Did you say DIY?

Now that we have this new house, and it needs oh so many improvements, and I am losing my job, and have no money I have resorted to doing things myself.  I'm not trying to sound snooty about it.  I am just bad at everything.

I vowed that at the new house we wouldn't do anything cheap and crappy, but as it turns out, that's exactly what I've been doing...but with flare!

I've been pouring over design blogs and DIY blogs for ideas of things to do myself.  Currently on the list are faux board and batten in our laundry room, A pelmet for Eden's room, and perhaps for the uglier than ugly semi circle window in our family room, and lastly, night stands for our bedroom.  I saw this Bungalow 5 side table in a bedroom spread in Elle Decor (I think), and fell in love.  Problem?  $720 each.  Bah to that.

In researching better pricing, I came across several DIY posts making night stands that looked a lot like the B5 ones.  I decided I would undertake one of my first real DIY jobs (other than painting).  This was scary.  The only other thing I ever tried to do was crackling a bookcase back in '96, and that resulted in re-painting it lavender, then trashing it after six months. 

However, the to postings I read about 15 times, made it sound somewhat doable for even an amateur such as myself.  I love a spoiler, so I will show you the DIYs and "After" shots of the two blogs I used to help me do this myself.

The first one is here but she lives in Canada, and some of the stuff wasn't available at our Home Depot (neither was the hardware), so I used this post instead, and she did a more in depth tutorial with lots of pics for a dummy like me.

So, we ventured to IKEA for the second time in a month.  It's one of Lyla's favorite places, so we tend to go just for fun and a few glasses sometimes.  I also adore the fur throws, so I end up picking them up fairly often since they get Filo-ized over time. Lyla will now go into the playroom by herself since visiting with her cousins Noah and Piper, so that gives us some time to bust the place up before we have to sleep in all the beds and visit the "toy section" with Lyla.  Yes, we get meatballs, were you going to ask that?

We picked up two Rast night stands.  The look like this, and are $34.99 each.  Anything from IKEA scares me, as do paper directions for anything since my brain does not allow me to comprehend any directions given to me in this way.  Trent is always in charge of paper directions or anything that comes with a bag of hardware.

So, last night at almost 10, I guilted Trent into building the tables for me.  I think I even threatened "hating" him if he didn't help in our pursuit of making crap ourselves.  The good man that he is, he went upstairs while I watched the Rachel Zoe Project, and built the night stands.  Yay!  It took him an hour to build both.  He is a total whiz with them, so I knew he was the man for the job, and I was the woman to ensure Rach didn't have her baby this episode.

In between working in the morning (because I forgot Lyla's ballet stuff and had to make an additional trip home), I decided to start the process.

I will share a few pics with you now, and then let you know how the final phases come together.  I have to wait for the drawer fronts to dry, and the stain to dry before doing the lacquer, and having Trent finish the construction of the drawer slides.  Oh shit.  I just though of this...
Trent left the wood for the sides of the drawers upstairs because he couldn't build it until the white fronts were dry.  Which means, I have to stain the side boards!  Blast.  I thought I was done with stain.

Anyway, here are the shots from today's job.

The painted pieces in Royal's high gloss white

The unfinished frames ready for their fate

The wood filler for the silver bolts with holes

My hand full of paint and sticky stain.

One done, one on deck

Close-up of side

Close-up of top

Both done-zo...for now

No One Pees More Than Eden

We all know kids pee a lot.  However, I really think that my kid pees more.  It's not that she pees so often, I think that when she does pee, she takes the kind of pee husbands take when they've held it at a football game until half time and break the seal.  It's a forever pee. 

