Do It Yourself

- Oh Happy Daze

Store Bought Valentines & Parents Who Buy Them.

I know Valentine’s Day was last week and there’s probably Fourth of July decorations already out in the stores. America moves on quickly folks. But I’ve just gotta get these thoughts out there.
If you know me, then you know I love all things crafty. Glitter is my spirit animal and Pinterest is my happy place. Sitting down with some glue and ribbon or some paint and canvas is relaxing. I enjoy making things, and that expression pops up in birthday parties and Christmas gifts and our home decor where I usually start with “I’ll just keep it simple” and end up with “How did paint end up on the ceiling and glitter on my eyelashes?”.
But because life keeps happening and our kids still live here and seem to make all the messes and need all the attention, I can’t always set aside time or mental energy to sit and create something. Even something as simple as printing a valentine card and tying cute glasses to it.

(Isn’t this so cute?)

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Click here to find the tutorial and printable.

To all you mamas {and dads} who DO put the time and energy into putting together something fun and creative and personalized:

THANK YOU!

I love you because I love seeing your creative brainchild. You made my daughter say ‘awwww’ and you made me say ‘that is so clever’. Thank you for the time and energy you expended to do the extra bit. To go above the requirement. I commend you. You keep the holiday alive.
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However, this post is really about what I want to say to all you mamas {and dads} out there who purchased boxed valentines from a store.
You know the ones I’m talking about. They come in a box and no matter what pen your child uses on them the ink smears and it’s almost impossible to fold them perfectly evenly:
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Here’s what I want to say to you parents who buy those:

THANK YOU!

I’m not even kidding.
I love that some parents create Pinterest perfect valentines that are fun or punny or useful {hello glow sticks!}. But I really love those parents who buy boxed valentines for their kids. Seriously, I WANT TO BE YOUR BEST FRIEND. You parents who walk into Target on February 13th and toss whatever’s left in the Valentine’s aisle into your cart then walk around for 30 more minutes grabbing a workout DVD you’ll never open and 3 spatulas in Spring colors to add to your already excessive collection.
You know why I love you? Because I am you. I was apparently harboring some worry about what other parents would think when both of my children rolled up to school with these bad boys. Straight outta the box.
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It wasn’t that I was ashamed. I mean, look at this chubby kitten. He’s the definition of cute and Will thought it was hilarious.

I think I was having a hard time allowing myself to just check the task off my to-do list without adding any flair or extra work, as is my habit of doing. I embraced the bare minimum. I clung to it. I literally just did what was necessary, nothing more. and that is FINE.
So when my kids came home with several adorable handmade valentines and a TON of boxed valentines I was rejoicing! YES parents. THANK YOU parents. SOLIDARITY and all that. You allowed me to breathe. You allowed me to forgive myself.
Charlie got one valentine that was literally just folded in half. No to/from writing. No sticker. No nothing. and I loved it. I cheered for that mom. You know why? Because she obviously gave her son the box of valentines, a pen, and some independence and told him to ‘get it done’. and he did not. #lifelessons
Cheers. To all parents everywhere who are relieved Valentine’s day is over. Now off to see how little I can do for Saint Patrick’s day.
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- Oh Happy Daze

Please, no autographs.

Chris’ video of his and Charlotte’s nightly after-bath routine has gone viral.
I’m not completely surprised – Chris and I watched it about 5 times before we even posted it; we could not stop laughing. I guess I always just assumed we think she’s hilarious because she is ours and we made her; I don’t really expect others to adore her since they don’t have the same ‘parent goggles’ we do (making everything she does awesome).
The internet is an amazing place. I, too, am a little famous in my own way. The pregnancy announcement I made when we first announced we were expecting Charlotte 2.5 years ago has been featured on Parents.com and will be featured on another site next week!
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http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/signs/breaking-the-news/valentines-day-pregnancy-announcements/#page=6
What a week for our family’s celebrity status. Please, no autographs.
 

- Oh Happy Daze

Boo to winter!

There are many reasons why winter is the yuckiest of all the seasons. I won’t dive into all of them right now {we all know the depths of its yuckiness anyway}; Instead, i’ll just continue to intimidate the weather with this chant and hopefully coax out more sunny, warm weather – “Heck no, stop that snow!”
In order to remain positive and uplifting I will skip over all the things I hate about cold weather and, instead, explain to you all of the wonderful things about warm weather {since you’ve been dying to know}.
1. I no longer have to take Charlotte’s big puffy coat off before buckling her into her carseat. Such a time waster {though a necessity – read what The Carseat Lady, along with other researchers, have to say about it}. It is just really annoying to put a coat on, walk to the car, take the coat off, buckle her in, lay the coat over top, drive, unbuckle, coat back on, etc. Most of the time I would just drape the coat over her like a blanket instead of putting it on her for the short walk to the car. I can’t imagine doing that with more than 1 child.
2. I’ve missed seeing Charlotte’s rolls. She has very few, but the few she does sport have been hidden under bulky winter clothes for too long. I am excited to see them and to be able to smooch on them whenever I want, since she is becoming less and less babyish evert month! Here she is at the end of summer last year; I can’t get enough of those baby rompers… they will probably be her stable garment this summer if I can get my hands on some.
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3. The beach. That’s pretty self explanatory. The beach, and waves, and sun.
4. Grilling out. Yes you can use a grill in winter, but who really wants to?!
5. Not scraping frost/snow/sleet off your car in the morning or spending the first few minutes of your drive like a popsicle. First world problem, I know, but something I dread all winter long.
6. Being able to spend all day outside. We definitely have cabin fever here in the Baker home. I’ve exhausted my “how to entertain a toddler” links on Pinterest, from pompom sorting to a DIY ball pit… so I’m ready to just be able to let her run outside and explore!
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What are you looking forward to this summer?

- admin

A refinishing job 3 years in the making.

When Chris and I first got married and bought our house I made the ‘new homeowner’ mistake of beginning about 50 projects simultaneously. Some projects were a necessity to us actually being able to live and function in the house {like fixing up a table so we didn’t have to eat on the floor and painting over the blood red walls in the kitchen – if you saw the walls, you’d realize it was a necessity}, other projects were just my creative genius getting away from me. The chair in our office was one of the latter. I had taken it apart before really knowing what I wanted to do with it. It sat in a dilapidated state in our garage for almost 3 years until this past week as I was getting our house ready for our resource parenting home study.

I wish I had a ‘before’ photo of the chair because it’s always very satisfying to compare with the ‘after’ photos. This chair is one that my mother re-covered to match my room when I was younger, and I’m sure she salvaged it from the thrift store. It took quite a bit of muscle to peel away the 5 layers of fabric/pleather stapled to the seat over the years.

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My apologies for the blurry photos, but here are some of the previous coverings.
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The fabric I chose is some of my favorite. I actually purchased it before Chris and I even closed on the house. I came across it at the fabric store, fell in love, and bought every yard and scrap they had. I am very selective with which projects I use it on. It’s currently on our kitchen chairs as well. I also added additional padding to the chair – a necessity since the previous padding was practically nonexistent {or so old it had been squashed into nothingness from the weight of 10 previous owners}.

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The chair itself was originally white but was very easy to spray paint a pretty teal color {it looks blue in the photos because of the poor quality of the pics but really has more of a teal/green tone to it}. I honestly don’t remember the name … ‘sea’ something and I don’t care enough to go digging in my trash to recover the canister, but if you want to know I’m sure I can find it online! image-62

I am loving the finished product and am so glad this space is starting to come together.