The Great Outdoors

we've worked really hard on the outside of our house to realize very small changes.  again, the house was virtually untouched since 1973, and it sat vacant for over a year.  everything structurally on this house is really nice.  the roof is some kind of 50 year "lifetime" roof (it's really cool), the ac is a huge really nice new unit, there's a new furnace and hot water heater.

and little things like these garage doors.  they're really super insulated.  everything's nice just not very pretty.  i can do that.  i can do asthetics.  structural things and remodeling are not things we can afford.

on the list of exterior home projects are new lights and painting the brick.   it'll probably be another year before i can decide on a color ;)

so here're the garage doors before:



they're beigeish cream and dirty and old.  i gave them a quick coat of primer and two coats of sherwin-williams-suggested outdoor paint in white.



then jon and i screwed these bad boys on.  one set per door.  home depot just under $13.



now we have that "carriage door" look that was going to cost $2600.  i know.  i priced it before settling on fakies.  they make "window" attachments that go on the top.  we're thinking of saving up for 'em too. they're $100 per door.  still significantly cheaper than new garage doors, but so charming!   it crossed my mind to paint faux windows on top, but i don't want it to look to arts and crafts projecty.



here's the front door when we were having the house inspected.  we quickly removed the storm doors and sold the bench on craigslist.  oh, and we took out that obnoxious bush plant thing there to the left.




and this is the front door now!  again, purchasing pretty new doors would be cool, but painted old doors are going down as "charming" once again.  the color is ben moore's "wyeth blue" though most people think they're green.

i should also note that a family of mice has taken up residence in the hay bails.  jon has set about to evict them since they don't pay rent.  so far he's caught one innocent little baby mouse in a horrific trap.  such a sad way to go.

also of note, all those big pumpkins are from our garden!

Bow Tie Tutorial

hi ya'll! come on over to the life in grace girls blog and check out how to make the bow ties the boys wore for easter! show some love and leave her a comment over there!

Egg Folks

you may remember this little project that the boys and i did a couple of weeks ago. you may have wondered, as i did, what on earth we'd do with those grassy eggs once they grew. well, wonder no longer! here's what we came up with yesterday...



happy little long-haired egg folks.



they're so silly!



jack. complete with glasses.



they look so friendly as they watch me do dishes.



just hanging out with the coffee stir sticks.

Sunday

happy sunday all! thanks for the comments about my arms two posts down! i wasn't even thinking about that! kind of embarrassing...

i've wanted to do this project (click that) for a couple of years now. so i painstakingly tapped the tops off of 18 eggs and we gave it a go. keep in mind that yesterday was 83 and we went to a CSU baseball game, played at the park, and ate at Lupita's...today it's snowing.





load em with moist potting soil.





sprinkle on a healthy dose of grass seed.





water and wait :) hopefully they'll be ready for easter.



this morning we were out front.....in the middle of the road.....in our pajamas.....looking at the 2000 acre fire burning up in the foothills when the boys asked to have breakfast on the porch. the front porch. sure, why not? we're hillbilly like that.



we whipped up a batch of home brew before church. looks nasty. we'll see. it's fermenting with my fabric for the next two weeks.



don't flowers make everything look better? they do don't they. ballet pink tulips just say spring. ahhhhh. thanks jon :) i read an interview of actress angie harmon one time and the interviewer said that her house smelled like fresh flowers and brewing coffee. i like that. it's homey.



and in other important news...



i found some "paige premium denim" skinny jeans at t.j. maxx that i'm stoked about. super dark wash, super skinny. (yes, i cut my head off again. need to find my tripod.)

oh, and we bought a house.

Papers

there is a conundrum with a child in school. to keep the school work or not to keep the school work? my solution? photographs.



i strap the sometimes freakish works of art to the fridge or...



le artiste. and snap a picture.



because i wouldn't want to forget this, but



i also don't want to keep it.



the plan is to order an inexpensive paperback book from snapfish at the end of the year.



that my friends is winter wipeout...kindergarten edition.

Folding Screen

so i've been buying bits and pieces here and there to make myself a folding screen. i've been waiting til i can buy the "perfect" fabric. i finally realized that was never going to happen...so i went with pretty buuuuut inexpensive ;) for whatever reason, i decided christmas eve was a good day to tackle this project.

buy a big ole sheet of plywood at your neighborhood home depot
have them cut it into 5 78" x 17" pieces. (they will do this for free)(so nice)



then cut your fabric a little longer and wider than the board and some batting.



lay the board on top



wrap the fabric around and staple gun it in place. pulling taut.



i just folded the edges up simply. simple. key word. better done than perfect. best phrase i ever learned in my life.



enlist burly husband to put on the hinges. let's just say....this was not easy.



aren't they cute though?

side note: do you know about red laser? it's an iphone app. i scanned these at home depot using the app and they gave them to me at the lowest price and took 10% off.



making progress. whoopie!



take some more fabric
measure it to the size of the back of a board
iron in a clean edge (wording?) on all 4 sides



lovely, lovely liquid stitch.



add a bead all the way around and smooth into place.

check it out!
now it just needs a good home in my home.

Paper Mache

we were going to make planets. they were going to hang from the ceiling of the boys room. i was repeating over and over in my head, "a mess is okay. it's not a big deal. mess=fun."



i quickly discovered, however, that the balloons only blew up into really weird shapes.



we pressed on...unthwarted.



and made...



...spaceships? sorta?



you know, A for effort. and we had fun. and we never paint.

no finished product pics you may notice.

Wild Hair

i got a wild hair today, and ran with it. thus doing, however, completely trashed my house. i wish i would have captured what used to be the floor, but is now a sea of toys too small for rowan to be around. i forgot the couch too...covered in laundry...nothing out of the norm.



in between sewing projects, i made row some baby food - sweet potato and squash with flax seed and a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. nothing's too good fo my bebe. yeah that's right.



the dining room looks like this. i mean, worse than this. a picture cannot fully capture what has happened in there. cutting into a pillow i didn't know had feathers in it should pretty much explain it.



first, i whipped up these beauties. here's the deal. i've had the fabric FOR EVER. i just keep waiting til i can do them right, buy trim. well, that's never going to happen. so today, this wild hair sprung up, and now i have oodles of pillows, simply sewn, no frills, stuffed with old pillows i cut open and.....DONE!



then i added a little color to our all white, first sheets we ever bought 9 years ago, boring bedroom.



how will i arrange them?! so many options!



all the random fabrics really hit it off together.



i also scored this $9 end table from goodwill the other week. it needs love.



in other, unassociated news...



row baby's a crawler.



but finn thinks he's being a puppy.