When E goes down at 8-8:30 her diaper is of course changed, and pajamas put on.  She either wakes up at 3-ish because she is soaked, or manages to make it until we feed her at 5:30 when she is most certainly soaked.  When I say soaked, I mean 20 pound diaper, pajamas drenched, crib sheet and crib totally wet.  Maybe it's the Seventh Generation diapers?  Maybe they don't hold as much?  Although, in pinches we've had to get other brands, and I believe she has soaked those as well.  She's just a soaker.  I think I'm going to have to research overnight diapers or something that hold more pee.  The thing is, she's also wet all the way up to her chest.  It's like she's been dipped it a glass of water.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind changing the kid, but to have to change all the garb and the crib sheet at such an hour is painstaking.  For those of you who saw my Facebook post about changing a crib sheet, you can relate.  It's so damn tight, and never stretches enough.  I never buy the cotton ones any more, only the cheap knit ones.  At least they have some stretch to them.  The fancy sheet that came with my Dwell bedding must have been the size of a bassinet sheet.  I had to use super human strength to put it out.  I would break out in a sweat, and my fingers would be red with abrasions.  I sense an invention by Leslie Wagner brewing.  Please make sheets made out of neoprene or something. 

Every morning, the scene in E's room is two sets of wet-ass pajamas, usually a crib sheet all hanging to dry until they go to the wash, and then her smiling face, happy as a clam to be on the scene.  That's the other thing, she really never fusses about the whole thing.  Even with poop.  The kid can have a total explosion in there, and never gives you any indication she's any worse for the wear. 

It's not just at night either.  I could change her, and an hour later, I see she soaked through jeans!  Yes, jeans.  Like I said, it's not like she pees a million times.  I think she just lets loose like a faucet when she does go, because it happens so quickly.  You'll check and she's fine.  Two minutes later you're changing her out of some complicated get-up.  I should really just dress her in onesies. 

Speaking of which, Laura, our nanny didn't have a change of clothes one day over the summer, so she cut the bottom of a onesie off and the bottom half of the outfit ended up just being a diaper.  She was such a white trash baby that day.  The way she cut it was all off, and it became a half shirt like a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. 

Lyla wore the same diapers, and she never had this issue.  We really hace a hefty number oner on our hands.  That's for sure.

Fabric Decals

I was reading one of my many blogs, and saw the fabric decals of Love Mae featured. I must have these!


I love the way they make ordinary things like cider vinegar look kitchen-y and chic. Of course, I will need to put all of my every day items into lovely glass jars that cost $20-40 each and carefully transfer everything into them to look pretty, but hey, I have nothing else to do with my money time on my hands starting in November!

They are also running a contest to guess four recipes based only on the ingredients. The first three people to get all four right, win the labels. A $59.95 value. I'm all about value now that I'm almost unemployed a small business owner. I entered the contest, and I think I definitely have two right, one I'm 95% sure, and the other, I am 80% sure. Fingers crossed. Feel free to enter here by 9/28.

I decided to show Lyla their fabulous fabric decal dress-up dolls of which they have several variations.




She thought they were the cat's pajamas, and so did I, so we promptly put them on her xmas list. I do love gifts that I get for Lyla that I secretly want to play with. To name a few, play-doh (even though we rarely play with it any more), any puzzle, anything dress-up. How amazing are these?

We started Christmas list this year because Lyla never asks for anything. If we're out and about, she acts like she wants something, but it's usually an ugly bear or other stuffed animal. To date, she has only ever asked for two things for any holiday. The first is a Leapster Explorer, which is a game console thing. She actually played it religiously for months. Now, we don't even know where it is. She got a little monster-y when playing it any way, so I'm glad it's gone. It definitely competed with tv as a monitored item, and something that typically made Lyla irritated and angry.
The other item was a bike for her 4th birthday.
My parents got her both those gifts. We like it when grandparents are heros for many reasons. For one, it allows us to get crap gifts because she doesn't care about anything after the "wished for" gift. So, essentially we're off the hook. I also don't believe in buying hundreds of gifts for kids for Christmas or birthdays (believe it or not). Maybe it's because Lyla isn't into anything but the opening part. Even after her birthday party, it took three days to open the gifts, because she loses interest. Lyla's entire 4th bday gift from us contained items exclusively purchased at the Candy Kitchen in Ocean City the morning of her birthday. What a delight.

