Today I snapped a few pictures of a typical Bella...disheveled hair, her favorite boots on the wrong feet and apparently very gleeful about the entire thing. She kicked them off just long enough to use her monkey toes to climb up the entertainment center and turn her cartoons on.

I told her I was going to take her picture, so she started hamming with a vengence, I went to go get my camera...but I couldn't find it anywhere...apparently at some point I had left it within the toddler radius because as I was pilfering around looking for it she clonked up behind me in her boots, hands me my camera and goes "Here mama. Cheeshe."

It won't be long and when I lose things I can bribe her with a dollar and she'll go find them for me :) I distinctly remember my mom doing this with me about a pair of car keys....

Bathroom re-do

Before





After! (No, the paint is not darker on the right side, my picture just messed up somehow causing that weird dark line looking thing...)





Finally, I'm done! Well...almost, I still have a frame to put around the mirror...a totally awesome Idea I gleaned from ProjectCreateAHome...but for the most part, I'm done.

In a few weeks, I'm hosting a little lunch get together for ladies from my church...that really got me in the mode, I took one look at my drab, white, military housing bathroom and I knew it wouldn't do. I needed to transform it into a foofy and fabulous space for nose powdering and the like. Just one problem though, I'm broke as a joke...sigh.

I did a little brainstorming, a little blog stalking...and finally I decided that I could just use the paint leftover from my kitchen. I really wanted one of those stencils with the scalloped edge, but jeepers ya'll, those are $16.00 stencils!...I had a perfectly good oatmeal container sitting in my pantry that would suffice. Sure, not nearly as convenient, but it was free. I spotted some beautiful cottege style hand towels at Target...but yikes, I don't have a spare $40 lying around to spend on hand towels, So I bought three towels from wal-mart for $2.44 each and I sewed on my own ribbon and pom-poms. Not bad, eh? The artwork on the walls was a Goodwill find, originally the frames were a horrid shade of gold, nothing a little spray paint can't fix. A basket on the back of th commode adds a little warmth, and the window mistreatment is a scrap of fabric I had in my closet that I just kinda rigged up to the window and tied with some ribbon.

All in all, my bathroom re-do cost me a total of $17.44 which is only about a dollar more than I would have paid for the stencil!

Just another Saturday

Weekends with Tyler gone are...boring, lonely, monotonous, you get the idea but usually, I also indulge in a Saturday afternoon nap. Isabella likes to craw into bed with me after she wakes up. With her messy hair, bed-time breath and runny toddler nose she comes clamoring into the room and with a big to-do and much grunting she refuses any form of assistance and hoists herself up onto my big ole bed. Her favorite thing to do is raise my window shade and keep tabs on the neighbors...she waves to every car that goes by and points out all of the people walking their "goggies"

I like these little moments, they're nothing much, just bits of silliness, she likes to pick on me and say "No! no keeshes mama!" but if I just pretend to cry she becomes very concerned and will always say, "Oh, awww I sowwy mama!...heeere you go" and then she administers the sloppiest, slobber kiss she's got. Love it.

Naptime...

is a sacred time not to be tampered with. Generally, in my household, between the hours of 1:00-3:00 my house phone will be off the hook, so if you get a busy signal, I'm sorry, this is my sanity we're talking about here.

Today was no exception...I sipped on an icy cream soda while I covered plastic Easter eggs in bits of vintage paper out of my Vintage Paper Bundle that hubby ordered for me from paper relics...he really is something else, my Hubby.

It has officially been one month since Hubby left...only five more to go!

ApartmentTherapy




LivingEtc


LivingEtc

I adore pink, especially in kitchens. I myself have a pink kitchen, but since I am a renter I'm limited to what all I can do, I have painted my walls that beautiful aqua color that goes so well with cotton candy pink, but my cabinets are just going to have to remain the nasty wood veneer that comes sock in every military house...I've been getting tired of my set-up recently, I've arranged and re-arranged everything, but to no avail, so I've been perusing for inspiration, these pink kitchens just taste so good to my eyeballs...I especially love that funky pink fridge in the first photo.

When Tyler is on deployment I like to set little "challenges" for myself, this week I challenged myself to go three entire days without spending any money...not even a dollar for a McDonalds cheeseburger! I'm on the third day and boy, am I ansty in my pantsies...This is harder than it sounds, three days is actually longer than you would think.

