A Little Spring Inspiration

About this time every year I start itching for spring to come.  I really don't mind the cold, but only for so long and it seems like winter lasts longer and longer every year.  It isn't until June that the weather really seems to warm up and stay warm here.  We do get several teaser days though starting in March.  So I suppose I'll take what I can get.  Anyways, since we are one of the few places that doesn't currently have snow on the ground (which is very unusual for us), I've really been longing for spring.  So I scoured Pottery Barn for some good springy inspiration.  As usual, they didn't let me down.  Thanks PB.

This is a cute little Easter project

I looove this.  You'll certainly see something similar at my house very soon.

This makes me hungry...

I totally have these same wooden dishes... although I got mine in Brazil.

Love the silver accents

Love the monograms

I could use a few of these cherry blossom branches

The Laundry Room

After several near avalanches, I decided it was time to clean the laundry room.  Seriously, it was that bad.  So last week I put the kids down for their naps, popped in the Twilight soundtrack, which is seriously a great CD, and got to work.  I couldn't believe how dirty it was.  I don't know that some of those areas had been cleaned since we moved in.  I can't believe I just admitted that, but it's true.  I also didn't realize it, but there were two boxes in there that still hadn't been unpacked from when we moved in TEN months ago.  I hope my mom's not reading this because I know she would just be shaking her head.  Just remember that we moved in when I was eight months pregnant and I was more concerned about unpacking the kitchen and getting the munchkins rooms done.  Anyways, I made a goodwill pile, trash pile (which was big, fortunately) and a put-away pile.  It only took me a couple hours, but I managed to get the laundry room all cleaned and organized.  I still plan on painting and changing the shelf arrangement above the washer and dryer since it doesn't really work for us (the previous owners had a stackable washer and dryer), but until I get to that this works.  Now I just have to work on keeping it cleaned since I find that the laundry room becomes my dumping ground.

I know, I know, it's really bad... pretty embarrassing actually

Not as bad, but still not good

A project that I started in November :)

I don't have words for this.  Who knew an out of the way spot behind the door and in the corner could get such gross dust bunnies :)

Yay!!!  The clean and organized after.  It is really so much better.

Notice the cleaning bucket has been moved to a higher shelf.

My everyday laundry supplies

I found this at a thrift store last summer for $2.00 and touched it up with some Heirloom White spray paint and chalkboard paint.  Now we just need to get in the habit of using it.

The laundry room is clean and organized now.  Since I would love to have a beautiful laundry room that is decorated and pretty though I'm thinking I want to paint the walls Silver Sage from Benjamin Moore (we don't have a restoration hardware close to us), add a nice Ballard Design's inspired shelf, some pretty containers for laundry soap and a few nice decorative accessories.  So one of these days I'll get around to doing it, but I should finish up the munchkins bathroom first.  After all I did start that two weeks ago and just need to finish it up.  By the way, it's looking great.  I'm excited to show you all.

I Feel This Way Sometimes...

I found this tonight and had to post it.  I love Laura Numeroff's books and read them many times as a child.  When I started collecting books for my munchkins (before I even had munchkins... a little ridiculous I know) I knew that they had to have these ones.  Miss Ella Bella's favorite is "If You Give A Cat A Cupcake".  If you've never had the privilege of reading these I highly recommend that you do.

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
So she'll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper for tonight.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With a Pound of
Hamburger.)
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.
She will look for the checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring. (Of course!)
Her five year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come over for coffee on
Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.
And chances are,
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.
Written by Kathy Fictorie
Based on If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

I'm Dreaming of Spring

Since we seem to be one of the few places in the country that isn't buried under snow right now (which is quite unusual for us, but no complaints here), I've been enjoying the mid 40's weather we're having and dreaming of spring.  So naturally I've started thinking about my garden for the upcoming year and since Wal-Mart has set out the Burpee seeds, I thought I better make some definite plans so that I was able to get the seeds I wanted.  I also picked up a great little seed starting greenhouse kit at Home Depot for $5.  It holds 50 little plants and I'm hoping this will help things to start producing a little sooner than they did last year.

