book ledges in the kids' room are done!

And I have to say they are awesome.

The before:

and the after:

I've wanted to do these shelves ever since I saw this inspiration picture a few weeks ago.  We used eight Ribba shelves from Ikea. These take up much less room than the bookshelf and changing table that were in the space originally.

The blue sun at the top is from Costa Rica and was a gift from my mother in law.  I'm so pleased that it goes so well with the bedding in the kids' room.  

The room is almost done.  The only thing remaining is to find some art for over the dressers.  I'm debating between blown-up posters of the kids (I want!) or using some art we already have (free!).   Big reveal soon, I hope.

Whatcha think?  

new dining table is here

For months I've been searching for a dining table on craigslist to replace the so-so oval pedestal table we've been using.

The oval table is wobbly, and no amount of fixing and propping have fixed it.  It's too small to get all six chairs around, and Princess is always off in a corner (you can see her high chair back there against the window.)

I've wanted a farmhouse style table, which has been remarkably hard to find on craigslist.  However, months of searching finally paid off.  I came across this Pottery Barn table, with a protective glass top, for about a third of what it sells for brand new. (The seller advertised it as the Montego table, but I think its actually the Sumner table.) I snapped it up this weekend.

Ignore my crooked pictures, please.

When buying the table, I noticed that it didn't close all the way.  However, looking under the table, I noticed that the seller had never unscrewed the wood pieces that held it together in transit.  Plus, she told me she had the table less than a year, and honestly, it was in pretty stellar condition.

I figured that when we got it home we would unscrew it and push it together, and that would be that.  (Foreshadowing here.)   Unfortunately, that's not quite what happened.  We unscrewed the wood pieces, attempted to push the table together....and it remained immovable.

Many, many, many minutes of pushing later, we gave up.  We searched all over the bottom of the table to see if there was another piece holding it together that we were missing, but no.

See where the seams are?  We can get the side seam together---but the top seam is still gaping.   The table just doesn't fit together right.

The moving company (also known as the Mister and I) also managed to take a pristine condition table and put a bunch of dings and scratches on it in the space of 20 feet from the minivan to the house.

We filled it in with a wood pencil, and its better, but still there.

Its under the glass top now, so that's how its staying.

Despite the dings and the not-closing, we are really liking this table.  It looks pretty, it doesn't wobble, and my youngest can now actually eat at the table with us.  Its a better dynamic having all the kids at the table with us, and its also easy to have everyone at the table working on projects and spreading out.  Its not that much bigger than the oval, but the rectangular shape is just working much better for us.  I also didn't really care whether it had a glass top, but I have to say I'm really liking how easy it is to clean up, while protecting the wood underneath.  So, we are happy with our new table.  

poll: big pictures or even bigger pictures?

So, join me in 2005 and discover that there is a function where you can MAKE YOUR PICTURES BIGGER in Blogger!  I have been playing with this a bit.  I can't decide if I like the "large" picture:

or the "Xtra Large" pictures.

I think I like the Xtra Large pictures best, because who wouldn't want to see this pretty face or scrutinize what I have on my bookshelves from 20 feet away?  The one thing I don't like about the Xtra Large picture is that it makes the picture larger than the text column on the page.

Which do you prefer?  Leave an answer in the comments.

Lil' DaVinci frames

For Christmas, one of my aunties got me this Lil DaVinci frame:

This frame is awesome.  Why?  Look at this! Its the same concept as a bathroom medicine cabinet--it swings open with storage behind the top picture.

Or you can look at the nifty picture from the Amazon web page

You can store up to fifty pieces of paper inside.  All that stuff my kid brings home every single week from school?  All the artwork that they all do at school and at home?  I can switch it out on a regular basis, and store others inside waiting for their turn.

Neat product, eh?

(I'm not paid to endorse this, I just have it and like it and wanted to share an easy way to store some of your kid's art.) 

its a sickness, I tell you.

I am addicted to picture frames.  

Except they have no pictures in them.  I have about 17 empty picture frames in my house.  Already hung on the wall or propped on a dresser in just the right spot.  Just blank.

There's more in the closet.

*coughcough There's an entire plastic bin of them out in the garage coughcough*

Maybe I should start putting some pictures in them.

state of the union

Here's what we've been up to lately:


1)  I am making headway on my 2011 house project list. I've crossed (nearly) three items off my 7-item list.  Number 1, the new sofa, yay!, is done. Number 4, the boys room, is about 90% finished.  Number 7, the play area in the basement, is also (90%) done.  I have a feeling that much of the list is going to exist in this 90% finished state.  Next I will tackle number 5, the laundry area in the basement.  


