Important

Family vacation, starting back to daycare, starting school with a preschooler and kindergartener...

it's safe to say I feel busy!

I thought I would share something different, and fun, that I had Ava do today.

She enjoys running the camera, so I handed it over and asked her to take pictures of things that are important to her.

Great insight into the mind of a (almost) 5-year-old.

sleeping bags (still packed after a weekend at grandpa's)

mommy (daddy wasn't actually home)

olivia (still working on her snack)

probably one of my new favorites:

of course her bear. formerly known as mr. sanders, now called "isabella"

(there were about 6 of these)

lucy (playing with her sensory bin of the day.)

big big bear. (they named him)

lucy with her own isabella. the twin to ava's bear.

stuffed puppy without a name. (her other puppy is named saliva.)

again, another favorite. 

and finally, lucy. (the doll she did all on her own...)

This turned into a good perspective piece for me, and I hope you enjoyed it as well.

Pinterest Project

 I had a remnant of wax left from a candle.

It was a Bath & Body Works candle, and so the glass holder was nice, and durable.

(And if I spent a bit more money than I usually do on the candle, why not keep a pretty jar that would be perfect for cute odds and ends somewhere?)

Here is the candle:

(Paired with my does-not-photograph-well hand for size comparison.)

I came across an idea on Pinterest for removing wax.

Kim, writing at Yellow Brick Home, shared her method for removing wax from her candles.

Here is my try, using her method:

Pour boiling water into the candle.

The wax will melt and begin floating to the top.

Let the water cool. The wax on top will harden and can be taken out of the jar. (Don't pour the water down the drain until it's completely cool, so the drain doesn't clog with wax!)

 The remaining wax is soft, and easily removed. (I just dug it out with a paper towel.)

 Soap and hot water remove the final residue.

I don't have an after photo...sorry!

But this little jar is squeaky clean and ready to use.

So, success from Pinterest! Yay!

Girls' Room (The Renovation)

For those of you wondering why on earth there is yet another post about my daughters' room, and why on earth it is a renovation, I'll enlighten you.

Former owners of our house had pets, and they ruined sections of the bedroom carpets and floorboards. 

(Ew, gross, yuck.)

So we've been taking out the old gross carpet, sealing the floorboards, and putting down new carpet.

It was time to do this little bedroom!

Want sort of a "before" shot?

Poor, drab space:

It's so blah. And so white. The walls needed to warm up but not overpower the small 9'x12' room.

(And I've already explained the carpet.)

Enter a Menards remnant, on sale no less, that fits the room perfectly.

I found a soft gray for the walls that coordinates well with the dark tan carpet.

Step One: Remove the NASTY!

Scrape and scrape to get the old pad off the floor, then get as much dust up as possible.

(Sweep, vacuum, repeat as necessary.)

Then seal the floor. 

The Zinsser primer we use stinks so badly we just get it down and seal the door while leaving a window open. It's totally fine the next day. Which is why at this point in the process there are no photos, because helping do this but being pregnant did NOT make me want to stick around any longer than necessary.

Once the carpet was out and the floor sealed it was time to paint! I love this part.

When you paint, prepare well!

Dust the walls, make sure to remove cobwebs. If there was anything hanging up, the walls are sure to be dusty around them. Get the walls clean!

Next, evaluate the damage. 

Most people don't know good painting techniques or tricks, which is why I can tell you this room has been blue, gold, hot pink, and white.

 

So many messy spots.

I find that leaving the top of the baseboard open for paint at least covers the earlier blunders and helps it blend with the wall rather than just leaving all those ugly spots.

See? Hot pink!

(And seriously, it's way more work to paint around a switchplate than it is to remove it.)

 Around the trim I leave a 1/4" space, to even out all those splotches on the trim and make a nice neat line. It's a lot less visually jarring than different paints all over your trim. Just get that tape stuck down well, and in a straight line, please.

