Jenny’s World

You may have noticed in the post on Lindsay’s room that I mentioned I made a lampshade for her room.  To be more precise, I decorated a lampshade for her room, but making it couldn’t possibly have been much harder!

It all started when we were redoing her room the first time last summer.  I can’t remember why, but we were actually in Louisville at Pottery Barn Kids when she noticed a rose-covered lamp shade.  She loved it.  I, on the other hand, knew those pink roses would not go with the PEACH bedding.  So I told her we couldn’t get that one, but I would try to make one for her – thinking I could use white roses, which would work much better.  Well, that was this past summer – and as I mentioned, I got stuck and didn’t do anything for her room.  She would occasionally ask about her lampshade, so sometime in the fall I finally did enough research (with the help of my friend Sandra) to order some silk roses and get the lampshade I needed.  And then they sat again for a while – in my dumping ground of an office.

Also remember when I said I cleaned out my office and completed some projects?  Well, this was one of them!  After all, I really had nowhere else to put the giant box of roses anyway.  So finally, on New Year’s Eve, I sat down to do what I thought would be a quick and easy project.

Gee, I’ve been wrong a lot lately.

It was not easy.  It was not quick.  It was dangerous – and I had the hot glue burns on my hands to prove it.  But I did get it done.  How, you ask?  I will be happy to share.

First, I bought a cheap lampshade.  Cheap is good here – the more plastic-y it is, the better.  You also want a very simple shape.  Then I took my silk roses (I bought them off ebay – much cheaper), pulled them off the stem, and trimmed the little nub as close to the flower as I dared.  Then I used hot glue to attach a strip of roses down the lampshade, one rose at a time.  It’s important to do one at a time so you can adjust spacing to get your desired effect as you work.  Then I moved over a little and added the next strip.  For a while it was pretty easy, although I was still burning my fingers (it’s necessary to hold the rose in place for a bit with the hot glue.  This can equal slightly burnt fingers).  Then I realized I couldn’t continue on this way for long because I was running out of room on the lampshade that was still undone for it to rest on.  And that’s where it started getting really interesting.  I couldn’t really sit the lampshade upright, because then the glue started to run after I applied it, and I had to hold the roses a lot longer so they wouldn’t start drifting downward.  Eventually, I put the lampshade on the lamp and figured out a way to half-way sit the lamp in my lap and partially rest it on the desk so that the underside of the shade (now covered in roses) didn’t get smushed as I added the final few.  It was uncomfortable, and I’m sure there was a better way.  But the end was in sight, I had a party to go to, and that puppy was getting done!!!  And without further ado, here is my masterpiece:

Normally, I’m a pretty harsh critic of my crafty efforts, but I have to admit that I really love the way this shade looks!

This past summer, I was contemplating redecorating Lindsay’s room.  I had chosen the decor before she was born, and while it was cute, it was not anything like what she would have picked.  Then my parents offered us a full-size mattress for Lindsay’s room.  It was a great upgrade, and since I would need to buy new bedding anyway, we decided to do it all.  Lindsay and I looked all around at colors and bedding, and she kept coming back to some bedding she’d seen in the Land of Nod catalog.  Go ahead, follow the link and take a look – it will be important to the story in a minute.  It’s cute, and since we both liked it, I ordered it.

Part of the redo was repainting the room.  The walls had been blue, which wouldn’t have made the top five list of favorite colors for Lindsay.  Since the bedding she chose was pink, I gave her the option of neutral colored walls or a soft lavender (not bright, with some gray in it to keep it pretty but restful).  She chose the purple (shocker).  I was fine with that as I love purple myself.  Plus, I figured in the future we could do a cute green with it or even aqua.  With a little luck, I wouldn’t have to paint her room again for a while.  As it turned out, we had a busy summer, and after we’d chosen the color, I had a window of one day to get the painting done or else it would be 4 weeks before I got another shot at it.  So even though Land of Nod was being incredibly slow shipping my order, I went ahead and painted.

BIG mistake.

