Home Teachers Still Allowed but No Longer Reserving a Room

Over the past year, I have slowly been trying to make our front room more A) Pretty and B) Useful to our Family.  Most homes have them nowadays, the pretty front room that's small but stuffed with couches, always clean and without toys.  Around here it's often nicknamed "The Home Teachers Room".  It serves its function in that there's a nice place to visit but guests don't have to see your dirty dishes.

But Home Teachers just come once a month, or in my case, once every 18 months. Our front room is small- too small for a couch and loveseat.  Piano is our musical talent we invest in around here, so I decided I would make our front room the "Piano and Reading Room".  When and if the Home Teachers show up, we just take them into our main family room, mess and all.

I took some pictures after I moved the loveseat out, but before the transformation.   Wait, let me clarify: before the mini-makeover.  I am not a decorator, and organization takes way too much brain energy and money for me to be a natural at it.  If I had my way, this room would have wood floors, wood plank walls painted white, and no vertical blinds!  The ceiling fan would be replaced by a quirky white chandelier, and the piano would be refinished in white.  In essence, the dream lives on this Pinterest board.  I have to say however, that the new reality is far from magazine pretty, but a dream come true for me.

 I have almost tried to sell our glider rocker a few times, but I still yearn to have a thinner profile chair that I can occassionally rock and snuggle my littles.  

 Here it is with the glider and me trying to find the perfect rocker recliner without taking up half the room.

 I have seen several tutorials on painted pianos, and would love to paint this piano WHITE.  I just don't dare start such a project, plus what if it turned out crappy?  On a piano?!

This is how far our piano makeover went.  The colorful mismatched knobs have made a big difference however!

 I purchased a teak rocking chair, only to discover I had to rocket fuel my legs off the carpet to get it to rock, and then it lasted for approximately one (1) back and forth.  So that sucker went back to the store.  So the glider remained waiting to find the perfect replacement.

This rug is fun and it's not that old.  But it didn't fit my new criteria of WHITE, WICKER, and WOOD.

So here is the AFTER picture:

The glider is draped with fabric I have had forever, which I will recover it with.  It is a white linen with embroidered tan flowers.  The plan is to paint the honey wood a clean WHITE and so that the only wood remaining in this room is the dark finish of the coat rack, piano, and small rocking chair.

I love the Ikea Expedit shelves with wicker inserts.  It stores piano and guitar books, Primary Music props, and the like.  The Ikea shelves with inserts ended up being around $200 altogether.  When I thought of the clean look and the ample storage, it was well worth the price.

Plus it has been fun to treat the shelves as a sort of mantle and make simple holiday arrangements.

The rug is made up of old indian silks and was just $17 at TJ Maxx.  

So Marilyn, are you proud of me?  I'm still trying to be el Decorateur but this will have to do for now. 

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A Story of a Sloth and a Honeybee

This week I am 35 weeks prego. This new kid is coming up, and I have the energy level of a sloth. Which brings me to this: women are the fabric of communities. They reach out, connect, remember, and cook 10 pans of food when you are a sloth.

If you are a true woman, when you stop being a sloth and become a honeybee, you return the favor with a smile. Here's a honeybee from high school, Tonya.

The bottom pictures are with Stephanie during our spring break when we got snowed in at Jackson Hole. I wish these pictures could detail how fun that trip was "back in the day".

This past week she stung me in the bummy with her stinger and actually forced me to get to the higher branch I've been thinking about for the past 2 months.

Here's the thing about Tonya that I really admire, and think you should love too. She's dealing with a lot but never complains and is always out helping other people. Mother of FIVE BOYS, and has nerve damage from her last pregnancy. I call her granny cause she limps around while still helping out neighbors, family, and friends. There's lots of medical issues in her family, but she's always looking forward.

That's something I need to work on and I love her example!

So she calls me up and states: "We need to get you some freezer meals for when the baby comes!"

Me: "That's a good idea" (inside: I need a nap)

Tonya: "Okay, I'm emailing you a shopping list and then we'll pick a day and put everything together".

Me: "Okay"

And the thing is, like so many things...I thought it was a great idea but had no energy for execution. She emailed me the list, I looked at it and admired it, and then took a nap.

A week later she called me back and forced me to schedule a day. So I got off my butt, took the list to the store and spent a day cooking some of our homegrown meat stacked in the freezer. Ready for the cookoff!


I seriously needed to take a picture of everything we hauled out to my chest freezer.

-3 pans of shepherds pie (with goat meat...more on that later)
-3 pans of chicken enchiladas
-2 chicken pot pies
-1 honkin' fat lasagne pan
-7 batches of beef/veggie tikka masala

I'm sorry let me do the math for you: that would be 16 pre-cooked meals! that I won't have to dirty dishes to make and can throw in the oven when my bambino arrives.

Yipee!

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Letter: Dear Monica

I couldn't believe your recent finds at the antique store!

I guess if I was a designer, I would say they have "good bones", but I'm not a designer. So I'll just say, they look old. I can hear you laugh now, waiting to show me how they were diamonds in the rough.

You got me! I figured I would show you what I've been up to, since we haven't been around for a while. I'll be quick about it: Buddha Baby grew up, got kicked out of his crib, and Rainbow Girl finally got her own room!

By the way, nothing like your make-overs, but clean, good, and (hopefully) a little more organized. I've broken it down quite scientifically for you:




I can't even tell you how badly Rainbow Girl needed a desk. No more banishing her to the nether-regions so she can focus!








The wicker chest is now holding mittens by my front door. And I brought in the bookcase from her old room, which opened that other room nicely as well thanks for asking!



Sorry about the glare from my high quality point and shoot camera. Here's the last angle.











Can't wait to play next week during Christmas break!

With Love from Your Sister,
Mrs. Olsen

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Second Week of Tragedy for Mrs. Olsen

Why meeEeee?

Please help.

Seriously, I need a good vacuum. I don't know what my budget is. Dyson on the ball looks so fun and delightful....but bagless vacuums seem filthy and dirty. What do you have? Are you a smart consumer? Consult me!

The funny thing about this clip (which you probably were forwarded about 10 times over the holidays) is that I would have looooved to get a vacuum. The Mister of the House, are you reading this? No doghouse if you bring me a good vacuum sometime...;)

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