So this is what I'm wanting to plant this year:

lettuce
broccoli
red and green peppers
onions
tomatoes, lots and lots of tomatoes (I'm totally canning salsa this year)
red potatoes
zucchini
cucumbers, lots of these little guys (I'm going to can dill pickles, I hear they're super easy)
corn - I'm going to attempt this again.  I'm convinced that my seeds were just bad last year.
sugar snap peas - so excited about this
carrots - anyone have a tasty carrot bread/cake recipe?
watermelon - maybe I'll actually get fruit this year... just a thought
pumpkins - I do not cook with these, they are purely for fall decor
asparagus - these were already planted when we moved in and I think this is the third year, so I'm crossing my fingers that we'll get something this year since these have become a favorite at our house
strawberries - I planted these last year, so hopefully I'll get some sweet tastiness this year
raspberries
blueberries

Now of course I've got to see if there's room for all of this in the garden.  For this I've found a great little garden planning tool here.  Now I just need to go fight my way through the hyperactive dog into the garden so that I can measure my planter boxes.  Do you plant a garden?  If so what are you planting this year?

My garden plot

The garden was a huge selling point for me when we looked at the house this time last year.  Raised planter boxes and an automatic drip system in place.  Yes please.

Can you spot the out of control asparagus!?!

A Tasty Valentines Treat

I know this is a little late, but better late than never.  We didn't really do anything on Valentine's Day since the weekend before we went with friends to The Melting Pot.  Yummy!!!  Since you can't really afford anything after that we decided to stay home and have a nice dinner together as a family.  On Saturday though I decided that Ella and I needed pedicures, so we invited a friend and her two little girls and had a little pedicure party.  Of course if you're having a party and it's the day before Valentine's then you need a cute little treat to go with it, so we had some very tasty rice krispy treat.  Mmm mmm good!

All I did was make some yummy rice krispy treats (I followed the directions on the back of the cereal box), use a heart cookie cutter and cut as many hearts out as possible (note - I should have greased the cookie cutter first), warm up some pink vanilla frosting in the microwave, dip the hearts in the now melted frosting and sprinkle with red sugar.  I think it would have been really cute with some red, pink and white sprinkles, but this is what I had on hand.  These were so tasty and a cute little treat to go with our pedicures.  Enjoy!

I Finally Found It...

Yippee!!!  I finally found bedroom furniture today.  I have been searching for furniture that I love and can afford for years really, but have finally gotten the okay from my dear hubby to actually make this purchase if I was to find something.  Well since making over our master bedroom I've been on an all out search for furniture.  Unfortunately, the furniture that I would find and fall in love with was way out of my budget so I would continue looking and then I would find a bed that I loved, but didn't care for the dresser and on and on this went.  Well this morning I remembered a furniture store that I liked to browse when we lived in Provo and so I figured that with it being President's Day and all they would have some sort of sale going on.  So I loaded up the munchkins and drove to Provo in the rain.  When we got there I started to look around and just couldn't find anything that I was in love with.  That is until the second to last bed that I looked at.  It was like angels were singing and a light was shining down from heaven.  I fell in love and I fell hard.  And to make this happy day even better the set had been previously marked down and it was another 50% off of that because it was the only one left and it was the floor model.  Okay, so I realize that I'm super picky when it comes to furniture and the littlest thing will turn me off to something, so I started going down my checklist.  Solid bed - this bed isn't going anywhere.  Check.  Color - it's a beautiful espresso color.  Check.  Beautiful, timeless and classic knobs that are modern without being too modern.  Check.  A chest big enough for our stuff - we don't have a wall big enough for a dresser so we needed a bigger than average chest.  Check.  Dovetail finishing on the drawers.  Check.  Furniture that looks like it is out of a Pottery Barn catalog.  Check.  Oh my gosh!  This set meets all my criteria.  So I quickly called dear hubby and what did that wonderful man say?  "Whatever makes you happy Babe.  If you're happy with it then I'll be happy."  Of course, he also told me not to pester him about bedroom furniture ever again after this.  So I happily paid for my new beautiful furniture while feeling like I got an amazing deal.  The bed and chest will be delivered on Thursday, but unfortunately the night stands won't be in for another 4-6 weeks so I'll have to wait for those.  Anywho, so would you like to see some pretty pictures?  Of course you would.  Okay, here you go.

Oh, I think I'm in love and pretty giddy too...

