InstaFriday 9.14.12

 
Hello, yumminess that I’d like to have delivered to me on my birthday.

Umbrella play

Time to camp!

Hiding from the crazy drunk ladies at the cantina up the road.  Saying “he doesn’t like the happy hour noise” does not mean, “please, yell ‘oh, you’re just so cute’ in his face even louder.”

Lousy angle….but the first attempt at getting all three  car seats in Daddy’s Fusion.  Success!

 
Late night s’more roasting

Somewhere over the rainbow…


Fog has finally cleared.  Hello, home.

 
Love art time with my little lefty.

 
Hobby Lobby display that made me miss my TN girls.

Love his post-nursing glazed over eyes

 
Early morning cartoon watching with Bean and Bubba

Oh, it is 5 o’clock somewhere.  It’s called my living room.  Meltdowns all around.

 
Worn out.

Taking advantage of Mr. Freeze being open only a few more days.  Mmmm…German Chocolate Cake.  LOVE.

 
Sweet boy.  Night light.  Bailey.  Heaven.

 
Prayed over sweetness on its way to Dallas.

 
Gorgeous day to watch somebody else mow the yard.

Yum.  Stuffed peppers.  So pretty.  So good.

 
Sous chef.

 
Somebody was way too excited to be up for school so early.

 
Dad wondered why I was pulling the dead stems out of his day lily plants…

 
I think it looks pretty darn good…

Sweet boy.  Before we knew he was super sick.

Laundry.  Always laundry.

 
$5 beanbag.  Brand new.  Score!  James’ first Christmas present.

 
FALL IS HERE!

 
Sweet boy, after we knew he was sick.

I’m linking up with Jeanett at Life Rearranged.  Join us, won’t you?

True story...

A girl starts a load of laundry.

Mixed, as always, with cold/cold water, and HE detergent.  Same MO that she's been using for years.

No bleach, no fabric softener.  Just clothes, water, and liquid detergent.

She goes about her other chores, trying to dismiss the pleasant but out-of-place scent of super-clean coming from the laundry room.

Finally, she realizes that it must be the chlorine that was in her son's bathing suit and pool towel that is giving off the bleach-like scent.

Fast forward through preschool pick up and dinner preparations, to when she finally remembers to transfer the washed clothes to the dryer.

She opens the top of the washer and what does she see?

The bottle of bleach, that normally sits on the shelf above the washing machine.

She gingerly picks it up.

It is empty.

Yes, the bottle of bleach emptied during the wash.

The mixed load of wash.

That contained her husband's brand new golf shirt.  Her son's brand new football season game day shirt.  Her dress pants.

With mounting dread, she pulled each piece from the washer and inspected it before wither hanging or placing in the dryer.

Fingers crossed, she set the dryer on low and walked away.

An hour later, or, ahem, three days, whatever, she emptied the dryer and began folding.

One by one, each piece was reinspected.

Miracle of miracles.

Not ONE piece of clothing was any worse for the wear.

And now the bleach is under the sink.

Lesson learned.

 

Erin’s big girl room

Ah, a bittersweet post to write, indeed.
How I have a little girl who is big enough to be getting a big girl room (and even more, a big girl BED!) is beyond me.  That said, the room came together exactly how I had envisioned.
The paint color is Valspar’s Well Water:
 
The paint color was easy to settle on, once I decided on the bedding, which was the Madison Damask from Kohl’s.

That picture of the bedding doesn’t really do it justice, because it makes the green look olive-ish, and it’s definitely more leaf-ish.  It’s brighter, and really pretty, and the perfect shade to coordinate with her existing curtains, and of course, her Small Words art.
I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the pictures.  It was near impossible to get great shots with just the one window and still using a simple point-and-shoot.  But I think you’ll get the idea.

So, here we go with the details…

Above her bed, wall shelves that I’ve had for a decade, with photos and mementos that are special.  Her birth announcement, You are Loved print, first trip to the beach photo, a special letter from Aunt Joyce from before she was even born, and one of her one-year portraits.

 

The metal wall flowers were actually from the garden center at Hobby Lobby at the season end of 2009.

Lamp from Target, embellished by me with clearance scrapbooking ribbon; musical bank from GiGi, Christmas 2010.

