Design on a Dime: Projects 5, 6 and 7

Remember Project 4, which was Acadia's bedroom slash the guest room... it turned out like this:

It turned out ok so far- but the circles on the wall were a little lackluster to fill that area, we needed a bedside lamp and the pillows were... blah. So one trip to Goodwill, one trip to Michaels and Joanns, and I came up with this:

First, the pillows. I found 2 green striped pillow covers at Goodwill for 99¢ each which I then used on 2 hideous pillows that I had stored away. I then saw this remnant at Joanns for 87¢: Sewed it up in about 3 minutes, tore apart another hideous pillow to steal the stuffing and came up with: The best part? Not a stitch of pink and it was 87¢. It will do to add a little something to the bed.

And then... the lamp. I found a $3 lamp and $3 lampshade at Goodwill. The lamp was ok as is... but I figured if I added a little color, it would look fun with the zebra print lampshade to jazz up the room (yeah, I did, I said jazz.) The only issue? I only have 1 can of spraypaint... and it is Pepto Bismol pink. Oh well, I can not possibly justify buying a can of that caustic chemical for 10 square inches of color. I will just paint it the pink for now and see if I ever have a need to buy a better paint color. I taped it off: sprayed aforementioned Pepto and here you go: I know... gross pink... Wait! I have Photoshop. Let's pretend it's not... Come on... six bucks, it's cute, right? But WAIT! The best ever part? When I plugged it in I figured out it was a TOUCH LAMP! How fun is that? So fun, in fact, that the girls have spent A LOT of time rubbing the magic lamp. I haven't seen a touch lamp since 1992 when my parents had the lovely brass and glass version requisite of every 80's household.

And the last update was adding some custom matted photo frames with photos of the girls. I did a quick tutorial on that for a later date, but I think they add something to the bubble wall. Alright, another $8.85 added to the design budget- still no too bad.

Where babies come from...

I spent much of my day Sunday uploading home videos to my computer and creating DVD's. It was so fun to see the change of the girls through the years... and sometimes a little monotonous (really, Colby, 45 minutes of Ariana pushing around ice crates as she learns to ice skate???) One thing in particular made me giggle though- the birth videos of the 3 girls. They are all very similar. Here is the most recent, Acadia's: (go ahead, its only 16 seconds....)


You didn't think I was going to show you ooey, gooey ladies parts, did you? No, I did not allow any sort of camera around me for 'the moment' of arrival. You know it seems like a sweet idea, in theory, seeing that moment where you come into the world. But really? As the mom, I don't want to see that part of me in that manner and, as the child, would you want to see that part of your mom in that way??? And aside from that, what are you going to do with that footage... show friends? Show your kids friends?

Now, I am a woman that loves being pregnant and loves having babies, but I just don't need that particular couple of minutes of my anatomy forever digitized for all to see. This way- with the cute shot of me cut to a sweet crying baby, it just makes me forget the gore and want to have more babies... luckily, for Colby's sake, he has put an end to that in this household.

Sunday Citar: The Wisdom of Pooh

" From the state of the Uncarved Block comes the ability to enjoy the simple and the quiet, the natural and the plain. Along with that comes the ability to do things spontaneously and have them work, odd as that may appear to others at times. As Piglet put it in Winnie-the-Pooh, "Pooh hasn't much Brain, but he never comes to any harm. He does silly things and they turn out right." - The Tao of Pooh




Go see Tabitha for more great photos and Sunday Citar.

Cactus Terrarium Tutorial

If you remember before Christmas, I had mentioned I was going to make the girls fairy house terrariums from Santa. Well, I did do that, albeit at about 1am on Christmas Eve... uhhh, such a procrastinator. But they came out great:
And, now I am an expert on terrariums, so your tutorial begins here. These are your supplies: You need gravel or rocks(I bought mine at a craft store for $3), sheet moss (also from the craft store for $2-$3), activated charcoal (purchased in the pet store aquarium aisle for $6), soil and sand (I had this on hand), an open, wide mouthed glass container (Goodwill $1), and I had to use some cute figurines for mine which I got for a steal from a great website called Miniature Gardens. Of course my girls love fairies so I got some of those, a gnome for Ariana, some great doors, tiny lady bugs, frogs and butterflies. I could have gotten a ton of stuff from there, but I kept it to 3 terrariums.
Now, I am telling you how to make a cactus terrarium- there is a difference between these and a moss terrarium. With a moss terrarium, you can keep it moist and keep it covered. The cactus terrariums need to be kept fairly dry and do not need a lid. We clearly went with the cactus version since it is wayyy easier to maintain. Moving on...

