This week: 3/26-3/30

We took the 5th graders to the GA Aquarium on Tuesday. I love that place! Although I wasn't able to enjoy the animals (because I was trying to keep up with my 21 cherubs) it did get me excited about using our 4 free tickets for Luke's 3rd birthday! There is a picture of some animals over at my 365 project here.

Luke is saying "uhh woooont" for "I want". He is communicating so well I can't believe I ever worried about his speech. 

He said his first more than three word sentence this week. He said "Where good girl's ball at?" He was pointing to the yard. It was so cute. 

He also saw a bird in the middle of our yard. He goes "a birdie- pow pow" and made a shooting gun noise and made the movements with his fingers. Boys will be boys- and you can bet he didn't learn that at home!!

I bought the Silhouette Cameo on Wednesday! I am beyond thrilled about this! IHeart Organizing was running a great promo this past week that I just couldn't pass up!

I'm looking forward to spring break and lazy mornings. Staying up late working on projects and doing whatever I want to do! 

March Madness...

Because of the craziness of February, I got behind on some of my Feb.goals. I had to kick my rear into high gear to get the IOU goals accomplished:
1. Purge 100
Purge 100 happened here. This also marked #58 off here
2. Emergency Kit
The emergency kit still hasn't happened. I have slowly been collecting things for it, but I haven't pulled it out to see what all has been collected and what else I need. Boo for procrastinating. 
3. Herbs
My sad herb story you can see here.
4. Luke's Quietbook turned into Busy Bags
And Luke's quietbook turned busy bags are here. I changed my plan (quietbook) to create these busy bags because they will grow with him. I can change out the activities as he gets older and hopefully keep him entertained for a while. This marked #56 off my 101 list

I also set monthly goals to accomplish:

1. Finish moving my blog over (from Wordpress).
The blog is completely and totally over here. Pictures and links are transferred and I think my eyes are now crossed! That was alot of work, and alot of reading and re-reading of posts to make sure it was right. If you see something that didn't come over right, let me know!


3. Large window print
The picture is printed (in black and white). I had it printed on engineer's print paper at our local printing shop in town (Walbrook Printing- THEY ARE AMAZING by the way! I took in my thumb drive and in less than 5 minutes they had my print for $5.35!)

4. Another way to "go green"- this project is started, but that's about it. I will be updating!

5. Luke's reading corner/nook- Not finished, but we had a harder time hanging the shelves than we originally thought. Josh is working on this so it'll be done this week!



And here are other things that got done around here:
1. Josh's Valentine's Day gift- 52 reasons why I love him. And there really are more than 52!! This is #44 off the list. 
2. I completed 2 stool projects. Here I painted/recovered 2 stools. Here I painted another stool.
3. I embraced my love of quatrefoil and painted a canvas.  
4. The hallway collage that I started here is finally done!
I added a frame with a "lucky penny". It's a penny dated 2005 which was the year we met. I also added Luke's ultrasound pictures! I still don't like the blank space over the penny. Maybe I'll find a bigger frame? This marks #81 off the list.

5. I had a madras affair. 
6. I shared about how we dose medicine. 
7. The master collage got finished. I added a floating shelf and a printable to go in a frame on the far right side.

8. I updated my Facebook page with recent customer orders and my new fabric. This is also #36 off the list
9. Here is a quick update on our pool hole/grass. It's been 5 months since we filled in the place where our pool used to be. Here is what it looks like now that the grass has grown. I seriously can't believe how good it looks! Here was the original post.

10. I shared a few ways of how I'm "simplifying life". This includes not buying clothes for 6 months. Now that I have actually worn some summer clothes I am really going to have to work at being content with my shorts! They are too big because of some weight I've lost, but I'm determined to stick to this goal!
11. I decorated for Easter!

Although I procrastinated on some things I really thought I would get done, I got a whole lotta things done that I didn't plan! Maybe this means I should stop planning?? or maybe that would be bad and nothing would get done. 

herb pain

I shared here how I was planting herbs to be able to hopefully use in a dish someday. This is #6 on my list. When the seeds first started to sprout they looked great! They were healthy- I guess? The only way I know if a plant is healthy is that it is green. I guess I should warn you that I literally kill every plant/flower/shrub that I look at. The only reason we have a nicely landscaped front yard is the owners before us planted some-pretty-sprouty-plants that comes back every year even after we hack them with the weed eater in the fall when all the leaves die. Also tulip survive my thumb of death since they manage to come back year after year no matter what happens. I got a rose bush last year for my birthday and it's literally a miracle that sucker is still living and breathing. I don't do flowers on the front porch, or the deck, or anywhere else. The Gardenia my work gave me last month has turned yellow. What do I do wrong?? I've considered buying faux ones so there's no possibility of death, but I figure my neighbors would catch on, and faux flowers are totally 1992.

