Housey house posty post

Guess what I did?

Of course since I was not blogging I must have been doing something amazing.... Like backpacking through Asia and living in a yurt up in Canada while studying caribou. But truth is I have been living my life. Trying to get my crazy outta whack hormones back in check and trying to be a better mom and wifey. But here are some things I have been doing as far as my "new" house is concerned:

I went crazy and got an orange 1970's couch and love seat. FOR FREE!!! Can you believe someone would just give those away? Yeah, me neither, ha ha. And I am in love. Yes, I said love. Don’t look at me like I’m crazy. It's true. I called around to see how much they would cost to get reupholstered but apparently you have to donate some of your organs and I am feeling pretty attached to mine lately. Maybe one day. But I’ve decided to make them work. Right now my basement sectional is getting pretty gross looking and more and more broken. Since I am on a budget of cheapo burrito then my choices were dumpster diving or free awesome couches. 

They are the same color... crazy how lighting changes things

I’ve even found a color scheme that I think will work great with them. Though orange is not my thang, I think I can make a vibrant and cozy room with them.

I really like the deep rich jewel-toned blues with the charcoal greys.

I am currently tackling my first house project on my own. (By “on my own” I mean Brandon is helping- but it was my idea). I really wanted to update the railings in my house. That honey oak is so dated and I am not a fan. I found this tutorial and followed it pretty much to the T. So far its looking good and I cannot wait to get it finished. Once my walls are painted those railings will be quite a sweet little focal point. If you have questions about how I did it just let me know.

 in progress shot

one side finished

I have also been working on my garage sale skills. I have become a haggling master and have acquired quite the hoard of free crap. Hopefully I make them into something nice or I will truly be a junk hoarder. Gosh this beast is strong. Here are some of my finds:

I might be going through a "mirror phase"

 What do you think? Is orange too hard to decorate with? Is this color scheme too much, or totally awesome? Don’t my stair railings look great? What projects have you tackled recently? Found any hidden yard sale gems lately?

Moody Blues and Kitchen Mood Board

Guess what? 

I moved. 

Yep, I am living in a new house. We didn't move far, maybe a mile from our other place. We are renting that one out while we stay in this much larger and luxurious house. HAHA. I can hardly say much else about this house other than that it’s larger. It is not luxurious by any means. Our other house had much nicer finishes than this one (which we did ourselves). This house is very basic and builder grade. There is nothing wrong with that but it is boring. 

One things though- whoever lived in this house before us must not have ever cleaned. My Vinyl floors are so dirty. They have a slight texture and every inch of the grooves was filled with black gunk and all the toilets had black gunk and strong hard water rings. Needless to say (but I will anyway), I have spent a LOT of time cleaning this house and its still not quite where I want it.

Brandon and I have decided that we want to update the bathrooms and the kitchen. Doing these smaller scale "renovations" are really fun for me. I love all the planning and designing that goes into it. I also like the budgeting aspect. I actually enjoy that we have a realistic budget for these sorts of projects. Unlike so many bloggers you see visit, I do not have sponsors and a seemingly high or non-existent budget. It's fun to make the most out of the money you have.

So I decided to come up with a mood board for my kitchen. My kitchen is a layout that does not make the best use of the space. Buying new cabinetry is out of the budget so I had the thought that we could paint and prettify the existing cabinets and then adding nicer counters, flooring, and backsplash. 

If the bank (our house was bank-owned when we bought it) hadn't put new appliances in the house (which are the lowest end that you could absolutely buy), there is a chance that we would have bought new nicer ones for the kitchen. It does seem like a waste though to buy new when what we've got is new.

So here is what I came up with:

I was thinking of painting the lower cabinetry this sort of deep neutral gray and the upper cabinetry and walls that white paint (seen in the upper left of the mood board). I really like glass tile and found a website that sells handmade glass tile at a pretty decent price. The tiles they have come in many sizes, shapes, finishes, and colors. I really like this slight olive/aqua tile. My favorite part is that this tile is not too opaque. For counters I really hope to do quartz. This quartz is white but does have a very slight blue/green hue. Lets talk about the floors. I am obsessed with rustic wood printed tile. It's just so beautiful and functional. Wood flooring is nice but it just isn't as durable as tile. When you have kids and they are constantly spilling things or dragging things across the floor tile, is just a little better and more durable.

Let me know what you think of this. Does is go together ok? Is it too crazy for a small kitchen? What’s missing? What should I change? Leave me a comment below. I would love to hear any opinions. 

2015. goals and stuff.

