Project 52:30 {the storms}

thankful for... 

the storms

This year has been something of a roller coaster for me. I feel like I'm on a ship somewhere in the middle of the ocean... either relaxing to the gentle rocking of the boat under a clear blue sky, coasting on calm waters, or holding on for dear life as a raging storm thrashes me about like a rag doll, praying that last slap of cold water in my face was the last, but knowing I need to try and catch my breath before it comes again.

So here we are, halfway through the calendar, and all I'm hoping for is time to dry out and enjoy the endless blue and soft wind before the smell of rain returns. I know I am supposed to be thankful for these storms, these trials. That they are shaping my character and my story and giving me new tools to navigate life on the ship.

So that's what this is. My SOS.  I am thankful.. I guess. I am trying to learn, trying to grow through this. Praying I won't be too worse for the wear when it's all said and done.

But frankly, I'm ready to get off the damn ship.


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Read more about my Project 52.

Linking my Project 52 with:

styleberry BLOG

 What We're Sayin'

Oh The Places We'll Go 

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Wicked Kate

Stripping is for the birds.

So, I may be a little in over my head, here. Last weekend, a friend mentioned that she was looking for someone local to refinish some pieces of furniture. They couldn't get in touch with the guy who had done some pieces for them previously, and were ready to get these done.

So like the geniuses that we are, my hubby and I volunteered my services.

And this is where my dumb diy overconfidence comes to bite me in the @$$.

Here is the first piece when it arrived at our house. She had painted it yellow a few days ago, and it was a rush job. Our friends have a two and a half year old and a 4 month old. So she told me she knew she had rushed this- she was just so excited to get back to a project after a rough couple of months with a sleepless newborn. I can totally relate.

But now they wanted it black again (it was previously painted black). No big deal, right? WRONG.

This baby needed to be stripped. Not just a light sanding before painting... straight up stripped.

Folks, I have never stripped a piece of furniture before. I've definitely painted my fair share, but the pieces were either unpainted wood or I was able to just paint over some old paint. And there was no way I could just paint over this one.

I kind of want to poke my eyes out just thinking about it right now.

Once I realized this is what needed to happen, I went back to this great post about stripping furniture to read up on it and stopped by Lowe's to pick up some supplies. Only they didn't have the Citristrip I was looking for. Curses! So I grabbed something that looked similar and went home to get started.

Yeah, bad idea.

Folks, when you are looking for something specific and don't find it right away, get your baby and your sweaty rear back out into the 106* weather ASAP to get what you need. Don't waste your time staying cool in the A/C, trying out something you've never heard of before. BIG waste of time.

The Citristrip definitely works, I will say that. Once you glop it on and let it cure for a couple of hours, the old paint comes up relatively easy. But stripping (how many times can I say that in a post? Let's go for the gold, shall we?) is super labor intensive. And messy. Here we are, 3 days later, and I'm still not done. Stripping, that is. I'm still not done stripping.

So this is where I invite all you internet and real-life friends to come on over for a stripping party. Sounds fun, right? There will be absolutely no poles in sight and I must insist you stay fully clothed, but I will provide you with oreos and a little protective mask. Sound good?

Project 52:28 & 29 {change & growth}

thankful for...
change

My paintbrush has seen lots of action in the past two weeks. Our bedroom is done (pics to come- I pinky swear!) and then I started in on the office. This is the only room in our house that I've not painted in the less than 4 years we've lived here. Half of the rooms have seen more than one color under my watch.

I crave change, evolution and fresh looks in my home. Frankly, my home will never be "done"... I will never stop decorating it and redecorating it. So bring on the paint.

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thankful for...
growth

This one. Oh my word, how she has grown in the past few weeks. Her feet seem bigger, her jammies are snug and I swear her hair is an inch longer. And her little mind. It blows me away. This past week, she has started spitting out all of the little phrases we say around here and stringing together words into sentences(!), using different tenses (as in, adding -ing to words, appropriately) and saying I and me, rather than just Evie. Yesterday, out of the blue, she started saying "Oh, myyyyy goodness. Oh, myyyy goodness!"

