Curtains: The Only Thing a Newborn Really Needs (Obviously)

We are rocking this nursery progress thing. How do I know? Because in the two months since the room was painted, we’ve made and hung curtains.

Fabric from here

I know you are amazed at our speed and efficiency.

Really, though. A crib? Optional. Storage? Unnecessary. Diapers? Overrated.

But curtains? A must-have.

We are clearly 100% ready for the arrival of our baby girl. Soon-to-be parents of the year, right here.

In our defense, this summer has been a bit busier than usual…and we are waiting to set up the nursery furniture until the upstairs is carpeted so that we don’t have to move it all in and then back out again. And we have a list of exactly 46 things that need to be done before carpet can be installed. And by 46 things, I don’t mean 46 things things like “sweep the floor.” I mean things like “skimcoat the bedroom walls” and “install new trim.” You know, things that require a few more than 8 seconds of time on task and people who don’t take accidental 2.5 hour naps instead of cleaning the house.

I’m happy to report, though, that despite *someone’s* snoozing, 28 of the 46 things are DONE. The other 18 will be done in time to have carpet installed before school starts again in September. If I type it, it will come true, right? Here are the answers you may choose from:

A. “RIGHT Erin; you’re not delusional at all. But even if you are delusional, and the upstairs will never be done in that time frame, you can always have your baby sleep in a hammock hanging from that ladder.”

B. “RIGHT Erin; you’re not delusional at all. Let me come over with a fresh batch of brownies and finish everything for you.”

C. “RIGHT Erin; you’re not delusional at all. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.” (I will kindly excuse the poor comparison and largely misguided use of a cliché.)

Do let me know which answer you’ve chosen. ;)

Smile, I Made a Gold-Painted “Smile” Pillow

I participated in the following conversation last week:

Rick: Where did you get that from?

Erin: I made it.

Rick: No you didn’t.

Erin: Um, yes I did.

Rick: But it’s so perfect.

Erin: Thank you?

This was my first attempt at painting fabric, and I just used regular white fabric and water-based acrylic paint I had left from this drippy watercolor dot painting. I know some people have mixed the paint with something called fabric medium or something like that, but I didn’t. This is mainly because I don’t know what that even is, AND it was not in my immediate possession. Smile, I am clueless. And impatient.

Aaaand then I stuffed it with fiberfill from a deformed pillow that came with an old comforter. Sometimes things just have to be sacrificed in the name of cheap.

Seriously, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner…instead of buying the sometimes-pricey bags of fiberfill from the craft store, buy the old ugly pillows that are on clearance because nobody wants them. And then destroy them, which technically should have been done before they ever hit the stores and/or homes in the first place. This one would be a perfect victim, for example:

Source

On that note…some things that make me smile lately other than the thought of burning that pillow:

• Feeling my baby do gymnastics at all hours of the day.
• Spending time with my brother who is home from Arizona for a bit.
• Watching my dad beam with absolute pride and excitement as he directs the orchestra of Les Miserables…of which I am a (mostly) willing participant on the French horn.
• The hilarious comments of the 5 and 6-year olds at summer rec arts and crafts (“I can see seven germs on my desk!”).
• Watching Rick have three potential job prospects within two weeks of finding out that his pharmacy (at a long-term care facility) is going to be outsourced…and all within four days of applying for said jobs. That whole deal isn’t over yet--and definitely didn’t begin with either of us smiling--but we’ve cast our anxieties on the Lord and He is so clearly already showing His faithfulness. :) :) (That deserves TWO smiles.)

What makes YOU smile lately?

Stamped Packing Peanut Painting {Easy Art}

Making this art is easy. Saying the name with which I’ve christened it….not so much. I won’t recommend anything foolish like “say that 5 times fast” because you and I would both regret that and you would be embarrassed.

This simple 8x10 packing peanut art is officially the first decoration for baby’s nursery and was inspired by a giant bag of packing peanuts that I found in my parents’ basement. All you need to make your own is paint and…packing peanuts. You really only need a few, although I found it helpful to have one designated for each of the five colors I used.

On an unrelated note, having a baby makes me want to swath our entire house in bright and bold and color. Byebye, “grown-up” neutrals. Did this happen to anyone else?

Also, packing peanuts come in different shapes, but the ones I used to create this painting are shaped like figure 8s. Some are shaped like an S (which could also be cool) and some are shaped like turds. If you have been secretly pining for a turd-shaped stamp and real turds are in short supply then make those your go-to variety of packing peanut. And also invest in some prunes. Okay, this just got really gross and weird. Forget I said anything about turds.

