SURE, I CAN PAINT?

I don't remember being super into art class in school growing up. There's a few projects here or there that I remember that turned out well but not many of them were paintings.

My last big attempt to paint art work was inspired by Color Splash on HGTV. I was pretty confident that I could make something for our living room and we had the perfect size piece of plywood. I'm pretty sure what happened is that I bought the wrong kind of paint and went a little crazy spraying it with a water bottle, along with not being patient enough to let paint dry and the colors started mixing together in a bad way.

So instead of painting works of art I had Chad built me a wood frame and then wrapped fabric around it. It works great. And it's easy to change when you want something new.

One of the families I sit for has a little girl and are wanting to do some decorating in her room since she's not a baby anymore. I was super excited to help. Her mom bought some canvases and paint and has given me the freedom to paint whatever.

I looked googled things like art for girls room and what not to get some ideas. Pottery Barn Kids had some cute stuff that I'm gonna do my best at imitating. Right now those are just sketched out to paint this weekend. Two I already have done. Check them out!

She was born in New Orleans and the fleur de lis is a big symbol there. And a whimsical owl (that still needs the bee painted in)

SCD VERSION 2.SOMETHING

First the apartment, then the van, then my craft supplies, even the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink is not safe from reorganization. So it was only a matter of time before the {scd} site got it.

I've been making a lot of things lately, for the Rainy Day Bazaar in Sitka, AK, for coworkers or families I sit for. Or people see things like my own bag or hair clips. And everyone always asks if I have a website that they can share with their friends. I was embarrassed before, because I didn't think the pictures were that great that I'd taken or that I didn't have enough to show. And the time that it took to do the site on my own how I really wanted it done was beyond my own skills.

When it comes to website and html I think I've been decent enough about navigating my way through what I'm trying to accomplish, but it was time for a new idea and some help. After a few "free template" searches that come up with mostly blog layouts I found Wix.com -- such a fun and easy site to use. I even found a template that offered an online store. So last night I spent awhile playing around and created my new look. And at the end found out to use the ecommerce option you do have to pay. But it was easy to take out since I'm not prepared to pay monthly fees for my own online store front yet. I'll just need to kick it in gear and list some things on Etsy.

So, here is it! A more professional {scd} online that I am very proud for anyone to see -- it doesn't have everything I've done so it may be more of a portfolio kind of site, but it is so much better!

SCD: PEE PEE TEE PEES

Comes in two sizes (these are the smaller sets) to avoid
getting "showered" when changing your little boys!

BUTTERY BUTTERFLY

There's a sweet little girl that really likes butterflies. Here is the latest addition to her closet : )

STAYCATION

My mom is coming to visit! She gets in later tonight. And even though I have to work Thurs/Fri afternoons I will be off from everything else the rest of the time she's here : ) And the tiny apartment is clean!

We've got tickets to see Josh Turner Saturday night, there's a big craft bazaar on Saturday, shopping for wedding shoes and a dress for her, checking out a local quilt shop that I've heard great things about, maybe back to the botanical gardens, hopefully a trip to a bigger mall in Dallas and who knows what else!

I totally failed on posting my 12 on the 12th, I succeeded at taking a picture of the doughnut shop I got my breakfast from and that was about it. Will have to take lots of photos while my mom is here and do a 12 from the 17th-20th : )

ONE PROJECT AT A TIME . . .

Right now I'm working on bobby pins and really trying to just do one thing at a time on the little card table to help keep the tiny apartment looking clean.

Tomorrow I have a WHOLE DAY OFF! No early morning, mid morning babysitting, no work, no evening plans -- nothing! I actually have this morning off unexpectedly as well and am getting caught up on some laundry and cleaning so tomorrow I can spend the whole day crafting to get ready for the Rainy Day Bazaar. I've got my to do list and tomorrow is the 12th, so expect some pictures of lots of sewing : )

WEEKEND MOMENT 3.6.2011

Dancing tooth at a busy intersection coming back from downtown Fort Worth. Made me smile. Over SuperBowl weekend there were two of them. I wonder where his buddy was today?

IT'S SPRING!

If we were in Montana right now we'd be skiing, but the last couple days here have been in the 70s and all the bulletin boards at preschool have spring time themes on them, so I guess it's springtime in Texas!

I have been on a major knitting binge! These 4 hats, plus 3 more custom ordered ... and yarn for 8-10 more that I hope to have done to send up to my mom for the Rainy Day Bazaar in Sitka in April. Alaska kiddos wear hats all year long : ) And these colors are super fun!

IT'S ON ...

And so begins the Advil Battle!

It seems over the last couple years that every now and then when Chad opens up the big Costco size Advil that he thinks there's not much left and how could we go through so much? We really don't use that much. I think the bottles are only so full to begin with and we forget how quickly time passes that it is possible to have used what we have. He says that I must be the culprit and I say it's him.

So. .. over the weekend we picked up a new container... not Costco sized but Target sized and split the bottle evenly into another bottle that was empty. We each have 80 pills and are on the honor system to continue use as normal (ie, no suffering from a headache or other pain to try keep our personal what's left in the jar count up when we really would take some) and we will see who really uses more!