Here and there, Lyla has mentioned a few things she likes, and so we have been encouraging her to add those to the list this year. Last year, I literally went onto Toys R Us' site and guessed by age what she might like. Let's just say she has played with her Easy Bake Oven, Light Brite, and life-sized Big Foot once each. Again, these may have been gifts I wanted to play with on Christmas morning. Big Foot actually flipped over, talked, and walked. Who wouldn't want that?

Right now, we have four things on the list. This is progress. True progress.

Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life

Hello small group of followers. Today is a big day for me. It marks the day I take my life in a new direction.

After a month of pure hell with selling and buying our house, changes for Lyla, and the cheapest attempts we could make to get the house in order to live in, we finally breathed easy for a moment.

Now, things will stir up again. After 12 years at my company, it is time to move on. Things have changed, issues have come up that I won't publicly blog about, but the future is now.

Trent and I have discussed this over the last few weeks, and for right now, we have decided that I will most likely put Fold Invites back on the map. I will remain at Cie Studios through October 31st, and consult for them through the end of the year, but am able to pursue other interests during that time. I have discussed the whole thing with the CEO, and good friend, and he has been very supportive of my decision to give this a go. It will take a lot of work to get things back on track, but since this will be my new full-time job, I hope I can turn this into something special--finally.

I did my first invitations eight years ago, and discussed how much I would love to make it happen. It's the only thing I have remained passionate about over the past few years. It took a lot out of me to give it up last November. I remember talking through it with Trent at a restaurant called Home in Los Feliz, CA over breakfast one day about seven years ago with such excitement. Well, it may have taken a while, but I am ready to try.

Wish me luck, and stay tuned for lots of changes including a new web site, products, and services.

Here. we. go.

Pat Summit Heroin

This is slightly off my normal topics of weight, fashion, kids, or home decor, but it definitely worth it. For those of you who don't know Pat Summit, she is the legendary women's basketball head coach at the University of Tennessee. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and while she continues to coach, she will no longer be calling the plays on-court. This is something that has entered our own lives recently, and it just goes to show how the testing of it really doesn't help in the diagnosis of this disease. Crazy stuff. Here is the video for anyone interested.

Bootie Envy

I have a few pairs of booties, and I love them. However, I don't wear them as often as I should. For comfort at the office, I typically choose flats and jeans. I love booties with dresses, but it works better if your legs are slim. I am loving the booties featured in my fall line-up below.

I also threw in some other pieces I'd love to see with these little numbers.
Thanks to www.mytheresa.com for all the fall inspiration!

Living Room Inspired

Hello friends. I am on vacation. I am also working half days at work because things are always crazy. I am waiting for an answer on something, so I thought I would share my inspiration for the living room at the new house. I am keeping a gray wall theme throughout, so I want rooms to have pops of color. In this room I'm thinking the lavender sofa I have been coveting from Crate and Barrel for a while and possibly some orange accents to mix it all up. The only thing we own in this spread is the cocktail table. It will be delivered in September. It will spawn the idea for the rest of the room (I hope).

Too bad, Joss and Main had a sale of D.L. Rhein pillows which would have been perfect scattered all about the house, but I went onto the site too late. All of the pillows were $35-45.00! I cannot even find any on Etsy for that price. They were all the types of patterns I'm digging right now too. Bah! Thanks a lot vacation sluggishness.



These groupings gave me a starting point, and I'm going from there.






This is the start of the basics of the room, then I will need to fill in with lighting, appropriate rugs, and accessories. La la la.

The Mirror

I have located the mirror in Lyla's bedroom feature from yesterday, 8/8. I would love to get the same exact mirrors from the lovely bedroom. However, the mirror is $589.00 (for one). Gulp. Why isn't it $189? This seems awfully high for this type of mirror. There are several sites that carry it, and most are the same price. One site has it $100 cheaper, but the site is pretty weird looking.

There are a few other mirrors which could work for $389, but that seems high as well. We'll see. I could always by one and see if I MUST have two. Damn me. Why do I always obsess about things out of reach? Let me know if anyone spots a knock-off.

