Lila's Secret Stash

I realized this morning that I lost my phone and that it was dead, so there was no hope of finding it by calling it.  Lila was the last person to have it, so I started looking around at her level in all of her favorite places.  I lifted up the bottom of the couch and found my phone...



...plus four books, two hangers, one shoe, one Christmas card, one church bulletin, four linky things, one monkey, one Dumbo toy, two coasters, one hat, and Lila's one legged bunny man. Oh and one sock.

I decided that this counts as cleaning today. This weekend's goal is to finish painting Lila's new room (not including trim) and to start putting away all of our Christmas stuff.

Didn't Realize It's Already January 10

After two trips to the Sherwin Williams store in the rain, we chose the perfect color for Lila's room: Antiguan Sky by Benjamin Moore.  But since we're a family with a professional painter, I had to make Sherwin Williams match it with their paint.

Lila first helped me out by reading books to herself.



And then when books got old, she ate her lunch in the hallway while I painted.  I thought that it was a good idea at the time, but now I have cornbread muffin crumbs all over the upstairs.

I successfully got the room rolled, we have fabric for curtains picked out, and I only got a little bit of paint on the carpet and ceiling.

After all the work in her new room, Lila needed a little treat this afternoon, so I took her to Land of Paws to look at the puppies that are for sale.  She flipped out.  She absolutely loves puppies and couldn't stop laughing and drooling and jumping.  Jooooohnny....we want a puuuuuuuuppy!!! (As long as it doesn't poop, pee, drool, shred, or ever have to go to the vet.)

I didn't get anywhere near cleaning bathrooms today, so that's supposedly going to be the plan for tomorrow.

Photo Round-Up

Unfortunately for some of you, I am working on organizing my digital photos.  Here are some of my favorites that I've found so far starting with the most recent.

Now that they've all graduated, I can post this picture.  I had my CCA seniors over to watch Hamlet at my tiny apartment in 2011.  We made cookies, watched a movie, looked at the glass etchings of naked women on my shower door, all things that good teachers do.

                           

For Halloween our Junior year, while Johnny and I went as a mob couple.  Our friends Lars and Andrew went as us.

                           

I love this picture of Johnny and me with our friend Stephen.  Stephen, I was cleaning out my desk today and found your copy of Boondock Saints.  I'm making it sound like I had no idea that it was there, but I knew all along and just never gave it back to you.  Sorry.  To make it up to you: Hey everyone, go check out Stephen's men's denim line!  We're super excited for him. 

Big family crew photo circa 2006?

Part of the Vogliardo clan came out to support me at a regatta my sophomore year of college.  So glad that they get to be part of Lila's life!

Look how cute and tiny Mitchell and Tess were!

I know this picture has resurfaced a few times, but one summer we decided to have a potluck.  We couldn't just have a regular potluck; we had to have a pirate themed one.  A pirate themed one where we had to cook hot dogs on a grill.  I believe Laura Ponath ended up having to go get lighter fuel from her dad...and I still think we were not able to start a fire.

I really like Jessie's hair in this picture...and her jacket. 

We always knew that Mitchell had problems from the very beginning.  The chain is a nice touch, though.

 Halloween senior year of high school.

Senior year Sweetheart after party.  I miss Nao.

 Even better than Richard's expression are the three pieces of crepe paper hanging on the wall behind him.  Jonas always went all out on decorations.

Easter egg hunting with cousins.  Lila can't wait for Melody's little one to arrive so they can do Easter egg hunts together.  Ben will probably still take all the money-filled eggs.

And finally, our church hiking trip in Moab, Utah.  An extremely fun trip.  I think my heels just recently healed.

I thought this was a fun little compilation of the last 10 years of my life.  If you have any photos of your own to share, please do.

Photo organizing is going well.  Tomorrow I am planning to start painting Lila's room, finish organizing my desk, and begin the hardcore bathroom cleaning.

I Don't Remember What Day We're On Anymore

Work began on Lila's big girl room today.  She is pretty excited.




And by work I mean that I dusted the baseboards.

