DIY Sunburst Mirror

Sometime over the course of the past several months, I was bit by the crafty bug. This is a phase that normally hits me when I'm pregnant, so it's weird having a crafty itch that isn't baby themed. But I'm loving my new hobby. I can't even share about my favorite project that I've been working on because it's a birthday gift for my sister! At least her birthday is soon.

But, this is the project that started it all. This just caught my attention somewhere out there in cyberspace and it seemed simple enough- and I had been looking FOREVER for something to go in the big space above our bed. And seriously, the cost of this guy was a whooping $15 and just a couple of hours.

This guy here has a regular price of $239, but that's ridiculous. Thank goodness that it's on sale for $198! Did I mention that I made mine for under $20?!?

This was my inspiration piece from JandJ Home. She left the wood on hers unfinished. I like that look, but it would totally clash with our bedroom. I just used some extra spray paint I already had and it looks great in our space.

She explains the steps well and I followed her instructions right on, so I'm not going to post them again. I really suggest that you do! I really want to make one for my sister's college apartment-- it would look great above their couch, but there isn't anyway to hang it because they can't put holes in the wall. 

My thoughts on the project.

Purchase the 2 Wooden rings (on the back) and mirror are from Michaels-- one at a time, use a 40% off each time. These coupons are everywhere and you generally get one on your receipt to use towards a future purchase.

This uses A TON of glue sticks. I had a little almost a half a bag, but I ended up running out. I hate having to stop on a project for something like that. {I did mess up, so I had to tear off the first layer and start over, which didn't help my glue stick supply situation.} 

I've seen projects like this where people have used paint sticks or rulers, but I'm convinced that using wooden shims are the way to go because of it's wedge properties. The middle, where you glue and hang your mirror, isn't as bulky as the outer edges because the sticks get wider as they go out. It just lays better and looks better. And wood shims are super cheap {especially when your dad has buckets of them lying around his work shed}.

Make sure to use wood glue to attach the mirror to the sunburst. Hot glue will not do the trick. 

Here are some more pictures.

The great thing about this project, aside from it being super cheap to make such a large piece, is that it isn't a pristine finished product. It looks best when you use all of the shims in a package, even if one isn't as pretty as the rest. It adds to the natural aspect of the project-- plus, it offers a little grace while putting it together!

Have questions?? Be sure to ask!

Faux Canvas Prints

Ever since my friend created some super-cute Faux Canvas Prints in September, I've been anxious to make some myself. It wasn't until my crafty-nesting bug (yes, instead of just having the urge to clean while preggo, I get uber crafty) hit me in December that I finally got inspired and made it happen.

This is what was originally on the wall above Jackson's dresser/changing table. I got these picture frames from a thrift store and painted them when I was pregnant with Jackson (see, I'm telling you... pregnancy = craftiness). There were a few pieces of broken glass and the frames were a funky size to ever get it replaced. The weird size also made getting prints to fit very tricky. Anyway, I was ready for something new.

 

I had grown to love several of the pictures though, so I knew I had to incorporate them into my new project. I browsed through the hundreds (thousands?) of photos of Jackson looking for the best face shots and I used Picasa to crop the pictures into squares and to make the black and white. Diane used 12x12 prints, but since I was going to be making a collage of the prints, I thought 8x8 would suffice. Thanks to a friend, I was able to purchase through Costco, as well, and I paid a total of $16 something for all 9 prints. That included shipping to the house. 

Step by step instructions can be found on her site here and she answers questions here. She took photos of each step so it's easy to follow along.

If I were to do this again, I would:

• probably consider the 12x12 size anyway
• be sure to pay for nicer plywood- (she used birched, I have no idea what I used... it split when it was cut and was very, very rough)
• double check the cuts by the Home Depot Guy (I had 3 perfect 8x8 pieces, and the rest were all off).

So this is what it looks like all up on the wall. It is impossible to keep the pictures straight when a little squirmy two year old can't keep his finger and toes off of them during diaper changes! The prints are in chronological order from just weeks old until two years old. I love looking at how he's changed and I absolutely LOVE the personality that shines through each picture!