So my herbs aren't looking too hot.
I'm not really sure what happened to the cilantro. The basil seems ok, but that little one is growing realllllly slowly. I have watered them religiously, kept them in the sunlight, and talked to them every day. I'm seriously not joking about the talking to them part. I mean I can't be the only human on earth to do that.

The directions said to replant after 30-45 days and when the stems are 3-4 inches. So I figured it was time to re-pot. The directions also said to keep them in these little biodegradable pots. Oops.
 I just didn't think they would fit in my new pots very well. And they're half dead anyways. And rules were meant to be broken, right??


Here they are in their new homes. I seriously tried to get the cilantro to behave but they wouldn't hear of it. We'll see what happens, but I'm not holding my breath.

I think I may try to move them outside when I know there's no chance of rain. I think rain would totally drown these babies.

There- it's on the internet. My pathetic lack of gardening skills. And I seriously contemplated started a real garden. What the heck was I thinking??

This week: 3/19-3/23

This week has been full of a little mister with a rotten attitude! Every situation is me trying to avert a tantrum. He is communicating so well, and he knows exactly what he wants and sometimes what he wants doesn't equal safe, legal, or in the best interest of him. (like when he wanted to drive his coupe down the middle of the road and threw a fit. Don't know if anyone else has tried to get their kid out of a kiddie coupe, but it's nearly impossible.)

I had a dream about a "parent teacher" conference for Luke. They told me how "bad" he was, and how far behind he was falling. This is like my worst nightmare by the way. Also they told me he would be in the bad behavior class in Kindergarten. I was devastated... Thank goodness it was a dream!!

He had Spring pictures at school this week. When I picked him up he was in a completely mismatched outfit (army green shirt, and army green shorts- but 2 different shades of army green) Yikes. I really hope his nice white polo and plaid shorts made it til' 9am for pictures. Otherwise they'll be pretty funny!

All week he has had potty accidents outside after we get home from school. It's like he's found a comfortable part of the yard and he uses it as his pooping corner. This happened 3 times this week after he went to the exact same place for a while. He sees "good girl" potty outside. Try explaining that to a 2 year old.

He counted to 5 all by himself! This happened Monday or Tuesday night. He had his Ne-Neeeees (candy-  which is really a fruit snack) and he laid them all out and goes "one, two, tree, orrrrr, ive!" He's been saying "two" after I say 1 and "tree" after I say 2 for a while now, but he has never done it without me prompting him. I was so proud and we high fived alot!

Lulu comes this weekend for a visit and we are excited about that!

Happy Spring/Easter!

Who else can't believe that Easter is 2 weeks away?? It feels really early this year, but this beautiful weather is totally getting me in the mood to do some outside work, spring cleaning, and have a yard sale!

Here are some things we did to celebrate Easter...
I made him an egg matching game. Painted egg carton:

matching eggs:
voila! (and it teaches him to match colors!) He loves it. And it cost a big ZERO dollars! (the eggs were leftover from years gone by)

I made him an appliqued shirt. So many holidays passed last year that I didn't make him a shirt for, so I decided the saying "the cobblers kids go without shoes" wouldn't happen to us! Now making him a holiday shirt is a priority!
I made an Easter sign for the door. It didn't exactly turn out like I envisioned, but I'm not an artist either! (my husband is in the background making funny faces through the glass).
And I get to use the Easter runner I got on mega-sale at the end of last season! Also the bunny was a yard ornament from who knows where??? He was uncovered in the yard a few years ago. A couple coats of white and he was good to go.
I like Spring, and Easter. I'm not into bunnies and eggs very much so this is about as decorated as it gets... and I am SUPER THRILLED about getting tickets to the Passion City Church Good Friday Service! Can't wait for that!

As Luke gets older I can't wait to begin teaching him the real meaning of Easter. I feel like holidays get so watered down by the hustle and although I like to be festive, I also like to stop and think about the meaning of why we celebrate. This is truly the most important holiday all year!

Finished Bookshelf!!!

