12.01.2011

Before and Afters

Ok everyone.  Here is what you’ve all been waiting for.  A classic blog entry that will make you feel bad about yourself.  A “look what I did while you took a nap!” blog.  But a gal can’t be a one-note blogger.  I need to keep you on your toes.  So, look what I did:
Yup.  This is a staged photo folks.  Still not perfect, however, as you can see the half unfinished trim-scraping project in the background.

I amass any shreds of fabric or old clothes just in case I'll need the material for something someday.  I feel so satisfied because this project used up a lot of little pesky odd shaped pieces.


Now, for a touch of reality, here’s the rest of the story.  First of all, I’ve had these trees in mind to make for three Holiday seasons now.  We’ve not had the money to buy the stupid cones.  Cones, people.  Its pathetic.  But we managed $5 a cone purchase on Black Friday this year, so that solved that problem.  Also, I’ve not had the space/energy/time to take on a project during the holiday seasons in the last few years.  Well that problem was solved with, what else? A little Baby Einstien programming and Mommy’s determination not to feel guilty for three solid days of putting all else aside in order to spend my moments doing this project.  
This is what the house looked like so that I could work.  The children are transfixed on the television.  Wonderful.

And guess what!?  There’s more!
I also put on my Interior Designer cap (it was underneath my ‘we’re dirt poor’ cap) and did a little make-over of my baby son’s room.  Here are some before and afters:
Here is what it looked like when we bought the house.  Atley's room is actually called the Koala Room due to this  rad mirror glued to the wall with marine-grade adhesive.   Not that it would be a deal-breaker, but I swear this entire wood paneled mess of a wall was covered up when we walked through the house before we decided to buy.

My dad working on ripping the wood off which was quite crappily glued to the wall as well.

I decided to embrace the colors and texture of the partially demoed wall.  Half because we can't afford to do anything to it, and half because a few friends who saw it thought I did this on purpose.  So, it stays.  I painted the trim, made some roman blinds, covered the mirror spot with a sample of cool wallpaper and yes, staged this photo as well.  We should put up some new base trim, however, as Atley keeps sneaking over and eating the tissue paper I've stuffed in the cracks of the plaster as insulation...

And there’s even MORE!!
At the risk of being crazy braggedocious, I want to show you my before and afters from CrossFit training.  Now, I’m only doing this to elaborate on the bigger picture here, which is: I found something that really challenges me outside of parenting and I love it!!  CrossFit three days a week at 6 am is my one thing beyond the walls of my house that I do just for me, by myself, for myself.  It is wonderful, and the mental exercise of getting through physically challenging work-outs is so good for me.  I’ve learned about myself and become tougher all around.  So with that, here goes:
Sheesh. This is hard to 'publicize.'  Anyway, this is  5 months after my (10lb) son was  born and just before I started CrossFit.

This is 6 months after starting CrossFit.  I feel firmer all over, but the only thing that really shows up in the photo is my tummy being flatter.  Yeay!  Also note, the bedroom got painted and I hung decorative paper mobiles!  Yeay! 
Wow.  These braggy blogs take a lot of time.  Both of my kids are now literally hanging on my chair fussing, so its time to load everyone in the car and go to Costco where they can both be safely contained in a shopping cart.