Friday, November 15, 2013

Cluttersharking the Coat Closet

My coat closet was a disaster.  I reorganized it a few times and even started switching out coats at different times of the year but the closet was still a disaster. 
The before.  This is an old pic, the cluttershark doesn't like to wait to take a before pic when a project starts.  She jumps right in and starts ripping things to shreds.  

Here is the pile of crap from the closet dumped into the playroom.  I love showing off a good mess. Here is the mess I am looking at while writing this post:
It has looked like this for weeks. Hopefully posting this pic will get me to clean it up tomorrow.  Back to the closet.  

We emptied the closet and took off the doors.  We also removed the hanging shelf that went across the top of the closet and patched the holes.  

My Mom is the best and for my birthday she got me the stuff to hang in the closet to organize it. She gives the best gifts!! Here is a look at what we installed.  I also got to use a circular saw to cut down that shoe rack so we could fit them both into the closet across the floor.

Here is the after:

So much better!!! I did send a few pairs of shoes up to my closet and some went to the big shoe store in the sky.  PB also has a space to hang his coats.  He has a little coat rack in our foyer but it was full.  Now he just has the one coat he wears most often on his little coat rack. I have even been putting my shoes away in the closet.  There is no giant pile of shoes in the hallway.  It's been really awesome! Happy Friday! Hope this inspires you to take on a problem area in your house this weekend!!! 

Friday, November 8, 2013

Baby gift

I did some sewing!! It felt so good!!! AND PB was watching me and was so impressed with every little thing I did.  An impressed audience is a fun thing.
A friend of mine from college is having twins!! I got her a bunch of registry stuff and added 7 burp cloths, 2 crinkle taggie toys and 2 pacifier clips to the basket. 
Here is the finished basket.  I am pretty sure she doesn't know I have a blog so I am going to risk posting before i give her the gift :)
(I like this pic because my house doesn't look like the disaster that it really is LOL move the camera an inch in either direction and you can see piles of crap.)
I am so excited for this shower, I haven's seen my friend since PB was a baby.  She gets to meet JB too!! Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Halloween costumes

I love making Halloween costumes.  I have been looking forward to it all summer.  PB decided in July he wanted to be Batman.  When I asked him if he wanted his baby brother to be Robin, his whole face lit up with excitement.  
My hubby had the best idea for a photo shoot location.  It turned out to be the perfect backdrop. 

PB's costume was pretty simple.  It's basically black leggings and a black long sleeve t-shirt. I used black felt to make "boots" and arm cuffs and yellow felt to make his belt.  They are all attached with Velcro.  I sewed him a cape using black knit.  The Batman logos are just yellow knit attached with wonder under. I found his mask in July on clearance at Kohl's, it was a lucky find!
JB's costume was easy too.  I bought the red onesie (it was free with my coupon at Carter's!!) I made the knit pants using a pair of his pants as the pattern.  There is a yellow band at the top of the pants to look like his belt. His pants are sewn shut at the bottom so his little feet wouldn't get cold. The cape is just held on with Velcro.  I attached the Robin logo with wonder under.  

JB needed a second costume. His first costume couldn't be a superhero, it needed to be food!! PB was a carrot his first Halloween. 
We sometimes call JB the banana grabber.  He gets his hands on everything!!! So a banana costume just seemed to fit him! He did not want to take pics so I took them anyway.  I had everything set up so I quick took a few pics even though he was the saddest banana. I used fleece and the black is knit fabric.  I just made the pattern up and used one of JB's sleep sacks to get the arm holes the right size.  It is attached to some PJ's with Velcro so it stays up.

We got some amazing pics with the boys in their superhero gear.  PB didn't know about the mask until we started taking pics.  He was so excited, he had the biggest smile on his face!!

PB is so excited about his costume.  He loves to do fighting poses in it.


I made him a trick or treat bag to go with his costume.  I didn't finish it in time for our neighborhood trick or treat but he got to use it at school and at the zoo trick or treat.  

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Disappearing act

Sorry I disappeared off the internet like that.  I really thought when preschool started for PB, I would be a wash in free time.  I have 4 mornings a week where I have one less kid and I still manage to do nothing creative.  
JB turned 7 months                                      He just turned 8 months

I am in a funk.  I don't feel like sewing or even cooking new recipes.  I have made a few but they weren't worth sharing. Maybe it's because I feel like I spend my entire day feeding a baby or making food for the kids.  I am nursing 5 times a day, making his baby food and he eats that food 2 times a day.  And then there is the bottomless pit that is PB, he is always talking about what he wants to eat next or is eating.  Sometimes he does both at the same time.   

