Karlie - 15 Months

Last time I posted an update on Karlie, she had just turned 1 year old.  On Monday she had her 15 month check-up and she is certainly growing!  She has consistently stayed in the 50th percentile for weight and has always been off the charts for height (>95%). Here are her measurements since birth:

~ Her bedtime is at 8:30 and she usually wakes up at 8.

~ She takes two 2-hour naps every day, once at 10:00am and again somewhere between 2:30-3pm

~ She sleeps with a blanket, a stuffed animal (usually "Dog"...who is really Lady, from Lady and the Tramp) and her pacifier (which I really hope to start breaking her of really soon)

~ Walking is now her only mode of transportation.  Sometimes it looks like she's practically running, but I'm in denial and won't admit that to myself.

~ She loves to go outside.  And when I say loves, I mean L-O-V-E-S going outside.  It's all she wants to do.  She knows what the word means so it became one of our "spell it so she won't know what we're saying" words.  I've seen many tantrums thrown during thunderstorms because I won't take her outside.

~ She also loves to put things away.  She dumps her shapes out of her shape-sorter just so she can put them all back in.

~ She is really learning how to understand and obey us.  A couple weeks ago, I caught her going through our bathroom drawers, playing with a bottle of pills (child-proof...don't worry) so I told her "Karlie, put that away."  She immediately put the bottle back in the drawer and pushed the drawer closed.  A little while later, I found her in our bedroom playing with the same pill bottle.  I looked at her again and said "Karlie, go put that away."  She walked into the bathroom, opened the drawer, put the pills inside, closed the drawer, and walked away.  It made me so proud.

~ She's the best dancer I know.

~ She loves to eat.  She prefers fruits and vegetables over french fries and corn dogs, but never turns down a bite of frozen yogurt.

~ She wears a size 4 shoe, size 4 diapers and size 12-18 months clothes.

~ She has 12 teeth! 4 top front, 4 bottom front (1 of which is still cutting through), and 4 molars (also still coming in)

~ She loves to give kisses but only gives hugs every now and then.

~ She is a go-to-bed champion.  When it's time for bed or for a nap, I just say, "Karlie, let's go night-night." and she walks down the hall, into her room, and stands in front of her crib.

~ She loves to see her daddy.  She can very easily pick him out of a crowd and goes nuts when she sees him.  As soon as he gets home and opens the door, she says "Da!!!" and takes off for the door.

A Corner of Craftiness

Besides missing a little bit of pizazz, my craft corner is complete!  Any of you who know us, and I mean really know us, you know how we are about projects.  We are masters at starting projects and champions at leaving them half-finished, for weeks  months.  So for us to finish the desk make-over, new furniture assembly, and organizing all my stuff into their new spots in just 5 days is quite the accomplishment!

Let me give you a reminder of what it looked like Friday morning.

And here's what it looked like Tuesday night:

The hanging bowls I found at Ikea.  They're called Asker Containers.  They're perfect for pens, pencils, and scissors.  I think I'll put some pretty flowers in the empty middle one.

The standing bookshelf is also from Ikea.  The boxes (again, from Ikea) are holding my fabrics and hairbow-making materials.

I put my sewing machine on the lower empty shelf and my stack of Food Network magazines on the upper empty shelf.  I know it's silly but I love how they look all stacked up nicely.  I'm thinking a white porcelain animal will look right at home on top of them.

And I love my desk!  I was worried the stain was too light and that we should have done 1 more coat of stain, but when JP put the clear coat on, it was perfect!  

And those knobs?  They look Anthropologie right??  I found them at Hobby Lobby for 50% off!

This was the previous hardware:

And these are the new ones:

So besides needing some accessories and a chair, it's all finished!

Stick Like Glue

When I decided a long time ago that I wanted to re-do my little corner, I started doing some online investigating to see what I could find.  When I saw Jen's amazingly beautiful office over at IHeart Organizing, I felt inspired...especially with her magnetic board, hanging pen holders, and floating shelf.

(Click on it for a close up)

First things first:  A trip to Ikea in Atlanta.  Check!
Second:  Give them lots of money and take home:
~ a bookshelf
~ a floating shelf
~ cute little hanging bowls to put things in
~ spice racks that will soon be book shelves for Karlie
~ a magnetic board
~ little canisters for the magnetic board
~ boxes to go inside the bookshelf

When we got home, JP hung the floating shelf and assembled a bookshelf for extra storage. (pictures to come)  

Next we got started on the magnetic board.  JP and I went to Hobby Lobby last night to pick up some material, spray adhesive, and scrapbook paper.

If you don't like long and wordy explanations, feel free to

 skip to the bottom to see the finished product!

First we spread the material over the magnetic board.

We folded down half of the material, sprayed the material and the board with adhesive, laid the material back down, and smoothed out the wrinkles.  Then we repeated this with the other half.

While that dried, we started on the magnetic canisters.

We took the paper inserts out of the canisters, traced them onto the scrapbook paper, cut them out, and put them in the canisters.  Quick and easy!

After we finished the canisters, I wasn't convinced the adhesive had completely dried so we decided to leave it overnight.  This morning, I flipped the board over and trimmed all the excess material off, leaving 1-2 inches all the way around.

