What I Wore Wednesday -- Grown Up Polka Dots, Copying Kate, and a Big Ol' Fail

When I started this blog, I mentioned that one of my goals was to hold myself accountable for getting our house in order.  Something I sure didn't anticipate was that participating in What I Wore Wednesday would not only shove me out of my yoga pant rut, but also inspire me to clean up (and out) my disaster area closet.  Huzzah for fringe benefits!

I'll show you the new & improved closet tomorrow, but suffice it to say for today that when you start off like this:

there's no place to go but up!

My first outfit this week is my attempt at grown-up polka dots.  I brushed against this dress at Target and it was so soft I had to give it a second look.  And for $24.99, I couldn't pass it up!

Dress:  Target

Black canvas wedges:  Payless

Did you watch the royal wedding?  With my Princess-obsessed AJ, it was a BIG DEAL at our house.  I fell in love with the simple silhouette of the jacket Kate Middleton wore the day after.

Source: None via celyna on Pinterest

So when I saw this jacket had the same neckline, I was intrigued.  And since dressing up is not my usual M.O., the fact that it's made of sweatshirt material and perfect to throw on over jeans = SOLD!

Jacket:  Target

gray t-shirt:  Ann Taylor Loft

Jeans:  Hudson, via Nordstrom

socks:  handknit by yours truly

shoes:  Danskos, via Zappos

Finally, today, inspired by my friend Grace , who has *awesome* style (she does a series where she picks clothes for her readers -- I don't think I've ever not liked something she's chosen and she could totally be one of those personal shoppers who charges hundreds of dollars per hour.  She's also wickedly smart, funny, and a great writer, and the one who finally convinced me to try skinny jeans.), I threw on a pair of black leggings and a t-shirt dress with a belt, and some ballet flats.  I've seen Grace rock this look more than once, so when I stepped in front of the camera (trying to figure out the self-timer), I thought I looked ok.  

Apparently the camera disagreed, (and frankly, I don't really blame it) because the resulting shots were blurry and downright terrible.  A big fat fashion FAIL.  The belt was too low, so I had a bit of 80's punk - revival going on, the dress is a bit too big (both from the unfortunate post-partum period where you can't wear your regular clothes, but can't bear to wear maternity for one more second), so I looked like I donned a purple potato sack.  Both are now in the donate pile, and I will spare you the sight.  You're welcome.

Linking to What I Wore Wednesday !

On Change, and Uncertainty

I guess Blogger and our weather have been colluding lately, seems neither likes change!

Now that blogspot seems to have its hiccups ironed out, I can show you what our big weekend project was!
When we bought our house a few years ago it wasn't in perfect shape.  The previous owners had fancied themselves do-it-yourself-ers, and enclosed the previous back porch into a sun room.  Unfortunately, they picked crap windows to do so.

And did I mention that they didn't square them?  Or angle the outer sills downward to divert rain?

Or level the floor?  And used the crappiest, cheapest wood to try to trim?

In other words, they were in sorry shape.  They barely kept out wind and rain, we won't even talk about how we were bleeding money in utility bills from losing all our heat or air conditioning through the thin glass.  So (needless to say) it was high time they got replaced!

Our first step was to wreak absolute havoc on the entire house by clearing everything out of the sun room.  Dining table, chairs, my craft table, my computer armoire, the kids' easel, a ton of books, crafting supplies . . . . you get the picture.

  

We finished close to midnight, and expected the installers early the next morning.
Mother Nature, however, decided she wasn't quite through with winter yet.

That would be a mix of hail, sleet, and snow.  Not quite the weather you want when you're scheduled to have a gaping hole in your house.  So everything got pushed back a couple of days.  The kids loved having the big open room to run around in, they were most fascinated by how much more their voices echoed without the furniture and dubbed it "the echo room."

