Have a Rockin' New Year!

There are benefits to being the one behind the camera!

Merry Christmas!

Everything looks so peaceful on Christmas Eve!

Gunnar got to play with Lola, he was so excited! He kept asking "What's that? What's that?"

Lola continued to pull presents from under the tree, run away and chew them up right until the last one was unwrapped. That along with the fact that she had a couple of playmates (Marley and Kia, Uncle Phil and Dawn's boxers) really wore her out. See below:

We really had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family time. Big hugs to our friends and family that we didn't get to see. Love you!

This one's for Grandma and Grandpa...

The first video is the "childhood routine" Belle is in the second row, right on the edge of the green circle.

The second one is the "holiday routine" Belle is the 5th from the right.

Wish you could be here, but I'm sure you're glad that you are watching this from the comfort of home and didn't have to trudge through the wind and snow into a packed gym where you sit crouched in the bleachers (and pay an admission fee for the pleasure of watching your granddaughter dance). Ha!

Lola

Meet the newest member of the Sinkler Family, Lola. We picked her up last night, she's an 8-week-old yellow lab.

Do It Yourself Christmas

I was ecstatic when I heard about Chris's party idea. This is right up my ally! I can't wait to see what everyone posts and get started on some handmade Christmas gifts.

This is what I came up with:

I wanted to make something with stuff that I already have:

Beads, wire, canning jars, and votive candles or tea lights (rub-on letters too, if you want). These are things that I pretty much always have in a stash somewhere! The wire I used is 24 gauge if you are wondering.

I started by cutting a length of wire to wrap around the neck of the jar and make the handle. I totally guessed, and came out with quite a bit extra, so in the end I just wrapped it around the handle again and it turned out pretty cute. Take it easy on yourself, and have fun! When stringing the beads on, I looped the wire through some of them as you can see in the picture above. These beads will stay put. Others can slide back and forth between the stationary beads which gives it a nice random appearance.

Just wrap the wire around the neck of the jar, twist tightly a few times, make a loop for the handle, hook the end of the wire underneath the stuff that's wrapped around the neck of the jar, twist again and snip off any excess. You can add rub-on letters if you like, place your votive inside and you're done! I think these would look great lined up on a mantle or grouped together as a centerpiece (vary the size of the jars). Cute, cheap and easy!

Be Right Back

Just wanted to let you know I'm in the middle of parent/teacher conferences and my semi-annual evaluation. I will post something fun this weekend! Promise!

Homework Blues

Sunday night after a long weekend, lots of homework for the student and the teacher. We've both got the blues. That's where procrastination will get you. And look at me, blogging instead of grading. Great role model, huh?

Belle's Bedroom

I am really bad at taking indoor pictures, especially trying to capture the overall look of a room, but here it is, anyway. If you can look past the messy bed and clutter...

I got another old window and put scrapbook paper behind it for a fake headboard. The letters were cut out by one of my former students and I painted, modpodged, and embellished them. I really like this wall.

You may think the second picture is meant to show how bad I am at faux-finish painting (It's not my fault, I swear. The walls have an insane amount of texture.) BUT the real purpose is to tell you a funny story. Belle was using the ledge around the room to showcase her collection of bells, rocks, knick-knacks, and toys and the clutter was driving me nuts. Even when her room was clean it looked like a mess. So I hung up the wall shelves and we arranged her collections and we put all the toys in her closet. I was admiring our work, thinking it looked pretty good, when she declared, "I look poor now!". Because she couldn't see everything she owned all at once, she thought it looked like she had nothing! Gotta love the perspective of an eight year-old.

Be Happy Now.

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.

~Earl Nightingale

The simple things

I was driving home tonight, in a bad mood, after a long day at school. It was one of those moods where you're ready to just be mad, period. It didn't matter that 90% of my day was good. It didn't matter that my husband had just called to see if he could bring dinner home. I kept thinking about the exchange that changed my day (dwelling you might say) when I passed a row of fiery Maple trees and I thought, what's so bad? It may sound hokey, but I suddenly just felt grateful to be here and grateful for the beauty around me.

