Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderfully low-key Thanksgiving at home this year. 

We began the day with freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Shrimp cocktail, meat, and cheese tided us over until dinner. Our main menu was complete with a perfectly roasted and moist turkey, made-from-scratch sausage and apple stuffing, yam-bake, asparagus, mashed potatoes, spinach salad, and rolls. Everything went off without a hitch, I'm proud to say.

Somehow we still had room for homemade pumpkin and sour cream raisin pie, and not-so-homemade red velvet cheesecake. (You have to be allowed to cheat on a few things, right?) 

Our table was not so crowded with my nephews and Tom's parents joining us. Plenty of food to go around and enough leftovers to last a week.

It was stress-free with lots of time to relax and play games. A perfect day in my estimation!

Hope you all had a perfect Thanksgiving also. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!

Utah, this is for you.

Today I am thinking about Utah and reminiscing. That's not to say I'm unhappy or ungrateful to be here in Montana. Quite the contrary. I am SO happy and thankful to be here and don't regret a minute of it. But I just want a minute to be nostalgic about the place we spent 10 years of our lives.

Mostly, I'm missing my friends, my neighbors, my coworkers. Openings in the fence in the backyard and game nights with baby monitors by our sides. Babysitters to depend on right down the street and safe neighborhoods where you can play outside on the street and have scooter parades. Volleyball and music nights.

I'm missing afternoon prop shopping forays and lunch with my coworkers. Funny Photogs, Halloween Zoolander runway walks, and the best hard-working and talented team anyone could ask for. Ever-inspiring and super-creative product designers and concept artists. Meetings (yes, even meetings) and chatting it up with staff.

Brighton Ski Resort and the beautiful mountains. The aquarium. Children's museum. Jazz games. The symphony. KSL Classifieds and Craig's List (I know, I'm a nerd.) Manicured neighborhoods.

Kneaders french toast. Zupa's tomato basil soup. Noodles Mac & Cheese. Pawit's amazing Thai. Bajio's shrimp salad. Starbucks on the way to work. Rumbi's sweet potato fries and best salsa ever. Pie Pizzaria. Cafe Rio. (Except I don't have to miss that anymore and am already enjoying weekly visits in Great Falls!)

Anthropoligie. Banana Republic. The apple store. Home Again. IKEA. Nordstrom. Down East Home. Yes, the shopping in Montana leaves a lot to be desired. I want (need?) my shopping fix. I need to hit that new Crate & Barrel and H&M and my IKEA list is a mile long.

Everything the city had to offer was amazing. We aren't feeling sorry for ourselves because Montana has so much to offer in it's space and tranquility, but that isn't to say we don't miss it all (except maybe the traffic).

Last week Tom lost one of his old bosses to cancer (at only 44 years old) and his heart is being pulled back to Utah. It is very tempting to get in the car and pay a visit. But until time allows us to do that, Utah, just know you are in our hearts. We didn't leave you behind without looking over our shoulders a few times to wave goodbye.

landscaping project update

I started to type "landscaping project finished" into the heading and then decided that wasn't quite accurate. We are far from finished. But we did complete our landscaping goals for this year. As you know, we tackled the lower yard this summer and spent a LOT of time raking gravel—four truck loads to be exact. (My uncle helped with this job one day and said it should be prison work. Yeah, he's probably right. But it was also really good for the muscles in my upper body. Does anyone want to arm wrestle?)

It is hard to give an accurate "after" picture of this project. I took these photos before snow started falling last week, but winter had already shriveled all the plants I planted. You will have to use your imagination to see what will hopefully eventually look like intentional, natural landscaping. Right now it just looks like a sea of gray, boring gravel.

You will just have to imagine the lilac hedge full and and blooming, the juniper plants crawling over the gravel, and the salvia, seedums, and sage filling in with color. The rock staircase will be covered in beautiful ground covers (if the bunnies will leave them alone.)

The grass will be lush and green. Well, green at least. At some point we will probably plant a new variety of grass that can grow into a fuller, richer lawn. And I will enjoy not having to mow the steep hillsides.

The cement planters will fill in with hundreds of daffodils, tulips, and alliums. Roses and grasses will add texture and color year round, and I will eventually add more perennials to this area as I see how things grow and develop. I'll cover the soil with mulch in the spring as well.

Next spring I also hope to transplant some native yucca plants and add a few more perinnials to punctuate the gravel area without requiring a lot of water. 

For now we will rejoice in the satisfaction of a finished project and a much more manicured look as we pull in our driveway. 

