The Nursery: October Pin it and Do it

The nursery is just about done! We are already in the third trimester and my work is incredibly busy right now, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner, and the baby will be here before we know it. So I think having most of the nursery done is a good thing. I love how it turned out and every little detail was so much fun to work on.

Our little girl's name is going to be Sydney Diann (my Mom's passed away and her name was Diann). We went to Sydney, Australia last year and in addition to loving the name itself, it's such a wonderful reminder of our trip together and our love of travel. There's a few other Sydney items around the room, including a photo I took of the Sydney Opera House (top right in the above photo). The name on the wall is a decal I ordered from Etsy (link on my Pinterest board here).

I love the glider, a gift from my Dad and stepmom, and can't wait to read to our little girl while sitting there. Above it you can see a print that says "She Believed She Could, So She Did" that my sister got for me. She also got the cute hanging poms. The other print is an Etsy print of the Sydney skyline.

One friend got us the world's largest teddy bear. I'm still not sure where he's going to end up! One of the other prints on the far left is the famous stacked LOVE image. The original sculpture is located at my favorite museum in Indianapolis. I found an Etsy shop that let me pick custom colors (navy and coral) for the print. The other print says, "You are my bucket list."

There's a little bookshelf filled with kids books. This has always been in this room, because whenever my nieces and nephews come over they make a beeline for it, which is wonderful! About half the books are ones I saved from my own childhood. Others are gifts, hand-me-downs, and a few I've collected over the years. The highest shelf has a few longer books (like the Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan, Stuart Little, etc.) that we'll save for when she's older. 

I have another friend who hand-sewed the most incredible pouf for our girl to sit on while she's reading. You can see a closeup of the detail above and the whole pouf in the top photo. It has the complete train system map of Sydney on the top and the city's ferry system map on the bottom. It's such a thoughtful gift. I can't imagine being able to sew something like that, but I just love it and it will mean so much to our little Sydney as she gets older.

I turned an old beat up nightstand and bookcase into sweet additions to the nursery with a coat of coral paint. Luckily, I had a friend who helped, because I'm a horrible painter. They turned out great! Not pictured is a print on the other wall with one of my favorite Shakespeare quotes, "Though she be but little, she is fierce." That wall also hold the closet. The Huz is planning on adding some shelves to it, but we haven't tackled that project yet.

These are a couple of before photos of the room. It was our guest room and had a big queen-sized bed and huge wall of frames in it. We changed the color of the walls from bright turquoise to light gray. 

We have had so many wonderful friends already give us hand-me-downs. So the dresser already has some newborn and 0-3 months clothes, blankets, swaddlers, and burp cloths in the drawers. 

I participated in Trish's Pin It and Do It for the nursery. I painted bookshelves and picked out color palettes using things I found on Pinterest. Here's a link to my nursery board on Pinterest where I got ideas for just about everything I did from the rug to the curtains!

Photos by me.

Pin It and Do It

Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity is hosting another Pin It and Do It Challenge. I've got more pins on Pinterest than I can count, so I decided to dive in! Everything below is my own photos of pins I completed along with a link to the original posts I pinned to my account and brief description. 

Broccoli Soup - The trick to this recipe is getting good white 
sharp cheddar. It makes the soup delicious! 
Also, I'm in love with my new immersion blender. 

Apple Crisp - We had tons of apples and weren't sure 
what to do with all of them! The crisps froze well too. 
You definitely need ice cream to serve with it!

Lattice Crust - The Huz helped me weave it. It would

have been much harder to do alone. We did an egg wash on 

top to hold everything together. This You Tube video 

was really helpful. 

Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli - Recipe calls for rice, but we 

used Udon noodles so it was a bit more like Lo Mein. A great 
way to use chuck roast without having another pot roast. 

Tomato, Basil, and Cheddar Soup - Probably the best 

thing we made. Greek yogurt makes it healthy too! 
Seriously so good! 

Roasted Portobello Mushrooms - A perfect side with steak.

Mushroom Soup - Oh my gosh, we loved this one!
I would highly recommend doubling the recipe.

We made a huge batch of Potato Soup, which I've
made before, but I wanted to work on freezing
extra meals for winter. We also made 5 apple crisps to
take to other people and to freeze. 

