Today

Today is just one of those days.  We're stuck at home.  And the kids have been extra mischievous.  I mean look at this face.  Trouble.

And this little lady may look innocent-- but she's been taking after her brother this morning.  Trouble.

Here I caught her dismantling all the piles of clean folded laundry in her room.  G-u-i-l-t-y.

Anyhow-- that's what's new in our house today.  That and some new throw pillows I made for the living room.  I mentioned a while back that I was tired of the temporary ones I had-- so I made these new (also temporary) covers until I can figure out what I really want.  I used last year's christmas tree skirt fabric to make two covers.  They feel kind of fall-ish.

And they work with my chair in the corner.

And I guess there's one more new thing.  I added another new piece to Eme's art wall in her room.  Caleb painted this hot little pink number the other day during our painting marathon.  I was pretty shocked at how great it turned out.  (FYI-- I picked up a bunch of these super cheap canvases at the dollar store in several different sizes-- they were really fun for him to paint on) 

I don't think Eme's noticed.  I don't think she really cares.  But I like it.  Great job Caleb!

And now they are finally napping.  All is quiet... hopefully for another hour or two.  A few moments of peace and quiet is all I need-- then I'll be ready for those super fun post-nap pre-dinner hours :)

So now I'm going to do something wild and crazy and eat a bowl of granola or something else that's equally interesting.  And then I get to end the day with an evening out-- at my physiotherapist's office :)

Hanging out with Caleb

Today's a home day.  Caleb was sick over the weekend (he's now feeling better) but Emerson woke up feeling a bit under the weather.  So, we're sticking close to home.  But-- the morning was still pretty fun.  It started off on a high note when my fabulous sister in law brought me the most amazing Pumpkin Spice Latte cupcakes.

She brought me EIGHTEEN mini cupcakes-- I'm not going to tell you how many I've already consumed... but let's just say there aren't too many left :)

Caleb and I spent the morning painting.  He takes his art very seriously-- and painted for over two hours.  We had the best time ever.

After spending the morning with him I thought that I really need to document all of the crazy and funny things that he says and does.  I don't want to forget all these fantastic moments I have with my four year old boy.  So I figured I might as well share a few of Caleb's shining moments from the past few weeks with all of you...

• He's been working on his vocabulary.  The other day we were doing a bit of grocery shopping.  He asks me: "Mom-- what's that word-- you know... when you really need to drink something?"  I say, "Thirsty?"  Caleb: "No... it MEANS you're thirsty... hmmm... DEHYDRATED!!  Mommy, I'm feeling dehydrated right now."  Um, wow.  I would have just used the word thirsty myself.
• The other day, as I try to feed him the last spoonful of yogurt left in his container he shouts "IT DOESN'T TASTE GOOD WHEN ADULTS FEED IT TO YOU!!!!"
• He's become a crazy counter.  I knew he was good to count to 50... but 100?  Sure I had to help him on 70 and 80... but 100?!!  Of course he then asks: "Mommy, what comes after 100?"  "101".  "101, 102, 103..."  and away he goes all the way to 200.
• While he may be a smarty pants, he has become quite conscious of germs-- kind of.  He's had a bit of a runny nose this week so he will often bring me a kleenex and ask me to help him blow his nose.  Of course I offer my assistance.  When I try to hand Caleb the used kleenex so that he can throw it in the garbage he gives me this look that says... "you've GOT to be kidding me."  Then he makes a big deal about only touching the tiniest corner of the kleenex-- and with complete disgust-- takes it to the garbage holding out in front of him as far away as possible.  Then about 10 minutes later I catch him picking his nose like a typical four year old.  Go figure.
• How about this... "Mommy, do you know what camoflauge is?  (I of course say no-- I'm intrigued-- to say the least!)  It's when dinosaurs blend in with the background so they can hide from creatures that want to eat them."  Nice definition-- Dinosaur Train loving encyclopedia kid.
• At bedtime Caleb says..."I don't need to go to bed.  I could stay up for days, and days, and days, and days, and days.  And I wouldn't get grouchy."
• Lately, when Caleb's really upset with me (like when I've taken something away from him for disciplinary reasons) he angrily glares at me and says-- "Mom, you are NOT FANCY!!!!"  I have no idea where Caleb got that from, but apparently it's the best he can come up with when he wants to say something extremely hurtful to me.  I try not to laugh-- but I'm not always successful.
• And today-- as he's in his room for his afternoon nap I can hear him shouting... "I'M ALIVE!!!"  over and over.  Do you think he's trying to tell me something?

And in conclusion-- you know a four year old lives in the house when you discover dried spaghetti stuck to your stylish cream herringbone patterned bathroom hand towels.  Oh spaghetti night-- it's like the gift that keeps on giving.

