Five Things You Might Wanna Know

Taking part in the “5 Things” chain, courtesy of Lauren, just in case you didn’t get enough of me in my Liebster facts.  :)

1 – I’m an Irish twin.  My mom was notified at her post-partum exam post-me that she was in fact pregnant with another little nugget, later known as Farrah.  Needless to say, 1983 was a busy year for mom.
irish twins 

2 - I grew up on a farm.  Not just any farm though, a BEEEEEEG farm with 15 times more cows than the population of the town (321, to silence your curiosity) we called our own…no exaggerating.  If anyone told my dad “It smells like sh&!”, he said “It smells like money”.  As long as I didn’t smell like “money”, it didn’t bother me none.
feedlot

3 – I went to the same school for all twelve years of elementary, middle, and high learning with the same 18 people every year plus and minus a couple newbies once in a great, great while.
8and5 042

4 – After graduating third in my class (impressive if you didn’t read #3), I went on to Franciscan University and started a rap group with two guy friends.  I sang, they rapped - think Black-Eyed Peas-esque.  Our name?  E.O.S., short for End of Silence.  Believe it or not, we were actually pretty popular on campus.   We stepped behind the big, glass window to record our first (and last) album my sophomore year.  Twas a good time, a real good time…chicka chicka, wha?!
8and5 044

5 – I was training for the potty marathon when Anthony was born.  Robbing the cradle?  That’s me.  But for some reason the vivid second grade memory of learning that the average life-span of a male is 73 and of a female is 76 came swarming back one day shortly after we met and somehow it all just made sense…  Two of the cutest little sprouts later, and it still does.  :) 
rounder

Tag Ann, Lizzie, Audrey, Mary, and Natalie!  If you haven’t already been tagged, sit down and (pretty, pretty please) gimme five!  :)

Boo Google. Yay Blog Lovin'!

Hey all!  I'm sure I'm not the only one saddened by the somewhat sudden discontinuation of Google Reader.  For a minute, a depression settled over me as I tried to grasp the meaning of this digital tragedy and searched for another way to get in my daily dose of my fave blogs.  That's when I signed up for Blog Lovin'. We'll see how it stacks up but all I know is that I'm happy I was able to move my dailies over to it relatively easy and without much work.  I'll be sure to put up a social network button in my sidebar in case you want to follow Bean here in Blog Lovin' land, but until then, you can click this link:


Have a great day!!!!  I'm trying to play catch-up with some drafts that have been longing to be posted so I'll be back tomorrow with some more words 'o wisdom in the form of some more random facts.  Ta-ta for now!

The Cheapest Mirror of Them All

Before I dive into the details of this mirror on the wall, Deme is featuring the girls’ nursery today over at her blog, Fresh Coat of Paint!  There’s some never-before-seen shots of their room and a few updates that we spent last weekend completing!  You should go check it out…but make sure you’ve got some time on your hands when you do because you’ll get sucked in to the all of the beautiful details of her home and all the diy that goes on over there just like I do!  My favorites are the curtains she made from a duvet cover, her stenciled and painted interior door, and her polka dot closet.  Needless to say, she’s making me seriously consider switching out our plain curtains for some bold black and white’s, every door in our house is yearning for some tape and paint, and you might venture over to see the girl’s closet dotted with gold one of these days.  :)

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Remember the $8 mirror I found at a thrift store while on an excursion to visit my sisBeller Girls2

Well, it lost the dull and took up the glam in a whirlwind diy project that took me much, much longer than I anticipated…or that I wanted.
nursery32013 013  
Big change, huh?  The hours of naptimes and bedtimes spent working on this thing paid off!

To get it to where it is now, I first had to rip off all the tape holding it together and rip out the staples that someone thought would maybe hold the back on…they obviously didn’t hence all that tape.  mirror 001

Then I gave the frame a good scrub down and the two of us took it outside where it got a coat of primer (Rustoleum)…mirror 002

…followed by a few thin coats of white spray paint (Valspar   cZ VJ UMMMMMMMMMMMMM—>thank you Seraphia—in a satin finish).
mirror 003

Then I got my inner King Midas on and gave the recessed area of the frame a few coats of gold.mirror 004

All thanks goes to Deme, who introduced me to this maaahvalous paint from Home Depot:mirror 014

(Speaking of gold, Anthony once told me, during a conversation about investing in a house, that “You can build a house out of solid gold but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get every penny you put into it back out when you sell.  It all depends on the neighborhood.”  Well, we’ll see about that mister.  You might come home to a gold house courtesy of Martha Stewart and her metallic paint one of these days.)

