I may not be crafty, but I am thrifty

Take an old wagon that was accidently left out in the rain for four years.

Buy some $3 glossy red "rustoleum" spray paint.

Scrap out rust with BBQ scraper.

Spray away.

And you get this.

I saw this wagon in the ToysRUs big toy book for $70. I just saved myself that much. Looks like I can go get that massage I've been craving.

Halloween at the Deshazers

I have my Halloween costume pegged for this year.

All I have to do is take off my shoes and socks and walk around the kitchen.

Any guesses on what i am this year?

Projects Complete

Well our first series of project blitzes went rather well. Jer and I worked our little tails off to finish off 75% of our list. NOt bad. Everytime I finish a room, I'll try to post befores and afters. But before you scroll down to the finished boys' rooms, let me offer a few tips for all of you DIY'ers out there.

1. Good idea to wear gloves if you are going to paint. If you forget to wear gloves, then remove wedding ring before using oil-based paint. If you forget to remove your wedding ring, good idea to have mineral spirits in the house.



2. Wear a mask if you are pregnant and you are using highly fuminous products like spray adhesive, spray texturizing, paint, oil-based paint, and mineral spirits. Otherwise you'll get dizzy and spend the rest of the day worrying about the harm you just caused your unborn child.



3. Painting trim is a pain in the A**.



4. Use the pregnancy card to get out of painting trim.



5. Bake husband brownies while he takes over your job of painting trim.



6. ALWAYS shell out the $4 for the sample can of paint. Otherwise you'll spend $28 for a gallon of paint that doesn't work and can't be returned. Currently I'm trying to find rooms, nooks, corners, garage space, closets, outdoor furniture to use the paint on.



7. If you use spray orange peel texture, put the can in hot top water for 2 minutes before you use it (makes it less gummy)



8. Use a piece of cardboard to catch drips underneath.



9. If you forget to use cardboard, credit cards or hotel plastic keys can scrape texturizing drips off fixtures like sinks, faucets, bed headboards, etc...



10. When power washing, wear clothes you want to get completely soaking wet. Don't do your hair that day.
11. Which reminds me, don't get a manicure the day before project day.
    
    
12. Don't power wash the front door while it is still slightly open. But bonus...you get to clean the entry carpet and tile.



13. Don't get on a ladder when six months pregnant.



14. EAsiest way to move up getting new carpet on the priority list? Spill 1/2 a gallon of paint on it.

Jackson's Room Before

Jackson's room After

He gets his own room and graduates to a more sophisticated room.

That huge world map measures 7X4 1/2 ft. We adhesived it to a piece of Styrofoam insulation, and used industrial velco to attach it to the wall.






Drafting Table. Jackson is forever drawing blueprints to airplane designs. A future at Boeing?


Blake's Room Afters

Didn't get around to sanding/repainting furniture. Probably later. But since Blake is sharing a room with the crib/baby, I'm going to replace the dresser with a lower double dresser in white.

This is Blake's "art table". When he saw Jackson's drafting table, he had to have one of his own. He completely salvaged the table from another area of hte house, found this stool from the garage, and organized the top part all on his own.

A shot of the chalkboard. It is a lot bigger than it looks in the picture. that is a drawing of Saphera the dragon from Eragon.

A lot of our other projects you can't really tell from pictures because they were small pieces of a larger project. More to come!!

Project Update

First, remember the barstool dilemna?

I got really tired of phone-book-on-normal-chair.

So I found a really great seagrass Pottery Barn knock off barstool on Target.com.

Can you say $99?

SOOOOOO much better!



Next, we move on to color selection. Lucky for us, the whole house was painted white, white, white. A great blank palatte to test new colors.

Know the term, many shades of grey? Well, there are many shades of beige too.

I usually test out four or five colors. These four have made the top spots. I will let these stay on the walls for a week while I evaluate the colors in different lights and next to my furniture.