After my initial delight at hearing her little voice say something new, I just want to cry and stuff my teeny tiny baby back into a swaddle and carry her around all day. Stop growing, my girl.

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Read more about my Project 52.

Linking my Project 52 with:

styleberry BLOG

 What We're Sayin'

Oh The Places We'll Go 

Englexas 

Wicked Kate

Weekend Randoms

Just popping in with a few randoms for your Saturday!

My Dad & Step-mom are in town for the weekend and we're just relaxing and lounging around the house. It's perfect. I love how Evie just picks right up where she left off with her grandparents- there's never any hesitation or lost time. It makes my heart happy.

I'm feeling very blah about my hair these days. I colored it yesterday (myself) to darken up the highlights I got a month and a half ago. Highlights always fade out really fast for me and I end up with light, yellow-y streaks. Not good on my dark hair. Anyway, it's much better and darker now, I just need some help! I will be very ready for fall and cooler temps so I can bring back the bangs. My large forehead will thank me.                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Evie discovered Legos a week or two ago and sister is hooked. Every time she wakes up, one of the first things she says is "play trucks!" Daddy is very proud.

We got a few minutes of much needed rain last night. Literally- a few minutes. But it was sooo nice. I am OVER this heat wave.

I am super excited about the next Vintage Market Days event this fall! They just announced the date and location and I'm so happy that it will be at the same place. We want to do a much bigger booth this time and I just can't wait to start gearing up and working on the new wares.

Evie has started saying some really funny phrases lately. Some of my favs:

"Hi guys! Hi boys!"

"Sit down right now!" (as she climbs all over the furniture. hmph)

"Come on!"

I'm loving our new bedroom paint. It's seriously like a whole new room- so bright and big. Hopefully I can find some new curtains and decide on the over-the-bed art situation soon so I can share pics!

We've always had a little jewelry display in our Lilac Row booth (my mom has sold jewelry for a long time), and recently I thought I would get in on the action. Here are a few of the earrings I just unwrapped today. So bright and fun! I'm having a hard time not just keeping them all. :)

Happy Weekend!

bedroom progress & blue lighting

Painting has commenced! I got started Friday night, and normally, I would have been done by now, what with four days of painting on the books. But one nap per day + a husband who likes me to hang out with him (awful problem, right??) + covering dark dark walls with light color =  Me on Day 4. 

So after a few quick samples on the wall, I went with Behr's Castle Path. Definitely not white, but I knew that would be a hard sell for hubby. As much as he says "whatever you want, babe", I know he has an opinion. At least 65% of the time, anyway.

So Friday night was the primer party. Lame-o, but I knew it had to be done. 

Okay, so while I was picking out paint at Home Depot, I talked to the paint guy, who was extremely friendly and helpful. I was telling him a little bit about our dark walls and making sure I needed to prime, blah blah blah. Anyway, during our conversation, he asked what kind of light bulbs we had in the master. Wha?? Well, he looked up our previous paint color and mentioned that it had no actual blue in it, which was weird, since it looks nearly navy in our room in the evenings. Long story short, those weird scroll-y "green" light bulbs they're pushing right now- you know the ones that will poison your entire block if you happen to drop and break one? Yeah, those- some of them give off a slightly blue tint! HUH! I couldn't be sure if we had the Daylight bulbs (blue offenders) in our room or not, as light bulbs are squarely hubby's department, but there was a good chance of it. 

Have any of you heard of this before? He said they've had a number of customers complain about it. For just white, with no color cast, just go with the Bright White bulbs. You know, if you're into the poisonous/green thing.

So there's your tip of the day. My little gift to you.  

And here's a sneak peek of our newly painted walls. It looks darker in this pic, but it is nice and light and fresh, and our room looks totally different. I'm loving it so far! And I'll be done tonight! 

I need help. In the bedroom.

