Refreshed Bedroom

The physician and I decided that we were completely bored with our bedroom set up. I don't even have "before" pictures because we were just so over it. It was drabby browns... blah. I decided we needed color! and lots of it. So this post is going to double showing off our new bedroom and also how to jazz up your best friend's kennel, that's right, kennel. (but why would she put her best friend in a kennel?...)

 ... cuz she's a doggy, and the puppy likes being in her kennel while every one's out of the house. No judging.

We started decorating with new threads (new curtains and duvet). We decided on bold blue tones. We were able to do this at a reasonable price at IKEA.  Next step was new art. Very much attracted to the bold graphics. So much fun and clean.

The architectural graphic drawing was by Ben Kafton. The "be thou my vision" letterpress was from Marangelie Caballero. 

 I take great pride in the pillows. I found the fabric months ago, it was an impulse purchase. Super easy to sew pillows, anyone can do it. Even me! And it went perfect with our new task lamps.

Now we get into the DIY part of the post. Many of us regrettably admit that we have unwanted furniture in our bedrooms because, well, there's no where else to put it. For some, it's exercise equipment, for us, it's animal shtuff. So here's the before, I was ready to ban Regan to the garage I hated this thing so much.

And Affteeeeerrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

All it took was a fine light coat of primer spray paint and then the color I wanted.

I'm not saying that I'm brilliant for picking up a spray can or that Regan cares what color her kennel is. All I'm saying is that this color keeps me from chucking it out the window. Now if only I knew what to do with the cat tree.......hhmmmmm

DIY Easter Basket Grass

Anybody else hate that cheap, green, plastic grass stuff to put inside your kid's basket? I decided to be stubborn, refuse to buy any and make a more earth friendly grass instead.

 I used shredded paper from my trusty shredder bin and put it into a Ziploc bag.

Took some leftover coffee and put it into a spray bottle.

 Spray said shredded paper with said leftover coffee.

Spread out paper onto wax paper in the sun to dry. You can spray the paper more to get a darker tone.
   

      
While the paper was drying we decided to color eggs. Palmer was bound to make a mess so he observed from a safe distance.

Once the paper is dry you can put it in the basket. Just as good as the green stuff!

Green Your Baby

To help celebrate Earth Day  I thought I would share what we do in our home to be green. The physician and I have had, not necessarily the luxury, but the opportunity to live in northern and southern Arizona. While living in these hippie-college towns and scrapping by on my little ol' salary we learned to get by on very little. And what we had, we conserved/reused, because if we didn't, we wouldn't have anything. Now that we are on slightly more stable ground we continue our green ways, because it's good for everyone.

Our little boy has been with us for almost 2 months now and it has really been an eye opener how quickly you can get out of the habit of being good for the environment. Everything for kids is in disposable, smaller packaging specifically designed for the parent's ease. And it's true that when you're kid is screaming his/her head off the last thing you are going to be concerned about is mother earth. I'm not saying it's easy but when has anything good in this life not been worth fighting for?

Here's a list of some things that we have gotten into the habit of doing that might work for some of you.

1. After a lot of research we decided that clothe diapers would work great in our household situation. But we couldn't just do the clothe diapers. We decided if we were going to do that we had to go all the way. That means we use washable wet bags to keep the dirty diapers in (not plastic bags), and small wash clothes instead of baby wipes (I make my own baby butt spray and got the recipe here). All those things can be washed and reused. They work great and we love them!!!

2. Another essential is a toddler bath tub. Just because the kid can sit up and play with bath toys doesn't mean you have to fill up the whole tub. We use the Bato Bath Tub and save gallons of water. Also once summer time comes we can't wait to stick it outside and he has his own personal pool. An uncle also made the observation that once he grows out of it the tub would make a nice ice bath for certain beverages ;-) after a good cleaning of course.

3. A lot of parents gave us crap for this but do not underestimate the power of toys without batteries. Why do all kids toys need to light up and make noise? Yes, Palmer does have a couple toys that require batteries that he loves but the wooden blocks are just as entertaining. Take advantage of the easy amusement while it still lasts!

4. Now some things that you can do that do not require a baby but is still very helpful is composting. Now if you love to garden like we do, instead of wasting that food that was thrown on the floor in the trash, put it in a container with some dirt and voilà! Extra nourishment for your plants! Don't forget about all the paper goods you can put in there as well. I use natural cleaners so when I choose to use a paper towel to clean up a mess I can throw that in their too.

5. And most importantly-not even without a question-everyone should do anyway... recycling. Best time to teach you kid good and responsible habits is now! Go on, doooo iiit!

