Introducing Baby Boy Hartman!

Today Herman and I found out that we're having a boy! I knew it all along, but Herman was convinced that it was going to be a girl. Guess he'll learn the hard way that I'm always right.

Baby Hartman was so cute in the ultrasound - although a bit feisty. He wouldn't move when the ultrasound tech wanted him to, but moved like crazy when she needed him to stay still. We were happy to see that he looks to be healthy and active. In fact, I think I felt him kick for the first time during the ultrasound -which was super exciting.

He even gave us a little wave - cheeky baby! He definitely is a character already!

Announcing...

We are super excited to be able to finally share our news. Stay tuned for more details!

Egg "muffins": quick, healthy, grab n go breakfasts

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new school year, at least for the teachers in our district, so for me it marks the beginning of some new habits I want to form. The idea was to pre- make my breakfasts for the week and have something that's quick to grab, but a little bit healthier than what I've munched on in the past.

These egg "muffins"look to be filling and healthy - and look at me, sneaking veggies into breakfast. Never thought that day would come for this girl!

I used:

• 8 eggs
• 1 red bell pepper - chopped
• 6 slices deli ham
• 6 slices of cooked bacon (method)
• shredded cheese - any would work, I used mexican blend
• 1 muffin tin sprayed with olive oil cooking spray

I pre-heated my oven to 350, prepared my ingredients and then got ready to work. 

  I first put my mix ins in the tin - the top 6 are ham, the bottom 6 are bacon - all with chopped red pepper

 I added the egg mixture to each tin using a small measuring cup and sprinkled cheese on the top.

 After baking for about 20-25 minutes - they looked like this: YUM!

I used a butter knife to loosen the edges and they popped right out. I set them on this board to cool...

 I turned around for one second and when I turn back - this is what I saw...

 I have not yet had one - but my husband says they are amazing and he now wants his own batch.


As per usual, this idea came from Pinterest - and is a compilation of this blog and this blog.
Pinterest for the win again!

Continuing the obsession

Once I got the entertainment center dresser done - I was on a roll and feeling great. I had always wanted a skinny side table for the living room, but never had managed to pull it off. So the next day, on a whim, I went back to Craigslist and searched for the perfect table. Within minutes I had found exactly what I was looking for, and it was only $35!!! Score!

My neighbor let me borrow her SUV so I could go pick it up. The wood was even more stunning in person, and once I got it home, I wrestled with whether or not to paint it. It was perfect as it was, but I really wanted my furniture to match. I played with the idea of stripping it and just staining it the darkest stain I could find, but the desire to have matching pieces won out and I decided to use my leftover paint from the dresser on it.

Primed and ready

I washed and primed it as before, and once that was dry, I set to work. I immediately began to panic because the paint wasn't adhering like it had on the dresser. I wondered if I should have stripped it anyways to get rid of the gloss - but since I hadn't needed to do that on the dresser, I had decided to forgo it again here. I was petrified that I had just made a huge mess and ruined that beautiful wood in the process. I even found myself wondering if I should have spray painted this one - with all the nooks and crannies - painting it was a huge pain - there were so many small parts I kept missing.

I decided to do as I had done before and walk away from it for a little bit. When I came back to it a couple days later - I decided to give it one more coat to see if the paint would stick better. Lo and behold it did - and it looked great. It was still a huge pain to paint - all those nooks had to be gotten with a delicate hand, but I discovered some tricks that made it go much more smoothly. After it dried I applied a few coats of spray poly and let it cure.

The after shot

It was done just in time for me to get it all situated before heading to the airport to pick up my hubby from the airport - all done with his commercial fishing for the summer. I was so excited to show him our "new" living room.

Before and after shot

Our new living room - all together!

Every time I go into my "new" living room, I see those two pieces and I'm filled with pride. I did that, without my hubby's help. I absolutely adore how it all turned out.

I'd like to turn my attention to our dining room table set next, (it's a pine color) but the hubby is currently saying no. I think he thinks he's be dragged into helping. I think I'd stain the table and chairs though instead of painting them. I'm not sure paint would hold up well, even with poly coats, and this way they would coordinate but not necessarily be match-ey match-ey . I'll try to wear him down.

A new obsession

This summer, while my husband was away doing his commercial fishing thing, I discovered a new passion, or better yet, obsession. But let me start with the back story.

About a year ago, the hubby and I went to a neighbor's house for a party. While there we saw their TV on a dresser which they had gotten from IKEA - and let me tell you, it looked fantastic. As adorable as our puppy is, he has a nasty habit of chewing DVD cases and we had relegated our collection of DVDs to the garage - which wasn't at all conducive to movie watching on a whim.

So we loved the idea, but stalled on the actual implementation for a variety of reasons that included money and (to be honest), pure laziness. From time to time we browsed Craigslist but never saw anything that was "perfect" in our minds.

Time passed, but that idea never left my mind - it was always on the top of my to-do list. With the advent of my other obsession, Pinterest,  there was no going back. On that amazing website I saw all kinds of tutorials on how to re-paint all types of furniture, and thought - "Well, maybe I could do that." One morning, bored and browsing Craigslist, I came upon 2 dressers for $75. One was tall and skinny (perfect for my guest bedroom), and the other was short and wide- perfect for an entertainment center. At $75 for both - the price couldn't be beat. I could show you both projects, but in the interest of time, for this post I'm going to focus on the short dresser.