Master Bedroom Part 3 - The Reveal

I finished our master bedroom on Friday just in the knick of time.  I think I was closing our door and walking downstairs as Andrew was pulling into the garage.  Phew, just barely.  I still have a few things to do such as decorating the ledges (I figure this takes time though), adding something to the walls above our nightstands, adding pictures to the frames throughout the room, buying the new bedroom furniture and just adding those small little finishing touches, but the overall room is done.  So I hope you like it as much as I do.

The color is so much better than before.  I used Laura Ashley's Taupe 4 from Lowe's.

Our little sitting area.  It's not very big, but we like it.

I added ribbon to the lampshades, but I think I want to undo that and just cover them with a chocolate brown fabric.

I wasn't so sure of the bedding when I first started putting it together, but once it was all done I really liked it.

A master bedroom makeover isn't complete without fresh flowers.

The coral and starfish that we brought back from Florida.  A little piece of the beach just for Andrew.

One of the first things Andrew said to me was that he was surprised I was able to do all of this and still keep us fed and the munchkins in diapers without going over my monthly budget.  Well I guess he just underestimates the thriftiness of me.  I was actually quite pleased with how little this makeover cost.  So here's the breakdown of the stuff I bought specifically for this makeover:
Bedding - $84.00 (marked down from $320.00)
Window Hardware - $40.00
Window Treatments - $20.00 (I got the panels on clearance for $4.98 a piece - 75% off)
Mirror - $20.00 (marked down from $80.00 at Lowe's)
Lamps - $24.00 (they were on clearance at Lowe's for $12.00 each)
Chairs - $36.00 (thrift store makeover)
Paint - $26.00
Accessories - $17.50

Total - $267.50

A lot of stuff I found when shopping around our home such as the art pieces, candles, end table, lamps, shades and other decor items.  Most of it was still in the basement from when we moved, so I was happy to finally be using it.

Our Little Engineer

For Christmas Santa got Ella and Cameron some legos and mega blocks (aka - large legos) and I have to say that they have been a huge hit.  Ella wants to play with "blocks" everyday.  So it has become a regular thing to have the blocks strewn all over the place.  It has also become an everyday occurrence to see Miss Ella Bella building lots of stuff.  On Saturday when I saw her "towers" I thought about the many engineers that I have in my family and figured she must have gotten some engineering genes.

I {heart} U Blocks

I saw these little beauties on The Creative Crate and just had to make some for myself.  So here's a little Valentines love for you from me.

Master Bedroom Part 2 - Painting and a little sneak peak

My master bedroom is well on its way to being done.  I'm so excited!  The room is completely painted now and surprisingly it only took me two days to do with both munchkins.  I thought for sure it would take me at least a week.  The color isn't exactly what I was envisioning, but it's close enough to what I was wanting that I'm really happy with it.  I was also thrilled to find the perfect bedding today.  I had already picked out some different bedding that I was on my way to buy, but decided to make a quick stop at Bed Bath and Beyond just to make sure I didn't see something in the store that I liked better and lo and behold I found the perfect bed set.  It's a beautiful bluish-greenish-greyish color.  It's technically called "Peacock"; so exotic sounding I think.  Plus it's machine washable silk; um, yes please!  And to make this happy day even better the bedding was on clearance.  I was able to get the duvet cover, two euro shams and the bedskirt (which I'll actually be using to sew toss pillows since the furniture I'm buying doesn't need a bedskirt) for $80.00.  Plus once I take my 20% off coupons back with my receipt that will be another $16.00 off.  Yep, that's right, beautiful machine washable silk bedding for $64.00!!!  I was feeling pretty good when I left the store. Of course I came down from my bargain high when I stopped at Home Depot to check out their chandeliers and the one I want for my bedroom is $180.00.  Darn, I guess I'll have to save up for that one.  Anyways, so here are a few pics of my room before and then a little sneak peak for y'all.

What we started with... I know it's not very pretty and it's really boring.

We really like our bay window, but those windows and angles sure present some serious problems for any window treatments.

I tried several paint samples before finally choosing a paint color.

Painting, painting and more painting.

What did the munchkins do while I was painting?  Well build things of course and watch Madagascar a few times.

Here's a little sneak peak of what I've been up to.

And here are the Gorgeous colors I'm using in the room.  Aren't they so pretty!?!  So soothing and peaceful.