Party = Success!

Sorry I haven't been around much as of late. I blame it on my daughter's 2nd birthday party. It was last weekend, but I've needed some recovery time. Who would have thought planning a birthday party for a 2 year old could wear you out? Geesh! Maybe I'm just a lightweight.

Anyway, the party was GREAT! Hailey enjoyed herself and it seems everyone else did too.

We rented a jump house. It kept the kids busy the entire time! So worth the money.

Hailey got some really great gifts, too! Her least favorite present? The one Daddy & I got her - a pink Power Wheels ATV. She's scared to death of it! Hopefully that will pass and she'll get some use out of it this summer.

That was easy

The winner of my "new follower" contest: Vicky. She was the only person to start following this blog between my last post and yesterday, so that made it easy! Congrats!

Send me your address at jen.mitchell79@sbcglobal.net and I'll send off your prize!

Olly Olly Oxen Free!

In my last post I talked about giveaways and mentioned I have nothing to give away to my readers. Well, I've decided to invest a little in my blog and buy something to give away.

This giveaway is for everyone who reads my blog, but does not follow it. Yet.

Here are the terms:

1. You must not be currently following my blog. In other words, if you see your picture in the "My Entourage" area in the upper left section of this page, you're not eligible. So sorry to all 7 of you! If this giveaway is successful I'll do another one for my current followers. I promise!
2. You have to start following my blog by 11:59 am on May 10th. It's easy! Just click "Follow Me in the upper left section of this page. If you have a Google, AIM, Blogger or Yahoo account then you're good to go! And if you don't have any of these, it's easy to sign up! And you'll rest easy knowing that Blogger never sends spam.
3. I will use Random.org to pick a winner and I will post the winner on my blog on May 11th.

The giveaway is a surprise, but I will tell you that it's a gift card from a very popular, nation-wide store.

If you like this idea, thank Jules. She did this type of giveaway in April.

Good luck!

I am...

One of my favorite blog reads, Just Jules, is doing a super giveaway slash get to know other bloggers exercise. It's kind of like a mini-mission. I love missions!

Per Jules' instructions, I had to finish this statement: "I am...", write out my answer in black marker on white paper, take a picture of it, and post in on my blog. So here ya go!

I am...

Call me corny. I know I am!

Maybe some of you who know me well know that I'm not always this corny. But I can be depending on my mood. And right now I'm extremely happy, which brings out the corniness!

Why am I so happy? Not sure exactly. Maybe it's the weather turning nice. Or my daughter's approaching birthday. Don't ask why, just go with it!

In general what makes me happiest are these things:

1. I have a healthy, beautiful daughter.
2. I have a wonderful husband who works so hard to bring home the bacon for our family. He supports me in all I do and loves me unconditionally (despite some of my hair-brained schemes). I couldn't possibly ask for anything more.
3. I get to be a stay at home mommy and spend oodles of time with my little princess.
   

So now I pass the torch to all of you. Here are the instructions in Jules' words:

1) Post your response in a photo on your blog. Please use white paper& black marker
2) Link to this post on my blog
3) Just let me know you have done so in a comment so I (and others) can come visit.

Read Jules' "I am" post.

Jules is doing this exercise in conjunction with a giveaway, but since I have nothing to give away, I'm not. Unless anyone wants a VCR. Or maybe an old desk lamp.

The "All Mine" project

This weekend I did something really cool. I built something!

RJ found a cool plan for an outdoor flower pot stand in one of his handyman magazines. He asked if I thought he should make it. "Sure," I said. Then he thought about it and suggested I make it instead since he's tied up in about three different projects right now. So I did!

We went to Menard's yesterday and bought the materials - a bunch of cedar 1 x 2's. Then today while Hailey was napping I made the cuts on the chop saw. See Exhibit A (me rockin' the safety glasses).

Exhibit A -->

(Bonus: I still have all 10 of my fingers! Woo hoo!)

Then after the cuts were made, I dry fit the project. (For all you woodworking rookies that means I laid the project out with no glue or nails to make sure all of the pieces fit.) Oh my goodness....I'm such a dork. See Exhibit B.

<--Exhibit B

The next step was to assemble the project. I glued the wood at all of the intersections and inserted two nails at each intersection. And the best part? I got to use RJ's nail gun! See Exhibit C.

Exhibit C -->

(Yes. It is as fun as it looks!)

And after about 3 hours of work, I'm happy to say the project is on my front porch. Flower pots coming soon.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not thrilled to work outside my comfort zone. In other words, I'll usually let RJ do the manly projects. My projects consist of re-organizing the cabinets or cleaning out the pantry.

But this project was fun! RJ was really good about standing back and letting me "do my thing" unless I asked for his help. (Which I did. Many times.)

If you're interested in making this too, email me for the plan. If I can do it so can you. Trust me!

Great day for a deal

I love garage sale season. And it's here! It's FINALLY here!

The Fam went garage saleing (is that a real word?) this morning in my dad's town - Sheridan, Illinois. They had their town-wide garage sale today. We found some good deals - toys and clothes for Hailey. Card stock for me. Nothing for RJ. But that's probably because he's the worst garage sale companion you could ever imagine.

After two sales, he was already tired of getting in and out of the car. And around sale number four, he was sick of looking at other people's junk. I'll admit we did see a lot of junk today. A dirty comforter (ew!), knick-knacks galore, and more technology-challenged printers than you could shake a stick at.

And if that wasn't enough, we subjected ourselves to a flea market held at a retirement community on the way home. It was a strange mixture of old equipment (walkers, rolling tables you would find in a hospital room, bed pans) and brand new in package items (sheets, toiletries) along with a bake sale.

Oh well, we got a good laugh. It was free entertainment. Plus we got a brand new set of 700 thread count sheets for 25 bucks! Woo-hoo!

All in all it was a fun day. We had good company - my dad & Cheryl (affectionately known to Hailey as "Gampai & Gamai"). And we had good weather - cooler in the shade, but no rain. Finally.

Hip-hip-hooray for garage sale season!

Ta-da!

Hello readers!

I am super excited to reveal my progress on Hailey's new room. As many of you know, RJ and I have spent a considerable amount of time over the last few months working on Hailey's "big girl" room. Her current room is staying as-is for a possible future baby Mitchell (this is by no means an announcement, just a plan for the future) and she'll be moving into the bigger room across the hall.

I chose a butterfly theme because I love butterflies. Hopefully Hailey will love them too, because I've never seem so many in a 13 x 14 room. And if not, maybe they will grow on her!

Anyway, on with the show........



The walls are painted a lilac-pink color and the butterflies are stenciled in a color called "vintage orange." I saw this color combination in a kids' decor book, but once the walls were painted and the orange stencil was about to go on, I got cold feet.

Much to RJ's dismay, I was about to ditch the orange and go with a dark pink color kind of like the one on the fan blades. But I decided to go with my first instinct and use the orange. I'm glad I did...I like the way it turned out. Plus there is a LOT of pink in the room already!

We bought everything used with the exception of the bedding, curtains and the fan. Most everything we found on Craigslist, including the metal butterfly bed, which is my favorite find.

The dresser was a mere $50! But it did need a lot of work. RJ sanded it down, repaired the base on one side and painted it. I added the knobs, which I found on eBay.

The bi-fold doors and new entry door went up last weekend. Now we need to buy and install a closet organizer and decorate!

Then all we need to add is the little girl! We're not quite ready to move her yet. I'm sure she'll be ready sometime soon after her second bithday.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue the work!