So what are some things that you guys do to stay green in your home?? Please share!!

Kitchen Update

Our kitchen was in some much needed update. So why not some still shots of some retro labels to brighten the place up?

                                 Before:

                              After:

It's been one week since our son has been home! Not like he cares but I wanted the kitchen to be extra enjoyable since that has been where we've been spending the majority of our time. But I'd like to think the fishy likes it too  :]

Frameology

This is one of my most beloved pieces of art that I've seen in person. It's The Artist's Studio by Raoul Dufy. I first saw this painting at the Phoenix Art Museum in the Phillips Collection. The original oil canvas is a little under 4 x 5 feet. It was this huge colorful wall of happiness. Yes I'm one of those nerds that get emotionally moved by art... don't hate. So you could imagine my dismay when the ONLY print I could find was 8 x 10 inch print. I was sad. Very sad. What even made me sadder? The lame frame I had to buy because it wasn't even normal frame size and we were too poor for custom framing. I still love my print, still hate my frame.

 Enter bottle of enamel spray paint. Gosh I hope this works.

Some obvious but not common advice, when you are spray painting something make sure you aren't spraying to close to the product or dilly dally in the same place for too long because it will bubble. Sweeping motions from about 6 to 12 inches away is best. It will take longer but look much better.

Awww... now I feel better.

how we screwed up our 1st born

I believe that every parent always has the best intentions. But we all know everyone makes mistakes. Preparing for parenthood can be one of the most nerve-racking times of a persons life! You start making bizarre unrealistic announcements..... "I will NEVER set my kid in front of the tv"..... "he/she will only eat fresh organic food".... these statements (or others like them) are contemptuously made and then the parents usually cave in, or even worse the parents fallow through (have you ever met kids in that kind of environment? socially awkward right?)
This is not a cautionary tail for those parents who succumb to parenting short cuts because it is the only way to keep their sanity. This is for those other parents... those consistent ones that never give in.

The way we got our Regan was very similar to adopting our son. We did our research and scoped out the breeders in the area. I grew up with miniature schnauzers so I knew the breed well but I still did extensive research on genetic dispositions of the breed. We puppy proofed the house and we waited for that litter to be born. I knew I wanted a salt and pepper female and she was the only one in the whole litter. She was so tiny when we first got her...

At this time I've been in the veterinary field for about 7 years and just started working at an emergency veterinary hospital. As a nurse you see a lot. And I reacted the same as I'm sure any medical ED nurses, firefighters or other first responders do with their children. Heck, my mom is a dental hygienist and I have never had a cavity. You do what you know. So I sheltered the crap out of her. I was the "fun police". I'm sure I drove the physician nuts with my insane "what if" thoughts. She couldn't go outside by herself because her urine output had to be monitored (schnauzers have a tendency for urinary stones), she can't get table food (also a tendency for pancreatitis), she can't be left to chew on a rawhide by herself ( I have pulled large pieces out of the back of her throat 4 times!!!) or her toys (I've had to induce vomiting 3 times from ingested fabrics!).

So what did we do. We kept her close. She couldn't be trusted. It was either that or linear foreign body surgery. Now that she's an adult, she started to show odd behaviors. Defiant "I'm unhappy with you" piddles inside the house. Shaking like a leaf.....all the time. She had to be physically touching you.... all the time. My husband and I ate it up like nothing else. The physician was going through his medical internship, and we were both dealing with the adoption process. Our neediness fed off of each other until it snowballed into this gooey ball of dependency. Now that we are preparing for Palmer to get here, people kept on asking "So..... how do you think Regan is going to take a child running around?" By the time the 10th person asked we kinda stepped back and realized, maybe we should do something.

Enter Kelly Moffat, DVM, Diplomat Animal Behaviorist. She basically told us to do the complete opposite of everything we were doing. We also put her on Prozac to take the edge off (it's only temporary so no judging). And the icing on the cake...kicking her out of the bed. Possibly more traumatic for the physician than for the puppy but we were going to do it!! We were going to succeed!!! So, I made a doggy bed. I put a lot of thought into this actually. The physician always complains that Regan is "cold". So I made it out of a fuzzy blanket she use to have when she was a puppy and flannel.

I don't really condone drinking and sewing at the same time (I poked myself quite a bit).

It's been several weeks now of a doggy free bed! It's been quite nice actually. I was happy at first with the thought of having the whole half of the bed to myself when my dreams were instantly crushed. My husband has now migrated to sleeping in the middle of the bed. No joke, I wake up with his elbow in my face or knee in my back every night. Regan however, has adjusted quite nicely to her new found freedom. She's becoming a new dog. It's one thing to recognize your mistakes but to correct them before it's too late is victory. Now only if I can avoid making the same mistake twice.