...But truthfully, it returned and I still can't shake the bad mood.

Halloween Craft

Here's another simple project that you can include the kids on. I've been seeing banners all over blogland, so here's my take on it.

I picked out some coordinating cardstock and trimmed to the size I wanted, then I let Belle sort them into the order she liked and attached the smaller squares. I had some black, glittery chipboard letters that we glued on. Then we punched holes to tie them together with ribbon and added a few Halloween stickers.

Love it! I think I'll be making some more seasonal banners.

Fall Project

This beauty is courtesy of my creative mother. On a weekend trip she collected some gorgeous leaves and birch branches and then my niece and Isabelle got to put together fall mobiles. I think this looks awesome in front of the mirror, but it would be great in a doorway or hanging from a light fixture as well. Just don't look too close or you might see the scotch tape we used to attach the leaves to the fishing line! I would have used the hot glue gun, but I wanted the girls to be able to do it all on their own.

Super simple and perfectly pretty if you ask me!
Thanks for the idea mom, and thanks for the fall decorations girls!

Inspired

Whoa

Two months since my last post?! Are you kidding me? Where has the time gone? Well, I guess I'll jump right back in to posting pictures.

Belle and I went out to the farm yesterday to pick pumpkins, it was a blast!

Family Room

This room was a lot of work! The wallpaper was nearly impossible to remove and the walls got really damaged in the process, so we had to retexture. Also painting the wainscoting was not easy, it required lots of taping off and filling in cracks and nail holes (time consuming!) Since I've used dark colors before I was worried that the "barn red" that I chose would be a pain too (lots of coats) but we got some really good quality paint and it covered well-yea! Now for the pictures... Drumroll, please!

Before:

After:

Okay, I cheated, I didn't take a picture behind the couch where the computer desk used to be, but trust me it's wide-open now. I just didn't want you to see the ladder that we used for installing the home theater speakers or the pile of frames that are yet to be hung up :)

Before and after

I really want to share more pictures of the house with you now that the painting is almost complete and furniture is in, but I also want to wait until I get the walls decorated so I'm really torn! For now, here are some pictures of the entryway.


Before:
After: This is just to the left, when you come in the door. I took down the wallpaper that was here and painted the walls and trim.


I wish I were a better photographer!

A Helping Hand

Belle has been an awesome painting assistant. Give that girl a paint roller and she's off! (Face paint courtesy of the Downtown Fargo Street Fair) :)

Slow Progress

I feel the need to document today as we have been here for 2 months now. The garage is still holding pretty much all of our furniture, this is not where I expected it to be at this point. The good news is that the upstairs is now completely painted (minus a few touch-ups) and the carpets are being cleaned on Wednesday so by this weekend we can move our furniture in. I'm crossing my fingers that I will be settled by the time school starts in a couple of weeks. Yikes! Where did the summer go?!

Ch ch ch changes

Before:
After:

This is ground zero for my painting supplies so it's kind of a mess in here, but I was so excited to get this room painted and show the transformation. Besides removing wallpaper and covering up the sponge-paint I painted all the trim, doors, and the ugly beam (you can kind of see it in the uppper corner of the second picture). I love it. I'm using these two colors in most of the house with a few color accents here and there so it's a good thing I'm happy with how this room turned out! The sheetrocking and texturizing of the living room walls is complete today so, I'll have lots more makeover pictures to share after this weekend.

Moving On

This is the current view of the front of our house. York and Colleen have started moving in to their camper and plan to be at Pelican Lake by Sunday. This means I have moved into the kitchen (20 boxes down, 100 more to go). Thanks Lori, Missy, and Shannon for all the notes you packed in with my dishes. You made unpacking so much sweeter :) Miss you lots!

I'll post some before and afters soon, I just have to remember to go upstairs and take pictures of the formerly sponge-painted walls. You will be amazed!