I figured that this month I could take some time to make my goals. December is just way too crazy for me to sort out my plans for the next year. I usually am just so disgusted in my ability to eat such giant quantities of sugar and butter that I just vow that I am going to lose about 50 lbs and never touch the stuff again. HA! Thats a pretty unrealistic goal in my book. Not that I am completely lacking in self control but that I think I need to dig a little deeper. That is why I have taken the ENTIRE month of January to figure out what I want to accomplish/work on this year.

If my only goals in life were to lose some weight and eat healthier then either one of two things has happened.
                 1- I am just so vain about my looks that the only thing I find important is how one appears                      to other people.

or 

                 2- I have just accomplished so much in my life that the only aspect left for me to work on                        is my physical appearance. Wouldn't that be pretty awesome to be so well rounded and                        accomplished that the only thing holding me back from perfection was a few lbs and a                          sugar addiction?

Sadly, and fortunately, this is not the case. Hooray for not being completely vain and consumed by my looks, and hooray for lacking in accomplishment in most aspects of my life. Hooray- or something-ugh.... Weird, weird, weird.

So, after being inspired by my friend Malyn's (MUH Lyn :D ) blog post- here are my GOALS OF 2015:

(in no particular order, except for how they popped into my head)

PHYSICAL GOALS

1. Eat Paleo 90% of the time. This is really popular right now but I have done it often enough to know its the best way for me to eat. I feel so much better when I eat this way and my body is so much happier. Why 90% of the time you might ask? Well, 100% of the time is just plain ridiculous. A momma's gotta have her specialty cupcakes and Papa John's Pizza's from time to time.

2. Run a 10K this summer. I already have one picked out and started training this week. Hopefully I can get my endurance back up. My goal is to be able to keep a pace of about a 9 1/2 to 10 minute mile. This might seem really slow to most of you, but to me this is a more doable goal.

3. Get back into my "skinny jeans". I have already lost 11 lbs this year so I am sure I will reach this goal before June.

4. Get stronger. I want to be able to help my husband around the house better. He is always needing help lifting things and I am the worst sort of helper. I tell him I can help, and then about 30 seconds later I am dying to stop holding whatever he is drilling into the wall.

MENTAL GOALS

1. Use my academic/creative brain more. I have noticed since graduating from college that I have basically become a mush brain. It's only been 6 years people. 6 YEARS!!! How can your brain turn to mush so quickly. Probably has more to do with having 3 kids.... Kids. They turn your brain into oatmeal. I think maybe I will try to take some classes at the University in my town or do some online classes offered by various companies. I am really interested in learning some basic photoshop skills. Maybe I will learn how to do some water color painting. I always loved working with it- ya know, from that one painting I did, in that ONE art class I took and got a B in. Yeah, I am no Thomas Eakins (honestly, had to look up "famous water color artists").

2. Work on dealing with my anxiety in a more productive way. I suffer from anxiety. I am pretty sure that almost my whole immediate family does in form or another. A lot of it has to do with how I grew up. Depending on the thing making me anxious I usually turn to binge eating, or complete avoidance of any and all things. Like sitting in bed watching mindless TV pretending that the "thing" doesn't exist. Maybe this year whenever I start to feel anxious I will binge eat celery or start latin dancing all over the house?! Okay- not realistic. But I will figure something out. One good thing though, is that I have been working on this a lot over the last 10 years and have gotten to the point where very few things cause me anxiety.

SPIRITUAL/RELIGIOUS GOALS

1. Use the scriptures in conjunction with prayer to find answers or comfort.

2. Increase my scripture reading.

3. Increase my temple attendance from the previous year. I can always do better and this shouldn't really take all that much effort.

HOME GOALS

1. Be a better companion to my husband. Help him and serve him. Show my love more often.

2. Be a friend to my children. Learn about them and their interests and show genuine support and enthusiasm in them.

3. Be more patient.

4. Don't sweat the small things. Dirty dishes in a sink all day long or for even two days is not as big of a deal as playing with my kids and talking to them.

5. Share my wisdom (though it be small) with my children.

6. Somehow stay on top of my laundry duties. Its a totally annoying chore IMO.


I hope I remember to reference this list. That is one nice thing about having a place online to keep these sort of things. Usually I write them down in a journal or on a piece of paper that I usually lose. This should be a lot easier for me to find.

So, now that you have experienced a whole month of 2015, what sort of goals have you made? Have you changed any yet (if you made your goals on the 1st)? What sort of things do you need to do to be a better, happier, you? Let me know if you'd like. I love hearing that other people have things to work on- just like me!

Things that make me a little sad

I know that this is a stupid topic to post about but hey I am silly sometimes.

