May 13, 2008
May 8, 2008
links for 2008-05-08
-
Stumbled upon a free issue and it seems great. Just subscribed!
-
Great online source - do searches for “free of” items.
-
We have dairy allergy, possible soy allergy, and eczema here - always looking for new resources.
and now she has curtains. sorta.
Another step towards finishing Kat’s room. Curtain rods!
I had a bit of a hard time finding exactly what I wanted. It didn’t seem like I was asking for much… white, wooden, double rods, with the main rod having some girth, and finials that were pretty and yet simple (but not too simple!), and still substantial in size (I wanted them to stand out a good bit against the darker paint). As it turns out, I’m lucky to find double rods at all locally, forget about white wooden ones fit for a little girl’s room.
So I stumbled upon the JCPenney website and found these on sale. I had some issues with JCP customer service (rude responses, not answering my questions, etc)… but the rods finally arrived, in one piece and they’re perfect. Yay! (Still undecided as to whether I’ll shop JCP again.)
The curtains are Pottery Barn Kids chambray curtains that used to hang in Jag’s room a few years ago. We’ve changed the colors of his room since then and they no longer matched, so I’d packed them away hoping to reuse them. While they aren’t exactly what I wanted for Kat’s room, they’re close enough that I’m not going to bother spending money on something new.
As you can see, some of the panels are a lot shorter than others. I bought 4 panels in all originally, but only ended up using 2 in Jag’s room. I bought the extra long panels because they were on clearance, so I had to shorten them for his room. So the other 2 panels are still extra long. I can’t let out the hem on the shorter ones because even with a wide hem, there’s still not enough fabric to reach the floor, so I think I’ve decided to cut the long panels down to match the short ones, then sew a wide white eyelet ruffle to the bottom of all 4 panels so that they reach the floor. (I recently saw some wide eyelet ruffle sold by the yard at Joann’s - it will match Kat’s crib skirt perfectly!)
I realized after taking this picture, that after I get the curtains hemmed and trimmed, all I’ll have left is to paint the dresser and hang wall art! Not that those are especially small jobs, but they’re not huge either so I feel like I’m almost done! Yay!
May 7, 2008
wait! before you buy!
Got my usual Sensational Beginnings catalog in the mail yesterday, and I was flipping through it when I noticed this neat Wigglin’ Water Hose. Cool. And hey! That’s the EXACT Wigglin’ Water Hose I bought at Walmart on Monday for $8.95! Less than half the price!
(I know Walmart is the root of all evil… I know. But when my choice is between shopping at Walmart that’s 5 minutes away, or Target that is 25 minutes away, and especially with gas prices what they are, I can’t justify a boycott. Sorry.)
As for the sprinkler, we haven’t tried it yet, but I will update if it’s a hit. I picked this one over others because it looks like several kids could play at once without too much of getting in each other’s way.
May 6, 2008
links for 2008-05-06
-
Fun online games for kids!
flyin’
So here’s my latest thing. We’ll see if I can keep up with it.
I’m doing FlyLady.
Haven’t we all tried this at one point in time? Has anyone actually ever stuck with it?
Here’s the deal. I have no patience. So following her exact plan is tough for me. Some days I might only want to spend 15 minutes decluttering, other days I just need to keep going until I almost literally drop just so it’s done already.
A few weeks ago, Jason had to go out of town on business, and I knew shortly after that that family would be coming to town for Kat’s birthday, and then shortly after that my Father-in-Law would be visiting for a weekend. I knew that if I didn’t bust my rear and do a full-on marathon cleaning before all the chaos started, that I’d never get it all done and I’d be hiding piles of stuff in my master closet when we had guests. Again. ;-P
So that’s what I did. I actually did a pretty good job, no half-assed cleaning here. I reorganized linen closets, cleaned out drawers and cabinets, donated and recycled a TON of stuff… and somehow I’ve managed to maintain it really well. I’ve actually surprised myself! Ha!
I decided that since I’ve not let the house go to pot, that maybe I’d put myself on a deep cleaning plan - hence the decision to follow FlyLady again. I’m actually not following anything on her plan except the “FlightPlan” where you deep clean a “zone” for an assigned couple of days. I find this pretty easy to follow, and then I do everything else (laundry, dishes, picking up toys, vacuuming, etc etc etc) on my own schedule.
So far so good! Last week was easy because it was the dining room, foyer and front porch. This week is a little harder for me because it’s in the kitchen. And I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I h-a-t-e cleaning the kitchen. I hate dishes, I hate wiping down counters 38290 times a day, I hate scrubbing food off the table, I hate cleaning out the fridge… anyway, I’ll get through it and then I’ll be able to move on to fun rooms again, like bedrooms and the family room. 
May 5, 2008
links for 2008-05-05
-
Bought a darling little sundress for Kat from their booth at the farmer’s market this weekend. I plan to be a repeat customer!
menu plan monday - cinco de mayo edition
It’s been a long time! I got off my Monday shopping schedule, but I’m back on it now and hope to keep it this way at least until the end of the school year (only a handful of weeks away!).
Monday: for Cinco de Mayo, steak fajitas!
Tuesday: grilled chicken caesar salad (love that we’re using the grill again!)
Wednesday: meatloaf w/ roasted red potatoes and steamed broccoli
Thursday: meat lasagna w/ garlic bread
Friday: grilled chicken & veggie kabobs w/ mixed rice
Saturday: hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill w/ baked beans and corn on the cob
Sunday: homemade chicken nuggets w/ fries and whatever yummy veggies I find at the farmers’ market on Saturday
teacher appreciation week
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, so I’ve put a few things together for Jag’s teachers (both the primary and assistant teachers). They looked so pretty sitting on the dining room table (my gift/decor holding area - not like we use that room for anything else!), I thought I’d snap a picture.
Today I sent in hand-dipped (by me!) chocolate pretzels, so those aren’t pictured here. The gift bag in the back is classroom supplies - dry erase markers and eraser. The yellow and green tin watering cans each have a cactus and gardening gloves (in colors matching the cans). And up front, my favorite chocolates - Lindt truffles, assorted flavors. Mmmm!
Jag’s also going to sit down and write each teacher a thank you note to take in this week.
prettying up the house
Is “prettying” a word, and if so, did I spell it correctly?
Anyway. Speaking of cameras and pictures…
this is what I’ve done in my foyer. I’ve been collecting a variety of stuff to decorate my house with for a couple of years now, and a lot of those items still haven’t been hung or set out. Seriously, two posts previous when I said I’m a slacker? I meant it!
So this is where I finally started. Right inside my front door. The mail/postcard rack was a clearance find at Pottery Barn last year. Frames were purchased during one of Michael’s 50% off sales year before last (hence the old prints in them - I need to update those), antique cameras were gifts from my antique-savvy Mom several years ago (there are a lot more I haven’t put out yet!) and the little red table was actually a recent find, 30% off at World Market (I also got a smaller, matching one that is sitting on the opposite side of the front door but I have nothing on it or over it yet).
A little progress in my Finally Decorate the House project!