We also got started on Lila's new quilt for her big girl bed by shopping at JoAnn's.  Forty-five minutes, forty-five cheerios, and one clementine later, we had all this cute fabric.  I don't know when I'm going to make said quilt because Lila tends to eat things like fabric, batting, and wrapping paper when I take her into the basement with me, but hopefully it will get done before we officially move her in when our first baby arrives.

Tomorrow, besides working on various sewing projects that aren't included in the 31 Days of Cleaning, I am going to focus on organizing photos on my computer and making sure that they are all backed up in various locations.  I am anticipating this taking a very long time.  Suggestions for how to organize?

Cleaning and Reading

The majority of today was spent getting ready to host book club, so I focused on cleaning the living room and dining room.  I think I got everything done that I said I would...except I didn't dust the crown molding because I don't really know how to go about doing that.

Lila was very good today, but this is how I finished my last few projects this afternoon.



For book club this month we read Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote.  The majority of us really enjoyed the novella but were very taken by the differences between the story and the movie.  There were a few things that we were confused about, but it's always nice to have wikipedia there to answer any questions.



Tomorrow I am going to focus on Lila's new bedroom.  We're moving her into the guest bedroom, so I want to wash the window, clean the curtains, organize the closet, clean the baseboards, and decide on a paint color.  I also want to go to JoAnn's and pick out fabric for her new quilt.

This is the inspiration for her room: Seafoamy Tiffany Blue and Ballet Slipper Pink

http://southernpiphi.tumblr.com/page/5

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck?

My main goal for today was to finish the side covers for Lila's crib.**



No more teeth marks!  And no little mouth filled with wood shavings for that matter.

For some reason, this project took a lot of time and energy.  This is what Lila's room has become while I was distracted by the teething cover.  Yes that is newspaper all over her floor.  She likes to look at it and try to eat it.

Tomorrow I am focusing on my living room and dining room mainly because I'm hosting book club here tomorrow night.  Cleaning projects will include dusting the baseboards and crown molding, cleaning the windows (My mom already cleaned the ones in the dining room...I am not above farming out the 31 Days of Cleaning.), cleaning the desk trashcan, and my daily weekly every once in awhile dusting and vacuuming.

**If you're interested in how I made the covers, here's a brief non-photo tutorial.
1. I measured the front of the crib as 51 inches and the sides as 28 inches.
2. I cut two pieces of fabric for the front and each side that measured the length by five inches for the skinnier front and six inches for the thicker sides and then sandwiched some batting between those two pieces to essentially make long skinny quilts.  (For the front, I sewed five inch by five inch squares together to make the top piece because I was using scraps for this project and didn't have anything long enough.)
3. You could quilt it here if you wanted to, but I didn't want to.
4. I cut and sewed together some binding from more scraps.  I think I cut the original strips at 2.5 inches.
5. Sew on the binding.
6. Before hand finishing the binding, I cut pieces of ribbon and sewed them every 12 inches or so to the back of the covers.  I sewed them so that the binding would cover the spot where I attached the ribbon. (That sounds confusing...just do something that makes sense.  If I did this again, I would use big grosgrain ribbon so that there would be cute big bows all over the crib.)
7. Hand finish the binding.  I went around each piece twice since I wanted this to hold up well in the washer.
8. Yell, "Sweet Victory!" and tie them onto the crib.  Then make your daughter stand in the crib and encourage her to chew on the new covers by pretending to chew on them yourself in order to get a good picture.
The End.

Back to the Grindstone

Johnny and I are back from our 24 hour vacation.  It was nice to remember that we actually enjoy each other's company and enjoy doing things together other than the dishes and cleaning the oven...which is coincidentally what we did tonight.



I also cleaned the microwave, and Johnny cleaned Lila's fan.  I laughed at breakfast this morning when he asked what my cleaning plans were for Monday.  I said, "Oh my dear, we do not take weekends off in the 31 Days of Cleaning Extravaganza."



I was very eager to get back with Lila after spending time away from her, and then I got her back and remembered that she requires a lot of work and attention.  Who knew?  So Johnny was a huge help with her today while I finished the front part of her teething cover and almost finished the sides.

 

We really value Sunday as a day of rest in the Hutson house, so I am planning to not do much more than finishing the side parts of the teething cover and replace some light bulbs...and maybe shower.  I don't do that enough.