Walls are painted and the carpet is in!! Tips and colors listed!

I am so happy to have the new carpet installed! It smells new and felt like Christmas morning.

Here is the girls room.
One wall is lime green and the opposing wall is pink. The joining walls are white with pink and lime horizontal stripes. We used a laser level and wonderful frog painting tape to achieve crisp lines. Notice I worked in the upper 1/3 of the room. It's more pleasing to the eye to work in thirds! Plus, then you'll see more of it when the furniture and toys are in place.
All colors are : Sherwin Williams Promar 200 paint Sheen: Eggshell
White: Color name: Nacre
Green: I will look it up and post
Pink: I will look it up and post
We matched the existing carpet as close as possible. We were thinking resale value!
The spare bedroom and a soon to be office in the closet! The small door to the left is our sump pump closet (high water table here).
All colors are : Sherwin Williams Promar 200 paint Sheen: Eggshell
Wall color is : Nomadic Desert 6107
Ceiling: Nacre in eggshell sheen

TIP: **If you have rounded corners in your house finish the round then start the white ceiling paint color.** Please paint all the planes the same color (meaning the soffit vertical should be tan like the walls not white like the horizontal ceiling color!)
The white work out room with the more to come with the walls (think sports memorabilia wall hangings and work out mirrors, maybe!).
All colors are : Sherwin Williams Promar 200 paint Sheen: Eggshell
White: Color name: Nacre
The new bathroom was housing our garden seeds until the carpet was put in. Then they were moved to the work out room closet and the toilet and vanity were put in next.
Sherwin Williams Name: Nomadic Desert 6107
Sheen: Semigloss (great sheen for bathroom walls)
Ceiling: Nacre in semigloss

A Free printable- Teaching kids to write their names

Are you tired of drawing dots to help your preschooler write their name? Do they have a unique spelling for their name? Here's a link to Kid Zone where you can type in your child's name and print out multiple doted names for them to trace. I use this site for my daughter to practice the letters in her name.

http://www.kidzone.ws/tracers/none/index.asp

Stuffing chicken- A big hit with my family!

I am happy to report ALL members of my family ate this for dinner! So, I will be putting it in my Staci's staple recipe file for sure!!

Stuffing Chicken

I served it with our frozen garden green beans, a box of Aug gratin potatoes, and milk.
The recipe is from The Essential Mormon Cookbook by Julie Badger Jensen

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 c butter, Melted (I use less butter and sometimes use the spray butter on the stuffing mix!!)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (or dried about 2 Tblspoons)
1 cup herb-seasoned stuffing mix
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Rinse chicken breasts and pat with paper towels to remove moisture. In a small bowl combine all ingredients except chicken. Stir together until well blended. Place each chicken breast in herb mixture and coat on both sides. Place on a greased baking sheet and cook at 325 degrees F. for about 45 minutes till no longer pink. Makes 6 servings.

Digital prints at Inkley's $.06 every Tues. and Wed.

I hope you took some darling Easter pictures. Now do you need to print them for a great price? The 3 1/2' x 5" digital same day prints at Inkley's (or Ritz camera) are only $.06 EVERY Tuesday and Wednesday. I would call to make sure it's offered in your area. This price beats Costco for sure! I saw this again in their ad in today's Sunday paper in Utah.

A comprehensive safety recall list on baby/kid stuff from babycenter.com

It's a been a long and productive de-cluttering weekend. As I was going through some of my baby stuff I wondered about the recent baby/kid safety recalls. If you are wondering the same thing go here for the babycenter.com Recall list

I have one of these from my first child in 2003!! Yikees I need to look at the model number and call it in this week!

Custom Burp cloths from cloth diapers

This is my kind of sewing project. EASY, simple, and cute! What a great easy gift idea too. Plus, you can use up the scraps you have on hand!

Go to Make and Takes for a full easy tutorial

Here's the small supply list the Baby Burp Cloths:

• Cloth Diapers
• Ribbon or Ric Rac
• Quilt Binding
• Sewing Machine with thread to match the ribbon
  

Thanks,Make and Takes

Easy hooded bath towel

Do you have a baby shower (or toddler b-day party) coming up soon? Consider making this easy hooded towel. For more photos and tutorials Go here to Make and Takes

Supplies for Bath Towel Hoodies:

• one large bath towel – any color
• one hand towel – any color
• fabric for letters – can be anything. I use fleece and it does pill, but I don’t mind as it doesn’t fray.
• scissors, pins, sewing machine
• extras: ric-rac, double bias tape

Thanks, Make and Takes

Making your own wall art using art canvas-for less than $2.00 ea till 4/17 @ Michaels's!