Feng Shui Friday—organize your hand-me-downs

To find out how you can join the Feng Shui Friday challenge, click here.

Image from Ashley Ann Photography. Isn't this a great idea?

I'm am bringing today's Feng Shui Friday challenge back to the basics of organizing. Lately, I have been plagued by the chore of staying on top of my kid's clothing. As you can imagine, with 3 kids of the same gender, I have accumulated a lot of girl's clothes. Keeping all three closets organized with only the appropriate sizes has not been my forte.

Last week I tackled the chore of sorting through every box and bin of clothes I have saved over the past 9 years. This is what I was left with:

1) Two garbage bags of clothes to toss—clothes that were either stained or damaged. Obviously when I have packed up outgrown clothes I have not been careful about sorting them. This must change.

2) Two bins to donate to Goodwill.

3) Two bags to sell to the local "Once Upon a Child" consignment shop. I had pre sorted out the best brands and clothes in the best condition to sell, and I left with $52 in my pocket, even though they purchased less than half of it. It was definitely worth doing! I just added the rest to my Goodwill donation.

This is what I kept:

A bin for each size (and a separate one for shoes), each clearly labeled, sits in my storage room. These are my new rules for keeping it tidy:

1) Keep only ONE bin per size. This is key. If I keep more than this I will surely forget there is more and miss something. The job of switching out sizes and seasons becomes too big, and it is easier to go out and buy something new than sort through all the clothes to find something that works. If I keep more than one bin I'm likely keeping clothes that are either outdated, ugly, or stained, and quite frankly, my kids just don't need that many clothes.

2) If you don't like it now, you won't like it in 2 years. Don't keep it. (Even if it was a gift.)

3) If your first kid doesn't wear it, your next one probably won't either. And your younger kids deserve new underwear, socks, and shoes that aren't all scuffed up.

4) Between Christmas, birthdays, and generous grandparents, my kids always have new clothes. If you are afraid to get rid of old clothes for fear they won't have enough to wear, don't be. Clothes have a way of multiplying. And you will want to buy them a few new things of their own. Trust me. 

5) Buy the best quality clothing you can afford. After going through my kid's clothes its clear to me that the splurges were usually worth it—especially if they last for 2 or 3 kids. I shop a lot at Old Navy and Target, but I noticed it was the few splurges at Gap and other higher-end stores that made it into my keep piles.

6) Organize your kid's closets at the beginning of every season and go through the next size of clothes. Don't wait until 2 months into winter and realize you had a coat tucked away somewhere and could have saved $40 on the new one you just bought.

So, those are my tips. Have any of you struggled with keeping your hand-me-downs organized? If so, how do you cope? I'd love to hear your own tips and tricks!

gutters

You'll have to forgive the pun, but my mind is in the gutter today. (Har har.)

Our new seemless gutters and facia are up and we are pleased with the result. Here is a look at the before:

And after:

The guy who did the job bid less than half of the other company we priced. Choke. He was extremely prompt and did a solid job.

In the end we decided against doing metal soffit. It would have lowered the soffit ceiling a half inch or so, and visually even more with the dark color. The eves are already quite low. After examining the condition of the (probably original) paint job on the existing wooden soffit, we decided it looked pretty good for 40+ years, and it would be a simple job to sand the rough spots and repaint, thus cutting our gutter replacement cost in half. I think we will repaint in a similar color.

I think the new brown gutter/facia color looks awesome. Even though it has more contrast, it seems to blend in and look like its been there forever. I can't wait to eradicate the blue completely. 

Now I am turning my attention to the exterior lighting. I already told you my plan to paint the fixtures by the front door, but we also have a few of these around the house:

Not so bad from afar, maybe. And quite appropriately atomic, don't you think?

But look a little closer:

Ew. Not in great condition. And wrapped in electrical tape—presumably to keep them from rattling in the wind, but doing a poor job as we've witnessed during these last few very windy days. This particular fixture is framed front and center in our dining room view.

The question is, what do we replace them with? The best looking option would undoubtedly be recessed lighting. However, our roof has a very shallow slope, and the attic space is extremely tight toward the edge. We aren't sure there is actually room for a recessed fixture. We could move them closer to the house (and add a few more while we are at it), but that would mean patching the old holes and adding a lot more work. I am leaning toward replacing them with simple, inexpensive, non obtrusive fixtures. Here are some options I've found:

 

1. Cove Atomic Age Flush Fixture by Rejuvenation, $145

This one was shot down lickety split. Too much like the ugly ones we are trying to replace, and it wouldn't put out enough light. And too expensive. Enough said.

