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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Not to make you jealous, but...

I might be the best mom in the whole world.  That's right.  You heard me.  Want to know what I'm doing this weekend?  Let me give you a hint.

These two people:


Are celebrating this event:


Here:


Oh, yeah.  I'm pretty fantastic.  Nothing is too great for my little girl!

How is this possible, you ask?  Well, when you have a sister who lives in NYC to stay with and a husband who racks up lots of miles and encourages you to go, anything is possible!  Or, a trip to New York is, anyway.

I'm very excited to see my lovely sister and her crazy-awesome husband, and show Ella some of the wonders of New York.  I'll tell you all about it when we get back!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

I thought she was more like me....

I am a pretty enthusiastic gift-receiver.  I love gifts!  If anyone wants to give a few to me, I promise a reaction you'll be proud of.  Handsome Hero?  Well.............not so much.  I used to be hurt by his less-than-exhuberant responses to my efforts to find him the perfect gift, but I slowly realized that it is just his way.  He can be really happy with a gift, and only say, "Thanks, Honey."  Not with an exclamation point.  With a period.  A small one.

{.}

When we had Ella, I thought I had a kindred spirit.  She's crazy, like me, and excitable, like me.  However, when she is given a gift, there's not much to write home about.


This is her reaction to getting a bike for her birthday.  She, like her dad, needs to process things.


After a couple of minutes, we got some smiles out of her.  Gift accepted.


Who wouldn't smile when receiving a princess bike?


Sidenote: when I was taking pictures, I realized I had an awesome shadow.


Anyway, it didn't take Ella long to take to her new ride. 


And then she took off.  Is this symbolic?


I choose to think it isn't.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

It can't be! I have a FIVE YEAR OLD!!!

I can't believe this little bundle is now my big girl. 






























Is this possible that she is now FIVE

Generous sister, loving daughter, willing helper.  I love you so much.  We have to band together, little one - we're the only girls here.  Let's paint our toenails tonight.  Or watch a chick flick.  Scratch that - you're too young and chick flicks are stupid, anyway.  But definitely let's do the toenails.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Happy Birthday, Handsome Hero

My love.


My partner.


Father of my children.


Playmate.


Provider.


My best friend.


My Handsome Hero.


Happy Birthday!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

My first painted chandelier

I have wanted to tackle painting a chandelier ever since my dear buds, Lydia and Steve, painted their kitchen chandelier bright orange, which just MADE their kitchen {in addition to their chalkboard wall and king-headboard-turned-bench and, oh, it is just an awesome kitchen}.

This chandelier lives above our kitchen table.  I have never really liked it, but it's a nice color and shape, so it was fine.  Fine, but kind of wah-wah.  I have a beef with it, however, that finally made me do something about it.


It's this.  The bulbs are underneath and shine in your eyes as you sit at the table.  Ever since I started getting headaches with this pregnancy, this has bothered me considerably more.


I talked to Handsome Hero, and he agreed to let me replace the chandelier.  I went to ReStore and found the chandelier below for $15. 


I got five colors of paint to choose from.


I chose these colors with the fabric from the kitchen pendant light in mind.  I immediately eliminated the navy and orange from consideration {one too dark, one too bright}.  The red was a bit much, so it was between the marigold yellow and apple green.  I decided on the green for a few hours, but then realized that the yellow was more suited to the space.  I was hesitant to choose the yellow because I've chosen it a lot recently, but if you were to visit my house, you wouldn't see the yellow as overpowering.


We hung the chandelier from the garage door opener, taped off or removed the parts we didn't want to paint,


{these are the piece we did want to paint but that were removable}



and began to paint it in very light coats.  I did two light coats of primer first.



Then came four coats of paint.  I must say, I was nervous the whole time that the color wouldn't work.



Handsome Hero hung it last night.  It is easier than you would think to change out a light fixture.  At least, Handsome Hero makes it look easy.


When it was hung, it looked like this.  It was pretty lopsided.  We unscrewed the bottom and tightened the arms and that took care of it, thankfully!  It would have been a bitter disappointment, because I hadn't noticed that one of the arms was so loose before it was hung at eye level {at ReStore it was sitting on a shelf, and when I was painting it it was only two feet from the ground}.


After a bulb change and a very simple chandelier chain cover, it is done!  If I may quote Handsome Hero:
Beth, in the future when you're doing projects like these, do you think you could put one bulb in the socket and try it before opening all three packages, so that if you, say, get sixty watt bulbs instead of twenty-five, and they are blinding to the point that you can't even look at the chandelier, you've only wasted one package of bulbs?  Pretty please with a cherry on top?


That may have been a slight paraphrase.  Real men don't say pretty please.


I am absolutely in love with the results.


In LOVE, I tell you!!!!!


I think it is a great addition to the kitchen area, noticeable, but not distracting.


Yet another angle, because I'm that proud of it.


Here's the view if you were entering our house.  Look at those pretty round lights!  I'm so glad I did those instead of the flame-style ones.


Well, I guess that's one more thing checked off the bucket list.  What do you think?


For those wondering:
We are storing the old chandelier in the basement in case we move.  I fully realize that a painted chandelier can be polarizing.

The chain cover was made using this tutorial.  Very simple!  It took me about half an hour.

When I changed wattage, I also changed to opaque bulbs instead of clear because I thought that they would diffuse the light better, and I think they do.  I really like them.

So there you have it.  Definitely a contender for favorite house project in my mind.