Last Month of Being a Twenty-Something Mama

First piece of business is a 30 day update. Project #10 was to deep clean the living room.

I had planned to remove the wallpaper border, and prep the living room for painting (one of my 30 by 30 goals).

During naptime I took everything off the walls, took down the wallpaper border (using a homemade remover that took the wallpaper off like butter, I’ll share soon), washed the walls, vacuumed behind the furniture, and started taping.

Process photos:

See that sample spot on the wall. That has been there for about six months. I joke with my husband that I was “making sure I could live with it.”

After hubby got home from work we made a stop at our local Ace Hardware and bought some paint. My initial goal was to get the trim painting done after the boys went to sleep, and paint the first coat the next night. Well, I kept going…and going. By 2:30 this morning the first coat is done! (I’ll share the after photo when the living room is completely done.)

On to other business, an update on my list: 

1. purge home, clear clutter {Ongoing. 30 Day House Cleaning Challenge has lit a fire under my rump.}
2. make cleaning a habit {Always ongoing, see above.}
3. make recycling a habit {After a few visits to town council meetings, our town finally started curbside recycling last August!}
4. scan pictures, organize pictures {This goal is crossed off because I know I’m not getting to it in the next 3 months.}
5. organize recipes {I have found a method that seems to be working, will share with you Wednesday.}
6. paint bedroom; decorate {This is not going to happen the next month, maybe in the next year…}
7. paint living room; decorate {Second coat going on tonight, then need to hang pictures, find affordable curtains, maybe even slipcovers for furniture.}
8. learn how to effective manage household, and time {I am happy to say that I am getting much better at this.}
9. make wedding album {See excuse #4}
10. journal for the boys {I am not very consistent, but the journals are started.}
11. journal for my husband {See #10}
12. learn how to use my camera, and take more pictures {Ongoing, getting better.}
13. have monthly date nights with my husband {Christmas gifts have helped us in this department.}
14. go on mini-vacation with hubby {We did go away overnight in September, and December. (not my idea of mini-vacation, but we will take what we can get!)}
15. go on vacation with the family {Thanks to a wonderful Christmas gift last year we took the family to Great Wolf Lodge. This is probably going to have to suffice for this year.}
16. read to the boys every day {I may have figured this out!}
17. learn to/teach the kids to pray (Lord's prayer, and Ten Commandments)
18. teach my step-daughter to sew and/or encourage her creative interests {Sewing will not happen this year, but I have been encouraging her creative spirit!}
19. implement a budget {Nope}
20. start nursing clinicals {Crossed off because I didn't get in this winter, hopefully in fall.}
21. manage time better {Isn’t this the same as #8? Improving greatly!}
22. get up early (like to start day by 6:00) {Boys are early risers. I am no means perfect, but so much better.}
23. dress for my hubby more often (less jeans and t-shirts) {I am struggling in the colder season, but I am crossing it off because 1. I wore skirts/dresses most of summer and 2. hubby likes me in jeans and t-shirts.}
24. style hair more, less ponytails {Since I made the cut, I have been better, not perfect, but better.}
25. blog regularly {Getting better, but I think I need to make myself a schedule.}
26. exercise regularly {You would not believe that one of my previous careers was a full-time fitness instructor and personal trainer.}
27. craft through books; get rid of books not needed {I have not actually been crafting through books, but I have been getting rid of the ones that do not inspire my creativity.}
28. craft through stash {Stash is still here, but getting smaller. The only materials I have bought have been project-specific.}
29. make a dress, and wear it {Made another one, look for it in the future, meanwhile check this one out.}
30. start selling on etsy {Been working on shop, a little. Need to tell my confidence (or lack of) to leave me alone. }
31. do a 365 project {I started. Got 21 days in. And quit. I will restart, after I knock out some of my more important goals.}
32. have a (semi) handmade Christmas {did not finish all I aspired too, but did manage to make a few gifts.}

Have you procrastinated on any Spring overhauls in your home? That is exactly what this paint job was, procrastinating! I am so glad I got my butt in gear!

Quick Bathroom Update

Sorry for the sporadic posting (or lack of…). No excuses, sometimes I just have to step away from my computer for a while; and get things done.

Realizing that I only have under three months to work on my 30 by 30 list, I decided to get moving. I cleaned and purged my shoe closet (a hall closet that houses my shoes and other useless clutter). I donated two garbage bags (no, not all shoes), took a huge box to the garage sale pile, and tossed a few things right into the trash.

