Baby Steps

I'm back. I feel like since Gustav I've been in a flurry of homemaking. Does that make sense? Well, you get it, don't you? We got back to a messy house, full of dust and dirt and debris and brown leaks from the windows and once I got all that together with some help of course-I just couldn't stop! and now I am on a mission. To organize myself, my kids, my house, my life. and by golly I am going to do it. But baby steps mind you. If you would like to join me, I need all the support I can get.

First step: Take baby steps

My first baby step project is the office.
You know those shows where they go to someone's house and you are always appalled at the amount of crap they have. How could ANYONE live like that!? Really. I always think that buy judge lest ye be judged (is that right?) whatever that person living in that crap is me! I should take some pictures. I will. I will post those later. Now keep in mind that with my baby step goals it's a tad bit better so you can only imagine what it looked like before. When we first moved in over a year ago we used the dining room as a catchall room. When I got so embarrassed that people were seeing all of the sh-- downstairs I just transferred it all to the office and the back house. That's how I got to where I am now.

Holly Homemaker

Holly Homemaker, here! or you can just call me Nola Mom.

I am so proud of myself. Everything around here is slowly falling apart. I don't know if that comes with the territory of owning a house or it's just my house. I tend to think it's just this money pit but who knows. The latest catastrophe is that our Roman Shades in our bedroom are falling apart. The string popped and they've just kind of been hanging around. No pun intended. I thought about just getting new ones made but they really are too beautiful to throw away (they came with the house) So TODAY I decided to get my handy ladder out and tie the strings back together. I retied the string at the bottom, strung it up through the loops to meet the top end and tied them together. I had to get to the tippy top of the ladder to do it and I was scared. Really. I am not handy and I don't know how to do alot of things but I was bound and determined to figure this out. Turns out I can buy a whole new string for Roman Shades. Who knew!? You're probably not sharing in my enthusiasm right now but for someone like me who just doesn't do anything around here for lack of knowing how, this was a big step. I'll keep you posted. I know you'll be hanging by a thread!!!! waiting to find out what happens.

Decorating nightmare

I want to puke every time I think about decorating this house. I can pour through magazines and show you a bunch of oh so sophisticated rooms that I just love but when it comes to actually pulling it all together-well, I suck. I hired a decorator after Pman was born and she sucked. I spent too much money on a whole lot of nothing. Now it's been a year and half and it's high time we stop living like this. I feel like I'm in college although we don't have any futons, thankfully. I think J had one when we got married but that went out with his bachelorhood.

So anyway, I scour the web for ideas and went to my favorite shop when in Cashiers but after the last fiasco I am dead scared to buy anything. I am frozen from fear. I can't even buy a pillow. But I have become reacquainted with decor8 on the internet. I don't necessarily like her ideas but her blogroll and sidebar links have a lot of good resources. Not that I am buying from them because as I said before, I'm scared. I also remembered Hable Construction. They have cool hand printed fabrics and pillows for the more casual rooms. Great stuff for that beach house in Cabo San Lucas we will buying (right, J?). and maybe our family room.

Time to take a breath

Whew. W's birthday party is over. It really stressed me out and although I'm sad my little baby is older I'm glad that the celebration day has come and gone. It was a casual party but no matter what, whenever I have that many people over to my house I get overwhelmed and anxious. The LB had a fabulous time and he LOVES all of his presents. He was definitely over the old ones. and I have to brag about my party favors-the alligator cookies-because a lot of love went into them and I am proud. I also just discovered the lamination machine at Kinko's. J told me I was a total geek since I've been laminating everything in sight including the tags for the party favors. I swear a little lamination makes everything look that much more professional. I need to tweakthe cookie recipe. It was from Martha Stewart but the icing seemed to overpower the cookie. Once I get that down I think I may just become the new Cookie Lady around town. The old one is booked until October. Ridiculous.

Our babysitter told me yesterday that she didn't know that W had finally started talking. I told her I didn't know that either. She said that he said "Thank you" to her twice, very clearly and that he repeats everything she says. News to me. I am so relieved. I was ready to go into his next check up and get hysterical over his lack of talking. But she was right. He told me thank you this morning. They were the sweetest words I've heard in awhile.

Yaaay! Today the slipcover was ready for one chair in the pecky cyprus room. I was a bit nervous about the color. I was worried it would be too dark but it turned out to be beautiful. I tried to take a photo for you but the color didn't really show it so I'll try to explain. It's a deep caramel color in a luxurious linen fabric. I love it. I haven't sat on it yet. I won't. For some reason I feel like if I sit on it...I don't know what my fear is but it looks so pretty just being a virgin slipcover. At the rate I'm going by the year 3000 I will finally have my house the way I want it! Yaaay! The couch is going to be taken away next week to be reupholstered. I can barely contain my excitement and by then maybe the rug will be here and it will hopefully begin to feel like a new room. I almost bought a new couch but this one is the best. It's a hand me down from my parents but it's good and sturdy and some really good brand of old couch my mom swears by and J can even lay on it all spread out, if he wanted, because it's so long.

The LB has been sleeping since it came. I'm not sure what he will think about his chair being recovered and in a totally different color. I wonder if he'll be wary of sitting on it, too? I'll keep you posted.

Many pictures to take

I've made some progress this past week, for me anyway. I bought my first piece of furniture. Everything I have believe it or not is hand me downs from my parents. I'm not complaining or saying it's horrible because it's not. I'm very lucky to have anything at all but the sideboard that I bought was my very own purchase. and I love it! and it looks great in the kitchen.

and to make me feel like I am really on a roll of accomplishment...the slipcover lady came over today to take the measurements for one chair. Wahoooo! I love the fabric. The den will be in colors that I thought I would never use but the pecky cyprus wood walls threw a kink in my all light neutral taste. So basically, I'm living on the edge. Going a little bit kooky. I can't wait until it all comes together. Once the fabric comes in for my couch it will take 2 weeks to have it upholstered. I'll definitely have to take a picture of W, J and me all stuffed into our oversized chair watching Top Chef or Sunset Tan (it's really pathetic but I love it) for 2 weeks.

The living room furniture won't be in until after my baby is born and even then it's only a couch and 2 chairs. No coffee table, lamps (which could be a problem since there aren't any overhead lights in that room), knickknacks, nothing. oh and a rug. It's slow moving but one day in 15 years, when my kids will be ready to put me in a nursing home, the house will be decorated. I'll definitely take a picture and hang it on my wall in the home.