Lyla's New Room

I hit the Benjamin Moore store in Hunt Valley this morning at 8:45 a.m. They open at 7:00 a.m. (how sweet is that?). I was questing for the perfect gray wall color for the new house. We plan to do the bulk of painting in this color, so it must be right. I had to pick a gray for our current house in a hurry from a Duron swatch book, and the choice read way bluer than I wanted, and I won't allow that mistake to happen again. I poured over every magazine I had to find shades of gray used in spreads so I could see the finished product. I also consulted with one of my fave blogs A Perfect Gray which has an ongoing list of the perfect gray paints, which is posted on Houzz (one of my new obsessions).
BM sells massive swatches (probably 15X15") for you to hang on your wall to see how the color will actually look. I settled on one of those (Gray Owl #2137-60), and a sample pint of a much lighter gray (White Wisp #2137-70) for those of you interested, or who might be searching for that special gray as well. Let's hope one of them works, so the hunter green, sunflower yellow, and royal blue walls on the first floor can be retired ASAP. We'll get to the fluorescent yellow, purple and red/blue combo bedrooms upstairs in a later post.

We also hit up Plymouth Wallpaper, one of my favorite wallpaper stores to look for wallpaper for Lyla's new room.

This is the inspiration for the room, which is much more modern and streamlined that hers will be but is still the basis for which I am designing the room. I channeled the idea of this rug pictured here into the idea for the wallpaper which I had seen a few months ago and loved for her room then as well.

The wallpaper is all discounted, and I love a discount. There are samples everywhere, and the place really must seen to be believed. The store is an old stone bank, which is easily missed from the road. In typical Jen fashion I saw it as we were passing it, and my Dad had to pull a fast left, leading us into a pseudo driveway, over a curb and back into the lane going in the right direction. They really know their stuff, and therefore I always go back to them. Unlike the "designer" at BM who had absolutely no idea what she was talking about much less what wallpaper I was looking for. Never trust a woman who calls herself a designer who wears shoes that look like this and has a much too strong affinity for a Stevie Nicks-esque ruffle skirt.

I had clipped a photo from a mag to find the wallpaper, but lost the clipping in the moving frenzy, couldn't remember the mag, and only had an idea in my head of what the pattern looked like which was very difficult to describe. In BM, I took a pic of a rug that had a similar design, and showed Gill, the enthusiastic (and equally flamboyant) expert at Plymouth. The first book not only matched what I described, it had the exact wallpaper I had seen! He even had the magazine there. It was fate.
Gill was very helpful, and I think we'll be ordering the rolls as soon as I determine the square footage needed to get the job done. Di and Frank have graciously volunteered to paper the wall (we're just doing one wall), a saving grace to us. Trent and I did two walls of my old office (now Eden's room) five years ago, and it was the one of the most frustrating and longest days of our lives. I think it took us four hours just to determine where the plum line should go. We also ran out of paper in the middle of the job, and had to paint one of the walls instead. A fiasco of course for the two most unhandy people you will ever meet.

Here is a picture of the wallpaper close-up, as well as it shown in an office set-up. I was planning on using a sleek white dresser in her new room, but I may keep her dark brown dresser to break up the monochromatic effect in my inspiration photo just a bit.

We also have a bench that my sister Tracey gave us that we adore and Lyla adores that I will either see how to fit in, or figure out how to re-purpose in another room (perhaps the front entry with lots of pillows?). Here, I have shown how I could see it working in Lyla's room with pillows that match the new color scheme of course. I want everything to have the same feel in the room, so some shabby chic elements from Ly's old room may have to be left to a minimum.

Finally, I've been doting on the revival of both tented beds, and formally-encased window treatments with ornate patterns. For Lyla's room, I would certainly tent cautiously, and not go as bold as the print here, but I'm entertaining the idea of doing this to pretty-up the bunk beds you see in the inset of this pic (already on order). We stayed with the most basic of bunks for two reasons: 1. in case she decides she really doesn't like or becomes "fearful" of the beds, and we didn't waste a ton of dough on fancy bunks and 2. because the more girly, more designed versions of the beds become to focal in the room, too big, too this is a kids room-- which--for those of you who know me, know I hate.