Laundry

My new washer and dryer got delivered today. I am a little bit disappointed. My laundry still isn't done; it's still piled high in my bedroom waiting to be taken downstairs. I was just kinda hoping that they'd be magic or something, but no such luck.

Awhile back, I posted about how our dryer wasn't drying well and we'd have to run in 2-3 cycles just to dry the clothes. And then, just days after Derek leaves, the washer decided to not drain the water, nor spin, any longer. Fortunately, Derek was accessible by phone at the time and we decided it'd be best just to get a new set.

Home Depot has free haul away of the old appliances-- ah.may.zing! The only issue I had was getting the standing water out of the washer so the guys could take it away. It probably wouldn't have been a big deal, except that I had forgotten about it and then remembered about the water days later. I went down to get the sheets out of the water and proceeded to run up the stairs in time to vomit outside on the grass. Needless to say, it smelt baaaaaaaaad.

A wonderful friend, Brad, got the sheets out for me and set them outside to air out, but we didn't have time to mess with the water that day. So, then last night I realized that it needed to be done pronto, so I called upon my friend, Brandon. He came over with a wet vac and got it all cleaned out with bleach. Don't I have amazing friends? Even better- Brandon came over to mow the yard today.

One thing is for certain- I am completely taken care of by the people around me. Even though the things that have come up since Derek's left have been annoying (i.e. mold in my pantry. UGH!), I have great people to rely on to help me out. I'm a lucky girl!

Anyone wanna volunteer to take care of the laundry? ........... No??..... Anyone?!?..... I just thought I'd ask.

And now I have a daughter

I got Julie's room finished yesterday with just hours to spare for her arrival! Here's the final result! If she's anything like me when I was 15, it will never be half as clean as it is now!

A friend and I painted welcome signs for our students. I picked up a few balloons and we were off to the airport.

Steering a busy almost 2-year-old through a crowded airport was a daunting task at best, but he was having a blast! There were several soldiers scattered throughout the terminal, and Jackson referred to each one as "Dada"... even a tall, buff black man. I assured him that Daddy does indeed have a uniform (I may have called it an outfit) like those men, that Daddy won't be home for awhile. It took most of everything within me not to cry, but I managed to focus on the present excitement to pick up Julie!

We got to her terminal with only minutes to spare as her plane was early (since when does that happen!?!). Some random lady came up to us to tell us she took a picture of us when we met and said she'd email it to me, so I'm hoping she actually gets the chance to send it. I'd love to have it!!

We drove over to my parents house to drop him off so that we could come home and Julie could get settled without his help. We got her all unpacked, she told me all about camp, and showed me pictures of her friends and family from home. She was so excited to see the McDonald's arches from the highway that I took her there for a late lunch before we headed over to indulge ourselves with a pedicure. It was her first one and I am sure it won't be her last! The guy even asked if we were sisters!

We basically just hung out for the rest of the evening. I showed her around the house and how to use the shower, microwave, etc... She asked if I could teach her how to use the washing machine, but since ours is still full of water and will not drain, I told her it'd have to wait. After talking to Derek on the phone (one of the highlights of my day), he said we should just invest in a new set since our dryer is broken too. So, Julie and I headed over to Home Depot to check out what their selection (they offer a 10% military discount) and Julie got to know more about washers and dryers than she probably ever thought possible!

Because I hadn't gotten around to doing it before she came, we had an extra key made for her and she chose this one:

I knew from the moment her mom told me in an email:

"We talk a lot in this family. When nobody's home, we talk to the dog."

that we were going to be a great match.  And even after meeting her and having her here, I am more even convinced that she is the perfect match for us!!! I am so excited and I know that we are going to have a great year!!

(and we did watch two episodes of Veronica Mars)

Catch up from last week

Last week was a busy week filled with a long to-do list and hopes to spend as much time together as possible. I was in a blogging hiatus, so here's a recap of some of the things that filled the last week before Derek left.

