over at http://www.exploringdomesticity.blogspot.com/
check it out show the posters some love or share your own tips. I think I am going to change my weigh in days to Tuesday starting next week so I can link up the day of the link up that Kristin and Kristin host.
I have had some unexpected time off from work due to no equipment available to rent so hubs and I have been working on the living room. It is nice seeing him take "pride?" maybe in his home, he could see the progress being made, and since there as no work for either of us, he got up and helped work on the living room, I am happy, I made sure I thanked him bunches.
We have had to have the fire place serviced because it wouldnt stay lit, and now the plumber is here....a bunch of things suddenly stopped working properly or completely broke in the house, but thankfully it is all being take care of. I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!!!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Monday, September 30, 2013
Mixing a little new with some old
So here is a piece of another room coming undone. This is part of our kitchen.
Well we have done lots of giving away and rearranging lately, and here is another completed piece of a space
Here is this space now.
We moved the table you could eat at into another area of the house to be revealed another time when that space is done. We put these chairs that were just taking up space elsewhere in the house,one in each corner (I had previously considered yard saling these or giving them away but I didn't want to if we could find a place to actually use them and I have now found just that place!.) In each chair are some things I made when i was in the Brownies (similar to girl scouts) They are basically cushions made from vinyl table cloths stuffed with newspaper and closed with yarn. (obviously they are pretty durable because I made them when my mom was still living, and she passed 25 years ago) Mr. B had kept them all these years and recently gave them to me when he gave me an old doll cradle that used to be mine for my little girl.
The curtains are mismatch but that is kind of my thing I think, to not always match, and i decidedly like it, and am ok with it after all these years. If I have a style it is not matching I guess....:) The green lacy ones came from a friend selling them on a facebook yardsale site and the bottom ones have coffee cups across the bottom and they came from a thrift store for $2.00. The apple and pear were ceramics painted by my mother that she had hung in her home years ago. My mother was legally blind and unable to drive, so doing ceramics was her creative outlet. Mr. B also gave those to me, when he built his new house, he passed on some of my mothers things he thought I would like to have. The wreath was something I made at a play date with some ladies months and months back maybe like February or March. I really didn't like it but my husband insisted I hang it, and it works in this space.
This particular arrangement is a glass vase given to me by a friend with a yarn accent I made because I was trying to mix it up a little I didn't really want the vase to be blue, but a project I did to change the color was not successful. The nativity set is something that I bought during a flash sale from a friend that sold things from AT HOME and then there is a prayer changes things sign on the table(a bday gift from my former bestie years ago). The table was a table for our kids I had bought two years ago for our kids at christmas, but they don't use it anymore. So i took the chairs to work, and put a piece of brown fabric i had over it. I plan to leave the nativity out year round to remember to spend time with the Lord, in prayer etc. Under the little table is a milk crate that i spruced up by simply tying a scarf around it. I filled it with devotional books, and bibles so we can grab one in the morning have our coffe and pray together. My son and I have been doing a kids devotion book in the morning.
Any way just a glimpse into our little safe haven we are creating. If I could do anything else to this room, i would paint it...but that is for another day!!!!
So how do you design your home? Do you have special pieces in it that have special meaning because they came from someone special? What is your style....do you mis or match everything.? I am learning it doesn't matter as long as you love it! Design it not for others but for you...you are the one who lives in it.
I thought I had taken a better picture of what this spot looked like in chaos but I guess not. But there used to be a table here in the kitchen
Well we have done lots of giving away and rearranging lately, and here is another completed piece of a space
Here is this space now.
We moved the table you could eat at into another area of the house to be revealed another time when that space is done. We put these chairs that were just taking up space elsewhere in the house,one in each corner (I had previously considered yard saling these or giving them away but I didn't want to if we could find a place to actually use them and I have now found just that place!.) In each chair are some things I made when i was in the Brownies (similar to girl scouts) They are basically cushions made from vinyl table cloths stuffed with newspaper and closed with yarn. (obviously they are pretty durable because I made them when my mom was still living, and she passed 25 years ago) Mr. B had kept them all these years and recently gave them to me when he gave me an old doll cradle that used to be mine for my little girl.