2. Hunter Marine II Outdoor Light from Home Depot, $44.97

Meh. 

3. Braxton Flushmount fixture by Restoration Hardware, $219

This is what I would buy if money wasn't a concern. But we have to buy 5 of these and that makes it ridiculous.

4. Hampton Bay from Home Depot, $19.97

This is the best alternative I have found that isn't too fancy for the modern look of this house. And the price is right. However, the slanted shape and more Craftsman feel makes me less than enamored. 

So, what do you think? Which would you choose? Have you seen any good (not-to-expensive) alternatives? What are your favorite lighting sources? I could definitely use some suggestions.

Guess who's walking?

Just shy of 17 months, we finally have a toddler on her hands. Kind of. At least now we know she can. She isn't very consistent and still prefers to walk on her knees:

Mom suggested we make bubble wrap bumpers for our fireplace and sharp countertop corners. That'd be a good look, don't you think? 

I am going to have her looked at by the doctor because I've been concerned that her feet point out too far, especially the right one. Now that she is walking it is more pronounced and I'd rather be safe than sorry and intervene early.

Other 17 month updates:

 

She had her first little injury (fell against a table and cut the inside of her lip) and ended up with a fat lip. It broke my heart. Of course she is okay.

She can get pretty testy sometimes in a mood that could probably only be blamed on serious teething, but I still can only spot 8. Those testy moods and sore lips make it pretty difficult to actually check.

Our conversations go like this:

E: "MOM"

Me: "What?"

E: "MOM"

Me: "What?"

E: "MOM"

Me: "What, Eva, what's up?"

E: "Ga ba do da waaiiii la mo"

Me: "Oh really?"

E: "No."

mermaids

Lately my girls have been obsessed with mermaids. Especially Abby. I'm not sure what started it—but I know it was these mermaid fins that fueled it:

They were originally spotted in the Chasing Fireflies catalog that always comes in the mail just to tempt us (good for drooling, not so good for buying, although I did buy a dress from them once when I could NOT resist the cuteness. I don't regret the splurge, especially now that I have another baby girl that will wear it someday!)

Abby started asking for these mermaid fins, but we were concerned about their safety for someone who was just beginning to swim. Didn't God give us two legs for a reason? But Abby persisted and tried to make her own. First she cut the fins from cardboard and covered them with tape. When I told her they would not actually work in the water, she was devastated. Then she tried again using cloth and a hanger as a frame, duct taping flip flops to the hanger to attach her feet to. She was determined to try to swim with them, but of course I was quite concerned about how it would look if my daughter actually brought those things to the pool with her . . . (Why, oh why did I not get a picture of her creations?)

I compromised and bought little snorkel sets for the girls (with separate, normal fins.) They got our money's worth out of them during our trip to California last month. 

Back to the mermaids. They have also long admired these towels (sold by Chasing Fireflies too):

But this mom is mean and cheap and I would not buy towels at $48/pop. Never fear—when you have an ultra creative and talented auntie Amy, you might just get exactly what you want in the form of a beautifully handmade belated birthday gift! Aren't they absolutely amazing? The girls are tickled pink (and orange and green and blue.)

Thanks a million times, Amy!

impending winter

It's been hard to figure out what to post about this week. With the impending weather change (it's supposed to snow tonight!) we've been scrambling to finish up outdoor projects. We have lots of things in progress but nothing finished. 

For one, we've been working on our yard—laying more weed fabric and spreading gravel. We just ordered our FOURTH load of gravel. Spreading gravel=very sore muscles. And when we are done with the landscape gravel we are hoping to grade and fill some holes in our driveway with crushed gravel.

Secondly, the dump was open in our small town this weekend for free dumps, so we decided to take the opportunity to empty a corner of junk in our garage (leftover from before we moved here.) Our garage is looking SO much better, but we still have a lot more organizing to do before it is ready to call done. We are still gathering bids for replacing the overhead garage door and side doors, and we are looking forward to improving how much dirt and debris ends up in our garage. These kinds of projects maybe aren't the most fun, but the end result just FEELS GOOD. 

Speaking of door bids, we are still waiting on someone to come measure the side windows for our front door. But this week I at least cleaned out my cold-snapped flowers and added a bit of fall decor:

I popped a few pumpkins leftover from Halloween and some branches into the pots that are much to heavy to relocate. By the way, I'm thinking of keeping those light fixtures and polishing them up with a coat of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. What do you think? Or do you prefer the brass? I'm also thinking of doing this to some of my interior fixtures.

