Finally, a Friday Post!

I love to cruise Goodwill and Habitat ReStore places.  I almost never leave without a purchase, and that purchase is rarely without a plan for improvement.

Several weeks ago, I found four Ikea "Malma" mirrors for dirt cheap.

Ikea's picture on their website for the Malma, which is pretty pathetic.

The initial stain was a dark wood, which I primed incorrectly, sanded, and then primed correctly.

I covered the glass with some paper and got to work spray painting.

Set out to dry on a pretty, sunny day!

I got the idea from, duh, Pinterest to trace a pattern onto the frame and then come back to hand-paint the pattern in my chosen colors.  I originally planned a damask, but found this pattern to be more whimsical and easier to tackle:

Pretty pretty!

So, I flipped it over and got to work laying down a layer of colored pencil around the edges where the pattern would be traced:

Scribble...

Then I taped the scribbled side down onto the frame and got busy tracing the pattern.

Adhere here.

Apply firm, gentle pressure.

It takes some serious squinting, but you can see the pattern transferred to the wood nicely:

Purty flowurs...

They're pretty impractical as far as mirrors go (3" by 3"), but I knew the exact spot where we could hang them where they'd add much needed color and light.  All they need now is some fun paint.  I did start painting one of the frames with beachy, washed-out greens and yellows, but I may double back on that plan and go for a more striking combination of navy blue and bright yellow.  I might also just take a page from this palette and just go nuts with it:

It's a swatch from fabric.com that I ran across and pretty much love to pieces.  Kitchen curtains, maybe?

Anyway, once I have a functioning camera again, I will post the results.  I love doing stuff like this.  It's a great way for me to put my often annoying need to hyperfocus on something irrelevant to good use. 

Thinking Things

My thoughts continue to remain with the plans to make things happen around here.  Today, however, my thoughts scatter about the landscape of this month's to-do list.

Kid #3, our only daughter, has a birthday coming up.  She'll be 6.  She wants a "Wreck-It Ralph vs. My Little Pony" cake.  I don't understand it, but I'll make it happen.  She also wants a My Little Pony dress after her favorite character "Fluttershy."  Thanks to Pinterest again, I've found a loose interpretation sundress idea that will be easy to execute.  Fluttershy is yellow with a pink mane and tail, and butterflies on her flanks.  So the dress will be yellow cotton with a pink sash around the waist and pink ruffles around the hem.  Butterflies will find a home on the bottom left of the dress, much like the poodle of a poodle skirt.  If I'm feeling particularly creative, and since Fluttershy has wings, I may embellish the dress with some mini-wings on the back.  We'll see.

She also wants coloring books and toys.  I may parcel those ideas out to her grandmothers. :-)

Alas, today's docket is filled to the brim with shotgun-style cleaning.  The kids will have a sitter this weekend, so it has to look like we know how to control ourselves.  I know, I'm laughing too.

Of Windows and Whimsy...

Still no camera.  However, I would like to share with you a magical time, from long ago, when we first moved into this house:  

The living room.

The kitchen/dining room.

In the living room, looking toward the stairs.

Oh, how things have changed!  Our living room has the same layout, but there is a peppering of toys hither and yon, stacks of papers and bills and magazines on the desk, more books than our three bookshelves can manage (there are only 2 pictured, but you can see the corner of shelf #3 between the big front window and the front door that's out of the frame), lending to random stacking on the shelves, and a craft desk covered in projects that are a mere 2 or 3 steps from completion.  Oh, and our TV suddenly quadrupled in size, which blocks about half of that beautiful window.  Facepalm.

However, joy of joys, we have plans to overhaul the whole mess.  It will take a few years to accomplish, as it will have to happen in stages from the ground up.  Our carpet, which was not the highest quality by a long shot, is done.  It will be the first to go, and dark laminate (cherry or espresso) will take its place.  Once that is in place, we're putting in built-in shelving around the window, complete with a storage-friendly window seat, like these:

(source unknown, the link from the pin is an error)

OR

source

We're debating the valance, but the mister seems to think it will tie the whole lot together.  And we're planning to do as much reclaimed wood as possible, for cost AND environmental reasons.  The shelf space will nearly double, giving our books an orderly home, and the little cabinets will likely house DVDs and schooling materials.  The storage in the bench will be used for kids' books and toys. 

That gigantic couch, which seems to swallow up the room, will be replaced with either slipper chairs or wingback chairs.  If another couch comes into this living room, it will be no bigger than a loveseat.  We won't need anything bigger because seating will have already doubled with the window seat alone.

