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!