lamp redo feature

My lamp redo has been featured.  

Yeah!

Visit Remodelaholic, one of my favorite do-it-yourself blogs to see my post.

And to see about a million other great posts. :)

soccer

 We signed the girls up for soccer this past Fall.

They loved it.

Joe, being the sports fanatic he is, researched different leagues and found what he thought was the best one.

They would play with girls their age close in location (no traveling across town for practice or games).

They would play 4 on 4, no goalie.

They would play with their coaches on the field as refs and to help guild them. 

They didn't keep score.

{4 on 4 with the Coaches (but only our coach pictured), Reganne has the ball.}

Marryn did really well.  She never scored a goal, but honestly, only a few girls on her team even did.  (I know they said they didn't keep score, but secretly, we all did-her team was not very good;).)  She was on an under 6 team and none of her teammates had played before either (we think they might have divided teams that way as well).  She was a great hustler.  Always running after the ball.  She did have a few chances to score, but didn't quite make it in the goal.  She plans to "play soccer next year in 2nd grade, and then will do dance in 3rd grade."  ha ha.  She's too funny.  Here's a typical little *play by play* , fighting for the ball, breaking away and then missing the goal for whatever reason.  (Her coach is in the gray.)

{These last 2 would have been great pictures if they weren't out of focus...

Love her look on this last one, like that girl was going to smack it right in her face;).}

Reganne was on an under 4 team.  I believe there was only 2 of those teams, so they played against alot of under 5 teams.  She did great, especially as the season went on.  In her last game she scored 6 goals!  Or *scores* as she calls them.  Still.  We'd tell her to get the ball and kick it in the goal and she would.  She even stole the ball from her own teammates to do so;).  Of course when you're playing with a bunch of 3 and 4 years olds, there is not a whole lot of defense happening.  Here she is with her first goal (that's her coach in the blue shirt guiding her along).  She was ecstatic, only I didn't get a great picture of her afterwards, I was too excited too!  

We're contemplating playing in the Spring since they both loved it.  But we've been warned the weather is not the greatest...  

Plus I was relieved when it was over.  My schedule is full enough;).

And next year we might be adding another one.  He'll be old enough.

We had a hard enough time keeping him off the fields as it was.

{All pictures from second games on Sept 18th.}

coat closet take two. and three.

One of my biggest gripes with our home is our coat closet.  It is a very crucial area for us and all we get is a dinky closet.

My dreams are filled with large mudrooms...

So last year I thought about what I could do to maximize space in our tiny closet.  

First and foremost, we took off the door.  Didn't help it's cause when within an hour or two of arriving in our home (before the movers even showed up) a nice little hole was punched into it from the door to the garage opening and hitting it.  Nice design there.  {To see our home's layout, scroll to the bottom of this post, although it's backwards, but you'll get the point of our awkward garage entry way.}   I never filled in the hinge holes though, just painted them...can't decide if it's worth it or not....  Then I took down the standard white wire hanging shelf (that was too high for the kids to reach so their coats were constantly lining the floor), and I created 2 hanging hook racks for one side and searched high and low for the perfect shelf for the other side.  Well, when the closet is only a little wider than the door frame itself, it was very difficult.  So I made do with our old shoe rack and a couple baskets (one for hats, gloves and other *extras* and the other for the kids shoes).  This design worked out alright.  The girls could hang up and get their own coats and backpacks, but it still seemed like it could be better...especially when the kids dumped the basket to find their shoes...

 {These were all taken in August, back before all the winter coats were pulled out.}

So again I contemplated what could be done.

And then I took the plunge.  When to Home Depot and had some boards cut to size.  Two 6 inchers for hanging racks, two 12 inchers for shoe shelves and four smaller 1x2s for the brackets or ledges that the shelves would rest on.  Now, I'm fairly bright.  I know that a 2x4 is not actually 2 inches by 4 inches.  But for some reason, I didn't think that that would apply to the 1x12.  So when I got home with my boards all cut and ready to go, I realized that my brackets were about an inch longer than the shelves they were going to support...  So I had to pullout my little handsaw and sawed off an inch on all those myself.  Lesson learned.  Next I pulled out some leftover primer and primed.  Then I just used some of our glossy white trim touch up paint and did 2 coats.  I also painted just the shelves with some Min-Wax protective stuff I picked up at Wal-mart on clearance.  These would see more action, so I wanted to be sure they held up.  For awhile at least.  For the hanging rod rack, I pulled off the hooks from my other racks and attached them (plus an extra for each one) to my new ones to give 5 hooks for each one.  Everything was ready to be hung.  Almost.  I wanted to paint the actual closet first.  Since it sits directly across from my light/aqua blue with a chartreuse-like green accented bathroom/laundry room, I wanted to coordinate it somehow.  So I was thinking a deep eggplant like purple...  I know the *rules*, don't paint small rooms dark, they'll just look smaller...well, this wasn't exactly a room...and I wanted a dark color to help hid scuffs...and the white of all the wood would stand out more...plus, it's just a closet...  So I took the risk and picked up a gallon of Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint plus primer.  Now I've mentioned before, I usually head to Sherwin Williams for my paint, but I couldn't pass this up.  Why?  This is why. :)

It didn't even say what the color was, just a sample of it on top, but it was what I was looking for.  (I constantly check the oops paints now;).)  And after painting, I loved it.  The paint itself was really nice to work with, was thick, and still low VOC, which is why I buy Sherwin Williams Harmony paint (no VOCs).  

