tent bedz

when i was a little girl i had a tent bed. a nice pink one that attached to my bed and made it look like a house. i felt so important when i could zip up the door myself. practically speaking, it also kept me from falling out in the middle of the night. i thought, for a while, about hunting down that tent bed for darla but then started dreaming up a simpler way that we could do the tent bed on our own.

here’s what we came up with:

we found some decorative ceiling hooks that were guaranteed to hold up to 90 lbs, – you know, for when child decides to try and zip line her tent bed – affixed them to the wall, tied some clothesline between the two, and threw some blankets over it…

Voila! Tent Beeeeeeeeddddd!!! and this way i can change up the sheets that are used and even take it down when need be – you know, as a time out measure when the child tries to zip line her tent bed.

some extra book reading has been the result. mostly because i don’t want to get out of it either.

suffice to say, the girl enjoys her tent bed.

24Jan2012

last week i…

Posted in let me let me update ya, Run Da House by ElaineMarie

painted chevrons on everything,

treated myself to a Brezel after earning cash dollars being part of a research focus group.

took darla to Wonderlab in Bloomington, IN. Thanks again COSI membership. here is darla enjoying her favorite experiment at the museum – parachutes.

sat by my parents’ fire and rescued woody from dress-up,

took darla to roscoe’s tacos for the best darn tacos around. oh and beans and cheese.

then took darla to literal bouncy castles where she hugged inflatable gnomes,

and finally, i brought the girl home. introduced her to her new “special darla place” that i have been working on.

i’m really happy to look back on this post and be reminded of the small successes of this past week. i feel like most of my objectives for the past week were not met due to extenuating circumstances, weather, a toddler’s whims, etc. but even though i didn’t accomplish all my task goals it was still an ok week. lots of good little moments tucked in between the stressful times and the neverending unpacking of boxes.

the house is coming together and it will all be finished by this weekend. because that is the date we have set to open up our home to others for darla’s birthday/mike’s going away festivities. let’s hope everyone is ok with looking at some blank walls.

17Jan2012

digz

Posted in Run Da House by ElaineMarie

the new place is finally coming together. some of our DIYs are getting finished. personalizations are happening. it’s finally looking less sterile and less like a cardboard jungle. a visit from my parents helped break up the drudgery. here’s how darla likes her new digs.

the girl is loving her big girl bed. she shows her affection by climbing in one of her pillowcases and pretending to be a “lumpy pillow.”

just

a few

touches

my parents brought this mantlepiece clock that i inherited from my grandparents. it is perfect for this new place of ours. i loved this clock as a child and am happy to be reminded of my grandparents on the hour.

looking forward to having the place complete and settled so that we can move on to other things in life. mr. mike is only home for another two weeks and i’d like it to be more play than work these last few days.

sighhhhhing all over the place.

12Jan2012

a work in progress

Posted in let me let me update ya, Run Da House by ElaineMarie

the casa nueva es muy buena. but it’s a lot of slow-going work. i’m feeling impatient and rather sloth like. i’m horrified by the amount of television little miss has had in the past couple days. I can now thank the littles for her desire to wear “a tail” everywhere we go. and i let her. why? because it’s easier than fighting about it. and also it’s cute and imaginative. i don’t care if people think she’s weird. i want her to know her ideas are good ones.

the view from these shots reveals it hasn’t ALL been bad. highlights: 1. playing in new spaces 2. better backyardage 3. left here to watch over our vehicle by previous tenants. the number of catholic artifacts left behind leads me to believe that this house is either inhabited by a poltergeist we are yet to encounter or was inhabited by a latino family that loved dogs. the dog part i am sure of 4. cupboards before… 5. cupboards la fonda-fied. yes, there are some paint slip ups but i fixed some and this is just a stage in the evolution of the cabinets 6 & 7 darla’s last morning at the old house. the new house has a long hallway between her room and ours. i love to hear her feet running down that hall every morning 8. walking in the hood. 9. excellent coffee shop across the street 10. cup a day habit (of milk) 11. getting cousinfriend in on the tv watching 12, 13, 14. don’t trip. no use enforcing the “no toys in the middle of the floor” rule while the whole place is basically in the middle of the floor.

our neighborhood has a park, a pub where kids eat free on sundays and a fab coffee joint. we’re set and i’m not moving anymore. ever. for the next year. or so.