First, we took a quick trip over to St. Louis to visit Derek's brother and his family. Portable DVD player = new BFF when it comes to traveling with a boy who hates to sit still, except for Elmo.

Derek spent a few nights with the guys putting up some studs for my office that will soon (hopefully) exist in the basement!

Per the great review of Wonderscope from my friend Elizabeth, Derek and I headed over to Shawnee Mission to check it out. What was even cooler was that it was FREE because the museum has partnered with a group that is offering free admission to military families-- way cool! Jackson had lots of fun playing in the ball room, the sand pit, water room, and picking vegetables.

My Dad brought down and installed my new countertop, (this time it was the right size and everything) and not a moment too soon. Life without a kitchen sink is rough! At Derek's party, we were washing dishes in the bathroom sink, filling up water coolers in the bathtub. And because the dishwasher is hooked up to the sink, our dishes were piling in the dishwasher. But it's all back together now and I love, love, love it!!

Jackson redecorated the wall in the few moments I left the room to switch the laundry.

Jackson's Daddy Book came in the mail on Friday and I spent *hours* covering each page with contact paper. It's been totally worth it and we haven't even had it a week. The book is a hit. After we read it, we says, "more, more". I even got the change to capture Derek reading the book to Jackson on video.

Derek and I went to see the movie Salt and we both really enjoyed it (since when did matinees cost $9.50?!). And lastly, we just spent some time together hanging out and just doing nothing at times. We caught up on laundry, picked up the house, and he gave me final lessons on the xbox network, backup systems, and other household things.

 The goal was to be productive and spend some good last-minute quality time together and I consider the week a success!

The New Countertop

We are down to just a few things left on the list and Dad came down last night to install the new countertop that has been sitting in our garage for the past month. We are having Derek's big going away party tonight and I am happy to have that old ugly, nasty tile out of my kitchen.

 Derek says it was a lot of hard work to get it out. I believe him. But I hardly lifted a finger all night.

I was a the grocery store (dealing with a grumpy old lady cashier) when the boys were brought in the new countertop. I guess it is pretty heavy and they'd have to carry it in and out to cut for a precise fit. And since it is one big piece, it's tricky to move it around the kitchen and get into place. I was here for that part.

And so they finally got it to fit and slid it into place.

But yes, as you can see-- the countertop is 3 inches too short in the middle section.

Dad was just in disbelief as it has something to do with 25" being standard and 22" is just never used in the kitchen and he is is good friends with one of the guys at the cabinet company we used. Dad called and Leroy was in disbelief too and they have yet to figure out why it would have come out that way-- probably just an error when someone typed it in the machine.

Did I mention we are having a big party tonight? Fortunately, this didn't stress me out at all. Dumb, little things have brought me to tears all week, but not my countertop. It is still sitting pretty in my kitchen. But we'll be sinkless for the next few days until my new countertop is made. Thank goodness that my wonderful friend HanNah is in charge of most of the food.

This is by far not the worst thing that could have happened and I suppose it will be a good story to laugh about (after today).... right???

The wonderful mother strikes again.

I know I've already told you how my mom is pretty awesome, but today she was super awesome. I invited her down to help get some stuff done around the house that I just needed a little motivation and help to get done.

First, she comes over with a fully prepared dish of lasagna for Derek and I to have for dinner. We have friends coming over tonight so we needed a bigger main dish (so she even helped me with that!), but tomorrow I will be eating that lasagna.

But then, she gets all gung-ho about the laundry too and we fold it and I put a lot of it away. She switches loads and folds more. And then because our dryer is suuuuper slow, my mother-in-law (who stopped by) ended up taking a couple loads to her house to wash and dry so we can get all caught up. We hate laundry in this house and with a dryer that takes 2-3 cycles to dry. Needless to say, it gets backed up a lot.