No matter what shape you choose, you simply dip the packing peanut into your paint and stamp away to your little heart’s content. Like I said, easy. Kids could do it! While blindfolded! Using only their pinky toes!

I plan to test my theory when baby is born. Surely infants are even capable of this level of crafting.

I’m actually 27 weeks now, but who’s counting? I definitely didn’t know that yesterday was 13 weeks from my due date. And I definitely didn’t know that Sunday marked 3 months until my due date. And Rick definitely doesn’t have a countdown on his computer at work. No, nobody’s counting. We’re actually not excited at all.*

*Biggest lie I’ve ever told.

Would you stamp with packing peanuts? Have you ever stamped with anything unusual? What are you *totally not* excited about these days?

In other exciting news, I cleaned our windows. {Homemade Glass Cleaner Recipe + Printable}

Um, what? Cleaning windows is exciting? Why, yes. Yes it is. Especially when I’ve never cleaned them. Ever. Not in any of the spare minutes I’ve had while dwelling in this house for the past two and a half years. I’ve clearly had more important things to do.

But I was relaxing in the living room the other day (like I said, important things happening around here) and noticed just how mortifyingly disgusting the windows were. There’s just something about smeary slimy dust and slimy cat nose residue that is not entirely endearing. “Welcome to our home; here is a cat booger for you to contemplate.”

To fix this problem, I followed the recipe found here for homemade no-streak glass cleaner, plus added a couple drops of blue food coloring to make it more official. Or something. Rick asked me why I didn’t make it pink. He said, “You had a chance to have pink cleaning products and you didn’t take it?” He’s right, of course. I blame my pregnancy brain for this unfortunate oversight.

Pregnancy brain didn’t totally conquer me, though, because I thought to make a printable for the spray bottle so that I know what the heck is in it, and a recipe for the back so I remember how the heck to make it again. And I will be making it again, because it was cheap. This whole bottle cost basically, I don’t know, twelve cents? Basically, I’ll never buy Windex again. (No smart comments predicting that this is because I don’t ever plan to clean the windows again.)

Right-click to save the file for printing!

Right-click to save the file for printing!

Quick print + packaging tape=instant waterproof label.

Also, it works. Cleared away the grime and left no streaks behind. (Ooh, catchy. That could be the slogan for the product.) To prove my point like an infomercial, I’d show you a picture of the cloth after I wiped off the front of one window, but you’d judge me. And never come to my house again. And wonder how two people could possibly get so much dirt to cling to their windows. It’s an art form, probably. So you’ll just have to picture the grimiest, blackest cloth ever, then multiply it by disgustingest squared, and know that’s what came off of our windows.

What household chores do you procrastinate on? Do you have any go-to homemade cleaners that work? Please share the link if you do—I want to phase out some of our other cleaners, too! To be honest, with our snazzy easy-access windows, cleaning windows doesn’t appear to be the worst chore ever, so it’s a mystery as to why I’ve waited so long. I much less prefer tasks like cleaning the shower. Blergh.

The “Erin & Ricky Should Get Married” Club {Sentimental Gallery Wall Update}

I was going through a folder of some sentimental gooey stuff the other day and re-discovered these clever notes that had been sent by some official members of the “Erin and Ricky Should Get Married” Club. I mean, by Erin and Bicky.

This club had precisely two official members. These two official members were six and seven respectively when the club was founded. These two official members also plotted to play chicken ice hockey at our wedding reception and went so far as to put their flip-flops in the freezer in preparation. This was, perhaps, in celebration of the fact that their club succeeded in its mission.

Today, those two club members are still our baby sisters but have since learned the difference between a “B” and an “R.” They also no longer take an active interest in frozen poultry athletics. But since their notes still make me smile, and turned out to be prophetic in a way, it only seemed fitting to scan and print them and make them a part of our bedroom gallery wall.

It’s especially fitting because tomorrow, June 28th, marks the five-year anniversary of Erin and Bicky being married.

Time flies when life together brings new jobs, new smiles, new places to live. Time flies when your husband is your best friend. Time flies when you find yourself, five years later, carrying the child that you created with the man who makes each day complete, and knowing that the moment you see him holding your daughter for the first time will be one of the best moments of your entire life.