I love four year olds :)

How hard could it be?

So on a quite regular basis, I look over at Doug, smile, and say as sweetly as possible... "Hey honey, I have an idea."  And he knows... I've dreamed up another project.  Here's my latest idea.  This one's for the bathroom...

Now what's the common element in all of these pictures?  A super awesome one of a kind vanity.  Honestly-- it can't be THAT hard to build a base, throw down a slab of countertop or paint/stain and seal the top, and finish it off with a great sink like this...

This sink is only $70 from Ikea.  Yup, it would pretty much be the coolest and cheapest bathroom vanity ever.  Now, I know that I would be losing quite a bit of under the sink storage-- but maybe I can scheme up another way to store and conceal all of our bathroom junk.  Our upstairs bathroom is a long narrow room-- so I think that having a vanity with open space underneath would really open up the room and make it feel more spacious.  Well, that's my bright idea for a rainy Monday morning!

All images from pinterest

Sunny Yellow

It is one rainy rainy day.  Welcome back fall!  While it's been raining like crazy outside-- the kids and I have been cozy at home.  I put socks on for the first time in oh, like 6 months.  Don't ask me how I got that sock on my left foot-- still not sure how I managed to get it there.  I am now convinced that I quite possibly could have been a circus performer in another life.  Anyhow... it's been a day of coffee, play dough, snacks, naps (insert happy face :), snuggling on the couch, oh... and pinterest.  As I've been pinning away, I've discovered that I am quite attracted to anything with yellow-- specifically sunshine-y yellow.  Wonder why, eh?  Here's a few of my favorites...

Okay-- these barstools are ah-mazing.  You know those cheap honey oak barstools that you can buy just about anywhere?  Paint them a sunny yellow and hello fabulous!!

Sunny yellow towels and bath accessories-- if only bathtime was this beautiful at our house.

Oh, hello most awesome yellow settee.  I would allow you to live at my house if you really wanted to.

Oh Sarah Richardson... this is the most beautiful sunny bathroom ever.

Nothing says fun in the sun like a little yellow pom pom trim.  Seriously now... does it really get any funner than this?

And yet another beautiful awesome sunny bathroom.

All these images can be found via my pinterest.  If you haven't already started to pin-- you really should start.  It's quite a lot of fun.  And then you can go ahead and follow me too :)

Weekend Plans and Dairy Free KD

I have two very important things to say today.

First of all-- I'm not sure what your weekend plans include, but if I was crutch free and had two healthy working knees I would be spending my Saturday at the Fieldstone Vintage Market.

It's a market being held here in Abbotsford at the Eco Dairy on Sumas Way.  Sounds like there's going to be lots of awesome vintage collectors and local artisans setting up booths and selling their wares.  I would LOVE to go-- but alas-- I don't think my knee could handle it.  But if you need something to do and want to get out of the house-- check out the market!

For more info you can take a look at the Fieldstone Vintage blog or their facebook page.

And now for my second very important thing.  I made dairy free mac and cheese out of that Daiya cheesy stuff.  A little almond milk, some Earth Balance butter, a pinch of flour, some "cheese" and I had the most amazing dairy free cheese sauce.  I mixed it in with some macaroni and let Emerson go to town.  She was totally digging the dairy free, somewhat cheesy, orange goodness.

She polished it off like nothing... and then proceeded to smear gooey cheese sauce all over her face and in her hair.  Oh the things a kid's gotta do around here to get a bath these days... let me tell you.

Another Dairy Free Experiment

The days are feeling fall-ish.  Yesterday I decided to make soup-- it just felt like the right thing to do.  I haven't cooked in a long long time-- cooking and crutches just don't seem to go well together :)  But Doug was working late, the kids and I were hungry, and I had all the ingredients for corn chowder-- so I decided to go for it.

But... not only did I make my usual corn chowder-- I also decided to try my hand at a small batch of dairy free corn chowder for the little lady.  The picture says it all.  Major success.

My normal recipe usually includes farmer sausage not bacon-- it makes awesome corn chowder.  I get my farmer sausage from the Fine Foods in Waldheim Saskatchewan.  It's not exactly the store down the street-- but they sell the best!  I take the casings off while it's still partially frozen so that it kind of crumbles as you fry it.  Add some onions, potatoes (with some water), salt and pepper, corn (frozen, fresh, or canned) creamed corn, and an assortment of milk ingredients-- milk, cream (yes please!), maybe some cream of mushroom soup and lots of cheese!  Not exactly Emerson friendly.