My free time has been focused on family activities.  We crossed everything off our Summer Bucket List and I made a mini Fall Bucket List.  We have been spending our weekends doing some fall fun.  Today we are crossing another thing off the list.

While I nurse, I think of all these great ideas and then I see my disaster house and know those things have to wait.  

How can you spend a whole day cleaning only for the house to look no cleaner the next morning?  I have been reorganizing closets and getting rid of my maternity clothes and somehow it looks like a tornado hit our upstairs even though we have less stuff.  

I guess if I could solve all these things I wouldn't be in a funk.  I do have a project planned with my mom this week.  We are installing a closet organizer! Also I made Halloween costumes and I will share those this week too.  


I woke up early this morning for no particular reason and decided to come down and write this post.  Within 30 seconds of me sitting down at my computer PB was on his way downstairs and made a huge giant noise and woke the baby. Awesome. Guess the day of constantly feeding humans starts again!

Friday, August 30, 2013

Surprise Bedroom Makeover

Last week PB went away for a few days to visit with my in laws AND Hubby had a business trip for 2 nights at the same time.  My Mom and I decided it would be the perfect time to surprise my hubby and redo my master bedroom. Hubby and I planned to paint the bedroom when he was off over Labor Day weekend.  I kept up the lie and really made him think my mom and I were getting the room ready for the makeover.  
This is a very realistic look at my before bedroom.  The room was builder paint white and the headboard my Mom and I recovered 6 years ago when we moved into the house and it was supposed to be a temporary solution. Over the last 6 years we slowly got furniture.  Everything in the room except for the bed is from IKEA, no surprise.  Also I do usually have a bed skirt on the bed but when the carpet cleaner came, I took it off and it never made it back on.  

Now for the after...
I am thrilled with how it turned out.  The walls are painted with Olympic paint and primer in one from Lowes.  The color is Secret Passage.  The doors and trim is all painted Ultra White. The duvet is the same one we had before.  My Mom and I recovered the headboard with a dark grey circle pattern.  I had all the frames either in my room or in the basement, so all the art just shifted location.  I still don't have pics in the frames, Hubby and I are picking from my very large photo archive.   The sheers on the windows are the same, we just hung some dark grey panels on the sides.  They are both from IKEA.  

So were they surprised?
They really were!!!
 PB asked if Renovation Raiders came over.  When I told him it was me and my mom, he was super impressed.  Hubby was so focused on the changed headboard (that he knew about and helped pick the fabric for) that he didn't notice the paint right away.  He was in the room for about 30 seconds before he started looking at the walls.   

The best part of this makeover is that it cost less then 200 for everything!! The headboard only cost $30 to redo thanks to coupons and gift cards!

It has been done for less then a week.  I have actually been hanging out in there.  I even napped in there one afternoon when both boys were napping. (in their own beds!!!) This week Hubby and I celebrated our 16th year together.  We didn't actually celebrate, he was out of town again for work.  It was the perfect time to redo the bedroom.  

A huge thank you to my wonderful, talented, amazing mother for helping me/ lighting a fire under my butt and making the bedroom I have been wishing for since we moved in.  

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Summer bucket list/ JB 5 months

Since I have been absent for so long, I thought I would make it up to you with a little picture recipe. Grilled Zucchini and Corn Salad:
This is a really delicious and easy side.  If you are growing zucchini in your garden, I am sure you are running out of things to do with it like I am.

We have been busy crossing things off our Summer Bucket List!!
We have crossed off 34 items!!! That means 16 to go! Unbelievable!!! 

Also in the past 2 weeks, JB turned 5 months!
He has little brother syndrome and has to be apart of everything! He coos and yells and tries to talk to us and he is LOUD! It's really fun. 

He also started cereal last week.  He has been trying to steal my food, so it was time. Every bite of cereal he makes this face that says, "this is not what you are eating."  He really wants to eat everything we are eating.  

He isn't trying to move around and he doesn't roll much. He is just pretty chill. He likes to see what his brother is doing at all times :)  Also I am still spoiling him at nap times with a mommy snuggle nap, I just love it so much but I will break that habit when school starts up again.  He is an amazing sleeper and sleeps the night and will fall asleep just about anywhere too. 