Finally, the weather cooperated and the big switch happened.  There were quite a few surprises lurking, including:
*rotten wood under all the old windows (because of the aforementioned lack of rain diversion)
*a large wasp's nest
*electrical conduit run between the window frame and the wood framing of the porch wall
*zero insulation in the entire room
and the piece de resistance, the fact that the previous owners had framed the back door in cedar batten board.  Like, what you'd line a closet with.  No joke.  Sigh.

So.  After all that, are you ready to see the new, properly installed, properly flashed, properly insulated, levelled, squared, energy efficient and (if I do say so myself) completely gorgeous new door and windows?

The french-styled sliding door:

The side where most of the issues were:

Isn't it gorgeous?
We are so pleased.
Of course, now that we have these pretty new windows, we're thinking a few more touch-ups may be in order -- a fresh coat of paint, building a couple of window seats, maybe a new rug . . . . .

Z. wants to be involved in the design process.  Though he's being awfully picky about which shade to choose!

I'm linking to Weekend Wrapup at Tatertots & Jello !

Goalposts: The Obvious Edition

Last week I laid out some of the goals I'm hoping to hold myself accountable to.  First up?

A Cleaning Schedule That Involves the Kids.
I spent a lot of time this weekend thinking about how I envision the house looking, what makes things easier for me, what age-appropriate chores the kids can help with, and how much (or little, in the interest of honesty) time I'm willing to devote to cleaning.  Here's what I came up with:

*I envision the house looking like something out of a magazine.  However, I loathe cleaning.  While the two aren't mutually exclusive, they are at odds.  Add 3 kids, a cat that sheds tumbleweed-sized fur balls and a desire to spend no more than 30 minutes per day cleaning, and the first thing I need to do is lower my expectations and don't let the desire for perfection get in the way of just getting something done.  

*Thinking about what makes things easier for me led directly to my list of chores to do every day:
     *putting the kitchen to rights (loading dishes, wiping 
       counters, putting away placemats, getting the coffee 
       maker ready for the next morning) every night.
     *scooping the cat box (on Wednesdays, change the litter 
       completely since trash day is Thursday)
     *clean off my side table (next to the couch)
     *take recycling out to bins.


*I am extremely lucky to have a cleaning dude twice a month (best birthday/Christmas present EVER, mom!).  Because of that, my list of chores to do weekly is pretty short:
     *vacuum tv room twice a week
     *vacuum rest of house
     *change sheets on beds
     *change towels in kitchen & bathrooms
     *water plants (inside & out)
     *laundry:  Z, the girls, mine, sheets & towels
       (darling husband does his own)
     *wipe down bathrooms

*The girls (5 and 3) can most definitely help with keeping things clean.  As Z gets older he'll be expected to help, too, for now we'll model picking up toys after we're done playing.  We tried breaking down chores between AJ and Ellie, and usually ended up with "but I wanted to do that!", or "but why do I have to do my chore now and she doesn't?"  So for now, the chore belongs to both of them (especially since they'll need supervision).  Their chores:
     *put away placemats & take napkins down to laundry
     *wipe off table after meals
     *take recycling out to bins
     *water outside plants


Right now I am writing the list down in my dayplanner so I can make changes as we start out, but eventually I want to have a checklist with daily and weekly chores.  For the girls, they each have a dry-erase chore chart like this:

This is what the lists look like broken down:

You can see on the bottom my meal plan for the week.  Which brings me to my second goal:  get 5 fruits and vegetables every day.  Thanks to the stomach bug the kids all shared last week, I've mainly been concentrating on my eating.  It quickly became apparent that in order to get 5 servings in, I need to actually feed myself.  In other breaking news, water is wet, and fire is hot.
Seriously, though, there are too many days when all I've had is coffee for breakfast, yoghurt or a granola bar or a couple bites of the kids' PB&J for lunch, and then I'm cranky and craving chocolate and not carrots.  So in addition to planning out the dinner vegetables, I'm making an effort to have something in the morning.  My favourite so far?  A green smoothie!
There are tons of links to recipes online, but I've kind of winged it with the stuff I've got in the fridge and I haven't been disappointed yet.  A little milk, some strawberries, blueberries, or banana, a big handful of kale and a couple of ice cubes (to make it frothy), et voila! My only issue is with our POS ancient blender, but I'm adding this to my wish list -- supposedly as good as a Vitamix yet $400 cheaper!