This is what I'm working on now, since Lyla's room is one of the most important in the house. She spends a lot of time in there, as do we, and I want her to love it, and us to love it. Since it won't be like her room now, I want her to be excited about what it could be. Even better...

Thoughts, questions, concerns?

Emerson Made

I adore Emerson Made. I was hoping to acquire one of their fabulous caftans when it came back into stock, but since I'm on spending lockdown indefinitely, I was not able to buy it.

Instead, I have decided to set my sights on key pieces for fall when I will finally be able to wear jackets and jeans without a. sweating to death, and b. hearing from everyone how I wear jeans so much. I'm loving the silk shirts that are everywhere lately, and I have brought out a peach colored pleated front silk number I bought about three years ago from J.Crew that I never wore. This summer alone I've worn it three times, and I wish I had it in ten other colors. Too bad I spill olive oil on everything I own (this included) and can simply wear things about three times before I ruin it beyond repair. Anyone remember the olive oil stain I left on my Mitchell Gold sofa this summer after falling asleep, and leaving a big old salad to seep into the cushion? Fact is, I am looking forward to wearing it among other silks, tees, denims under jackets this cool season, which for me, can't come fast enough. I simply hate summer.

I'm obsessing over this tuxedo jacket. Last year I bought a cheap one for about $78 from Urban Outfitters and wore it all the time. Not sure what happened to it, but it now appears I have ruined it. Some type of waxy yellow thing all over the back of the jacket. Drats. It was one of those jackets that looked good with anything, and that I always received compliments on. I bought a different tuxedo jacket from ben Sherman for about four times that price in Vegas two years ago, and it just never feels right or comfortable when I wear it. So, when I slim down after I embarrass myself in front of my four skinny girl friends at the beach with my grosser than gross body (which is really why I needed that caftan), I will wear this jacket with skinnies, flairs, bells, you name it all season.

And here she is...

Winehouse Out

I'm not a huge fan of Amy Winehouse, but I stumbled across this video of her performing live, and I must say I was pretty impressed. I think if I could steal a voice, it would be this one, or maybe that of Adele. I love a white chick that pull off a sound mostly reserved for soulful black women. RIP Amy, RIP.

Tom Ford is in the building

I've waited for this moment for a long time. The chance to hold a Tom Ford lipstick in my hands. Well, the time is now. After waiting for my backwards Nordstrom to carry the line with no luck, I broke down and ordered the coveted lip color online.

These are the swatches of all the colors. I usually have bad luck with lip color, so I tried to pick one that would definitely work. I chose smoke red because it seemed less red and more borwn which usually works better for me. When I put it on this morning, I thought it looked good, but when I got in the car I may have looked a bit like the joker. I have small lips, so I can't carry a bold lip very well. It isn't a bold color per se, but everything seems to go on my lips dark.


Anyway, the packaging is simply devine. Old Hollywood glam for sure. It's a heavy tube, probably the weight of a full salt shaker. The smell is so nice you almost want to eat it. But at $45 bucks a pop, I'll savor it for tasting once on my levres. It goes on smooth as silk, like an LV or Hermes scarf. :) Because of that, it is a bit slippery on the lips, and wears off a bit faster than most lipsticks. I just put a bit on now as I write, and it looks decent in the mirror. Maybe when it wears off it makes me look clowny? Maybe my greasy forehead is throwing me off.

If the occasion arises that I am able to browse other colors in-person, I would consider another color as well but I don't want to risk it in case I make a bad decision. I know me, and it would never be sent back. Which reminds me I will have to tell all of you the story of the Carolina Herrera dress I "bought" for a meeting in LA.