2) Last night I made fish tacos from a recipe over at Life of a Doctor's Wife, and they were delicious.  The Mister agreed.  Even Greg ate them.  I made a slight variation--no one here will eat cilantro but me, so I made the sauce with parsley, and it was excellent.  I think it would be even better with fresh limes, but was perfectly good with bottled lime juice.  I had the leftovers (fish + sauce) over a salad with tomatoes today, and it was still delicious.  


I also made this wonderful chicken noodle soup from Freckles Chick.  Easy, quick, one pot, and easy easy easy.  I didn't have thyme or sage or bay leaf (any of the herbs she used, basically) but I did have rosemary, so I put a bunch of that in, and I thought it was delicious.  Greg greeted it with "this is the worst dinner IN THE WHOLE WORLD" but then ate  a whole bowl of it.   

3) Potty training meanders on.  Peter is mostly wearing underpants during the day, by his own choice.  This has in no way affected where he is actually going to the bathroom.  Using his underpants is just like using a diaper, as far as he is concerned. In fact, just a few moments ago there was an incident necessitating a change of underpants, and I said, "what about using the potty?" and Peter replied, "OHHHH...right...yeah!  The potty!  I forgot."  


Princess has been yelling "TOO SMALL, TOO SMALL" whenever we change her diaper.  There is only one more larger size diaper.  She will be in a diaper probably for at least another year.  Gulp.


4)  Diet and exercise!  Blarg.  If you are wondering how I am doing on the Weight Watcher front, wonder no longer.  I have lost no weight.  Probably because I am not following WW.


I did stop eating entire batches of cookies in the space of 36 hours.  I am now only eating one (maybe two. Or three.)  brownies in every evening after dinner.  And perhaps a few handfuls of chocolate chips during the day.  I am well aware of why I have not lost any weight.


I have kept up exercising every day.  Although I detest working out to videos, that's what I've been doing.  Its been very icy and snowy here, so walking outside has not been a great option.  I also like to work out early in the morning before starting the rest of my day, and the time to do that is around 6:30 am, and babysitters who want to come to your house while you work out at that hour are few and far between.  Videos in my living room allow me to keep an eye on the kids and still exercise.  Frequently the kids will exercise with me anyways.


My meal consumption is pretty healthy, and if my 3 meals a day were all I ate I'd be doing great.  Snacks, on the other hand, kill me.  Handfuls of chocolate chips and cranberry ginger bread slathered in butter are my staples.


I'm debating a no-processed-sugar diet.  I am not a moderator; I am an abstainer.  I won't just eat half my regular brownie, it just doesn't work that way for me.  Either I go whole hog or I don't touch it at all. It seems like it will be difficult to sustain a no processed sugar diet, though.


5) I have moved the Princess in with the boys.  Princess decided that this is a thing Up With Which She Shall Not Put.  Directly after I forced the move into the boys room, she countered with an attack of croup.  I admire her strategic thinking skills.  

Maybe this is not a good week to attempt a no-sugar diet. (I picked a bad week to give up horse tranquilizers.) 


And now for some pictures.


Princess in her Super Princess cape, beaded necklace, feather boa and rabbit ears.  What all the well-dressed superheroes are wearing these days.  

  

Nonno is on the bottom of the pile:

If your mother won't buy you a gun, make your own from toys laying around the house.  I feel I am doing well on the parenting skill of forcing your kids to be creative.

last bunkbeds, I swear

I've decided to hold off on the bunkbeds for now.  The room is pretty much finished, all three beds are in there, all three dressers, one giant rocking chair and the bookshelves, so I'm just going to keep it as is.  However, I did come across two other bunkbeds that were pretty cool so I thought I'd share.


This one from Room and Board (where we got our sofa) is EXACTLY what I wanted.  However, I did not want to spend $1400 on it.  But, it looks cool and has exactly the functionality I was looking for.  I think its a great choice for younger kids if you have a gazillion dollars to buy a bed with.  

I also came across these crazy insane bunkbeds on the blog August Fields (which I came across when it was featured the other day on Sixth Street Design School).  Can you imagine how awesome these must be for the kids???

The entire August Fields house is beautiful and worth a look.  Its on the monochromatic side and I have no idea how she keeps the house so clean with all that pale gray/white and five kids, but it looks really lovely.