Anyway, there’s more gold in the imminent future so keep reading. 

Next up was hatching a skewer-to-mirror plan.  I wanted to do something unique to the recessed area, something on top of just painting it gold so, I went to the local grocery aisle #8 and picked up some 12 inch skewers.  Of course I couldn’t do anything with a whole twelve inches of bamboo so I cut them into four inch pieces.  Using one, cut skewer as a guide, I laid out a bunch of full-sized ones in a row with the rounded ends against a picture frame, laid a ruler over the top of them, and penciled a line along them.  It went a little somethin’ like this:   cuttingskewers 

Then I painstakingly cut along the penciled mark on each skewer (and cursed myself for having and executing this idea in the first place) until I had over 300 four inch pieces of round bamboo.  mirror 012
(Side note:  Take a hint from this smarty pants here and, if you ever decide to use short pieces of wood to adorn anything, go buy yourself some toothpicks on Amazon…they come in lots of sizes!  Until you do, I’ll be shaking my head at my impatient and desire to do it the hard way.)

After I had all of my skewers cut (and a case of pre-arthritis setting in), I did a dry fit onto my mirror frame to make sure my idea would actually work and look decent (translation:  Anthony was skeptical and made me question myself).  For a little flare, I laid each skewer at an angle so that each end was touching the edge of both sides of the recess, like so:mirror 005

So, hour 53094 into this crazy project and here I was, needing to paint the skewer pieces.  Are you surprised?  You didn’t think I was going to leave them did you?  I debated staining them a deep, dark brown but, oh no, I love that gold paint to no end.  However, it’s the littlest bit opaque when it goes on and so, to save me the insanity that would’ve been brushing 3+ coats of it onto hundreds of small bamboo rounds, I first coated them with a layer of gold spray paint followed by Martha’s tub ‘o goodness.  Tony the Tiger helped with this step.  I used his box to tape three strips of masking tape upside-down to which I stuck the skewer pieces to hold them in place while painting.  It worked GREEEEAAATTT!!  (Cheesy?  Yes, that’s me.) mirror 013 

Last and late last Friday night, I used regular old Elmer and his glue to attach my gold sticks to the mirror frame.  I made sure to only place the glue close to the inner edge of the recess, where the sticks were closer together, lest it be seen through the spaces towards the outer edge.mirror 015
My initial thought on using Elmer’s glue was that it’s washable so, in case the desire strikes to ditch the skewer pieces someday and go with something else, I can simply pluck them off and wash off the dried glue residue.  However, after seeing the finished product, I don’t think those skewers will ever be coming off.  :)

So, after attaching every last stick and letting the glue dry overnight, Anthony attached the mirror to the frame with some caulk (we would’ve used glue but the mirror is relatively light and I like the idea of having it semi-removable in case I have the urge to re-paint the frame someday…) and then attached the frame backing with three screws drilled into the back of the frame.  We hung it centered over the girls’ cribs, where there wasn’t a stud (grrr…) so we made sure to use a heavy duty drywall anchor.  Luckily, the entire frame + mirror weighs around 15 lbs. so the super-anchor is a little overkill but it’s better to be safe than sorry when you’re dealing with cute, little chicklets?  Am I right or am I right?

nursery32013 012

What do you think?  The pictures don’t do the glorious shine of the gold any justice but I absolutely love it!  I swore to myself over and over and over that I’d never do something like this ever again in-process but after seeing the show-stopping result, I’ve changed my mind and just might be crazy enough to take another stab at it someday.

