Sewing Desk Makeover

This project has been done for a couple of weeks and I'm just now able to sit down and blog about it! :)

I have had this wooden desk of my grandpa Sonny's since I was very young. It was in my bedroom for most of my life growing up and it came with us when Mitchell and I were married. We've used it for various things, but for the past two years, it has been sitting, unused, in a garage. I hated that it was just taking up space and collecting dust. It's a nice, solid wood desk!

As I mentioned before, my in-laws bought me a new sewing machine for Christmas and I immediately knew where I would put it. I had the perfect desk! :0) I also knew a fun project was coming up because, let's be honest, this desk has seen it's better days, aesthetically speaking.

So, I turned this:

Old picture I just happened to find!

In to this:

Pictures really don't do it justice! The top was done by using Mod Podge to adhere scrapbook paper to the desk and then I gave it three coats of polyurethane to seal it. The paint is an eggshell white / antique white that we color-matched to the scrapbook paper.

I originally wanted to buy pretty crystal handles/drawer pulls on it, but after discovering they run $10-20 each (and needing six of them!), I quickly decided that wasn't going to happen. 

I think it turned out well! It looks a lot better than it did and the desk works very nicely as a sewing desk. :)

Happy Birthday to my beautiful mama!

I just wanted to take a minute to wish my mom a very Happy Birthday! She's turning 29...again! :0)

My mom is such a wonderful person and I am so blessed to have her in my life. There are few people in this world that would literally give you the shirt off their back if you were in need, but my mom is that person. She is gorgeous, not only on the outside, but on the inside, too. She is the person I look up to most in this world - I hope I can measure up to her some day. She is the best mom and grandmother anyone could ever hope to have and I am so thankful to call her *mine*. She is my best friend and I miss her so much! My mama is the most selfless, kind, and generous person you could ever hope to encounter. She has left some impossibly large shoes for me to fill.

She's going to be really embarrassed and bashful because I devoted an entire post to her, but that's okay because it's her birthday! Birthdays are always good for a little embarrassment, right? :)

One tired mama.

First day of school! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I was about 12-13ish in this picture)

My baby shower!

She becomes a grandma. <3 

Our last night in Kansas. =0( 

My parents on my wedding day! :) 

I love you, Miss Caffy Joooones! I hope you have a wonderful day. I wish so much that I could be with you to celebrate.  Maybe next year. Right? ;-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

Saturday Nine

1. How did you cope with your biggest heartache?

--The greatest heartache I have ever experienced was the loss of my Grandpa Dean. I miss him more than I can put in to words. His death was very sudden and shocking and because of the circumstances, I had no real closure. I never got to say goodbye and it just left this big, empty space in my heart. As for coping, I don't let myself think about it too much or I get really upset. I'm good at bottling up my emotions. ;) I look forward to the day that I see him again. I just know he's cracking everyone up in Heaven with his silly jokes and his wild socks.

2. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?

--That would have been my Grandma Dorothey two Easters ago.

3. How many jobs have you held in your life? How many of those were part of your chosen career field?

--Well, I'll just keep it simple and not include the two that didn't work out for jack diddly squat. ;-) I have had four "real" jobs - Dillon's, Bank of the West, Security Savings Bank, and a contract position with a work-at-home company. None of these really pertain to my 'career field' - my 'career' is my family and they were all just jobs.

4. How did you discover Saturday 9?

--My friend, Kristin, does the Saturday 9 gig and that's where I got the idea. :)

5. If you could take the train from anywhere to anywhere, where would 'anywhere' be?

--Washington DC! It's one of my top three places to see in my life time. I would love to go some day.

6. When was the first time you cooked for someone else?

--Tonight. I cook every day! 

7. What is the worst beverage you've ever tasted?

--Ugh. So many forms of alcohol could take the prize, but whiskey and beer are so, so gross. Although, I have to say....coffee is pretty nasty, too.

8. Is there anything in life you are "certain" about? Firm in your beliefs? Strong in your convictions?

--I'm definitely firm in my beliefs. :)

9. Do you know anyone who has as very unusual pet?

--No, but my dad used to have a pet monkey! That makes me laugh. If you know my dad, you know why that's funny. He's the last person on the face of the Earth you'd ever expect to have a MONKEY! 