Now....

we move on to the next step. Completing all these projects we've purchased materials for and/or already started. They are (in no particular order):

1. Finish painting Jackson's room
2. Powerwash front porch/walkway/driveway/siding
3. Scrap off clear caulking and caulk all tubs/showers with white caulk.
4. Scrape front door and repaint - also scrape/repaint front shutters
5. Add peep hole to front door
6. Replace front door hardware
7. Paint front porch white (it is currently mauve)
8. Spray paint red wagon so it can be a toy hauler
9. Finish hanging Blinds
10. Install new vanity light bars in both bathrooms
11. Fill in holes/texturize drywall
12. Paint entire interior of house
13. Hang up hand towel holders in master bath
14. Repaint/touchup paint on baseboards and millwork
15. Paint Office
16. Hang up wall decorations in front room and office
17. Modge Podge world map to large board for Jackson's room

I may have to make a self-imposed blog hiatus until I finish at least half of these projects. Jer is taking 9 days off in early November to help finish. Goal to completion - Thanksgiving.

A dog's life...

is good.

Who Says Stay at Home moms don't make any money?

Because we recently moved, we have a lot of accounts up in the air. I.e.//our paid off Mortgage escrow account, Maple Woods HOA dues, and Marion County Taxes. Today I invested about 30 minutes to call on all of these accounts and I was refunded about $3,300 total in account balances they have not refunded back to me.
Can anyone say, The Holidays are paid for and we can buy a new car now! Don't ask how those two are related - let's just say that this money comes at a good time.

Keep Me Accountable

Today I plan on checking out the Salem library. I'm short on reading material and buying more books conflicts with my environmentalism. Please check back and ask me if I did it because I really mean to go.

Worth the $90 difference in price?

This faux wrap top caught my eye in a recent magazine. It is Isabelle Oliver maternity and sells for $110.

This is a top from Old Navy maternity - that I have purchased and costs $15.00. Despite the fancy sash on the side, I don't know if there is a huge difference in styling.

I think I'll stick to the Old Navy for now and leave the expensive stuff for Bill Gates' wife.

They're a keeper

Today I headed out to meet my new Oregon midwives. I finally decided to cut myself off from the Seattle practice. As I've mentioned before, it was a heck uva challenge to find new OB care because of many OB/hospital shakedowns in the Salem area. A friend recommend I head up to Silverton, which is a town of about 9,000 just 30 minutes northeast of Salem. Let me tell you what a delight it was to visit the new group today!
First, the drive. I think I'm going to take pictures next time I head up there. I seriously can't believe that all you do is drive five minutes away from Salem and you are in serious farmland. Fruit/Vegetable stands dot the roads. Civilization seem far off. Because I Grew up and lived in metro suburbs my whole life, I find this change a bit refreshing.
Next, the hospital. The birth center is newer - looks nice from the outside. All of the doctors' offices are housed in older homes across the street from the hospital. The staff couldn't be friendlier (stark contrast to the mean/unfriendly/unhelpful staff at Salem hospital and dr. offices).
Last, my midwives. I met two of the three in the pratice. Cage, Mindie, and Christina. I brought Blake with me and Cage and Mindie could not have been more patient with me or Blake. I never felt hurried or hustled. Midwives are the best for listening to you - understanding what you would like see happen. They give helpful information when asked. They don't scoff at you if you want to use natural remedies like acupuncture or herbs.
They assured me that even though Silverton is a small "country" hospital, we are only a 10 minute airlift from Portland should anything go wrong with me or the baby in the delivery room.

I am so glad that the Salem doctors' offices gave me such problems because now I get to go up to Silverton. All is well.

Goodbye Mauve Blinds

These hideous things came with the house.

I'm talking about the mauve colored mini blinds, not the two darling children in the bath.

Every day, for the past month and a half, I've eaten, slept, and hung out with the mauveness of these ugly shades. Finally I could take it no longer.

I went on my favorite custom blind source - http://www.selectblinds.com/ - where you can get custom blinds, free shipping, and often 25% off your entire order.

When these boxes arrived Monday, the mauve blinds' days were numbered.

Yipee!! Jeremy yanked those dirty, dusty stinking things off today.

The new faux wood 2" blinds look a million bizillion times better, they open up the entire house - and they make the house look even more white than it did before. Time to pick paint colors to warm up those walls!

Now nasty, dusty, spider webby brass fan - Your days are numbered.

