Now I Can Live Here Forever

I just bought some of these hangers, and I think they changed my life.


Ben and I share a tiny closet, and it’s not a big deal except on Sunday morning when I’m getting ready for church. I yank a skirt from the hanger it shares with two other skirts and all three skirts fall to the floor. The skirt I thought I wanted to wear doesn’t look good, so I yank another set of three skirts to the floor. By the time I leave for church there are skirts all over the place, and instead of hanging them back up I just stuff them between the rest of the skirts.

No longer, world! From now on I will only be yanking one skirt off of its hanger at a time. Instead of searching UtahRealEstate.com for a house with a bigger closet on Sunday afternoons, I’ll be reading my scriptures and making delicious Sunday dinners. Just you wait.

Bring It On, Daylight Savings

Apparently Liam thinks no crib equals no nap. As soon as I say "sleep tight" and shut the door, he hops out of bed and starts playing with his toys. So far it's been okay because he plays quietly for an hour or two before he starts banging on the door, but this morning he woke up at 7:40 instead of 9:00. Less than 12 hours of sleep for a boy who's used to 15 makes a crabby toddler.

My first order of business today was to fix that problem. I taped aluminum foil in the windows, making the bedroom completely dark when the door was closed. It took Liam about 2 seconds to fall asleep at naptime today. Now let's hope he never figures out how to turn the doorknob.

Non-Comedogenic

Don't be expecting my facewash to tell any jokes. It's not that kind of facewash.

Farewell, Crib

I just went to get Liam out of his crib after 20 seconds in time out, and I found him perched on top with his legs dangling over the side, like he was ready to jump 5 feet to the floor. You know, kind of like this:


I think it might be time to move him to a bed.

Fireplace February

Are you ready to see my favorite project yet? I hope you can handle this much awesome.

Here is the 70s fireplace we started with:


First step, removing the stone:


Here's the nasty stuff we found underneath:


Here's the bare cement wall we were left with, including the chimney hole that I tried to cover with a trash bag and masking tape:


Brand new studs to match the brand new fireplace. Aren't they studly?


New sheetrock:


All taped and mudded:


Almost finished:


FINISHED!

Ebony

Did somebody think it would be funny to sign me up for a subscription to Ebony Magazine? Nice joke, whoever you are.

The Power of Shoes

My mom bought Liam some Thomas the Tank Engine shoes when she was here visiting last weekend. Instead of giving them to him right away, I decided to use them as potty training incentive. This morning I brought out the shoes and told him, “You can wear these whenever you’re wearing underwear.”

Up until this morning, the longest he’s lasted in underwear is about two minutes because he screams the whole time, “Get it off! I don’t like it! I need a diaper!”

Apparently all it took was a pair of Thomas shoes to make him realize how cool underwear is. He’s been wearing his Thomas shoes and underwear for an hour so far and he hasn’t wiped the grin off of his face.

So Proud

Look what Liam did all by himself:


And look what I did all by myself:

Having Spent Too Much Money This Month for Valentine's Day Presents

Sorry for being a total blogging slacker lately. After celebrating the month of De-Junking January, we’re working on a project called Fireplace February. It's taking forever, but I'm really excited about it. In fact, I think I’ll just go ahead and show you the before picture right now.


What would you do with a fireplace like this? Hopefully in the next week or two I'll be able to show you the after pictures.

Biting My Tongue

Ben borrowed a truck from work last Friday so we could deliver our basement couches to the people who bought them. We let Liam play in the cab of the truck while we were loading up the couches, and would you believe that kid figured out how to lock himself inside?

We spent the first half hour trying to coach him to find the lock button. Ben and I had our hands cupping our mouths against the windows, yelling, “Liam! Do you see the black buttons? Find the one with the ‘D’! Do you want some gummy bears, Liam? Then find the button with the ‘D’!” Eventually Liam found the button, but he couldn’t figure out how to push it up instead of down.

Finally I called a locksmith, and $45 later Liam was free. I think this may have been karma’s way of telling me not to make fun of the people who buy my stuff off Craigslist.