Bottles of Dawn are ugly.

The other day as I was browsing Pinterest (my new favorite website, by the way - if you want an invite, leave your email address and I'll send you one!) and came across a simple idea. Instead of leaving the ugly bottle of dish soap at the sink, simply use an olive oil bottle. Simple solution to an unsightly bottle of Dawn!

As you know, I'm a cheapskate. I priced the bottles at a department store and they were in the five dollar range. Is that a lot of money? Not really. But I decided to hold off and see if I could find one at Dollar Tree, one of my favorite cheapskate stores, lol. Sure enough, I found one. One dollah! That's more my style.

The only problem? It said 'oil' on it. =/  I got out a razor and tried to scrape it off but it was not budging. I finally gave up and knew I'd either have to leave it or come up with another idea. Seeing as I didn't very well want to leave it, I came up with a solution hoping it turn out well. I dug around in my scrapbook box and found several coordinating pieces of scrap paper and set to work.

Within fifteen minutes, I turned this:

In to this:

Talk about a simple and cheap project! :) I just cut out a bunch of circles in various sizes and then applied them with Mod Podge and let it dry. Seal it with a layer of glossy polyurethane and that's it! Very simple and it looks a lot better if you ask me.

Weekend Recap

Whew, what a weekend. Every week, we keep telling ourselves that we're going to just relax, have a chill weekend, and enjoy it. Ha! For the past two or three months straight, every weekend has been a complete whirlwind of activities and projects. It's hard to keep up! It seems I spend every Monday trying to recuperate from the weekend's crazy schedule. It's fun, though - we get a lot done!

Friday was a great day. We met up with Brooke at the Fort Worth Zoo in the morning and the kids had a great time. They were all worn out by the end of our meet-up and Piper slept most of that afternoon! It was an absolutely gorgeous day on Friday - it hit 80 degrees. Love it. Friday evening, we went for a family bike ride when Mitchell got home and made a quick stop at the park, too.

Monkey bars at the park. No worries, Mitchell was underneath holding her up. ;)

We headed home when it started getting dark to find all the neighbors and their kids were outside so we had a good time visiting with them while our kids all played together. All the kids are a little older than Piper and they love to mother Piper - it cracks me up. Two of the older little neighbor boys (about five years old) each have their own motorized cars and were arguing over whose car she gets to ride in. So funny! She decided to take turns so Piper was cruisin' up and down the sidewalk for quite a while. She loves it! She just laughs and laughs - so adorable. Mitchell says this won't be so adorable when she's 16 and they're both still fighting over her attention. Hahah! Anyway, that night, after Piper went to bed, we finally finished up my sewing table. I'll post about that later this week.

Saturday was spent running a lot of errands. We also made our first ever visit to The Container Store. Wow. I was in hog heaven in that joint! Loved it. We picked up quite a few things but not as many as I could have! Seriously, I could spend a ridiculous amount of money in that store if I had endless amount of cash, haha. I was primarily going in to find some sort of organization for my spice cabinet. I didn't want a traditional spice rack but my current method wasn't too great, either. It was cluttering up almost an entire cabinet in my kitchen - considering the fact that my kitchen cabinet space is limited, I needed a better method of organization. I found exactly what I was looking for and Mitchell came home and we installed it right away. It was a very easy install and I absolutely LOVE it! I love utilizing a space that would ordinarily be useless. I freed up a ton of space in my former spice cabinet AND I cleared out an entire drawer where I used to store my tin foil, plastic wrap, and sandwich bags. Score!

It is an "Elfra" product and we are very impressed with it. It is mounted inside our pantry door. We have enough room to add two or three more baskets so we will definitely be heading back to pick up a few more to utilize the space even further! All Elfa products are 30% off at The Container Store until February so now is the time to purchase if you're in the market for something like this! It's fully customizable, too - there are all sorts of different sizes and depths for the baskets.