The dresser in it's original state

Granted, it wasn't the most pretty thing out there, but the size was exactly what I wanted. My awesome brother drove me to go pick the dressers up, and I started doing my research. I knew I wanted them to be black (my favorite furniture color), but couldn't decide whether to spray paint them or roll the paint on. I went to Ace Hardware and decided to ask the expert. He recommended that I roll the paint on and even suggested the best paint for the job. (I only needed a quart for both projects.) I took off the mirror and gave it to my neighbor, then washed the dresser down real well and waited for it to be clean and dry - ready for me to begin.

Once it was time to get started, I started with a spray on a spray tinted primer (in grey) from Rust-oleum. It went on smoothly and quickly. You could immediately tell a difference.

The dresser after spray primer

Amazing, right? I was stoked.

Once it was dry (I just followed the instructions on the can) I began to roll on the actual paint. That's where things got dicey. I couldn't seem to figure out how to get the roller marks to go away. The paint guy had told me this was a "self-leveling" paint - meaning it wouldn't have brush marks - but my eyes were seeing them EVERYWHERE - especially on the top of the dresser and the drawer fronts. I was horrified.

My neighbors had come over to see what I was doing and, in a panic, I asked them what to do. The spray primer had gone on so well - should I start over and just spray it? That seemed to be the general consensus - but I wasn't sure. I really didn't want to screw this up.

I had some time to think about it though because it was going to take a while for that first coat to dry. I decided to try spraying the other dresser (the tall, skinny one). That ended up deciding the quandary for me. While the spray primer went on like a dream, the spray paint was a pain in the arse. It was hard to get a smooth, even coat, and I had drips despite trying my best to prevent those. Plus, my finger hurt from holding down the nozzle. So that looked awful too, and I really started to panic.

I finally went back to the entertainment center dresser and re-looked at it. As the paint had dried, many of the brush marks had disappeared, and it looked much better. Given that, I decided to go ahead and try one more coat to see what would happen. Would it even out the remaining brush strokes if I was really careful about how I rolled on the paint?

After the 2nd coat of paint.

Luckily for my sanity and self esteem - it worked!You could still see some brush marks, but it wasn't as noticeable. As it dried, even those disappeared! Once I was able to take it inside, you definitely couldn't see any marks. I was ecstatic! After a few coats of spray poly, it looked even better!

Shall we see it all together now?

I love it so much!!! It was a huge undertaking, but it looks so good! 

Now it's in it's rightful home - and houses all our DVDs and our TV! Behold!

What do you think?

P.S. - I ended up continuing with the spray painting on the tall skinny dresser as well - once you've started it's easier to keep going. The rolling on method definitely wins my vote. No cramped fingers and it looks WAY better. Lesson learned for next time... and oh yes, there will be a next time. (I need a side table now along the wall we first saw the dresser along.)

A day in the life of a Pinner

As I've mentioned on here before, I'm a tad obsessed with Pinterest. I was bored yesterday and decided to have a "Pinterest Inspired Day." Since my house needed cleaning, I decided to star there. I decided to try three different "pins" and two of the three worked fantastically well for me. I was pleasantly surprised

Project 1: Clean my washer. I'm ashamed to admit that it was a grimy mess, but I had found a pin that told me how to go about fixing that. (Click here) I followed the directions exactly, and was amazed at how much better my washer now looks (and smells)

Click on the photo to see full size

Click on the photo to see full size

Project 2: Clear up my car headlights. Saturday night I went out with a friend and it was really hard to see because of the rain, and because I had little to no light. The thought occurred to me that this could be because my headlights were crusted over with grime, so while the washer was sitting and soaking, I tried the toothpaste on car headlights trick. I wasn't too hopeful, but had a tube of nasty tasting toothpaste which I didn't mind sacrificing. I kid you not - it was like magic! So easy, and such a dramatic difference! (Click Here)

Click on the photo to see full size

Project 3: Salvage a burnt Pan. While the washer was sitting through it's 2nd 1 hour soaking session, I decided to tackle one of our cooking pans that had seen better days. This pan was brand new at Christmas, but due to a kitchen mishap, you would never know it. Here's where Pinterest failed me a little bit. I followed the directions exactly as written, even did it 2x, but the problem was not fixed. To be fair - it looks a little better now, but definitely didn't all come off. (Click Here)

Click on the photo to see full size

So overall, 2 out of three isn't a bad score - and it was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I'm so glad that I tried some of the things I've pinned - it makes me feel like all the time I spend on there is somehow justified now. I used it - and here's proof!

What have you made from Pinterest recently?

Closet Makeovers

I have a co-worker who just adopted two adorable children from Lithunia with her husband. It all happened so quickly - and they didn't have time to do all the tasks they wanted to do before the kiddos arrived, so Herman and I volunteered to take on one of the projects - the closets.

It was actually a lot of fun working with my hubby on this project. He did all the hard labor of course, but working together to come up with a vision and then executing it together made me realize how close of a couple we've become. There was a time when a project like this would have devolved into fight club.

Anyways - here are the fruits of our labors. Simple, but I love it!

The girl's room:

Click on the photo to see full size

The boy's room:

Click on the photo to see full size

What do you think? Did we do a good job using space effectively?