Design on a Dime

The chalkboard above which measures 36"X48" sells for $149.00 at Pottery Barn.


This is how much I paid for a chalkboard that measures 36"X50".








This is how you do it.

Go to Lowe's and wander around the lumber section for a couple of minutes. When lumber man asks if he can help you, ask if you can look at the lumber scrap pile to see if there are any pieces of wood in it for you. When you look at it, you may see that there are no pieces that will fit. So the lumber guy, because it is slow Wednesday afternoon, may just decide to take a 8'X8' piece of birch sheet wood and cut it for you anyway and charge you a $1.00 for the "scrap" piece of wood.
Find the chalkboard paint in your garage that you imported from Washington and slap two coats of chalkboard paint on this baby. Wait to cure for 2 days. Don't tell 4 year old that his new room chalkboard is in the garage.

This is how you design on a dime. Or a dollar, really.

Date Night

With a big pot of Jumbalaya and my hubby on the couch. Ahhhh,......

This absolutely kills me.

The other day Jackson and I were out shopping and we happend to stop by Michael's craft store. In the past, I had offered to buy him a model airplane and this past weekend seemed as good of time as any since his little brother is currently out of town.

Here's the kicker, though. I didn't have my 40% off coupon with me. I don't know about you, but it kills me to shop at Michaels or Joanns without my coupons. I almost would rather not shop at all, than buy that one item right then without the coupon. My husband and I differ on this subject. He thinks - Hey, while you are there, just get it. Me, all I can think in my head is "I could have saved 40%, I could have saved 40%". Maybe this is why he can't appreciate the rush of finding treasure on Target's clearance rack (cool looking leather jacket for Jer for only $12).

In the end, I did go in and purchase the model airplane. But it the thought of 40% off still bugs me.

This week's Googling

As I've mentioned in a post about a week ago, I remarked that you can tell a lot about a person based on their Google history. So here's mine from the past week:

Lego City Aiplane
Nordstrom
IKEA locations
Google maps
back stretches during pregnancy
back stretches and exercises
salem pediatric clinic
roloff pumpkin patch portland OR
Martha Stewart
patent leather waterproof
Isabella oliver maternity
inn at cape kiwanda
expected maternity salt lake city UT

Weekend Warrior

So I have a lot of 'Tribe' in me, aka Decorating Bug. I have only been in this house a little over a month. And the rule of thumb is, "live in a space for a while, and then change it". Well I can't take it anymore. Time to do a little project.

As mentioned earlier in this week, I've had to take it easy because my back snapped out of place. So I researched and researched and came up with a fantastic game plan for my boys' rooms.

I usually look at Pottery Barn catalogs for inspiration and then I shop for look-alike knock offs at Target, IKEA, Fred Meyer, and Ross.

BLAKE AND BABY'S ROOM

Blake and baby have to share a room, so they get crisp and cool navy/light blue colors in their room. Because I'm preppy at heart, I gravitate towards stripes and solids.

All the furniture will be stained dark walnut (crib is already dark)

This sells at PB for $69.99 a shade.

You can find it at Target for $17.99

Blake will get an art corner in his room; don't tell but that easel at Costco right now is part of his Christmas.

A corkboard wall next to his easel and art center. They sell a square of corkboard at PB for $39/square. You can find it at Lowe's for about $10/square.

I think I will cut out the letters of the alphabet and put it high on the corkboard wall like in this picture.

Walls will be light blue/navy blue and gloss white shelving will be installed high around perimeter of room.

Jackson's Room

Jackson is growing up, so I have to grow up his bedding and theme.

He will be getting a multi colored room with navy/red/green as main colors.

This bedding is at Target for $39.99 for twin quilt. PB quilt's sell for $149 for twin.

The furniture will be painted dark denim blue. Notice the two corkboards on top of hte dresser - that is for awards and art projects.

Jackson will get a mini-drafting table for his airplane designing projects.

He always has wanted a wall sized map in his room. I found some reasonable contenders on Ebay and posters.com.

Notice the striped Roman shade and wall map with the peg crown molding.

His walls will be this khaki shade with a dark denim blue accent wall.

Let's see if we can Weekend Warrior this project!!

Thanks Nor!

