Day 2 - Days of December Christmas Watch-a-thon: "[The Office] Christmas Party"

Tonight, since My Love was awake when I was going to watch my Christmas selection, I allowed him to choose what we watched.

I said, "What Christmas show or movie would you like to watch tonight?"
And he said, "You want to watch a Christmas show or movie tonight?"
"YES! At least one a day until Christmas!"
"Um, I don't think there are that many worth watching to make it to Christmas."
"You are forgetting that I am home during the day without you, and you don't have to watch everything I watch. I can watch some of them while you're at work."

Haha!

So, his pick tonight was The Office's "Christmas Party" (Season Two).

 
What can I say? The Office, season's 1-3, and most of 4, is just great television. Hilarious, awkward, and original. I miss the old days. Jim and Pam are still adorable not-so-secret admirers, Dwight is so bizarre and entertaining. It was just so...good!

It's not my favorite Office Christmas episode, but it's fun :)

Day 1 - Days of December Christmas Watch-a-thon: "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"

Oh my word. It's December 1st, and I decided to do what I thought was my annual Days of December Christmas Watch-a-thon! Like the name? ;) Snazzy!

However, when I went through my archives to try to find the last time I did this, I realized it was TWO YEARS AGO!!!!! What?!?!?!? Weird!

Tonight, at 11:30 or so, I remembered that it was December 1st and that I wanted to watch a Christmas movie or show every day until Christmas. With no time to lose, I chose Community's "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" as my first Christmas special to view this season.

I did watch and "review" this episode two years ago. I use the term loosely because, it appears that I thought review meant to watch whatever it was that I had selected to watch, and either narrate what I was seeing as I saw it, or type my stream of consciousness reactions as I watched it. Oy. If you have any interest in that sort of thing, you can read it here. But, I might should apologize in advance for that ;)

At any rate, I will NOT be reviewing the shows I watch this year. I might share memories of them, or highlights, or something, but I will  not re-hash or dissect them. It's too painful for all involved, haha.

"Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" is not politically correct, is saturated with cynicism, sarcasm, Christmas-themed jokes, is self-deprecating, and is formatted similarly to the old-school Willy Wonka. I somewhat ashamedly admit that I really enjoy it :) But, there it is. It is very much my sense of humor, it's CLAY-MATION (which I love) and, though I watched it for the first time as more of a chore than a choice, it has now become one of my must-watch-seasonally Christmas flicks. I would not label it a "classic," but am having an unbelievably difficult time coming up with a better category. I just like it, okay? ;)

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home {Simplified}: Day 1

So, I've always struggled with balance. I would imagine that's no secret to those of you who know me. I am a planner, a list-writer, a visualizer, but not usually a do-er or a follow-througher. It has plagued me my whole life, but I've been working on it. Aiming for improvement, not succumbing to the seeming futility of it all, is some form of avoiding failure, right? ;)

Since becoming a Mommy, striking a balance has been more difficult than ever, but also somehow seemingly more achievable. It doesn't make any sense, but it is what it is.

In yet another attempt to make improvements on how I stay organized (which really helps my attitude - I'm always more at peace when things around me are organized - it's my poor, suppressed OCD nature), I'm going to do this "4 Weeks to a More Organized Home {Simplified}" as posted on Money Saving Mom.

Day 1 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life!}
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and make a list of 5-10 goals for this week.
::Set the timer for 15 minutes and quickly pick up the main living areas of your home.
::Clean out your purse and/or diaper bag.

I suppose I should get dressed in something that makes me feel great, as I'm in a robe just now :)

My goals for this week are (in no particular order):
1. Deep-clean the kitchen
2. Baby-proof house
3. Dust & wipe down the baseboards
4. Sweep, vacuum, and mop all floors
5. Shampoo the carpet in the gameroom
6. Patch holes made from previous light fixtures
7. Touch up paint where it's needed around the house
8. Scrub both refrigerators and put press 'n seal down on shelves
9. Deep clean bathrooms
10. Decorate for Christmas

We'll see how this goes, or if my first week's 10 goals are too ambitious.

Lucky Day!

