one thing off the list

Woot! I made this!

I don't think I even cried once.

I even got brave and pieced the back.

On Mary's bed. She's sleeping under it right now.

Mary loves it. I think that she can actually appreciate the time and effort I put into it. One thing off the very, very long list I am currently trying to tackle.

The bedroom windows are painted. The bathroom window too. Mary's door is touched up, as are the hallway bathroom doors. This morning I got paint for the bathroom and the bedroom. I worked all day on making roman shades for the three bedroom windows. I ran out of little ring things that go on the back though, and I don't have enough cord either. If only JoAnn's were open at 11pm on a Sunday! John's going to hang the first one tomorrow night. I want to make sure I like it before I sew the little rings (40 per shade) on the back of the other two.

This week my main focus (in addition to taking Mary to/from camp every day, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc) will be clearing out as much junk as possible from the master bedroom. John has a four day weekend, so we are going to try to get as much done as possible on the bedroom. I cannot wait to paint it! I've had this paint color picked out for almost a year.

Who are these kids? Where did by babies go?

After seeing a kid potty at my Dad's, Ellie asked for one. I thought it was worth a shot as no other potty training attempts had worked. I got her one on Monday, and she loves it. By loves it, I mean she uses it! I think the last time she had a diaper on (in the day time) was Tuesday. I believe my diapering days are OVER. No more washing, drying, folding (sometimes) or putting them away (rarely). No more packing half a suitcase full of cloth diapers for every weekend trip. We still have the night time thing to work on, but it's still a huge step for Ellie. It was like magic! And she can go all by herself. She can get her pants down and back up. That took forever with Mary. I was expecting a fight with Ellie. I had made a couple previous attempts, but she just wasn't ready. This week it just clicked.

Off to bed before midnight.

Book slings and butterflies

I am making slow but steady progress on Mary's room. I'm down to the details, which makes JUST painting the room seem like easy work.

Her old book sling fabric wasn't going to work with her pink walls. Plus it was four feet long and had started to sag a bit in the middle.


I still liked the idea though, so we put up two new ones (plus reused the old hardware) and made them all 32 inches long.


One night in the middle of the night, I finally had an idea of what to do with them. I got them all made, but the middle one didn't hang right. Plus, I'd just put an "m" on it, and Mary didn't care for it. I fixed the seam that wasn't right and started over on the letters. I hand stitched them on as I knew I could do a better job that way. I bought the butterflies for probably less than a dollar for all three. I'd had them for almost a year and a half! I'd painted them white, but didn't like them. I think I did them with craft paint first, then tried spray painting them too. This time I did them with craft paint again. I tried to glaze them and.....the craft paint came off! Ugh. I swear I spent 4 or 6 hours painting, ruining, scrubbing all the paint off, and then painting them again. The joys of crafting.

Now for the curtains. I have them cut and hemmed. I just need to sew in the linings and do the tops. Before I could hem them, I needed to move the rods up and out a bit. I got the holes measured and drilled. I got the brackets on the walls. I grabbed the rod. It was too freaking short!!! Am I the only one that has this many dang problems with projects? They were rods I bought in 2000 and moved from our old house. I ran out today and got new ones. Hopefully there won't be any more bumps, and I can get her curtains done this weekend.

Mary has a loose tooth. She told me this morning her tooth hurt. I looked at it and saw it was loose. I told her, and she was so excited. The look on her face was priceless. She was so proud of herself. I, on the other hand, am heartbroken. It makes her seem so grown up. I'll probably bawl my eyes out when it actually comes out. She's my baby! She cannot be losing her first tooth. Didn't it just come in the other day??

Look at those rolls people!!!! Oh and her (barely there) first tooth.

It's supposed to be 50 degrees on Sunday. I see spray painting in my future.

Pink and red

When I was a little girl, my Mom told me that pink and red didn't match. I was crushed. I disagreed, but I was 6 and she was the grown up. I still thought it looked FABULOUS. I wanted to wear pink and red together every day.

When Mary told me she wanted a red bed in her new pink room, I was excited! My dream had come true. Pink and red, together as they should be.