5Jan2012

accomplished

Posted in Run Da House by ElaineMarie

my good friend and life goal guru sent out a website yesterday that is perfect for the new year. i used to write my ten goals for the year down and tape them to my desk. the four years i had that practice going i accomplished every goal i had written down. i believe in having your goals somewhere you will see them everyday.

i hope this website will help me be accountable.

here’s my list of 12 for ’12.

thanks to meg for passing this site on!

4Jan2012

Toomuchschtuff

Posted in Run Da House, Uncategorized by ElaineMarie

I’ve been a little quiet over here bc we’ve been elbow deep in packing supplies. We’re getting down to just the big stuff as small piles like this one are disappearing. I’m really looking forward to the new house and sharing our new abode once we’re settled in.

Painting projects are already underway. I’m doing the inside of our kitchen cabinets a bright red. We chose the color based on name alone:

That’s right. LA FONDA FIREBERRY!!! And it’s an approved color by the national preservation historical society or whatevs. Bonus! I think I’ll just start referring to the whole kitchen as La Fonda.

Hopefully I’ll be back on track in a few days for I feel we still have much to share from the holidaze.

21Dec2011

reusable christmas

Posted in kiddie-do, Run Da House by ElaineMarie

every year i make a big deal about saving the wrapping paper and reusing it. and then christmas comes again and i loathe, LOATHE, dragging out that bin of crumply old paper. we seldom seem to use any of what i’ve saved.

so this year, and future years, i’m finding ways around it. we’re reusing materials and re-purposing. we’re not going to wrap any of the presents for the nuclear family. it’s all just going to be sitting out on display on christmas morning just like the good old days. here’s some of what we’ve come up with for this year:

our main sources have been old nautical charts courtesy of salty sailor mike, discarded darla masterpieces and brown paper prettified by my snowflake obsession. they’re everywhere!!!

i was trying to steal this idea from lovely things but i decided to use my snowflakes instead of doilies because we have about 500 coffee filters still to be used. if it doesn’t snow here christmas morning maybe i’ll just throw them all on the front yard.

i like reusable boxes and bags for christmas but i tried to maximize it up by decorating sturdy boxes in non-specific wrapping. that way they can be used for multiple holidays. does your family sit around on christmas morning and talk about what was put in what same box 20 years ago? mine does. smile.

getting d involved with coloring her own wrapping paper is one of the ideas we need to amp up next year. she wants to be in the center “helping” with everything and this satisfied her slightly. we are tearing off long strips of paper every third day anyway so might as well put it to another use before pitching. yeah, i just admitted to throwing away my child’s art. ya can’t keep it all.

we were all set on boxes, stuffers and tissue paper due to the amount of shopping i did online. for an extra pop of color i tore out pages from old magazines and added them to the stuffing. it feels good to know that we’re only wrapping half as many gifts this year and practically all of our materials are reused or recycled.

next year i’m campaigning for all family members to have an individual basket with their name on it and everyone will just come in and place the unwrapped gifts in respective baskets. think about it….

i will give you all the gift of time. time not spent wrapping gifts.

14Dec2011

today i feel

Posted in Run Da House by ElaineMarie

like an earth saving goddess.

i implemented some more no waste procedures with grocery shopping last night and i’m so glad i did b/c now i can just add that to the list of things i can brag about myself.

yep…. guess who gets her cheese without any packaging? this lady!!!

reducing our waste is one of my big goals next year but i’m trying to get started early. we now keep one of our reusable shopping bags packed ready with various empty tupperwares for shopping at the deli counter & olive bar.

next year, we’ll be adding reusable produce bags to the mix. it’s gonna get craahhhhhzzayyy!

13Dec2011

transfer

Posted in Run Da House by ElaineMarie

we’re moving, i guess.

we put in an application for a new place and i think we’ve almost decided to actually move there.

it’s not gonna be the taj mahal (which was a tomb anyways and i don’t want to live where dead people were buried except maybe over an indian burial ground or there’s one pretty cool abandoned funeral home in town BUT THAT’S IT!) but it will be a bit more space and an extra half bath.

ohhhh the luxury of it all.

my head is overflowing with decorating ideas and i’m happy that we’ll have overlap between the two places to give some time to personalize. my main concern right now is how to get this chandelier in our dining hall.

there’s not actually a dining hall in the new place but if i had this chandelier then i’d have a good excuse to call it a dining hall now wouldn’t i?

7Dec2011

next year i’m doing this for the holidays

Posted in kiddie-do, Run Da House by ElaineMarie

i’m loving this idea for an advent calendar from most lovely things. it’s giving me tons of ideas for reusing and upcycling materials. wish i’d have found it sooner!