Coffee station upcycled dresser

So I've finally decided to start blogging about my home decor and DIY ideas. So let's see, here it goes!

After a few months I've finally finished my latest project my COFFEE STATION!!!! And I love it!

I started off with a curbside find dresser in bad shape (sorry I didn't snap a pic it was just hideous!) I needed something temporary and salvaged the old dresser with only two drawers intact and two different types of hardware (on each drawer?)  I've decided to go with a mostly French country style (everything is white, in my head at least that is French country?) but mostly everything in kitchen is reclaimed or upcycled, basically used, or just plain old. Soooo....

Natural I threw a few coats of white paint on the old dresser. Got some shiny new hardware and had To find something for some shelves? The pallet hanging out at my neighbors house was an eyesore so I decided it needed to look much better on my kitchen lol!  So here it is. Finished coffee station.

Three coats of white paint. It's actually Behr's cottage white in an eggshell finish found at Home Depot (left over from my sons bedroom) shiny silver hardware I believe are Martha Stewart also found at HD! $5.97 each? I left the top black and chippy sort of intentionally, but once my neighbor mentioned that it would hide the coffee drips well I stuck with it and thought it looked good enough.

The two drawers work perfectly to hide filters and coffee in one side and tea bags and cocoa mix in the other, as well as a few mixed matched coffee mugs that I can't part with but don't fit the rest of my decor. The other shelves are the perfect dimensions for my baking pans and corningware that's wen hiding away for far too long. Now it is proudly on display and within easy reach. The coffee pot is by chemex and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes great coffee and doesn't mind taking a few minutes to make it right.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post stay tuned for more to come as I've since added a chalkboard above and am pretty much in love with it!

Montessori rules!!!!

I'm not to sure of the rules of Montessori, nor have my children been to a Montessori school. With that said, I like the ideas, especially the one of teaching kids independence. I took one idea I found and thought I'd try it out.

I created a shelf in my pantry just for the kids dishes.

First reason and most important, I hate looking at them, my OCD hates it, my non conformist stereotypical kids image hating self hates it! Enough said.

Second I had hoped it would corral them all in one spot, which is working.

Third I thought maybe, just MAYBE, my son would want to help serve himself?

Well....it works!!!! Every breakfast and lunch time so far he gets excited about picking out whichever plate he wants to eat from, and also choosing ones for the other family members! The bonus!!!! It ties him up for a few minutes deciding while I get the little one into his seat and settled with something to munch on, so I don't have two whining hungry kids yelling at the same time I'm trying to spread peanut butter, or slice up fruit!

So go ahead give it a try see what happens?

By the way he also helps get all the materials from the fridge now too! This whole process has changed my mood when it comes to preparing meals for them.

Under pressure

So my oldest son is starting school soon and this is what I'm dealing with!!!

I'm not an uppity sort of person at all, came from very little, but I think I have done ok for myself. I'm well educated (on my own dollars, well sallie maes really but whatever!) I've been all over the country, and eaten and stayed at some of the best places. I know a good meal from a bad one, and like quality things.

With that said, here's the scoop....his school is in a private gated community, it's a great school, and I'm lucky to have gotten in on short notice. It was my first choice when considering schools, simply for the good reviews. However, I have received the class list and everyone in the class is from either that community, or the neighboring town (which is much more well to do than my little town) except me!

I know I shouldn't feel like it is a competition, but I can't help feel that I just want to be taken as equal, and not feel left out, or that my children will be treated any differently? So I find myself searching this morning for my best clothes (with the least amount of wrinkles) and making sure my kids are dressed, not in their pjs, when we are expecting a visit from his teacher! I took the time to switch out the kids toys to make sure she would only see the best and not the 30 crappy Wendy's kids meals toys the kids are usually throwing around, we'll what's left of them.

I think it really comes down to me wanting to better myself. I've always wanted to be better than my parents, or better than some of my family members, especially the ones that I can't bear to even listen speak!! I always have strived to be my best, and I'm very competitive, so I guess it's natural for me to turn this into a competition? But to tell the truth I really like nice things, they last longer, I get more out of them for my money, I think the uppity people may be on to something? Now if I only had the money to fund this adventure in class. For now ill make do with what I have, and make sure to spend some time taking care of the nice things I have. And the rest with my kids.

That's all for today.

Miserable mornings!

I am a mom of two young boys and want to be that person who gets up before them and enjoys a newspaper and a cup of coffee....well it's just not in my cards.

First I am a night owl, often have a hard time falling asleep, and an even harder time deciding when to go to sleep. I love the alone time at night with my thoughts and peace and quiet. However, I know I should've going to sleep much earlier in order to be up and at me in the morning. Truth is I just hate mornings!