I've noticed though, that I have been getting a lot more done, I have been working on my bathroom redo, and I tried a new chocolate pound cake recipe with a vanilla glaze which turned out to be so sinfully delicious that I just accidentally left it at a friend's house, the potty training has been more on the front of things too...she still jut sits on it and sings, but at least she's sitting on it now. And thanks to my mom, I learned a new trick, I learned how to improv and make my own buttermilk...awesome!

Now...if only I could muster up the oomph to tackle those mousy brown roots peeking out on top of my head....Miss Clairole is waiting patiently for me upstairs on my bathroom sink....sigh.

today....

We're enjoying the tasks at hand...

while you were showering...

I was having a little fun. I love you mommy, I really do, but you're so naive...so elementary...do you really think you can get away with a peaceful shower that easily? Did you reallythink you would get to shave your legs today? Pssh...amateur.

Oh, mommy...you make me giggle, the way you try so hard, you do your hair, you wear your lipstick, you dress me in the shnazziest of clothes, and you yourself are usually so coordinated...but mommy, who do you really think you're fooling? It's my job to keep you grounded...which is why I ensured my best of tantrums the other day, this way you wouldn't notice your fly unzipped, and your hot-pink polka dotted underwear exposed to the world. You should know, I take my job seriously, mom. You can pretend all you want, but momma...I will personally ensure that you are never going to be one of those sauve moms who have it all together...that just isn't real.

All your friends should know by now that when they drop in on you, I'll be running around in only my diaper with my latest disaster crusted into my hair, and you will be desperately chasing me in your old lady robe with the ugly Gardenias all over it...you wont have any make-up on, and your dirty underwear will be piled up on the stairs waiting for you to put it in the washer...I'm doing this for your own good mom, I'm just testing those women for you, I want to make sure they're your true friends. You should thank me, really.

And the other day? you know, the day I got really mad in the commissary? Remember it mom? I'm sure you do...I was screaming at you and arching my back out of that horrid cart seat, I hate those cart seats mom...how many hints do I need to give you?!?!...I nearly flipped backwards out of it...but wow, mom! You were really on top of your game that day...you caught me by my feet, just like I knew you would, you ever so lovingly pulled me back into the cart by my ankles...and those women in the express line who gasped in horror and then talked about you behind their hands? Yeah, those...don't worry, I sent a subliminal toddler message to their children...their day is coming, and when it does, lets hope their toddlers are doing as good of a job training them for W.C.S. (worst case scenerio) as well as I am training you.

As for the entire bottle of shampoo with traces of Crest toothpaste that I dumped into my brand new rain boots...I know you'll figure it out, mom, that's why I love you so much.


P.S. Your plans to get rid of cable? dumbest idea ever. Sorry, just trying to look out for you, mom.

I've been a little MIA this week...I made the mistake of counting the months and days until my husband returns...bad idea, by the way. In the meantime, my recently angel-turned-exorcist toddler was slowly taking me to the brink of insanity which in turn caused me to host a big ole pity party for myself and that put me so far down in my cups that I could barely see over the tops. I'm better now though, thanks to a fresh haircut, a brand new box of Clairol's best Natural Light Auburn #110 and a killer new shade of nail polish. That right there, is a real, true-to-life mom's trip to the spa.

So, after hoisting myself out of my den of sorrows, I started a couple of projects...now, I'm still learning how to use this fancy new camera of mine, so my pictures are still not the best quality, but I wanted to take some pictures of a few corners of my home to show you



This is Isabella's Easter basket!!! I just found it at Target yesterday ...in the background you can see the goodie box I'm stuffing to send to my sailor :) See the Samoa boxes peeping out the top? It's been hard for me not to eat 'em all up!



My pink toaster! I love that thing...I also love my new, pink, Scentsy burner...it's so yummy! It makes my entire house smell cinnamony or vanilly...whichever I choose :) Find your nearest Scensty rep. and I promise you will just fall in love.



Isabella paused for a reverent moment with Blues Clues...This is the Entertainment center that I got for a steal because there was a flaw on the front (I covered it up with some brown paint)...I bet ya can't find the flaw, can ya? The front doors are glass panes but I didn't like them because you could see my electronics on the inside, so I found myself some pretty scrapbook paper...problem solved!