The color was gorgeous.  Everyone who saw it remarked on what a great color it was.  And then the bedding arrived.  I suppose that truthfully it does fall in the range of pink, but I would never call that color pink.  The picture in the catalog and on the web looks pink, but in real life that bedding is PEACH.  Yes, peach.  To go in a room with purple walls.  Gah!  I knew instantly the colors didn’t really go, but I tried to convince myself it wasn’t really that bad because Lindsay really had her heart set on that bedding and I was NOT repainting.  But I really, really, really didn’t like it.  It actually kept me from finishing up the rest of the room because I was sort of stuck as to where to go.  I would never be able to match any of the colors in there, nor did I really want to.  So we lived with it this way for six months.

And then it hit me – some mistakes you have to live with, and some you don’t.  I’d been wanting to update the bedding in my guest room since I had a quilt in there I got on clearance but was never able to get any coordinating pieces.  My guest room has soft green walls – green and peach-y pink?  That works for me.  So I talked to Lindsay about how I was going to choose something else for her room and she was fine with it.  She’s all into white lately, and she actually wanted green instead of pink as an accent color.  I love green and purple together, so we were off.  Within a couple of weeks, we’ve changed everything around to what you see in the pictures below.  I’m still working on some decorative pillows for the bed, but that’s about it.  The green color on the curtains is more accurate in the second picture – it’s more of a soft, light, springy green (matches the chair).

I put it all together before she came home on New Year’s Day, and she was almost speechless she loved it so much (and well, honestly, she’d been living with clashing colors so what wouldn’t have looked better???).  In particular, she loves her Shabby Chic crystal lamp and the rose lampshade I made for her – and her fluffy white cloud bed.   She says she wants her room to stay this way forever.  I love the mirrors and, of course, the colors!

Man, it’s amazing the impact a little cleanout and a small decor change can have!  As you can tell from the flood of posts on this topic, I’ve been on a roll about cleaning out/organizing/decorating stuff.  My goal is for every area in my house to be beautiful and highly functional – at least beautiful to us and functional for us.  And the office had been sadly lacking in both respects.

I’ll admit it – my office was a sad little dumping ground.  I know some of you are thinking to yourselves that it wasn’t really that bad, and maybe it wasn’t.  But it was, by far, the messiest place in my house.  It was the dumping ground for anything we picked up somewhere else in the house but weren’t quite sure where to put.  And the dumping ground for anything in progress.  Or just thought about.  You get the picture.  Plus, the lamps in the room had made their way there from other rooms and didn’t add anything to the decor.  So I decided over my Christmas break that I would make the office a beautiful and serene place for me to work in for 2010.

The cleanout took a while, but eventually I finished the projects that were laying around, got rid of packaging, put things away where they belonged, filed, etc. until I hardly recognized the place.  Then I found some lamps that I loved that suited the space much better.  I also got a slipcover for the super comfy chair my wonderful parents gave me last summer when they moved (thanks again Mom and Dad!).  The final effect is one that I love.  I can’t get over what a change the lamps made!  Plus, it’s so nice to work with a desk with a nice clean top and plenty of room to work if necessary.  And because it looks so nice, I’ve been motivated to keep it very clean and tidy!

I’ve also been on a picture-taking roll:

Another instance of just needing to use the space better…

We cleaned out Lindsay’s play area in the basement this fall, in anticipation of new stuff coming in over Christmas.  We also get rid of some of the big toys that she no longer played with.  It should have made the space feel a lot bigger, but it didn’t, really.  I decided something else was needed but got busy and just left it.  Then it was Christmas – lots of new toys to put away, and I decided to reorg the space as well.  We got in a big cleaning frenzy this weekend, and once all the actual cleaning was done, the only messy space left in the house was her play area.  It was time.

I tried a couple different configurations on paper and finally settled on one I liked.  I told Jason, and he actually thought it was a good plan (he usually dislikes change of any kind, although admits it looks good afterward).  We got busy moving the bookshelves from the corner by the door to behind the couch.  And then – DISGUSTING!  Never put something by the door in a basement you can’t move frequently and vacuum under.  Let’s just say there were a couple of bugs there and leave it at that.  Lesson learned!  Now the tent is there, and Jason can move it when he vacuums (yes, he is wonderful!) so no repeat performance.  After that was all cleaned up, I cleaned out everything else, put stuff away – and the place looks like new!  It looks so much more spacious, neat, and pretty.  See for yourself!