We'll see how long it takes for the first bottle to be empty and let you know the "winner" of our little debate : )

BNSF BOUND

BIG NEWS! Our plan with moving to Texas is showing results! Here's the story so far.

After getting here Chad had another interview with BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) for entering into the training program to be a dispatcher, which is run through one of the colleges here. They take 15/16 people a time to train over 4 months and hundreds apply! His last round of interview had about 100 people and he was chosen as the 2nd alternate for the class. Which both bummed us out but we also knew he was on their radar. We were told the next class would be starting in June, which threw a major wrench into wedding planning... like, could Chad even be there if he's taking this intensive training?!?

We kept in contact with the person in charge of the classes to see if anyone hadn't registered or dropped out before the classes started and no one had. Monday the 31tst he got a phone call offering him a spot!! 3 weeks before the class!! We are thrilled. He started yesterday and has his first test tomorrow. Most of the first part of the training is in a class until the end of April. He'll get a little break - we're hoping to spend it in Montana - and then the last part will be more hands on training...June 6th should be his first day as an actual employee.

Looks like we'll be in Texas for awhile . . . .

JUMPING UP AND DOWN ON THE INSIDE

Most of you know that I'm a "selective" eater (very picky!)-- but I am so so excited about planning the food for our wedding. Talked with someone tonight about preparing an amazing menu and feel so much relief to have found her! It's taking all that I have to not wake Chad up to start coming up with ideas to give her so she can brainstorm from there. Seriously elated!

SHAVING SIMPLIFIED

image source

"ADVENTURE IS JUST BAD PLANNING"

This is what I came home to 11 pm on Valentine's Day. A deserted little table that looks like someone got stood up. In most cases this story would be sad, but with all the luck Chad has in trying to surprise me (this is the 3rd Valentine's mishap!) we thought it was pretty funny.

Neither of us talked about making any kind of Valentine's plans. We're going to some shows later this week and most of the time we want to do something special we just do it then. So babysitting for Valentine's Day isn't a big deal (and is paying for our concert tickets!) and I had a family ask about it weeks ago -- it's on the calendar and everything. Between the screwy schedule we have right now with Chad working so early and me not getting home until late I knew that I wouldn't see him until today (the day after VDay) when I got home from work. I even left him a little note by the door to find on his way to work to say "Happy Valentine's, blah blah, will miss you today, blah blah... see you tomorrow since you'll be asleep by the time I get home".

I did get to talk to him on the phone between work and babysitting, which was a good thing, because he was about to start cooking me a special little dinner for a surprise. Since we live in the tiny apartment he knew he couldn't hide everything he'd picked up to save for the next night without me catching on, he told me about forgetting I had plans and to not eat the chocolate covered strawberries in the fridge until he said so :)

So tonight was try number 2 and was not a surprise but every bit as wonderful. We ate at our card table turned bistro in the living room with music, flowers and candles, pasta and bread, wine, chocolate, strawberries and cool whip. I even put on a dress for our in home date!


Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day -- whenever/wherever/however you decided to celebrate it!

12 ON THE 12th: FEBRUARY

1 - This was a tough call today. Limeade from Sonic (which I really really wanted!) or McNuggets at McDonald's? Since it was lunch time McDonald's won and I got a milkshake instead. I might just find my way through the Sonic drive through tomorrow at "happy hour"...

2 - Lake Worth ... so fortunate that Texas has some water around!

3 - Monopoly with a 3 year old. We really just played with the money. I really wished I had that much.

4 - We got a GPS as a Christmas gift and it has been my lifesaver! I've started to get a good grasp on places I go a lot, but it's awesome for first time visits to places, especially in the dark.

5- Netflix = happy surprise in the mailbox

6 - Starting to reorganize all my sewing. During our downpour (it's starting to sound like exaggerated fishing, the magnitude of the water becomes larger each time I talk about it) everything got jumbled up and ended up in different places. I think I've found most of it, but every now and then a random piece of a project is found here or there.

7 - Picture taken by my new 3 year old friend.

8 - Wedding planning! I've got so much of the "big picture" planned and am excited to start working on all the little details. Mostly in list form since there's not a lot of space to store it all once I get working on them.

9 - The orange sunsets are gorgeous. Wish I had a better camera to capture them with.

10 - Dryer from the blanket to cozy up with on the couch.

11 - My Scentsy pot just adds to my cozy evening.

12 - And cozy evening would not be complete without something knit in progress. I really want to start another sweater but have so many other things I should work on first.

MY NEW TOY

I got this surprise in the mail yesterday! It belonged to my grandmother who doesn't use it too much so she sent it to me. It's not brand new, maybe 6-10 years? I'll have to take it in to see if it needs any repairs and track down the manual for it, but it will do a lot more than my little Singer does :)

The weather cleared up over the weekend, we got out and went to lunch at PF Changs. Both Monday and Tuesday we had school, but today is another snow day! We were supposed to have the last of the carpet repairs done today. I am so anxious to get our living and dining room set back up, right now it feels like a cave with how empty it is. Hopefully the snow doesn't delay anything and someone will be here soon to work on it.