So with the closet painted, everything was ready to go in.

   

 {I love looking at my little color scheme I've got now.}

Then I needed another basket for hats and whatnot...  I kept looking for a natural tall round one.  Finally found an oval one.  Didn't fit (but that was okay, because I found another use for it;).  Then I remembered buying this bag thing (half off) at World Market.  I loved it, but at the time didn't really know what to use if for (too small for our recycling).  Well, turned out it was the perfect color and size.  Plus it had some of that green accent on it.  Nice.  

Joe makes fun of me because my favorite room in the house is the smallest *room*.

Honestly, it's my favorite spot because it is the only room in the house that is completely finished.

And so far it's working out great.  Well, as great as a coat closet can serve as a mudroom for a family of 6;).  

And just a little extra tidbit for you...I'm the only one in the family who doesn't have a pair of Converse shoes...I didn't realize this until I lined up everyone's shoes (and Joe has 2 pairs, he just happened to be wearing them at the time).

a favorite find

Ever used this Shur-Line paint tray before?

No?

Okay then.  Continue on.

Everyone (okay, everyone on HGTV) always says, 

"Paint, it's the cheapest improvement you can make to your house."

Well, it may be the cheapest, but for me, it's still not cheap.  

Sure, I like to spent more on the Sherwin Williams Harmony paint, but that's not what this blog post is about...

One of the added expenses for me is a new paint tray.

I know, I know, if I just clean it out I can reuse it blah, blah, blah.  But I don't know about you, but I HATE cleaning out the paint tray.  It's such a mess and seems to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r and never really gets clean.  So one day while picking up again, another paint tray at Lowes I found this baby.  And it was like a dream come true.

Check this out: 

Is that not amazing!?!  

I know, I need to get a life;).

So you paint.  And you let the paint just dry up in the tray.

Then you peel it off.  It's quite fun.  My kids love to do it too.

If any little bits remain, just a quick wash in the sink and they're gone.

No mess.  No hassle.  No waste.

This is the 4th time I've used this sucker.

(But yes, I bought another, just in case.)

It is coated with Teflon, but we're not eating out of it, so no harm, right?

Wondering what I was painting?  Nothing too exciting, but I'll share soon.

a giveaway

It's a giveaway!  But not here.  

Head on over to Little bits of Bliss for a chance to win an adorable headband.

And check out all of Ali's great talents...photography, sewing, home improvement...she's awesome!

And she use to live down the road from us before she had to up and move... :(

another girl, another birthday, another party

Well, not really another party, but it sure looked like it;).

Just days before the big day, little miss Reganne informed me of this:

She wanted a Mulan birthday.

She wanted streamers on her doorway.

She wanted her friend Cassidy to come over.

She wanted to *unwrap* gum.

She had her gum privilage taken away and was getting it back on her birthday;).

Oh, to be four again...

She had a pretty big day nevertheless.

Woke up to streamers covering her doorway and the table all decked out with *Mulan* colors.

Got the inspiration from her Mulan doll's dress.  Although we couldn't find the actual doll...

Had her big Halloween party at preschool where she got to wear her costume and share some cupcakes.

Talked to her favorite cousin Maylee on the phone.

Her friend Cassidy came over and played.

Grandma Jean came over.

Opened one super-doper fun present.

Had her last soccer practice, kids vs parents.

Went to Panda Express for dinner (had to keep with the *oriental* theme).

Opened some more presents, including yes, a package of gum.

Had Happy Birthday sung to her.

Blew out a candle.

And enjoyed her 4th rainbow chip cupcake of the day.

I *think* she had a good 4th birthday.

I have another blogger that I love.

And she's lookin' for votes!

It only takes a second and you can vote once a day.

Good Mood Gig from SAM-e

And her blog, if you're interested.

Check our her craigslist table she redid.

So green with envy.

Oh, and she introduced me to the Craigseasy (a great, GREAT program that lets you view only the pictured items all at once...).

photo shoot: liam

I took these photos f-o-r-e-v-e-r ago of my friend's new not-so-little baby.  

Remember Claire?  This is her little brother.  

Anyhow.  

I've had a hard time getting them ready.  I think I was expecting to end up with newborn-newborn pictures.  Which I've learned, really only work when the baby is under 2 weeks old.  Liam was 1 month.  And HUGE!  So my *posing* was not great.  And then the editing.  I wanted to smooth him up a little, but I'm not the best at editing and every time I pulled some out and went to work, he ended up looking like a porcelain doll.  I wanted him to have this gorgeous baby smooth skin, but realistic looking skin...I hope I struck a good balance.

  

And of course some seventies action going on...  I think I love this action so much because it naturally smooths out the skin. ;)

Love this one... Yeah, I'm big.  And I'm tough.