We also got bids for gutter, soffit, and facia. Soon we will have a two-toned house: brown soffit, facia and doors, and blue trim. Looks like trim painting will be on our to-do list next spring!

Well, that is it for this week. Hopefully the weather won't completely prevent us from continuing to make progress. Happy Friday, and stay warm!

Halloween

This (normally) Halloween Scrooge couldn't help but have a ton of fun this year.

Parties, friends, and family are what this day is all about. And candy and good food.

Eva wore the cutest hand-me-down flower costume. We made Abby's costume this year, using this tutorial. Sarah's butterfly was pieced together at the last minute for our Disneyland trick-or-treating adventure, and she was happy to wear it again.

Our American Gothic costume was thrown together last minute on Halloween day. Those are usually the best kind, aren't they? But it was my mom's costume (whatever it was—80's workout diva?) that took us all out. And all because I made fun of her for wearing that jacket while she was raking leaves the other day. ("What are you wearing, and where did THAT come from?")

Big kids and little kids alike had a great time carving pumpkins. Especially the ones sporting our favorite mascots.

Tasty chili (did I detect a hint of duck?), homemade root beer and ice cream, wriggly worms, and more than enough sugary treats to go around. I shall be on a diet until next year. Or Thanksgiving, at least.

Feng Shui Friday—Paint your front door

TGIF, my friends—and that means it is time for a new Feng Shui Friday Challenge. This is a fun one I think.

To find out how you can join the Feng Shui Friday challenge, click here.

Today's Challenge—Paint your front door (or clean and tidy up your entry)

According to Feng Shui principles, your front door is the main source for energy flowing into your home, so it makes sense that you would want it to be neat and tidy, attractive, and functioning well. Improving the appeal of your front entry would be a high priority if you were selling your house. Why not make it just as attractive for yourself and your guests while you are living in it?

Feng Shui experts recommend red for your front door because red stands for vitality, energy, success, and prosperity. But if red doesn't go with your home, don't worry. Pick another color—or, at the very least, make sure it is crisp and clean. 

Do any of you have a colorful front door? If not, are you up for a challenge?

Here is my rather sad front entry:

Beleive me, it has looked even worse. This summer I at least decluttered and planted some flowers in pots to flank the front door. Now the flowers are fading from the cold weather, and I've added some pumpkins that are awaiting the carving treatment. But let's talk about that front door. I'm not actually going to paint it. Yet.

First I am going to replace the door. I know, I know, some people would kill for an authentic mid-century door like this. Replacing it with a similar door would cost lots of cash. What you can't see here though is that there are holes in the door (I've actually seen bees flying in and out of the holes!) and it doesn't seal well. In fact, you can see daylight through the cracks on the inside, and dust and straw even blows in through them if the wind blows from the east. Also, the sidelight windows are sratched and foggy between the glass.

Eventually, we are going to be changing the trim color back to it's original brown (although a bit darker). The house will go from this:

to this (a quick Photoshop hack):

I think the contrast of the darker brown makes the light brick color look so much better and much more modern. (By the way, we are not only replacing the front door, but all the exterior doors on the house, including the garage door.)

Back to the front door. This is (another Photoshop hack on a poor quality photo, but it gives you an idea) what I am thinking for a front door style and color:

What do you think? It is a lot of glass, but out here on the farm privacy isn't as much of a concern. And the light coming through on the inside will be so nice. The paint-chipped steps need some serious attention also. At the very least a new paint job, but even better a faux concrete treatment or tile. 

While I do love the idea of adding a few pops of red (via a couple of Adirondack chairs on the deck and a porch swing, perhaps), I'm not sure I am game for putting it on my front door. But this is what it would look like, just for kicks:

We are still in the middle of the door shopping process, so nothing is final about the style of this door. The width is wider than standard, so we may need to get creative. Just for fun, here are a few more front door looks I am attracted to:  (The top image in this post and each of the following images are from Houzz.)

Which do you like? I'd love to hear about your own front door adventures. Happy Friday!

Vacation ABCs

When we left for our vacation last week, we of course told the girls' teachers they would be missing a few days of school. Sarah's teacher kindly told her not to worry about doing any makeup work, but requested that she bring back photos to share with the class.

So in addition to the sea shell mementos we put together, we decided to make the photo sharing into a little project as well. Since Sarah is in Kindergarten and working on all of her letter sounds, I thought it would be fun to find something to take a picture of starting with every letter and turn it into a book. Both girls got into the game and it turned out to be a fun way to document our trip. Here are the pages of our book, and a recap of our vacation all in one:

Now you know your ABCs . . . I mean, now you know all the details of our trip. I've sent the pages to Shutterfly to make a little paperback book. So much more fun than sending a few photos to school, don't you think? 

back to work

Last time I posted was to tell you about my Grandpa's passing and that I would be away from my blog. Thank you all, dear friends, for your sweet comments. Last Saturday was his funeral, and it was a memorable and lovely day. (If you would like to know more, my mom wrote a touching recap.)