And, as the title alludes to, here’s the jar-full of change it put us back:
Mirror:  $8
Skewers:  $4 (two packs and we still have half a pack left for summer shish kabobs…yum)
Gold Paint:  $6 (not even sure this counts since I used like 1/20th of the jar)
Spray Primer:  free (already had)
Spray Paint:  $4.50 (still have over half the can)
Grand Total:  $22.50 (or $14 if you subtract my actual usage of material)

I think “The Cheapest Mirror of Them All” about covers it, huh?nursery32013 009

 

Anyone else tackled a mirror revamp lately?  How about using skewers as decor?  Fallen in love with gold metallic paint?  Crazy mom of two or more hopelessly addicted to decorating and doing?  Anyone…?  Anyone………….?

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P.S.  It’s party time!!  I’m pulling this one out of the archives and linking up with East Coast Creative’s Upcycle link-up

Score One For the Teeth

I have no finished project ready to go for the reg Saturday post because I got my butt kicked by three (possibly four) tiny teeth this week.  Want to know what’s worse than teething with one kid?  Easy.  Teething with two.  Running against the bulls might be a good comparison.  However, I took the treasured time after bed last night (bed meaning the couple of hours of alone time Anthony and I had before Seraphia woke up for the first of four times) to work on the mirror I’ve been working on for the past two weeks and another little frame project.  I stole Anthony’s phone while he snoozed last night so check out our Instagram feed in the sidebar or follow us at beaninlove to see a sneak peak.  Until then, I’ll leave you with reassurance (that really only I need right now) that our little sprouts really are happy little mice most of the time and that teething is only temporary.  By the way, if I ever complain about the woes any future, singleton baby brings with it, please reach your hand through the web and slap me. 

 For lots more adorable, comical, and cute, check out our Vimeo page by clicking the link in the sidebar.

Have a great weekend!

P.S.  A few of you sweetly mentioned you’d like to hear more “twin prophecies”.  That’s a post I’ve been wanting to write but it’s a story that’s going to take a LOT of words.  I will write them though and hopefully soon so keep in touch!  :)

Liebster Awards

A few weeks ago, Liz and Mary nominated little Bean and her blog here for a Liebster Award.  Liebster is German for endearing, valued, and/or lovely so I was quite honored and humbled to be thought of.  :)  A Liebster Award is presented by a blogger to other bloggers, recognizing them for doing a great job entertaining the rest of the web with their blog.  So sweet! 

To accept the award one must:
1.  Post 11 random facts about oneself
2.  Answer the questions your “nominator” has asked of you and then create 11 new questions to pass on to…
3.  Bloggers (with less than 200 followers) you’d like to nominate for a Liebster who…
4.  You should notify of their nomination via a comment on their webpage and a link on yours
5.  And you shall not tag back

So, if you didn’t already know, you now know that:
1 – I can count on both hands the number of times I’ve gotten my hair cut in a salon.  Growing up, my mom wielded scissors on it, my sister cut it in college, and when I’m not visiting Farrah, I do it myself these days.
2 – I also cut Anthony’s hair and I never mess up…and even if I did, you’d never notice because he’s got this great curly hair that hides everything.10532_531877218080_2262833_n 3 – I was super-super-skinny growing up and I hated it.  I used to drink Wrestlers’ Weight Gainer in powder form to pack on pounds…but my metabolism always won and I stayed skinny.  Never in the whole wide world was there a girl more happier to welcome that freshman fifteen in college, let me tell ya.
dance 4 – I’ve never broken a bone…tap on a tree.
5 – I have an inch and half wide scar across the front of my neck caused from the surgical removal of a Thyro-Glossal-Duct-Cyst when I was a teen.  However, I usually tell people I was once an attempted murder victim…it makes for a much more interesting me.
6 – I had braces twice growing up for a cumulative time of four years as a metal mouth all because…
7 – I was born without an adult tooth therefore I’ve got a fake.  (When the baby tooth was pulled because it just wasn’t coming out, I didn’t have a tooth to replace it.  It’s the small one to my left of my front tooth.)
8 – If my mom put her left foot next to my right and vice-versa, they’d look like they were a pair.  :)
9 – My siblings names are Farrah, Raquel, Preston, and Parker…also known as Peach, Rock, Booguy, and Oink.46297_754631365703_6046290_n 10 – After Anthony I got hitched, my grandma would pray and pray we’d one day have twins (she’d tell me and I’d just laugh it off) and lo and behold…twins.
600630_633525983140_179141793_n 11 – The day I was going into my ob/gyn’s office to take the “let’s make sure you’re pregnant” test, I came thisclose to running into a statue of Jesus holding up his two fingers in peace, except I remember seeing them as I contorted my body around the statue, barely missing it, and thinking not “peace” but “two”…coincidence?  I think not.  But that’s a whole ‘nother story for another day.  :)