Yesterday, we went and picked up a small piece of furniture off Craigslist that I'm going to refinish (yay for saving money!) and then headed to Home Depot to go pick up supplies for it. We came home, put Piper down for a nap, picked up the house a little, and then started getting ready. My sister and Toby agreed to babysit Piper for us so that we could go on a date! We haven't gone on a date since August and it was so nice to spend some one-on-one time together without our little mini-me in tow! Mitchell and I started the evening off by having supper at Texas Roadhouse (yum!), then headed to Target to shop for things for 'blessing bags' (more on that later), and then we caught a movie at 9pm.

We decided on War Horse and it was an excellent movie. I thought it looked good in the previews but it was even better than expected. There is a lot of heartache in it, however - it's definitely a tear-jerker. As usual, Steven Spielberg created another terrific movie. I highly recommend it!

All in all, it was a great weekend! I hope you all have a terrific week! :)

Saturday Nine

1. Do you live close to where you grew up? Why?

--Nope, not anymore. We are 500 miles away from home. We love GC and it will always hold a special place in our hearts but living there just isn't feasible. Mitchell's career was at a stand-still there and we knew we wouldn't be living there for long when we move back in 2008. 

2. Have you ever been so angry that you almost lost control?

--Of course.  Haven't we all?

3. Are you a fan of a musical act that slightly embarrasses you?

--Umm....er...well, you see...I may or may not like Bieber's "Baby" song. It's just so darn catchy! 

4. Is there a movie that always makes you cry?

--I don't typically rewatch movies but anything that involves death or illness of a child gets me. Can't handle it! 

5. Who is the most famous person that you've met?

--Did I mention I'm from SWKS? LOL! I don't think I've ever met anyone famous. 

6. Before you leave your home, what must you have?

--Cell phone, diapers, seahorse, and my checkbook/clutch.

7. What do you miss the most from being a kid?

--No worries, no responsibilities, no bills to pay. 

8. Tell us about a passion of yours that your readers would not expect.

--Well, there are several things I could mention here but it'd ruffle feather for sure. I'm just going to go with something more vanilla : I am passionate about "alternative lifestyles" - homeschooling, attachment parenting / "grace based discipline", cloth diapering, being as "green" as possible, home birth, etc. 

9. At what age do you think you'd be able to think, “I've had a great run”?

 --Oh wow. Ummm. I don't know! I already think I've had a great run so it's hard to answer that. I am truly blessed and will continue to feel like I've had a 'great run in life' no matter how old I am. Really, compared to most people in this world I have it really, really good so I try not to complain and just make the best of life that I can!

Caesar Salad with Garlic Parmesan Croutons

This is my first try at making my own caesar salad and I must say, it was delicious. I love Caesar salads but I generally shy away from making them myself because I can't seem to convince myself to buy the anchovies and prepare the 'traditional' dressing myself. 

Not only is this recipe delicious, but it has very simple, basic ingredients that I generally have on hand anyway!

Caesar Salad with Garlic Parmesan Croutons

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup garlic-flavored olive oil, divided, plus more as needed
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, divided, plus more as desired
• 4 ounces pizza crust
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 medium head romaine, chopped, rinsed, and dried
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Put 1/4 cup of oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat and heat until hot but not smoking. Add 1/4 cup of the cheese to a medium bowl and set aside.
• Brush a work surface with a little oil and press the dough into a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Cut the dough into thin strips, about 1/4-inch wide. When the oil is hot, using kitchen scissors, carefully hold the dough strips, 2 at a time, over the pan and snip off 1/4-inch pieces, letting them gently fall into the hot oil (this may take several batches). Shallow-fry the dough pieces, tossing frequently with a slotted spoon, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the croutons to the bowl with the cheese and toss to coat. Continue frying and dredging the dough in the cheese until all the dough is used.
• When ready to serve, add the romaine to a large bowl, drizzle with lemon juice and add the remaining 1/4 cup oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste and toss well to evenly coat the lettuce. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese and the croutons and toss well until combined.

Fuddruckers Seasoning Recipe

My husband really likes Fuddruckers (the hamburger restaurant). He took me to one a couple of years ago and I thought it was decent. I wasn't wowed by it but it did taste good. I have a hard time paying a lot of money for a hamburger when I can easily and inexpensively make them at home.