What I didn't tell you was that my blog break would last a little longer than that. We had planned to leave on a family vacation to Newport Beach the day before the funeral. We felt blessed for the timing of things and that we were able to stay for the funeral, help with arrangements, and host family at our house. In the end we only postponed our trip for one day and made up for the lost time by spending two long days on the road. But more about that later.

I missed a couple of milestones during my blog break. Most importantly, Abby turned 9! Poor girl—her actual birthday was a bit overshadowed by the other events that day (funeral). We gave her a proper celebration a few days before, however.

Doesn't she look so grown up? I feel like I already have a teenager on my hands. I was a little lazy this time and got a DQ ice cream cake, but the birthday girl was happy. Especially since they decorated it with horses. 

And this little gal passed 16 months:

And still not walking. Stubborn little stinker.

But you must notice those adorable little moccasins. A little LA shopping find. And that sweet little dress and tights, a gift from our San Diego friends who have a little pipsqueak named Emma. 

Eva and Emma are only about a month apart in age. Not only that, they have the same middle name (Grace), and the same initials (E.G.C.). They are destined to be friends. (Thanks for the cute gifts, C&K!)

We were glad to have a catch-up day today before the girls head back to school in the morning. You know, the usual laundry, unpacking, cleaning out the car. (Does anyone else's car look like an absolute pig sty after a trip?) I also worked on this little project:

We bought a big, inexpensive bag of sea shells in Newport Beach, and we split them up into these little bags for the girls to give to their classmates at school. I printed and stamped some simple bag toppers to go with them. These old-as-the-hills retired stamps and Stampin' Up! warehouse sale products do come in handy once in a while and serve a greater purpose than filling up my cupboards!

This post has gotten long, and still no deets about our trip. I promise to make you suffer through at least one more vacation post soon. :)

In memory of Clarence E. Benjamin

There is an air of melancholy over our days this week. Yesterday my last surviving grandparent, Clarence Benjamin, passed away. Yet, when we have hope and assurance of a better life after death, we can't help but feel relief and peace mixed with our sorrow. He lived to a ripe age of 92.

Grandpa and his first son

Grandpa was a farmer, rancher, and business man who loved what he did. Better than that he was a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather with a ready hug. Even having 9 kids of his own didn't sour his taste toward children and he always made time to appreciate us.

Grandpa and I (at about age 2)

Grandpa and EvaGrandpa and Sarah at his 90th birthday

My childhood memories of him have unfortunately faded with my poor memory, but I do well remember the summer my Grandma died. I had moved home that summer to plan my wedding and was there at the hospital the day she failed to make it through heart surgery. I remember his stun and grief. That summer he was longing for companionship and wandered around to quite a few conventions and various places. I traveled with him several times. He would always get a short ways down the road and turn the keys of his Cadillac over to me. 

One of my favorite photos of Grandpa and Grandma

He was there for my wedding later that summer, even though I could tell it was a hard day for him. We got married in the same room Grandma's funeral was held in earlier that summer.

Tom's Grandma Elva Clark, Grandpa, Me, Tom, and my Grandma and Grandpa Stephens

And now we find ourselves living in the house he and Grandma built together, and working on the farm he originally purchased and established. To say I am thankful for his legacy is an understatement.

By chance, we happened to be in town (where Grandpa lived in his care home) for a conference this past weekend. Grandpa had broken his hip the day before and was in the hospital. Since he definitely wasn't strong enough for general aesthesia, the doctors were hoping they would be able to put a pin in his hip using local anesthetic. However, under the heavy influence of pain medicine he declined quickly. He was very drowsy, wasn't keeping his oxygen up, and wasn't waking up even to eat and drink. By some miracle, when we walked into his hospital room to see him his eyes popped open and we were able to enjoy quite a few minutes with him. He acknowledged our presence and even said a few words. We joked a little about how we needed to go to these conferences to learn how to farm—yet he could have taught the classes we were attending. He spent our visiting time gripping my hand tightly. After a bit Tom snuck out to buy him an ice cream cone at McDonald's—his favorite—and we watched my Aunt Joann feed him what turned out to be his last treat. It was a blessing to be there and a memory I will always cherish. He died 2 days later.

