Makeover Madness

So Makeover Madness has officially taken over our Household – The De-Hoarding is still progressing although it has slowed considerably.  I know I haven’t posted in ages because I wanted to show you a completed room.  As we speak I’ve got 4 area’s of my home that are hugely different from their original form, yet they are not quite there.  My Young and Gorgeous Counselor could sense my frustration with not having anything BIG so show (so to speak).  So, she sent me back home to WOW you with all the little accomplishments I’ve made over the past couple of weeks.

FawnDear completed her first-ever from scratch Woodworking Project.  I built some wooded, or maybe I should say composite based Cornices to hang over the windows in the front/dining rooms.  Here they are with only one coat of paint.

 

I know lousy lighting, but yes that’s molding.  Wow, I can’t believe I used Molding???  It involved a lot of kicking myself for not paying more attention in High School Math Class.  I never did master the lessons on Angles, and Percentages.  Fortunately, my husbands Big Boy Toy had a lot of the measurements already guesstimated for lumber Numbskulls like me.  I never would have figured out the angle I needed was 31.62.  Thank you saw company.

I’m totally digging trying out all the power tools.

Do guys intentionally say they will do the carpentry work because they are afraid that if we try it and like it – we might claim it?

Regardless, I measured and cut, and muffed up.  Then measured cut, nailed, glued and screwed my creation together.

I did ask the Hubster to mount them on the wall for me.  Of course they were mounted in studs and with some good Drywall anchors where no studs were to be found.

So Big Thanks to my Prince Erik for pitching in on this step. 

I rewarded him for his handy weekend contributions by turning the tables on him.  A couple of years ago he was 14-day-guy for me, so this year I surprised him with his very own 14 Days of Valentines. 

Each simple card went along with a little gift.  And although they might sound silly, it’s the thought that counts.  Examples were on Day 1, I gave him an adjustable spice rack (he loves to cook) for our new kitchen.  And the card mentioned thanks for the spice he brings to my life…  Ahhhhh, am I adding too much ooey –gooey?  Some gifts were dress socks, some nut packets or jerky.  I think his favorite day was day 4 because it was 4 lbs. of Seafood.  Oh, and he liked day 12 as well because I gave him 12… well something I can’t mention here.  Anyway it really did feel great to do something nice for the guy. 

Currently I’m furiously setting up my Dining room as the Curtain Sewing room.  Can’t wait to hang some curtains after a few months of giving the Neighbors more of a show than what they were intending to see.

I also filled the home with mind numbing oil paint fumes as I slowly put some touches on part of our kitchen cabinets.

Here’s T-rev sucking it in for your viewing pleasure.  So I’ve now let the cat out of the bag.  Yes, we have repainted nearly every surface in our home.

I also finally framed my carefully selected artwork for the Front Room.  After going to a framing store and nearly choking on their estimated price of $700 plus for frame, mat’s, glass etc.  I went the cheaper route of finding a similar size frame at Goodwill for $25.

I had to paint it white, and I did end up paying the craft store to cut the matting for me.  But then I put it together.  The matting was around $80, only because I didn’t wait for a dang sale.  But $105 compared with $700 is a great deal.

Here’s another peek, I haven’t really staged it yet, just hung the picture, and threw a couple or items on the mantle.  Hopefully it will do until I can get around to the thoughtful decorations.  The picture is by my favorite Artist Carl Bloch and is called Fra Hellebaek.

The two girls in the picture look almost exactly like my Lea and Hope.  I knew the moment I saw it that it was the perfect picture for our front room.  My husbands love of boating and ties to his Danish Roots are represented as well.  Just wait until you see how perfectly it ties my entire Front room together.    It gives me goose bumps that it fits so perfectly.

So Yes, the Home makeover is progressing.  Even though it’s now progressing slowly.

Our family is also following our sixth anniversary tradition of Unplugging for the month of February.  No T.V., no Computer or Internet (unless it’s homework).  No blog browsing (I promise I’ll come visit soon), No Video gaming…  More Madness.

The kids have adjusted as expected.  First weeks a nightmare, then they start coming alive.  Hope had a hard time because I’ve been plugging her in over the past few months to work on my De-Hoarding.  So there were a few days of her mauling loving the cat and walking around moaning that she missed her electronics.  But she’s bounced right out of that zombie phase – Thank Goodness.  If I had it my way – I’d keep the blasted electronics turned off Forever!  With the exception of Blogging, of course.

And Pumpkin our Ninja Kitty Cat, we’ll let’s just say, it’s been his worst month yet.  With all the smothering loving from bored kids, he turned to the streets.  Sadly, the street cats didn’t take to kindly to him and the poor thing came home a bloody, sad mess.  Clearly his ninja skills have failed him.  Several set’s of stitches, some oozing drain shunts, a $305 dollar vet bill, and one humiliating Cone-Of-Shame Latter…

Pumpkin’s a much humbler fellow, realizing that hugs from Hope are not that bad after all.

And if painting a kitchen, building cornices, dealing with six, I mean seven unplugged kids and a maimed cat are not enough, I’ve added another Makeover project to the List – ME!