I'm still painting the trim. I'm just not in the mood. Mary moved back in yesterday. What I really, really want to do is move on to the next project, but we can't until this is done. I guess that means I'll paint more tomorrow. I'm still working on the chalkboard doors too.

Progress!

I have to tell myself I am getting there. I have to just keep going. Mary has asked for her room back. Hopefully tomorrow. I am currently waiting for the caulk on the trim to dry. I can paint it tonight. Then the baseboards and door trim will have two coats of paint on it. I can pull up the painters tape from the floor. We can put her stuff back. I will still need to put another coat of paint the window trim, but I can work around her stuff. I didn't get to the windows last night so they are off sequence with everything else. It took me an hour and a half last night to do the baseboards and door trim. Maybe I am slow. Or maybe it is the fact that I refuse to use painters tape on the walls and therefore must be super careful. Either way, it is simply time consuming. My hope tonight is to start about 8pm and do all the trim including the windows. That will probably take me almost two and a half hours. I am already exhausted. But the end is in sight!

John and I have signed up for Netflix again. On the nights that we have been watching movies I have been knitting.

Jar cozies. Why? Because I have scrap yarn and these babies are mindless knitting. I keep seeing online projects where people are cutting up cable knit sweaters and covering vases or jars with them. I have no sweaters to cut up, so I just knit them instead.

I guess I should clean or something while I am waiting on this caulk to dry.

Pink hates me too!

Red's first cousin pink hates me too! Isn't that funny? I feared from the moment I bought the pink paint that the it just wouldn't cover the old blue paint. This morning I got up and put the second coat of pink on the walls. I edged and rolled. It took me about 3 hours. I thought I was done. I went back to look at it. And I could see blue. Ugh. Then I hoped I was imagining it. I sent John back to look. He too thought the blue was showing through the pink. So instead of painting the trim this afternoon, I was back in there with the pink paint again.

I got part of the trim painted after dinner. John took the door off this afternoon, so now I can't work in there after the kids are asleep. He got the door to the room and the closet doors sanded down. I've primed and put one coat of chalkboard paint on the closet doors.

We're getting there. I think we're only a day or so behind.

Wednesday....a snow day....

I'd thought we could trim out and paint Mary's room by Sunday night. I did not account for the ice storm that came through here last night! John ended up not working on Mary's room as we were trying to get prepared for the storm and likely power outage.

The power went out at 11pm last night. By 9am this morning, John was out in the garage with his miter saw cutting quarter round. He got as much done as he could, but then needed the router to finish the last 2 pieces. I got busy filling holes in the trim. The power came on right after I started. We ate lunch, John went to work, and I finished filling the holes.

I am not sure if we are behind on our schedule. I think we are doing okay. I should be able to sand down the wood filler later this afternoon. The mud I used on the walls needs 24 hours. If I have the energy, I might try to prime all the trim and cut in the walls tonight after the girls are in bed. Then I could roll the primer tomorrow.

It's going to be close. I still think I can get it all done if the power stays on. It's currently snowing and blowing.

I've been busy sewing and knitting too. Pictures to come!

Saturday/before/here we go again.

We're working around Mary's stuff for as long as we (er, JOHN) can. Today's task is to trim out the windows. In the above picture the old trim is off the windows and laying on the floor. John's out in the garage cutting the new trim.


Here's the other side of the room. I'm going to paint the closet doors with chalkboard paint just like I did in Ellie's room. I have the pink paint for the walls, but it is going to be a few days before I can paint. John's patching a huge hole in the wall where the old intercom used to be. It will take several coats of mud and the dry time between coats is 24 hours. John also has to make the new baseboards, install them, and put in the quarter round. Then, I paint. And paint. Pink walls with white trim. I think it's going to look super cool with her red desk and her new red headboard.

Mary's sick. Poor thing. We are taking it easy today (well, everyone but John!). If no one else gets sick, and we stay on schedule, I am hoping to have this room painted and put back together (less the doors) next Sunday night. If we accomplish this, it will be our quickest turn around yet in this house. (We did the same thing to most of the rooms in our old house too.)