We will honoring him at a funeral service on Saturday, and I am helping with those preparations and expecting a houseful of guests this weekend. As such, I will likely be silent on the blog this week. Thank you all for your support.

don't try this at home

Earlier I showed you this photo of our yard plans:

One of my favorite features we planned was a rock staircase. When we went out to the field to scout for rocks, Tom kept pointing out smallish flat rocks about 12-15" wide. I had in mind something a little bit bigger. So we had some trouble agreeing on what rocks to pick up. 

Then we involved my dad, who happened to know just the rock pile to go to. I was pleasantly surprised—actually over the moon—when they hauled the first rock into our yard.

These big flat round rocks aren't exactly prevalent on our farm. We have plenty of big round rocks, mind you, but these we had to hunt for. 

Here is the staircase after all the rocks were set:

Doesn't it rock? Here it is from the top looking down:

After we placed the big rocks, I packed in dirt and smaller rocks around them. My intent is to plant ground cover flowers for a rock garden of sorts. 

And here is the view from the bottom:

I know it is hard to tell from the photos, but those top 2 rocks are gigantic. (I should have put my kids in the photo for scale—and don't you just love the farm equipment in the background? Part of the deal around here.) Hauling those rocks in from the field was no small feat, and placing them was even more difficult. What I'm trying to say is, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Unless you have lots of experience with big equipment.

This video shows the process of placing the second to last rock to give you an idea of what it took. (The last rock was even bigger and more challenging!) And by the way, sorry about the video quality. I used my new Canon, but clearly I need to study up on how to take good videos. Between the shaky and choppy filming, wind noise, and nervous wife commentary, it might be a little rough to watch.)

Any guesses on how much this would cost someone to have a landscaping company do this? To source the rocks, haul them, and place them? I'm guessing thousands of dollars. Needless to say, I feel very blessed to have this cool feature in my yard. What do you think?

Pssst. There is a great little giveaway today on one of my favorite blogs, From this Front Porch. Check it out to win some super moisturizing handmade goat's milk soap!

Missoni

Who needs Missoni when you can have authentic 60's chevron goodness? Just sayin'.

 

I inherited these afghans with the house. I liked them enough not to get rid of them, but not enough to display them. Now I might have to reconsider. 

Sarah is 6!

This past weekend we celebrated the 6th birthday of our little Sarah! (I hope she doesn't mind if I call her little. Actually, I'm pretty sure she would mind, but I refuse to stop.) 

~

We love you so much, Sarah, for your boundless energy, funny quips, and creativity. You know how to push your bounderies and your parent's buttons, but we wouldn't trade your spunk for anything. You have enough personality for SIX kids!

6 things that made your birthday memorable:

1) You didn't share it with your sister (who's birthday is in 2 weeks) for a change. This time it was ALL about Sarah.

2) We had a birthday breakfast of pancakes at Amma's house before our morning of soccer games.

3) Birthday gifts were simple this year because the big gift is a trip to California and Disneyland this month. You got spending money!

4) You got to spend the evening on a "date" all by yourself with Grandpa and Grandma. I'm pretty sure they spoiled you rotton.

5) You wanted a princess cake so Mommy attempted a castle. (I'm pretty sure your sister wants a DQ ice cream cake, don't you think?) You look so beautiful and grown up.

6. Your friends brought a piñata to share and it was full of candy that you stuffed your faces with the rest of the day!

Happy Birthday, Sarah! We hope it was special for you.

~

Unfortunately, Sarah also got the flu for her birthday and had to stay home from school today. We are bracing ourselves for the worst and expecting it to run its course through our family this week. Today the guys started hauling grain, so instead of working in the yard I am tending to my little sickie and also tending to my neglected house. This yard project was all-consuming last week. Hopefully we will be able to get back at it and finish it before cold and snow beat us to it—updates coming soon!

landscaping project

When I get started on a project I have a hard time stopping to blog about it. And especially when I have the guy's dedicated time to the project, I must take full advantage of it and work work work.

We are waiting for cooler weather and much needed rain to begin our fall seeding. Many farmers in our area seeded anyway, but the ground is dry and hard and it doesn't hurt to wait a little longer for better conditions to give the seeds a better start. In the meantime, my yard project that had been stalled has been started again—full steam ahead. Let's see if I can give you an idea of what we are working on:

Earlier this summer I dug trenches and installed edging along the hillsides in our lower yard. We are bringing in some large rocks and plants, then we will lay weed fabric over this area and landscape gravel over the top.

My poor lilacs (that had to be mowed to the ground this year) grew back with a vengeance but now are in sore need of water and weeding.