We love using Traeger seasoning but we've been out for a while and keep forgetting to buy more. The day we ran out of Traeger seasoning, I googled 'yummy hamburger seasoning' and found quite a few mock Fuddrucker seasoning recipes. Knowing my hubby loved Fuddruckers, I decided to give it a try.  Much to my surprise, it was really good! We've been using this for several months now and we both really like it.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar (I use light brown because it's what I typically have on hand)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Directions: Combine seasonings, sprinkle on hamburger patties prior to cooking/grilling.



I season the patties pretty liberally for extra flavor. I give this two thumbs up! :)

Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

Laundry detergent is expensive. I cringe every time I see the prices at the store for commercially made detergent. Mitchell and I have been using this homemade laundry detergent recipe for about three years now and still love it.  The cost savings is incredible. It's hard to figure an exact price per load because it depends on the size of the load and if you're using a little extra for an especially dirty load. That said, the price usually comes out to approximately $.02/load. Yep, you read that right...two pennies. For a comparison,  the Sam's Club mega-jug of Tide detergent will run you $.18/load. Ouch!

Are you on board with the idea yet? I hope so! Making your own laundry detergent is very simple. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
4 cups of hot tap water
1 bar of Fels Naptha soap
1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax

(all three of these products can be found in the laundry detergent aisle - if not, you can purchase them at most Ace Hardware stores or on Amazon.com)

 Directions:
Grate bar of soap.

Add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

Fill a five gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add the melted soap, washing soda, and borax. Stir well until all powder has dissolved.

Fill the bucket to the top with more hot water. Stir, cover, and let sit overnight to thicken.

This is what it will look like the next day before you mix it up.

Stir the bucket and fill a used, clean laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill the rest of the way with hot water. Shake before each use (because it may gel back up).

Ready to use!

Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons of detergent.
Optional: Add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons - lavender, tea tree oil, etc. (I do not find this necessary - the Fels Naptha makes it smell nice and clean and essential oils aren't cheap!)

For normal loads:
Top load machines :: use 1/2 cup 
Front loaders :: use 1/4 a cup
(may add extra for especially dirty loads)

Looks simple enough, right? It really is that easy. The entire process, from start to finish, takes about twenty minutes and will save you a ton of money! The laundry detergent works well, smells nice, is more environmentally friendly, and it saves you money!

To break it down a little further for you, this is the total price for the ingredients of the soap:

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap: $.97
1 box of washing soda: $3.24
1 box of borax: $3.38      
Total:     $7.59 - HOWEVER, there is enough washing soda and borax in each box to make multiple batches of this soap - at least half a dozen, if not more (I've never kept track, this is just an estimate).

The actual cost per ten gallons of soap is somewhere in the range of three bucks (180 loads). The price for one jug of Tide (145 loads)? $25. Again, ouch.

Please note, this is a non-sudsing detergent. It will NOT produce tons of bubbles like you may be accustomed to with commercially produced detergent. This is perfectly normal and to be expected.  

Saturday Nine

1. Have you ever still been in a relationship that you knew was ending, but you hung in with it anyway? If yes, why?
--Nope. 

2. Tell why people around the world should be completely enthralled by you.
--They probably shouldn't. I'm a stay at home mom, not a celebrity. I have a pretty ordinary, average life and that's a-okay with me but it doesn't really equate to 'enthralling'. :)

3. Other than where you live, what's your favorite city and why?
--My hometown. It will always have a special place in my heart! It's where I was born and raised and most of the people I love most in this world are still there!

4. What is something you are really passionate about?
--Do you really want to get me started? I'm passionate about a lot of things, but the biggies are : very pro-life, car seat safety (including EXTENDED rear-facing), anti cry-it-out for babies, and I have a pretty firm opinion on vaccines but I won't touch that one with a ten foot pole right now. ;-) 

5. What has been your most exciting prize that you've won?
--Well, the only thing I can really think of is my Scentsy incentive warmer for selling a large volume of products during one of the summer months. My incentive warmer is ENORMOUS, though, and I have no place to use it so it's still chillin' in the box it came in!

6. Do you think there was there a second gunman behind the grassy knoll?
--Yep. And if not, there's more to the story than we'll ever know.

