OPAM ~ January 2010

Yes, I realize my title says January 2010 OPAM.
And yes, I realize we are already well into February.
"Life" has happened around here in the last few weeks, which has kept me pretty busy.
But I really want to share with you Isabella's completed headboard project.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been browsing craigslist for a few different pieces of furniture. During one of my searches, I found a wicker headboard which I thought would be perfect in Isabella's room. She went with me to see it and instantly approved. SOLD!

The first thing we did after picking up the headboard was go to Hobby Lobby to pick up the spray paint. Isabella asked if she could pick the color all by herself. I took a deep breath, said yes and then held my breath until she made her final selection. I'm not going to lie ~ I was scared. That could have gone very, very badly. But after seeing what she picked, a color called Raspberry, I think she had it right on.

So we cleaned and spray painted the headboard and after a few days in the garage (phew, those were some strong fumes), we finally took it upstairs to her room.
It looks awesome! It definitely adds a great punch of color to a very purple room. And even though initially I had planned on hot gluing some Gerbera Daisies to the headboard, after much consideration my mom and I decided against it. I am however going to use the flowers on some fun art to be placed right above her bed. So stay tuned!

And I will leave you with a picture of my three crazies having a big ol' time!

Bring on the projects

Although it's not quite Spring here, I mean it is still January, we are having amazing days with temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s. And do you know what this means? Projects, baby!

I hereby re-introduce my monthly OPAM (One Project a Month) posts. Geez, I can't even remember the last time I blogged about OPAM.

I have recently developed an obsession with craigslist. Oh. My. Goodness! Seriously, where have I been? I love browsing through all the junk fun stuff they have on there. I am currently on a relentless pursuit of a few key pieces that will be extremely helpful with my home organization initiatives. But since I am 110% committed to simplifying and decluttering our home this year, I have to exercise some serious self control and use good judgment when it comes to what may possibly come through our front door at any given time.

I am however ecstatic to report that I made my first craigslist purchase today~ a wicker headboard for Isabella's room. It's white and in really good shape, but Isabella and I plan on giving it a little TLC this coming Friday ~ a little cleaning, a whole lot of spray painting, a dab of hot glue magic, and some amazing flower power. Ooh, we're so excited!

Stay tuned for some before and after pictures. We can't wait to share it with you.

September OPAM ~ What's in your pantry?

Today turned out to be a rainy day in our neck of the woods, which was great because it kept us in the house and allowed me to get some stuff done. Well, I got ONE major thing done, but the sense of accomplishment I'm feeling right now is pretty much through the roof. YAY me!

OK, so I know I'm kind of cheating here, but I will declare this my OPAM for the month of September. Yes, although you have not yet seen the results from my May OPAM, and I pretty much totally neglected it during the Summer months, I am now resurrecting it and presenting you with a new AND completed project. (If you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about or what OPAM is, please go here)

So today I tackled our pantry, and what a project that was. YIKES! I started at around 8:30 this morning and I just got done taking a picture of my final product. Of course it wasn't without interruptions and breaks, with the kids, the phone, the Internet (yeah, that's where the "break" comes in, that damn Internet!), it was stop and go there for a while. But now it's officially done.

This is what the pantry looked like and has looked like for as long as I can remember:

And here's a closer look, just in case you haven't gotten the idea quite yet.

A heck of a mess, don't you think? It seriously takes FOREVER to find anything in there. So often times we don't even look and we just go out and buy another of whatever it is we need, which of course just made the problem worse. But really, how many Chili Powders does one family need? I found four,... FOUR!!!!

So the first thing I did was take everything out of the pantry and place what we are keeping, separated by category of course, on the table:
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I found some stuff with expiration dates of 2003 and 2004 and 2005, some,... about two big trash bags full.

Then I came across these little gems:

and both of them had this on their side:

Yeah, that says "Sell by 3/01", in the event that maybe you missed it. Mortified doesn't even begin to describe it. What in the world are we doing with flour and wheat bran that we obviously DO NOT consume and expired over seven years ago? Guys, we weren't even married in 2001.

Oh, but it gets much better, my friends. You see I found one item that dates further back than these two. The gold medal for longest time sitting in our pantries (because we have moved two times and have apparently transported this baby along with us BOTH times because Lord knows you just can't buy it new in your new location) goes to:

WHAT?

Just in case you didn't catch that this is not one of those "Better if purchased by,..." Oh, no, this one says "Better if used by". I don't ever really use Flour, and especially not Whole Wheat flour, so I'm sitting here wondering when did Scott buy this, in 1999? Holy Cow! I don't even know what to say right now.

I feel like I'm about to start hyperventilating any second now so I must immediately move on to the happy stuff, cause as I'm looking around here there's no paper bag anywhere in sight.

OK, deep breaths. Inhale,... exhale,... inhale,... exhale. And again, inhale,... exhale. Much better.

Ladies and gentleman I now present to you the new and much improved pantry:

Oh yes my friends, that is actual available space you see here before you.

I replaced that tiny itty bitty spice rack (what in the world was I thinking?) with the Mack Daddy of racks ~ yeah baby! Our pantry just literally almost doubled in size, instantly!

Question, do you think I should ask Scott why he thinks we need to own three, count them, three racks double filled with spices? Hmm, maybe not. I can see how that could backfire. Oh well, at least now they are organized.

OPAM - May

One of the blogs that I constantly stalk, or rather frequent, is that of photographer Tara Whitney. She is unbelievably talented ~ just click HERE to see it for yourself. Anyway, she does this thing called OPAM, which stands for One Project A Month. So the premise is you (1) pick a project you'd like to accomplish (2) post the "before"picture in your blog at the beginning of the month (3) do whatever it is you told everyone who reads your blog you were going to do, and (4) post the "after" picture at the end of the month. I thought it would be fun to try and since I'd have all month to complete the chosen project, there's not that much pressure to make the whole thing stressful. Also, I think the fact that I'm posting it here, gives me that extra bit of accountability to push me to get it done.

With that being said, here's my OPAM for the month of May: our half bath downstairs.

I don't know if you can see it in the above photos, but the painters tape is still on, after just one coat of paint. I actually started this project right before I had Baby Sam. And the reason it wasn't completed is because it was extremely uncomfortable to be bending, kneeling, sitting and reaching while being 9 months pregnant. Now that Baby Sam is here and healthy and I've been given a clean bill of health, I'm ready to tackle it again.

Well, the plan is this: I will finish painting the walls, I will paint the vanity, I will decorate it and I will post pictures of the finished product. So wish me luck!

On a different note, we've had such beautiful weather around here lately that we decided to take "the kids" (it's so strange to type that) to the zoo on Sunday after church. The temperature was in the mid 70's, the animals were out and happy and we had a wonderful day.
Yes, Isabella has a fruit punch mustache and Sam had just turned 7 weeks a couple days before this picture was taken. Crazy, isn't it?