I've made a few changes to Little Man's room! :)
I decided to remove the desk and hutch, and have been looking for another, smaller piece of furniture to replace it, as I didn't want to not use the awesome Dr. Seuss knobs we had. I've been trolling the internet for a lingerie chest (is that the proper use of the expression?). Most of them were upwards of $100, or too far away it to be worthwhile on craigslist, or the wrong color - and the prospect of repainting something was so unappealing, given all the effort I had put into the desk/hutch combination.

Today, however, is some sort of magical day. I found my wedding rings, which have been missing since MAY!!!! And, I stumbled across a lingerie chest for $40 with free shipping that was perfect for Little Man's room! I'll wait until it arrives and I assemble it to post updated pictures of the room (should be here in 3-7 days), but I'm SO STOKED!

I'm also trying to figure out what to do with this piece of art I was intending to make - it's not coming out quite as I expected, and I had a new inspiration. So, I'm looking into different options. I'll show you the different ideas I had, and what I went with, in my next post. Looking forward to sharing! His room has been a huge labor of love, and it's finally almost done! :)

Favorite Furniture Transformation So Far!

(I don't know why I didn't post this before...but here it is now!)

:sigh: We all know that I do too many projects. Especially right now. I have a ton going on, and am completely ADHD about which ones to post first.

I have decided, what with technical difficulties that seem to be plaguing me, to post my newest, and most favorite furniture transformation to date.

You remember these, right? And this?
Well, this project was inspired...to some degree...by those.

Enter Goodwill.

I was looking for something else. I don't remember what. However, I was instantly drawn to this beauty.

However, since I wasn't there looking for that, I walked past it. I think I even left. Briefly. I then returned as quickly as possible, requested the gentleman behind the counter to assist me out, and took that sucker home! Well, really, I took it to the storage unit, because we had nowhere else to keep it at the time.

Months rolled by, and finally, I had the time and means to do something with it, as well as a place to put it once it was complete.

Originally, I had planned on painting it white. That is, until I discovered Night Tide by RustOleum.
:insert drool here:

I was a little nervous at first, but some friends came over mid-project, caught sight of my disassembled project, freshly painted with Night Tide, and loved it -- so I figured that was a go ;)
Oh, and, of course, I loved it too.

Well, last night, I finished it! Technically, I want to get my shop vac and do a good cleaning of the inside and drawers, as well as possibly add some contact paper or modpodge some fabric in the drawers as liner...but for now, she's a beauty.

What do you think?

**********************************************************

Unrelated, here's my breadbox transformation that I also forgot to post. It's not my favorite transformation, but I do really like it :)

Before:

After:

Love it! So bright and cheerful!

As It Is...

I did it! I actually took pictures and posted them! :) Here are just a few of Little Man's room:

There's his crib, the artwork I made, and his window. I'm planning on painting the outer part of the frames red, to make them pop a bit more. Also, I'm not sure where I stand on the curtains...er...curtain. It's obviously too short for the window, but two sets would be almost too much? I'm considering something like this:

 

...but am still afraid that it will be too narrow for the window, so I'll have to take measurements. What do you think? Should I get an additional valance that matches the bedding, and leave it at that, or should I try to find another solution? I'm running out of options. I consider myself relatively savvy when it comes to tracking down home decor items, and am seriously almost out of places to look.

This is the part of the room where the desk/hutch in question resides. I took the hutch bit off yesterday, to make room to hang the animal net (which, upon seeing it in picture form, is slightly off...must adjust that later...that sucker was way harder to "install" than I had anticipated). I put so much effort into that furniture...I hate to part with it, but I'm just not sure. Despite my original plan, I'm now thinking that I will possibly remove that piece of furniture, hang up my completed alphabet on that wall, and add some gutter bookshelves. I'm either going to put the bookshelves under the window ledge or behind where the desk is now. I want to get a 2x3 cubby storage system, and that will go wherever the bookshelves do not. Do you have a vote on where to put which?

There's my rocker/glider chair that a friend gave us. Another friend was super kind and recovered the cushions -- they're AWESOME, and so soft! You can see a close up of the fabric in my earlier post here. I still (as you can see) need to paint the chair itself (and the ottoman, which isn't pictured) black to match the rest of the furniture in the room, but I love that chair. I'm hoping to put my Silhouette machine to use, and make my first wall decal of my favorite Dr. Seuss quote to put on the wall behind it.
"Today you are you, that's truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you!"
I haven't decided if I'm going to apply it straight to the wall, or make an art project out of it...I'm leaning toward art project, but we'll see :)
See Horton chillaxin'? And, of course, we have the Cat in the Hat from Little Man's baby shower decorations on the back of the door. Super cute.