So Happy 5th Anniversary, Rick. I love you! (And seriously--can I start calling you Bicky now? It has a certain ring to it.) ;)

Psst…you can see more specifics of our bedroom gallery wall here.

Navy & White Herringbone Accent Wall Reveal

Okay. I’ve stepped outside of my comfort zone big time with our recent accent wall project. Like I am maybe even in a new country if my previous comfort zone was the United States. Like maybe, I don’t know, my new comfort zone is in Guatemala or something.

I wonder how the Guatemalan locals feel about navy and white herringbone walls.

I felt terrified of them. (Herringbone walls, not Guatemalan locals.) I am a vanilla sort of decorator. Safe, safe. But we plunged ahead and there is no going back now. I like that it’s quirky but just a little less modern than its cousin Chevron.

Rick has also put up new trim AND gorgeous crown moulding in the entire room. He is my hero and seriously deserves an award for all of the work he is doing around the house. He also deserves an award for the most vocabulary learned in one project. He learned the word herringbone. I learned no new vocabulary.

Creating the herringbone pattern itself took us approximately six hours from start to finish, with obvious breaks for food eating and cat petting.

As for how we did it: I started typing up the tutorial and anticipate that writing it will also take at least six hours of my time, for two main reasons.

1. The whole thing initially made my brain hurt like I’d just swallowed a gallon of ice cream in 4.7 seconds time, and I need to figure out a way to explain the process without inflicting physical harm on anyone who reads about it. I am in no position to be sued for damages. And, actually, I am in Guatemala…so good luck finding me to deliver the subpoena. Full speed ahead with a mind-numbing tutorial. (I am all about getting people to come back to my blog.)
2. We finished the wall over a month ago and these days I’m doing this new trick where I say “Hey Rick” and then by the time he says “What” I have forgotten the pressing matter with which I began the conversation. So basically I will work on summoning my month-old memories and post the full step-by-step tutorial later this week, complete with pictures and diagrams.

There are only a few herringbone tutorials out there, and because of the tape we used, the process we personally ended up with is (I think) a little less complicated than the tutorials I looked at. We shall see.

What’s your favorite pattern these days? Do you have any accent walls in your home? Who’s ready to have their mind numbed?

Update: here’s the full tutorial!

Baby’s First Furniture {Dresser Makeover}

I know I keep saying how great Rick has been with this whole Prep the House for Baby and Hello We Have a Deadline Thing and Blah Blah Blah. But come on. I am basically more useless than a  sirloin steak at a PETA convention…and Rick has been amazingly motivated to pick up my slack and do helpful things like make sure our baby’s clothes aren’t still stored in a cardboard box four months from now.

See? I plan on keeping him around.

With my direction, Rick stained the outside of the dresser in Minwax Dark Walnut and painted the drawers Benjamin Moore Simply White in semi-gloss. The ceramic knobs I purchased from Joann’s like eight years ago. All six knobs total cost approximately the same amount as a sirloin steak. Maybe. I don’t actually remember. It was eight years ago after all. Plus I can’t say that I’ve ever actually purchased steak.

The dresser used to belong to Rick’s parents. It has been sitting silently in our storage for a while. But after we found out I was pregnant, it spoke to me. It said “I was meant to store the cutest clothing in the world and snuggle up with the cutest poop in the world.” And thus was born the idea of making it a dresser/changing table combo.

Speaking of poop, the middle drawer needs to be fixed…which is why it currently rests without much of a gap on the bottom drawer. But since it is still functional and Rick is busy renovating our entire house while I sit on my growing tush and compare the price of knobs to the price of beef, the drawer will be staying this way temporarily.

While we wait for Rick to finish, let’s all take a moment to squeal in delight over the baby girl clothes that could potentially be stored in this dresser.

Both $1 from yard sales. Both with tags still on. I’d say booyah except nobody says that. Plus I was informed by a student that I was “too old to have swag” and the use of booyah only confirms that.

Despite my alleged lack of swag, I still lead an exciting life:  a couple weeks ago, we started feeling serious Baby movements from the outside. I’d say she’s playing soccer but she happens to be the spawn of the two most non-athletic people on the planet. True fact. (As opposed to a fake fact?) Swagless AND inept at sports. Our child is doomed. At least her mom is photogenic.

Mmmhmmmm.That’s right. Booyah.

Have you inherited any furniture lately? Who wants a steak now? Anyone want to challenge me for the title of Least Athletic Human Being to Ever Briskly Walk the Planet?

*Linking up to Serenity Now!*