Thursday, June 30, 2011

Craigslist Find {Before & After}

Two years ago, I had this amazing idea to find a small desk for Sydney on Craigslist. A desk that she could use for both getting ready and also homework. Check out the original post here. My Grandmother has a beautiful desk that's the exact size I was looking for. Knowing they're more antique that modern, I searched on Craigslist. Ironically, I found one. Creepy part was that the woman passed away and had a ton of furniture in her garage that she wasn't using. Her granddaughter was selling it along with everything else. I hurried over there, purchased the desk for an insanely cheap price and brought it home. I must admit, I stared at it for almost a year and a half before I finally decided what color to paint it. It was quite the project, but I'm absolutely thrilled with the results. It's a perfect multi-purpose desk. The top two drawers are actually for jewelry. One is a ring holder, the other a lined drawer with several compartments. The front top lifts up, as you can see in the photo to reveal a mirror as well as a removable tray with several compartments. Currently Syd uses this for all of her jewelry. The front right drawers are perfect for notebooks, pencils, pens, etc for school. The left side opens as a cabinet to reveal a drawer that pulls out to use for larger items.

First thing I did was to recover the seat. It's a rather comfy seat, so I decided to keep it and not replace it with another. I honestly wasn't even thinking about the colors when I did it. I only had a small amount of fabric at the time, so I figured out which pieces would fit it, sewed them together and stapled it with a staple gun about 1000 times. I now wish I didn't use so many since I'm not 100% sold on the fabric, but it'll do for now. I may curse myself out the day I decide to change it though. I originally spray painted the chair black and quite honestly, I wasn't loving it. This was the last change I made. I spray painted it "gum drop" which is a lovely purple (Syd's favorite color) mostly because I had it on hand from another project I recently completed.

Craigs List Find "After"

Here's how I refinished the desk:
  • First I scrubbed this bad boy down with lots of soap and water. Let's just say this was the dirtiest piece of furniture I've ever seen.
  • Next step was I removed all the handles, drawer faces, mirror, legs, inserts, screwed on drawers on the top of the desk and the piece of wood that lifts up in the center of the desk. Basically I took the whole thing completely apart! I lightly sanded all the pieces of wood with a fine grade sand paper. I didn't sand the mdf pieces at all since they don't need to be primed.
  • I used a sticky cloth to remove all of the dust particles. I did this probably three times and then also used a rag on it, just to make sure I got all of it.
  • Then I primed the entire desk with Alkyd Enamel Undercoater, solvent-based. I just used the brand from Ace Hardware. This primes the desk to take the paint and also covers and odors, stains, etc.
  • Then the fun part, I used a Benjamin Moore Semi-Gloss Latex Paint to add the color. Color used is Jamaican Aqua. We did two coats of this and letting each coat dry properly inbetween.
  • Last step was I decided I wanted to protect the desk since my daughter would most likely be spilling things on it, writing on it (or the most recent one, painting it with lipgloss). We added a coat of Minwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss Finish, lightly sanded after the first coat and applied a second coat of it. I'm soooo happy I did this because it's come in very handy and also gives the desk an amazing finish. Just be careful not to use this over white paint or it will turn it slightly yellow.
  • After it all dried, we put all the pieces back together again.
  • Finally just to finish off the desk, I added colored/scented paper to all of the drawers in a modern white and purple print. Matches her chair perfectly, plus it just adds an adorable fun look to it.
Here are the Before and After photos.

Craigs List Find "Before"Craigs List Find "After"

Craigs List Find "Before"

The heart under the mirror was Syd's addition and I have to admit, I love it! :)

Craigs List Find "After"

Tee Ball, Here She Comes!

We've been playing ball with Syd for quite some time now. She started getting the feel of how to hit and throw the ball last summer. She got so good, that we put the T-Ball stand away and started pitching directly to her. We took the winter off and Chris decided to start working with her again. One day, I was sitting inside (probably on the laptop) and heard Chris scream loudly. I shook it off and kept going. He screams even louder again and this time it's followed by a "ok, no more, no more, stop for a minute." I jumped up out of my chair and asked what happened. Chris said I had to come out and see Syd hit the ball. She was hitting it so hard and fast that he wasn't able to react fast enough and it hit him in the gut and upper chest, leaving marks. She's hitting the balls as straigh line drives. I came out....with the camera to take video! I have fears for the children fielding the balls when she's up to bat. This kid comes from a long line of baseball and softball players from both her Mom and her Dad.





Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Embroidered Apron for Her & Another Accomplishment for Me

Wow, I've been wanting to blog about this one for quite some time, yet I finally just finished it tonight. Several months ago I got this grand idea to embroider and sew Sydney an apron. I decided to do a fairytale type theme and let Syd choose all of the items she wanted on the apron. Looking back, I should've probably added a little bit more, but I was afraid it might be too busy. After the embroidery was done, it was then time to sew the apron. Some reason I choose to create my own patterns everytime I sew something. This makes things extremely challenging and I hit a lot of road blocks. I finally got an idea on how to finish the sash for the apron (that was the only part missing) and ran off to the fabric store today to buy fabric long enough for it. First cut, I measured incorrectly, second cut was perfect. I got to sewing, ran out of bobbin thread halfway through sewing it (see what I mean about roadblocks?) and had to get creative. That all being said, the apron is finally finished and both Sydney and I adore it. She loves it because she chose everything on it. I love it because it's a finished project. :) She's been helping me cook and bake a lot lately, so the timing is perfect!

Syd's new embroidered apron.

Embroidered Apron

Syd modeling her new apron

ApronLoving her apron

Sunday, June 26, 2011

My Sydney List II

I can't believe it's been two years since my first Sydney List. Time is absolutely flying and I can't seem to make it slow down! I feel like just yesterday I was changing diapers and packing sippy cups everywhere I went. So before I forget all of these current precious moments, I want to make a list for where she is RIGHT NOW. Hopefully it won't be another two years before I make another one of these!

1. She's constantly singing around the house. Her favorite line is "Mom, who do you think is a better singer, me or you?" I always reply "Me of course" to which she quickly responds with "nope, I'm a better singer than you are." Always a competition.

2. She's a dancer, has been since she was a baby. If she hears music, she has to get up and dance to it. She loves to dance with her Dad so that she can run up to him dirty dancing style and leap into his arms. It's hysterical and I have thousands of leaps on video.

3. She's in love with her iTouch, that the most amazing people in the world gave her. She's obsessed with Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Pink and Selena Gomez. We're trying to encourage the Selena Gomez a little more than the others. It gets hard trying to explain why Lady Gaga is laying half clothed on the ground with a man in her music video. Sheesh. Wizards of Waverly is much more her speed.

4.She's FINALLY starting to try new foods. It takes a little convincing, but she's been doing it more and more. We did bring in a food therapist to come talk to her. Didn't learn too much more other than to always put something she knows and loves on her plate. Something she's seen before but sometimes eats it, sometimes she doesn't on her plate. Then lastly to always put something she's never seen before on the plate. We tell her that she doesn't have to eat it, but encourage her to play with it. We ask her questions like "do you think it's crunchy? Is it squishy? What does is smell like?" Sometimes her curiosity gets the best of her and she says "let me try it." It's making our lives soo much less stressful.

5. She is absolutely the most affectionate girl ever. She thrives on hugging, kissing and snuggling. She definitely got that from Chris and his family and I'm forever grateful for it. She is always screaming "I love you" no matter where we are, completely unprompted. It just melts my heart every time. She thinks it's absolutely hysterical to grab the sides of your face and give you these incredibly long and uncomfortable, along with very wet, kisses. In fact she gave one to her Papa the other day and it seriously made me about tinkle in my pants. Everyone's reactions are hysterical. No two people react the same to them. I usually end mine with "yuck!" and wipe my mouth off....this cracks her up! She usually tries to come at me again for another.

6. She's obsessed with going to the bathroom in public places. It makes me completely crazy. Gas stations, restaurants, airports, people's homes. If there's a toilet there, she wants to check it out. Sometimes a few times! Her favorite of them all would be the gas station. We try to avoid taking her to the gas station at all costs so that we don't have to hear the "Oh no, I really have to go potty RIGHT NOW" she puts up this big act and holds herself like she's stopping the tinkle from coming out. Such an actress.

7. She's still a huge helper. No matter what I'm doing, she wants to help. She helps me cook and bake. She loves pouring ingredients into the bowls and stirring. She sweeps the patio, plants flower seeds, pulls weeds, folds laundry, helps put away clothes and towels and so much more.

8. She's stubborn, oh so very stubborn. Likes things on her terms and that's that. Such a hard headed kid, hard to believe with such even keeled parents. :) She likes to say "you're not the boss, I'm the boss" and other lovely things.

9. She's a maniac on her bike. Training wheels on, she pedals so extremely fast that I have to use my bike to keep up with her. We tried to take the training wheels off the other day to use the Gyro Wheel. Needless to say, training wheels went back on for a few more months.

