Zoomba

And we’re back with the next installment of “How to Conquer the World Pregnant and Raising Twins “.  Miss the first installment?  Probably.  That’s because it doesn’t exist.  It’s all a lie and a ploy to get you back and reading.  It’s just not possible folks.  What is possible though is spending the week at the beach with family like we did all last week.  It was wonderful…besides the 40748 minutes it took to lather up the twins with sunscreen and bathing suits before every pool/beach outing and all the sand they consumed like it was candy.  Sadly, at the end of our little beach excursion, Daddy had to skip out and take a bus load of teenagers to a Steubenville conference, leaving this mom and her three under two a.l.o.n.e. for a whole five days.  Know how tough that is?  You don’t want to, trust me. 

But moving on to greener pastures, we’re back, Daddy’s back, the twins are asleep, and the laptop is cracked open.  It’s about time we get back to sharing our personal lives via zee blog.

There hasn’t been much action in the DIY department due to our recent absences but I do have a post all about rugs coming up this weekend and I’m praying for some motivation to start sewing or or painting  or something cause the line is getting long. 

Today though, let’s skip back a couple of weeks to that lovely day our eldests turned the big “ONE”.  They’re both mesmerized by animals so what a better way to foster that mesmerization and turn their excitement up a notch by taking them to the New Orleans Zoo.  The fab Party of Five came too!  Four adults, five kids (well, technically six)…who knew being outnumbered by little people was so much fun?  :)

[Four out of eight eyes where they’re supposed to be…]

[Who wants to look at seals when Mr. Stud Muffin is near?]

[Ooh, ooh, ah, ah!]

 
[Personal chauffeur.]

[I asked for a feather.  He (she?) declined.]

[OMGsh!!!!]

[Completely different reactions to the howler monkeys – completely unsure and fascinated beyond her wildest dreams.]

[We did manage one nap.]

[At the end of the day, we decided to take our animals home.]

It was lots and lots of good, sweaty, stinky fun and we can’t wait to go back!  Two and under are f-r-e-e so we’ll be milking that for the next two summers.  #cheapatheart

X, Y, Zipper

Zippers scare the he** out of this amatuer sewer (maybe seamstress would be less of a stink?) but I finally put the fear aside and whipped up (and when I say “whipped up” I mean turtled through because it took me a few hours more than I had over a couple of days) a couple of pillow covers for the pillows on our porch that were in dire need of clean ones.  Plus, I found this amazing outdoor fabric at JoAnn’s and had to have it so have it I do. (Stolen from our Instagram feed)

I’m not here to give a full tutorial however, after a little more pillow practice maybe I’ll type out all the teethy ‘tails but if you’re hankerin’ to make your own zippered covers, I recommend this tutorial.  It got me through and has really good visual aids and my resulting pillow covers are functional and not falling apart (yet).  There are a few spots where I could’ve used a little more explaining but, like I said, it got me through. 

(Our wicker is in obvious need of repair and our porch in obvious need of a sweep but let that glorious geometric take you to better thoughts.)

I’m a sucker for being able to change my mind on a whim so of course one side is one fabric and the other, the other.  They’re not the most coordinating when it comes to the relative science of fabric marriage but they’re both super-cool, geometric, and invisible when the other shines.  Today it’s the navy, yesterday was the yellow, tomorrow?  Well, let’s just hope this pattern doesn’t continue because the girls scream and cry when I walk out the front door and I really don’t want kids with PTSD so…

What’s your fave side?

Anyway, like I mentioned above, the fabric is from JoAnn’s.  I happened upon it during a 50% off outdoor fabric sale with an extra 10% coupon in my hand so when all was said and done I walked out the door with two half-yards of each for a total of 10 beans.  The zippers cost me $1.50 at Wal-Mart bringing my grand total to $13.  Just like I like it…small and virtually unnoticeable to the budget nazi, me.  I love that the covers can easily be removed, washed, and replaced.  My relationship with zippers is still “complicated” moving towards “like” but you know I’ll keep you updated on that one.  It’ll be better than the Bachelorette right now, I can tell you that much.



So, about pesky zippers.  What’s your relationship status?  Do you prefer them only pre-inserted and from stores, is your fear holding you back, or have you mastered them?  If you’re a zipper master, what’s your fave tutorial or are you one of those greats that just figured them out all by your lonesome?  Let me in on it and then go out and have a great weekend! 

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P.S.  I’m still planning on pounding out a whole series on twins and how we’ve survived along with a few other things (beware or come read and have fun) – a day in the life, cloth diapering, you know, I’ve mentioned it before – so if you’re up for that sort of thing, stay tuned.  :)

It’s Not Just For Wrapping Meat

My household sister, Jerilyn, recently introduced me to the wonderful world of freezer paper .  In particular, the wonderful world of freezer paper stenciling.  Way back when, when we announced sprout numero three was on his/her way, I used this technique to get the numbers 1, 2, and 3 onto some onesies and a tee.

 

First, I traced the numbers by placing a piece of freezer paper over a Word document on which I had picked out a 1, 2, and 3 in a font I liked.  I trace really, really lightly so as not to damage our ancient computer’s screen (heaven forbid) and I also lay the screen back and flat so that I wasn’t tracing while holding the paper up.  Make sense?

Then I cut out each number and number sign with an exacto knife.  Remember that any pieces that are unattached/floating, like the inside of my number sign or the insides of a’s, e’s, o’s, etc, will need to be saved and set in place before ironing!!

Next up I whipped out the ironing board and it’s kin, laid the stencil over each article of clothing I was doing (a onesie in this case), and ironed it on by pressing on each area of paper for about 7 seconds or so.