Since two people nominated me, I’m going to pull the fair card and answer the first five questions from one and the first six from the other, and then I’m gonna pull the lazy efficient card and pass the leftovers on to my nominees.  :)

From Liz:
What magazines, if any, do you subscribe to?
Better Home and Gardens because I got it for el cheapo last year.  I was gifted a Real Simple subscription that I LOVE and I’m super tempted to snatch up a year of HGTV’s glossy so I don’t have to stalk my friend Lauren’s.
What made you decide to start a blog?
Lots of time and thought chaos in the brain.  While Anthony was studying for his Masters’ (still is) way back when, blogging was a great way for me to get my ideas and thoughts out and fight boredom.
When you aren't blogging, what's your favorite thing to do?
Oh that’s easy, chill with my hoodlums.  When they’re passed out, it’s painting/creating/getting my hands dirty all the way.
What's your favorite room in your home?
Hmmm…I guess I’ll have to say the nursery because it’s the closest to being “finished” and it’s just so darn happy.

wandgk 026 Where is the one place you'd love to travel?
Europe, again.  I don’t think you can ever get enough of that continent.

From Mary:
What is your least favorite book?
Not sure but if I have to guess, it’d probably be one of the college education variety.
What is your perfect day?
Allow me to be cliche…any day with my loves.  :)
Who is your greatest inspiration?
Mama Mary all the way.
What is your favorite song?
Oh gosh, I have too many “favorites”.  Right this minute it’s “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman.
What is your go to dinner?
Enchiladas with cream cheese on top, yum.
Can you name a current event that has changed the way you think?
Besides the snazzy, new item which is Sean and Catherine totally renewing my faith in the whole Bachelor/Bachelorette crazy thing on the tube, I’d have to say the impending election of our new Pope.  I’m waiting for that smoke in high suspense…so exciting!


”And the nominees are”…(drumroll please):
Lauren – I love your stories, especially when you write about Emma’s outfits-of-choice.
Ana - Your girls crack me up!
Farrah - I know you’re on a blogging hiatus, but I love your blog even still and I wish you’d put those fingers back on those keys!
Allyson – You inspire me like no one has and your writing makes me holier.
Bridget – I’ve always thought if we knew each other in person we’d make great friends.  And your instagram posts are theeee best!
Gabby – The Pinterest Queen!
Jess – The blogger with phenom post pictures…must be those cute kids…and the great photographer!  :)
Lizzie – Laughter is the best medicine so pretty please get to typing, okay?  And while you’re wrangling those soon-to-be-three kiddos, get some more projects done, will ya?
Maureen – The first blog I ever read and in one word, hilarious.  You are such a good writer!
Natalie – Would you please move down here and be my personal stylist?  Did I mention that the name of your blog is one of my faves?

I know it takes a little bit of time to accept this highly prestigious award so don’t feel bad if you can’t spill out a hundred web words to do so…you’re still a fab blogger in my blogging book.  :)  I also will understand if you just answer these questions and then pass them on to make life more simple like me! 

So, ladies…
1.  What blog inspires you the most?
2.  When you go shopping for yourself, what's the first thing you buy?
3.  What's your favorite t.v. show?
4.  If/when you go to Target, what area of the store do you spend the most time?
5.  What is the best book you have read?
6.  What is one food you could eat every day?
7.  Name the funniest movie ever, of all time.
8.  Coffee or tea?
9.  What is most misunderstood about you?
10.  Which city in America do you like best?
11.  What do you appreciate most about your life?

Happy Liebstering!