Washing your hair with baking soda and vinegar -
This one is still in the experimental phase for me.
After reading way too much about Sodium Lauryl/Laureth
Sulfate I've been trying different shampoos without that
chemical, but none seem to work well. I've been trying this
for a couple weeks and so far so good. I made a white
vinegar rinse with lavender oil. 

That's it for me this month. Thanks to Trish for once again 
encouraging me to actually try the things I pin! 
Check out Trish's original post here.

All photos by moi. 

Pin it and Do It: February Challenge

Ok, so I got to a few more of those pinned items I’d been meaning to try out. Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity is hosting another Pin It and Do It Challenge. Thanks for hosting this again and for encouraging me to actually try some of the things I pin Trish!

 (My potato soup on the left, Pinterest French Onion Soup is on the right)

I was trying to find a few good soup recipes and these were both great! The Baked Potato Soup is definitely my favorite, but it takes a long time to make. It was hearty and we sprinkled some green onions and shreeded cheese on top. The French Onion Soup was good, but I’m not a big onion fan. The Huz LOVED it though, so success. I used the leftover half of the French loaf of bread to make bread crumbs for a recipe for next week, so I felt all productive. 

 (The Pinterest example is on the left and my collection of postcards is on the right)

Apparently clogged dryer traps cause a ton of house fires each year, who knew? I decided to clean mine to try and avoid the whole burning down your house thing. I also finally put my Penguin postcards in frames in my library. I love how it turned out!

(My broquet for the Huz and my attempt at baking eggs)

I made the Huz a “broquet” for Valentine’s Day with a few fun things in it. He was a fan. I have the hardest time making hard-boiled eggs. I always over cook them or under cook them, I can’t seem to get the hang out it. So I tried baking them via a recipe on Pinterest and they turned out pretty good. They taste fine, but the do have an odd brownish tint because of the method of cooking and so I wouldn’t want to use them to make Deviled eggs for a party or something.

P.S. You can find me on Pinterest here. 

Photos by moi or from Pinterest and all items link to the article I originally pinned. 

Pin it and Do It: Pinterest Challenge

I finally participated in one of Trish's Pinterest Challenges. The goal is to actually complete a few of the things you pin on Pinterest. I decided to dig in an do a bunch of them this month! Below are pictures of the actual Pinterest pin and then my completed version. 

You can find me on Pinterest here. 

(The Pinterest example is on the left and mine is on the right)

Au Gratin Potato casserole: It was perfect to take to Thanksgiving dinner! 

 

Apple Pie: This is the first time I baked a pie from scratch. It was really good!

I used photos for Christmas tags this year. 

I made this one as a Christmas gift for my sister-in law. 

She and my brother got married this year and the words 

on the tree are the lyrics to the song played for their first dance. 

Sugar Cream Pie: Also known as Hoosier pie, this was my favorite 

growing up and I made it for the first time for a Christmas get together. 

Very sweet, but great with coffee. 

The one of the right is pepperoni rolls. This was so 

easy and tasted really good for a quick dinner. 

The one on the left was another Christmas gift 

for a friend who is an elementary school teacher. 

Thanks to Trish for hosting this and encouraging me 

to actually do some of the things that I had pinned!

Photos by moi and from Pinterest.

Pinterest

 

Oh Pinterest, how I love thee. Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity had the great idea to host a challenge to encourage everyone to start doing some of the things they are pinning. The month of May is a bit nutty for me, so I’m not joining in the fun, but I thought I would share a couple things I’ve already completed that I’ve pinned.

Here’s a few things I’ve used and loved via Pinterest:

1) I made an awesome wreath for my library from dictionary pages (see above)

2) I made a Christmas ornament with salt dough of our puppy’s paw.

3) I put a lazy susan under my kitchen sink to help organize my cleaning bottle.

4) I used lemon, white vinegar and baking soda cleaning tips I found on Pinterest

5) I started using bread clips to label my electric cords.

I know there are a few others, but that's what came to mind. Pinterest is such a wonderful resource for planning parties and finding recipes, but I tend to spend most of my time admiring bookish photos. 

So come find me here on Pinterest.

And then go join Trish's challenge if you feel up to it!

*Photos by moi