The Bed Post

I know I promised to post this a long time ago (right after I finished building the bed), but it took a little longer than I expected to finish the rest of the room. Since the bed looked kinda rustic, I decided to go with a "rustic" theme.

Some time ago, I came across the site Knock-Off Wood (now Ana-White.com). If you haven't visited Ana's site yet, you really should. I have a stack of plans printed out and ready to build. In fact, just today I got the wood I need for my next project...a gift for my sister-in-law Lesa.

The toddler bed for Scarlett was my first big project, and I was so proud of myself for building it. Here is a link to the plans I used. I modified plans for the farmhouse bed canopy (also found on Ana's site) to fit the toddler size bed - the posts are 2x2 turning posts from Lowe's. I also made some fixed siderails that can be taken off later. It was surprisingly easy to build...the hardest part was getting the canopy just right.



A few of shots with Scarlett and Savannah just so you can get an idea of the size.




Scarlett is still sleeping in her crib (which is pushed to the side for the photo shoot), because she hasn't shown any signs of trying to climb out of it yet. As soon as she does, we'll switch to the toddler bed.




I made the nightstand from these plans. It reminds me of an old wooden ladder, and it's the perfect size for a toddler nightstand.



I found this nightlight/lamp at Land of Nod. It looks like an old vintage lantern, but it uses a 15 watt bulb and has a two-way switch. It's perfect for a night light on the lower setting, and the higher setting is perfect for reading bedtime stories.



Between the closet and the bookcase, I made a littel pretend clothesline for hanging coats. The "post" is a thin piece of craft wood from Lowe's that I stained and nailed to the wall. I made the "line" with white paint. The "clothespins" are just plain wood cabinet pulls from Lowe's...I drilled sheetrock wall anchors into the wall and then screwed the pulls in using anchor bolts.




I found a real scrub-board at Ace Hardware, and the little washtub came from Target.



These cute little fabric birds are roosting above the closet doors. This is why I was so long posting about the room...it took me forever to sew and stuff all these little birds. I grabbed a couple of limbs from Mom's backyard, hot-glued the birds to the branches, and hung the whole thing from the ceiling with thread....I should have used fishing line so it wouldn't be visible, but I didn't have any on hand and I was ready to get it done.




The pattern for the birds can be found here at Spool.

Changing table and Savannah's old mini rocking chair.




On the ceiling above the bed are lots of glow-in-the-dark stars. You may have to click to enlarge the second photo to see them in the dark...they show up much better in person than on camera.




I love that Scarlett can lie in bed and look at the stars before she falls asleep.

I was tempted to go all-out with theme...old fashioned toys, ragdolls, etc. But I know it won't be long until Scarlett has her own opinions about her room decor, so I kept it simple. So, that's it...Scarlett's room revealed. What do you guys think?

First Snow

Savy was thrilled when it started snowing last night. She wanted to go outside and play first thing this morning. We had a quick breakfast, bundled the girls up, and headed outside. Jon managed to get a shot of the yard and house before we messed it up.




They both have on three layers of clothing. Scarlett didn't like being bundled up at all and just wanted to be held. Vita loved the snow and was racing in circles around us as I was trying to take pictures.




Our yard is flat, so we joined the party a few houses down at Allan's...he has a big hill. There are LOTS of kids who live on our street, and I think most of them were in his yard today.

Savy couldn't wait to try out the "Dora" sliding disc that Mimi bought her a few weeks ago...it was really fast.





They actually packed the snow at the side of the yard into a ramp, and all the kids LOVED that. Savy went down it a few times...here she is just before she went airborne.



Scarlett and I even took a couple of trips down the slope.



Savy wasn't happy when we had to come inside to warm up. Jon went back out with her before dark so they could get in a little more sledding and make a snowman.





They stayed out quite a while. I think Savannah was actually ready to come back in this time....doesn't she look pitiful?



I wasn't too happy about being snowed in on my first day off - I've been cooped up in this house for seven days, and I'm ready for a change of scenery! I'm glad it did snow, though, because Savy had so much fun.

