Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Done As It's Gonna Get


Stinkerbell's room is as done as it's going to get. I've done everything on my list except paint the toy box and frankly, that just might not happen. It's just not a priority at the moment, so like Zoe's magnet board, it could be a few years. 

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem right?

So anyway, the curtains are up.

The ones you see have been modified because they started out like this.


I got them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and they were a hot deal. Ahem . . . except I hate that they're tab top and the way I have the curtain rod hung they hang below the window moulding. I suppose I could move the curtain rod up, but I didn't wanna.

Instead I went the much easier route (not) of taking the tab tops off and putting grommets in. I like the look better, but that created a new problem. You can't see it in this picture because the bed is stealthily hiding it, but the curtains are not exactly the same length.

Give or take an inch, they ain't right. Truth is, I can't bring myself to care that much.

At least not enough to do anything about it. This is what having kids has done to me. It has sucked some of the OCD twitchiness out of me.

Peanut Head would quickly admit that that's a good thing.


I hung these pictures back up, but first I spray painted the frames blue. They were white before and the white was looking pretty dingy, so they needed some sprucing up. In my mind I was going to paint them red, but Stinkerbell suggested the blue and I kind of like it. Never mind that she hates the pictures. They're five years old and she is not that person anymore.

All the more reason that I shall clutch them to my heart and savor their deliciousness.

Torture her, whatever.


Ta DA! The magnet board that did not take three years to paint. Like Zoe's.

One more reason for her to shower me with her teenagery disdain.


We also hung up some road signs and paper lanterns. Because you can never have too much color in my world.


Since I didn't get to paint the frames red, I snagged a red clock.


This is the other thing I framed. It's one of those spotlight posters that teachers sometimes ask parents to do for their kids so they can display them at school for a week.

More parent homework. My favorite.


I've done a few of these things and this was the first time I tackled it digitally. That was the way to go, let me tell you. All the pictures are already on my computer. I just dragged (drug?) them onto my Photoshop canvas and went to town. Then I sent the whole thing to Sam's Club to print as a poster. Easiest spotlight poster I've ever made.


Lastly, I did paint the shelves that were on my list, but they just got a fresh coat of white spray paint. Maybe I should have done blue, but I felt like that would be like painting the trim blue, and the thought of doing that makes me twitchy.


We're having a nice, mostly relaxing summer with a little bit of productivity mixed in. On the days that the girls have horse lessons, they put in a couple hours of barn upkeep. As was pointed out to me when I posted this picture on Facebook, that white horse there looks like he's helping out, doesn't he?


Stinkerbell has been camp crazy this year. She went to Robotics camp for a week of afternoons and she had a lot of fun. She was one of two girls which is pretty typical with her interests.  She's like one of the boys, but not.


While Stinkerbell was at camp, I took Zoe for Mom/Daughter pedicures. She was not excited.

I thought it would be so fun. We could hang out. We could have pretty toes. We could bond.

You would think I had asked her to wear suspenders or something, she was that into it.


It must have made some kind of impact though, because when we got home Gunny Man got a pedicure. He looks as happy as Zoe Bug, doesn't he?


Such pretty, pretty, puppy nails.

He's such a good sport. Even though his look says "Please save me," he would do anything for his girl.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Wish Granted


Zoe Bug is soooooo happy because we just granted her one of her most fervent wishes.

No, we did not just buy her a horse.

In her dreams.

That picture fooled you for a minute though, didn't it?

Remember this?


That's what I'm talking about. Boot Camp for Brats. Zoe requests it for her sister on an almost daily basis.


And I finally caved. We shipped Stinkerbell off to Bratty Boot Camp on Monday, and Zoe has been living it up ever since.

I posted this picture on Instagram and my Facebook feed and one of my Facebook friends said that I was mean.

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. In fact I was momentarily stunned and speechless.

I was like "Have we met, because . . . ? Um . . . I'm mean."

I expect that if you're my Facebook friend you know me reasonably well enough to know that about me.

Or, at the very least, that I lie like a rug.

And that's what I was doing. Although I like to call it embellishing my story. 

It's more entertaining that way.

For me.

Really she's not at Bratty Boot Camp, but just camp, and she is having a ball. 


See, look at her smile. We went up to visit her tonight and she is having the time of her life.

In fact, it seems we have completely slipped her mind because when she saw us she was a little taken aback. Once she had collected her wits about her, she informed us that we looked different. Apparently she had forgotten what we looked like.

Which begs the question, did we really just send her off to Lord of the Flies Camp?

I'm just sayin' because I think she would actually do quite well at a camp like that, being raised up by the Overprepared Boy Scout and all that.

We didn't stick around too long because we were told in no uncertain terms that parents were to "Get Out!" by 9:00 p.m. so they could start their Staff Chase, and we would thus be in the way and would impede that process.



However, before we left we did make the hike up the hill to snap a picture of the infamous Underwear Tree. The story behind this tree is that if you leave your under drawers laying about, they will end up on this tree. In other words, pick up after yourself.

Or, as we like to say in our house through strategically placed vinyl lettering . . .


Since Stinkerbell was going to be at camp this week, I told myself that I was going to finish her room. I haven't touched her room since Spring Break, and I never quite wrapped it up. In fact, I didn't even finish showing you what we did get done, and I know I promised daily updates.

I suck.


So, as an update, I painted her nightstand to coordinate with the upper portion of her walls.


We put the Pottery Barn Kids bedding on the newly painted bed. By the way, I wasn't sure about the Hunter Safety Orange color, but I have to say, I really like it. It makes me want to eat popsicles.


I had grand plans to staple red fabric onto the box springs instead of having a bed skirt, but that was a total flop of an idea because the box springs only had wood on one side. The other side is made up of a metal frame and springs. I tried to sew it onto that side, but I couldn't get the fabric to pull taut. So basically I wasted money and time on fabric for that.

I ended up finding a fitted sheet that would go with our crazy colors. I wanted red, but the only red I could find came with a flat sheet and pillow cases, and I just wanted the fitted sheet. Target sells sheets separately like that, but they come in limited colors. Nothing wild and crazy like I was looking for.


We also found this fabulous dresser at Down East Home. It's gigantic and it holds all of her summer and winter clothes, so we don't have to do the whole store and cycle with her seasonal clothes. Score on that one.

Needless to say, I did not work on Stinkerbell's room at all this week, but I have made myself a promise that I will not start any new projects until I finish this one and a couple others. I have a really bad habit of starting projects and leaving them unfinished for long periods of time. I'm talking years people.

Here's a list of what needs to be done to wrap the Stink's room up:

1. Finish painting magnet board
2. Hang curtains
3. Hang pictures, magnet board, and lanterns
4. Paint storage chest (formerly a toybox)
5. Paint hanging shelves

That's it. It's not a gigantic list or anything too cumbersome, it's just not exciting stuff. I think I am my own worst enemy.

The Stink has been begging me to finish her magnet board and hang it up. Zoe turned to her one day in her snotty informative teenager voice and said "Welcome to my world. It took her three years to paint my magnet board and I'm still waiting for her to finish my room."

Word, Sister.