The curtains are mismatch but that is kind of my thing I think, to not always match, and i decidedly like it, and am ok with it after all these years. If I have a style it is not matching I guess....:) The green lacy ones came from a friend selling them on a facebook yardsale site and the bottom ones have coffee cups across the bottom and they came from a thrift store for $2.00. The apple and pear were ceramics painted by my mother that she had hung in her home years ago. My mother was legally blind and unable to drive, so doing ceramics was her creative outlet. Mr. B also gave those to me, when he built his new house, he passed on some of my mothers things he thought I would like to have. The wreath was something I made at a play date with some ladies months and months back maybe like February or March. I really didn't like it but my husband insisted I hang it, and it works in this space.
This particular arrangement is a glass vase given to me by a friend with a yarn accent I made because I was trying to mix it up a little I didn't really want the vase to be blue, but a project I did to change the color was not successful. The nativity set is something that I bought during a flash sale from a friend that sold things from AT HOME and then there is a prayer changes things sign on the table(a bday gift from my former bestie years ago). The table was a table for our kids I had bought two years ago for our kids at christmas, but they don't use it anymore. So i took the chairs to work, and put a piece of brown fabric i had over it. I plan to leave the nativity out year round to remember to spend time with the Lord, in prayer etc. Under the little table is a milk crate that i spruced up by simply tying a scarf around it. I filled it with devotional books, and bibles so we can grab one in the morning have our coffe and pray together. My son and I have been doing a kids devotion book in the morning.
Any way just a glimpse into our little safe haven we are creating. If I could do anything else to this room, i would paint it...but that is for another day!!!!
So how do you design your home? Do you have special pieces in it that have special meaning because they came from someone special? What is your style....do you mis or match everything.? I am learning it doesn't matter as long as you love it! Design it not for others but for you...you are the one who lives in it.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Ever heard of House Party?
So months ago through research in trying to find ways to save money on various things I found the following site http://freebies4mom.com/ and signed up for their emails.
One of the emails talked about House Party. I signed up at www.houseparty.com back in April, and I have applied to host three or four different types of parties and I was not selected. However about a week ago I got an email saying UPS was shipping me a package.
Well we had applied to host a Beyblade party, and we were not selected to host, but House Party is launching a new feature called Chatterbox. Chatterbox selected our family (along with some others) to recieve this
BeyWarriors Shogun Steel Ocatagon Showdown Battle Set
We loved the set, we recieved it free from Hasbro through Chatterbox at www.houseparty.com The whole family got in on the action! My son and his friend (8 and 10) were the first ones to test the battle arena. They had a great time! Then we sat down as a family and took turns. My son's favorite character is Samuri Ifrit. Though I think in our battles Ronin Dragoon is undefeated! Even our daughter loves to play with this set! I loved that we connected as a family over it and it was over something my son really really loved! We have not tried the online game yet, that will be next!!!
That is right it was absolutely free!!!!!! All we had to do was honestly review the product and share our reviews on several sites like Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Piece of cake!
House Party features all kinds of parties, from movie nights, to health and wellness, to coffee...you name it. Check it out. Maybe you will be selected to host something. I have no doubt you would make a great host!!!!!!
One of the emails talked about House Party. I signed up at www.houseparty.com back in April, and I have applied to host three or four different types of parties and I was not selected. However about a week ago I got an email saying UPS was shipping me a package.
Well we had applied to host a Beyblade party, and we were not selected to host, but House Party is launching a new feature called Chatterbox. Chatterbox selected our family (along with some others) to recieve this
We loved the set, we recieved it free from Hasbro through Chatterbox at www.houseparty.com The whole family got in on the action! My son and his friend (8 and 10) were the first ones to test the battle arena. They had a great time! Then we sat down as a family and took turns. My son's favorite character is Samuri Ifrit. Though I think in our battles Ronin Dragoon is undefeated! Even our daughter loves to play with this set! I loved that we connected as a family over it and it was over something my son really really loved! We have not tried the online game yet, that will be next!!!
House Party features all kinds of parties, from movie nights, to health and wellness, to coffee...you name it. Check it out. Maybe you will be selected to host something. I have no doubt you would make a great host!!!!!!
