Bathtime Vocals

Eat your heart out, American Idol!

I Took His Hand and Followed

I Took His Hand and Followed

My dishes went unwashed today,

I didn't make the bed,

I took his hand and followed

Where his eager footsteps led.

 

Oh yes, we went adventuring,

My little son and I...
Exploring all the great outdoors

Beneath the summer sky

 

We waded in a crystal stream,

We wandered through a wood...

My kitchen wasn't swept today

But life was gay and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade

And now my small son knows

How Mother Bunny hides her nest,

Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,

We climbed a sunlit hill...

Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,

We plucked a daffodil.

 

That my house was neglected,

That I didn't brush the stairs,

In twenty years, no one on earth

Will know, or even care.

But that I've helped my little boy

To noble manhood grow,

In twenty years, the whole wide world

May look and see and know.

-unknown-

Blogolution Update: The Nightstand Switcheroo and a Mirror

"Hi ho! Hi ho! Its back to the guest room I go..."

You may have noticed by now that after kicking off my Blogolution 2011 in my guest bedroom I quickly moved on to other projects like the kitchen nook, new office area, and front door - seemingly abandoning the guest bedroom mid-project.

That would be my design ADD at its finest right there.

But there is nothing like a houseguest or two to help me get back on track.

{The Nightstand}

After threatening for months to steal Justin's nightstand and give it a long overdue makeover, I finally followed through on my threat.

Actually, I followed through on my threat and stole it from him months ago; it has just taken me this long to finish it.

But thats neither here nor there.

What counts is that its finally finished.

Here is the before of Justin's nightstand area:

(50 points to you if you spotted one of my baseboard-less walls. Augh, another project for another day...)

Justin found this nightstand for about $10 at Goodwill when he was still in college. Its a pretty sturdy piece; it just needed a little TLC to show its true potential.
And the hardware was almost painful to look at.
Blech!

Then we had this nightstand in the guest bedroom:

I love the dark wood and shelf surface area, but this nightstand just wasn't right for this room.

So I pulled a switcheroo, stealing Justin's nightstand and putting the guest room nightstand in its place.

Justin's 'new' nightstand:

 (Yes, that is yet another baseboard-less wall.)

I have had that basket for ages and, whattaya' know, it fits perfectly!

With Justin appeased (not always an common occurrence when I'm moving furniture around without his approval), I set out to give the old nightstand, now known as Lila, a beautiful makeover.

Here she is before:

And here is Lila after:

I used Sherwin Williams Creamy for the body and Sherwin Williams Jubilee (light gray) for the cubby.

I also cut two pieces of paintable wallpaper (Home Depot) and pasted them to the top and the front of the drawer prior to painting.
The wallpaper helped to soften her up a little, don't you think?

Finally, I added some shiny new hardware (Home Depot).

BEFORE:

AFTER:

{The Mirror}

Remember when I told you about purchasing my piano bench, Gert, from a neighbor's yard sale last fall?

In July this same wonderful neighbor had another yard sale.

Knowing how much I adored her 'junk' last year, she let me have first dibs a day in advance.

Yeah, baby!

I admit I went a little crazy, but even in my craziness I only spent $26.

She gave me one heck of a deal.
Or maybe I should say about fifteen heck of a deals.

{Now pinky-swear that you will never tell my husband I came home with that many items from a single yard sale.}

One of those items was an ornate gold mirror.

I forgot to take a before picture, but this is essentially what I started with:

Perfect for my guest bedroom, no?

Awhile back I purchased some Rustoleum Green Apple spraypaint.
Some girls collect jewelry. Others collect shoes.
I collect spraypaint.
My husband thinks I have an addiction.
He is probably right.

Not two weeks after my purchase I spotted (and subsequently pinned) this dresser over at Apothecary Home.
I simply died over this green and black contrast.

The color?
Rustoleum Green Apple!

With this inspiration, I spraypainted my mirror frame green apple and went over the detail with Valspars Antiquing Glaze.

