cream to gray err...black and 3 trips to Michael's in one week

After lots of "we need too's, what about if we's" I decided to take the plunge. The plunge involved a trip(s) to Michael's, hot water, salt, gloves, and an under the bed tote container oh yeah and of course some patience (anyone know where I can buy that in bulk?).

The project was turning our cream roman shades into gray roman shades, easy enough right? Only easy of you have enough of all the supplies which is where the (s) in trip comes in.  Originally the goal was to dye them gray so 1st trip to Michael's I picked up 2 packages of gray dye and headed home.  I followed all instructions very carefully and when inserting the shade into the tote I found I needed more water (problem #1) well more water would then effect the strength of the dye so I used the 2nd package of dye. When I added the second package of dye and water I was unable to mix it very well due to the shade being in the tote already (problem #2) this resulted in a shade that was gray with darker gray spots very randomly throughout it.  I rinsed shade 1 and transported it very carefully down to the basement to hang dry (I could not get the shades off the rod and they do not fit in washer to properly rinse).  Since I had the tote out and I re-stirred the dye mixture I went ahead and inserted shade 2 and let it sit for the proper time that was on the package. Once time was up I took the shade out and rinsed it and took it down to dry.  Immediately I could tell my shades didn't match (problem #3) this was due to the dye mixture being a little weak for the 2nd round.  So in my 1st attempt I learned I need 2 packages of dye per shade. I let a day go by to re-evaluate and figure out a plan to correct this problem.  The only option I came up with was that they now just need to be dyed black it was the only way to garuntee they would match. So back to Michael's (trip 2), bought 4 packages of black dye 2 of one brand and 2 of another. Oh and I bought gloves this time as learned that slightly dyed finger tips are not all that attractive.

Round 2: I mix the dye packages of brand 1 and insert shade that was the lighter of the 2 grays.  After time was up I rinsed and hung to dry in basement and without it drying I knew that it was good.  Aahhh the feeling of relief knowing that one shade is DONE!! I dumped the tote and started all over again with brand 2 and shade 2, again followed all directions and when time was I up I rinsed and took it down to dry and I immediately noticed a small problem my blacks didn't match (problem #4).   Due to the different brands of black so back to Michael's we go (trip 3).  I don't waste anytime and start the process all over again for the second shade (I bought matching brands this time) Rite was the brand I went with.  So round 4 begins and finishes successfully. So about $20 and some time and we have new roman shades, I think I still saved some dough but might have lost some sanity and of course patience along the way but also learned some good lessons.

The before:

The during (round #1):

 The After:

The before and after:

The during




The after, after:

dresser project

Our bedroom is lacking storage we know what we want/need but we also know what our budget is small. We have a furniture piece in our garage from our bedroom at our old house but we painted it to fit the decor of that bedroom and it doesn't work with the decor in our forever bedroom. Now, yes we can sand it down and repaint it but finding the time and motivation at the same time is hard to come by and it's a little wider than we would like for the space we have. I've been stalking the Goodwills and St Vincent de Paul's this past winter and it's all about timing and my timing has been off.

Now, that the weather is improving garage sales are happening again those too are all about timing.  Well a couple weeks ago my timing was ON! There was one in our neighborhood so Ian and I stopped by and what do you know I found this guy:

Please disregard Ian's pose, he was apparently practicing his downward facing dog yoga pose.  Anyways back to the find, I picked this guy up for $20 talked them down due to the missing hardware.

After $57 and some circular elbow action we now have this:

The previous owner was a smoker and if you have never had to deal with furniture smelling of smoke I don't suggest you go out looking for a piece. We picked up a stripper product made by Zinsser to assist in not only removing the previous finish but also in hopes of removing the scent that came with it. It took approximately 4wks from its arrival to our house to finished product, the airing out time and the stripping product both assisted in removing the smell.  I wanted a dark finish so I went with Ebony and after what seems like 20 coats it was time for some polyurethane which would seal the stain.

