever be caught doing.

Like Thursday, for example. Thursday is was cloudy and rainy and we just shut ourselves in the house. It was all going swell until I had an urge to clean the kitchen. Fine - wipe the counters, scrub the fridge, mop. All of the sudden it had been four hours and I had my child on the floor with me, toothbrush in hand, scrubbing those stupid small crevices in the baseboards that just won't come clean.

This. This is why it is better for me to do something else. If not, my neuroses get the better of me and I end up cleaning my home with a toothbrush. To look at the state of my life, most of you will never believe this incident occurred. I keep all of it under wraps by simply not doing anything beyond emptying the sink and dryer. It's like my hair: if I scrunch it wet and go, then I can handle being called lazy. If I dry and straighten it, I have an hour long investment in something that I won't leave along until it is perfectly done.

That's why TT allows me to convince her I need to clean her house. The crazy.


Later, I found the kid scrubbing his toilet with the toothbrush. Here I am, sharing my crazy with the Kid.

Good grief, I hope it doesn't rain this week. The craft room needs cleaning next.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Friday Five: Summer, Week Six

1. I am embarrassed to be writing "week six." I've been on vacation for six weeks? The only thing that has gotten great use of this time is Game of Thrones and my pajamas. I have been four-days-a-week diligent about the gym and pool {gym, tan, laundry - on the reals}...but less so in other things in my life. I'm working on changing that this week/weekend with a list longer than my arm. I've been working on some blog housekeeping {making sure links work, posting, some new stuff on the page, likey?} and now some real life housekeeping {scrubbing and painting baseboards, organizing and good god the dust}. Just like every summer for the past eight years, we are on the two week downslide to the first day of school and I feel like the months have just melted away.


2. Even though Mellow and I spend a lot of time together, we don't really spend a lot of time together. I've been conscientious about working on this. Lego time. Letter time. Cars time. Movie time. I keep trying to remember that as much as I want me time and QUIET time, these thing will be aplenty later - like when he no longer wants me to play Legos with him and would rather be locked in his room with greasy hair and headphones listening to the Pixies. So I limit my number of in a little bit, son and just put down the book to play. We "invented" a special game this, matching upper and lowercase letters. He also took turns driving his cars on the cards and calling out the letters. If you mistakenly thought your life was awesome, this is what I get to do.

3. Mellow is on phone duty. I've been ridiculously and unacceptably awful about answering my phone. I usually have it with me all the time but lately it seems to be on silent or out of reach or the wrong number. Mellow has ears like a bat and is able to hear my phone ringing from a block away. If he can recite his phone number correctly, he is allowed to answer it {try explaining this to your boss when you return his call because we "couldn't answer it fast enough"}. It is worth it - I hope from both ends - to hear his "hel-wo." He's like my secretary and my student.

4. My craft time this week has been to help out these two wonderful women with blog makeovers. Merely Peeking Under the Mattress is an fantastically real. With two step babies, husband, and baby-on-the-way I have no idea how she keeps it all together. I had fun with all of the clean and crisp blue chevron! Merrily Mary is just hilarious - and maybe that's because she now has four kids under the age of five and can still blog coherently. I've enjoyed her posts and I hope all of the orange reflects her bright and cheery personality!

5. On other fronts, I have two weeks to prepare myself for a school year of excitement. I won't continuously remind myself that Mellow and I are yet to be on time to an 8:45 aerobics class {school starts for me at 7:45am. Like Whoa.} and payback for my lazy summer will come in the form of 5:30am mornings. A whole hour and a half earlier than my husband - he will totally wallow in that, as he has left Mellow and I still sleep in bed every morning at 8am...which might be why we can never make it on time. Anyways, I am teaching a full load which includes a new AP {Advanced Placement} class that I am excited about. PLUS, I received admittance to graduate school {Educational Leadership} yesterday. B has been so supportive. Class start August 13th. Deep breaths. There's no way I'm keeping my sanity in the midst of all this - clearly, though, that was not my goal this year.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Nursery Envy: Free Printable Round-up

I have been bombarded with babies GALORE lately and I will not complain! Being the "first" in my family and group of friends to have a kid, it's so exciting to watch other families experience the fun. I know they thought B and I were nutty and baby-crazy and etc., but babymaking brings out the best in everyone.

I've rounded up some of the most adorable, free printables around that would look precious in a nursery. All of these can be found on pinterest as well as the creator's website (I tried to cite both places!). I won't reveal all of my secrets but here are some of my favorites:


Download Here: The Letter 4




Download Here: Mormon Mommy Blog


Download Here: Simple as That {simple as cute!}




Download Here: {by yours truly!} One Rad Mother



Check out Pinterst for this one: Tumbler


french alphabet poster
Download Here: Mr. Printables {French, English, Spanish ABCs}


IMAGE - The Nursery Series . Style 1
Download here: Sprik Space























Download Here: Persnickety Prints Blog




Download Here:OneRadMother



Download here: Cottage Industrialist





Download here : The DIY Mommy


Source: google.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Download Here: Colour Me There




Download Here: Creative Bubbles



You make me happy when skies are gray - Sprik Space
Download here: Sprik Space
























rachael smith fys
Download Here: Feed Your Soul {LOTS of options!}



Download here: irocksowhat {everything on here is rockin'. She said so.}


Download here: Make it Perfect {there are 8 awesome prints here! Check it out!}


 I tried to add links to everything, so you guys wouldn't be left to navigate a bunch of sites. Happy baby envy to you!