But, I had some Daiya dairy free cheese in my fridge so I decided to give it a try.  The package says it's "Deliciously dairy free"-- I'm not convinced.  It smells a little funky to me-- tastes funky too-- but Emerson doesn't know the difference!  Once the potatoes were cooked, I added the corn, some almond milk (with a little flour to help thicken it up), a little extra dairy free butter for a bit more flavor, and the cheese-- or should I say "cheese".  

It melted pretty well and actually tasted pretty creamy.  The dairy free version wasn't as tasty as my normal corn chowder but Emerson ate it up!  It actually wasn't too bad.  Eme loved it.  And she loved it again today at lunch.

So did Caleb (he ate the dairy friendly version)-- he had TWO bowls full last night and even drank the last bit of soup right from the bowl.  While I tend to discourage this kind of messy eating behavior-- I was happy to see that he enjoyed it :)  So, I'm thinking that this meal will be a staple in our house over the winter months!  And even though the Daiya dairy free cheese was a little bit nasty to me-- I will likely be purchasing it again :)

Saying No to Toys

I've know this for a while now-- but the past few weeks have reinforced the fact that my kids do not play with their toys.  Either we have terribly uninteresting toys, not enough toys to hold their attention, or they would just rather play with non-toys.  Personally I just think they like non-toys.  In a room full of colorful plastic kids paraphernalia Emerson will always manage to seek out and find the lid from a tupperware container or a chip clip.  Either of these items usually provide entertainment for quite some time.

So.  I've decided to just go with it-- for two reasons.  One-- the kids like non-toys and they keep them quiet and happy.  Reason enough in and of itself if you ask me.

But secondly-- this is a fringe benefit-- giving the kids non-toys in place of real toys is cost effective and storage effective.  Case in point-- instead of buying Caleb bath toys I've just given him the doubles of all my kitchen stuff that I don't use on a regular basis.  Instead of trying to find room for that turkey baster in my crowded kitchen drawer I let him squirt things while he's making soup in the tub (it's his favorite bathing pastime.)

I think it's quite genius.  Family members who occasionally assist with bath time at our house aren't so convinced.  My brother in law looked at me like I was insane when he saw the cheese grater on Caleb's bath "toy" shelf.  I'll admit that I'm not sure what Caleb does with it in the tub-- but at least I don't have to find a spot for it in my overcrowded kitchen, right?

And don't worry-- any bath time "toy" that is re-introduced into the kitchen is put through my dishwasher's sterilizing cycle :)

So yesterday Doug and I were not surprised to discover this in the living room.

Caleb woke up early Sunday morning and decided to play in the living room.  Of course-- he raided the chip clip drawer and spent the morning quietly constructing rocket ships. (yes I have a lot of chip clips-- I eat a lot of chips-- don't judge me.)

So I'm thinking that I probably won't be buying too many toys in the future.  Lego, games, puzzles, books, crafty stuff, cars/trucks/trains, and maybe a doll or two are all we need!

So what do your kids play with?  Toys?  Non-toys?  I'm curious...

PSL-- yes please

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes-- I'm pretty sure it doesn't get much better than this.  I pinned this recipe on Pinterest last night and it was repinned over 30 times in a few short hours.  I'm thinking it's probably a winner.  Can someone please make them and let me know if they are indeed as good as they look?  If they are, I may just be willing to attempt a little baking with my crutches over the weekend.  Or you could just bring me a PSL... just saying.

Update-- I have great friends.  Friends who stop by my house with pumpkin spice lattes.  And who would have thought-- a grande fits into my exercise bike's cup holder perfectly.  Now that's what I like to see!!

I can't see it...

... can't see my living room floor that is.  I must say that I'm growing just a wee bit tired of this view.  At least Emerson is putting the toys to good use-- standing on them gives her a clear view of the street as she waits for Daddy to come home at the end of the day.  And let me tell you... she's not the only one waiting anxiously for Daddy to arrive...

New to the Living Room

There have been a few new additions to the living room.  The first addition is still in progress.  After sitting in this room for the past few weeks I've decided that its time to do something about the throw pillow situation.  I've had "temporary" pillows in here for the past few months after my old ones were ruined by the four year old of the house.  The temps are officially driving me crazy.  So I've had swatches out for the past few days-- since fall is upon us I'm thinking I might make some velvet pillows-- how's that for cozy?  Just gotta pick the right color.  I'm on it-- I have a lot of free time in the day to stare at the samples from across the room.

And here's the other more unfortunate addition to the living room-- a stationary exercise bike.  Not only is it unattractive-- it is also pain inflicting.  My physiotherapist assures me that I will be able to do a full revolution on the bike in no time.  I don't believe her.  Today I am quite certain that my knee will never bend like that again.