I had a lot of steam, so I tackled the bathroom. Cleaning the bathroom. Scrubbing from ceiling to floor. This project was so long overdue, and made a huge impact once it was done.

While working on the bathroom I had decided to do something about our light fixture. No before picture, but I’ll try my best to describe it. The fixture was like most things in our house; old. It had two glass globes… a long time ago. The globes were white with gold decoration. U.G.L.Y.! One of the globes broke, so the fixture only had a single globe for a while. Then hubby decided not to put the other one up the last time he changed the bulb. Like I said, U.G.L.Y.

I made a 2 minute transformation. (If you don’t have to run down two flights of stairs for mason jars, it will only be a 30 second project.) Here it is:

I just tightened the screws around the mason jars, and voila! Looks much more finished. This is my favorite type of decorating project; quick, easy, and cheap (or in this case free).

Have you done any simple decorating projects lately?

Christmas Stockings DONE!

Stockings were always my favorite part of Christmas morning. We had to save the stockings for last. We opened all the other gifts, then had to clean up the mess. After that we could get into our stockings.

The stocking always held the most magical gifts. From the practical toothbrush, to the color-changing pens, to the latest cassette tape, and even jewelry as I got older. I love this tradition, its right up there with picking out the Christmas tree.

Fast forward a few years and new family later…we have an ugly mash-up of stockings. I mean real ugly. To top it off, the twins don’t even have stockings. Last year that was okay, they were only 5 months old. (I know, somebody call the Bad Mommy Police STAT!)

I have been wanting to make Christmas stockings for a couple of years now. Just never got ‘round to marking it off my to-do list. This year, we needed proper stockings. And pretty ones.

I found this tutorial from Teal and Lime and fell in love. These were it!

I absolutely adored her color choices, but I don’t want to make stockings again. (Especially after cutting out all those a’s and e’s, if you don’t have kids yet- choose their names wisely. ) So I choose the timeless red and green, lime green, but green.

I LOVE how they turned out!

My brother also needed stockings, so I added those to the list. This project was fairly simple. It took me some time because I did eight stockings with full first names, but I had them done in a couple of hours. (If you want to get your stockings done quick, just use initials.)

This project was also cheap! Jo-Ann’s had felt-by-the-yard on sale for 2.99 a yard. I bought a yard of each color. I think I have enough red for two more stockings, and a ton of green. Not too bad in my book.

Here’s a question- What can I do with the rest of this felt? I am supposed to be using up my stash, not adding to it!

Stash Crafting, Crossword Decor

You have heard about my hoarding issues. I’m trying to recover, I swear. Here’s my problem; I see a project I want to do, buy the supplies, and there it sits until I have the time. Call me an ambitious crafter. This wouldn’t be so bad except one thing, I forgot what project the supplies were for when I do finally find the time. Does anyone else suffer from craft amnesia?

I bought this Scrabble Turn Tile game at a garage sale two summers ago (er… may have been three summers ago…) I had grand ideas. But I forgot what they were.

While corralling my craft clutter I pulled them out, wanting to make Scrabble gift tags/ornaments like these. But the Turn Tiles are much bigger than regular Scrabble tiles. The gifts would have been at least ten inches long for some names, and that’s using nicknames. I’m looking more for classy, not gaudy. Scratch that idea.

So I started messing around with our kids names, and came up with a crossword style board. Luckily it works for our family’s names. I found a cute piece of scrapbook paper that I think will look decent in our living room once it is painted.

I used glue dots and stuck the tiles to the paper. I found a 12 x 12 frame at Jo-Ann, and used my coupon to get it cheap. I really wanted a shadow box, but knew if I waited until I found one this project would sit in that corner of the room where unfinished projects go to die. So I used two-sided tape, and stuck the whole thing right to the glass. (I may be a bit redneck…)



Some of the paper under the glass is visible(never should have trimmed that scrapbook paper…), but I can fix that if it really bothers me. I figure I’ll leave it as is. Eventually it will get on my nerves and I will find the shadow box.

This project was so quick, just like most of the others on my list. Obviously this is where I need help. I need to find the motivation to just start.

Do you have any quick projects waiting patiently to be finished? If so, go do it! It feels good to mark something off of your to-do list.

See you tomorrow for part 5 of Letting You In.