Later this week I'm going to share how we're trying to incorporate the other 5 things -- time to create, be outdoors, learn, exercise & clean into our schedules.  I'd love to hear what goals your family has & how you're working towards them!

Spring Crafty Show-Off

Inspired by the rest of the blogosphere, I decided the house needed a bit of "Spring-ing Up."  This wreath is now hanging on the (always open) door to our basement.

Here's a close up of the fabric & felt flowers:

This was ridiculously easy to make!  I picked up a straw wreath form at my local craft mecca and broke out the glue gun.  I've seen some that used strips of burlap to cover the wreath, but craft mecca didn't have any, so I used similarly-textured brown ribbon and hot glued it in place.
Then came the fun part!  There are lots of tutorials on how to make rolled fabric flowers and felt rosettes, I followed those and then clipped a few felt leaves.  A few more dabs of hot glue, a ribbon to hang it, and now we have a little touch of spring!
I may or may not also now have an addiction to making these flowers.  They're super cute -- they can fancy up jewelry, clothes, even a lampshade -- I'm thinking this would go so well in AJ's shabby-chic-ish bedroom.
I'm linking up this post to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style , Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm , What I Made Wednesday at SweetPeas & Bumblebees, Catch a Glimpse Thursday at A Glimpse Inside , Handmade Tuesday at Ladybug Blessings , Saturday Spotlight at Green Door Designs and Creative Juice Thursdays at Momnivore's Dilemma.  I'd love to know what you think!

It's All in the Journey, Right?

We are still mostly laid up.  Ellie now has the stomach bug, I am still breathing-challenged, and AJ & Z. are in the whiny-wounded-tiger stage, where they want nothing more than to be on my lap constantly and react to any of my suggestions for feeling better with growls and tears.

So, where do we go from here?

Besides the obvious get-to-the-point-we-can-leave-the-house-again, I've broken up all my wishes & wants into 3 categories:  the home, the family, and the mama.  I fully expect these to evolve over time (hopefully as goals are achieved!), and I'm trying to not set us up for failure by radically changing a bunch of things overnight.

The Home
Most of the time our house is in a state of CHAOS -- Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome (to borrow a phrase from FlyLady).  Darling Husband and I are constitutionally rather disorganized & dislike cleaning, so we do what's necessary (dishes, taking out the trash), but have no routine.  We haven't gotten the kids involved beyond the occasional "please take your plate to the sink" or "let's pick up all the legos before bed", and most of our stuff doesn't have a particular place to go.  The goal here is to set up a cleaning schedule and get the kids involved.

The Family
 Recently on Say Yes to Hoboken, Liz wrote something that resonated with me:  everyone needs 5 things every day -- time to be creative, time to be outdoors, time for learning, time for exercise, and time for cleaning.  I can't remember the last time we got all 5 in.  Another part of this is our nutrition.  When I mentioned an appalling lack of vegetables in many of our meals in my introductory post, I wasn't kidding.  Fruit, too.  So I'm calling this goal get 5 squared every day -- 5 fruits or vegetables for everyone, and the 5 times for creating, being outdoors, learning, exercising, and cleaning.


The Mama  (that'd be me)
Save for a couple of short-term projects, I haven't worked since AJ was born 5 1/2 years ago.  I am a lawyer by training, but I've let my skills lapse.  I don't have any immediate plans to return to work, but I have been feeling that my brain cells are starting to atrophy.  Plus, in order to keep my license (and I don't fancy taking the bar exam again), I need to take some continuing education classes.  My goal is completing my CLE classes before the end of the year.


I'd love to hear what goals you have, or suggestions on how you've accomplished similar things!