Compared to the other angles of the nursery, this side is looking a little drab. There will be a frame hanging over the changing table/dresser with a picture of LM, and a hand and footprint on either side. I just haven't gotten the prints that I want yet. That'll help, but I'm definitely going to need to add some spice to this area. Maybe I'll add another quote, or some of those trees from The Lorax.

Anyway, it's come a long way since the beginning. I'll post more soon!

Almost Time for the Drum Roll

I've made some major progress on Little Man's room. Once more, I might be making a relatively major change in the plan for his room...not conceptually, I suppose, but emotionally. I might be getting rid of one of the pieces of furniture I re-did. Or, at least storing it in the garage for a while (but I have to make room in there first) until I make up my mind. I'm trying to make a balanced decision, and not act rashly or out of frustration. The piece just isn't working the way I had hoped/expected it to, and I'm trying to get better about not holding onto things that I don't need. I'm hesitant to get rid of this because it was mine growing up, and it was given to me by my father's parents, both of whom are now deceased. I guess I should have/could have taken a current picture of the room, and discussed my thoughts/concerns, and my tentative plan. Maybe I'll do that. If I did, would you weigh in? Or is there something similar that you've struggled with before?

I'm having a really hard time with the curtains for his room. Who knew that would be my biggest challenge. I bought a valance that coordinates with his bedding, but it's too matchy matchy for me, and is also too short in width for the window. I bought really cute curtains from Target with fuzzy polka-dots on it, but they were too shimmery and girlish, so they'll be going back to the store. Meanwhile, I've looked everywhere online for something satisfactory. I think I just found a type of tie-up shade that will suit my purposes, but I'll have to take measurements first.

The cushions for the glider are in, and they're PHENOMENAL -- just too cute! But, I still haven't painted the wood bits black. That's a must do. If I get rid of the desk/hutch, There's a storage piece I want to pick up from Target with the money I get back from the curtains. I've decided that I want to add some red to the frames of the Dr. Seuss drawings I made, to help them pop a bit more. I'm also going to spruce up some plain lamp shades I have with some cute colored ribbon. My cousin is coming into town Sunday, so I think I'm going to enlist her help in some of these craftsy things...including finally getting the alphabet completed and hung up. With any luck, we'll make lots of progress (mainly me...I don't want to put her to work when she comes to visit!), and I'll have pics to post Monday.
If I can remember, and find my camera, I'll try to at least get some "current" pictures posted, so you can see where I'm at with the room.

Here goes nothing!

Changes!

Do you know what this is? OUR EMPTY STORAGE UNIT! The Salvation Army folks came by and cleared it all out, I swept it, then turned in the key! HIP-HIP-HOORAY!!!
(of course, this was four months ago, but hey, it's still exciting)

So, a lot has been going on lately. We had our Little Man on April 17th, and life has been very different. Very exciting and wonderful, but crazy busy, and filled with sleep deprivation :)

The ironic thing (that I'm sure more than one person tried to tell me, and I ignored them) is that Little Man isn't sleeping in his room yet - so it doesn't matter that I haven't finished it all the way, and all that freaking out about getting it done before his arrival was a bit silly. Let's chalk it up to nesting ;)
Due to all of my nesting insanity, most of it is done, but there are just a few more things to be completed.

What with the new bambino, it has been unbelievably challenging to maintain a moderately clean household and keep up with basic chores, much less work on or complete projects.
It is my hope (surprising, isn't it, that I can so clearly fail to achieve my previous hopes for projects, and yet I'm still hopeful? Haha!) that I will be able to work on projects inside of the house (i.e. organizing the pantry, laundry room, art room, and finishing Liam's room). At some point, I expect I'll have my MIL or Mom watch Little Man so I can spend majority of the day outside spray painting, which is when I'll touch up a few frames, fix a secretary's desk (that I intend, unfortunately, to sell on craigslist, as we have no room for it), paint Little Man's alphabet for his room, and finally finish up that dresser!