Today I looked at Lenore'shttp://nortorious.blogspot.com/ blog and decided to take the presidental candidate quiz.

Here's my results and I did answer completely truthfully (although I did skew my answers to member of Congress and lawyer preference).

2008 President Selector http://selectsmart.com/president/2008.html
Rankings: 1. Theoretical Ideal Candidate (100 %)
2. Hillary Clinton (83 %)
3. Joseph Biden (79 %)
4. John Edwards (74 %)
5. Al Gore (not announced) (68 %)
6. Barack Obama (68 %)
7. Alan Augustson (campaign suspended) (66 %)
8. Wesley Clark (not running, endorsed Clinton) (66 %)
9. Michael Bloomberg (says he will not run) (65 %)
10. Christopher Dodd (65 %)


Ha Ha Jeremy!!! So she is my choice for real. Now wait until I get my hands on some campaign posters and you come home from work one day.

PS - I don't know how to do the fancy linking with the clicking on the name to get the post. Sorry. Maybe you could explain it to me. Along with how I add my picture.

That Dog

She may look sweet. She may look innocent. But when you take a quick afternoon nap, you will wake up to dark, muddy pawprints all over your house because she went out the doggy door in the rain and romped in the yard and then decided to do pawprint art on your newly cleaned white(ish) carpet.

Jeremy, I want hardwood floors.

Blog Cuteness

Okay, now that Cousin Anne has a cute background I need to know two things. First, how do you get a cute background?? So many of the people I blog lurk have a great background and title. Second, how do you attach your picture to your name like Celia, Paige, and Heather. I tried doing it with the Blogger instructions, but I failed miserably.
I need some blog inspiration.

Allright...I'll do it.

Only because I threw out my back last night and layed up in bed today that I will do this automatic post today. Didn't you read the super duper long 110 things about me? That should have done it.

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friends: believe it or not, the few I have are going on 12+ years of friendship.
C-Cake or Pie: Pie. pumpkin #1 followed closely by chocolate silk
D- Day of choice: Monday morning - kids go back to school
E- Essential Item: Ipod
F- Favorite Color: Red - the type with blue undertones, not orange
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Bears all the way. I prefer them stale and chewy
H- Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
I- Indulgence(s): weekly mani/pedis, monthly massages, shopping w/o kids, getting a backrub from my hubby without having to "pay" him for it.
J- January or July: Jan. July can suck it. (I hate summer)
K- Kids: 2+1 boys. What was God thinking???
L-Life is Incomplete Without: my family - I'm serious. For as much as I complain, I would be lost without them.
M- Marriage Date: 9/20/97
N- Number of Siblings: 2 brothers
O- Oranges or Apples: Mandarin oranges you get in December that are easy to peel.
P- Phobias or Fears: The dark, my car breaking down, and my children hating me.
Q- Quotes: "Everything is Temporary"
R- Reason To Smile: playing Taboo or Scattergories with my family - they are hilarious
S- Season: Fall (because it's getting colder) followed closely by Spring (because my bulbs come up)
T- Tag Three +: Who reads my blog besides the people that already have done this?
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I've always been a fan of Hillary which my husband teases me at all costs about.
V- Vegetarian or Meat Eater: Meat, I don't know if I could ever give it up
W- Worst Habit: Walking into a room and instantly cleaning it up or rearranging it without acknowledging the people that are in it and interrupting and finishing other people's sentences.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: X-rays. Too much stress at ultrasounds. Agree Cuz.
Y- Your Favorite Food: soy sausages (that is at the moment)
Z- Zodiac: Aries

Who says video games can't bring families together?

There is this new game called Guitar Hero for Xbox 360. Jeremy brought this little number home this week. The controller (guitars) are $70 each, so you can tell I was already not too thrilled with this purchase of a game.

However as the week progressed and people came over to visit, I became more interested.
















Today I actually broke down and played it. It is really fun. Especially when you can play heart shaped box by Nirvana and actually feel like you are really playing the lead guitar in this game.

This is what you see from the back angle. Love that my 8 year old's current favorite song is Message in a Bottle by the Police. Thank you Guitar Hero.

PS - you're invited over anytime to play guitar hero with us.