10. She's absolutely unbelievable at softball. She hits the ball off the tee so hard, Chris can't react fast enough some times to catch it. He was left with two huge welts the other night. See previous post on that one! That being said, I sign her up in August for Tee Ball during the Fall.

11. Her purple blanket goes everywhere with her. Since the day she was born , she's slept with the blanket every single day. She pokes her fingers through the holes (always has) it calms her down and she quickly passes out.

12. Her favorite color is "dark purple" not light purple or just purple, but dark purple. If she paints or colors something, it's always purple. Favorite candy, she saves the purple ones for last. She's a girl after my own purple heart.

13. She says your name a million times during a conversation. Every sentence starts with "Mom?" and then it's usually followed by "can I tell you somefing?" or "wanna know someting?" It's simultaneously adorable and annoying. It's ended with "you didn't know dat?"

14. She doesn't pronounce S's when they start a word. For example "Shoot across the sky" a line from one of her favorite Katy Perry Songs, she says "Coot across the ky". School is "cool" s'mores are "pores", smelling is "pelling and when she spills something on the floor she says "Sorry mom, I pilled."
15. She's finally swimming on her own with no floaties. I seriously stopped breathing yesterday when she asked me to come outside so she could show me her lessons. Her swim teacher gives her things to work on each week, so she comes home and says "I need to do my lessons" it's adorable. So, anywhoo, Chris has her in the middle of the pool. She does sandwich hands (hands together in out in front of her) and gets a push off of Chris. Face in the water, goggles on the face, she kicks as hard as she can across the entire pool to the edge! All without a single breath (that part scared the bajeezus out of me). She was so proud of herself and we were too! We are officially retiring the floaties because this girl can swim!

16. She's referred to McDonalds as Chickendonalds for as long as I can remember. Started one day after gymnastics. It's caught on rather quickly and everyone loves saying it now. Such a trendsetter.

17. Lastly before I bore everyone else to pieces is that she wakes up every single morning between 6 and 6:30 am, comes into our room and says to one of us "can you make me chocolate milk" she's absolutely relentless and doesn't stop until one of us get up and get her chocolate carnation with some milk. Every. Single. Day.

Sydney, thank you so much for being you. Each and every day we're so proud of you and so honored to be your parents. You make us laugh, cry, scream and most of all, you make us so thankful for having you in our lives each and every day. You make every single day better just by being in it. There isn't a single thing we would change about you. Not even the fact that you recently went through a stage of punching boys in the face when they were mean to you. Haha, no one messes with our girl! :) We love you baby girl.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Ballet & Tap

Syd's been begging me to put her back into a Ballet class. We told her that there was a rule. She had to attend and actively participate/listen in her swim lessons. The reward for this achievement would be ballet and tap classes. At first she was hesitant to sign on the dotted line for this deal, but eventually she realized she wasn't able to negotiate herself out of the swim lessons. After her first swim lesson, we headed out to purchase her ballet and tap shoes, which was extremely exciting for her. The day finally arrived for her first ballet and tap class. Sadly, she was the only girl in the class. Good news is that she's been getting a private hour long lesson. I like it! The teacher is absolutely amazing with her. Syd dances her heart out and listens extremely well to the teacher. So far this deal has been a win win!

Syd learning the positions

Ballet

Leaping

Ballet Leaping

Learning Tap

Tap

Starting to get into it a big! :)

Tap Dance

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Aunt Amanda's Last Second Trip

Southwest Airlines has been doing some deals where they drop their prices around 4 weeks out from the departure date. Amanda was stalking the tickets and snatched up a quick trip out here in early June. Syd was so excited for her to come, she was doing a countdown a week out "how many more days until Aunt Manda comes? Show me with your fingers." We had fun with her as usual. It's always interesting to try and merge my diet with hers. Makes for some interesting meals. There was an exhibit in town with replicas from King Tut's tomb. Was kinda disappointing that they didn't have any actual items from his tomb, but I completely understand that they can't be travelling around with these valuable items. Was impressive nonetheless to see the items and touch them (when no one was looking) with your own hands.

Sadly they didn't allow any cameras inside, so all we have is our gorgeous photo from when we traveled to Egypt. I just love the pathetic looks on Chris and Syd's faces.

Quick Trip to Egypt

Before Amanda headed back to Chicago, I snapped a few shots of Syd with her

Aunt Manda & Syd

Syd insisted that if they take any photos, that Amanda would have to wear a crown so that they could be princesses together.

Princesses