So realistically I probably wont be back until JB is 6 months. I really hope I pop back in here with something sooner :)

Saturday, July 20, 2013

I've been cluttersharked!

What?!?! A post about a project?!?! It sure is!!

Hubby was away 2 weeks ago.  The Cluttershark (my mom) sprung into action and wanted to attack my basement storage areas while he was gone.  We have 4 storage areas in the basement.  2 are small closets and the other is connected but I always think of it as 2 separate spaces, maybe because we usually can't walk through it easily.  
This is one of the few before pics I have.  She just starts attacking clutter and doesn't wait for a before pic lol. This is one part of the larger storage space.  Those yellow bins and their contents are now gone.  
Here is the after space.  We can actually walk into it!!

Hubby likes to be prepared and the cluttershark likes to be organized.  She had this organizer in her house left from the previous owner.  Surprisingly she couldn't use it so she brought it over to us and it fit perfectly in our large storage area.  It organizes our emergency stuff.  
Here is the other side of the completed large storage area. If you keep walking though it connects to the top 2 pics.  All our painting stuff is well organized on the shelves.  
These are the 2 small closets that are next to each other.  The one on the left is our "baby closet." We keep all the kid stuff in there.  The one on the right is my "entertaining closet." I keep my kitchen overflow and party stuff in there.  it works much better now after getting rid of a bunch of stuff.

Here is the pile of stuff that we got rid of.  In there was my lava lamp from college and I had 2 bins from college I never unpacked.  They are now gone! I really was ready to get the crap out and was excited to have a more useful space.  

My Mom and I also hung a wall of picture frames. 
The basement is kinda bare.  

Now it looks so much better. I had these frames in a box so it was free decorating. They have photos in them from my Senior Thesis.  I was a photo major and my thesis was a body of work for a gallery show.  I am going to replace the pics with some family pics.  I haven't done that yet :) lol I used those 3M velcro strips to hang, i am addicted to those things!!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Summer Bucket List / JB is 4 Months!

Hello!!!!! Yes, I did fall off the internet for a little while :) 
Somehow summer is even busier than the school year.  I am feeling the pressure to have a really fun summer for PB now that baby JB is here.  We had a bucket list last summer and since I was in the first trimester of pregnancy, we didn't get to cross it all off, ok fine we only crossed off half of it! But this summer will be different!!!

I made this list a few weeks ago, so we already crossed some things off!!! Maybe I should have put don't neglect my blog for so long up there. 

#37- ride a roller coaster
#28- pick berries
#46- see a baseball game (we have gone twice and have tickets for another game!)

So hopefully we will cross this whole list off.  I'll try harder to pop in here more often.  

JB is 4 months now!!
He is the reason I get nothing done and my house is a wreck.  

This sweet little face just melts me.  I just want to kiss his face and cuddle him all day long. So I do!! When PB naps I get baby snuggle time and then get nothing done :) 

This is terrible but I let him take snuggle naps on me more than I should.  I just can't help myself.  He is sleeping the night in his crib all alone, and he will take naps by himself.  But sometimes he falls asleep nursing and I just enjoy the snuggles.  

I hope you all are having a great summer so far! 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

3 months

JB is 3 months old already!!! He is getting so big!!
Another month went by and I have done no sewing.  I have been having a few adventures in the kitchen so hopefully I will have something to share soon.  

PB has been giving me a run for my money lately.  I think JB's face says it all in this pic.  LOL
PB has been a little jealous. He is really nice to his little brother but not very nice to me.  He is especially difficult when I am nursing the baby.  PB can be playing nicely in the other room and as soon as it's time to nurse, he gives me a hard time and acts out until I yell at him.  I started sending him to his room instead of giving him that negative attention over and over and that seems to be working.  At least I get to nurse in peace.  

 This little guy is so sweet :) He is sleeping the night and then some.  A few mornings I have had to go in and wake him up so we can take PB to school.  JB is so easy going and only fuses when he needs something. He has been cooing a ton but he only talks when PB is quiet.  PB is constantly talking so JB only talks sometimes.  

Here is the month by month comparison:
one month                              two months                          three months

I have some teacher gifts to sew, I'll share those soon.  Also we planted our garden and have been doing some yard work.  We dug up some bushes and moved them.  We are almost done with that project so that will be up here soon too!  
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