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Transformation Thursday #2
Well not much to report. I was able to weigh in this morning and was happy that it wasn't worse than I thought it would be
The picture is terrible but if you can tell what it is...i weigh myself using wii fit...and i have found it to be pretty accurate to my docs scale at least. I gained .07 of a pd since the last time i weighed in. I am not really disappointed...who am I kidding, I did not work as hard as I could have. I did start with the nutrisystem 5 day kit a couple weeks ago. And i liked seeing the calorie amounts i should expect in a meal, snack etc. I honestly did not like the taste of all the food. Some of it was awesome...some of it was not. So i will not be purchasing the kits but I will use the information I got from the kit as a guideline. I have in the last two weeks returned a little to the gym, and started exercising a little again. (I have not exercised most of the summer) So I did make some progress. I struggle with eating the week of my Period....oh boy I just want what i want. I am going to have to research healthy alternatives to my cravings. I did like the Kellogs Special K chocolately pretzel bars. So that could possibly work as a salty but sweet snack at just 90 calories.
Anyway I am not quitting, just got to get myself together better and work more on incorporating exercising back into my life. When i was doing it before, at least it apparently was keeping me from gaining weight.
Here's to encouraging myself to do better as I go forward, remembering I will make mistakes, but this time, I will not quit!
The picture is terrible but if you can tell what it is...i weigh myself using wii fit...and i have found it to be pretty accurate to my docs scale at least. I gained .07 of a pd since the last time i weighed in. I am not really disappointed...who am I kidding, I did not work as hard as I could have. I did start with the nutrisystem 5 day kit a couple weeks ago. And i liked seeing the calorie amounts i should expect in a meal, snack etc. I honestly did not like the taste of all the food. Some of it was awesome...some of it was not. So i will not be purchasing the kits but I will use the information I got from the kit as a guideline. I have in the last two weeks returned a little to the gym, and started exercising a little again. (I have not exercised most of the summer) So I did make some progress. I struggle with eating the week of my Period....oh boy I just want what i want. I am going to have to research healthy alternatives to my cravings. I did like the Kellogs Special K chocolately pretzel bars. So that could possibly work as a salty but sweet snack at just 90 calories.
Anyway I am not quitting, just got to get myself together better and work more on incorporating exercising back into my life. When i was doing it before, at least it apparently was keeping me from gaining weight.
Here's to encouraging myself to do better as I go forward, remembering I will make mistakes, but this time, I will not quit!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
http://www.exploringdomesticity.blogspot.com/
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Family Room Undone
When I say undone, we have undone the family room finally from the chaos we usually have created in there.....This room has become one that my son has to maintain as part of his personal reward system. He has to maintain the living room, family room, and his bedroom. Well the poor kid has been trying and trying to get this room and he will tell me it is clean and it isn't....So I decided after we got off work today we would come home clean it together so he can see what it is suppossed to look like when it is clean.
And honestly before there really was just too much chaos going on for him to work out on his own I think.....
Here is before.
In the second picture the chair is flipped its not always like that. I had just flipped it over to clean under it....we deep cleaned the family room....under the furniture...ceiling fan and we wiped down the base boards....(no i don't expect my son to do that every week) it just needed to be done......
we started at 4:18 and ended at 5:56 we probably could have been done sooner but I did have a 10 minute conversation with the neighbor while recycling papers and my daughter woke up from her nap and needed to be cuddled for maybe another 10.
Anyway...here is the after.....
I think it turned out well....i love the clutterless room...we went through stuff threw away papers etc....we moved the doll house to behind dad's chair but there is still plenty of play room back there.....And together we tackled it!!! I am happy with the results.....I doubt the blankets will always stay on the furniture...I really have to clean out my linen closet next so there will be room to store the blankets. The only thing left to do another day in this room is to thoroughly determine what toys in the toy boxes we love and give away the ones we don't....I am sure that will be done prior to Christmas.
So what did you do today....Did you tackle any projects that you have been putting off? I am proud of us, we worked but came home and gave something our total effort....and we even had a little play time with Aunti P and her daughter at Mcd's play place.
And honestly before there really was just too much chaos going on for him to work out on his own I think.....
Here is before.
