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?

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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. :)