The window behind this love seat is actually a horrible sliding glass door...yeah, a sliding glass door randomly in the middle of my living room...sigh...military housing. Anyways...I disguised the door with a few sets of Martha Stewart window panels...I'm pretty pleased with the result.



Well, as you can see Isabella is busy piling shoes, snacks and what-not on the couch...but if you look behind the couch you can see the window mis-treatments that I made...I took advice from The Nester and made them using thumbtacks, hot glue and heat-n-bond seam tape...I was feeling lazy that day, and quite frankly, my sewing skills bite.

Well, that's all for now...the rest of my house is still too messy to photograph, and my toddler is upstairs calling my name and from the sound of things she's not happy to be left waiting...I'll see ya'll later!

lets gussy up the potty palace...sall we?

I call it the potty palace...because now that I'm sort of trying to potty train The Bella, her hot pink potty travels with me to each bathroom. She could take it or leave it, quite frankly. She tinkled in it once and I made a big ole deal over it with cheering and clapping and a few gummy fruit rewards...and now, well she's pretty nonchalant about slamming the lid closed and saying "No thank-you ma'am" Guess I need to tone it down next time.


Ok, so on with it...I'm painting my bathroom, here's the "before/midway through the job" picture...it's so white...so stark white...I'm painting it this lovely Robins Egg Blue...I only use Valspar paint on my walls... the higher the quality of your paint, the less coats you'll have to use...at least that's what My friend Martha Stewart told me. So, my point is, do ya'll have any cute bathroom ideas? any helpful linkydinks? I've been perusing the internet looking at peoples bathrooms, it's kinda fun...

Oh my goodness, where are my manners?!...thanks to ya'll for all of the calender suggestions, I finally found one I like! :)

So, is it weird to hang pictures of eggs in your bathroom? I found these vintage prints that would look so pretty with my paint color...but would that suggest....something? I really like them but I got to thinking...Hmm...that might be...you know, weird, Laying eggs in the bathroom and such.

Ok, I'm off to play some toddler gams before bedtime.

Target Opens!

The grand opening was at 8am...I was ready to leave the house at 6:30...the night before I had done a drive-by and there were thousands lined up waiting for a "special event party" so I knew the grand opening was going to be packed.

I packed a mothership bag and greased up my stroller wheels. My friend and I had plans to be in line at 7 am, we wanted to be the first in...but the trunk of my car broke and thwarted those plans. I wasn't letting anything stand in my way, we crammed into her car and went anyways. We weren't the first in line...but we were about halfway between one thousand...so maybe 500'th.

Of course, my child had rip-roaring meltdowns right in front of every local news camera crew. I'm sure that I was in the background of the evening news disciplining my bucking-bronco of a child. I was too afraid to watch it that evening.

I had to go back to Target yesterday to return a shirt I didn't mean to buy...I fell off the sidewalk on my way in...I mean I really bit the dust...I basically ignored all prospects of there being a curb and just sailed through the air. I was too focused on making sure Isabella didn't fall out of my arms so I clutched her to my chest and landed on both of my knees. I of course, had bloody knees and toes, and I'm pretty sure I sprained my ankle. Some security guards came to my rescue and a cluster of rubberneckers watched as I picked my bloody-kneed self up off the ground and hobbled my way into the store. Later when I was leaving I discovered my fly had been unzipped the entire time. What a day to wear hot pink polka-dotted underwear.

I'll never be cool.

So here's a few pics...the line in front of us, the line behind us...Isabella is wondering why she's awake at 7 am and out in the chilly rain..and I just noticed this, check out the scary monster toe behind her! EWW!!! dude needs a few pedicures. All of the employees lined up at the entrance and clapped and cheered when we walked in :) I felt like a movie star...I might have struck a pose or two...and paused for photo op. I knew I should have worn a gown. And a scary picture I took of myself being a complete dork with no eye make-up or mascara on...yikes.

playing

That's what we've been doing a lot of lately...

I'm trying to phase out the television watching in this house since I'm getting ready to nix the cable...the other day I was calling her to come eat lunch...usually she's quick to trot into the kitchen at the mere mention of "yum-yums"...but I was getting no response, I peeked into the living room and she was glued to the screen...mouth open...drool slowly dripping from her chin and puddling into her lap...yeah, that pretty much decided it for me.