A basket, graduated from her changing table, holds her nebulizor and Abuterol right at hand in the nightstand.

The perfect spot for her trifecta of monthly shots, which I’m super proud of because I just eye-balled the frames’ hooks, and all three were level.  YES!

My DIY valance.  Looks as good with Well Water as it did with Picnic.  Score!

 
What is it about a gallery wall that takes so many tries to get it “just right”?  Before we painted, I had it arranged one way, and I should have taken a picture, because it was great.  And after….yeah.  I couldn’t remember, so this is what I came up with.

The oval stained glass mirror hung in my childhood home for as long as I can remember.  I love that it is in Erin’s room now.  Of course, her Small Words canvas played a big role in the direction of the room.  The sampler was made by my grandma, as were all her brothers’, and contains all her birth stats. Her one year picture, I’m sure, is going to be hung somewhere in my home for as long as I live.  I just love it.

The “E” is easily one of my favorite DIY projects ever (and I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’m blogging about it!).  When Tiffany and I went antiquing for my birthday last year, I found both an “E” and an “S” for $4, and we swung into the Franklin, TN, Goodwill to pick up the frame for an additional $2.  I painted the frame the same color as her birdcage, and backed the frame with the same fabric as her valance, and voila!  A super fun monogram!

Lastly, I hung a pencil drawing of San Fransisco that I purchased the summer I lived in California.  (On a side note, I have a complementary drawing in bolder blues and reds that we are currently custom framing for James’ room.  Yea!)

 
Just inside the door is her bookcase, made by Jim’s Uncle Fred.  Baskets hold Pull-Ups, diapers, and shoes.  While all the kids’ toys, for the most part, are in the basement, the top shelves hold a few of her favorite books, her memento box, her letters from Aunt Joyce, and her bow birdcage.

Above the bookshelf is her “e” from Anthropologie (a souvenir from our Vegas trip), teeny birdcages, and a votive holder turned hair rubber band receptacle. =)

Some final details include the sign from my baby shower fastened to her footboard; Bentley’s perch; rainboots (from Kohl’s) being borrowed for use as a doorstop; and a pine footstool (IKEA) to help the little miss get into bed at night.

   

And finally, some fun details about the dresser and nightstand came out after the room was finished.  I had always thought the furniture was some nondescript set (there is another chest piece that is in the kitchen for extra servingware storage), but it turns out, this suite belonged to my great grandmother, and has been used by many members of my dad’s family.

Most days, it isn’t this clean, with little girl leggings and bows and Pull-Ups tossed on top, but on a good day, it’s just some yellow roses, the must-have CD player, a photo of Erin meeting James in the hospital, and my the lamp from my childhood desk.

And an extra little touch to freshen it up – we painted the hardware a glossy white.  Such a small change, but it made a huge difference.

 

So, there you have it.  My baby girl’s not-so-baby-anymore room!

(Again, I apologize for the photo quality…. y’all will have to just come visit so  you can see for yourself how pretty Erin’s room is.  With her getting a queen bed instead of the smaller IKEA one we were eyeballing, this is now our official guest room, too.  Erin can easily move to Seth’s extra bunk, so….come on!  You’re always welcome!)

Wordless Wednesday 9.5.12

Let's dish....

So, my random, pointless question of the day, inspired by my just-completed, least-favorite household chore of all time (unloading the dishwasher) is this....

Do you group all your silverware together in the cutlery basket, ro so they all go in helter-skelter?

I've read that it's a time saver to group like with like, that way you can transfer right from basket to drawer in one fell swoop.

But I would think that you'd have "nesting" issues hindering cleanliness, especially with the spoons.




So what is your dish washing MO?  Do you even put that much thought into how you load the dishwasher?  (Please tell me I'm not the only anal-retentive one out there....!)

McQueen’s Steelers Squash

Confused?

It’s just my pathetic attempt at a clever title to introduce this post about Seth’s new room.

Months ago, I asked him if he wanted a “camo” room or a “race car” room, and I actually expected him to want the camo room, since I told him that we’d do green walls for that.  But, he opted for the race car room, instead.

And off to the races we went.  Or the drawing board, as the case might be.