Summer Dip

I was going to pop this little number on to take Lyla to the pool, but instead I wore my fully ruched one piece with a skirt, with a dress past my knees over it, a towel around me, a hat, and sunglasses. It's been a while since my last Brazilian too, so...next time...

Rhododendron Chandelier

I wonder where this chandelier from Anthropologie can find a home in our new home?



The lighting is hideous throughout, so there are a few options. It is 32" in diameter, which is pretty big, so maybe over our bed since it has a feminine look to it. Although, I vowed to myself I would buy this lamp from Restoration Hardware and hang it above my bed whenever I had a proper house to do so.


I wonder if it could work in the entryway as soon as you walk in? I'll have to check with my sister, the boss of all things decorating. As she kindly put it to me a few weeks ago, "You have really good taste, and you like a lot of really nice things, but you don't know what you want as a theme, and you like too many different styles of things." She is so very right. I love many things, but I have a hard time sticking to one style. I want the new house to be cohesive, presently I'm in every direction. I am hoping to plan each room one by one, so as we complete them, they work together. Since, we'll be broke anyway, I can really take my time over the next ten years figuring it all out. By that time, everything we will have done will need to be re-done.

Speaking of entryways, I am certainly feeling this one. I'm loving the high strip of wallpaper up on high here. I'm also a sucker for ceiling-covered wallpaper. One thing that is consistent, I never have decorated in predominantly white, and yet, it's always the first color scheme I'm drawn too. We'll have to see what happens...

Do or Don't

There are so many cute things out there right now that I can't wear. I am seeing so many of these short linen wide leg shorts that I just adore. I never had thin legs, and therefore, never wore shorts, even at a much younger age, but now more than ever I hate that I was cursed with horrible, non-muscular, and generally ugly legs. When I'm thin, my calves are ok, save for my gross birth mark that I used to wear a band-aid over (for years) on my right shin. I'm also loving the playful short dresses and short rompers. I will save those for the youthful, and move on to what I can wear...


Bellbottoms? Love the A Cup of Jo blog, and when she posted whether to wear bellbottoms or not, I melted. Finally a post about something I CAN wear! I've ridden the wave on skinnies, but frankly, with my big thighs, they just aren't flattering. I've always carried wider leg bottom pants/jeans way better. I also have short legs (thanks Dad), and therefore, this kind of jean, with a high heel/wedge makes my legs look much longer and thinner than they are. It's all about perception. Since reality is not very pretty, I have to fool the onlooker's eye into thinking I have at least a 32" inseam (I really have about a 29). Now, the girl in this pic is also super cute, pretty, and of course thin, but I can wear this jean. Yes, I said something nice about myself. ha ha.



As it presses into late June, I'm already over summer, and the clothes it brings with it. I do hate summer clothing since it includes things like shorts, skirts with bare legs, open-toed sandals, and strapless/thin-strapped tops. These are all things I'd rather not wear. So, I have been pouring over the new winter collections. I also happened to be at Neiman Marcus last week buying a pair of hotty Louboutin pumps for Rob and Vale's wedding, and they were having a Chanel trunk show. Oh my. The jackets were so, so amazing. All sorts of mixed tweeds with embellishments but in the classic Chanel jacket way. I was in love. I mostly can't see why designers charge so much for stuff, but when I saw these jackets, I about died. They would be worth it. Alas, I held back (yes, it's true). On a much cheaper scale, J. Crew is carrying a sweater called the Eden. I may just have to purchase it for nostalgia's sake.


I'm a big romper fan. I love a one-piece anything. Most are not appropriate for me, but I may be loving this one by J. Crew. This is one of those things that looks great on the model, but you have no idea what it would look like on a real person. I love the criss-cross in front, but this works best for girls with really small or I guess really big boobs. I'm afraid I'd be free-balling a little too much in it. While she looks sexy, I would probably look scandalous. My boobs are just big enough to not be able to wear small boob tops. Not sure how this would look from behind either. High waisted, so it could make my butt look 100 miles long. It's still intriguing. It has a heftier price tag of $495, so I will not be rushing out to experiment with this one.