It's been kinda chilly here lately...with rain and lots of wind. No good for beach bumming or pool partying...so I unplugged the ole' tube this afternoon and we sat on the couch for over half an hour...just goofing off together, singing silly songs and playing toddler games...I grabbed my camera hoping I wouldn't spoil the magic...

I have this vintage Brownie camera and she loves to play with that thing more than any toy we have ever bought for her. She carries it around the house and says "CHEESE!" except...her cheese sounds more like "sheese"

I was so naive...

"Oh please, really?...pshh...it'll be a cake walk." These were my ignorant thoughts when offered warnings from other military wives. They had many a yarn to spin about toddlers turning into sippie cup clutching monsters upon daddies leaving for deployments.
(In all fairness to myself, last deployment Isabella was still just a wee little baby...so she really didn't realize Tyler was gone. But oh, my...she knows this time. She knows.) My generally happy kid, with the pleasant disposition has turned into a ticking time-bomb.

I was one my way to the grocery store and I needed some white spray paint for one of my projects that I haven't been able to work on, I thought, coolbeans...I'll run in the Nex on my way to the commissary...kill two birds with one stone! Oh, geez...What's wrong with me?! I must have left %50 of my brain in the delivery room along with the placenta...I'm not sure what went wrong between the escalator and the paint aisle...but something went wrong...something went really wrong...She turned into what I like to call, The Bellanator. We were pleasantly going along holding hands, when suddenly something caused her to crumple into an angry red-headed heap on the floor...bad thing was, I didn't realize Hurricane Bella had rolled in and I kept on walking...causing the drag effect...oops.

Bad Mom Point #1

I stopped and bent down to pick her up causing some big Marine behind me to ram his little hand held basket into my bottom...sorry dude. Of course, being a toddler worth her salt, she rag-dolled me...big time. Nice. I'm trying to get a hold of her and it just aint workin' It's like trying to wrestle a greased pig...well, I KNEW there was a reason I dressed her in over-alls today. Desperate, I picked her by her straps.

Bad Mom Point #2

So, I'm carrying my sobbing child by her overall straps, just trying to find an empty aisle so I can talk some sense into her...you know, toddler sense. Turns out, Isabella doesn't like sense. She grabbed my hair with one hand, and began swatting my facial region with the other, she did that toddler angry jog-in-place thing and then she kicked my groin...repeatedly. This just isn't going well at all...at this point fluids are flowing everywhere...we're talking snot, tears and both of our sweat, I'm like a mad woman, clutching a can of spray paint in one hand and trying to wrangle a hot mess in the other...a head peeps around the corner...eyebrows raised, the dude disappears and I quickly determined it is the men who always look...because any smart woman wouldn't dare.

Obvious Bad Mom Point #3

Then, It started. Screaming like you've never heard...my spray paint hits the ground. Two more heads peep around the corner. I wanted to bite their snooping heads off and eat them for dinner. My Mothership bag falls to the floor. I'm trying to scoop up my charge and untwine her sticky finger from my hair, but her grip is like The Hulk and she's gone so ding-dang-dong limp!

Her armpits are like jello and her body is positively noodle-esque, I'm beginning to wonder if my child has a spine...the overall straps weren't very popular with the public so I'm searching another way to transport my disaster on Keds...Her screaming is coming straight from the throat by now...they're horror film worthy...then, my clever little minx couples them with pleas of "HELP! HELP!" Oh, very nice Bella, thanks for that.

Bad Mom Point #4

Three heads this time. "WHAT? YOU WANT HER?!" They disappear. Thought so. I hear them laughing. Good thing I don't have a license to carry. I pick up my Mothership and then I pick Isabella up and carry her under my arm...kinda like you would a bag of cat food...one toddler hand is still firmly intwined in my hair and those sturdy, little legs are pumping for all it's worth...Obviously, we left our spray paint rolling around on the floor.

Not even two minutes later, after the walk of shame through the store...she was clapping her hands, kissing my cheek and between snuffles, she was telling me we were "fwiends"

SIGH.

I know that right now, in this very moment...6 hours ahead of me in Tennessee...my mother is feeling quite vindicated...and she is laughing.