My sewing storage used to look something like this: a little haphazard and thrown together. 
I made a huge improvement here when I wrapped all my fabric around comic book boards (and now I'm actually upcycling cardboard cereal boxes to wrap my new fabric).
Now here is the new and improved bookshelf!
Notice the back wall. I stenciled the green design while the back was pulled off. I think it really adds brightness and cheerfulness without being too overwhelming! I debated between blue, or pink (which was quickly vetoed by my husband) and stuck with the green.
I am seriously in LOVE! And it marks off #71!

medicine dosing

This is a totally random post and something I recently thought about. If my experience can help just ONE person, then it was worth it! If you don't believe in medicating fevers (with Tylenol), then you should probably stop reading (and I'm not up for a debate). My goal was to keep him comfortable and I'm well aware that a fever is the body's way of fighting. Please don't take this advice as gospel. I am not a doctor and have no interest in having other people puke-pee-and poop on me. This is just something that happened to us, and I thought I'd share a little tip at the end to hopefully avoid all this again. Of course if you are worried about your child or any dose of medicine, they should be seen by their doctor. *disclaimer over*

Last June Luke spiked a really high fever (104.5+). I panicked, immediately gave him Tylenol, and followed the instructions to piggyback it with Motrin. His fever didn't go down so I called the Dr. Of course it was a Friday afternoon at 4:30pm, and since he was only 18 months he couldn't be seen by urgent care and they suggested I take him to the ER.

We were going on vacation to Florida the.next.day and we planned to spend the night at my parents house in Atlanta that night anyways, so I made the call to skip the countrypodunk closest hospital and head to the Children's Hospital in Atlanta (this is after waiting a few hours with the medicine not working and I was having to change his diaper (obviously a stomach virus of sorts- every 30 minutes- totally gross.) We got to the hospital around 9:30pm. I thought MAYBE if the medicine could kick in, he would be able to sleep and he'd get over this in a few hours. But after 4-5 hours and his fever still as high as it was (plus he refused sleep- which is totally uncharacteristic of him) we headed in.

I thought sure we'd have to wait a few hours. I guess however I described his symptoms they fast tracked us in (like in front of 6 or so other families who were there when we arrived).

After being seen by a doctor, his diagnosis was an intestinal virus- and there was nothing they could do but let it  run it's course. I don't think there's anything worse (besides nails on a chalk board) than hearing that. I mean we could of let it run it's course without coming here (and paying the $600 ER fee). But the next thing she said totally made me feel like a failure parent. I was giving him the incorrect dose of Tylenol. I was always afraid of overdosing him, so I err on the side of caution ALWAYS. The fever is what sent us to the ER and had I been giving him the correct dose, his fever may have gone down more quickly (leading me to less panic, possibly keeping him out of the hospital).

It doesn't help that there are very clear directions on the infant bottle, and very clear directions for kids age 2+, but for babies between infant and toddler it's VERY gray. Probably because dosing is based solely on weight. I had a hefty baby. 23 lbs at 6 months old kind of spun all our heads. I didn't expect him to grow out of his infant car seat around 5 months.  So I was always confused about how to give him medicine (and I hate calling the dr. with every little problem).

This is a children's Tylenol bottle and under 2 years it says "Ask a Dr", but under the weight he was well over 24 lbs by 18 months- more like 30 lbs.

They gave us this awesome dosing chart (which should be included with the "owner's manual" when you give birth- haha right?)
 So I was giving him between .8 and 1.2 ml and he should have been getting close to 1.6ml in the infants dose or 5ml in the Children's dose. The nurse recommended switching to the Children's dose since he would be going through the infant dose so quickly (the bottles are itty bitty).

This whole event caused me to rethink how to handle medicine in our house. Of course I'm not going to unnecessarily medicate him, but last time I spiked a fever I was pretty miserable and just a bit of relief was welcomed! Also if we ever have my parents or a sitter watching him I want the dosing to be clear of what he is supposed to take. I have written his proper dose on each bottle in our house. That way when we need it quickly or if someone else is with them it's clear. I fear that I will be in a panic (like I was the day of his high fever) and wrongly medicate him by reading the bottle or internet wrong. And although I under medicated him, it could have just as easily happened the other way- and that could have been bad!
So my tip?? Check with your doctor for the right dosing for your child's weight... and write it on those bottles! He is right at 34 lbs, so I suspect by the time we get to the end of the Benadryl he'll be in the 38-49 lbs weight category. This also shed alot of light on adult medicine (how certain doses may work better for me than Josh because our weight is a difference of 50+ lbs) and how some medicine works better for him and makes me feel strange.

I seriously typo-ed DOES and DOSE this whole post! Sorry if I missed any after I proofed!

Quatrefoil obsession

It's seriously an addiction. There is something about this shape that makes me giddy. It inspires me to try new things. And it looks like a 4 leaf clover. So in a weird, don't even try to understand what goes on in my brain, distorted way- this post is  in honor of St. Patrick...

It all started with this:
http://jessajill.blogspot.com/2011/04/little-changes-quatrefoil-canvas-accent.html

What a gorgeous little design. And that color is to die for.

I found a stencil after a quick search in pinterest:
http://tatertotsandjello.com/2010/05/quatrafoil-painting-project-with-free.html

So here was my attempt!