 B-E-A-utiful!

And now in her place in the guest bedroom:

{I can never seem to get the lighting right for pictures in the guest bedroom.}

There you have it - two more projects done in the guest bedroom.

UP NEXT:
the ugly exterior door.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

So answer me this:
How do you feel about that old saying "it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission"?



Linking up with:

TIM-BER!!

This was the view from our back door this morning:

This fella (aka Tree Guy) had our mondo maple down on the ground within a few minutes.

Crazy!

Initially startled by the crash, Kendry could not stop saying "Wow."

"Wow."

"Wow."

And then the tree guys went home because Justin intends to chop up this tree himself.

Looks like you've got your work cut out for you, babe.

Funny how trees can look so much bigger once they are on the ground.

Yes, its somewhat tragic to cut down such a large tree,

but it needed to go in order for us to do this:

This fall we're planning to finally put in our patio!

And because I am addicted to Pinterest these days,

here is some of our my inspiration.

{I really need to show Justin my Pinterest board to be sure we're dreaming of the same patio.}

How cool is this stamped concrete?

source

I love rounded edges.

source

source

Our plan is to pour a large but simple concrete slab off our back steps,

and then to build wooden stairs over the existing ugly concrete steps.

I love how the fire pit is built into this one:

source

Alas, I'm not sure we'll do a built-in firepit at this point.

But a freestanding one will suit me just fine for the time being.

I would love to build this one some day:

DIY Network

This is what we have in mind for shade:

Google

Although I do love a beautiful pergola too.

Google

But first we've gotta take care of this:

While Justin is busy with the chainsaw tomorrow morning I will be at a subdivision yard sale, searching for a steal on a patio set.

What home improvement projects are you working on this weekend?

Chicks Dig Scars

Let me take a minute to point out how very thankful we are to have made it two years and three months without a single unscheduled visit to the pediatrician, ER or urgent care.

No emergenices.

No unexplained, crazy high fevers.

No swallowed staples. (We love you, Paxton!) 

But as parents of a very active toddler we knew this streak had to end some day.

And today was that day.

Around 4pm we were notified by Kendry's daycare that he had fallen and hit his head.

They thought he might need stitches.

I went to pick him up, all the way there pondering if I would be able to tell right off if this injury simply needed a good bandage or if it indeed warranted a doctor's visit.

When I arrived to get Kendry he was sitting happily with a rag pressed to his forehead.

He seemed just fine.

And then they pulled the rag away to show me the damage.

The gash.

Right smack in the middle of my beautiful baby's forehead.

{gulp!}

We carefully wrapped Kendry's head in loose gauze and off to urgent care we went, picking up Daddy on the way.

Upon our arrival at urgent care the intake nurse asked the reason for our visit. 

I carefully removed Kendry's gauze bandanna to show her this:

 Would you believe I just happened to have the camera in the car with me today?

Crazy how that works.

While I knew for sure that this gash should get some glue or tape to help it heal, I really didn't think it would require stitches.

But it did.

Five of them to be exact.

And since they knew Kendry couldn't sit still for the process they had to do this:

 He was NOT a happy camper.

However, once they got the gash numbed up he did amazingly well.

While the ARNP was numbing up the area (and Kendry was bawling), she looked up at us and said "I think we have skull here."

{double gulp!}

It was around that point that Justin needed to take a few deep breaths and sit down in the nearest chair.

Five decently quick stitches later we were ready to go:

We had to pick up some antibiotics for him on the way home, and followed that up with a stop at McDonalds for a well-deserved treat and playtime.

Kendry was such a trooper.

As for me, if I go another 50 years without seeing my child tied down and saying "Mommy, I'm ready to go home" with tears rolling down his cheeks, that would still be too soon.

Last but not least,

we cannot say enough good things about the staff at Tri-State Hospital Urgent Care.

They took care of us immediately and were amazing with Kendry through the entire ordeal.

Thank you so much, ladies!