Go make something!

Before the days of Pinterest (seriously they existed) I had more bookmarks in folders than anyone should ever have on their computer.  One of them included this image:

Source

that I had found on a blog in 2010.  I fell in love and I had been wanting to replace our freebie table for years.  After reading how they redid I decided I could do it too!  So I scoured Craigslist for the perfect table  I came across a ton of them but I am cheap frugal, and I wanted something low cost if I was going to strip it down anyway.  Last June I finally came across this gem:

You can read about that here:

http://ayanovich.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-newest-project.html

After I refinished the table:

http://ayanovich.blogspot.com/2012/06/dining-table-finally-revealed.html

I started working on finding a hodge-podge of chairs for it.  The hard thing was deciding how I wanted to do it, no matching, 2 sets of two, all the same color, all different?  I finally decided to just see what I could find cheaply.  First I found a set of  four wobbly well loved pressed back chairs on a local for sale board on FB for $15.

http://ayanovich.blogspot.com/2012/09/trash-to-treasure-tuesday.html

Out of the four only one of them was really sturdy so I refinished that one and a highchair that I picked up off the same board from someone else for $10.

And then it took me nine more months to sturdy up a 2nd chair out of that bunch of wobbly ones and also luck upon a garage sale selling two similar-ish press back chairs for $4 each!

http://ayanovich.blogspot.com/2013/06/another-weekend-has-ended.html

So now that I have it all together I thought I would post a final product post.

Here she is:

Not to shabby, and I love it much, much more than anything I ever could have purchased in the store!


Breakdown:

Table (craiglist) $15.00
Sanding pads (hardware store) roughly $15
Teal (Cozumel by Behr) Paint 1Qt - left over from previous project
1qt Walnut stain by minwax - $8.00
2 chairs (FB sale) - $15
1 Highchair (FB sale) - $10
2 chairs garage sale - $8
1 qt  Zinzer 1.2.3. primer - $9.50
1qt Olympic One in Heavy Cream- $12
1 Gallon of  Minwax oil-modified polyurethane in semi-gloss - left over from Addison's bedroom floors

Total Cost: about  $95.00
And I have plenty of leftover stain which I have used on multiple projects more than 1/2 quart of the Cozumel and
 hopefully enough of the Heavy cream for me to redo this craigslist find:

And just for fun, lets remember how pretty this room was just 2 years ago....

Dining room make over

Ugh.  Next, replace gross carpet!

Influenster Mary Kay Voxbox

The same day that my Carabox arrived to my house so did this latest Mary Kay Voxbox from Influenster. It was a great mail day!  Are you familiar with Influenster?  If not and you like to test new things and give your opinion you should sign up..I have some referrals left let me know if you are interested!

Anyway in this Voxbox Influenster and Mary Kay sent the following for me to test and give my opinion on:

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  So right off the bat I am just not a lipstick girl...Have you ever saw these chicken lips?  (as in chickens don't have lips and neither do I)  Lipstick looks ridiculous on me, I put this on long enough to know that it also doesn't work for me.  I think because I never wear it when I do put it on it also feels so weird on my lips that I couldn't stand to wear it.  I should pass this one along to someone who will wear it!

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I have yet to try the Creme Eye Color ($14.00) in Violet Storm and Creme Eye Color/Concealer Brush but as soon as I have time to properly put on makeup I will try it out!

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The things I am already LOVING?  The Lash Primer ($15.00)  & Lash Love Lengthening Mascara ($15.00)!  As soon as I pulled the tube out of the mascara and saw that it had one of the silicone type brushes I thought, oh man, not gonna like this.  In the past when I buy the brands that have these brushes they clump so bad I can't stand it. Not true with Mary Kay.  In combination with the lash primer this stuff is amazing.  I haven't tried it on its own yet because if I can use the primer and get even longer lashes that just with the mascara alone, I'm all over it!  It wears great without flaking off and leaving black chunks of mascara on my face. Seriously I love this stuff, I will be finding out who I know that sells Mary Kay now!

My First Cara Box Exchange

Like most people I love getting stuff in the mail.  Secret packages that you don't know what is inside, even cooler.  So when I stumbled upon  Kaitlyn's Blog and read about the Cara Box exchange, packages full of things combined with a chance to meet and get to know some new people, I was all in.  Seriously fun, you should check it out!

I was matched up with Brittany & Mary.

I got to chat a little with Brittany and learned we have a photography passion in common.  Check out her blog to see what I sent to her.

Mary and I talked a little bit through e-mail and she's a pretty active blogger so it was easy to learn more about her.  She sent me the cutest package.  Seriously.  The theme for the month was "take me to the fair"  One of my favorite places ever!

And I didn't get a picture of it but she used mustache duct tape.  Instant cool points.

That box was packed full of fun things.  

My husband called dibs on a ring pop, the peanuts and the cracker jacks.  I think he thought this was for him?  I loved the little cosmetic bag set, I'm pretty much the biggest collector/hoarder of bags as it is so these will for sure come in handy.  Anyone who knows me know's how much I love color so these are perfect.  I may even share one with Addison who is serious about her money collecting lately to put in her piggy bank!

I liked that she included a few little personal items like the nail file/hand sanitizer/frame.  These will all come to work with me to keep on or in my desk.

