Sometimes lightbulbs go off in my head

Back to the Dining room re-do:

It was time to plan out the wall décor. I like finding things I have around the house, both because they’re free and also because it limits my options since I sometime get stuck deciding how to decorate a blank wall. I was thinking of a gallery wall with a wooden cutout of the word, GATHER. It was hard to plan that because I hadn’t picked a furniture to piece to put against that wall yet and I had found these great little sconces for $6 a piece at the consignment store and wanted to use them.

I held up a framed painting from Josh’s grandpa we have in the hallway, but there was too much glare on the glass from the front window. Then I went upstairs and found this frame I had gotten at IKEA to put in Luke’s room. The tooth fossil poster he got ended up being too big for it so I’d never used it. I looked through some of my photos to see what I might want in that room but didn’t find anything great.  I was staring at it propped up against the wall and saw a tablecloth I had folded on the chair. *insert lightbulb here* – remove glass, stretch the fabric behind the frame, somehow hang letters to spell my message- maybe Gather but maybe something more.

I threw it all together like this (the color is way off, it’s not that bright)-

There had been a little embroidery hoop decoration on etsy.com I’d found a while back that said Blessed Abundantly, which I thought would be the perfect reminder to have in our dining room. So off to the craft store I went! I had to go to 2 different stores, sent pictures of various things to Mom for her opinion, make a huge mess of the dining room and kitchen, and made a huge mess of my scrapbooking supplies in the guest room.

I LOVE the finished project!

I may end up using small clothespins for the letters so I can switch out the words if I want to change it.

 

Brothers by the Fire

It started with 2 boys-

Then Comet decided the fire looked inviting-

Luke started getting ready for school and we noticed this-

So Sweet-

Then Comet started thinking his space was being invaded-

And I should’ve had it on video-

Luke and I just cracked up at the last picture! All was well, Jake just needed to walk away for Comet could have his spot by the fire:)

The Light Saga

In case you are wondering what a housewife with school age kids does all day—-

I’m re-decorating the dining room. It didn’t really ever get completely finished in the first place. I painted it to match the rest of the main level shortly after we moved in, we quickly found a light fixture a month or so after that, got bigger chairs, new curtains, and put up a mirror. I never really got anything on the walls and didn’t to anything to the hutch and dining table which had a finish we were tired of. It always seemed dark and blah in there.

Well, there’s been a lot fun stuff happening but I’m not quite ready for the big “reveal.”

I started with the light fixture. It was never as bright as I’d wished just because of the design of it. I really wanted something light and bright for the room. I fell in love with this light from West Elm-

I love how the rectangular shape matches the rectangular table. But it is pricey and would require Josh to install it- which he isn’t a big fan of. So, I started trying to fool around with the light I had to see if I could make it work for what I envisioned. The shade was a tan color and really looked yellowish at night-

I looked on Pinterest and tried painting the shade white. It looked really blotchy and just bad- even worse at night. Now that I’d ruined it, it made it easier to try other things out– like  rope–

I got that idea from this— but it still looked pretty dark and rustic in my room

I was on Pinterest again and saw someone who used a thrift store sweater to wrap an old lampshade. So I went through my closet- found a white eyelet scarf and a creamy crochet-look sweater that had gotten kind of stretched out-

Josh never knew what he was going to come home to:) The sweater was the winner- it stretched really tightly around the bottom edge of the shade and then I used hot glue and a similar toned ribbon to attach it to the top. I also painted the whole shade with the white paint so it would block the yellow tint from coming through.

And voila!

It’s the tone I was looking for and I like the textural interest it adds– had to lose a sweater but otherwise, a free upgrade!

Silly Selfies

Ah, the “selfie”- my spell check is trying to tell me it’s not a word but the new generation knows better:) I did just recently learn that a group picture is called a “groupie” –glad my tweens can keep me informed. My boy is not interested in these selfie things but my girl has fun with them-

Now I’m wondering what it’s called when there’s a cat in the picture…I’ll have to ask:)

10 things you may not know

Valentine’s Day Edition-

1. He always says, “I love you” first when we’re saying goodbye to each other– I just say “too”
2. We laugh a lot right before we go to sleep. We lay in bed talking for a while when we go to bed and my brain is fried by that time so I usually say the wrong word or the wrong saying…sometimes I end up trying to sing. Or there will just be a funny story from the day that we haven’t had time to share yet.  Sometimes I laugh so loud I’m afraid I’ll wake the kids up.
3. He kisses me on the forehead every morning at 5:30 am before he goes to work. Sometimes I tell him to have a good day- sometimes, I just grunt.
4. I think my biggest strength in our marriage is my ability to communicate in a way that is nice or with a joke or other sweet way so I’m not nagging or yelling. I save this for him- the kids do not get that side of me.
5. His biggest strength is making me feel wanted, valued, and loved 24/7, 365 days a year- no matter what (and I’m including the years I had too much extra weight, had a bad haircut, and bought all my clothes from the clearance rack at Sears;)
6. We play board games– usually Trivial Pursuit. He retains tons of useless (except in board games or Jeopardy) knowledge so he almost always wins but he still gives me a fist bump when I get one right
7. Our favorite TV shows are The Mindy Project, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, and The Soup and we wait to watch them together if he’s out of town the night they’re on.  He’ll humor me with some HGTV mixed in there but not Say Yes to the Dress- that’s where he draws the line.
8. When the kids leave home, we’d like to rent an apartment in a cute little downtown area- enjoy live music and eat at dive restaurants. We’d also like to hike a week or 2 on the Appalachian trail (Luke wants to join us)
9. I have a tendency to let my car get low on gas right before the weekend- he teases me about it and fusses that he has to fill it but I think he thinks it’s cute
10. He calls me “El” and I call him “JB”  Sometimes he says, “Elner” in the funny way that my Grandpa Harold used to call my Grandma Eleanor