This list is only for those things that make me a little sad. As in- I get over it as soon as its out of sight. I could make a list of things that make me really sad but then who wants to be depressed, sobbing, sitting at a computer writing a blog post? Definitely not me. My tears would probably bust up my key board and then my husband would be the one who is sad.

What makes me a little sad?

Rain. Only when it drizzles lightly. Maybe it's because it gets a little dark and so my mood changes or maybe I am a little sad because its not raining more. Because I actually really love rain.

The last episode of a favorite TV show. This one should probably be embarrassing but its true. After spending years watching a show and then its done.... Makes me a little sad. It even happens when I rewatch the show and get to the end. I still feel a little sad. Maybe I need to stop watching shows that end. I guess I will have to start getting on board the Big Brother, Biggest Loser, Bachelor train. Those shows never seem to end.

When you realize you have officially ran out of holiday candy. This one is a universal sadness amongst all 4 year olds. I am among that group. I hate when you wake up one day and realize that you'd love to have.

Certain songs. I have a list of these but sharing them all and saying why would be a little too personal for me. So I'll just name two- With or Without You (U2), Hear You Me (Jimmy Eat World).

When I lose a button off my clothes. When a button falls off a clothing item you'd think "no big deal- just sew it back on". Let me be honest with you- it ain't going to happen. I never remember to sew it back on. I keep the button hoping one night a fairy will come to my house and sew them back to their rightful place. But it hasn't happened yet and my button collection is growing.

Oh, here's a more specific one: When the blog Young House Love stopped blogging. Seriously, it sucked. Probably my #1 little sad thing that happened this year. It was a bummer for sure.

Now that I am reading back this blog post I am realizing how strange I must seem. But Maybe one of these things make you a little sad too. What sort of things make you a little down?

crunch crunch crunch...

When you read this title I know you were totally thinking potato chips. Or I guess if you are more like me you were thinking Cheetos. Either way both are equally delicious. JK Cheetos rock the pants off potato chips any day and every day! Anywho….

I was just thinking about writing this post about my love of cloth diapering. Cloth diapering- Love? What? Is Danielle crazy? Well, sort of. There are many reasons I am crazy but cloth diapering is not one of them. I am dead serious. LOL

My interest in cloth diapering began sometime in the summer of 2011 a few months before I gave birth to my 2^nd child. I was trying to find ways to save money. I always feel a bit guilty being a stay at home mom rather than being out in the world working and reeling in the big bucks.  So I figure I can always contribute through saving money.

I Pinterested and Googled the crap out of the topic. There is just so much information out there. It’s totally over whelming. I ended up buying a few prefolds and three covers just to start and see how I liked it. Long story short- I had like 0 support in doing this and so gave up quickly. It wasn’t that it was hard- I was just worried that it wouldn’t work out.

So there- I just gave you some personal insight into the real me- I am so afraid of failing that I often give up right away.

Then when I was pregnant with my third baby I decided I was definitely going to do this. (I have become much more confident in the last few years. GO ME!). I think the biggest motivation I got was this website. It’s a site full of cheap cloth diapers. They are used so if that freaks you out I suggest looking elsewhere. But I feel like I can get stuff pretty clean so I wasn’t grossed out in the slightest.

There are only 2 really challenging parts to cloth diapering.

1. Picking the kind of cloth diaper that works best for you.

2. Having an effective wash routine.

The first one I found easier to solve by buying used diapers. They were cheap enough for me to buy a few different kinds to see what sort of system I enjoyed. Before ever clothing diapering I figured I would like AIO’s the best. But after trying a few, I found that I really like covers and prefolds/inserts. I use Best Bottoms diapers (just FYI). Diapers also have a great resale value so after all is said and done you aren’t really out that much money at all.

Having an effective wash routine- please listen to me now- DON’T believe like anything you have read on Pinterest/Google. The best way to get your diapers clean is much like that same way in getting clothing clean. Use a good quality laundry detergent- Tide, Gain, etc. I have joined the best Facebook group (Fluff Love and CD Science) ever and they are serious laundry scientists. They can and will get your diapers clean. It might be hard for you to believe- but you don’t need to buy special detergent and you don’t have to do a million rinse cycles. It’s actually really easy to wash diapers. Join that Facebook group and I promise your experience with cloth diapering will become the easiest thing ever.

So now back to the crunchiness of this post. I am sure after reading this and my last few posts you probably think I have turned into a total granola mom. I promise that that is not that case. I still vaccinate my children, bribe them with candy to get them to do things, and make my children share. See- I am fairly normal. Right? I guess not totally normal but I don’t think I am too nuts.

So why again do I love cloth diapering? It’s cute and cheap. If any of you have any comments or questions feel free to add it below.