Things Happen When you Try

Now I appreciate having a small house and not so much furniture, namely bedroom furniture for the kids. I thought it would be a good idea to give my daughter her own room and put the two boys in the bigger room together. The kids were sold on this idea and so was I, but there is never any time to do it.

twin's room before

I took advantage of the husband taking one of kids to an out of town wedding where they would be staying the night. And the twins spent the day and night with my dad. So I was determined to get this room switch done. But I also wanted to scratch my itch of eliminating the white walls by painting the boys room. As soon as the door left behind the twins, I was on the clock.

Dissassemble the room and clean it.

twin's room before

Then I finally painted it. Here is where the appreciation of a small house comes in...I can't imagine having big or lots of rooms to paint. Or numerous or large windows to treat either. But the project wasn't too bad. I did have an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade moment when I was cleaning the walls and thought I could just stretch a little bit more to reach a spot without having to move my stepstool (you know the part at the end of the movie when Indy falls down the crevice reaching for the girl and then can barely touch the cup?). Of course I fell off.

these 3 pics are the boys' room now (the "after")

daughter's new room (new bedding)

To my surprise it was a little fun challenging myself to inexpensively spruce up their new bedrooms. I've decided to keep things simple. Not blow our hard-earned money of useless decor the just collects dust (one more chore). I'm not an interior decorator, but I sure appreciate seeing my friends' ornately decorated homes...I gain more & more respect for them each day! I'm sure my daughter will be disappointed that I didn't make her room pink. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Her walls are still white and she has denim drapes that I like because they block out a lot of excess light. I really wanted something lite and classical for her. So I went with navy & red floral with paisley sheets.

After cleaning things up, I admit I was pretty pleased with things. Until I went downstairs and saw my hallway light fixtures that look like they came right out of the Haunted Mansion in Disney World...not the look I'm going for!

Oh and I've decided, I'm not going to continue to call my house small, I thing I will call it cozy. And my back and legs are kind of telling me to put up with the white walls in the rest of the house for a little while!

The Craft

Well I've finally done it. After being a mother for over 9 years, going to multiple "crafty" parties in my life, and spending many hours on Pinterest...I have finally completed my first, non-kid-assisted craft. It is mostly for the kids' stuff, but to save my sanity.

I have kept all of the craft magnets that the kids have made for me and display them proudly. In fact, I have put some to good use.

The little "butterfly" clothespin magnet from the oldest child has been used the most (and for those who know me, it is painful for me to touch it since it is a butterfly, but nevertheless, useful).

I have used it for a couple of years now to hold their homework that is due in the coming days or things that I need to hang on to for a while. I also use it to clip upcoming tickets to Reds games, invitations to the countless events we have to attend and so on. It is vital to our survival!

But the trouble with it is that it would get heavy at times and fall off the cabinet or fridge. Or when someone wanted to clip something to it, often times the other papers would fall out and create a mess. So it wasn't getting the job done as efficiently as I wanted.

I wanted to solve my little dilemna without spending much money or wasting more time. That is when my Pinteresting came through. I thought of a magazine holder or some kind of file folder. But I didn't have any counter space anywhere. I wanted to make some 3-dimensional and keep it on the fridge near the calendar. The I thought of it! An old cereal box.

I would cut it a little, cover it and attach magnets to it!

And there I have it! My first craft that I thought of on my own and did all by myself! My daughter is so proud!

Good Advice

You've probably been to a few showers where the hostess asks you to write down advice for the guest of honor. I know I've been to quite a few and have also been the recipient. There have been times lately where I'm in the middle of this huge problem (you know, the kid's homework!) and needed some advice. Where are those little slips of paper then? Probably in a box with one of the invitations, the confetti, the special little trinkets that I kept, fully intending to scrapbook...Of course now I don't even know where that box is!

So I was thinking, now that I've been married a while and had the kids, what advice would I give myself?

• Never  run out of milk...and hot dogs.
• Pick out school clothes the night before, that goes for lunches & snacks too.
• At least every season go through the toys and box up more than half of them, then switch the toys so they are "fresh" again.
• Remember that kids outgrow underwear & socks too.
• What good is it to have gloves, hats, coats & snow pants if I forgot to buy snow boots?
• They don't need birthday parties every year.
• Go on a vacation that the husband likes too, then Disney every time after that.
• Adjust to eating dinner by yourself during family meals, by the time you sit down to eat everyone is done.
• Wear the nice pajamas every once in a while. And jewelry too.
• Try to declutter the house before bed, even if that means putting everything in a laundry basket and putting it in the closet until the next day.
• Stop at one.

If you have any to add, I'd love to hear them!!