Then using my hot glue gun, I laid down a squiggly line of glue and wrapped the material tightly around the edges.  As you can see in the picture, I only did a little bit at a time because the glue dried quickly since the metal was cold.

Do this all the way around and then you are done!

Desk to Craft Table

When I was in high school, my youth pastor's wife gave me a desk.  Sadly, after we got married, it had to stay at my parent's house for a while.  When we moved to Birmingham, we brought it home and decided to show it a little bit of love.

Last July we sanded it down, painted it but didn't love it.  It wasn't exactly the look I was going for, but there it sat for 9 months...enough time to grow a baby.

(Sorry for the bad {and grainy} picture.  We didn't take an "after" picture when we 

finished painting it the first time so this is actually the new "before" picture...)

After I saw this Reader Redesign over at Young House Love, I knew immediately that I had a new plan for my desk.  Last Friday we got started and so far, I am in L-O-V-E!!!!  We sanded the top all the way down to bare wood.  That took 3 hours.  So far, we've put 3 coats of stain and 1 coat of clear-coat on the top, and we've painted everything else white.  

It's not completely finished...I still need to find the world's-most-perfect-while-still-being-inexpensive knobs.  Hopefully by the end of the week, the desk will be finished...along with my little craft area that I am SUPER excited about.  Lots of pictures to come!!!

Seasoned Veggies

**Courtesy of Anna Johnson

These vegetables are probably my favorite side dish...definitely in my top 5.  They're super easy to throw together and probably very common...alot of you probably already do this as a side.

Ingredients: (the amount of each vegetable will depend on how many you're feeding.  The italicized number indicates how many we use, and will usually feed 4)
~ zucchini (2)
~ yellow squash  (2)
~ red potato (2 medium sized)
~ baby portabella  muchrooms (1 sm. carton - we love mushrooms!)
~ whole green beans (maybe around 15, chopped into thirds)
~ baby carrots (maybe around 15, sliced in half)
~ broccoli (1 stalk)
~ Tony Chachere seasoning

1.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
2.  Chop all of the vegetables.
3.  Mix all vegetables together, except for the mushrooms, in a baking dish (we use a 9x13).  Set your chopped mushrooms aside, they'll be added in later.
4.  Drizzle enough olive oil to coat the vegetables and mix.
5.  Sprinkle desired amount of Tony Chachere seasoning on top and mix again.  I've found the more I use, the spicier it gets.
6.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on how tender you want them to be.  When there are about 5 minutes left, mix in the mushrooms.  Continue baking until all the vegetables are tender.

2/20/30 Update

Today is Day 12 of my 2/20/30 Plan and it's actually going ok.

1.  30 Day Shred
    I would actually give myself an A on this plan (and JP agrees...and he's one tough cookie to please).  I've only missed 2 days out of 12.  Even though I missed Day 7 and Day 9, we still moved up to Level 2 on Day 11 (sticking with my 10 days for each level).

Now this next part might sound a little brag-a-docious, and for that I'm sorry, but since beginning a healthy diet and exercising on Feb. 15, I've lost 13 pounds and gone down 2 sizes!!!  It felt really good to pull those smaller jeans out from the floor of my closet, put them on, and actually zip and button them.  I hadn't worn them in over 2 years.

Now before my head gets too big and I float away, I'll snap back into reality and admit that I've still got a long way to go before I meet my final goal.  However, seeing changes this early on is very encouraging and makes it easier to keep going.  It also helps to have a supportive husband.  Not only in words, but in action too.  Every night, he puts on his tennis shoes and works out with me and Jillian (yes, we're now on a first-name basis)

2.  30 Day Cleaning Schedule
   I'd probably give myself a B, maybe even a B-.  I've done a good job making bed (I think a made-bed makes a big difference) and almost keeping up with the schedule.  I'm usually a day or two behind.  I just need to stop making excuses and kick it in high gear.  It's really not a hard schedule.  I just tend to be lazy.
So in the words of Forrest, Forrest Gump - "That's all I have to say about that."


That's it for now!  Is anyone else trying a cleaning plan or workout plan that you love and find easy to stick with??  If so, do share!

Flower Power

I got instructions for this little cutie from Stephanie over at Just Thought I'd Share (she's also the amazing owner of Simply Unique Boutique)  So when she posted how to do this little flower, I knew I had to do it.  All you need is material and a hot glue gun!

1.  Trace and cut out circles from your material.  I used the bottom of a juice glass to trace my circles.  The number of circles you'll use depends on how full you want your flower to be.  I cut out somewhere around 25 because I knew I'd be making more than one.  I only used 9 or 10 on my flower.  2 of my fabrics were left over from a dress I made for Karlie (more on that later).  I knew I wanted a third color so I raided my closet and found an old white skirt I never wear anymore.  For the base of my flower, I cut a smaller circle out of some left over felt I had.

2.  Grab one of your circles in the middle so that it scrunches up.

3.  Grab the open end with your other hand and put a small dot of glue on the tip.  Press it against the center of your base until it sticks.

4.  Continue doing this with your fabric circles until you get the look you want.  I alternated which fabric I used and glued them on opposite sides.

When you like what you see, stop there and admire your work!

You can then glue your blossom to whatever you like.
~ A clippie for you or your daughter's hair
~ A pin to wear on a sweater, purse or bag
~ Or glue straight to a throw pillow
So many possibilities!