Once the art room/office is more organized, I can get My Love's help hauling the filing cabinets into their proper place, which will free up the dresser for me to paint (the filing cabinets are currently perched on top of the dresser, which meant I couldn't get to it by myself during pregnancy). After the filing cabinets, the dresser, and then the secretary's desk are out of the garage, we'll have a bit more maneuvering room in there...which will hopefully enable me to clear out some of the other junk in there.

It is my fervent hope that I can make substantial progress in all areas of organization over the next month and a half. There is a slight possibility that I will be at home with just me and Little Man for a week in August, and I would love nothing more than to get the garage painted and organized to surprise My Love with when he gets home. Now, he already knows that I'd like to do this, but it'd be a surprise if I actually accomplished it. Who am I kidding, it'd be a miracle if I accomplished it :P haha
A girl can dream, can't she?

No promises, as I have failed so many times to deliver, but I hope very much to post again soon, with before and after pictures of all the previously mentioned projects. :)

Yay and Nay!

Our storage unit is almost empty!!!!! Technically, it's empty of all the stuff we're keeping. On Wednesday, Salvation Army is coming by the unit to pick up our donation items.

Can I just toot my own horn for a second? This was a brilliant idea that I can't believe I didn't think of sooner. Brilliant. Initially, my plan was to somewhat sift through all the stuff in the unit, divide it into two sides, haul off all the stuff we weren't keeping to Goodwill, then haul the rest of the stuff home. UNTIL I remembered...some charities pick up donations! I've done it before from our home - why couldn't I do it from a storage unit?!?!? No reason at all!!!! So, we loaded up everything we were keeping, brought it to our house, have to make plans to sort through it...and complete strangers will come by our storage unit and take our donation stuff, and we'll be FINISHED!!!!!!!! We won't have to move the stuff we don't want anymore! Hooray for more money in the bank and less money going to keeping crap we don't need somewhere we don't need it! :D

I'm hoping to make some minor organizational progress tomorrow afternoon. Get some stuff cleared out of the garage, move things in the house to where they belong...things like that.
Monday will be a clean the house morning, and hopefully an organize/sort through stuff afternoon/evening, since My Love will have the afternoon off.
Tuesday, I intend to work more on the baby furniture, and hopefully get that finished up. I also am hoping to start and finish work on my dresser revamp, and get that sucker inside so My Love doesn't have to fret about it. I think I have decided to go with Mediterranean blue and no wallpaper. The wallpaper idea intrigued me, but with 6 drawers, I just feel like it will be overkill. I might trim pieces of the wallpaper out and use it as accents on the drawers...but I don't think I'll do the entirety of every drawer face.

In other furniture news, I'm disappointed, but I had to abandon a project :(
Because My Love was so gracious in letting me keep my new dresser, and because he wasn't really excited about the dresser I wanted to put in our master bathroom, I "sacrificed" it today. It stayed in the storage unit, awaiting being picked up Wednesday with our other donation items. We didn't have anywhere else in the house to put it, even if I redid it, other than the master bathroom...and I didn't want to have it take up space in the garage, then put the work into it to revamp it and still have him dislike it. I'm super bummed, because it was brilliant, but sometimes even brilliance is impractical :/

I think that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have a gajillion pictures to post soon...both of my daily February pics, and of my FINISHED projects! :)

Dresser Mock Up

So, I couldn't help myself...I made a mock-up...or, as close to one as I have time for.

The color is definitely off. Like I said, it's a subtle turquoise, whereas this came out pretty obviously turquoise. The glaze will also be darker, and make the details pop more, which was hard to show without making the color even brighter. The glaze will also dull the blue a bit in reality, which I can't effectively show on this computer generated dresser.

But, here's what it would look like...sort of...if I put the wallpaper on the plain drawers, painted the dresser Mediterranean blue, and glazed it.


My concern is that it will be too busy. It'll look cool no matter what, and I think I've decided on Mediterranean instead of white...I'm just not sure about the wallpaper.
I'm also not quite sure how the wallpaper will come out on the drawers. It was easy to make it symmetrical on the mock-up - I'm not sure if it would come out as exact on the real deal.

Does that help? Is it easier to envision?

So, wallpaper or no?