Don't rush the prep work. You will save yourself time, and judgement from someone like me who hates a job so poorly done so many times.

(Because your goal in life is avoiding me judging you, right? Ha!) 

 See? Messy painting. Not enough patience makes a mess.

Cut in those edges. Double check the tape before painting, and don't be frustrated if it takes a few coats to get even coverage. Patience and just being careful and steady will give you a better paint job.

Working around odd, poorly done drywall and mudding is a necessary evil at times. 

 Here's where I paint the top of the trim:

The gray didn't look too different until it dried. Then there was some excellent comparison.  

(NOTE: Painting along the ceiling is pretty simple with a steady hand an a high-quality angled brush. Just used the brush to tap into the groove where the wall and ceiling meet, and then carefully work down from that line to meet where the rollers will put their paint.)

Here is my Studly Helper, practicing his teenage girl face.

And again, the contrast between white and the softness of the gray. Love it!

Totally painted! Happy moment!!!

And you can see here where we primed the floor. (Goodbye, odor from stained floorboards!)

And the tape comes off!

Nice, neat lines.

 (Mostly)

Then (drumroll) ----> CARPET!!!

My amazing Husband at work:

 This carpet has the pad attached, so unlike standard carpets that require tack strips and stapling down the fragile padding first, this uses an adhesive tape to stay put. Carpet glue around the edge acts in place of the tack strip. It's pretty cool. 

I don't know that Scott loved installing it, but I thought it went much faster than the standard carpeting in our bedroom did. 

 Suddenly, it was more than just snapping pictures and gleefully loving the newness of it.

Suddenly, there was function restored!

The bedroom was done!!

 Then there were two little girls, ecstatic to have their room back! 

(Because no matter how much you play in the other bedroom, there is something strange about sleeping in that same room for 2 nights.)

And we got everything put back in just in time for bedtime.

(Yes, Miss Lucy has her own big bed. She's doing a great job sleeping in it, too!)

Now, my next favorite part: The finished product.

When all the decorations are back...

 ...and the Girls are so happy to have their pictures on the wall again...

...and the Mommy and the Daddy are pleased with the final result,

and a job well done, 

and effort well put. 

(And it will be awesome when those fabulous little pink frames have pictures of the girls in them. Remember that great idea? Yeah, that will get done at some point.)

Mini Project

In case you haven't noticed, my posts on crafts and projects have been few and far between.

Mostly because of those cuties I call my Offspring.

Partly because of Offspring the Third siphoning all my energy to grow.

So, when the bug to create hit, I kept it very low key.

A friend picked up these cute little frames for me a whole summer ago. I stuck them in my "to do" spot, and debated where they would work best.

And I finally figured it out.

Look at how fancy these are:

 I think they look like something you'd find in a musty old church, probably the prayer room.

Or my great grandmother's house.

Either way, they are gorgeous but very outdated. (And hello! Have you noticed that I don't do brass?!)

A good scrubbing with some tarnish remover helped clean the surface so paint would stick. (You better believe these things got a face lift.)

Also, I don't have big hands, and that's a standard toothbrush. So, a proportion maker for you.

 I still had some pink from frames in the girls' room. Convenient, since that's where these cuties are going.

 Can you see them??? One has a heart on a gray pattern, and another a star on the same gray pattern. The whole insert (backing, photo, glass) pops out then sits back in the frame snugly. At some point this will be handy because I'll get around to putting photos in these. Someday.

Notice anything else? There are new prints in the frames because Ava loves all things ballerina right now.

And the corkboard is gray to match the other large frame, and I took off the sagging string and used standard push pins to add new photos.

So like I said: it was a mini project.

(But even a mini project takes a long time when two little girls decide to fight just as I'm trying to find a nail, making much frustration and causing the daddy to be vented on by the mommy who wants to know why she can't have ten stinking minutes to hang two little things on the wall.)

Sorry, folks. These pregnancy hormones swing fiercely. Yes, it's catastrophic fun.