Now my real problem lies with my kids love of waking up early!!! My eldest son always rises about a half hour before I'd like him to no matter what time that is!! He is now determined to make as much noise as possible In order to wake up my other son! Terrific right? Yeah well that's how my day starts every day!  Then we proceed I to cranky town for the next two hours at least. The oldest wants to eat something I scantly and is yelling until its in his mouth. The little one is over tired from being woken up early and is just cranky, his new favorite thing is to bang his head on things...the gate, the table, the door, pretty much anything!

So I'm at the point right now where I just don't know how to make things better besides me changing my nice quiet peaceful me time to sleep time! Ugh! Things don't look like they will be in my favor for a looooong time! But if it will affect them in a positive way I'm all for it.

A for the coming week I'm going to yet again change my lifestyle in order to achieve happiness for everyone in my house. Wish me luck!

Ll bean love

This week I've been on the hunt for a lunchbox for my son. Not knowing anything about this whole going to school with kids process I wasn't sure what would be the best choice for him? I searched around online and found a few things to help organize his lunch at department stores but honestly was a little overwhelmed with all the choices. Then I remembered his backpack, the one I had gotten for him when he was just a tiny baby, the one with his initials so nicely embroidered on the back. LLbean, yes! Ill check them out. Here are the reasons why...

For starters there from New England and everything from there is wonderful, including yours truly. Also I know there stuff lasts forever.

The next reason I decided to go with them was the price. Compared to some online at target the price was actually less than the one with the cute dinosaurs on it that he would maybe hate? And definitely outgrow.

Also, they make it so simple and foolproof, the lunchbox comes I the same colors as the backpack so I can keep all his stuff the same, making it easy for him to keep together, easy for the teachers to keep together and easy for me as well. It's so great knowing that when it's time for my second son I don't have to think about it, just go with llbean and pick a different color, choices made, no wasted time.

This is the one I went with;

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/70705?feat=844-GN1&page=lunch-box&attrValue_0=Forest%20Fern


I did splurge for the monogramming on the lunchbox as well, but again two birds with one stone, now i also dont have to worry about labeling it somehow, which the school wants. And on a side note, my sons actually have the same initials so if by chance I just want to pass this set down to the little one, easy peasy! So actually it's like four birds with one stone!

Ill try to update this post after we've used it for a while to let you know how it's working out, but if its like any of there other merchandise I can probably write a fantastic review right now.

Now I can't wait to get it in the mail and have him be excited about it, also avoiding any sort of meltdown at the store picking one out with him, always a plus!

Preparing for nursery school?

We are at the point In our lives right now where we've decided to try and send our oldest son to nursery school. I don't really know what the difference is between this and pre school? I'm not quite sure how to get him prepared, or us?

 I remember what it was like getting myself ready for the first day of school when I was young, but things have changed A LOT! Also, I'm not familiar at all with what he will need for nursery school? Does he need pencils and paper, like we did every year? A new lunchbox is on the list, and we already have a backpack for him so that is covered. But, with all the rules and regulations of today's world I'm almost afraid of buying anything until they tell me exactly what he can and cannot use? I was already informed that his lunches cannot have nuts? Well, for a kid who eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day for lunch this might present a problem on the very first day!

I am ready to get myself organized and make sure I have everything at home he will need, I'm just stuck on what exactly those things should be? I don't want him to feel left out when he gets there because he's missing something? And I don't want to be that mom that doesn't know what she's doing either?

So here we are trying to make some sense of what to do, trying to make sure he knows what to do by himself. Working on manners, and hygiene, and ow new foods too I guess? All of this jammed into just a few short weeks since this was a last minute decision for us. We will make it through I'm sure, but for right now I'm feeling a little clueless.

Wish us luck in the weeks to come for a smooth transition.

Similar mom therapy!

So today I took the boys to a regular play date at one of our favorite spots, and happily met up with a mom friend who has two boys the same ages as mine. She is also a stay at home mom and puts her kids first before anything else. I was so relieved to hear that her problems are so similar to mine, I think I really needed to know that I'm not the only one that thinks, some days, it IS all too much! We are both still nursing kids at the ages fifteen and eighteen months, hoping that we could have stopped by 12! But too tired and frustrated to push it with a stubborn almost toddler! We both agreed that we thought we'd be better moms then we actually are, and that two is more than enough to handle at this point in our lives. The kids were great and we all had a wonderful time, it just felt really great to know I'm no the only one that finds herself second guessing the choices I've made sometime? I know everything will turn out fine but, it's all just a process of learning, failing, and succeeding I guess?

That's all for today

Thanks mom like me ;) good to know your right there with me!

Had my second encounter yesterday as I watched a mom of four boys at the park line up the boys next to her car, proceed to pull down their pants and help them pee right next to her car. Yep, that's how it is done and I'm not ashamed of it either mom like me!! Thank you. Four boys!! Geesh! I can't imagine that.