Playing Catch Up

I don't write much anymore. I don't have much down time anymore. I feel like I'm losing myself, or like I don't even know me anymore. So here I am...at 11:50pm (because today's the first day of boob-weaning for Levi, who's not really taking it in stride) and it's time to catch up a little.

Timmy's 4 and Levi's 2! Can't believe how quickly time ushers me into the next year...I don't even remember 2013 ever happening...I think there was a wedding!?! Shit. Timmy will never shut up...I remember when he didn't talk, and I just yearned for those wonderful conversations we would someday have..."Mom! What are you doing Mom?! Mom!?! MOM!!! What are you doing?" It doesn't e.v.e.r. stop! So now that Levi's 2, and still not talking, the doctor suggests we get him into speech therapy...why? Why can't I just let him get there on his own? Why can't I enjoy his cute little grunts and oohs and awes...why must I rush him? (Can you sense how awful I feel about weaning him...I don't want to say no to my sweet little PC!) 

 I started extreme couponing at Target about two months ago...and already it's been one hell of a ride! Every week there's a deal, something awesome and better than the deal before! I've become obsessed with learning how to work Target...to twist it and mold it until it complies to my budget! I get a lot of things for next to nothing and a lot for free! With the holidays coming up, I've already got the boys gifts! This has been a fun addiction, but kind of consuming. 

 My self ban is up next week! I'll officially be allowed to gamble at the casino again...for how long, I don't know. Honestly, if I had to choose, I'd choose Target over the casino! 

 I'm so excited for Christmas...ask me why!...because since we redid our living room over the summer, we have room for our tree to be in there! Front and center...not tucked off in the corner of nowhere. And I am almost finished with the boys nook...I painted one of the walls (in the middle of Levi's 2nd birthday, call me compulsive!) and just LOVE how it turned out! All that's left is some touch ups and then one more thing of button art, then done! 

We're talking about another trip to Thailand in May. It's still kinda up in the air, but if it happens, Drew wants to stay home and have knee surgery. As much as I hate the the thought of not being by his side through this, I know he'd feel guilty if I was by his side, doing everything for the boys, while he's just stuck on the couch, unable to help. The only iffy thing is the knee surgery isn't a guarantee to make things better, it's just a hope, and he may need another, depending on how bad his knee is. I'm nervous for him! I'm excited for Thailand though! I love it there, and with my mom, dad, and brother to help me with the boys, it shouldn't be that bad...I hope. Bring on the food!!! 

Timmy's 4th Birthday was Lego themed. 

My sweet little humans!
Levi turns 2! Please note the tape on the wall in the background.
Love how it turned out! And love the cute boys too!

High On Ink: Part 2

Well I sat through another miserable tattooing session! But what a game changer this session was for my arm! It seriously is EVERYTHING I had mentioned in my vision concept! I'll just cut the bluster and show it off!

Timmy's First Day Of Preschool

Timmy loved school! We're already considering upping him to 3 days a week. His teacher, Ms. Marcia, is so impressed with his number and letter recognition and that he can count. She told me how well I was doing with him…um, yeah, he's the self-taught with his learning shows and toys. So proud of him! :)

Potty Triumph

The end of July we finally got Timmy potty trained. Kinda just took diapers out of his wardrobe and he quickly learned that he couldn't discreetly forget using the toilet. We've had a handful of accidents, but nothing compared to what we expected. Now that he's diaper-free, I realized he should be in Preschool (after seeing all the children his age on FB with their 'first day of preschool' pictures over the last week), but it takes me no time at all to access my short-comings and recoup when I fall behind. It's not that he's not quite intelligent, he's got all the basics (colors, counting, alphabet) down, it's more the social aspect that we want him to work on. Boy, are preschools expensive! And some of them have long days…which is silly, since a lot of it is quiet time, you're essentially paying for him to nap all day somewhere! Like he naps, pahlease! We toured a preschool today and he'll be starting next Tuesday, doing two half days a week. Timmy will be in school next week! Wow, that's crazy. And he's going to be 4 in two weeks!! We're throwing him a Lego party, which should be fun. I can't wait for cake!

