My Weekend Project

Ok, this project took me a couple of weekends, but the important thing is that it's finished. My goal was to cover up the two 24" X 24" windows above the desk space I created in the kitchen. I showed my first makeover of this space here. These windows are east facing, so at 5:30ish every morning the sun gets blasted into my great room and subsequently into my bedroom, which is right off the great room. It's sad that I waited this long to stop the sunny, hot insanity from invading my house so early in the morning.

Here are my naked windows before:

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And the after: These are faux roman shades. There are two ways that the windows can wear this curtain. In the picture below they look boring, I know. It looks like I put up a square of fabric over the windows. But the beauty of this style of window treatment is that when they're down the amount of light and heat in the room is significantly reduced. I used blackout fabric on the backside of the curtains to keep most of the light from coming through.

Here is what they look like when they're pulled up:

I love the way they turned out! I stole the idea from this decor blog. They were really easy to sew. I screwed cup hooks onto the side of the window, and then I hooked ribbon loops sewn onto the back of the curtain to the hooks to make it hang like a roman shade.

I look forward to leaving them up during the day, but for now {'til the sun settles down a bit in the desert} they'll stay closed most of the time.

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My mom gave me a sewing machine for Christmas over 3 years ago to do projects like this, and it sat unopened in a closet this whole time! I shouldn't have let this much time pass without using it. This was my first project with it, and I was surprised at how easy it was to learn how to use the machine. Don't worry Mom, I've got plenty of new projects planned; your gift wasn't given in vain! Curtains for the living room are next on the list.

Total cost of this bargain project:
$17.00ish
$5.99/yd for fabric (On Sale!)
$5.99/yd for blackout lining
Approx. $5 for miscellaneous supplies, i.e. thread, cup hooks

4th of July 2009

For the 4th, we enjoyed a late dinner at Joe's Real Barbecue. The kids got soaked in the fountain under the Gilbert Water Tower. We laughed with the kids, listened to the distant boom of the fireworks, saw the occasional sparkle between the trees, drove home with the windows down {so the kids could dry off}, and finished off the night with ice cream cones from the drive-thru...it was good...

San Clemente -Year 2

Better late than never on this one. We went to San Clemente/San Diego a month ago...Summer is winding down for us with less than a week before the start of the 4th grade for Shannon. So, it's about time I post these. : )

Thank you to my generous parents for affording the kids and I the luxury of a week in the beautiful state of CA. We had a great time! Sixty-eight degrees was the average temperature. There were plenty of clouds, but I'll take that over 113 any day.

Some photo highlights of our week:

San Clemente Beach

Beach lounging

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Touring an historic mission in San Juan Capistrano








The remains of the original church completed in 1797 but destroyed in an earthquake in 1812.

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The San Diego Zoo

Monkey Wrestling.
See how the monkey is pleading for mercy. He was no match for Ben...



Up close and personal with a peacock

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A day at the Del

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Tour of the USS Midway ~San Diego

This aircraft carrier was in service from WWII to the first Gulf War. It's an amazing and fascinating piece of American history. Well worth a visit next time you're in SD.


Spent some time in the brig...Ben looks all too happy to be there, and Shannon is practicing her hardened-criminal face...pretty convincing, I think.


The flight deck had all kinds of helicopters and jets to look at and some to climb in. The kids were ready to strap in and take off.



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Thanks again for such a great time, Gramma and Grampa. You're such a blessing to us. : )

Update

I guess I've really embraced my bad blogger-ness...it's been almost 2 months since I've posted anything. I wish I could say it was because I was too busy, but that's not the reason. I should be ashamed of myself...at the very least, I'm not keeping up with recording the happenings of my family and at the most, I'm being a very bad daughter-in-law to family that can't be here to see the kids...the least I could do is update them on what the kids are doing!! Sheesh!

So here's an update:

Shannon finished the 3rd grade yesterday, a little wiser and more grown up than 9 months ago. She had her first real crush this year, read 565,817 words in AR, conquered multiplication of two digit numbers, and long division with remainders, and was introduced to the ugly, ugly world of fractions. I'm trying really hard not to pass on my loathing of all things math related to my child. I think it's working, because math is still her favorite subject. But the pain is coming my dear child, the pain starts with fractions and just gets worse after that.

Ben turned 4, another reminder of my horrible blogging behavior that I didn't even document my son's 4 year old birthday! Actually, it's more of a reminder that I'm just not that into birthdays. Anyway, he turned 4. Yay. Poor child doesn't even get a cake...

He really loves donuts though...a krispy kreme piece of "cake" was just fine with him.

In the interest of keepin' it real...year 3 was a real trial for us with our spunky {to put it nicely} Ben...this boy would try to argue the stars out of the sky if we let him. We had/have a lot of issues to work out with obeying and respecting authority. That's part of why blogging is a difficult thing for me at the moment. It's not easy to post pics of my cute little boy and the cute little things he's doing when he is royal stinker {to put it nicely} 95% of the time. Two months into age four, things are looking up though.

