redecorating

My brother and sister-in-law AND my parents are building new homes this year. It means they show up with siding, countertop, and flooring samples everywhere we go.

We've lived in our 1987-built home for 5 years now. When we moved in I chose paint colors, furniture, and accessories for every room. In some rooms, I even hung pictures on the walls.

Now, thanks to a better understanding of incandescent light and its affect on my photos, I want walls that are NOT yellow. Imagine taking pictures all the long, cold, dark winter with natural-looking skin tones. Oh, Bungalow Gold, we had a good run, but I'm over you!

Repainting is not on my radar, nor in the budget any time soon. But a girl can dream right? Here's what's inspiring my future paint choices.

A light and bright bathroom with a teency bit of color:

A bright, but modest kitchen with glorious light. I have the windows... now for the white and little details like tile backsplash and chandelier.


More white and light. And a table with mismatched chairs. This image comes from a book called Simply Scandinavian. I could devour the entire book, I'm sure. I'll keep checking for it at my library.


If you need further inspiration, look to Design Sponge. It's a great round-up of beautiful and modern living.

jewels

Once upon a time, I cleaned my room. I took pictures. It was amazing. I had to face giant dust bunnies with TEETH to achieve this feat!

But that's not what I wanted to write about. In the process of cleaning, I unearthed a piece of furniture I acquired recently: my Grandma's jewelry chest. My Grandpa designed and made it.

The things inside the jewelry box are very much inspired by my Grandma. Many of the items she gave to me. It's full of enamel flower pins, giant bangle bracelets, strands of glass bead necklaces, vintage scarves, delicate handkerchiefs, and my other everyday jewelry.

The back/top of the box has a lid that lifts to reveal a mirror and two panels that slide up to display necklaces on tiny hooks. I love that my necklaces can stay untangled and away from the dust like this. Plus, you know how the dust bunnies can get around here... a hungry one could eat a few shiny gems all on its own!

I love the bottom three drawers for the wonderful treasures stashed inside. The hankies are an assortment of my dad's when he was a kid, to the ones I've carried in my purse since I started kindergarten, to the hankie I carried on my wedding day, to the special occasion hankies my Grandma would slip inside a Valentine card to me.

A box full of memories indeed.

hanging pictures

Our bedroom got a little facelift with some vacation photos. I'm not usually very good about getting pictures framed and put on display, but I was so in love with these shots. I ran right out and bought frames and ordered the enlargements. Plus, our room tends to be a little dark with that wall color, so these add brightness.

JT likes to point out the picture in the waves. He says, "Dada, big one?" John says, "Who's that big wave splashin'?" "Dada." "Who else?" *chuckles* "JT".

See the vacation pics here, here, and here.

yes. deer.

A few Fridays ago when I was home part of the day, I noticed these two deer in our backyard.

I figured they were just passing through, so I yelled for JT to come quickly!

They ended up staying out there almost all day. They laid down and were comfortable as could be in our yard. Total craziness here in suburbia!

decking the halls

We spent Saturday rearranging the furniture and putting up the Christmas tree. It's always a major, messy production. But this year was much easier since it's the second year with our artificial, pre-lit tree.



JT didn't actually help much with the decorating. Although, on the plus side he also hasn't been too destructive since we got it finished.



He took a THREE hour nap, even through all the noise of furniture-moving and cleaning. We really liked how pretty his hair looked when he woke up.



And here we have it... Christmas at our house.



What do you think of the furniture arrangement? I think it's cozy and more conversational. It's screaming for a fire in the fireplace. I need to get rid of a chair that we just don't need and some other clutter. I also still need to come up with a shelf storage solution to get stuff off the floor and to be better organized. AND we also want to replace the tv with a flat screen. But I think I like it this way. We'll see how it works for us after Christmas before I make it permanent.

How is Christmas coming along at your house?

balance and sore bottoms

JT has had the most annoying virus since Thursday. Yesterday was bad and today was worse. Runny nose, diarrhea, and a diaper rash I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. We must have changed poo diapers 12 times today. He pooped TWICE today as I was trying to put him down for a nap. Can you imagine... he was almost asleep and it hit him.

To make it worse, it takes two of us to change him. One to hold him down and one to do the diapering. He starts crying before we even get to the changing table in anticipation of the pain. I can't even begin to tell you how this is wrenching my heart out. I think I cried half the day at least.

Aside from that, I have been trying to find more balance in my life. Especially on the weekends. I want to get to the end of the weekend and feel like I got a lot done, had fun, and spent time engaged in the relationships I enjoy.

This weekend was heavy on the JT/Mama/Dada relationship. John and I have had to work together taking care of JT's bottom and figuring out what to feed him that won't make things worse. JT has been more clingy and cranky than usual, too. But we did find lots of time to play and had a little fun in between poops.

We met up with Becka, Jari, and Jessica for ice cream on Saturday after the pediatrician's office let us know that fattening foods would be good for his stomach. We like them a lot and they are not afraid of a little poo.

I also found some time to clean my car (it is SUCH a snappy-lookin' clunker now!). And I did a bit more towards completing the decorating of my house that I mentioned before. This was a seriously small bit of decorating in JT's room... I'll save photos for when it's finished. And lastly, I did some digital scrappin'. As evidenced here:

just chillin'

I wish I was just chillin'... I am so tired. We just watched the end of the super bowl. That was the first time I'd sat down since mid-day. I spent the whole day making baby food for JT. We were almost OUT completely. I bought a bunch of stuff last week on Thursday and didn't get to make it up until today.

Here is the work in progress:

And here is the freezer full of goodies:

Many thanks to Ellen... the food processor and the white ice cube trays are all on loan from her. She also gave me the great idea for mango-applesauce. JT loves it! Today I made up several new foods for him, including cauliflower, carrots, and spaghetti squash. His new food over the weekend was YoBaby yogurt. The vanilla is delicious.

Oh, and I should mention... the baby food is freezing right now in our BRAND... NEW.... REFRIGERATOR!!!

The best feature? Ice and water in the door. Good-bye ice cube trays and water filtration pitcher!

more wrappin'...

Oh my... there are still packages to wrap! I think I have 6-8 more packages to wrap tomorrow night before I can put away the wrapping supplies. A few much-anticipated packages arrived tonight, so I was able to get those wrapped. Just one more package is still in the mail somewhere. Good thing it wasn't intended for anyone in particular. (I always buy a few extra whatnots to add to other gifts, you know?)

We are having carpet installed in the basement tomorrow. If you've been reading the blog very long, you'll remember those tales - and the debacle of a floor solution. Anyway, we're just going to do wall-to-wall carpet like we should have done in the first place. It should be nice. I'm looking forward to it. Of course, it also meant that tonight we spent picking up and moving all our stuff down there. Ugh. Too much stuff. (Most of it the crafty stuff...)

JT went to bed EARLY tonight. I fed him dinner a little later than usual, then a bath, then off to bed. We skipped the nighttime bottle for the first time ever. He has been sound asleep for 2 hours already... it's so weird. I remember a few weeks ago when I'd be thinking "a couple hours of sleep before he needs fed again". Time flies... please, stop! I don't want my baby to grow up too fast.

Next week is all about him. I am going to savor every bit of him that I can. Luckily for me, it will mean going to bed early and greeting the day a little later in the morning - yahoo! For now, n-night.