I printed the stencil, cut it out and started tracing my design on canvas. Sorry for the horribly bad color, but the flash washed it all out.
Then I painted! Some people paint the background the main color and use a small paintbrush for the lines. I thought that would be harder, so I kept the background white and filled in with gray (Gray Horse by Ben Moore).

Here she is in her new place...
Someday I hope to paint all the walls with that amazingly beautiful shade of gray... until then I can look at this and just dream!

Now I want a rug, and curtains, and throw pillows with it... but then that would be quatrefoil overload. I am seriously contemplating an area rug.

Weekly update: 3/12-3/16

I am posting this a little late (like 4 days late...) but better late than never!

Luke has started a new little "Luke-ism". He'll squeeze my nose and tickle it and say "I love you I love you I love you." (sounds more like "do dove do"). It's the cutest thing, and I have no idea how/where he learned it!

We've been teaching him this for a while- he'll point to his eye and say "I" and to his heart and say "love" and point to us and say "you". He did this totally on his own without our prompting this week. And he's getting REALLY good at saying LOVE. With the "v" sound. So sweet!

His little personality just melts my heart!!

Something else that I did this week was hang up my scarves from a little idea I found on pinterest. I found the shower rings at the Habitat Store for $0.25. Amazing!! (although it's almost officially Spring!)

and is it sad that I only have 2 scarves??? I guess I'm not really into them :/ but there is plenty of room to grow!

I also went to the Children's Sale in Habersham. Can't believe I've never been. I will be shopping there from now on at their twice yearly sales! I bought a total of 10 shirts (that I plan to applique for Luke) and spent $13.50!



stoolin' around

One of the things I brought home from my grandfather's house was this amazingly beautiful stool. I immediately saw it's potential, and what sentimental value it holds!!

I got inspired here... (and oh my if you ever get a chance to look at this blog and look at her silhouette projects... wowzersssss is all I have to say! Super creative people just make me realllly happy!)
I also found this printable (sorry there's no direct linky... I found it this weekend, immediately printed it and moved on- it is on that site though) that matches our bathroom PERFECTLY! Are you seeing the chevron trend?

Back to my stool... a couple coats of primer and paint later:
I found a stencil and played with it to make the stripes wider and longer (I did this in Word). 

I used the wall color from the accent wall in the bathroom. Love re-using what I already have! I traced the stencil and then free-handed/filled in the rest. 


and with a little boy in this house, you can bet that stool will be used ALOT- although I may like it too much to let him touch it!! The plastic stool that we had been using may stick around.

The cost of the project?? Around $3 for spray paint. If I wasn't lazy it could have been done for free the old school paintbrush/trim paint we already have way.

madras mania!

I am LOVING Madras Plaid this season! Nothing says summer louder and more classic than plaid. And it's seriously cute on a boy (and that's hard to do these days!) I melted when I saw the Kelly's Kids Catalog.

by the way I have that fish applique!!! Pretty cool right??

As Luke gets older I enjoy dressing him more. Here's 2 shirts I made for him today. I am also loving green/navy. Like if I could re-do my a room in my house- it would be to green and navy. Call me crazy.





I had a plain white long sleeved shirt that I never made for him. Now that it's supposed to be in the high 70s for the next 2 weeks, I assume that it won't be getting cold again. Time to hit up consignment stores for plain colored shirts! These were the last 2 solids I had.

So there's the biggest accomplishment of the day! Horray to applique!


unfinished projects up to my EYEBALLS!!

I feel the need that instead of watching paint dry... that it would be a great idea to start a new project. As I think about that with a logical brain that makes no sense. How about take a BREAK, put up my feet watch my favorite show?? But no, I decide to push on...

So here's a glimpse of what I have going on that needs to be finished before my husband I lose my mind!

An Easter color matching game for Luke! I have the eggs, now I just need to paint the inside of the egg carton (to match the eggs).


Quite possibly the ugliest little pictures I've ever seen. BUT something great is coming!
A sweet little stool from my grandfather's house...
that got a coat of white paint...
and is now waiting for the last part of it's makeover.

A justwhenithinkimclosertobeingfinishedsomethinghappens bookshelf!!

This is missing 2 shelves and 2 doors. I have been working on orders despite the chaos, so that's why things are a little haphazard.

A reading corner for Luke:
Still to come- shelves... and books... and a quote.

Josh's Valentine's present... oops...

but I am farther in it than I was at the beginning of the weekend!

So there you have it. a 4 day weekend and I feel not accomplished at all!! Maybe each day afterschool I'll do a little bit and maybe by next week things will be wrapping up!

I did do an adorable order this past weekend for a sweet friend (and it's finished!!)! Always a silver lining!