Do you have bare walls and need something custom looking on them....this deal is for you (and me)!

Use wall canvas as a background to glue family photos, scrapbook paper, wall paper scraps, or fabric over them. The possibilities are endless. Oh this is nursery eye candy for me!!! My mind is racing with possibilities of using canvases in my home!

GO here to turn a picture of your child into pop art!

Go toThe Krazy Coupon Lady link for all the details of the canvas prices at Michael's this week only ending April 18th. If you didn't get this deal--keep it in mind for a future project!

Here's a sneak peek of one of the prices:

11×14 Canvas, 2-pack (Reg. $8.49) $4.79
40% off – Artist Canvas, reg or sale price – (michaels.com) 4th coupon down
Final Price: $2.87, or $1.44 each

I was featured on Tip JUNKIE for my Teacher Appreciation door!

I was featured as #21 above on Tip Junkie's Teacher Appreciation door ideas. To see the full post and my #21 decorated door go HERE!

Do you need some creative inspiration for a teacher appreciation gift? You have to check out some ideas HERE!

Sherwin Williams paint coupons

Here are some Sherwin Williams coupons. I used their ProMar 200 paint in my basement remodel and really like the quality! Go to Coupons.com. Scroll through the coupons and find these:

25% off Paints and Stains

$4.00 off CS Soft Woven 3-Pack Roller Covers

Buy 1 Get 1 Free Plastic Drop Cloth

(Thanks Wild for Wags)

My Christian fiction book club books UPDATE!

I joined a Christian fiction book club last fall and I have been meaning to post the lastest book from our book club meeting in early April. Are you in a book club and what are you reading?

Here's a recap for my new blog readers!

Last fall we read The Yada Yada Prayer Group By: Neta Jackson It was long and an ok read. I liked the ending and how it focused on what Christ has done for all of us as sinners. It provided great off book/topic Bibical discussions in our group. Grade: C+





For Christmas time we read Max Lucado's Christmas Collection. It has 3 short stories which is great for that time of year, short. I enjoyed the first one the most The Angel Gabriel story. I will read it again next Christmas for sure. It got me thinking about the angel Gabriel and his journey to tell Mary she is going to have the Son of God. Very thought provoking-BUT FICTION not Bibical. Grade: B+





This was our new spring book called Redeeming Love by: Francine Rivers. I read all 400+ pages and really found it humbling and insightful. This book is based on the book Hosea in the Bible. Go HERE for the full storyline. It made me think more about God's love and how it's for everyone. We are all sinners and NEED a Savior. I highly recommend this book (even if it's long). It has great questions in the back for a book club group.

4 wheel drive vehicle advice needed!

I need your advice and wisdom. We are shopping for a new family vehicle. I would love other veteran mom's opinions.

Here are my current criteria:

We must pay cash for it (so new and leased vehicles are out)
Must have 4 wheel drive for Utah
I want captain chairs in the middle row so the baby and my 3 year old can't touch each other
3 rows of seats=a 7 people vehicle
Trunk space to fit a double stroller
TV screen and good speakers inside to rock out
Safe with air bags etc.
Color is medium important- Silver is my wish!

What do drive that you love along my same lines? HELP!

Lowe's 10% off coupon e-mailed to your inbox

Lowe's- Save 10% on your purchase of (up to) $5,000! If you are remodeling this helps a ton! 10% is still something! Go HERE to sign up. Allow for 3-7 days to receive the coupon in your inbox.

Clean out the clutter-Basement BEFORE picture

Here is our basement "hunting manly great room" BEFORE picture. It shows all our clutter, tools, and remodeling junk. This area was finished when we moved in 5 years ago. This area has been holding all our stuff since December when we started the basement remodel. I am soooooo happy to report the brand new carpet was laid yesterday AND I am in full declutter and clean up mode. I will be off the computer de-junking and cleaning today so stay tuned for some after pictures soon!

Easter Clearance= Baby shower stuff

My good friend is throwing me a baby shower for my first baby boy! So, when I saw these baby blue M & M's and baby blue Reeses's I thought how PERFECT for the baby boy shower candy dish. I will save a couple bags for the hospital visitors (instead of cigars). They had pink and yellow colors too. I bet you could use these for b-day parties too.I got them at Walmart today and paid $1.75 a pack (only 50% off-wish it was 75%). A bit pricey if you consider you can get a whole bag for that but I wanted ALL blue! I might try to hit the store when they are 75% off and see if I can get them cheaper. It's a novelty item too.