7. What was the silliest, most fun, crazy or impractical gift that you received?
--It's hard to answer this question because I could think of something for each adjective listed! One "wacky" thing was The Graty cheese grater that my grandma D gave me a few years ago but it actually works pretty well (except I use it for soap, not cheese...more on that later).   

8. What was the most practical gift that you received?
--I have received a LOT of practical gifts in the past few years and I love 'em all! It's funny how much life has changed because if you'd asked me five years ago if I'd be excited about a sewing machine or fireplace tools, I would have LAUGHED! But those were two things I was really wanting and I was so surprised to get them both! My, oh my, how my life has changed so drastically in the past few years. =0)

9. What blogger has been in your blogroll the longest? How did you discover them?
--I think Sweet Tea & Sunshine is the blog I've been following the longest.  It's my friend Stephanie's blog and she's the one who is battling cancer right now and was in very critical condition for a very long time a couple of months back. She is doing better now and getting stronger and stronger! She still has a long road ahead of her but she's hanging in there!

Singin' in the rain.

Some kids run for shelter when it starts raining.

Others, like Piper, think it is a total blast and refuse to come inside. So...I went with it.

 

She kicked her shoes off and went hog wild running all over the place. She wanted me to push her on the swing but that's where I had to draw the line. She's more than welcome to run around in the rain and get soaking wet...but I was perfectly content sitting under the patio and watching her be silly. :)

This happened a couple of weeks ago but it wasn't as cold outside as it looks - I had her dressed for cooler temps but in reality it was in the 60's.

What are your favorite meat free meals?

This is something that has been on my mind for the past few months. So, I'm holding myself to a new challenge : Meat Free Monday. Ideally, I would like to get to a point where we incorporate more than one meat free meal per week, but this is a start! Thankfully, my  husband has no qualms about occasional meat free meals so this won't be a challenge in that area. To my friends and family back home who are collectively gasping in horror - no worries, I assure you we will never be vegetarians. I like bacon and prime rib too much for that lifestyle. ;-)

Not only will it save us money as meat is typically the most expensive portion of  most of the meals I prepare, but it will also reduce our carbon footprint which is something I am always striving to do.

I'll be honest - my dad is the ultimate "meat and potatoes" kind of guy so that's how I was raised and it's  how I cook for my family now as well.  With that said, my list of meat free meals is almost non-existent. I can think of two no-brainers: salad and pancakes. That's about it.

This is where you come in! What are your favorite meat free meals? Please comment with your ideas and suggestions : I'm open to anything! I can always Google this, of course, but I'd much rather have tried and true recipes when possible. :) I'm always looking for new recipes so this will be a perfect way to incorporate new meals along with a new mindset for meal planning!

Piper's 3rd Christmas Ornament

I know I'm a few weeks behind with this but it's been a busy, busy month so I'm just now getting around to blogging about this.

I mentioned last year that I am carrying on a tradition my  mother started for my sister and I when we were babies. She purchased a keepsake ornamnet for each of us starting the year we were born so that when we moved out on our own, we would have a tree filled with special ornaments right from the start. I absolutely loved this tradition growing up - when we were tiny, she chose our ornaments. Once we were a little older, she let us pick our own and it is so fun to see the progression through the years.

I knew as a child that I would some day do this with my own children so I have had a blast carefully selecting Piper's ornaments so far. The first two ornaments were fairly simple - I knew the ornament was 'it' when I saw it. This year, I looked and I looked and nothing seemed to fit the bill. Finally, I decided to browse on Etsy (one of my favorite websites) and I found exactly what I was looking for. As I have mentioned quite a few times, my daughter is obsessed with her Seahorse. It is our lifeline and she carries it everywhere. We never leave the house without it, she sleeps with it every night - it is definitely her 'lovey' so I wanted to find something to tie in to that. Most of the seahorse ornaments I kept finding were awfully ugly....and then I found just what I was wanting. I even got to choose the fabric and everything! :)

So, without further ado, here is Piper's third ornament :

My photograph doesn't do this little guy justice - it is so much cuter in person. I am super thrilled with it! :) I love that is has a special meaning and is completely unique - it is hand crafted and nobody else in the world owns one like it!