In the second picture the chair is flipped its not always like that. I had just flipped it over to clean under it....we deep cleaned the family room....under the furniture...ceiling fan and we wiped down the base boards....(no i don't expect my son to do that every week) it just needed to be done......
we started at 4:18 and ended at 5:56 we probably could have been done sooner but I did have a 10 minute conversation with the neighbor while recycling papers and my daughter woke up from her nap and needed to be cuddled for maybe another 10.
Anyway...here is the after.....
I think it turned out well....i love the clutterless room...we went through stuff threw away papers etc....we moved the doll house to behind dad's chair but there is still plenty of play room back there.....And together we tackled it!!! I am happy with the results.....I doubt the blankets will always stay on the furniture...I really have to clean out my linen closet next so there will be room to store the blankets. The only thing left to do another day in this room is to thoroughly determine what toys in the toy boxes we love and give away the ones we don't....I am sure that will be done prior to Christmas.
So what did you do today....Did you tackle any projects that you have been putting off? I am proud of us, we worked but came home and gave something our total effort....and we even had a little play time with Aunti P and her daughter at Mcd's play place.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
trying to apply given advice
Can we agree that you can do research and ask for advice and learn about new things, but if you are not willing to apply the things you learn, then it doesn't do any good.
So I am briefly going to share with you something I learned and show you the result..... In all the books and blogs that I have read regarding wardrobe and making wise purchases when you are adding to your wardrobe you need to make sure you love the piece and ask yourself honestly if you are going to wear it. Well I have been wanting a pair of comfortable shoes for work that can be dressy or casual, depending on what I would like to wear. I have decided that just because I rent uhaul trucks and work in a partly unfinished building doesn't mean that I have to look like a slob. (I really struggled this summer...it was just so hot before we got air and regular doors put on two rooms any make up just melted off) My sneakers are getting a little grubby too. Anyway I wanted a pair of shoes that covered my toes because i learned this summer that wet grass and opened toed shoes equal wet toes which equal yuck. And I also have sensitive feet, I love heels but with my current weight etc...they don't love me back and I can't wear them more than an hour or two and I cannot do any lifting or extended walking in them. So here is what I chose. I ended up at a Naturalizer outlet and I was shopping their clearance section (I am unwilling to spend what they want for shoes in their non clearance section) I love the added padded comfort I can usually find in their shoes, and I tried on several pair there and several pair at Rue 21 but what I found were these at the Naturalizer outlet
Do you think they are too funky? I picked them because a) they were comfortable, and b)they have a little bit of every color in them so I figured they could go with whatever I put on whether it be slacks or jeans. I don't think I will wear them every day but probably quite a bit. For once I feel like I made a sensible purchase not just a stylish whimsical one. They have a flat protective sole and it is all good.
here is what they look like on
So I am briefly going to share with you something I learned and show you the result..... In all the books and blogs that I have read regarding wardrobe and making wise purchases when you are adding to your wardrobe you need to make sure you love the piece and ask yourself honestly if you are going to wear it. Well I have been wanting a pair of comfortable shoes for work that can be dressy or casual, depending on what I would like to wear. I have decided that just because I rent uhaul trucks and work in a partly unfinished building doesn't mean that I have to look like a slob. (I really struggled this summer...it was just so hot before we got air and regular doors put on two rooms any make up just melted off) My sneakers are getting a little grubby too. Anyway I wanted a pair of shoes that covered my toes because i learned this summer that wet grass and opened toed shoes equal wet toes which equal yuck. And I also have sensitive feet, I love heels but with my current weight etc...they don't love me back and I can't wear them more than an hour or two and I cannot do any lifting or extended walking in them. So here is what I chose. I ended up at a Naturalizer outlet and I was shopping their clearance section (I am unwilling to spend what they want for shoes in their non clearance section) I love the added padded comfort I can usually find in their shoes, and I tried on several pair there and several pair at Rue 21 but what I found were these at the Naturalizer outlet
Do you think they are too funky? I picked them because a) they were comfortable, and b)they have a little bit of every color in them so I figured they could go with whatever I put on whether it be slacks or jeans. I don't think I will wear them every day but probably quite a bit. For once I feel like I made a sensible purchase not just a stylish whimsical one. They have a flat protective sole and it is all good.
here is what they look like on
Now if I can just figure out what to do with my hair I could feel well put together on a daily basis....one thing at a time though!
Hope your "hump" day was great!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)