Diary of a Room Makeover: PROGRESS

The fabric for the quilts is all washed and ready for cutting.

That's a LOT of fabric. Sigh. Anyone want to come have a cutting party?

This is Little Bit's banner to hang over her loft. I love it so much. (That's the dining room its hanging in now-just for the picture.) It has fabric from lots of places.

An old banquet dress of mine from high school. It was very Pretty In Pink-ish.

The girls' old Easter dresses.

Awww.

My 1st grade dress.

Awww.

Sweetheart and her friend will be completing their banners this weekend in sewing class. You can make these with precious little sewing, but I chose this project for sewing class, so I included lots of sewing in our banners.

We also have the room rearrangement of the new room figured out.

Tomorrow we will be going to pick up the used loft from my friend and then S will have the really fun and rewarding job of taking apart the bunk beds and putting together the loft beds.

More updates to follow! Things are getting exciting now!

Let's Just Practice What We've Already Learned This Week, Shall We?

Clearly, with the going out of town and taking a bit too long to get back in the swing of civilization, I am running behind and there will be no Casually Feminine this week.

I DO apologize.

We will resume next Wednesday, as scheduled. The topic when we return will be tops. As in shirts. Blouses. Whatever you wear above your waist. :)

By the way, have you noticed that we have been concluding that our adornments can be casual, but not our actions? Anyone else noticed that?

And also, at Subway yesterday I saw a woman. She worked for a construction company according to the logo on her polo shirt. It was light blue and she was wearing jeans and black shoes and a big belt. She had her hair in a simple pony tail and no make-up. Want to know what I noticed immediately? Her earrrings! She had on shiny silver hoops and a silver bracelet with her outfit. They did not look out of place and I thought were just the right touch to make her look feminine in an obviously masculine job. See? Accessories DO matter!

See you next Wednesday for our discussion on shirts!

Just Like That...We're On!

Diary of a Room Makeover--April 27

I saw a friend post something about a used loft bed on Facebook the other day. Hmmm....I mentioned it to S and he thought it sounded good. We checked the store where she purchased it and one location still had 2 in stock. So, off we went yesterday to get the one from the store and we will pick up the used one on Friday.

And just like that, the girls will have the long-awaited loft beds. And the Room Makeover is back in full swing!!!

Now I've really got to get with it! I just hung the re-painted mirrors up, even though I'm not finished embellishing them. Here is Little Bit wiggling her loose tooth in her mirror last week. (She finally spit it out in her hand on Friday morning.) Now, of course, the mirrors will have to be moved. Sweetheart's is hung higher, can you see it to the right?

I also found this fabric a few weeks ago. I'm intending it will go on the window, but I have no idea how. There isn't that much of it and I bought what was left on the bolt. Any ideas?

Here is all the flannel I have collected for their rag quilts. I just waited for the fabric store to have flannel on sale and stocked up when I could. My mom had some scraps....I think I still need a few yards, but this is enough to get started with and now I really feel like I need to get with it!!! Regular comfortors will not work on their loft beds but they will have to for the time being.

So....window treatment, quilts, new beds.....not to mention all the plans the girls have for under their lofts....we have a lot to do all of a sudden! I guess that's how it goes when you are working on no budget and doing it all yourself!

We Washed the Car When We Got Home Because I Wan't Ready to Be Inside

That's how nice camping was.

S had to make himself put on "real" clothes to go to a meeting when he got home. We still wanted to be camping.

Spending time together.

Eating outside.

Enjoying God's creation.

It was a great weekend.

And I'm glad I took so many pictures. Because these cute little girls are growing up fast.

And I want to remember what they looked like when they were...

6....

and 10.

And so stinking cute.

You can keep your big vacations.

If I could have more weekends like this, I would be a happy woman.

(But I really do need to turn my attention INSIDE the house now.)

Even though I prefer this kitchen. (The ONLY time I cooked all weekend.)

And this help.

And this food. (Mmm....peach cobbler.)

It's OK. I'll adjust.

Casually Feminine: Accessories

Did you enjoy my catchy title? Good.

I have had two accessories in my lifetime that were my absolute favorite. Whenever I added them to my outfit, no one was looking at me or my clothes or my hair or anything. If you have any flawed spots that you would prefer no one see, I highly recommend adding these to your accessory collection.

I find them harder to carry around these days.

And without a cute baby on your hip, you are so....vulnarable, so....naked, so....exposed. I mean, how am I supposed to keep my stomach sucked in all the time?

OK seriously. I'll tell you the truth, if it were up to me I would carry no purse. It is a necessary evil and I buy a new one every 5 years or so whether I need to or not. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. In the summers I prefer to find a cute bag to carry around. I used to use the excuse of "well, we are past the need for a diaper bag, but these are so easy to throw a pull up and a juice cup in" but we are past that too. I like this one at Target. Or this one. I don't carry HUGE bags, but more the size of purses.

As far as jewelry goes, I wear earrings. I usually only wear them to church or if we are "going somewhere." (Giovanna, clearly your house doesn't count since you told me you've never seen me wear any!) I do like bracelets and will wear those to church. My wedding ring doesn't fit right now, and I'm completely out of the habit of wearing other jewelry. I used to--when I went to work. I haven't worn a watch in 10 years. I am whatever the opposite of flashy is.

Make-up? See above.

Shoes. Let's see---for summer I have tennis shoes, flip flops, and sandals. If we are home I usually do wear shoes simply because we have laminate flooring and it hurts to walk around barefoot all day. I keep my toes painted but suffer from a severe lack of pedicures. On that note, I do not paint my fingernails and my nails are quite short. I do not understand how a woman can work around the house all day and keep long nails. If you can do that, feel free to explain it to me.

Here's the thing: I am not an accessories kind of girl. I don't need "extra" stuff to mess with. I know my husband doesn't prefer a lot of fussiness, so that works out well. I do not think accessories are a sin! I know some women who do a fine job of accessorizing and it makes them look lovely. I do know the Bible says our beauty should not come from those things. Still, if I knew a bit more about how to accessorize well, it would probably be good. Perhaps some of you can teach me.

I feel I've been a terrible lot of help today.

You're welcome.

And here's a question......is there such thing as "casual accessories"? If so, what are they? Do "sunglasses as a headband" count?

Join in the discussion with us and enlighten me on this whole accessories thing ladies!