My husband and I applied for a contest where our local fitness center was going to select eight teams or couples and give them 12 weeks of trainer’s, nutritional counseling, weekly incentives, and a whole lot of support to essentially shed some pounds and build some Fab Muscles at the same time.  So four weeks ago Prince Erik and I were jumping for joy, more like jiggily bouncing, when we found out that we were one of the lucky teams that they selected.

Wa-hoo!  A perfect opportunity to lose that nasty 65 pounds of emotional eating I gained dealing with the Unbloggable.  And I’m doing it with past success information and even more help from my Young and Gorgeous counselor in dealing with the whole mental/emotional side of eating. 

I’m thrilled for the opportunity to get something like 24 training sessions from a personal trainer – it’s something I couldn’t afford on my own.  How blessed am I?

Of course they are judging on percentage of body weight lost and not lbs. lost.  So I was the recipient of a fabulous Dunk Tank experience.

  

Sorry about the view.  I  guess it would be an understatement to mention that I’m pasty white, right?

Apparently getting tanked gives them a more accurate measurement of how much of your body is fat and how much is finely tuned muscle.

 

According to the tank – I’ve got 72 lbs. of blubber to lose before I’m at optimal healthy weight. 

So there you have it.  The FawnDear and Prince Erik Makeovers have just been added to our list of current projects.

So here’s the dreaded Before’s.  Funny we must be married, or something, because our starting weight was an identical 227 lbs..

 

Can only get better right???  Well let’s hope so, because I KNOW you’re not tuning into my posts to see scary pictures like these posted every other day.

So week one came and went and guess which team lost the most?  Before I answer, I need to clarify that I want all the teams in the competition to do stupendous!  I want them all to hit their personal goals.  I’m their biggest cheerleader.  But, I’m pretty confident that I’ll be right up their with the best of them.  The A-Team (as we are called) are on everyone’s hit list because we won week one.  Between my husband and I, we lost a combined 21 lbs.  It’s week one.  We didn’t starve, but we did exercise 6 days a week, but never for more than an hour and we did count calories and keep them within our 1500-1800 calorie range.  We followed the rules and it felt great.  Our prize – Two haircuts, which we will use for our Fab makeover. 

Week 2 – I lost another 3.  Prince Erik hit a little wall and didn’t lose anything.  But we are still on track.  We came in forth the second week. 

We are currently in the middle of week #3.  This is my hardest week by far, but I haven’t given up.  In addition to competing with the other teams – there’s a little competition between me and the Prince.  Seeing who can outlast the other on planks (me) or weights (him).  It’s awesome to have a built in support system.

So there you have it.  The Month of February in a nutshell.  I promise not to hold out on projects until they are all completed.  It’s easier to just show a little at a time. 

Up for Air

I’m up for air after swimming in Valentine and Fairy Crafting with my kids. I’ll probably dive right back in as soon as I’m done posting.

Every February we unplug from all Electronic forms of Entertainment. I consider blogging therapy and not Entertainment so that’s why you are blessed with me. Lucky you!

Anyway, we’ve been busy. I probably over-do it on classroom handouts. Okay, I know I over-do it. But it’s just so blasted fun to craft with the kids. This year we made clay heart necklaces for their girlfriends. You can see how we made them here.

I’m still racking my brain trying to come up with something Cool for the guys. Any suggestions?

I’ve also been mad at work crocheting little tiny fairy purses for an upcoming swap.

It’s much cuter in person. The purse is latched with a flower button that you just can't see in the picture.

The girls begged me to teach them how to crochet. Princess had a hard time and might try again in a couple of years. Lea however, after a few ghastly rows, took to it like a fish to water.

I couldn’t get the girl to put the darn hook down. She ended up making an afghan for her doll. The other kids have been busy in their various interests. T-Rev is having a hard time being unplugged so he draws his favorite video game characters during his down time.

Hummm, I think this is Castle Crashers on a Rock Band tour.

And Princess is entertaining us with her wildly imaginative fantasy stories. We have to give her a captive audience or she will follow us around until we sit and listen to and look at every page.

Abner is back at work testing video games for money. Whew, no more lazy lay-about. So he has to be plugged in. Just not at home though.

And we finally have the results from Hope’s Sleep Study. Yes, mom wasn’t imagining her lack of breathing while sleeping. She does have sleep apnea. It’s borderline between Mild and Moderate. So now she’s off to visit with the nose and throat specialist (please don’t ask me what they’re called) for a possible tonsillectomy. More fun.

We also finally bid adieu to the old Portable Swimming Pool. After nearly 200,000 miles and maintenance costs up the ying-yang, we traded the old gas sucker in for a nice portable little sauna.

Somehow we couldn’t let go of owning another truck. Too many future scout and camping trips require that we keep one in the family. Prince Erik has already claimed the little truck as his commute transportation so yeah, I can drive his little car around instead of the other Gas-Guzzler Family Bus.