Lastly, I was reading my fave blog Making It Lovely today, and decided to purchase this gold dress which was in a feature about nursing mothers. A gold dress is something I've always wanted. I'm always attracted to them. It also reminds me of this awesome Chloe dress that I cannot purchase for price tag reasons. This one is much shorter than anything I usually wear, so I'm a bit scared, but I'm going to try it anyway. I love the dark orangey/coral shoes, and (if I could wear it) I would match it with a coral lipstick. I've been searching for a shade I can perhaps wear for summer, but after three attempts, I'm thinking the coral lip rage is better left to the fair skin beauties and the runways.







Other things I've been looking at:


So into online magazines and look books lately.

I'm all about striped wallpaper in small spaces. In fact, I already bought a black and white stripe to put in our first floor powder room at the Summer Hill house (I just love calling it that, it seems like we vacation there doesn't it?) Check here and here.

What to pay to be creative? Yes, it is true. You can actually take a creativity course!

Play Play Play

As we get closer and closer to acquiring a big ass backyard, we have a few things on the list to white trash it up, and one of them is a playground. I told Trent I was very concerned with getting an eco friendly, modernish looking one. They barely exist, and the ones that do are a million dollars. Bah. Trent did find a place called Cedarworks. Apparently, Lyla told Trent that she wanted some princess-themed playset, which I immediately thought would be ugly, but they have some neat looking sets at this site. God knows when you add all the components together how much loot it is, but we sent for the catalog. I'm partial to the smaller sets like the one above left, but the first pic Trent sent me included every piece of everything they make (see right)

I'm also loving their indoor play sets. I love the idea of getting something for Ly and E that allow them to make a fort. A few of these have loungy areas under the slides. We make forts everywhere in the house, so this is actually something I think Ly would use (unlike a swing--ahem). If anyone knows of these guys, or anyone that has their stuff, let me know. Otherwise, enjoy the view.

I found this list on OhDeeDoh, and thought I would share it with you since summer is officially upon us. I'm feeling pretty good about the list and our ability to do many things on it. Heck this morning alone we made a collage, had a cooking show, made a fort, and made a "bulletin" which is what Lyla calls making the baby's food in the food processor for some reason.

