Tote Bag

While watching the Olympics tonight, I made this little tote bag for Austin using scraps from my other house projects. Are you sick of this fabric yet? I am not, so sorry if you're getting a little bored with the blue. I used a fabulous tutorial HERE and it all came together in no time at all.

Pillows....Recovered

Notice my lovely pillows that were hand-me-downs from Doug's aunt many years ago. Not exactly fitting with my decor. We do use them though, because these chairs are in need of a little extra cushion.

My first pillow recovering. Not as bad as I thought it would be and I even blind stitched the openings. I found a great little tutorial HERE and it worked like a charm.

Much better. One project down, 984 more to go.

New House

Master Before

Master After. New paint and carpet.

Bedroom #1 Before

Bedroom #1 After. New carpet and paint. Bunk beds coming soon.

Bedroom #2 Before

Bedroom #2 After. New carpet and paint. Curtains and pictures/wall art will come soon to all bedrooms (hopefully).

Living Room Before.

Living Room After. Paint coming soon and still trying out furniture placement.

My Guest Room

Remember this lovely room? I would shudder every time I walked in. Even the baseboards were tomato red! We changed it as fast as we could. After many layers of primer and paint, this is what we achieved:

Looks like you might actually be able to stay in the room for more than 5 seconds now, huh?

This closet will be great for craft storage. Needs some doors though.

My happy place.

I have the fun decorating parts left to do, but we are ready for visitors even if there aren't pictures on the walls. I bought some lovely slate gray curtains that need to be hemmed. Hotel Crabtree is open and ready for business!

Making It Work

There are lots of things I love about my home, but this is not one of them. There is this weird entertainment/peninsula thing separating the kitchen and living spaces. The counter is way too high, really awkward place for a television, and I hate that you can see everything stored in the cupboards. Solution? Demolition, baby! Now, we're not ready to demo yet, so I need to figure out what to do with it in the meantime.

Our first week we moved in it was blanket and toy storage, along with various cords and electronic....stuff. Driving OCD Brittney insane a little? Yes.

Ahhhh.....this is the best I can do without replacing cabinet doors or just plain ripping this puppy out with my bare hands. The fabric and storage containers are from IKEA. I love IKEA so much that I am secretly cheering for the Swedish competitors in the Olympics. I cheer for the US too, I just don't get upset it the Swedes win a few.

The curtain is hung with a tension rod. The kids love playing in their "cave" and the best part is we can move the rod down halfway and have a wonderful stage for a puppet show or drive thru window whenever we please. This monstrosity in my living room is going to earn its keep at least.

Upcoming Books and Movies

I've unpacked most of my books and DVDs and it feels great. My mom and I love books and movies. We tend to lean towards romantic plots, but we're not opposed to a good action flick or mystery novel. So, my dear mama starting compiling a list of upcoming books and movies that we are going to check out in 2010 and we want to share it with you. Some of these are my mom's and some are mine, but most are from both of our lists. I would also like to add a small disclaimer that we have not seen or read any of these, so we cannot vouch for the quality or appropriateness of any of these suggestions. Some authors we have read before, but there may be a dud or two in here. If you have any suggestions of your own, leave a comment. We would love to expand our list, especially in the months that are a little thinner than others.

FEBRUARY:
12th-- Percy Jackson movie

MARCH:
20th-- New Moon movie on DVD
30th-- Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sara McClean
31st-- City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

APRIL:
6th-- Secret Speakers and the Search for the Selander's Gate by K.S.R. Kingworth

MAY:
4th-- Spells by Aprilynn Pike
7th-- Iron Man 2 movie
14th-- Letters to Juliet movie
28th-- Prince of Persia movie

JUNE:
30th-- The Twilight Sage:Eclipse movie

JULY:
2nd-- Knight and Day movie
16th-- Sorcerer's Apprentice movie
20th-- Linger by Maggie Stiefvater


AUGUST:
24th-- Hunger Games #3 by Suzanne Collins
31st-- The Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare

SEPTEMBER:

OCTOBER:

NOVEMBER:
19th-- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 movie

DECEMBER:
10th-- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie

Oreo Football Truffles

I made these for an extended family dinner on Super Bowl Sunday. The recipe is from the one and only BAKERELLA. Love her blog! Very rich and creamy, the kids loved them. My piping was done very quickly, so don't look too close. I definitely need to sharpen my chocolate dipping skills too. It looks so simple, and it is, but to make it look really good take a good amount of practice I imagine.