Snow Day Snapshots

It was a big one! Luke was anxious to use his new snowboard only to have it sink in the 12+ inches of snow. After he got a path made, it was better but they were tired out just from walking in it. You can see the little bit of red in one picture from his snowboard- it just stayed in the snow and he went tumbling down:)

Free Gift

I saw this really cute craft idea on a blog I read and happened to have all the supplies on hand to make it. You just need wood shims, paint, a glue gun, and alphabet stamps if you have them (which I was excited to find I still had.) I’m making mine as a cute little gift for Josh for Valentine’s Day. I will explain the meaning of the word I chose on Friday.

Emma came home and made one as a Birthday gift for a friend. Luke just liked stamping on the unpainted shims:)

Goodbye Lime Green

I never really finished Emma’s room makeover last year and it’s a good thing because I wasn’t digging the color. It looked fun and nice during the day but garish and bright at night. I was also getting tired of seeing such a different color than the rest of our house from the upstairs hallway. I found an oops paint at Lowe’s for $5 that looked like it was really white on the lid but it turned out to be the perfect soft backdrop for Emma’s room- yay for not having to choose from thousands of paint samples! I brought home a table from my Mom’s house that used to be my Grandma’s dining table. I thought it’d be the perfect place for Emma to do crafts, homework, or play with toys. The only thing it’s been used for so far is playing with toys– no one in this house seems to want to leave the kitchen area. I told our realtor that when we were house-shopping and it’s till true- even Josh puts his laptop on the dining room table instead of using the armoire in the guest room. But, I’m sure one day when she has more intense homework and a laptop, she’ll want to have peace and quiet in her room and this table will be perfect for that. I pulled the big pine dresser out of her room. It didn’t go with anything and I knew I could fit all her stuff in a more vertical dresser without taking up as much room.  To fill the space on that wall, we found a little couch for hanging out that will also be helpful for guests with little kids and sleepovers. The new curtains block the light better so hopefully during the summer, she’ll be able to sleep in longer.

My favorite part is this little wall between the door and the closet. I had found this set of mirrors for $7 on clearance at Target a while back. The cool butterfly hooks have been a bag since I bought them from a thrift shop years ago- they are handmade and signed by the designer. I still need to put some more things up on the wall and I’d like to use her closet doors to display fun photos but the hard stuff is done. I’d also like to point out that I built the new dresser after taking my first hour long spin class– I was fine till I sat down that night, and couldn’t get back up:)

During–

After-

I forgot to mention– She slept in the guest room the whole week and didn’t get to see it till I was finished. She was so excited and said it looked like a hotel– so if anyone wants to come visit….

Our Three Amigos

Well, I guess they are actually hermanos;) We love our boys– they make us laugh, let Emma train them to do tricks, and keep our laps and beds warm (especially Jake who always knows when the kids are sick or scared and will sleep with them the whole night.)

Again?

I know, I know…it seems all I blog about is winter and hiking. Luckily, Josh and I share the same love for being in the woods and in the winter we have more free weekends to get out there. I’ve also been working on some weekend planning to help make sure we all have a successful weekend as a family. Saturday was a really nice day and Skyline Drive had gotten snow earlier in the week. We combined some hiking time with a little small town food tour idea I had.  I was trying to find an app to make it more fun by keeping a little food log where the kids could rate things but didn’t have any luck.

I found a cute little deli/restaurant in The Plains, VA called Forlano’s Market. The owner opened it as a deli but people started bring plates and silverware to hang out there so he decided to add tables and make it a sit-down place. He gets most of his food locally and has a list on the blackboard so you know where it’s from. I had cup of beer baked potato soup and split a Philly Cheesesteak with Luke. Josh had a meatball sub and he said it had a nice little kick to it and the meatballs were a mix of beef and sausage. Emma ordered a grilled cheese on a ciabatta role but they put a little too much cheese on it so it wasn’t the best.  We drove farther down for RT 55 to the town of Marshall, VA. We got dessert at Mom’s Made Cookies at a little strip mall (I had found it online.) They had lots of interesting flavors including potato chip cookies. I had a chocolate-dipped coconut macaroon cookie. Josh loved his salted caramel bar.  With our bellies full, we got on 66 to head to the mountains. (next time I’ll photograph our food fun)

We did a little hike we’d done before hoping to find an icy creek. The creek wasn’t icy but the snow was great for snowballs, the air was crisp and fresh, and Josh and Luke got to pick through 2 owl pellets they found. In case you don’t know, owl pellets are basically owl puke with all the indigestible parts of their food. These had a small skull, claws, and things like that– Emma and I were not as interested in that:) Lucky for you, I did not photograph that.