O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

I love decorating for Christmas.  Especially with how much work we have put into our house.  I really wanted to go out and buy new decorations, but I decided to just use what I already have.  

Here is how it turned out.

Payton LOVES the snow.  She begs me almost everyday to go out and play in the snow.  She always brings me her gloves and makes me put them on her inside, even if we don't go outside.

Tyler's Search for Payton

Poor Tyler.  He is probably so sick of hearing his sleep talking stories from me, but I am not sick of them.  A few nights ago I woke up and Tyler was over in the corner of the room looking behind the dresser.  Instead of saying something I decided to just watch him.  It was hard to see exactly what he was doing in the dark but I didn't want to wake him.  He kept walking around the room looking behind the curtain and then under the bed.  Eventually he went into the bathroom and turned the light on.  I thought maybe he had woken himself up, but he came back into the room and looked under the bed again.  

I finally decided to ask him what he was doing.  He told me he was looking for Payton and then got really quiet and was apparently thinking.  Then he looked at me and said "But now that I think about it, she is probably in her bed sleeping!"  Then he got back into bed and went to sleep.  I thought maybe he had woken up because of the light and realized he was just imagining things, but in the morning when I told him about it he had no recollection of it.  

Poor Tyler.

A few nights later I slept right through what I'm assuming was one of his best sleepwalking stories.  Fortunately I know that because Tyler woke himself up doing it.  So even though I don't have the funny details it still is HILARIOUS.

So apparently Tyler told me he was dreaming that he was underground hiding from someone or something.  He wanted to know what was going on outside so he stood up on our bed pulled back our curtains, pulled up the blinds, opened the window and then stuck his head out our window (our windows don't have screens).  That is what apparently woke him up.  How did I sleep through this?  I must have been really tired.

Sure enough we checked in the morning behind the curtain and the blinds were up and the window wasn't locked.  WEIRD!

Just so you know, this is what he had to get through in order to get to the window.

Thanksgiving!

This year I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time in my adult life.  I finally feel like a grown up now. I love to cook, but I was very very nervous to cook a turkey on my own for the first time.  I spent lots of time on Pinterest.  People were probably so sick of me pining turkey and gravy recipes.  With my mom's advice and Pinterest I decided to try out doing a brined turkey.  It turned out AMAZING.  It was a lot of work the night before, but Thanksgiving day it was cake.  It was so moist and delicious.  I used Martha Stewart's brining recipe.

We had Tyler's family come up and it was such a good weekend.

Hallway Painting...2 down 2 to go

The very first week of living in our home we stayed up night after night painting the living room and kitchen.  Then over the next few months we painted the 3 bedrooms upstairs so that we could start living upstairs.  The hallways got the shaft.  No matter how ugly they looked, we couldn't muster up the energy to paint them.  Until about a month ago.  I was hosting Thanksgiving this year for my in-laws so it gave us a little motivation to get the main hallways painted.

The Front Entrance Hallway

This was an easy 2 afternoon nap paint job.  I painted all the white (baseboards, trim, ceiling and the trim on the door) during one of Payton's naps and the walls another day.  

 Last little bit of yellow in this hallway.  It felt good.

The after picture is definitely not my end goal.  Especially because the lighting is horrible. But it will do for now.

Still on the list to do in this entrance hallway: 

hang some art or pictures on the right wall

spray paint the light fixtures black until later upgrade

paint door a fun color like this blue

get an entrance rug like this or this

cover the tan bench seat in a cute fabric like this

The Basement Stairway

This paint project was a lot harder.  I painted the trim and baseboards and covered all the holes with wall putty one afternoon. That was the easy part.  

Then Ty and I tackled the wall one evening.  It wasn't so much time consuming as it was dangerous.  That banister may look sturdy, but just like everything else in the house it needs some work.  That banister was the only way we could paint up into the high corners of the wall.  I had to stand on it while Tyler held my legs to make it sure I didn't break it.  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of that. 

 To the left you can see part of the remaining hallways not painted yet.

Here is the finished product with some IKEA shelves and pictures to decorate the fresh coats of paint.

We managed to get the new light switches and covers on before Thanksgiving.  Barely.

We will see how long it takes us to finish painting the other 2 hallways.

Trip to Vegas & The Throwing Merit Badge

Last weekend we took a quick weekend trip down to Vegas to visit Tyler's family and go to my friend's baby shower.  It was perfect timing because we got out of Utah just in time to miss the first big snow storm and instead enjoyed 60 degree weather.