Oh, what else have we done? We picked peaches at The Schnepff Farm Peach Festival. This is the first year we went, and except for the searing heat, {99 in May?!?} it was really fun.

The kids and I saw Up over the weekend, yet another work of genius from the Pixar people. It was a beautiful movie; I highly recommend it. Which reminds me, JT and I saw Star Trek a couple of weeks ago. Loved It!! Wouldn't consider myself a Trekkie at all, it was just a really good movie...I highly recommend.

The kids and I have been spending a lot of time together without daddy lately. He's had his nose in a book for weeks now, and is currently in Washington D.C. taking a prep course for this huge Project Management Exam he's taking next Tuesday. We try to give him a little quiet time at the house on the weekends for him to study. I can't wait til Tuesday is over, and we get JT back.

Ha! But then, the next Monday, the kids and I are off to San Clemente again this year with my parents. I'm really looking forward to some beach time and some San Diego time too.

We'll take a break from the heat and go up to Show Low for a bit too. I finally get to see the results of the house I've been helping to design (picking out materials and things) for JT's aunt and uncle. I get to do some decorating for her too while we're up there...sounds like a perfect get away to me...maybe a getaway to Prescott to...hmm, you up for that Nana?? : )

I'm really looking forward to summer...

Cast Off

Shannon's cast is off, and all is back to normal. Her arm healed very nicely. It's still a little weak though. We left the Dr's. office with strict instructions that there was to be no trampoline jumping, scootering, skating or any other important 9-year-old daily activities for a whole week. What she can do however, is bathe herself again. YAAAAY! Bathing becomes one of those duties a mom eagerly hands over to her child when they get old enough. {With a little guidance, of course...washing long hair, without it ending up a mangled mess, is a learned skill.} I'm glad to have handed that job back over to her, but I am thankful I had all those extra plastic grocery bags. They came in very handy as cast-cover-uppers.

Shannon was excited to get her cast off too, but she was a bit grossed out by what happened with the skin under the cast. Of course, her skin kept doing the shedding it's supposed to be doing despite being covered in a hard fiberglass shell for a month. Once the cast came off, the skin came off for a couple days after too....eeeww. And I was amazed at all the dirt that got underneath the cast on her hand...so much for all those baths I gave her! : )

Our Belated Honeymoon

It took us 10 years, but we finally got our honeymoon. Our hasty wedding and the even hastier start to our family back in 1999 didn’t give JT and I much of a newlywed phase to our marriage. We’ve been grabbing at that missed alone time in bits and pieces along the way with frequent dates and weekends together...But after 10 years, it was high time we had an official no kids/no in-laws/no business meetings -just us- get away.

Spring break and the grandparents’ willingness to take on their grand kids for a whole week {this might be the last time they’ll willingly do that!} brought the opportunity to book a short little cruise.

We had a great time!

Having my husband to myself for 6 days uninterrupted by “Mom, can I have’s, or “Mom, can you this”...no laundry, no dishes, no distractions was so amazing. I came to the conclusion this week that, even after 10 years, we still have a healthy infatuation with each other. You know that feeling when you first meet that someone and they’re all you can think about, and you count down the seconds till you can be with them again...yeah, we still have that. It feels really good to love and be loved like that. I hope that feeling never fades.

JT and I at a winery in Mexico...yeah, they make wine in Mexico, crazy huh?

I'll post more pics of the cruise soon.

How about Orange?

So she chooses traffic-cone orange for her cast...and the Dr. even put glitter all over it for extra sparkle. I’m amazed at the fashion choices in casts these days. We got our follow-up x-rays today, and things are healing nicely. If all goes as it should, she only has to wear her cast for two more weeks.

Another Milestone for Shannon

Our first {hopefully only} broken limb...and only a few days before spring break too.
What a bummer!

Shannon's taking it all in stride though. She somehow launched herself backwards off of a swing at our small group meeting and hit her arm on side of the play yard resulting in a closed fracture in her right forearm. We'll have a cast on it this time tomorrow.

After the bone was set in the splint and she came home from urgent care, all the initial scariness of the situation was whisked away by the realization that her coolness factor just increased by like a thousand now that she has a broken arm. While tucking her into bed after a McDonald's cheeseburger {instant mood enhancer} and watching a little Brian Regan {"Say 8!"} she says, "Mom, my arm is sorta kinda pretty cool, huh?" Pretty cool indeed, kiddo.

She was up before me this morning, so excited to go to school. Playing it cool though, "I sooo don't want to be the center of attention today," she says to me. "I'll just tell a couple of my friends what happened, and then they can pass the story on to everyone else." I wonder if she has a designated PR friend to spin the story in the right direction? I'm sure managing the 3rd grade rumor mill has got to be quite a chore.

Merry Christmas to me!

It's February {4 days til March!} and I'm finally posting pics of my office area makeover. I got Ikea gift cards as my Christmas gift from JT and my mom and dad. I planned out the space and headed to the big blue and yellow box to get my goodies. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Thank you so much to my family for this treat!