1. Color
2. Blow Bubbles
3. Play Hide-and-Seek
4. Peek-a-Boo
5. Play Chase
6. Do Finger-plays
7. Sing a song
8. Collect rocks in a basket
9. Make an obstacle course out of cushions and/or furniture
10. Make a fort out of cushions and sheets
11. Go for a Walk
12. Make a Car out of a Box
13. Read a book
14. Go to the park
15. Finger-paint
16. Play with Play-Dough
17. Toss Bean bags into a Bucket
18. Play the shell and pea game
19. Dance to music
20. Download games for toddlers from the Internet
21. Practice putting things in and taking things out of boxes and bags
22. Make a temporary slide out of a table leaf and your couch
23. Roll a ball back and forth on the floor
24. Scoop dirt or sand into a child's bucket (or use a serving spoon and bowl)
25. Practice climbing by stacking boxes on top of each other (only with adult supervision)
26. Put on a puppet show
27. Go fishing with a yard stick and yarn
28. Make a Horseshoe game
29. Make a Shape Puzzle
30. Play paper basketball
31. Run through a Sprinkler
32. Play with a bucket of water and a sponge (PLEASE WATCH CHILD AT ALL TIMES!)
33. Make a Drum out of an oatmeal box
34. Play with a kazoo
35. Wash windows together
36. Bang on Pots and Pans with a spoon
37. Brush each other's teeth
38. Play dress-up with stuffed animals and your child's clothes
39. Stack canned or boxed food on top of each other
40. Let child stack mixing bowls inside each other
41. Make a playhouse out of a large box
42. Let child play with a sticker sheet (make sure your child doesn't eat them!)
43. Put stickers on fingers for finger puppets
44. Play a musical instrument together- i.e.recorder, piano, etc.
45. Go on a Smelling Hunt
46. Frost Cookies
47. Plant a flower or vegetable plant together
48. Roll a tennis ball into an empty trash can or bucket
49. Draw on a mirror with dry-erase markers
50. Play hide and seek together- trying to find a stuffed animal or other object
51. Have a splash party together in the bathtub
52. Put a leash on a stuffed animal and walk around the house
53. Record each other on a tape recorder (great for scrapbooks or journals!)
54. Make and try on paper hats
55. Give a piggy-back ride
56. Play "Horsey"
57. Talk into an electric fan (it distorts your voice)
58. Play tug-of-war with a blanket
59. Collect flowers (felt, artificial, real...)
60. Make a camera and go on a Safari
61. Play games with frozen juice lids
62. Disconnect your phone and pretend to make phone calls to relatives
63. Leave your phone connected and really make phone calls to relatives- let your child talk too
64. String large beads onto or along a shoelace
65. Squirt each other with squirt bottles
66. Glue shapes onto paper
67. Make sock puppets
68. Make paper puppets
69. Fill an old purse with toys
70. Use a paper towel tube as a megaphone
71. Make binoculars and go "Bird Watching" or "Stuffed Animal Watching"
72. Put snacks in different fun containers (paper sacks, empty canisters, etc.)
73. Act out a story from a book
74. Walk on a balance beam- use a 2x4 placed on the ground
75. Draw with chalk on the sidewalk
76. Sketch an outline of your child on the sidewalk or paper with chalk
77. Paint child's palms with tempura paint and blot on paper. Makes a great card for loved ones!
78. Put lipstick on child and kiss a mirror
79. Make a puddle on cement and splash barefoot in it
80. Let child decorate and eat an open peanut butter sandwich
81. Make a toilet paper barricade for child to go under, over, or through
82. Do the Hokey Pokey
83. Make a super-hero costume out of household items
84. Do Knee-Bouncing Rhymes
85. Play "Red Light, Green Light" saying "Go" and "Stop"
86. Make a shoe-box train for stuffed animals
87. Make a pillow pile to jump on (keep it clear from any hard surfaces, including walls!)
88. Make an easy puzzle with felt and Velcro
89. Make bracelets or collars for stuffed animals out of pipe cleaners and jingle bells
90. Learn numbers from a deck of cards
91. Play the matching game with a deck of cards
92. Make a domino chain
93. Have a picnic in the park, backyard, or living room!
94. Play dress up in Mommy or Daddy's clothes
95. Make a tin cup telephone and talk to each other in it
96. Make a nature collage
97. Mirror each other
98. Make a "Mummy Mommy" with toilet paper
99. Make a tape recording of short music selections and instructions to move in different ways
100. Make and walk along a toilet paper trail
101. TAKE A NAP!

Splash Pad

Dear Trent-

Please make this for our new backyard so we don't have to buy a pool. Thanks.

Love, Jen

Inspiration for New Home

Not sure I have told everyone that we are moving. It's 99% official.













We are awaiting one last inspection on the chimney, then we're in the clear. So, if anyone is interested in purchasing our home, please call or email ASAP.



We are moving to a delightful new neighborhood called Summer Hill in Phoenix, MD. Here is a pic of the outside.






The bones are pretty good, but the interior is totally 80s with dark colored walls, striped wallpaper with borders, and White House drapes. So, this will be an undertaking for sure. Everything is liveable, but you know how fussy I can be about the homestead.





I see a new kitchen in our future as soon as we can afford (which may be never now that our mortgage doubled), new bathroom in the master (it's all crazy jacuzzi tub, and then world's smallest bathfitters-esque shower), and of course paint all around. The kids' rooms are the most offensive colors I've ever seen in a home. The worst room of all is literally fluorescent yellow. Who allows that?

Anyway, I have been saving images like crazy, and while a few of these are certainly a bit harder to attain within a reasonable budget (and not having someone like Diane Bergeron at our disposal), it has given me much inspiration. Where to start, where to start...