Spot Bot LOVE!!!

I really need to do an "About Me" article sometime to give you a little insight to my life.  Let me tell ya.... it is CRAZY!!!  Most of the words in the article would probably be " I have four kids".  Sometimes those will be said as positive loving words and other times.... well, not so much.  It has been one of those mornings in my house where two kids tell me they don't feel well.  One of them happens to tell me that quite often but feels fine after breakfast and being told that if he stays home he will not be watching movies all day, but taking long naps to get better, he quickly decided that he was well enough to go to school.  My other child proceeded this statement by going to the bathroom and throwing up :(  To top off my morning, the first child who said he was sick but then decided to go to school anyway, missed the bus.  I pushed him out the door as the bus was pulling away, ran out in the driveway with my purple cuddle dud pajamas with cute little pink and yellow kittens on them, yelling at the bus and waving my hands ( as all the parents are watching me).  The bus starts to slow and put back on the blinking lights, when my son then drops his mittens and stops to pick them up, the bus decides to drive away, again.  Ugh.  Fortunately I have a wonderful neighbor who had to drop her daughter off at the high school, which is where the buses load and unload some of the kids, and she also works as my sons school, so I know he got there somehow.  Note to self:  make big pan of brownies and then cut them out with a heart shaped cookie cutter with notes that say " I owe you BIG, You are the BEST, BFF FOREVER"!!!  So, that was my morning and I just looked at the clock and it's only 10:30.  Another Ugh...

I was just reading a really cute blog: http://asoftplace.net/.  I loved the reminder about what blessings our children should be and are, even on the worst of days.  Her note about the play dough struck a familiar note in my house.  Remember, I have four kids.  To top that, my dining room, which is the only room that has room for us to eat in, is carpeted.  OH.... with light gray carpet.  Gasp!!!!!  It was probably a year ago when my "now" two year old pulled on the tablecloth and ended up dropping my coffee mug, full of coffee, onto the carpet.  Bigger GASP!!!  I have dealt with messes before.  Hot pink nail polish on brand new cream carpet, permanent marker on hardwood floors, spaghetti sauce on everything, and actually managed to defeat all of those disasters, but this coffee was really playing hard ball.  I ran to the local walmart and looked at carpet cleaners, not to rent, but to buy.  Remember I have four kids.  I should have done that a long time ago. 

When I saw the spot bot it seemed to offer more than the big dogs.  It had settings for set in stains, light spills and even a hose that can be used for areas that the spot bot cannot reach or be sat on.  It had me at set in stains. 

I don't know what I would do without my little handy helper.  It defeated the coffee stain, the hose is great at cleaning up diaper training leakages off of our chair and I take it around the house once a month and spend a day cleaning up any little, or big spot that I may see.  We are saving up to get hardwood floors but this machine has definitely helped me be more patient as I wait.  I'm not being paid to say any of this, but the spot bot is definitely one machine that I don't know what I would do without.  It does have some solutions that you are suppose to use with it, but I'm cheap, so I add a little bit of Any surface Windex to every couple tanks of water.  It works amazingly well.  Today it is going to conquer yet another meal of spaghetti spilled on the floor. 

BTW, if you have questions on how to remove nail polish or permanent marker from pretty much any surface, give me a quick shout and I will let you know what worked for me ;) 

Curtains

As promised, I have pics of the finished curtains and I will try to explain how I made them.  I was so intent on finishing them that I didn't take the time to take pictures of each step.  They are pretty straight forward. 

So I took my measurements of my window, 95x52, added a 1" seam allowance for each side and then cut my fabric out.  I used a white cotton and backed it with a white sheet.  I should also note that my hem was actually the already finished sides of the fabric and sheet.  Saved me allot of time to not have to hem. 
Once I had my fabric cut out I took each piece and sewed 1" down on just the sides.  I did this because I knew I had a rod to put through and I wanted the seams to be completely finished.  From that point I just sewed the pieces together.  Starting with wrong sides together and sewing the sides then flipping the right sides together and sewing the top, then I flipped it inside out again and sewed the already finished hem pieces together.  Hopefully you are still with me......?

I then put the curtain over the rod and stapled it into place to make sure it was securely fixed in place.  I took some silver links that are used for making jewelry and sewed 7 on each end and then two rows down the center.  If you look at my window you can see where the windows are separated.  I wanted the curtains to match that.

My lines point to the places where I placed each row of links.  Then I took some string that I bought at the fabric store and strung it through each link and left enough as a pull.  The two right rows pull to the right and the two left pull to the left.  I also fidgeted a little with skipping some links when putting the string through.  The less links you have your string go through, the fewer layers you will have. 
This project took me approximately 6 hours.  It was honestly much easier than I anticipated and my husband is thrilled that we have curtains that cover the entire window.  The little things in life! 
I have a couple of other projects that I am anxious to get started on, nothing major, but some touching up, reaccessorizing and such.  I'm pretty excited.  Here is a "now" picture of our family room book shelves....

My plan is to lighten it up a bit.  I can't wait to show you my inspiration pictures and then hopefully what I consider to be "my" equivalent.  Have a GREAT Thursday!!!

A Completed Project

Aaahhhhhh!!!!  I finally completed a project.  Ok, actually I should say that I started a project and didn't stop until I finally completed it!!!!  I'm actually quite good at finishing projects but it might take me a month a year or two.......  I can't wait to show you pictures.  I promise to post some tomorrow. 
It was quite the trial and error project.  We moved into our lovely home over a year ago and did not have curtains that fit the new windows, nor did we have a budget for such things.  I kind of threw something together but it failed to cover the top of the window because of the tabs, so I hemmed it and sewed the tabs down.  Guess what?  Then they didn't cover the bottom of the window.  I was kind of fed up after that, so I made my poor husband live with it. 
As well as photos, I will also post how I made them.  They are called a corded balloon shade, but they don't look balloonish at all.  They look more like a roman shade.  I didn't have a pattern, I just "winged" it and think that they turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.
Now that the curtains are complete, I'm thinking a small master bedroom redo is in order, and some new accessorizing for my numerous and larger book shelves.  Everyone who sees them always says how much they love them, but I gotta tell ya, they are not easy to decorate.  Pics on that coming soon as well.  I have been greatly inspired by some recent pics I have seen.  I'm planning to lighten things up a bit.  Our trim and built ins are all oak as is most of our furniture, so I'm thinking our accents need to be able to POP off of it. 
Hopefully goodwill, nature and spray paint can help me pull it off. 
Hope to see you all back tomorrow.  Maybe I'll throw in some extra photos of our house.  Time to start my own before and afters!