A while back, we decided it would be a good thing to keep the family computer in a common area of the house. There is a really good wall in the kitchen to have an office area, but we didn't have furniture that fit into that spot. I just kind of used what we had, so it was high time for a makeover. Here's the before and after:

*A little disclaimer on the "before." I was sooo excited to get the old stuff out of there that I moved all of it before I took my "before" pictures. {It's truly annoying how often I've done that...it's super embarrassing to ask my clients if I can move stuff back to "the before" to take pictures, but sadly, I've done that.} So, I hastily moved everything back to snap a few pics. That's why everything looks a little um, untidy, but you get the gist.

Before:

Problems:
*Printer too large, took up too much space on the desk area
*No storage for office supplies, mail, papers, drafting and craft supplies
*Furniture didn't coordinate with the rest of the space, was just a hodge podge of stuff
*Lack of adequate work space for drawing, drafting, and homework
*Lack of adequate task lighting

After:

This is a very usable space for us now. The drawer unit stores all my office supplies perfectly. The printer has its own table, so it's not taking up valuable realestate on the desk. I store bills and other papers in the file boxes under the printer. The two desks create a lot of work space as well. I have task lighting now thanks to the thrifty score I found a couple of months back. I am, however, still on the look out for chairs. While I looove my classic Thonet cafe chair, it's not the best for this space.

I still really like this one:

this one is cool too

Hmm, or a little more traditional with this one.

The chairs will have to come later, but with everything else the total cost for this makeover was a little under $250. That's not bad for two desks, a printer table, a drawer unit, 2 lamps, wall shelves, and some accessories.

Where have I been?

Oh, Blog, I'm just not that into you {for the moment}. But I suppose, since you know family and friends, both here and across the country, kinda {maybe} care that something is written on these pages, you wait patiently in hopes that I might come back around to visit you. I promise to post on you more often.
So, a little update:

Valentine's Day was on Saturday. There were no cards or candy for me, since of course the holiday, in its current form anyway, is just a machine to sell said cards and candy, both of which would end up in the trash and on my hips. Who needs that?? Besides, if a person needs a "special" day to show their loved ones how much they mean to them, then they're are not doing it right!

JT and I did get a date night though courtesy of my parents. I love me a date night, Valentine's Day or not. We got coffee at the E61 bar at Liberty Market, served up by Joe Johnston himself. It was the best Americano I've had. We dined at the oh so posh Chipotle, then off to the movies. We saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." The movie was not JT's choice. He conceded the movie choice to me courtesy of Valentine's Day. {I had to use the day to my advantage somehow.}

I really wanted to like the movie, I really did. Cate Blanchett is one of my favorite actresses. It had such potential, but alas, it kinda suckt. There is a level of suspension-of-disbelief that one has to reach to make the premise of this movie enjoyable. I just didn't get there. It could possibly be the fault of the lady who thought it was a good idea to bring her toddler to an almost 3 hour movie to walk up and down the aisles and throw tantrums during emotionally charged scenes. {Why? Why? Why do you pay good money to chase your baby around a movie theater for 3 hours?!} Still, the makeup/CG effects were pretty cool. It was remarkable how they aged Cate Blanchett and made Brad Pitt look like he did back in the 90's. Oh, how beautiful I thought he was way back when.

Yep.

Hmmm..What else...JT and I are going on a cruise in a couple of weeks. It's just a little one to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. We're celebrating our 10th anniversary, which isn't until April, but spring break just happened to be the most convenient time for our babysitters. We disembark on March 9th {my 32nd birthday} so it'll be a nice birthday present too. Shannon and Ben get a trip to Disneyland with Gramma and Grampa. I really don't think they'll miss us too much. This will be the first vacation we've taken together that doesn't involve my parents, business meetings, or the kids. It'll be just the two of us for 5 glorious days -with sand, and sun, and a boat, and a bed, and I.can't.wait!

I'm LOVING Lost right now. The authors have seen fit to give us some real answers this season. Not that they're not raising other questions, like is Ellie {the girl who held Daniel at Gunpoint in 1954} the same person as Eloise, crazy old bookstore lady with the pendulum GPS thingy last night? Is Miles the son of the DHARMA orientation video guy {Can't think of his name since it's always changing.} And, maybe it's just me, but Charlotte and Daniel have NO chemistry... I hope the actors did that on purpose. I think they're really brother and sister...I know Daniel knows way more than we think he knows. And if I think about it too much, my nose starts bleeding, so I'll just enjoy the ride...wherever they take me.

Jack and Kate 4EVR!
photo

I've been working a little too. I've been working on my house while I have the energy...painting, etc. I'm feeling a little frantic to get a lot of stuff done before the heat hits me again. I'm hoping I'll survive a little better this summer. I'll post some pictures of what I've been working on soon. I'm also working on a project for my friend Jenn. I've been having a lot of fun with it...I'll post some on that soon too.

That's all for now. I promise I won't stay away too long.