Where the desk resides, the TV will be hung on the wall and floating shelves for knick-knacks, statues, sculptures, and framed pictures, to the tune of something like this.

The office desk will then be moved to the wall opposite from the built-ins, where the craft desk currently resides.  I'm hoping to pull off something like so:

source

It may double as a craft station.  I am anxious to toss the craft desk.  It's a behemoth.  I love it, but it's huge, it's covered in stuff, and I could easily store my sewing machine in the laundry closet and do my sewing at the dining table when the need and occasion arises.  Most of my fabric is in storage bins in the linen closet as it is.

And that's just the plan for the living room.  The kitchen, since it is separated from the living room by little more than a small closet and the 4 feet of wall where the craft desk is (the picture of the kitchen was taken from the couch, if that helps lend a visual), will also get the laminate flooring so that there is more flow.  The cabinets will be painted an antique white.  Drawer pulls and other hardware are being debated.  It might get a fun coat of paint on the walls, but we'll see. 

I am inspired today, in preparation for this work and in the anticipation of our anniversary movie "redo" this Saturday, to begin the 40 Days of Organization checklist.  I'm going to try and double-up on some of the tasks, since they won't be particularly time consuming.  Oh, and my mountain of laundry that needs to be folded and put away beckons as well.  Wheeeeeeeeee.

What's on the Menu? It's Tuesday!

So, I have some lime chili chicken on the brain, and some tequila lime salsa (I bought a bag of limes and I need to use them ASAP), but I'm beginning to question my decisions for such a cookie-cutter approach to blogging.  After all, spontaneity is the spice of life, yes?  I'll have to mull this over while I marinate the chicken.

I'm not going to post a recipe because I want to put a picture with it.  Alas, my camera remains un-repaired and un-replaced.

Meme Time Again

Sometimes, when you want to feel like you got something accomplished in a bid to add fuel to the motivational fire, you have to dig deep.  :-)

Today, however, procrastination is not an option.  I have enacted our grocery budget overhaul and I'll spend time this morning hacking whole chickens into pieces, mixing marinades, bagging, labeling, researching recipes, and hoping that it stretches as far as I want.  I also need to make yogurt, process coconut flakes into flour, and crank out some tortillas.  If I'm not totally disgusted with the state of the kitchen at that point, I'll can some beans.

Tonight, our priest will be offering Mass for the soul of John's grandmother.  If the whole day falls apart, it will seem like peanuts in light of getting to spend the evening in Mass, praying for a woman who was truly amazing.

UPDATE: I got all but the breasts of one of the chickens chopped up and marinating.  Those breasts will be dinner tomorrow.  I'm thinking Lime Chili Chicken on a bed of pepper strips and a side salad with tequila lime vinaigrette.  We'll see tomorrow. 

I'm Thinking About...

...groceries.

I know: Stop the presses!  What a huge deal!  It's so exciting, I just mi- zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz...

However, I just got done paying all of our bills for the month.  Now I'm "white knuckling" about our spending for the next 3-5 days, hoping beyond hope that there are no surprises as far as finances go.  This seems to hinge on, above all, our groceries.

Today, plans are being made and flyers are being scanned to really kick our grocery budget in the teeth.  This will likely be followed with a week spent canning things like beans and peaches ($0.79/lb this week!) and soups, and exploring the myriad of possibilities that come with whole chickens (cheapest meat by the pound).  This is no easy thing, considering my hangups about organic and whole foods and the dietary needs of my autistic son.  Coupons for unprocessed dietary staples are few and far between, which is why our grocery budget is so huge.

My goal, God willing, is to cut out budget in half for the next couple of months and get just a tiny bit of money reallocated toward student loans.  We're currently shouldering three of them, but one of them may actually be history by the time Christmas rolls around.  As soon as that is resolved, I will really feel the power of the "snowball effect" that Dave Ramsey touts in his books as that money is then hurled at loan #2.

But it all comes down to groceries.  It is the lone column that funnels away 1/4th of our budget.  Everything else, save for a few bills, seems to be nickel-and-dime kinds of things, which can also be pared down as necessary (like restaurant visits, which have all but been eliminated).

Ugh, my kingdom for a chicken coop!!!  But that's another rant for another time.

Windows Clouded and Views Obscured...

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, kid #4 (a diabolical genius) broke my camera.  And since cameras are typically necessary for pictures, and pictures are used for windows into my daily life, the window is effectively shuttered until I can afford a replacement.  

First world problems, right?

Well, in the spirit of all things summer, here is a glimpse into some of our favorite summer haunts:

Longwood Gardens

Springton Manor Farm and Butterfly House

 The Parks and Splash Pads

Philadelphia

NYC