These are some of the big rocks waiting to be placed. We drug these in from the many rock piles around the farm (rocks that at one point or another were drug out of the fields!)

The other side of the yard gets the same treatment: large rocks and plants, weed fabric, and gravel. We also have a large, overgrown juniper and some other small (dead) plants to remove along the house.

Back to the east side of the yard: Earlier this year we dug the old plants out of the cement terraced planters. Now we are bringing in some manure from our corral area to richen the soil. Then we are planting a few perennials and bulbs. 

Next to the beds is the big daddy project of them all—a rock staircase. I am giddy about this! It is looking so very cool. More details soon.

And finally, this poor little bird bath needs a new home. The landfill, maybe? But it reminds me of my Grandma and so it might just find its way to another corner of the yard for nostalgia sake . . . and for the birds' sake. And to entice the birds away from my railing (and quit covering it with their little white gifts).

Updates on our progress coming! For now I must go get to work.

removing wallpaper

As you know, to put up my new wall unit, I needed to remove the wallpaper on that wall first. This was an intimidating task, but in the end it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. 

Now I am by no means an expert after removing one wall, but since I have a lot more to remove, I knew I would need to come up with a system that worked. I didn't have time to run to town after chemical or a steamer, and I had heard the steaming method was ineffective anyway. So after a bit of Googling I found the magic ingredient: liquid fabric softener.

I was worried about the paper in the living room because it was the paper-backed type. (The rest of the house is fabric-backed and peels right off in one peice, however, it leaves a residue of glue that will need to be scrubbed.) Removing this type turned out to be a simple process.

First, I peeled the top layer off, leaving the paper backing on the wall. If I was careful, I could do this in one big piece. You can leave the top layer, but it is usually not porous and you would need to score it using a special scoring tool to allow the water or chemical solution to soak through it to the paper backing. From what I read, scoring can leave marks in your drywall which is of course not desirable.

Next, I made my solution of hot water and liquid fabric softener. I used about 1 part softener to 3 parts water. I didn't experiment at all with the mixture because this seemed to work fine. You might be able to use just water—I don't know—but I think it helps to use the hottest water possible. I made the solution in small batches so I could keep the water hot.

Spraying the wall turned out to be the most tedious part. You want to soak it really well, so having a garden sprayer or something similar would make this job go faster. I also sprayed one panel ahead of where I was working so it could soak for about 5 minutes before I peeled. Any less and the solution didn't soak through the paper enough. Any more and it would start to dry out. 

With a scraper, I started from the top and carefully peeled the paper away from the wall, working in 6-8" strips down to the bottom. 

Where you might run into trouble:

1) If the wall wasn't primed and painted well before, prepare to have a giant-sized portion of patience. It won't come off easily and you will likely damage the drywall with your scraper. Fortunately for me, this was only a problem where the old heat registers were removed. 

2) In areas where seam repair adhesive was removed, extra scraping was necessary and a sticky residue was left behind that I had to sand to smooth out.

The end result, while satisfying, unfortunately was no where ready to paint. For some reason the paint was cracked where the seams were. In addition I had nail pops, nail holes, and a few gouges to repair—plenty of evidence that this was an old wall. I can see why it was tempting to cover it with wallpaper.

After scraping, spackling, sanding, and wiping the wall, I primed and painted and ended up with the slightly imperfect but satisfying result:

(Try to overlook the missing outlet cover and baseboards.)

So I hope this encourages someone to tackle your own wall paper removal job, and I'll keep you updated on mine!

new wall unit styled

I did a little shopping around my house to give my new wall unit a little style.

I don't really think accessories are my strong suit. One of my favorite parts of my old job was photo styling—especially rooms—but for some reason I struggle with styling my own house. But I'm trying to channel that old photo-styling mind set while also trying to keep the decorating meaningful. I don't like to just have a lot of "stuff" lying around. This time I'm happy with the end result. What do you think?

Here is a closer look at what I found lying around my house:

My Grandma's old Polaroid camera that I found tucked away in a closet. I actually checked these out on eBay to see what it was worth. Turns out everyone had one and they aren't worth 10 bucks. Oh well, it looks cool and it reminds me of my Grandma and her penchant for photography.

A desconstructed typewriter print that I purchased from 20 x 200. Tom doesn't get it but I find it fascinating and love the graphic look of it. Plus it goes awesome next to the vintage typewriter I bought from our family auction.

