Turning Up Our Doing Dial

This weekend was great. A real "let's turn up our doing dial" kind of weekend. {You know from the Home Depot commercials}.

Saturday we started the morning off with pancakes and there was no complaining about them from Chad. Something about liking waffles way more. Why? Because they have squares? Who knows?! To me they are pretty much the same thing. Carbs. Yum.

1. Then I proceeded to spray paint my heart out on a bunch of frames I picked up at Goodwill the other day. It is my sole mission to re-decorate our new home on very little. Pinterest is my hero.

Anyway I got 8 frames for around $10, a can of $3 white spray paint and some free printables from HERE.  And viola our hall bath that our kids never use is looking lovelier. The shower curtain was left by the previous owner and it is one of the few things I don't hate. ;) Now I just need some towels for the rack and we are "finished."

seriously these are some of the.ugliest.frames. Spray paint is a miracle worker. ;)

One thing about our home is that all the countertops are a color. Seriously who picks colored countertops?! You ALWAYS go neutral and add color in other ways that can be changed with your mood. Duh! So I am sort of locked into a greenish bath. So these printables were perfect.

Before:

After:

2. I have also finished up Lo's mobile for her room. Ever since MW got one for his room she has been begging for one. Cross that off the list.

It pretty much consisted of some scrapbook paper, my cricut, and another cheap embroidery hoop find from, you guessed it Goodwill.

I love how it turned out and she is thrilled. Win. Win.

3. Up next was some beachy hair spray. My whole life I have envied other girls with curl and wave to their hair. Mine was as stick straight as they come. Flat iron, not required. I have even tried body waves and perms in the past and they seriously lasted 2 weeks! However, recently I noticed that my wet hair isn't drying straight anymore. Ever since having Micah my hair got all "sexy beach wavy" minus the sexy. It looks a mess, now I get why girls were jealous of MY stick straight hair. So I have seen some diy sea salt beachy sprays. Seems to be  helping on the days I don't want to straighten my hair. I used this recipe.

4. Lately I have been trying to take better care of myself and put myself a little more first. I mean let's face it I am the only mommy my kids have and the only good wife my husband will have. {BAHAHA}. Anyway, I have been trying to update my wardrobe from circa 1999. A few weeks ago at MOPs they talked about the color season your skin tone is in and how that effects what you should wear {I am an Autumn}.

Source: personalitycafe.com via Michele on Pinterest

I am obsessed with that sheet and take it with me everywhere when shopping. No matter how much I may like something, if that color isn't on my sheet I don't buy it. {most of the time.} And now having a red-headed son, I can see how that really makes a difference. His poor rudy complexion needs certain colors to dial it down. Bless him. {He is most definitely an Autumn like mommy!}

5. On a completely un-related note; the other night we were sitting down to dinner and I saw a fox, a FOX
in our backyard!! How freakin' crazy is that. We live in the city. To be fair we do have a small woodish area behind our house and the country is probably 2 miles from us, but still a fox! Come on. Just very unbelievable to me.

6. While the fox did look cute, I am certainly glad we have dark poodles, otherwise he may think they are bunnies. Thank goodness our tax refund is going to help us get a fence up soon. Just don't want the fox to think "there's lunch" on my dogs. HA!

Here is dumb and dumber at their best. Wrapped up around a pole just begging that fox to get them. 

Seriously no idea how they got that tangled...

7. Finally, my new goals for this month is 1. keeping the lights off around the house most of the day. 2. put things up RIGHT NOW, stop waiting for later. It is amazing how much less junk and clutter I deal with at the end of the day by taking a quick look around before I head or down the stairs.

Happy Miscellany Monday!
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Changes

A new year equals time for changes. However, my new year usually comes in August, not January. Something about the start of school signals a fresh start and new beginning to me more-so than January. {And I am actually doing really well at the aforementioned goals from August!!} However, after Christmas I can't help but feel the need to purge and organize. It truly is my favorite time of the year.