And then we start to tackle the real reason she came down: Jackson's room. I really wish I would have taken a before picture. It was awful. To walk across the room, a zig-zag line was in order to avoid stepping on all sorts of toys. Jackson enjoys emptying out his drawers so clothes are everywhere and the closet was just a bunch of stuff that I haven't gone through and it was all shoved behind the doors so no one could see it. Ugh.... the whole room was just a disaster.

So this is what we got done:

The greatest thing of all that his room is organized, for the very first time. Several of his toys are actually put up so that we can rotate them and they aren't everywhere all of the time. Plus, most of the toys from the family room are now in his room so it doesn't look like a Toys-R-Us when people come over for dinner (my sisters complain about this). The rug is new and it actually looks like a finished room. I do have curtains and they will be up soon.

The closet... is organized. Can you believe it? I had to take a picture because I'm not all to confident that this will continue to be so organized. I put things like his puzzles and non-board books in here, so that I will have to get them out in order for him to play with them to avoid missing pieces and ripped pages. And in case I need a reminder of all of the diapers we buy, I have reused the boxes to store clothes he's outgrown or will be wearing soon. They are the perfect size for the shelf in the closet and are more cost-effective than buying tubs.

And of course, Mom got to spend some quality time with Jackson. He helped her throw laundry down the stairs fold laundry and emptied the kitchen drawers helped put utensils away. He is such a big helper!

So, the mother-in-law is on her way with the laundry (don't be jealous) so I gotta go!

Weekend Report

We spent the weekend doing lots of fun things. Let's take a look:

This was actually Thursday, but I love this picture. Jackson is all about (double) dipping his chips in the salsa these days.

Friday night, we had friends over for dinner and headed out to Community Days to walk around and enjoy a funnel cake. Jackson loved looking at the big "gruck".

Saturday morning, we walked in the Community Days parade with our church. Jackson did an awesome throwing tootsie rolls when he wasn't putting them in his mouth (with the wrapper).

Saturday afternoon we took Jackson to see his first movie, Toy Story 3. He was mesmerized by the giant tv and didn't move a muscle for an hour and fifteen minutes. After that, he was pretty squirmy, but overall he did really well. He didn't quite weight enough to hold the seat down, so he sat in a slight v formation, but he didn't mind.

I went to work and Derek held down the fort on Saturday evening. After Jackson went to bed successfully fixed three computers-- one which was my laptop. If you listen closely, you can probably hear my singing the Hallelujah chorus right now! Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Unfortunately I had a monstrous headache that lasted every minute I was awake yesterday. The good news is that I spent over four hours in naps, which lessened the time spent with the actual headache. We went to lunch with Derek's grandpa and some other family to celebrate Father's Day. Then Derek went out and bought the lumber needed to begin the work on finishing the basement and he cleared out the area we are going to start with. Oh! And Dad brought down the new kitchen  countertop that his wonderful friend made for us and that will be getting installed soon. Hallelujah, Hallelujah!!

We got a lot accomplished this weekend, but we had plenty of time for relaxing and fun too! And in case you are feeling a case of the Mondays this morning, check this out!!

Proof that I can hold down the fort

Today started out as a totally great day. Jackson slept in until 8:00, a nice morning rain watered my lawn, and I got to hang out with good friends all afternoon. Even better, my baking-goddess friend perfected a cereal bar recipe that I just couldn't get to work. We were off to the store to buy some more dried fruit when I noticed it was still overcast and I mentioned that it would be nice if we could get just a little bit more rain so I wouldn't have to water my plants again tomorrow. If only I would have seen the radar:

So, this is now,10pm. The rain started 6 hours ago, so it's looked like this all night.

Driving home from our errands was slow, going 30 mph on the highway because it was just raining so hard. We exited, came to the intersection right close to my house, and noticed that the stoplights weren't working, the gas station and pharmacy were all dark inside and it hit me-- the power is out. And immediately I began to stress out.

See, we have a basement that has suffered significant water damage in the past. We have since cleaned it all up, poured a new basement wall, and replaced the sump pump-- a sump pump that is run by electricity. We once talked about having a back up system, but it was forgotten and didn't  make the list. So, I come home, immediately go to the basement to find that our sump pump is full of water.