Furniture Overload

Yes, I know...I still haven't posted my February pictures. The sad part is that I have taken several of them, but don't have an easy way to get them from my phone to my computer. I refuse to link my phone to my email. Refuse. I can check my email from my phone, but I don't have it synchronized. So, the only way I can really get pictures onto the computer is to upload them to facebook, but I don't know that I want my February pictures all on facebook.I'll figure this out...

Today, I broke down and painted the filing cabinets. I did something I don't usually do...I skipped the priming step. And, I'm fairly certain that, in this case, it paid off! I used Rustoleum Gloss Protective Enamel in white. The wood grain came through really nicely through the paint...which is not usually what I guess people want, but I love the way it looks. Couldn't be happier. I also was super lazy and didn't do the backs, haha! I ran out of paint, and since the cabinets are going to be up against a wall, I decided not to worry about it :) I'll do it eventually, I'm sure, but I just want the stupid cabinets in my art room! And I want to get our documents organized, and filed away in my pretty cabinets that won't be in our garage anymore!!!

Here's the top - I thought it showed the grain better from this angle. I'll take some better pictures later, and certainly more once they're in their proper place!

I also primed the hutch. I used Zinsser liquid primer instead of spray. It's all ready for its coat of black paint, which I intend to add once we're through with this garage/storage unit insanity. If all goes well, by the end of the week for sure next week, I'll have the dresser, desk, and hutch in the nursery, painted, sealed, and complete with new drawer knobs :D
Currently, the dresser and desk are upstairs, the drawers have their final coat of paint on them, and their new holes for their new drawer knobs are drilled. I'll put the final coat of paint on the dresser and desk when I paint the hutch, seal them all with polyurethane, and do a happy Snoopy dance at the progress I have made!!!!

Thankfully, those things will be leaving a welcome empty spot in the garage where they used to reside.

However...

***this part of the post was completed today, because I fell asleep before I could finish it last night***


...there may or may not be something taking up their old place...

...okay, there definitely is.


...I got a text message yesterday morning, saying,
"Hey, I saw these out for the trash by my house and thought of you. All the drawers are there too. The drawers had cool fancy designs on them."

Along with this picture...


Free furniture?!?!?!? The possibility of a roadkill rescue?!?!? And a dresser, to boot? (which we really have been looking for lately) I knew I was in trouble. My Love has been relatively patient with my whole furniture revamping obsession - more particularly the duration it takes me to complete projects vs. the ease with which I add other projects to my list...or...the garage.

I ended up being in the area where the furniture was supposed to be, and decided to try to find it and take a look. "Just to see," I reassured myself. Maybe someone else had beaten me to it. If not, I resolved that, should there be any major issues, I would have to turn the project down, because I really don't have time for a massive overhaul...just facelifts...and that even was pushing it.

When I drove by the first time, it all looked pretty much like the picture, but with a stack of drawers over to the right that I couldn't see very well. When I turned around to do a second pass, these caught my eye (forgive the lighting):


LOOK AT THAT DETAIL!!!!!! It's stunning! Those three drawers go vertically in the center column. The other drawers were all there as well. Everything looked to be in working order, with a few minor things that need to be reattached, and a missing drawer pull.

Here's what the other six drawers look like:

I took the drawers home with me, intending to make plans to get the dresser to our house later that day. But, after talking about it with My Love, I was going to have to give up on this opportunity. We're trying to get our garage organized, and our storage emptied, and while it was a fantastic project, the timing wasn't quite right. I was all ready to load the drawers back into my car and take them back, so someone else could have a shot at claiming this ugly duckling.

That is, until this sweet lady who discovered the dresser for me texted, offering to deliver the dresser to our house for us! We don't have a truck (which is probably good, since I'd haul all sorts of things home, haha), and I can't lift much these days, with the baby bump and all.

My sweet Love let me keep it/have it!!!! :D With the explicit understanding that this project had to be done ASAP, and could NOT take up space somewhere it didn't belong for very long, or it was going back to the curb.

So, now to quickly decide what to do with it. I'm currently thinking white or blue. For the first time in a while, the blue I'm looking at using is NOT Rustoleum! :insert monster music here:
The color is Valspar Mediterranean - I can't find a good picture of the can that looks like the actual color of the lid. It's sort of a subtle turquoise. It matches the color scheme in our bedroom pretty well. And, even though the dresser is going to be in the closet, it'll be cool to have it be pretty and match - especially if we rearrange ever!