I also need to give a little plug for the owner of the Etsy shop I purchased the seahorse ornament from - Yoshabel. Heather, the owner, is friend, helpful and was willing to custom make this for me on super short notice. I highly recommend her to anyone in the market for a seahorse ornament. Niche market, for sure! ;) Ha!

Saturday Nine

 

Saturday 9: Nobody Told Me

 

 

 

1. When you grew up were you ever told how to deal with problems?

-Yes, my parents taught me how to handle various situations. Kind of a vague answer but I would be here all day if I detailed how I learned to handle every tricky situation. 

2. What was your first apartment like?

-Hilarious, now that I think about it. Mitchell and I were so excited about it when we found it and then we started moving things in and immediately thought we'd over-estimated it's awesomeness, haha! One detail we overlooked was the fact that almost the entire apartment was painted a light green-ish color that was horrrrible. Nothing we had matched it and we were really sick of that color of paint by the end of our stint in Salina!  I can't complain too much because it was very affordable, in a safe location, and was more than sufficient for our needs at the time.  I'm just glad we moved on to bigger and better living arrangements. ;-)

3. What was the first car you owned?

--A 1998 turquoise Dodge Neon that I shared with my sister. :) I loved that car!

4. Tell us about a crush or relationship that you had at high school.
--I married the first guy I ever had a huge crush on. Lucky  me! :0) I was head over heels in love with him and nearly fainted the first time he called me and asked me to go on a date with him. I'd waited a year and half for that to happen!

5. Have you ever had an “enemy” in your life?
--Nah. Life is too short for enemies.  I don't have the time or energy for that nonsense in my life. 

6. What were you doing the first night that you got drunk?
--Haha. It's a long story and not one I'm willing to post on the world wide web. ;-)

7. Ten years ago, what was you job and did you like it?
--Ten years ago I wasn't legally old enough to work! My job was to get good grades in school and do my chores.

8. What movie had the biggest impact on you as a child and why?
--Wow, what a question! I'm having a hard time choosing a specific movie and a reason why but I do remember always reminding myself to "pay it forward" because of the movie called Pay It Forward.

9. What are your plans for this weekend?

--Last night, we watched the Cotton Bowl. We were bummed the Wildcats lost. :( We had a busy day today! We met the Dolls and Tanner for breakfast this morning before they left town. It was nice to see familiar faces and enjoy a nice meal together. They brought a couple of Christmas gifts for Piper and she has been having a blast with them all day, especially her new cash register! :) After breakfast, we picked up a couple sets of shelves we bought for the garage off of Craigslist ($35 for both, score!), and then headed home for lunch and to put Piper down for a nap. While she napped, I started working on my sewing table. I am using an old desk I had and sprucing it up a little! When Pip woke up, we headed for Home Depot and now that Piper is sleeping again, it's time to head back out to the garage and keep working on the desk! We found a gallon of grey paint we are going to use for the garage walls so Mitchell will work on that while I'm out there. Tomorrow the plan is to go to church and hang out for the rest of the day and just relax. I am hoping they air the Denver Bronco game tomorrow, too - we made the playoffs and I would really love to see them beat the stinking Steelers. I know the likelihood of that happening isn't too good but a girl can always dream!

Our DIY Play Kitchen :: Piper's Christmas project

I've known for about six months that I wanted to get Piper a play kitchen for Christmas. I also knew that our budget for Christmas this year was pretty small. I looked at a few kitchens in our price range and didn't really care for them. The models I had my eye on and really loved were in the $180-200 range. Not gonna happen. As I always say, I have wine taste on a beer budget. ;-) I also didn't want a plastic kitchen so my options were pretty limited.

Lately, I have been seeing lots of ideas for re-purposed furniture that people were turning in to play kitchens and a light bulb went off the second I looked at the pictures. Mitchell had a entertainment center in college that would work perfect for this project! 