Price breakdown:

Dresser: 20.00

Stripper: 14.00

Stain: 15.00

Hardware: 22.00

Polyurethane: 6.00

So here again is before and after:



who wears short shorts?

The answer to that question is ME!!  And thanks to  crowdtap and Old Navy  I was lucky to got to get a new pair for FREE.  Seriously if you want free and haven't tapped in you are missing out so click on the link above for Crowdtap and start!

I knew for one I needed new classic khaki/neutral shorts as mine were non-existent in a size that was flattering (they were too big). I first tried on these but they were a little too long for my liking the title of this post does contain the words short shorts:

5in inseam khaki shorts

So I knew the next pair would be these, classic but shorter.

Women's Perfect Khaki Shorts (3-1/2")



I went with the above but in the color of rifle gray (I must admit I'm slightly addicted to the color gray and not just in clothing but in wall colors and home decor. Problem? I say not), you can picture that color right? If you can't here's what it looks like:

Not only did I get my choice of a pair of Old Navy shorts but I also got to give a coupon to a friend of my choosing and I choose Lauren (fellow co-worker), just like me her shorts from last summer are a couple sizes too BIG!!  She ventured into our Old Navy and picked up these cute shorts (only in white):



women's cuffed tie-wasit twill shorts

We're both pretty excited to wear our shorts this summer, the temps are warming up!!



independence and nudity

This is my attempt to redeem myself from a)my lack of posts and b)my last post being completely lame. I'm thinking my title alone makes this posts much more interesting than bullets.  Ian is growing, changing, learning on daily basis. He is also growing independent and wanting to attempt things/activities on his own.  While I embrace this time and learn to let go and get over the fact that it may take him 20min to put on his undies that the truth is he is in fact becoming a self functioning human in which the world will thank me for later in allowing him to learn to put his undies on by himself.  This new independence comes with several warnings.

Warning #1: when child has a "I do it myself" moment be prepared for your laundry pile to grow by at least 3 clothing items. Ian needed to go potty so he heads to the potty and insists on doing his business solo, so as a good parent I obliged and sit on the edge of my seat and peek into the bathroom patiently wait until I hear "all done".  Ian proudly walks out of bathroom and his shirt has a small wet spot and he is carrying his undies and jeans.  Since I wasn't present to witness how this all occurred of what I did witness he decided to go stand up on his stool to potty.  So my guess as to how his shirt, undies and jeans all got some wetness is that upon pushing down undies and jeans he started to go, it's the only logically thing I can figure out as his shirt wasn't long enough to be in the way of his aim. You've been warned, when child has a full bladder and upon pushing undies pants down solo you're laundry will grow.

Warning #2: when child has accomplished the unzipping of footed PJ's he/she will blame it falling out of bed.  Ian was fighting bedtime one night, so I did what any good parent would do and let him cry it out for 10-20min (**can be risky when child is no longer in a toddler bed and therefore can get up and open door and abandon bedtime altogether).  After the approx 20min mark, I went and checked on him and there I found him sprawled out on his floor completely naked his footed PJ's on one side of him and his pull up on the other side.  When I asked what happened he said "I fell out of bed" (*note to prevent him falling out of bed when sleeping we inserted a pool noodle under his sheet to create a barrier between him and the floor).  When asked what happened to his PJ's he repeated "I fell out of bed".  So I said you fell out of bed and your jammies and pull up fell off too and he said YAY!! (In his excited "you finally figured out what I was telling you dummy" voice). You've been warned footed full zip jammies can be unzipped by a willed child fighting bedtime.

Warning #3: random nudity.  One evening while Marcus was at the fire station I decided to start working on the pool.  Ian was happily playing in his sandbox, digging, dumping, piling, etc.  I'm working away looking over to him every couple of min and saying a random "Hi" and "don't throw the sand out of box, play with the sand in the box". Well, apparently he is fast as I look up to do a check in his naked from the waist down about to step into his sandbox and sit down to play.  Needless to say playtime and pool work ended immediately. You've been warned toddlers can strip at an insane speed.