Once again, I am trying to tackle decorating my bedroom.
BLLAAAAGGGGHHH.

That's how I feel about it. This room has never been "done". And I have finally decided that I just like too many styles in decor. I simply can't commit. Right now, I am feeling the whole neutral/white look, with worn wood, some rustic and metallic elements and oh, I don't know. So yeah, it's a problem that my bedroom is currently painted a dark, dark slate blue that actually looks almost horridly navy at certain times of the day in our room. Doesn't really mesh. I am contemplating painting the room white. Or nearly white.

I mean, am I just straight up crazy??? Feel free to tell me. I only painted it a few months ago, when we got our bed. And frankly I don't know who is going to move that beast of a bed and mattress when I need to paint behind it. Maybe I just leave it and paint as far as my arm can reach? You know- like when you're trying to paint behind a toilet. (Tell me that's what you do, too, right??)

Sigh. Here are a few of the many rooms I am stalking for inspiration:

via

No source! On my Pinterest

Seriously, no source. What the heck, Pinterest?

So I picked up this fabric this week for curtains. Yeah, not sure I even like it. I'm so indecisive! Or I'll find something I love and it's like a bajillion dollars a yard and I need TEN yards for some simple curtain panels. OR. OR, I'll absolutely love the fabric, score it for a song in the remnant area, get all giddy with excitement, only to get the worst sour face from my husband, just as I'm about to start sewing them up. Yes, that happened. Those curtains are now in our dining room. He didn't even notice till I pointed them out, and still claims to HATE them. Good times.

Do you feel sorry for me? Or at least worn out? Because I am.

Anyway, back to the current fabric. It's nice and neutral, and I had that first image in my mind as inspiration. However, our bed is upholstered linen and we have white bedding. Like, white, white. Which I love and am all good with. But I'm wondering if the fabric is too cream next to our bed. Would you please come over in 15 minutes and look at it sideways and let me know? Sister needs some help.

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Okay, update. I started this post in a fury yesterday afternoon, then got distracted, with, you know, my child. Anyway, last night I tried the fabric in our family room and looooved it in there. So that's where my new curtain panels are. Hanging in the family room. So I'm happy that they work perfectly in there, but this does absolutely nothing to help solve my bedroom issues.

Well, lookie there- actual pictures of my home. Don't mind the plethora of toys or general dishevelry. Such is life. Oh, and I still need to hem them on all sides and get the correct number of curtain rings up there. Minute details.

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So where were we? Oh, right. My bedroom. No, I have no pictures to share with you. Blogger Fail. I can never get a good pic in there with the awful lighting and I'm just not proud of the room at all to share. (Though oddly enough, I just shared pics of our messy family room. I dunno.)

Anyway, we have this bed. And this bedding. See? White, white. And some off-white, huge faux fur throw pillows. And here's our dresser. OH! And this is the color of our walls. Which I will likely paint. But what do I need to do here? Find a fabric curtain first, and then paint? I'm afraid if I do, the fabric color/print or whatever will look totally different once the room is lightened up with paint.. Help me Rhonda.

So any suggestions, free advice, links, helpful hints and under $10/yard amazing, gorgeous, neutral fabric ideas you have are much appreciated. I'll send you a Clementine for your troubles.

Project 52:27 {summer fun}

thankful for...
summer fun

This summer is shaping up to be hot, hot, hot. Ugh. But while I may want to stay inside in the nice, cool air conditioning, Miss Evie couldn't care less how hot it is. She wants out!

She's even started putting on her shoes before she starts up with her "Outside? Side?? Side!"... since that's usually what I respond with- you don't have any shoes on! :)

So I'm thankful that we have lots of friends to play with at the pool and splash park. Evie has been in her swim suit nearly every day this past week and it's been a lot of fun. If we have to be out in the heat, we may as well get wet, right? That's what summer is all about!

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Read more about my Project 52.

Linking my Project 52 with:

styleberry BLOG

 What We're Sayin'

Oh The Places We'll Go 

Englexas 

Wicked Kate