Oh yeah, and I made sure to stick some wax paper in between the front and back of the onesie/tee so the paint didn’t seep through!

Once the paper cooled, I made sure it was completely stuck to the onesie and sponged some gold paint (Martha Stewart from Home Depot – the same paint I used on this mirror) onto the stencil.

I did all three numbers at once and ripped the stencils off right after I was done sponging the last one, while the paint was still wet.

The marvelous thing about freezer paper stenciling is that the options are ennndlesssssss…  For real yo.  And, the finished product is washable (assuming you use permanent paint).  So cool.  I’ll never use iron-on designs again.

Here are some outtakes of our little announcement photo shoot just for a giggle and to show-off those freezer paper wonders:
[What that “sexy” toss of the hair looks like mid-action.]


[Somebody forgot to tell C she was supposed to be involved in a staring contest.]

Turns out that pressing the self-timer button while holding a baby and then running to the scene of the pictorial in a maxi skirt in time to make a lasting shot isn’t my strong suit, Cecilia has two…nope, one facial expression (getta loada those cheeks!), and lighting DOES make a difference.

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So, anyone else have some freezer paper stencils goin’ on?  If so, on what?  Clothes, curtains, bags, hats…the medium and design options are endless and that my friends, is awesome.  :)

P.S.  The twins are ONE!!!  We went on a birthday excursion to the zoo because they are absolutely enamored by animals and it was oh-so-fun!!!  I’ll get a post up all about it asap!

Multiple Personalities?

Self-contradictory?  Hypocritical?  Mood swings?  Liar?  Just plain crazy?  Apparently it’s any and all for me since today I felt AWESOME (sing it)!  But didn’t I just get down and low with my woes and complaints to you all yesterday?  Yes, ‘twas me.  Funny thing is, that girl isn’t this girl today.  I’m owing it all to plain greek yogurt because that’s the only explanation this 360 degree spin has.  Maybe I’ve stumbled upon a new pregnancy sickness remedy?  Or maybe you all knew greek yogurt was key and just forgot to tell me?  Or maybe it’s all in my head but either way, today I could’ve conquered the world.  Let’s see, where to start…

I got up at the usual hour of seven-ish, awoken from slumber by one and then two girly cries coming from down zee hall.  Anthony was the martyr this morn, getting up first to change and out the girls from their white cages.  I lumbered in a few minutes later, put the tots in the living room amidst their pile of toys always strewn about, and sipped up the coffee Anthony brewed up.  It’s all pretty boring from there – breakfast for us, breakfast for them, more playing and making toy messes, dot dot dot.  Before he left for work, Anthony helped me carry our massive filing cabinet outside so I could give it a spray paint thrice over and during nap time is when all the motivation appeared, just like that.  I gave myself a goal to at least get the thing halfway painted but here I sit with it fully d.o.n.e  in our living room.  Not only did that get done, we’re having VIP company in next week and some furniture movage is necessary so my 14 week old womb mate and I moved one large club chair approx. 20 ft, moved a desk from one end of the house to another, disassembled a large box filled with a new desk, cleaned under our bed, purged our closet, messed around with blog design, did the girls laundry, washed cloth diapers, ate two more meals and various snacks in-between, made four pint-sized meals for the offspring, and I’m now sitting down to write a blog post.  What now?  Repaint the house?  Sheesh.  Pregnancy is a crazy thing it is. 

I don’t know why I feel the need to type this all out but maybe I’m hoping that spilling my brain guts will ensure that tomorrow and the next day will be the same.  Here’s to hoping, right?

Either way, I’ll keep you posted because I know you want to know ALL about my life. 

And just because I don’t believe in blog posts without pictures, even blurry ones:

In process:
 

The palette I’m envisioning for a forthcoming master mini-makeover:

A pow-wow we three had after nap time today:

Cheers to tomorrow!

Bleh

Blogger, me? I suppose so although lately the last thing I feel like doing is making things and painting things and then writing about the whole process-shmocess lest this damn (you know I'm serious when I utter one of "those" words) nausea, tummy-ache, whatever it is, plague me like it does starting around noon each day and coming to a nice head around nine at night. Morning sickness? Nope. My sickness is afternoon and night and basically during all times of the day when I could get something done because that's when nap times and bedtimes fall. Woe is me. I could write about the fact that yesterday was the first day I actually got dressed and let my hair down in days or I could write about how we're finally starting to purge away some of our "double" baby paraphernalia. You might love to know that Cecilia's taken to playing hide-and-seek behind any and all curtains she can reach in this house which has led to two (so far) curtain rods being almost pulled down. I know you're dying to know that we deeeep cleaned our living room this weekend and after that I didn't have the energy to do what I wanted to do which was spray paint a filing cabinet. Let's just hope that happens tomorrow however if I don't get started at the crack of dawn, I know it won't. Ugh, I thought first-trimester woes were supposed to stay in the first trimester. 

Anyway, I could complain to you all all day in some sing-songy writing but I'll stop and just tell you that I'm sorry if my blogging presence is a little limited for the next few weeks (dare I say months...no, I can't). I loved pregnancy with the twins and with this little one, well, I can't wait until he/she is here because my paint brush called and it'd really like a dip. Bear with me folks. I'll be back in the swing of things as soon as I possibly can. I've got a to-do list as long as a mile and I'm bound and determined to make some check marks. Until then, feast your eyes upon those which are driving me crazy and fall in love all at the same time: 

(P.S. Sorry the video is sideways...I'm too tired to figure out how to rotate it.)