Bird Nest in a Shoe
Last weekend my husband hopped on the riding lawn mower and set out to tackle the beast of a lawn we are now tasked with maintaining. Fast forward to the next day and I was using the shop vac to tackle the beast of a mess that had become my car after all of our moving. From there, I moved on to vacuuming the rug outside our back door and then I realized that the shoes my husband was wearing while mowing the day before were FILLED with yard debris. Leaves, moss, twigs, grass. I had no idea how he had even worn those shoes with so much crud in them.…
Clean Out the Fridge Pasta Salad
My son plays t-ball on Monday evenings from 5:30 – 6:30, which is smack-dab in the middle of all things dinner-related for that evening. It really throws a wrench in the evening routine, but it’s only for 8 weeks. Plus, there are enormous amounts of cuteness and hilarity when you try to teach 4 and 5-year-olds how to play baseball. So we will deal because it is totally worth a belly laugh or two every Monday…and the boy enjoys it! To work around this scheduling hiccup, I’ve been feeding the kids a very early dinner, at 4:30 or 4:45 p.m. Last week I was trying to figure out what I could bring…
Turning a Tub/Shower into a Closet Without Damage
Yes, you read that right. We turned a tub/shower combo into a closet of sorts without damaging the shower surround. Why, why, why? Don’t you people like to take showers? That might be what you are wondering. Fair question. For the record, 50% of us like to take showers. The other 50% of us seem to be content having dirty feet and faces, but their parents make them take daily showers/baths anyway. Here’s the real reason we’ve made this journey down the creative, DIY rabbit hole. Our new house is an older home with terrible storage, as is normal for older homes. We don’t have a coat closet. What we…
Removing Grease from Carpet
Once upon a time, a husband and wife decided to haul a washer and dryer up a flight of carpeted stairs. If this was a “choose your own adventure” story, I would throw the book away. Did you know washing machines are heavy? They are even heavier when you carry them UP the stairs. I’m a master of the obvious. In comparison, a dryer feels as light as a cloud on a summer day. I digress. Image Source: http://imgarcade.com If you want to test the trust factor in your relationship, just be the person at the bottom of the stairs holding the washer. In case you are wondering, I was the…
Fairy Houses – Gift and Craft Idea
One of my dearest friends, who is like a sister to me, was headed to a birthday party this past weekend in Oregon for a mutual friend of my daughter’s. We exchanging our 1000th text of the day, more or less, when she sent me a picture of what she and her daughter had created for the birthday girl, who loves fairies. A fairy house! Isn’t it magical? Such a clever gift idea. I can’t take credit for the idea, the creation or even the pictures! It was all my friend’s doing, but I had to share. I wish we could have done a real photoshoot on these, but the West Coast…
Lake House – First Glimpse
Well, we have been sleeping at the new house, sometimes referred to as the Lake House, for a week now. When we got the go-ahead to start moving in, we started bringing over stuff right away. Along with a rug, some side tables – you know, the important stuff – I also remembered the camera. Oh, and you know the other day when I couldn’t find the camera cord? Well, about that. Turns out I forgot that I don’t need a camera cord anymore. I can plug my memory card directly into my laptop. DOH! Clearly, my brain is juggling more than usual right now. This is the wall of windows in the…
Pottery Barn Inspired Farmhouse Bed – Update One Year Later
Last year we made a Pottery Barn Knock-Off Farmhouse Bed. It still makes my heart go pitter-patter. Now that we’ve moved (more on that when I can find my camera cord), I thought it would be a good time to update you on the “state of the bed” and what we’ve learned. It’s actually a couple of months shy of being a full year since we made this bed. I mentioned at the time of my original post that this bed is made of all wood and is heavy. I cannot emphasize the word HEAVY enough here. If you EVER plan on moving again, please take this into account before…
Moving! Again.
Oops, we did it again… That’s right! We are currently knee deep in moving. A couple of weeks ago I was feeling a little bored. Yeah, well. Not so much now. The “pretty” part of A Pretty Happy Home? Well, it’s not so pretty right now. The “pretty happy” part of A Pretty Happy Home? It’s jumping off the charts ecstatic! While I could do without the physical exertion part of moving, I actually do enjoy the process, the possibility, the adventure. It’s fantastic! We aren’t moving far, just about a mile down the road. This happens to be a really good thing since we realized at 8 p.m. on…
State Appliquéd Dish Towels
My mother-in-law’s birthday is coming up and I wanted to get her something special. I started brainstorming and came up with…nothing. Oh boy. After that bit of anticlimactic brainstorming, I knew it was time to call in reinforcements! My friend, Laura, has an Etsy shop, One Blue Eye Birdie. I love what she creates, especially the state appliquéd pillows. I just couldn’t figure out how to work one into my current decor. Clearly, my life has huge problems. (sarcasm alert) If you are my mother-in-law, you should probably stop reading now. Birthday spoilers ahead! That’s when inspiration hit me over the head. What if I begged and pleaded asked her to make state appliquéd…
Free Lego Magazine
2018 Update: The Lego Magazine is now called Lego Life. It is still free and you can subscribe to it here. A few months ago I was at a friend’s house and saw a Lego Club Magazine on their coffee table. I leafed through it thinking my kids would love to receive something like this. Then she told me it was free. Shut the front door! Free is a magic word around here, folks! I jumped on that deal faster than my kids will pick up a piece of candy off the ground. My 4-year-old now receives Lego Club Junior and my 7-year-old receives the Lego Club version, which is geared for older kids.…