For those unfamiliar with sump pumps- it's a hole we have in the basement. Water from around the house flows into it, and when the levels get high the sump pump turns on and "flushes" the water out of the house. Think along the lines of a toilet. But in my case, the pump wasn't going to turn on and the water was rising steadily. And soon enough, the basement would begin to flood.

First thing I do is call Derek and we decide that I should go down and empty as much water as I can into some buckets that we can dump outside. Of course, we don't really have buckets just lying around so I gathered up several trashcans and began scooping. I was only really keeping the water at bay because water was flowing in just as fast as I was scooping. Derek is 45 minutes away from being home- CRAP!!! So, I call Dad.

Dad: "You don't have a battery back up!?" 
Me: "Uhm. No, we never did that"
Dad: "You should."
Me: .......
Dad: "I think I have one of my generators left in your garage still" (from when he helped remodel the house)
Me: "Okay, what does it look like?"
I go to the garage
Dad: "It's black and red, it's pretty big"
Me: Looking around the garage. Find a sticker and read it, "Do not use generator inside it will kill you in minutes... Okay, I think I found it"
Dad: "Okay, you'll need to blah, blah, blah and then hook up an extension cord from the generator to the sump pump."
Me: "Hhmm. Okay. I am gonna see how far Derek is to see if he might be able to do this."

Nope. He's still 20 minutes away based on non-rainy traffic. Can't wait. I try my father-in-law. Nope. He's getting Chipotle for dinner since they don't have power either. Can't wait for him either. But, we ask for him to pick up dinner for us too. Okay, so it's just me. I can do this, right!?

I dig the thing out and drag it outside. Thank goodness for the step by step directions, including pictures, as I try to figure it out. It still took me 15 minutes in the pouring down rain but eventually I got the fuel valve turned on, the power switch on, made sure it was choked and had to pull the start cord thing about 7 times- and it roars up... and dies. I switched the choke to run mode, so I don't really know what happened. So, I curse to myself and try it all again and it takes another 10 minutes and 15 pulls of the cord to get her up and running. I run downstairs to see the water even with the basement floor, the sump pump kick on and then the water level begins going down. HECK YES!!! And then, Derek walks in the door.

I won't lie, I am pretty impressed with myself. When big things come up, your mind just focuses on the problem and I did well- but then, after it was done- I was just exhausted. I didn't really know I was so stressed out. But I just could not let the basement flood- not after all of the work we've put into it.

Woo hoo! I did it- even though I looked like a drowned rat. Why am I smiling?!?

So, the power came on about four hours later and the sump pump is down there doing it's job all on it's own. We've added a new thing to add to the list: organize plan of action for when we lose power in the midst of a thunder storm. Thank goodness for the Chipotle the in-laws brought over- and thank goodness for my friend HanNah who was here to entertain a whiny Jackson while I magnificantly saved the day. :)

Though it would have been nice had Derek been here and he could have saved the day. It's kind of an encouragement to know that I stand a chance of managing this house on my own while he's gone!

Work, play, and the list

We spent a lot of today getting stuff done around the house. Derek got up early and mowed- Jackson helped. He also cleaned out the gutters, which are less than six months old and already had little sprouts growing in them. Ugh. This evening we cleared out several boxes and organized some of the stuff we still haven't unpacked.

Jackson had a playdate with his friend Kate yesterday. He was less interested in sitting and playing with her than he was in running around into the neighbors yard. Oh well. Isn't her little strawberry swimsuit just so cute? Someday I will have my own little dress-up doll daughter, fingers crossed!

I've been working on the list. The Power of Attorney is put together and ready for us to sign and the will is almost done too (we just have to sit down and make our 'picks'). I put a call into the lawyer whose office was down the hall from when I worked with my dad and it literally took maybe five minutes. And he offered to do it at no cost. What a blessing! So I've crossed out two things on the list, but we've now decided to try to finish the basement before Derek leaves, too-- two steps forward, one (major) step back. At least it's progress!