Levi's a lot like Timmy was at 22 months…no words, but can navigate an iPad like a pro…it's disgusting really. He'll eat anything, which is a nice change from Timmy's pickiness. He also loves to get dirty, while Timmy melts down if he's sticky. He's also developing quite the little attitude. Still nursing too, which is something that's going to be hard to cut off. But it needs to happen.

Drew's looking into getting some work done on his knee. Right now he's at an appointment with an orthopedist, to see what steps can be taken to lessen the pain and hopefully allow him to gain a little more function in day to day life. I hope they are able to do something for him, not just because I'm sick of hearing him complain (which I am) but because I want him to be able to play and be active with our boys. We're back and forth about having a third kid (he's back, I'm forth :) )…and I feel like that's a lot of his weariness, is being out numbered and really not able to keep up physically.

High On Ink

This is the first time I'm actually sitting at my computer keyboard and writing on this blog in forever! I usually lay in bed and type 'notes' in my phone before I pass out….collecting them later and copy pasting them in. So, what, is so important that I feel I must have this full, traditional experience? Today is tattoo day! I'm super nervous and anxious. I made this appointment in March…MARCH! Four months I have been pacing this idea in my head, back and forth…back and forth. The artist I chose is in high demand and very talented…however, I haven't heard from him since March. I've emailed. I've FaceBooked. All are cordially answered by an apprentice, offering words of comfort, "He printed out your email, he'll read it and answer your questions." And, silence. So I don't know. I'm nervous today my be a disaster…but for some reason kind of trust that it won't. I'll paste the email I sent him, so you can see my tattoo vision. :)

Hi Jeremy!

I'm sure you don't remember me, but we met briefly in March when I came to your shop to inquire about a tattoo and that I've heard about you and your great work through the grapevines at Quest (primarily Ryan Doud and Michelle Van-something, hah). I'm currently booked for July 24th and am really looking forward to it. I figure I should probably touch base with you to revisit the vision I have…I'm a terrible procrastinator, so I apologize if you would have preferred more than a month and a half to start work on this. 

I want a shoulder/back piece (I'm thinking my left) that flows down my arm a little, maybe mid-bicep. I'd like it to be watercolor and have some negative space and to incorporate the following: 

-the Japanese symbol, Enso 

-the 'Eye of God' which is the Helix Nebula, but nebula's in general are beautiful, so maybe a more colorful nebula with the Helix in it

-both my boys initials and birthdays (written TJ 9.25.10 and LA 11.14.12)

-my wedding anniversary date (June 25, 2013)

-(this is where it gets tricky, and I'm not sure if it's something even fathomable) I would like this piece to be like an unfinished puzzle, cascading and falling into and out of itself, as fluidly as possible. The puzzle that's intact is where I want the birthdays and anniversary. The whole tattoo piece doesn't necessarily need to be a puzzle…I trust your instincts as what aspects you'd like to where.

-and if you could just toss a little, tiny elephant in there, just for my Thai heritage, I'd love that! ('toss'…right, like it's that easy! Ha.)

Thank you and I really look forward to hearing back! I am hoping you can shoot me a price quote (so I don't make an ass out of myself in person because my assumption might be way off) and please let me know if any of this is just ridiculous and unreachable, haha. I'll attach the photos I've come across in the last few months that have helped me build this vision.

Sincerely,

Amanda Southard

I feel like I'm pretty clear as to what I would like in my tattoo. So lets hope he captures it. I better go, the kids are calling! :)

Okay, I figured I'd just add the pictures here, since this is the entry about it. (I keep jumping around trying to update everything about our vacay remodeling and this and life…it's starting to jumble out into a mess.)

All drawn up and ready to go.

Outline complete.

Time to add some colors!

All that looks like blood…haha.

That's the Ensō, with the Helix Nebula behind it.

All this madness took about 3.5-4 hours! Hurt like a mother!
Can't wait to get it finished…come on September 16th!!

Living Room Face Lift

Here's how our living room turned out!

It started off white, white, and a little more WHITE! I'm sick of the blandness of it, with the eleven year old green couches and monster of a tv stand taking up the whole room.

This is what our dining room looked like…a disaster!!

We settled on Granite Grey from Valspar and painted most of the walls…more than necessary.