We’d already picked out his IKEA bunk beds, and we’d inherited a dresser from Gramp-e’s new house, so working with black furniture put me on the right track to narrow down paint colors.  I landed on Valspar’s Spring Squash:

Is it yellow?  Is it orange?  Who knows!  But I knew it’d be perfect.  Especially when paired with black furniture, red curtains, red/black/white bedding, and race car appropriate checkered flags!

Of course, a tiny nod back to his nursery…

The view from the doorway…The one window is just off camera across from the bed, and the dresser is immediately to the left in this shot.  Also, the duvet cover and sheets are both IKEA finds.

A rug from Target that I originally purchased to go in our basement half-bath (which Jim is turning into Steelers domain), but it was too plush for the door to clear, so Seth inherited it, and you can’t argue the perfection.

A simple shelf from IKEA (that I hung myself!!!  and it’s level!!!) to hold a few favorite things: his birthday sampler from a my grandmother; wooden toys handcrafted by Jim’s grandfather; a checkered flag memo board, and, of course, a picture of Seth and Tennessee BFF Gage.
 

   
Some of my favorite things that brought the room’s theme together were the race suit (a $4 Once Upon A Child find) and an official NASCAR crew jacket that was a gift from Grandma.
 
The top bunk sports Seth’s extra Cars pillow and a racing blanket (free from one of Gramma’s rental properties), and his flea market “S” (painted green at his insistence) hangs above.
 
Above the dresser are the framed prints that show where Seth and Duncan’s stars (from the International Star Registry) can be found; the lamp was Jim’s in a former life; the car bank was a gift from Seth’s baby shower; the classic alarm clock was another IKEA find, as was the pop-up hamper.  While I’m referencing every little thing in this picture, I’ll just go ahead and tell you that the orange bean bag was a bridal shower gift from my sweet friend Melissa, and that the framed bee hanging from the dresser knob is from Seth’s first trip to the library.

 
Grr.  The Cars poster.  Here is the back story on this….

This was the photo that actually inspired the whole room idea:

These are some of Seth’s cars, lined up on our front sidewalk, ready to run the World Grand Prix for the bazillionth time this summer.  I knew I could get it blown up to poster size, and I began to build the room around this photo.  But, then I found the car poster at Walmart for only $5, and that was just way easier – not to mention that now we have a reference for all the cars’ names.

But…Seth is now afraid of the “bad” cars on the poster, and every night, he asks us to cover the poster up so the bad cars can’t see him.  Sigh.  We’re working through this.

Moving on…

Seth’s coat rack fit perfectly over the bottom bunk, which is much more ideal than over the door (that it is designed for), because Seth can actually reach the hooks!

And last but not least…some love from Tiff placed in a prominent place to be seen every day.

I would eventually like to do some red and black detailing on the walls (stripes, maybe?) and we are looking to put diamond plate inserts in the the head- and footboard panels, and I want to incorporate some more checkered flags, but for now….we are all loving Seth’s race car room, and it doesn’t hurt that the colors are going to give way to a Steelers motif when he outgrows this.

If you see anything out there in blogland or around Pinterest that you think I need to see to incorporate into Seth’s room, please link up in the comments!

And one more thing….here is a link to my “Seth’s room” pinboard if you want to take a look at some of the initial and future inspiration: http://pinterest.com/msg_writerchic/seth-s-big-boy-room-circa-summer-2012/

Do y’all like it?  Ka-chow!

Jackpot

 

It's not the first time I've bragged about her, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

I just had to remind you all that you should be jealous.  I got THE best mother-in-law the world had to offer.  She loves me (and Jim, duh), and my children exquisitely, and lets me be my flawed self without judgment. 

She is the only one who even remotely understands what it is like to be married to Jim, because (a) she's his momma, and (b) she is married to "a Gregory man," and she and a certain Hospice nurse know what I mean by that.  (And honey, it's not a criticism....it's more of an inside joke.)

She makes the best chocolate chip cookies, knows the true joy of a cold Pepsi, is a laundry goddess, and has the heart of gold that I thought I'd never know again when my beloved Duck (my paternal grandmother) passed away.

And for today, that's it.  Just a girl, who wanted to brag on her Momma G for a minute.  Because God knows, she deserves it.