I had so much fun doing this, I can't wait to participate again next month!  Go sign up, you have until tomorrow!

Ready or Not....

6.24.13

Round Two!!!

Can  you see those faintest of faint possible lines?  Yeah buddy. 

We decided to finally be "ready" for a baby #2 a couple of months ago, you know Addison is almost three, that means no chance of kids super close in age.   While an almost 4 year age gap isn't what I ever thought I wanted, when it came down to it until about seven-ish months ago I was just not ready to do it again!  I barely feel sane on a good day, I can't imagine how you momma's with multiple kids under 3 do it!!!   

Anywho, When we got pregnant with Addison we decided we were ready, tried for a month, the day before my peroid was due, I took a test.  It was positive as could be, no doubt.  This time around, we didn't get pregnant the first month.  This month my period is currently 6 days late, 6 fricken days!  I've taken enough pregnancy tests that I could have bought something pretty awesome with the money I've spent at this point.  Today I took one this morning, negative.  Took another one tonight cause I'm slightly freaked by being 6 days late and no positive test, seeing how my peroid is one thing that my body NEVER blesses me by skipping, and it for sure had two lines.  Albeit that pregnant line is light but it's there.  So I peed on another brand, another super slightly faint line.  All signs point to pregnant.  (I will test again in the morning to make sure it darkens up)  I was starting to think something was wrong with my old ass!  :)  

Yay babies.  This should be a late February babe, you know the complete opposite weather as all my maternity clothes!

Another Weekend Has Ended

Monday, why do you do this to me every week?  Can't it just been perpetual weekend?  (with paychecks still please).

This weekend my mom took Addison for the whole weekend so that they could spend time with her and I could accomplish some kid free things.  It was a craft-tacular weekend around here!

Friday before my mom got out of work, Addison and I spent the day doing a little errand running/garage sale shopping and playing in the yard (well I tried to read while she played but that didn't work too well)

When my mom got out of work I met her in town to do a kid exchange and then decided to do some kid free shopping.  I was impressed with the number of stores I could quickly cover without a toddler in tow.  For real it was mind blowing and I have forgotten how nice it is to run errands alone sometimes without a time limit!  I almost always feel as if I am being rushed, rushing to finish, rushing to get somewhere on time.  I need a few chill pills.  After my errand running I came home went for a little run and then plopped myself in front of the tv to watch "What to Expect When Expecting" with a can of stain and I got to work on staining what will be new shelves for my bathroom.  Oh yeah, and a bird, and a "treasure chest" for Addison's B-day party.

Saturday morning I painted a few more birds (so I could have a little flock), shot a family session, did some thrift shopping where I found this cute little trivet that I will add to my collage wall.

To paint, or not to paint?  

I also found a 3.99 desk at goodwill that will be perfect for Addison (or another kid if I decide once I refinish it that I don't want to keep it seeing how I have another desk waiting to be refinished in the garage)

And this little spice rack which I'm pretty sure I will use to hold nail polish and possibly hang necklaces from for my bedroom. (it's yellow now)

Then I started the refinishing of these last three chairs for my dining room (if you remember...last fall..I got one of them done and had been waiting to fix the match to that one and looking for another set of two, I wanted two sets of two so they match the chair opposite them but not all 4 matching)  This process takes forever because 1. I do not own a paint sprayer, so brush it is.  2. Primer coat, Paint coat, Paint coat, Distress (sand), Stain, Polyurethane. (FOREVER!!!).  But I LOVE how it looks when it's done so the effort is worth it in the long run. 

this is usually when I remember my before pictures.

Primered

one painted, two to go!

Soon after the 1st coat of paint color it was time to head to Milford for my friend from works Wedding Reception. So I tried to scrub off all my war paint and we headed out for a little bit.

When we got back I stayed up far to late at night working on pictures and caught a one night early "supermoon".

Woke up Sunday morning to an absolutely beautiful day,

I was slightly ADD with my plans for the day, I planted the last of the flowers/bulbs that I had bought already this year, moved some of my garden ornaments around.  Started working on the chairs again and noticing how badly the green algae growth & bug bits on the side of the house were looking so I unburried the powerwasher, found some gas and started spraying.  while I looked like a hot mess afterwards, the house looks 1000 times better, even though its no where near finished! 

yuck

By the time 3:30 rolled around and it was time for me to hop in the shower to make it to my 5pm photo session I looked like this:

Ooops, shoulda remembered that sun screen.

But my chairs were finished!!!

I'll definitely have to do an updated post on the entire project, table, chairs, and a price breakdown.  But first this need time to air out and my house needs cleaned!

I also started working on a few more craft projects for Addison's B-day party.  Hello this is me going overboard on the details.  Every year I do her age in a 8x10 frame that sits out at her party and on her dresser after her party for the rest of the year.  I got that painted and embellished, except I'd like to find some pirate paper instead of the blue stripes to mount it to.

 And then my little peanut came home and is seen here making "noodle & sunburn soup"  sounds delish.

Mom sent me home some dinner and fresh made strawberry shortcake from the berries that they went and picked this weekend.  It was amazing!

And that, my friends, is how you do a kid free weekend.  Also, I am so sore and old today.