Then we stapled in boarding around the room, to give it a clean, smooth look, since the walls themselves are so textured…and after I came to my senses, I went and bought a nail gun and removed all the staples and replaced them with nails.

After we got it all up, filled in the cracks with caulk and spacial, we primed and then painted.

Timmy enjoying lunch. :)

Busy Is The Month Of June

I don't know why I take on so much...but for some reason, I get going, and I just don't stop!

We decided a while back that we wanted to redo our living room sometime this year, preferably while warm so we can air the place out. I knew we were going to take some time off around our anniversary...so I just put it all together. I knew what couch I wanted, and was lucky that a very close local furniture shop carries it. The couch has therefore determined the color scheme. It itself is a pewter (deep green gray) and black. So we painted the walls a granite gray...but let's not stop there, cuz I'm a Pinterest pusher, don'tcha know! Let's do a treatment on our walls...board and batten!! And since our house walls were texturized by assholes, it's not as simple as putting up molding and painting the bottom half white. 

Now we also wanted to get rid of my long time companion tv unit. It's been with me to four apartments and then this house. And poor Drew helped me move it several times...so he's got a personal vendetta against this unit. Bye bye old (heavy, slightly unsafe) friend. Plus we want to mount our new 46" TV up on the wall! After shopping around for a new tv stand for a week or so, finding things I like in the $400 range, I finally resorted to Pinterest. DIY dresser turned tv stand, brilliant...add it to the list, hop on Craigslist and find us a dresser for cheap, barter down to cheaper, go pick up, and then start THAT project at the same time as the living room. Nobody should really be shocked...impressed, maybe...but not shocked! Haha. And around all this madness, weddings, bachelorette parties, birthdays, baby showers, Levi's surgery, and OUR anniversary! Geez.

So anyways...today is day 3. Things are coming along, but today is the LAST day we have to finalize the living room...which means we have A LOT of work to complete today! We maybe spent too much time with the dresser and not enough with the living room. I have plans to go out to dinner tonight...but I donno if that's gonna be fair for Drew. Ugh. Gotta get today started, like twenty minutes ago!


~June 29th~

So we finished the living room walls after 4 days of nonstop work. If it wasn't such a highly used room, I'm sure we could have neglected it and taken our time. But with kids and routines, we needed our house in semi functioning order.
We're still needing to mount the tv, finish the dresser, figuring out the wiring of all of it, get rid of our tv media stand, buy new curtains, spray paint the rods and outlet covers...and then boom! we're done!!

Addict.

I don't even know where to begin! It feels like forever since I've been on here...life seems to be maintaining a level of hectic that I'm growing quite accustomed to. 

I started a 'Do-It-Yourself' blog: The Spectacular Attempt. I've done three entries so far...no followers, not causing a huge wave...not really concerned though. I finished the storage bench, did a scrabble tile wall decor, and some button art thus far. Still haven't gotten around to posting my awesome up-cycling of a Little Tikes swing set...which is a great Segway into my next update:

I have taken up Craigslist trolling like crack. I just hang out on the for sale, Baby & Kid page, waiting to pounce! Got the swing set (which retails for $600 new) for $75! Then gave it a fresh paint job. Kinda becoming obsessed with all these outdoor kid toys...just today Drew went to pickup a wagon I scored (retail:$70 paid:$15). It's become an addiction and gives me a high, but at least it's a money saver (unlike gambling), so long as I can keep myself from buying things I don't need just for the bargain. I've also taken up couponing and price-matching. I'm getting to the point where I honestly don't want to pay retail for anything! 

I mean seriously…how amazeballs is this?!

Their new ride. :)

Here you can see the play nook with the bench, scrabble letters, and the 
button sun…and of course Timmy in his TMNT pi's. :)
 Erin and I are gonna take the kids to a race called Color Me Rad (which is why I wanted the wagon). It's a 3 miles course and throughout there will be blasts of color going on and we'll have color bombs to throw. Should be a lot of fun...not to mention the current cost is $45 a person plus tax and fees, which came to $53 dollars...scored two admissions for $50. I'm getting good at saving money. But I also am getting good at spending it too! 

Bought us a new patio cover...it was on sale at least. 

Our new hard top patio cover, and yes…that's another Little Tikes climber you see in the far back! Ha.