Once I pick a color, I have to decide if I want to get really creative and finally use my textured wallpaper on a project for myself! I've used it before for a project I did for a friend, but haven't found the right project to use it on for myself! Here's what it looks like:


Basically, I'd insert it into the center panels of the six plain drawers...probably with the cross looking bit centered. Then, I'd paint the whole thing either white or Mediterranean, and add a black glaze to make all the details pop. Either way, I'll be painting the hardware either hammered black or oil-rubbed bronze. I found a drawer pull on eBay that looks similar enough to the other pulls to not stand out too much. I figure I'll take the one from the center drawer and put it on the drawer missing the pull. That way, there will only be one different pull, and it will be on the detailed section - so people will be less likely to notice, or see it as a flaw.

So, what do you think? Once I get my usual tasks done, and my garage/storage unit taken care of, I need to be ready to paint this sucker and get it put away!

White or Mediterranean?

Textured wallpaper or no?

Help!


Again, I'm off to work on the garage and my usual household things. As soon as I am caught up on all that, it's onto this new dresser project, and back to finishing/working on the nursery! Pictures will be posted as soon as I take them! :D

Monday Monday

Well, I'm already a few days behind on the photo a day challenge. I'm going to catch up by tomorrow, and see if I can't do better at doing one a day like you're supposed to. Blerg!

:sigh:

I'm currently about to force myself to get up and tidy the house a bit...
And then I need to use that momentum to get myself back to finishing up the furniture for the nursery. Don't get me wrong, I want to finish it...I am just having a hard time motivating myself to do it. Fortunately, I don't have too much more to do to get the dresser ready. I still have to paint the hutch, which is going to be a small nightmare, and the glider...and then I'll be done painting the furniture! Can't wait for that part!
I'm going to drop off the cushions Wednesday, and then just play the waiting game for my new and improved glider to come together!

In the next week or so, I'm hoping to track down some bright red contact paper to lay in the drawers of both the dresser and the desk. Once I get that down, I'm going to start washing and folding baby clothes!!!! Eventually, I want most of them to be hanging up in the closet, but as I don't have any baby hangers yet, I'm going to wait until I acquire some. I can't wait to organize his little stuff in his closet! :D

My Love and I have stayed up late the last few nights playing video games together. It has been lots of fun, but is taking a toll on my sleep cycle. I'm feeling slightly icky. I got to take a quick nap this afternoon, which helped my energy level, but I still have that weird, not quite well-rested feeling going on. Hoping that will pass. I'm going to grab a snack real quick, then get going on the furniture. And...go!

Teaser

What do you get when you take...

An older glider (similar to this one, but not exactly)

Rustoleum Black Lacquer Paint

And some fun, bright red, Minky Dot fabric?

Hopefully, a revamped, perfect glider for my Little Man! I can't wait to drop off the fabric and cushions to the seamstress, and see how it turns out! :)

Depending on if the weather cooperates tomorrow, I'm hoping to get to painting the glider, so it'll be all ready for its new cushions whenever they're ready!

I'm super excited about the fabric because it's soft, and funky without having a vibrant pattern that could clash with the other themes going on in the room.

I'm also hoping to get started on some of the artwork for the room - cannot WAIT to get things up on the wall, and furniture in that room! :D

February 2 - Words

These are odd "words"...and not as artistic as the ones I had intended to "photograph," but this is the fruit of my labor today, and a HUGE step for me in the right direction of living in a way that brings me peace of mind.

This is my cleaning checklist, inspired by a different Jen at IHeartOrganizing - let me tell you, she is brilliant!!! BRILLIANT, I say! I love sooo many of her ideas, and am so excited to hopefully apply them to our home!

Anyway, what with all the life changes quickly approaching...and the need for me to have a routine anyway, adopting a list like this is essential to my success. Have I mentioned before on here that I'm a major list person? Well, I am.

And here is a "picture" of the words that will help me reach my goal as someone with an organized, decluttered, and simplified home and lifestyle:

I'm hoping to post pictures of our home soon, with a few before and after shots of all of our progress we've made in both decorating and organizing!