We Interrupt This Program...

Ugh. Recovering from food poisoning is a slow process. I'm finally back to myself, I mean, it's 11 pm and I'm not completely nodding off. So. I'll be back on board here soon :)

Well, if this isn't art....

Eldest convinced youngest these special stickers would give him superpowers after he took them off. Later I heard J ask N, "um, bruder, can you take off my superpowers now pwease?"

And for future reference, in case it comes up in your house, foam stickers are not made for skin .

That Blasted Built in Desk

Or should I say, "That Blasted Spot We Pile All Our Junk"? UGH. When we built our home up north, we very much made it a point to NOT have a built in desk in the kitchen, knowing just that would happen. But now we don't have a choice and I was determined to make it functional, not just [another] crap-pile.

I put some cork squares on the backsplash to cover their ugliness until we can afford to switch it up. It had to be cut out around the outlet and phone jack, but it works. I used a basket from when the boys were babies to hold folders with tabs, one for each of us, and our family calendar, whatever else. So once school starts, the kids can empty their things into their folder and we know where to look! YAY! No more morning-of-the-field-trip looking for the list of what they're supposed to bring! (Um, I mean, that has never happened here...)

I had this cool glass dry erase board I was originally hoping to use on our backsplash, but drilling through tile to attach it is beyond my capabilities. So now it is on the desk surface to help hide our vomit colored countertop (I say that affectionately). And I can slide art, notices or a calendar under there to keep handy. It also has these cool clips on the sides to clip whatever to the front! So fun. (Yes, that is a Twilight calendar under the glass. I'm one of "them". I just like to look at Kellan Lutz. But I did open it to July so it has the appearance of functionality. hehe)

In the drawer we have our phone lists and grocery list I was able to customize at

www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/grocery-list.html

As well as stamps, all those sticky notes and so on. Hidden. In a drawer. So we will see if we can keep it under control. Steven was very impressed and happy to see me attempting to organize and make our home functional, not just pretty.

A Little Squirrely

Happened upon this little guy lounging on our deck... Even when the boys rumbled down the steps and smacked their little faces up against the windows, he was content to just lay there...

Here he is looking for his friend...

There he is, down by the grill. Hmmm...looks like the deck could us some attention...

Kitchen Table: Part1

Ok, so I'm a Craigslist junkie. We had this big rectangle table in our kitchen with country-style chairs. They were dark brown wood, as our cabinets are: it was too much dark for me. Plus I felt like we were always bumping into the corners of the table jutting into our walkways. So I got this great table on craigslist, decided last minute the chairs would work, and found a glass top the same size that would finish off the look.

Just need a little spraypaint (for the base to match our current barstools), some sandpaper, black paint, some hand mixed color and a template for the tabletop design (searched those wall lettering sites where you peel and stick designs onto your wall, found some swirls I liked and drew it onto the painted top. Filled in with paint.)

Here's the before picture:

This is what the table painted looks like, I love it but the surface is rough, it was a strange almost sticky surface I had to work with. The glass top will be just the right touch.

Here is the finished table top. I took more templates from some random site, drew the designs I liked onto huge sheets of paper, cut them out and blue-taped them to the back of the glass. Then I used frosted spraypaint so you could see the black tabletop through the swirly pattern. Love it!

Wait a minute, did the table guy guestimate the diameter of his table instead of actally measuring it for me?! Yep, NOT 48" like the glass is....like. he. said. It is only 42" Grrr.

I thought they felt different when I would break my back moving them! So much for my perfect plan. Well, it looks ok I guess, but I will soon find out it is not quite going to work....stay tuned for part 2...and 3....

Scrapbook Cards

I saw an article in a scrapbooking magazine about some great layouts for hand made cards and was inspired. This was the resulting frenzy one afternoon. It was quite fun and the kids were only mildly neglected.