Quick Fix: Children's Gallery Wall

My Personal Assistant has finally reached that "color and draw and paint for hours" phase and it is pretty glorious. BUT...

1. Every shred of paper he touches is now precious and must be displayed and/or protected from Mr. Baby.

2. They are constantly ripping things off the fridge/splashing water from the fridge fountain thing.

So, with some junk from the basement I made a gallery wall for the playroom. I'm a bad blogger and I don't have a before. So here's the after:

 

Quick Fix: Chandelier Makeover

We've had a winter full of surprises. Many of them were not good. Like the furnace breaking twice in the coldest February on record, leaving us with no heat for a month. Or the the day the second floor toilet flushing into the stud space one morning, and a short in a wire causing half the house to lose power in the afternoon. Or the day shortly after that when we woke up smelling gas in the kitchen (easy fix) and ended up with our water heater tagged because it needed a new chimney.
I have spent most of the winter hating my new house, and spending the reno budget on emergency repairs.
But I am trying to like it. I really am. So I am tackling the dining room on a shoe string budget-starting with that fabulous 1980's chandelier.

Quick fix: Starry Night Mobile

Just keep moving forward: Boy's CAMP Bedroom

One of the most challenging things about being a Mom to two little ones is juggling their very different needs and schedules. Mostly the schedules. It feels like I am still unpacking and not a single room is 'done' and it is now officially months (plural) since we moved in. I am learning to be content with progress-no matter how minor. That said, today I made a tent!

Quick Fix: Conflict of interests, snow day

We had a conflict of interests this morning. Kiddo wanted to play in the first snow of the year (sans pants), Baby wanted to sleep in, Mommy wanted to take a shower (solo) and curl up with some tea on the couch.

So we got out my daytime parenting partner: the activity tray.

Quick Fix: Mess Containment

 We've sold our house! (And now the chaos will begin for real.) In honor of an exhausting solo weekend with the boys, negotiating a deal, while my husband was away with his pals, I give you a new use for cookie sheets: mess containment!

The please can I please have a shower puzzle

I need a shower. It is how I wake up. It is my five minutes of not touching anyone. It is warm and therapeutic on my aching back that is not used to carrying around these giant milky boobies. I am routinely covered in someone else's pee, or vomit. I sweat profusely at random times cause I have post partum hot flashes. I likely do not smell very nice. I NEED a shower.

The boys don't give a crap. Or actually they do...often, so when everyone is finally fed, and cleanish and happyish. I run to the shower. Only to be called back, naked, to deal with...something. So I made a puzzle. Something new and novel to occupy my 3year old so he would not ask for something for a minute or two, maybe.

Quick fix: Play Dough Revival

 Is your play dough lacking luster? Are the sensory spices you added just not sniffable any more? Here's your quick fix. And I mean really quick. These photos are from dinner prep time sometime in late December.

Quick Fix: Flowers

Flowers make everything cheerier, but sometimes keeping them alive is a challenge. Especially plants that must be watered from the bottom like African Violets. They do sell special pots for this, but I have an easy, cheap fix that I used to use when I worked as a florist during grad school.

Quick fix: DIY Maternity Jeans.

I LOVE wearing jeans. I have way too many, which are all packed up at the moment because they don't fit my pregnant body. I have found that Belly Bands and hair elastics work for awhile, but... eventually the hair elastics feel like they are cutting across my belly and the Belly Bands just don't keep the pants up, leading to lots of yanking and adjusting, not the most flattering look.