Five minutes after Christmas was over my house was back to normal. Although it looked so sad...I think I need to do some more decorating. :) Or more reasons to waste time on pinterest...

We are in toy overload, which is normal for this season of our life, but still I can't stand clutter. We do have a toy room, but it was quickly filling up. We had a twin bed in there for any extra guests we have have. But wait? No one ever stays with us. Hmmm. Chad and I figured it was time Lo got an upgrade in beds. I always wanted her in a twin from the get go, but when the kids were supposedly going to be sharing a room that wasn't feasible. So Lo is on room makeover #2 in the short 6 months we have lived here and poor Micah's room still is unfinished. :/
It looks like a 13 year old lives there now and NOT a 3 year old, but I just can't do that baby stuff. I need a room that will last her until 13 or I get sick of it, which ever comes first. HA!
I do still have some tweaking to do based on this inspirational room:

Source: thepatriothomeplace.blogspot.com via Michele on Pinterest

I really wanted to add that silhouette mostly...I am really into those all of a sudden.

Back to the playroom. While I would love something really pretty and ultra organized I realize that is unrealistic. People who design those rooms clearly have no children who are allowed to play in there. :)

So here is the before: {for dramatic effect I left the toys out. ;) }


And now After: Again I have some tweaking to do and some fun signs to hang, but you get the idea. I moved all the toys into the closet to "hide" them, since all they ever do is dig them out and bring them into the family room...why even bother with a "play room."


Finally our master bedroom is getting a little face lift.
{Before}

It has taken me nearly a year to find the perfect comforter. I am in love. However, it was short lived as not but a few mere hours later my dumb dog Toby used it as his personal fire hydrant. Grrrr. So now it is gone being cleaned. Anyone want a dog?!
{In Progress...}

Again some tweaking like new curtains and pillows, but for now I am just over the moon to have a lovely comforter!!

Overall my "resolutions" for this year is to organize, purge {hello garage sale in the spring}, and de-clutter. I want to go through every drawer and closet. And keep up with purging of baby junk. I also want to finish Micah's room and maybe take on decorating a few more spaces around here, since I haven't done much of that since we moved in! Seems like a lot but doing a space every week or so is fairly obtainable.

Back to School

This is probably my favorite time of year. Back to school time. Sure summer fun is great, but I don't care for the heat, I prefer the cold. However, back to school symbolizes to me a fresh start, a clean slate. This is my "new year's resolution" time if you will. As a kid I always had high hopes for the new school year. It was so fun to think how the whole year would go and make goals and plans. Having a teacher for a husband keeps this little ritual going for me. If we were employed in year round jobs we probably wouldn't even notice the seasons.

Ready for Fall in Micah's 12m track suit. Nice Lo. Nice.

I love having Chad home for the summer, but I am also so ready to get back into a routine, something that has been severely lacking since Micah was born nearly 7 months ago. Today is our first "practice" day without Chad help. And so far it has been great. Lo is playing by herself, following instruction and Micah is just doing his baby thing {happily, I might add}.

Some goals and routine I want to get into are:
*Getting dressed nicely everyday. I am sick of looking like a slob in sweats, no make-up and pony-tail hair everyday {which is a big reason I cut 6 inches off yesterday!} It is fine once in awhile but day after day starts to make me feel yucky.
*Teach Lo. I want to take time at least 2-3x/week to sit down with Lo and work with her on some skill.
*Get into a daily routine. Such as cleaning on Mondays, laundry on Fridays, etc. I want to make the most use of my time and not find myself sitting around wasting my precious free minutes.
*Finally get back to the gym. I have not been back since MW was born, again 7 months ago. I have been hesitant to take him to the kid zone as a preemie and then the craziness of summer hit. It is just time and I am ready.

Bring on Football Season too!

It's a start, but I am really motivated and excited to start checking things off my every growing to-do and project list!