These bookshelves are the ones that were in the other corner.  One of them has now been converted to a Barbie house, and the other houses games and My Little Pony Ponyville. The dress-up area you can see at the edge of the picture is the same as before, which I’ve featured on my blog (and Chica and Jo) before.

Added bonus : kids can no longer climb over the couch on the other side to get to the play area!

This tent has always been one of Lindsay’s favorite things!   The art center also gets a lot of use

Jason and I both love the two paintings on the board – my only problem is I don’t know how I will ever take those two down!

These Closetmaid cubicles are the best!  For the labels, I gave up on velcro (could never get it to stick) – instead I laminated the labels and hung them with cord on the handles.  It works.  The area next to the cubbies is going to be a revolving play area – with one type of toy highlighted and then swapped periodically.  I want a long, low table so it doesn’t need to be picked up constantly.  I found a super cheap one at IKEA but it’s out of stock at the closest store.  So I’m still scheming on that one!

And of course, our reading area (also featured before) which is now also the building station with the Lincoln Logs.

Lindsay was thrilled with the makeover and especially loved her tent’s new place of its own.  Now that everything has a home, I’m hoping she will keep it this way!

Sometimes I think we need a bigger house.  And then, mainly when I’m cleaning the one we have, I realize I’m crazy.  We’re only three people, and there’s plenty of space for the three of us in this house.  Sometimes, all that we need to do is to use it a little better.

We always knew that we would never use a formal dining room.  First of all, we are just not formal people.  I mean, really, who can be with a kid anyway?  My entertaining for the last few years has usually involved some sort of food in nugget form, so we’re about as far from formal as you can get.  Besides, because of the layout of our house, the kitchen eating area is right in the middle of the house and the very first thing you see from the door.  We opted to put a nice, but appropriate for everyday use, table in that space and convert the dining room into a library.  We put bookshelves in there, a couple of comfy chairs, and a little bar area.  I’ve always liked it that way and thought it was cute.  We use the bookshelves for display and for books, Lindsay loves to play in there (particularly hiding behind the chairs/curtains), and I like to sit in there with my kindle at lunch sometimes.

However, one part of the room was never used.  The bar area.  All it did was get dusty.  The shelves were open, and the doors were slatted, so all the glassware was constantly dusty.  What a pain, especially for something that we never used!

This had been on my mind when the mom of one of Lindsay’s friends was talking about redoing her daughter’s room and adding a desk for the school years.  It made me think – should we have added a desk to Lindsay’s room when we redid it (you’ll see it in another post soon, I promise)?  I decided no – she’s not the type to want to be alone in her room to do her homework, and a lot of the assignments she gets involve a parent for now anyway, so I don’t think it would get much use.

And then lightening struck!  Or at least a couple of thoughts only a couple of days apart merged.  We could get rid of the unused bar and put a desk in there instead!  Then we could have a space to keep/use the laptop downstairs as well as have a place for Lindsay to draw/do homework.  This was a pretty easy shopping experience and conversion.  I got really lucky – Target had a great desk for cheap along with a chair that was upholstered in fabric that perfectly matched the room.  I was in awe – I never get that lucky!  Check it out:

Now that we’ve had it in place for a while, I can say that it is definitely getting more use than the bar.  We’ve all used the laptop there, and Lindsay actually really likes to draw on the desk.  One day recently while we were waiting for Jason to get home, she made us cards on the desk while I read in the chair.  A very happy way to reclaim some unused space!

First of all – welcome back, poor neglected blog readers!  I can’t believe I haven’t posted in so long.  The good part of that is that I have a ton of material to post!  Let’s see if I can get it all up here…

So, since it’s been a while, this story actually started last fall.  You remember my troubles with my dryer, right?  Well, I finally gave up.  All those battles with nests, etc. had just shortened its life.  It was time for a new set.