Don't forget to think outside the "Easter box" when clearance shopping.

Tip: Wood filler for filling nail holes on trim

For us Elmer's Wood filler (often used for furniture building and repair) worked GREAT on filling nail the holes on the wood trim. It was easy to apply with your finger, expanded in the hole nicely, wiped off easy, and dried quickly. The Painters putty stuff was useless!! It took forever to dry, wiped off, and didn't stay in holes. We got this as Home Depot!

Garden 2010- Our trip to IFA in Utah for peas, onions, beans and BABY chicks!

This is a belated post but I wanted to let you know it's time to plant peas, beans, and onions outdoors. We planted them two weeks ago when the weather was unseasonably warm in the 60's. Here's the details on how much we paid and what we purchased. We went to Intermountain Farming Association in Utah.Yummy tender sugar snap peas $7.99 a lb. Click photo to enlarge for details.We planted a bag of both yellow and red onions for $2.69 a bag.Blue Lake beans $5.99 a lb

The girls were very excited to see it was baby chick days at IFA (it might be going on still call them). We saw a variety of baby chicks, turkeys, ducks and roosters. Great educational opportunity too. I want to have chickens some day.

Clear out the clutter challenge- JOIN ME!

I am ready to go full steam to CLEAN OUT THE CLUTTER in my house! I am joining the clear out the clutter challenge at moneysavingmom.com Starting tomorrow (carpet is getting put in today), I will be working hard to go room by room to clear out and organize our stuff. I WILL be ruthless on getting rid of excess stuff (and keep only what we love). Note to self: I don't need all this stuff that is cluttering my life!

Disclaimer: I am pregnant so I hope to follow her challenge but won't put too much pressure on myself. I am moving two kids downstairs and getting ready for a baby so I hope her challenge fits my current needs. I will show you REAL before and after photos. It'll be an eye opener.

Wanna join me? Let's clean out the clutter before the kids are out of school!!!

Basement remodle update- Tile in Bathroom

Here's the bathroom color and material scheme!

I have shown a cut piece of our existing carpet that butts up to the tile in the bathroom

Wall color: Sherwin Williams Name: Nomadic Desert 6107 Sheen: Semigloss (great sheen for bathroom walls)

Door & trim color: Sherwin Williams Name: Nacre Sheen: Gloss (not shown in photo) It's a nice white color with a greenish brown undertone. If you look at the Sherwin paint fan deck you'll see what I mean by undertones on whites.

Interior Designer TIP: Paint undertones in paint are very important to the overall look. I have lots of clients who call me to pick out paint because I see the undertones on paint chips and the grand plan. It's what I do, COLOR! Don't be afraid to ask for help from an Interior Designer like myself. It'll save you time and money in the long run! Don't pick a color in Home Depot and expect it to "work"! If you are interested in a paint consultation e-mail me. I can pick colors long distance too.

Formica brand laminate: Color: Butterum Granite Matte finish 7732-58

Plumbing: White toilet, sink, and tub surround

Fixtures: Brushed Chrome for door hinges, door knobs, faucets, outlet covers, and light switches

Porcelain Tile: Olive porcelain tile (more durable than ceramic!) from a local small retail store. I paid $1.66 sq/ft. It's a small bathroom so I got a color and pattern that I loved and not one that was just cheap (like .99 sq ft). Spend money where you see it! I picked a dark grout because there is nothing worse than stained grout lines.

TIP: Go to the local tile outlet stores like Tile for Less if you have a small space to work on. You just might get great left overs at a great price. My basement bathroom was only 32 sq. ft= 2 boxes of tile.

Tile picture with the flash on

I like these inexpensive but nice brushed chrome light fixtures from Home Depot.
We needed the upright light fixtures due to the duct work above-it's lower in that location.

I got this Brushed nickle (not chrome but it goes well) dual light light cover for $3.xx from Target. I found it on a clearance end cap rack. I bought the GFI grounded outlet covers from Home Depot about $2.xx. They have the open rectangular slot. Do you know what I am talking about? The 2 circle outlets (that you see in bedrooms) don't apply to bathrooms because they outlets need to be grounded.

Stay tuned for the finishing touches!!
I will be adding colorful towels and a shower curtain (yet to be picked out!).