As for my Copaxone injections... so far, so good. I gave them myself the first two times, and both times it stung like crazy for about 15 minutes or so. Jon has given me the last two injections (I can't reach certain sites very well), and those didn't sting much at all. We got a microfridge for the bedroom to keep the syringes in, and we're going to put a lock on it to keep the girls from getting into it. Now if this residual cough from that cold would go away, I could start going to the gym again!

What's For Dinner

Is there a chef's equivalent to writer's block? I've been frustrated lately because I know what NOT to eat, but I don't really know how to prepare the things we should be eating. I finally had some inspiration last night.

I want to share this very healthy and good recipe. The original recipe is this recipe from Pioneer Woman. I changed it up a little bit. This was Jon's second experience with quinoa, and he tolerated it much better this time since I soaked the quinoa for 24 hours before using it.

These are the changes I made (I didn't have the other stuff on hand):

I used regular quinoa instead of red quinoa.
I used Kosher salt instead of regular table salt.
I omitted the corn and bell peppers.
I used regular white onions instead of green onions.
I added some diced tomatoes.

Savannah ate all of hers, but Scarlett wouldn't even try it. Jon and I both thought it was great. I've been looking at several vegan and/or raw blogs, and I've found quite a few recipes I'm anxious to try. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Just wanted to mention that we watched the documentary "Sweet Misery" the other night. I had already cut out all artificial sweeteners from my diet, but (after watching it) Jon went through the pantry and threw out EVERYTHING that has aspartame in it.



***Update on the dish ****I had leftovers today, and it is even better on the second day! Also, Scarlett gave it a try today and decided she liked it. This dish is definitely in the rotation now.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope all of you had a great New Year's Eve. I had the best one ever...I was here at home with Jon, Savannah, and Scarlett. The only thing that I would have changed was the weather. Savy was disappointed that we only got to shoot a few fireworks before the storm - but, hey, you can't have it all, right?

One of Savannah's Christmas gifts from Mimi was a down comforter for her bed - she's been saying for a while she wants a "soft, fluffy" bed like mine and Jon's. Yesterday we went to Pottery Barn Outlet to find a duvet cover. They had several very cute twin bed sets, and Savannah found just what she wanted. I admit that this was not the one I would have chosen for her (I loved the lavender and white set), but it's pretty cute.



I like the fairy print. Savannah calls them "good dream fairies."

I guess the new bedding inspired her to make another change, because last night Savannah decided she doesn't want bed rails anymore. Last night we left them folded down (Jon piled pillows and all sorts of stuffed animals on the floor on both sides), but she didn't fall out of bed. So I took them off completely today...she's such a big girl!

I'm very excited about my New Year's resolutions. I have a few of them, but the main one can be summed up in two words - BE HEALTHY. I've already made some pretty big changes in my diet, but I'm working on even bigger ones now. And I'm so ready to start exercising again as soon as I get over this respiratory crud that we've all had!

Everyone's being supportive of my changes, especially Jon - thanks for being such a good sport, Hon! But I know what some of you are thinking...that I'm going overboard...this stuff is a waste of time...it doesn't make any difference. That's the same stuff I used to think. But being diagnosed with MS was a kick in the a$$, and after the initial "feeling sorry for myself" period, I decided that I have to explore every possible treatment.


Do I really think the bad choices I've been making all my life caused me to have MS? No. I believe certain people are predisposed to certain diseases, and you just can't change that.
Do I think the choices I've made in the past may have deprived my body of what it needed to fight off this disease? Probably. Maybe if I hadn't lived off processed foods, junk foods, and drank diet soda like it was water this never would have become a problem. I won't ever know for certain, but there's a lot of very interesting research on the link between the modern American diet and autoimmune disorders.
Do I really think all these changes are going to make any difference now? Absolutely! Anything I can do to make my body stronger and healthier will help me to control this disease. I've actually already seen some pretty impressive results just from the changes I've made.

So I plan to start Copaxone (hopefully) next week and continue with my new lifestyle. I'm slowly introducing Savannah and Scarlett to the new way of eating. They aren't too thrilled about it, but I hope someday they will thank me for it. I just never want to look back and think that I didn't do my very best to keep them healthy - my best starts TODAY.