Warning #4: you will develop the ability to put a pull up on and PJ pants in the middle of the night without a light.  One night Ian woke up crying (I think if memory serves me correctly it was Thursday night), but it doesn't really matter. Anyways I think it was around 2:15a and his crying so I go to see what the issue is and as I go to pick him up I realize he is naked from yet again the waist down.  In a half asleep attempt I get his pull up back on him and turn his pants outside in and redress the lovely little boy who then takes up half my sleeping area in the big bed. You've been warned, now go train to put a pull up on the correct direction and turn jammies in the right direction in the middle of the night without a light.

There you have it 4 warnings when it comes to a little person learning their independence and the reaction that nudity will get them. Ooo...and I'll leave ya with one warning for public restroom usage.

My little family went out to dinner one night which it is completely pointless to take Picky Pete out to dinner unless it's for pizza or breakfast for dinner but that is a post for an entirely different day.  In usual toddler form just as your meal is served they annouce "POTTY" and of course follow that up with "MOMMY".  Meaning no matter how convincing daddy (or any willing helpful adult) can be in his/their attempt to take toddler potty it's not going to work, mommy only.  I apparently somehow made going potty way to much fun the 1st time as we had to go another 4 times with the last time as I'm ready-ing him to do his business he starts laughing and says no. You've been warned, make going potty the least exciting activity ever when out in public.

bullets

• Today wrapped up week #8 of the 12 week 1/2 marathon training and it was both physically and eye poking mentally draining. Today was an 8 mile run but due to the wind breeze I decided to run it on the treadmill and yeah that's where it became mentally draining.  I literally had to talk myself into each and every mile, every mile felt like it would never end.  Nonetheless I finished it and can cross the week off.  There are some weeks that I think I'll just go out and run the 13.1 (since I'm not running an official 13.1 but just my own) and then talk myself out of that idea.
• summer is around the corner which means we will start to tackle the task of opening the pool.  I have a feeling our leaf sweeper upper thingy is going to get quite the workout. 
• this list is lame...sorry I'm tried the 1st bullet has me wanting to take a nap but the book sitting next to me  The Fault In Our Stars (this month's book club read) also wants my attention and nap time will soon be over for lil man.  So after all that I'm leaving you with this lame very lame list.

March review

I was a little lazy and never wrote a to-do list for March.  We did do stuff I promise it's just a matter of remembering what all was done.

-Potty trained Ian well at least 98% trained when home and out in public with us (zero accidents while out in public) and about 95% trained at the sitters.  Some nights he's completely dry while others not so much.

- Thanks to my dad going to pick up and deliver a load of mulch to our house, we gave our landscaping a little face lift.  We also rearranged plants now that spring has sprung we were able to take full inventory of what all was in the ground. 

-guest bedroom got painted, trim is still needing to be finished.

-Marcus' Christmas present from my parents got installed.  He got a flag and flag pole and I'm here to tell you that a 4ft hole is very deep.

-we colored eggs for Easter, Ian enjoyed bossing us around and telling us which colors to color them after he colored on them with the magic crayon.

Well now that we are over halfway through the month of April I better get a jump on what happened in April around the Z house.

Z House Funnies Edition #4

*Nothing like having to give your child a bath and change bed linens at 10p. Because he decided to unzip his pj's, remove his diaper, zip his pj's up and then pee on himself and the bed.

*I told Ian that I loved him and he said hair pointing to my hair so I said you love my hair and he said "yeah mommy!!!"

*Walking out of Home Depot one of the employee's says bye to Ian and he responds with "poopy"!

*this is more of a sweet one than a funny one.
   I had a booboo on my forehead and Ian asked if I needed ice and I said no thanks.  So he leaned in and kissed my booboo all better.

*Often times when Ian gets in his cozy coupe he says he's going to Target, blows me a kiss and says bye. (I'm so glad he sees the same amazing-ness that I see in Target)