Okay, that’s enough of my yammering. I’m way behind on sleep. But before I head off to bed I thought I’d make my Bro. jealous, once again, because we happen to have the best view of sunsets around. Nothing hugely colorful this evening, but still Beautiful.

Maybe if I can lure my family up to my neck of the woods with magical sunsets, I can convince them to move closer. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to dream.

Unplugged - Day 1

So we all  survived our first day of being unplugged.   The kids did fabulous.  I however, was pacing the floor, craving my visits with my bloggy friends.  I can't believe how hard it is to avoid browsing on the computer.

The kids and I pulled out some of their favorite books while looking for fun stuff to do.   By far our favorite book was the one Lea got for her last Birthday.

I, myself could spend hours reading it.  First written and published in 1887  and 1898, with a new forward in 1987.  It finally caught my attention this spring in it's 20th printing.

I love this book!!!  It's language, pictures, everything.

From it's pages you can learn how to make fans, corn husk dolls, pressed flower art, and a hammock of all things.

It's a fascinating glimpse of American life back before the invention of the Easter Bunny and trick-or-treating in costumes for Halloween.  My girls and I are especially excited about a whole chapter devoted to the celebration of  May Day. 

Which brought back memories of our May Day celebration last year.  This year we want a May Pole.

How's this for a fun chapter heading.  Rubbish beats trash any old day.

While the girls were writing down massive ideas of fun things to do.  I was brainstorming my studio by looking through this...

We happen to be related to one of the ladies featured.  Although I didn't see that fit my style it was still a fun browse and got me inspired to only put things I love in my new room.

One of my inspiration pieces is this material which I happened upon last week.

 

My favorite colors in a FarmGirl toile. 

I can't wait to use it!!!

The kids kept themselves busy all afternoon.  Evoman turned tinfoil into...

A wallet of all things.

He loved how it looked but it thinking about re-enforcing it with clear packing tape.

Abner was back to painting his Miniature War Hammer pieces that he won in his video contest last February.

And the whole family played T-rev's Star War's Monolopy.

Let's hope the rest of the month goes this smoothly.

And as for the Rats.  Not only do we breed large mutant rats they are also smarter than we are.  The suckers cleaned the bait off of all seven, strategically placed traps not springing a single one of them.    So back to the drawing board.

The Calm before the Storm

My kids are all excited. My Oppositional Defiant child even tried to pull a 5 minute melt-down over 20 minutes worth of homework because it was his last night of playing. His more sane emotions quickly kicked into gear, he whizzed through his homework and hurriedly plugged his brain in for it’s last couple of hours of brain zapping before tomorrow’s de-tox. Tonight is the binge before the diet, the calm before the storm, the feast before the famine (wait I already said that), for tomorrow, their little minds have to re-engage and actually think, and heaven forbid, they may even have to interact with other human beings. We of course have let them go overboard this past week on X-box, X-box 360, Play station II, Wii, Nintendo DS, and 3 portable laptops, in addition to two other computers playing different games at the same time.

Why indulge them? Probably, since they are more than willing to go along with our yearly tradition of NO ELECTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT OF ANY KIND FOR A WHOLE MONTH. I think this is our 5th year and, without exception, the month that always gets chosen is February because it's the shortest month of the year. I didn’t feel the need to mention that February has an extra day this year; somehow I don’t think they will notice.

I know, I know your eyes are bugging out with the list of gaming systems I mentioned above. Blame it on my oldest child (husband). No I guess you can blame it on me because I let him talk me into them. See you can stomp a mean DDR on X-box, Rock Band and Guitar Hero I, II and III on the 360, Kingdom Hearts on Play station, and well the most perfect gaming system invented, the Wii, makes you actually use something besides those chubby little fingers. Sure your fingers and maybe a couple of limbs get a good workout but do you notice the lack of tone in the facial expressions. It get's worse with age.

It’s like attack of the Zombies have infected everyone.

And the posture, Oh the Horror!

I can always dream that maybe I’ll talk them into getting rid of all systems except the Wii, but I won’t bring that up until the end of the month. On the last day of last year's month, my O.D.D. child even mentioned that we probably shouldn't even turn the T.V. back on, because he liked how things were with it off. I about had to pick my jaw up off the floor after that one.

I am slowly making headway against the brain sucking devices, last year I talked them into getting rid of our Dish network, that was my sacrifice. I really miss my HGTV! Now the only shows we watch are DVD’s, or some favorite series we bought off I tunes. I love the fact that there are no commercials.

The only exceptions to the rules are that we can use computers for email, to do homework, and sorry T-Rev there is no homework merit to be found at Homestarrunner.

I also got permission from my husband to continue my Blog. I called it therapy and seeing as how I need all the help I can get – he agreed. I can’t however surf, and believe me that will be hard. What else am I going to do with my time? Oh, yeah, I could actually take care of the kids and keep de-cluttering the house. So don’t worry about me.

I predict that the phrase, ‘I’m bored, there’s nothing to do,’ will be said too many times to actually count within the first couple of hours. But if it’s anything like in years past, slowly but surely, I know they will figure something out.

Wish us luck, I’m really going to need it.