Jason and I found ourselves without Lindsay on a Saturday, so I told him I wanted to look at washers and dryers before we went out to dinner.  We stopped at Lowe’s and pretty quickly identified the set we wanted (I wanted HE (high efficiency) but was scared of the issues with the front loaders, so we got top-loading HE).  Then the salesperson told us about the sale which could be combined with the rebate – 20% off energy star appliances, 10% all other, and major Whirlpool rebates.  Very cool.  Then Jason did something he probably later regretted – he went to look at something else, leaving me to ponder that dishwashers and refrigerators are also possibly energy star appliances…

I’d been wanting to upgrade to stainless steel in the kitchen for a while, and after some discussion (Jason’s POV : If people are going to be tramping through my house, might as well get it all done in one whack) and some research on the web, I went out to purchase the washer, dryer, and kitchen appliances the next day.

I knew the refrigerator I wanted was special order, but thankfully all the discounts still applied.  I picked out the stove and microwave quickly – not too much to look at there, although the range does have the covered coil bottom which is awesome!  It also has convection, but I still haven’t tried that.  Then it came time to choose the dishwasher, which was actually one of the big reasons for replacing the kitchen appliances.  I HATED my old dishwasher.  It was LOUD.  I mean – really, really, really loud.  And with its location in the middle of my open concept house on a wood floor – well, the echo was a problem.  Seriously, we couldn’t turn it on and watch TV in the next room or even talk.  We’d resorted to either turning it on at night when we all were upstairs or while I was working upstairs.  Understandably, I was quite concerned with my dishwasher choice.  I wandered the aisle and fretted over the Whirlpool model on display because it didn’t have as low a decibel rating as some others.  Fortunately, I thought to ask about any special order dishwashers.  The model they had on the floor was a Whisper Quiet III – they went up to V.  I said, “I’ll take it.”  And now, after having them for over three months, I can tell you that it was one of the best purchases I have ever made!  I am now seriously in love with my dishwasher.  It’s beautiful, cleans like a dream, and is so very, very quiet.

Now, getting the appliances in wasn’t a piece of cake.  We’d always said that we would paint the laundry room and fix (i.e. replace) the floor when we swapped the washer and dryer, so all that had to be selected/done.  That also meant re-hanging the cabinets in there.  Plus, while I was at it changing things up in the kitchen, I wanted to take down a picture that was hanging there and put up a display area on one wall, since no more magnets on the stainless.  We got it all done, and I really love all of it.  But don’t take my word for it – take a peek at the pics!

Laundry Room – what started it all

The Kitchen

Display Wall

Last week I took Lindsay to her 5-year checkup.  I’ve been telling her since the four shots at last year’s checkup that this year she would not have to get a shot.  After all, the last experience was really miserable, even for my mostly-fine-with-shots kid.  In fact Lindsay can tell you, quite happily, that she will be 11 before she needs another immunization.  Except for the flu shot, of course.  And admittedly, I have been telling her that flu shots are not nearly as bad as the big shots and that she didn’t even cry last time she got one of those.  So, with this background, here’s the dialogue at the doctor’s:

Nurse: So have you thought about the flu shot?

Me: ( crap, they never usually have it this early…) Yes, and we want to get one, but I don’t think we’ll be ready to get it today.

After all, I’m thinking, I’ve spent the last year telling her she didn’t have to get a shot.  I can’t take that back now.  And then…

Lindsay:  I want to get my flu shot.

Wha???  Who are you?  Why are you volunteering for a shot?  Are you nuts?  I couldn’t understand why she wanted it, but I’m also not stupid, so I just went with it.  She got the shot, was fine with it, although later she did say it hurt but she wasn’t going to cry “like a two-year-old.”  After all, she is FIVE now, as she will tell you 5 times a day given the slightest opportunity.

The next one is not quite as weird, although I still can’t really relate.  First, you should know she loves kindergarten.  Really, really, really loves it.

Lindsay:  Mommy, why does the weekend have to be TWO days long.

Me: Weekends are just two days, honey.  But don’t worry, then it will be Monday and you’ll get to go to kindergarten for five straight days.

Lindsay: (actually hopping around the couch with giddy happiness)  Yay!!!

Today is the retirement celebration at Jason’s office for one of his staff, who also happens to be a good friend.  Everyone has decided to honor him by wearing their craziest shirts, since Lynn has a vast collection of colorful Hawaiian shirts.  Jason is wearing the Kramer lobster shirt I bought for him several years ago.  He came downstairs wearing it today, and this was Lindsay’s response:

“You’re wearing that to work today?”

