Project #2

Oh blogger, why must you upload my pictures in reverse order? SO annoying. Anyone have any fixes? It's so hard to move the pictures around on here.

Okay, so onto my project...well, here's the foot - I'm too lazy to try to rearrange the pictures.

So vote - do I keep the rusted castor wheels?

This dresser will eventually be in Avery's room - after it is painted. Right now I've only got storage in her closet and it is really annoying. So where did I get the idea to do this myself? I follow a girls blog, drool and wish to be her. Check out her site! Life in the fun lane. Now, granted, I do not wish to have an entirely white house, but it is pretty. I enjoy color too much and well...it's just not my style. I DO however LOVE that she turns trash to treasure. I mean some of her pieces, no, ALL of them are gorgoeous. And then she in turn sells them for a profit and if you go to her White Berry website, everything is sold! She gets all of her pieces for free to $35...

I found this on CraigsList and really like it. I do believe it is an antique (solid wood, dovetail joints) and DID pay more than $35. Who knows if it is worth more (or less) but it has a lot of potential. Now if only I can find the time to work on it! For now it will be my end of spring break/weekend project.

I've gotten the pulls removed. Next step is a gentle sanding. I know some of you are going to be totally against me painting this and not just restaining but, that is NOT my desire. I want to paint it - and so - it shall be repainted. I think I'm going to paint it an avocado green to match the rest of Avery's decor. Again, YES someday she'll want different colored furniture but I believe that at this point she'll have this for years and green goes with any little girls decor so green it shall be. Avocado that is...not sage, not mint, avocado. Also one of Avery's favorite foods come to think of it.

Like I say, next I'll sand it, then tape the drawers. I'm not "spraying" it like the girl in the blog does - she's got a professional set up. I'll be using the standard brushes and rollers. And then I'll "antique" it a little by scuffing up the edges. What I want to know is how to make the scuffed up edges black instead of the underlying wood color. Any ideas? I've tried Googling it with no success. I even "commented" on the girls blog but she hasn't responded yet.

I'll keep you posted!

Projects!!!

Not part of the project - but she's cute.

Project #1 - Landscaping

So the front beds looked atrocious. Not only the weeds but I'd planted some variation of iris and they just looked awful. Of course our soil is a mixture of clay, concrete and production home builder trash which may include glass, chip bags, broken bricks...that's just to name a few of the things I've found in my beds. Anywhoo...this means nothing really grows. SO, yet again I find myself pulling up the old but not ALL of it this time. I left the nandina in the back...basically everything in the back row (japanese yew which is not sort of out of place now that the other 2 have died). Magnolia tree is still there...the ONLY thing left of the original landscaping put in when the house was built in 2001. Anyway, we still need much but I added "Ballerina Hawthore" in front of the nandina (which is kind of hard to see), and then japanese boxwoods across the front which I LOVE. It is used a lot here in Texas - sturdy and adds a great splash of color.

I still need 2 or 3 filler plants near our Aggie flag, and some stuff on the side behind the magnolia but it's coming along! Oh and Kendall has been desperately begging to plant seeds so we planted some snapdragon flower seeds near the walkway so hopefully that will give us some color before too long!

Play....

Kendall's got the form... Avery's got the beer gut going...
Avery's turn...

We've been blessed with 2 GORGEOUS weekends in a row so Mike took advantage of one to go to the local putting green with his prodigy. She lasted about 7 minutes then decided to do twirls instead. Avery loved retrieving the golf balls, then we all headed to the park. Avery is 100 times the risk taker that Kendall ever was or will be. I'm not sure if that is because of earlier exposure to the risks or personality. Only time will tell... Regardless, slides, climbing, swinging were all thoroughly enjoyed by both.

More fun pictures!!!

Avery in Dallas

Goofy girl
Kendall was introduced to Princess toenail paint at her friend Avery's house so we just had to go out and get some! You can't really TELL it's on but I think that is a good thing since she insists on painting her toes herself!

Friends

Okay, so this is not one of the "professional" shots. Isnt' it lovely how I look like the 13 year old babysitter in the picture?! I was trying to get Avery to smile, had on flats, and was standing back and off to the side. Not to mention that Vanessa is just taller than me anyway. But really...this picture looks a little ridiculous. And I should have taken off my sunglasses...

This past weekend we went up to Dallas and got to spend Sunday morning with our old neighbors, the Bellews. They used to live on our street but got transferred to Dallas. Vanessa requested that I use my ever-blooming photography skills to take their family pictures at Nash Farm in Grapevine. It was a gorgeous little plot of land in downtown Grapevine and the kids loved running around and occasionally stopping for a picture. I've got a lot to learn in photography but I'm pretty proud of how the pictures turned out!

Fun time!

Mom and Dad came in for a short weekend at the beginning of the month. Kendall has been wanting to ride the train over at Katy Mills Mall for a long time but I've always got the stroller with me and I am NOT leaving my stroller at the mall unattended because I love it. Anyway, all aboard, they loved it. I waited with the stroller and shopped for a brief moments at American Eagle...ahhh, it was a blissful 5 minutes!

Dad...the "riff-raff" on the train

This is Kendall and her friend Avery. They love each other and it is so nice to have a girlfriend for Kendall to play with. She's got an abundance of boy friends that we adore, but having a fellow princess to dress up with makes her giddy!

Avery has taken up making beer can chicken...well...dr. pepper can chicken

Supermom of the Week "supposedly"

I was recently honored on my friends popular London website, Little Lunalu as being a "supermom of the week!" Here is the short interview - click here. When you read #8 you'll see why I've added "supposedly" to the title of this blog.

And I took this picture of myself with the girls and UNBELIEVEABLY THIS WAS THE FIRST SHOT! I guess b/c the self timer was on and beeping so it got Avery's attention. Kendall can pose, but Avery is definintely unpredictable. Somehow, this one time - we totally got lucky!