Have you ever sheltered something too much you wish you hadn't? Feel free to share your story with me so I don't feel I'm the only one.

DIY: Refurbished Dresser

So we've had this dresser donated to us by some family friends. It's been a great storage space for our garage. In dire need of a "changing station" for the nursery I had this bizarre idea to torture myself and give it a face lift. Because that was the ONLY way that this dresser was going to show itself inside our house.

Presenting the before:

And if anyone wants a great way to build some bodacious triceps the answer would be to strip crackle paint off of a large piece of furniture.

After I was done I strongly debated leaving it like this. Not bad huh? Definitely better than before. But I sanded, primed, painted and got my final product.

And the after:

Wait! I'm not done. I found this snazzy shelving paper at Target and WA-POW!

Perfect amount of bright color therapy to distract any person from the most repulsive giant Korean baby poo.

Upside Down Pineapple Martini

I just celebrated yet another birthday, woohoo, and what better way to celebrate my body dwindling away than with alcohol. In spirit of fancy spirits I would like to share my absolute favorite drink.

The Upside Down Pineapple Martini

 Things you'll need:

• Pineapple juice
• Grenadine
• Vanilla Vodka
• Cherry Vodka
• Spoon
• Martini shaker
• Martini glass

First you take 1 part Grenadine and 1 part Cherry Vodka, mix, and pour at the bottom of the martini glass. You want to fill about 1/4 of the bottom of the glass, of course you could add extra to your liking.

Next mix 1 part Vanilla Vodka to 3 parts Pineapple juice, again amount of vodka can be adjusted to preference. Instead of a martini shaker I use my Blender Bottle. It has a whisker inside so it mixes everything thoroughly and gives it a nice fluffy texture. And it's one of my favorite things to have in the kitchen, very handy.

Nows the tricky part, hold the spoon upside down over the martini glass, as close to the cherry mixture as possible, and poor the pineapple mixture of the spoon slowly to create the separated look. Vuala!!!

If you have people over for drinks it's a lovely presentation drink , but when I'm by myself I just mix everything together. It still tastes delicious.

Salud!!

Puppy's Birthday

My lovely spoiled-only-four-legged child turned 2 in August. For her (and her sister) I made special doggy cupcakes. Because Schnauzers are prone to food allergies AND pancreatitis my ingredients were very limited. Good thing my very thoughtful mother got me this organic dog biscuit cookbook ;-)

I made cupcakes that consisted of salmon and garbanzo beans. The icing was of plain yogurt and low fat cream cheese.

Our house smelled for a week. It was totally worth it.

My new chair

Oh yeah! I have a blog. My faithful laptop finally hit the dust. It's been an interesting transition because this is the first time the physician and I ever had to share a computer. I didn't realize how odd that sounded until I just typed it. It's kind of been nice taking some time away from cyberland. My creative juices have been flowing. Usually when I get these "ideas" to do certain "projects" there is always someone trying to discourage me from anything they feel that is over my head. So what do I decide to do? Reupholster my chair and not tell anyone of my plans until it's almost done. Some careful things to contemplate before doing this.

1. Have I ever upholstered furniture before? - no
2. Any formal training other than watching HGTV all day? - no
3. Still stubborn enough to try anyway? - oh hell yes!

Here's the before

And the after

This chair will be going into the nursery. We just found out that our adoption application was accepted!! Now I just need to find time we're both available to go to the notary to sign the contract. ;-)

Picture Collage

So first of all I would like to point out my brilliantness with how big my pictures on my website are now. I've been working on my Html, still don't know what the hell I'm doing but I'm getting there. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Now for my actual post. I started this DIY project. I have a bunch of pictures of my beloved furry children and decided to put them on the same wall in our downstairs half bath. This is the before.

And this is now.

Needless to say, Lennox approved of the results. He spent the rest of the afternoon in the bathroom because it looked so pretty. The physician claims it's because there was only one picture of him and he wanted to even things out. Honestly I didn't use any rhyme or reason for how I hung the pictures. I did lay them out on the floor and figured out where the pictures would go. No measurements or cutout of the frames on the wall. I just hung the middle picture and worked my way from there. I did however use these new Command picture hanging strips which worked pretty well and I didn't have to poke a bunch of holes in the wall. All of my picture frames were pretty light though.

I absolutely love the paintings of the little schnauzers by Todd Young. The physician bought these for me as a birthday gift. I can't resist the vibrant colors and the perfect subject.