And we got our garden all put together and planted. This year we have strawberries, radishes, peas, green beans, corn (galore!), carrots (hopefully), onions, parsley (or basil…not sure), pumpkins, potatoes, and tomatoes!! BOOM! Hah.

Our raised cinder block garden! Watching it grow! :)

I want to buy a new car with a little more room for all of us, and to support my Craigslist habit and hauls…but that's something I gotta save for. We'll be remodeling our living room next month, hopefully. I've already picked out a couch, Drew kinda wants a new TV, and know I want to board and batten the walls…but I'm not sure what colors I want to paint it, grey is always my go to, haha. Life is just tremendous, like, way! :)

My one little nag right now, healthcare. I pay, they drop me…I don't pay, they say they received payment that I made months ago. So now I don't know what to do, because I went to the doctors and was under the impression that it was covered, and now I have a bill. I couldn't be more irritated with this system…I'm totaled out. I should probably just go to Chaz and talk with their helper person…because I'm just at a loss and SO fed up.

Some Of My Madness

Feb. 8, 2014 10:24AM

The S household has been sick for over a week now. Started with Levi, then Timmy and Drew...and then it overtook me! It seems to be a simple cold, although Levi and Timmy both had fevers. We're all currently in the sniffling, sneezing, hacking, flemmy stage, the most attractive of them all! If nothing else, I'm glad I'm sick while still donating breastmilk, so little Jameson gets some of those wonderful antibodies, (see how we find the silver linings?).

Being sick hasn't cramped our production mode though (and perhaps that's why we're still sick)! I finished the stenciling in the laundry room, our washer broke promptly thereafter...we got it fixed...and it washed a load before signaling another error code had corrupted it's computer system. Fred's Appliance finally just replaced it with a new machine...you know new, like how ours was new three weeks ago. I'm skeptical, to say the least! They brought the second new machine yesterday...we shall see!

Over the past month, I've been scouring the internet world for the right finishing touches for our bedroom. I ordered two canvas's, both wedding pictures that I deemed unappealing to anyone but us...and I painted a vintage looking sign with a line of lyrics from our song (Look After You- The Fray) "You've begun to feel like home." I ordered curtain rods and curtains from Walmart.com, then found back sheer curtains and bungee cords at our local Walmart. After everything showed up or was done being painted, we were finally ready to put it all together! I love Pinterest because it helped with the cheap solution of turning a one curtain rod into a two curtain rod with the simple addition of a bungee cord, so with that behind our rod, we put up our sheer white curtain.

Feb. 10, 2014 3:38PM

The new washer started sending out help signals this morning. The tech has come and gone, saying that it would be like lightning striking twice for a different machine to prompt the same error cord, so the problem must be here, not there. We have an electrician coming tomorrow...really hope he has some answers for us!

Feb. 13, 14 7:40AM

Our electrician came two days and put in a different outlet for our washer; one that's just for it alone...stupid high and mighty washer! But it hasn't beeped yet, so that's a good sign! I just need my washer-woes to end...I need my normal, day to day life back!

I finally made the jump and got Obama Care...runs me $209 a month, with Drew getting a $19 credit for me...I don't understand. Being married really screwed me in this situation...being married usually does in any government situation. I waited until after we had kids to get married, simply so we could get state insurance for the pregnancies and birth. It's weird and sad that our system works that way. Punish the hard workers, but any trash on the street is welcome to assistance that will enable them to forever latch on to the taxpayers teet! But that's a whole different rant. I'm kind of excited to go to the doctors soon for eczema cream! My poor skin has really taken this winter hard. I made a whipped coconut oil body moisturizer, which was nice but greasy...not to mention it doesn't last beyond a day; 24 hours later, my whole body felt sunburnt! Smelled good, at least.

Feb. 17, 2014

Work was CRAZY over the Valentine's Day weekend! Who knew the most romantic joint was a casino...not I! Not like I'm one to judge, that's where Drew and I always went until I self barred myself...again. Ha. It's my dirty, little addiction...one that I must stay away from. 