We had an old bathroom shelf in the garage that we weren't using anymore and we disassembled it to use for the project in addition to the entertainment center. With a little elbow grease and a couple weekends worth of   late nights spent in the garage, we turned this:

 

in to this:

I was planning on going in to full detail about how we did it and the steps we took and then I realized that would take me all day. It really comes down to looking at the piece of furniture you're going to be working with and seeing what adaptations need to be made because each piece of furniture is going to require different steps. It also helps to have a husband that's a handy-man ... there is no way this project could have come together without the help of my husband. He did the constructing...I came up with the design of the kitchen, helped with the construction as much as I could, and then decorated it once it was assembled.

We made the fridge section more narrow (and used the top part of the entertainment center as the fridge door), we shaved some of the height off the top so she could reach the microwave area, and we added furniture legs to the bottom so it would raise it up to her waist level because it was pretty low to the ground.  The tools we used the most were the jigsaw and a drill. We replaced all the hinges so they were more realistic (the oven opening downward, for example), cut out a hole for the dog bowl/sink, and the "wallpaper" is a cute fabric I chose and stretched across and then stapled to a large piece of very sturdy cardboard. The oven and microwave "windows" are clear plastic vinyl that can be found in any fabric store. I chose the thickest one they sold and it cost about $1. I hot glued it in.

Here are a few pictures of the construction process: 

 

We used a dog bowl for the sink, painted cheap coasters black for the stove burners, and used a bathroom faucet for the kitchen sink. 

It was a really fun project, I must say! We definitely made it a lot more time consuming than we had originally intended but I am very happy with the finished product. :) All total, we spent approximately $80 on the kitchen. We could have cut costs if I hadn't wanted to decorate it a certain way and if we'd been able to find a used faucet instead of buying new. However, I'm still pretty impressed with how nicely it turned out for eighty dollars!  

Piper was sick the day of Christmas so we waited until she was feeling better to give it to her. Saturday morning, we surprised her with it and she absolutely loves it. Her reaction was loudly saying "WOW!!!! PLAY!!" and she dove right in and started cooking me up the first meal! :) She has only had it for two days now and she has played with it for hours. It's the first thing she has asked to do the past two mornings. I would say it's a huge success and I am so glad!

I hope the kitchen is something Piper will get many years of use out of. I know we both got a kick out of designing and building it for her. A true labor of love. =)

Our first fire!

We bought firewood this afternoon and tonight we finally had our first fire in our fireplace! :)

When we were house hunting, we were really hoping we'd find a house with a fireplace and we did! Mitchell has been chomping at the bit to use it since the day we moved in so it was really cool to get a fire lit and enjoy it crackling in the background as we watched a movie this evening.

PS: Do you like our new fire screen and tools? My parents bought that as part of our Christmas present and we love them! There's also a matching log rack that isn't pictured - thanks again, mom & dad!

New Year's Resolution 2012

Happy New Year, friends and family! I hope the coming year is a good one for you all. :)

We didn't do much to celebrate last night. Just another day at the Parr casa. I was actually in the guest bathroom painting the walls as Mitchell announced from the office that it was midnight. Romantic, right? Ha!!

Last year, I made a lot of resolutions. I did pretty well with most of them but one of them has been nagging at me for me entire year..and for good reason. I made a resolution to read the entire Bible last year. I lasted a whole week or two and then failed. I was using a printed reading plan and missed one day and then never got back on track.

I knew a few weeks ago that this was important enough to me that it was going to be my one and only goal for 2012. It's also on my "bucket list" so it will be really nice to complete this. I am holding myself to it - I really, really want to accomplish this!

Imagine my surprise when I opened a Christmas gift from Mitchell's grandparents! Lo & behold, this is what was in the package:

I thought that was so cool! When I saw the Bible, it was definitely a moment where I knew God was speaking to me and telling me that I really do need to do this. That will make it even easier for me to reach my goal. It has it all laid out for you starting on January 1. What I really like about it is that you're not reading the Bible "in order". I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to read the Bible from cover to cover and I  never make it much farther than the first few chapters. The awesome thing about this Bible is that it gives you daily readings from the Old Testament, the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs so it mixes it up a little every day.

So..that's my goal! My resolution  was actually published in my hometown newspaper so now that the whole town knows about it,  I should have even more motivation to stick with it! . :) I plan to periodically update my blog to track my progress and hold myself accountable to my friends/family.