Wash your container very well first. You then want to mix 2 parts dirt to one part sand (again, this is only for cacti, not regular house plants.)
From there you want to add 2 inches of rocks to the container.
Then add 1/4 inch of the charcoal, this will keep down odor and filter the water.
Now add 3 or 4 inches of your dirt/ sand mix.
Add your cacti in a pleasing visual arrangement.
Add your figurines and then voila:
You will notice that I did not use the sheet moss. The moss works well in a regular terrarium as the moisture will keep it green and fresh. In the cactus terrarium, it will brown and add more of a tumbleweed feel, which I did with the other 2 and it looks great. I just decided to try this one without. So, you can do it, right? Pretty easy... right, Nap Mom?

Wordless Wednesday (Sort of)

This post is in honor of LZ over at My Messy Paradise. She made a comment on my blog post about Acadia's run in with Modge Podge that made me laugh, "As soon I decide I want to try an art project or cook a new meal, I see photos of kids covered in paint or glue or spaghetti sauce, and strongly decide against it."

And, yesterday, a series of events had me thinking of her sage advice.

It started as I was feeling bad about keeping the girls inside for the past week due to the sub zero temperatures. We have played so many blocks, so much school, colored so many books that I was feeling guilty about them getting bored. I had the brilliant idea of trying a sensory tub. What's that, you ask? Well it is a creation of some doctors or psychologists somewhere who clearly do not have children. You fill a large container with dried rice or beans and let the kids use spoons, cups, etc. to experiment with the tactile stimulation. Annika actually did great and was loving it... And Acadia was too... until she started to eat the rice...
Now, just to be clear, that is 20 pounds of rice. I told Annika that we needed to put it away until Acadia napped since it seemed to be going downhill quickly. Poor Annika begged if she could do it in her own room with the door closed to keep Acadia out. Yes, I let her go into her room with a 20 pound tub of rice. Let's make a long story short... there was a sneak escape from Acadia, squeals, laughter... and 20 POUNDS OF RICE thrown about a bedroom. 20 POUNDS!!! For once in my life, I did not even take a picture because I was in so much shock- just believe me that even after about 6 hours of sweeping, vacuuming and shaking out, there will still be rice in that bedroom for months to come.

And, I thought of LZ. Why do my best intentions always seem to go horribly awry? The painting never works out, even as far back as when Ariana was a toddler:
And Annika never does well with the paint:



And, yet, I still continue to try with Acadia:


And then there is the dress up play complete with lipstick. NEVER-GOING-TO-WORK:

But, then again, even without my help, they seem to find their own messes:


I guess I just can't win.

I can say this on my blog because you don't read it...

Dear Mom at my four-year-old's dance class: I really do not want to see your string thong when you bend over and you are damn lucky I didn't take a picture and put it here on my blog.

Dear Acadia: Please stop pooping in the tub every time I let you shower with me. I know you are ridiculously adorable... your poop is not.

Dear Lady who vomited in your dinner at the restaurant: You just might have a drinking problem.

Dear Punxsutawney Phil: You are officially on my shit list. I really needed you on this one and you let me down yet again.

Dear Husband: Seriously, you are dangerously close to that trade-in. Although the new faucet is gorgeous, four days is an eternity without a kitchen sink.

Dear bloggers who recount reality shows minute by minute: Really, was it that interesting? Does anyone care enough to read your rehashing, and if they do care enough, didn't they watch said reality show themselves????

Dear 4am: Why must you come so early every day? Could you hold off another hour or 2 for me?

Dear LT Creates Jewelry: Your jewelry is simple and fantastic and I love you... and your silver spoon rings.

Creative, Free Valentine Printables

I thought I would post some great Valentine printables nice and early. I found a lot of super cute Valentines for children and adults- unfortunately, Ariana's school does not let the kids give out Valentines (grrrr- please take every bit of fun out of school dear public school system), but I will give her a few for her close friends and neighbors.

The Rubber Punkin has some very simple mini cards that might even be used in your honey buns lunchbox for a few days.
I love the simplicity of this card from The Long Thread:
If you like vintage, the RuffledBlog has a sweet Valentine:
Bunny Cakes has a great classroom Valentine that you can download for free or pay $3.50 to have her send you a personalized PDF: She also has the greatest 'Love is All You Need' cards:
Ambrosia girl has some great Moulin Rouge-inspired cards:
Skip to My Lou has a great lollipop holder (do any schools allow that anymore?):
The NewNew Blog has a great printable for your own love-inspired Mad Libs book:
Secret Agent Josephine has some very simple cards for the youngest loves: I love these seed packets and tea gift packs from Tricia Rennea (I was in Lowes today and they already have their spring seeds out, so this is perfect!): Printing your own Valentines is a great way to keep things simple and reduce waste- simply print only what you need. It also gives your children the option to customize different sentiments for different friends.