Frankly, I never thought she noticed Jason’s clothes since he doesn’t wear dresses, but apparently she is now an expert on all fashion choices!

Since kindergarteners at Lindsay’s school don’t take naps, the summer program for rising kindergarteners also does not include nap time.  The idea is that the kids can get used to it before school starts, which is a great idea.   I can’t tell you how happy Lindsay was when I told her that we were at the end of her napping days.   Her little eyes lit up and she actually danced around the room.   She’s been skipping her nap at home on the weekends for a while, and the week off before camp started, she took a real nap on only one day.  I thought she was already getting adjusted to it, so I didn’t think the first few weeks of camp would be that bad.  Silly me, I had been actually kind of looking forward to it – when she hasn’t had a nap, bedtime is a very quick and easy thing.  (And for a kid who fights sleep as much as she does, that’s saying something!)

Oh, I was so wrong.  I knew she would be tired because they would be very active at camp, but I underestimated how tired she would get and overestimated how adjusted she was.   I was unprepared for my sweet, cooperative child to turn into a a kid who had daily mega-meltdowns.   Heaven forbid you say something she didn’t like – it’s honestly like a 2-year-old – an ear-piercing scream may be your only answer.  Trying to get her inside when the other kids in the neighborhood weren’t going in yet – cover your ears.  Even worse, half the time the meltdowns were at bedtime, keeping her awake so that she could be even more tired the next day.   While you would think that at some point she would just get tired enough to fall over asleep, well, that’s just not my child.  The more tired she got, the less she would be still.  After all, you can’t fall asleep if you’re moving.  I’ve seen more handstands, flips, and couch-jumping in the last two weeks than I ever care to see again.

But tonight was better.  While we had a fussy moment or two, there was no meltdown, and bedtime was quick and peaceful.  Maybe after two and half weeks of the new schedule  we’ve turned the corner.   Keep your fingers crossed it’s the start of a trend!

Yep, I’ll admit it.  I’ve got ‘em.  For starters, this morning after Jason and Lindsay left and before I got to work, I sorted the adult clothes laundry on the floor of my room.  There were SIX large piles.  Now, add to that the fact that there’s another load of kid laundry that needs to be done AND I should do a load of her sheets AND I need to wash cleaning rags and napkins AND I need to do a couple loads of towels within the next day or two.  Yikes – this is getting out of hand.  And do you know why?

My dryer sucks.

Basically, that’s it.  I don’t start laundry because I need a full day when I can constantly attend to it, because each load will require multiple dryer cycles in order to be done.  It’s gotten so bad that I’m seriously contemplating getting a new washer and dryer, but that process scares me.  Are front loading washers good or evil?  Depending on where you look, you get both answers.  Should I just get a simple, yet energy-star certified set?  I go back and forth, and meanwhile, my dryer still sucks.

Now my dryer is old (9 years).  Maybe it’s just at the end of its life.  But, you know, there are a lot of reasons why a dryer can suck.  After all, some of its previous suckiness was caused by the bird building a nest in the exhaust pipe (and more about that).  So I had Jason get out on the deck with his shop vac and clean out the pipe yet again.  Still didn’t improve performance.  This morning I made one last-ditch final attempt to get the thing to work halfway decently.  I cleaned the lint trap.

Well, to be more precise, I scrubbed the heck out of my lint trap.  I clean it out after every load or two, but over time, a film has built up on it.  This could be preventing a proper air flow that is necessary for the dryer to work at peak efficiency.  So I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed some more.  Finally saw some improvement so scrubbed even more. Scrubbed until my poor hand begged for mercy.  The first load is in the dryer now, so the jury is still out on whether or not it works.  My guess is that it will be better, but that the dryer is still really at the end of its life.  Comments/suggestions/advice on new washers/dryers are appreciated!

FYI – the reason the film builds up on the lint trap?  Dryer sheets!  While they may not be the devil like liquid fabric softener, I would classify them as a “tool of the devil”.  (This is so ironic that I can’t stand liquid fabric softener OR dryer sheets now, considering the company I work for….) If I get a new dryer, they will never be allowed within 10 feet of the thing.  Watch for a future post on my new (but yet oh so old) solution…