But past experience tells me that she's probably right.  I may just be eating my words in a few days.  Until then, I'll be here on the bike-- or on the couch :)

School Boy

Today was Caleb's first official day of preschool.  He was SO excited.  As we were walking (well, I was "walking" with my crutches) out the front door I made him put on his new backpack, tossed my crutches aside, and tried to take a "first day of school" picture of my cute, sweet, innocent, four year old school boy.

Here's what I got.

If I was Caleb's teacher I'd be thinking that this kid looks like trouble.  Really, he was just so excited-- standing still was difficult.  While Caleb was a little nervous when we first arrived-- once he found the toys he barely looked up when I said goodbye.  And he had a great time.  I asked Caleb what he had done that morning-- apparently they had done "quite many things".   He can hardly wait to go back later on this week.

And how did I get him (and Emerson) down the stairs and to the car in my current invalid state?  Well-- I had a babysitter for Eme during the morning drop off.  When it came time to pick Caleb up however... I may or may not have scooted on my bum down the front steps on my way to the car.  Stairs + Crutches + Holding a one year old =  a nearly impossible situation.  Let's just say the neighbors are in for a show over the next few weeks...

Afternoon Highlight

This warm Friday afternoon did not start out so great-- I hobbled into the living room to discover that Eme had found Caleb's milk and was chugging it back.  As I swooped in and picked her up she started to violently throw up everything in her system-- thank goodness!  She broke out into some hives and was itchy for a while, but we avoided a trip to the ER.  After the kids were sleeping I decided to not do anything except sit and look at the latest digital issues of the magazines I subscribe to-- I was way too stressed out to do anything else!  My afternoon improved when I discovered a fabulous kitchen in the latest October issue of Style at Home.  And since I just figured out how to snap pictures on my Mac, I decided to share them with you :)

I'd take this kitchen in a heartbeat.

Now I don't know what you're going to think of this next kitchen but I thought I'd share it anyway.  The latest issue of House and Home featured pictures of the 2011 PMH Showhome.  The Showhome's kitchen is yellow-- actually I'd call it mustard.  Do you dig it?

While I probably wouldn't put it in my own house-- I'm loving it.  And there are a lot of features in here that make me happy-- those lights, the backsplash, the style of cabinetry, that rustic island.

Well now.  The afternoon's almost over and the weekend is almost here.  Thank goodness.  If anyone would like to drive to my house and bring me some chocolate or a frap I would probably accept :)

Overnight Guests Beware

Warning-- if you ever are an overnight guest at our house I might just sell your bed right out from under you.  True story folks.  While my parents were visiting a couple of weeks ago I sold the guest room bed.  Well not the mattresses, just the bed frame.  You see-- I have a bit of a craigslist problem.  I buy things... and I sell things.  It's a bit addicting.  On a whim I posted our old Ikea Hemnes bed frame to see if someone would buy it for a decent price.  I figured it was now or never-- Ikea recently started cleared out all the old style Hemnes bed frames in the wood finish (I think they're still selling the white ones) and are now selling a new version for a much cheaper price.  Well, as soon as I posted it I had a ton of emails and inquiries... but I wasn't super committed at that point and it just didn't seem like I had buyers that were really serious.  Then my parents came and I was scheduled for surgery so I just figured I'd sell it another time.  But then someone called the day before surgery and was willing to pay cash and pick it up within the hour.  Before saying yes I asked my mom if I could sell her bed-- she was down with it.  So we pulled the whole thing apart and an hour later it was gone.  I wasn't sure what my dad would say when I told him I had sold his bed, but he just chuckled and told me that the old ikea bed was too high for him anyways :)  So now the mattresses sit all alone on the floor waiting for a headboard intervention.

So now I've got to make a new bed.  Obviously not today, this week, or any time soon... but I would like to try my hand at doing another upholstered headboard.  We already did a camel back headboard for our room so I'd like to do something different this time around.  So many options... how's a girl gonna decide?

image

I guess for now I'll just have to look at some pretty pictures for inspiration.  Here are few fav's...

white or cream with tufting.  pretty and kinda girly.

How about this one with side panels-- kind of like a wingback chair turned headboard.

This one's the got the best of both-- wingback-ish sides AND tufting.  Looks like a lot of work :)

upholstering a headboard with a patterned fabric could look pretty spectacular...

I love yellow,

I love stripes,

And I love pretty much anything Sarah Richardson designs.

These ones don't have pattern but are still colorful.  I love the inset panel in the next ones and how they are trimmed out with piping or a bit of nailhead trim...

Oh, there are so many options.  And I have way too much time on my hands to think about this!  So what would you choose?  Color, pattern, tufting, nailhead trim...?

all images via pinterest