Some old photographs of my Grandpa and Grandma that were tucked away in the bookshelf we removed. I displayed the photo book I made of Tom's Grandma Elva. If I ever get around to making more photo books like I would like to, this is a great place to display them and entice people to pick them up and look at them. Don't you think?

My dad bought a bookshelf full of Reader's Digest books in our family auction. He didn't have a place in mind for them—he just liked them—so they have been boxed up in our storage room until now. The patterns on the covers are really fun, so I decided to display a few purely for cosmetic reasons.

My random chair collection has always felt a bit disjointed before, but I actually really like them all displayed here together. 

My little Target acrylic lamp was an impulse buy but has always been a bit of an orphan. I never had the perfect place for it. I like how it ties into the glass hourglasses here.

Finally, a stack of Pottery Barn design books needed a home. I removed all the dust jackets for a unified look. 

The whole living room feels much more put together now, even though there are many more projects to do. 

This wall is next:

I had a console table there before:

Removing the console table (I'm hoping to unload it on Craig's List for a few bucks) allowed me to open up the furniture layout in the room, which was great. It does leave a large blank wall, however, and it feels a little empty after getting used to having furniture there. 

I have other plans for the photo hanging on this wall. Not that I don't love it. I would love it anywhere. But I have a place better suited for it. On this wall I plan to hang my gallery wall of family photos. I may purchase more frames to fill this wall even more. I'm hoping just the weight of the frames will balance out this room without actually having furniture against this wall.

Now to strip more wallpaper. (It isn't as intimidating now that I've done one wall!) And of course paint. But I don't want to go to crazy painting more walls until we are able to scrape the popcorn off of the ceiling, texture it, and paint it. I'm not quite sure when that will happen, so don't expect any photos of this project too soon. 

After the room is painted we will replace all of the baseboards to match our basement (most of them are missing anyway where the heat registers were removed), replace the sconces (not my style!), and change the window treatments. The flooring will be replaced eventually also.

And . . . whoa. I'll stop there before I get ahead of myself. At least I have one wall going in the right direction! 

new wall unit

Hello. My name is Joellyn and I'm addicted to Craig's List.

I wasn't actually looking for a wall unit. This wall unit was looking for me. I saw the ad as I was browsing one day and noted that it looked cool—I even showed it to my mom—then moved on. 

photo from Craig's List adAbout a week later I found myself thinking about that wall unit again. For some reason it occurred to me that my dream of having built-in bookshelves along the back wall of my living room wasn't likely to happen for a very long time. So why not buy something that would stand in (and look ever so cool) in the meantime?

This is what the back wall of my living room looked like before:

The bookcase that is sitting there was removed from the other wall and was just sitting there for lack of a better place to put it (it is heavy, man!) but it is obviously wrong for the space. 

It had been at least a week since I had first seen the ad, so I was thrilled to find it still listed. It took several more days to finally get into town to check it out. She had listed it for $100, but she took my offer for $80. This is why I love Craig's List in Great Falls. In any big metropolitan area this unit would have been snatched up within hours, and would have pulled MUCH more than $80, I'm sure.

This might not be everyone's thing, but it is so very mid-century (1960s) and perfect for this house. And if we do build those bookcases someday, I can resell this unit for a profit. Just look up "Danish wall unit" online and you will see several very similar looking wall units for more than two or three thousand dollars. It's all about finding the right market, baby.

This is what it looks like in my house:

Since it is partially covered by my couch, here is another view:

The book stand unit on the right will be mounted on the rails as well, but I was missing a bracket that I have to pick up from the seller today. And after a good polish, I will of course style this baby and post more photos for you.

It is in excellent condition for its age and is all solid wood. I love how the color warms things up and lightens up the dark leather furniture I have. 

Oh, and did you notice one more thing?

I stripped the wallpaper off that wall and painted. (More on that later). I just couldn't bear to put this up over that old wallpaper so buckled down and got the job done. One wall down, 240 to go. Ha.

The unit is marked with the manufacturer's logo, "Kopenhavn". A little research revealed that this is not actually Danish, but is Danish inspired. Kopenhavn was a line trademarked by the Northern Chair Co. (based in Tacoma during the early 1900s), and this particular "wall planner group" was designed by Noral Olson. I looked for his name in other places and just found someone who designed miniature furniture. Same guy? I'm not sure. The Kopenhavn line seems to be somewhat rare. If you know more, do tell! Here is the coolest thing I found during my research—an ad from a furniture store in an old newspaper clipping:

I love peices that have a history, and it was fun to see the other units offered as part of the line. And the prices: $319 for that first living room set!

Tell me what you think of my find! I'll be back with more after I do some decoratin'. Bye for now!