I'm excited to work on my newest project, a window frame picture frame. I bought an old, ugly 'vintage' window frame off Craigslist. It's pretty 'rustic' to put it nicely...but hopefully with the right amount of love, we'll have it all cleaned up and beautifully displaying one of our wedding pictures! Drew wants to help SO badly, after seeing how well the laundry room and the bedroom turned out...he wants to be part of the magic. Unfortunately, it's a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' type scenario...I have my visions...which he can never fully visualize until the final product is in front of him. I told him he can do the kitchen! And of course now I'm trying to take over that...control-freak much?? Ha.

March 3, 2014

I finished my window frame project, all I need to do now is makeover our living room so it'll have a special place on the wall...that's all. :) The frame itself wasn't too bad, just cleaned it, gave it a fresh coat of white paint, used wood finish to add a look of controlled aging, mod podged it, and done! The picture itself was a bit of a hassle, and probably the reason I took so long to start this (along with the fact that all my edited pictures were lost in the horrific computer crash of 12/13) because the frames picture size measured 19x33in. Just perfectly over the typical large size print of 20x30...and I am not the type to allow 3 inches of vast emptiness! And the larger the prints, the larger the price tag...so I didn't want to 'experiment' with costly prints. (And if you're saying in your head that you can get engineer prints done at Staples for a couple bucks, let me stop your silent little outburst, because those prints are of crap quality and only come in black and white. Don't get it twisted, I'm all for using them for the right craft project, this just wasn't it.) So my large print hack is as follows (are you ready?!): I used Picasa to crop the 19x33 measurement of the full picture I wanted to use, I saved a copy of the image 6 times, then did the CD/square crop and using a ruler against my computer screen to make sure it was the same size each time and cropped each section, knowing I would get some overlapping, then I ordered each square from Costco photos online (12x12s are $3=$18), and then I trimmed down each photo where the frame crosses, taped it too a piece of cardboard, then nailed it down, so it looks like a single print...that's not crazy...right? My only complaint, the very top left sky's blue is slightly different than the other pictures...but for $18, I'll get over it! Ha.

My next project is a Ikea Billy Bookcase turned bench and storage hack. Today I painted one of my two bookcases, only to google how-to after and learn primer is a must. Oops. Guess we'll all learn from my mistake and also see how long acrylic paint and mod podge last in a little kid habitat!

Oh my god, our washer started beeping AGAIN!!!!

Project: Wash Room

I can't believe it's already 2014, let alone January's damn near over! I feel like 2013 hardly even happened...I mean seriously...where did it go?!


Things are chugging along in the S household (I'm gonna start using that term a lot, fair warning). Our washer broke a week ago...so we bought a stunning, 'top of the line' Electrolux set...they're the "Taj Mahal" of washers and dryers (said the ever eager salesman...truth)! And in a whirl-wind two days, we gutted our laundry room, painted it, hired a guy (Larry, if you must know) to rip up our old linoleum/carpet and put down a trendier, darker linoleum (ie can get dirty without dirt being seen...I live in a house with 3 boys...white will now and forever be, a poor/boring color choice for my home) before welcoming our beautiful, HE friends to our family. We were able to stack them, so we've gained quite a bit of extra space in there, which is awesome, since the room was small to start with! Hell, the house was built in 1900, I count myself lucky to even have a laundry room! Although I will say that it's VERY obvious this room was added on after the house was originally built, what with the insanely sloped floor and outdoor siding acting as an interior wall...nobody's fooling me! Ha. So again, just happy to have the room at all! ;) I also decided to use this makeover to try stenciling for the first time...what a labor of love!! I couldn't imagined doing a whole wall, although I'm sure there are different, (probably simpler and more time efficient) methods to use...and it doesn't help that my stencil is 4x8 inches and I'm using it to go up the height of the wall...yeah, that doesn't help in the slightest. But, it looks great...so great I've decided to accent another area of the room with it! And yes, I'm well aware that I sound crazy...part of my charm! The room is really coming together...next I want to make some cafe curtains to cover the built in shelves and a fun little plastic bag holder is on it's way too. Once my bank account is no longer in shock from the cost of Taj Mahal appliances, I'd love to get a new hamper and wall hanger. :) 

Our 'Before' picture of our laundry room...can you see the slant?

All empty...and ugly.

The floor.

Our new floor with some "Stormy Monday" wall.

Sexy little beasts!

And I messed up on the top two and painted over them and started again!
Love how it looks though! :)