Sunday, July 15, 2012

Pinned it, Made it, Love it - Sally Slip

Being in front of sixteen-year-olds all day makes me very self-conscious. Clothes need to fit just right and make me feel confident. I can't have weird bulges or panty lines or a smidgen too much cleavage or coffee breath - these things will all come back to haunt teachers on bathroom walls. There is no human being on earth more critically scrutinizing or opinionated than a sixteen-year-old.

Contrary to popular belief, dresses are supposed to be lined. Nothing irritates me more than finding a super cute, lovely, $39.99 (expensive for me - I like trendy so I stick to cheap) dress to see that it is unlined. Just a few pieces of it-looks-fine-now-but-will-be-sheer-with-light-shining-behind-you ridiculousness. I've tried full slips, because sometimes there are dresses too cute to pass up - but a full slip wiggles and twists in weird places. What complicates this is that most of the trendy dresses in the junior section (see a steal I found at KMart - OMG) are just too short. Since I prefer a half slip anyway, this project will work out just perfect. I already have a black slip, but it is too short to really cover anything but my underwear. I wanted something a bit more modest and visible:



Tutorial found here: icandy homemade. God love Pinterest.

The tutorial was really basic and helpful. I found black eyelet-ish, lacy fabric at Hancock Fabrics that I liked, although I wish I would have ordered some true black eyelet to get the full effect along the bottom.

I laid out the slip and measured to width (times two!) and added about an inch because I am a poor measurere.

I carefully pinned the lace along the bottom of the slip, careful to have about a 1/2 overlay and double careful to make sure it was STRAIGHT. Keeping this in mind, I had to pin and unpin about three time which left me already short-tempered at the project before I even sat down to my machine. Maybe that's why I will never be an excellent seamstress - lack of patience and instruction-reading.

I cut two 25" pieces from my yardage because I wanted to used the selvage sides as the bottom of the slip (lack of a serger and I didn't want a seam overlay along the bottom). 

Black thread on black lace on a black slip also pushed my patience :). Remember to connect the pieces and make a proper seam - don't sew one on top of the other and them have to rip the black-on-black-on-black apart.

Not that I had to do that...
Overall,  the project didn't take long. I probably spent more time making sure my sewing machine foot didn't snap the lace in some way, shape, or form than I did anything else. Except maybe the seam ripping.










I Heart Nap Time

Friday, July 13, 2012

Friday Five: Summer, Week Five

1. Those precious hours just before bedtime are priceless. That squishy, smelly, talkative little boy- I can't take enough pictures to capture just that moment. The goofiness, the eyelashes, the intensity of building the world's tallest tower, the moment he crawls into my lap and declares he is ready for bed all it's okay you can leave now mama I'm a big boy - a hundred pictures couldn't capture it just right.


 2. I found the kid on the counter today, declaring look, mama, I don't need you anymore. I can reach EBERY-THANG! This might have been the second scariest day of the year.

3. The first most scariest moment of the year was the night that Mellow slept all night in his bed. This has happened a total of three times since he started sleeping upstairs about three months ago. First, I know. I know that sleeping upstairs in his room was long overdue. I know that I needed to let go of my anxiety a bit - the fan won't fall over in the night and start a fire, he won't electrocute himself on the nightlight, he won't fall down the stairs and kill himself trying to find our bedroom in the night, someone won't come steal him or hurt him or smother him, there won't be a fire/burglar/natural disaster that will stop me from finding him upstairs. Our home is barely 1500 square feet, therefore his room is not that far; we also have an open loft that allows up to see his bedroom door upstairs from the sofa.

So, the first time that he slept through the night I woke paralyzed with fear. I was sure that all of the above have happened simultaneously. I was paralyzed with fear - it was 5:30am and I knew I would enter my son's room and find him missing; where else would he be but in our room? In his room. Sound asleep. And proud of himself.

4. We had a family fun night this week. Since I have failed on every level to attend story time - even once - I figured I could make it up by registering Mellow for a free bowling program. We've lived in this small town for almost 10 years and have never set foo in to the bowling alley, so I hoped the people watching would be more interesting than my gutterballs. Mellow's attention faded in and out - he preffered to "count down" to release of the balls down the lane rather than roll any. The pinball machines were a big draw and we probably spent as much time there as on the lanes.
stylish

5. I have to proudly share that I have not only been to the gym five days in a row this week, but I have also only eaten 2 slices of bread. The hubs and I were aiming for a pretty low-carb diet for the next three weeks ad it has been much harder than we thought. We've had lots of tuna salad lettuce wraps and fruit and veggies. Our tomato crop finally came in and we've been up to our ears in tomatoes and cottage cheese. I've consumed an unnatural amount of Chobani and blueberries - two things that I am rapidly growing very fond of. I wanted a lifestyle change - we are too used to eating at 8:30 and going to bed an hour later, too used to PBJs, too used to buying chips. I'm down a few pounds - even if that is not what it is really about - and have been getting those hey. have you slimmed down? questions all week. Overall, I feel great this week.


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