The highlight of the trip was going to the Bellagio Gardens and Watershow.  Payton LOVED it.

We had a great time!

I came in late to bed one night and Tyler had been asleep for a few hours.  He immediately sat up and asked me what I was doing out there.  I told him that I was just watching TV and getting a drink and he was not happy with that answer.  He started yelling things that I could not understand at all.  Then he went back to sleep...or at least I thought he did.  After brushing my teeth he sat up again and asked me why I didn't get my "throwing merit badge" and told me I was stupid for not getting it.

He just got called a few months ago as the ward's 11 year old boy scout leader.  He works with them every week on different merit badges.  Apparently he created a new merit badge because I'm pretty sure there is no such thing as the throwing merit badge.  He loves his calling and apparently puts a lot of effort and thought into it if he is sleep talking about it.  I love my husband!

Brightening Up the Kitchen

I LOVE the colorful view looking into the living room from the entry hallway.

  

The view into the kitchen from the living room has definitely improved since we painted the kitchen cabinets and installed the hardware, but it lacks....color.

The only color in the kitchen is the faint blue in the stained glass cabinet doors and the ABC magnets that Payton plays with on our fridge.  So for my next few projects I wanted to focus on brightening up the kitchen with some color. 

First project: curtains for the kitchen window

I wanted to keep with generally the same colors of the living room because the kitchen opens up to it.  But I also thought it might be fun to throw in some new colors.  So I went to the fabric store and brought home 4 different samples and Ty and I decided on this one.

I do NOT sew, plus I don't even own a sewing machine.  So I bought some of this Heat and Bond iron-on hem and it is SO easy.  I'm not ever buying curtains anymore.  They are a rip-off.  I bought all these materials for less then 2 84" curtain panels at target.

Curtain Rod: Walmart for $4

Heat & Bond: Walmart for $2

Curtain Clips: Walmart for $12 for two packs

Fabric: $20

Total: $38

Step 1: Measure the window & cut the fabric 2" longer in width and height to allow for 1" hems all the way around.

Step 2:  Place the Heat & Bond strip 1" underneath the top of the fabric panel.  

Step 3: Iron slowly to allow application

Luckily I had nice straight lines on my fabric to make it really easy to get the hem straight.

Step 4: Repeat on all edges of both panels

Here is the finished product.  It brightens up the kitchen perfectly.

Second Project: plate wall above dining table

I found these beauties at DI for $1 each and thought this little wall strip was a perfect place for them.

I am on a tight budget and to be honest rather cheap.  So I had a lapse of judgment and thought that hot glueing large safety pins on the back of the plates would work to hang the plates instead of having to buy plate hangers.  To help my case I did read several blogs that said this worked for them.  Well it definitely didn't work for me.

Disclaimer: It only holds the plates for 10 minutes.  I lost a plate in the process.

So I bought these on Amazon and now I never have to worry about a plate falling on my head while I'm eating.

Third Project: clothespin frame with extra curtain fabric

I got this idea from pinterest, but decided to back it with my extra curtain fabric instead of having an empty frame.

I bought this frame (already white) from DI for $4

and bought both the twine and the miniature clothespins for about $7 

(the twine was $5)

So this project was a grand total of $11.

I first removed the old burlap fabric

Then I hot glued the twine near the top of the frame on both sides

In order to measure without using a tape measure (aka - the lazy way) I used pictures to hang to somewhat evenly space the three layers of strings.

Then I placed the new fabric on the thick piece of cardboard and tightly secured it in place from the back.

Because of the bright colors in the fabric I wanted to order a bunch of black and white photos.  

Fourth Project: DIY art

I found these 3 blank canvases at DI (of course) a few months ago and have been wanted to do something with them ever since.  Of course I looked at pinterest for ideas and really liked this and this.

There are so many bright colors in the room so I really wanted to use some darker colors.  I printed off a silhouette of a bird and a feather and spray painted them gold.

Then I spray painted the canvases navy blue

Then I sprayed one last coat of blue paint and placed the feather and bird on before the paint dried so it worked like glue.  

I also spray painted a leaf that I got from my tree a few weeks ago, but I haven't found a place in my house yet for this one.

So here is our new and colorfully updated view into our kitchen from the living room.

That brown table is such an eye sore for me with the colors we chose.  It is a beautiful table but the color just doesn't go.  We are still trying to sell it so we can buy a smaller black table.