House reno's

Not only am I lucky to have my other half be an outstanding father and partner, but he is also a fantastic handyman and a fellow DIYer. We really are a great team!

He bought a home in April and quickly got to work on it. It had had only one owner and had been decorated about the time the home was built -- around 60 years ago. This was the upstairs washroom before he got started on it:

Dated floors, wallpaper and wood panelling walls. We spent an entire weekend, with the help of his parents, stripping wallpaper, tearing up the floors, painting, painting and more painting. We also wallpapered a bit, but with a more classic design that will hopefully stand the test of time.

 

This is the wallpaper that we ended up using. The original plan had been to paint, but once we stripped the other paper off, we quickly realized that there would be no way to get the glue completely off from the old stuff, so we opted to cover it instead. This paper was easy to hang and is actually textured. Isn't it gorgeous?!

 

 

 

We love the new bathroom. It was fairly easy and relatively inexpensive to redo.

 

The next room that he did was our daughters room. The before was plain, dated and not fit for a little girl.

 

 

 

We also had a condo on the other side of town, and A's room is pink there, so we choose bright green for this room. Other than a coat of paint and the carpet coming up, this room took next to no time.  The wall at the end of the bed is a bright green that matches the blinds and the inexpensive canvess art that adorns the walls. (Dollar store canvas painted green with decals that are also on the walls -- so simple and totally his idea!).

 

 

Note the ammmmmmazing headboard made from pallets! It's absolutely beautiful and our kiddo loves it. Very shabby chic....especially now that she has a matching bedside table too!

 

 

(See how to instructions in separate blog "DIY Pallet Furniture")



We had decided to host Christmas this year and with reno's in full swing and family from out of town coming, I was really pushing getting the living room done. The kitchen is still in progress and the basement hasn't been touched, so I wanted a place where we could enjoy each other company and relax. Before we started the reno's, it stayed true to the rest of the house: aged orange carpet, terrible wallpaper and old tiles at the front door.

The door in the left hand side of the picture is the front hall closet, adjacent to the front door. There is a wall that separated (note the PAST TENSE!) the living room from the dining room, as well as one that separates the dining room from the kitchen, so the main floor was really choppy and had no flow. We spent one evening taking down the wallpaper (until 2:30 a.m. - we were SO sore the next day!!!) and took the carpet up. His brother came over and retiled the front foyer and the closet will soon be turned into a mudroom closet. (Pics to come!!). We picked a beautiful neutral colour that is dark and creates a cozy, comfy atmosphere and brings out the natural wood colours from the mantel and the window frames.

I can't even begin to describe how much I love the living room now. We enjoyed our family over the holidays in our new space. We were all so cozy, with our tree lit beside the fireplace, my other half's brother playing his guitar and our daughter in her brand new jammies enjoying time with the people that love her.

These reno's have, at times, been a test of patience, a test of our relationship and a test of our very different tastes, but overall we have a great start to making this house our home.

Websites for kids

When I was a single Mom and couldn't afford cable or internet, my kiddo and I played a lot of games, did plenty of crafts and just hung out together a lot. Now that I am a bit more established and have some extra cash each month (but certainly not a ton!!!!) I can finally afford internet. YAY!!

I am fairly strict with what sites A plays on (she is only 4, after all), as well as the amount of time she spends on the computer. Some days I feel like she is trying to make up for the 4 years of her life that we didn't have internet with the amount of computer time she wants. I try and find a healthy balance of educational games and just straight up playing-to-have-fun games, although I especially like the ones that are comprised of both learning AND fun activities.

Below are descriptions and links to the websites that A is most fond of. Some she prefers over others, but if she gets screen time during the week, she'll typically navigate her way (by herself!!!) to any of the following:

Starfall is actually a site that they use in A's school on the smart board, which is one of the reasons I don't mind her spending a bit longer on it.  It's an education based site originally developed for teachers to help their students learn phonics.  There is an entire section written for parents about how to use the site (i.e. which section to start with...) and it's very user friendly. A especially likes ABC Lets get Ready to Read section.

ABCya.com is another site that A enjoys. It's actually for children grades K-5, so it's a website that if you have more than one youngster at home they may actually be able to agree on! There are sections for letters, numbers, computer knowledge, drawing, baking games....plenty of everything. A is super into baking, so obviously she loves this site. And Mama doesn't mind it either ;)

PBS Kids is another site that we frequent in our home. A likes it for the games and for the familiar characters (none of the above mentioned sites have recognizable characters. i.e. Cat in the Hat, Thomas, Curious George). There are videos and games, and you can choose your activity by character or by level of skill involved). Superwhy is, by far, A's favorite game on this site.

Disney is the last site that we normally hit up for entertainment. I find that the games are typically a bit too tough for a 4 year old, but I'm sure older kids would enjoy it. A does like the Princess adventure games, although usually I end up actually playing it while she watches. No educational component involved, but fun nonetheless.

I would love to hear some of your kids favorite sites or even apps on your phone. As I'm sure all parents can attest, playing the same games over and over is almost as much fun as watching the same Thomas or Dora show over and over! Ahhhhhhh, the joys of being a parent ;)

These are a few of my favorite....websites.

With Christmas holidays coming up, I'm planning on as much R & R as I possible can fit into the 16 days I have off. (16...I know, right?! Can't wait!!!!). I have a few things that need to be done over the holidays (filing paperwork, organizing our craft supplies and baking goods, cleaning our floors) but I have a few other things I would like to do as well. Many of these come from various websites that I check out every day. There's a few obvious ones - Facebook,  Hotmail and   Pinterest, but I also subscribe to a few others that I read daily and that include a few articles that I want to catch up on. Check the following sites out if you have an extra few {HOURS} on your hands. Warning: you will NOT be able to just log on, check them out and log back off. Give yourself some time to explore them :)

Elephant Journal is independent media dedicated to mindful living. It is composed of articles on a variety of topics -- my favorite being yoga, family and wellness. There are 16 featured authors, along with contributing authors also. Because it is independent media, there is an opportunity to submit writing and have it published (umm bucket list!!!), and the instructions on how to do that are on the website. If you do only have a few minutes, here are my fav articles from the site:
Sucker Punched, The Thought I Already Hate This Class I Have 55 Minutes Left, and my all time favorite (not yoga related at all):8 Photos of New Yorkers Most People Dont See

One of my other favorite sites is Mind.Body.Green.. It's dedicated to...guess? Mind. Body. Green. You got it. Just today I read "What I Learned When my life Unraveled" . Also check out "25 Things We Should Say More Often" (this is actually a link to a Kid President video and is AMAZING!!!) and "How I Overcame Anxiety Attacks ". So fantastic.

Something else that I absolutely love checking out are Ted Talks. I'm sure you've heard of them -- there's one for absolutely everything. The idea behind Ted Talks? 'Ideas Worth Spreading' by a variety of speakers. My favorite? It's a tie between  Ash Beckham  and  Shane Koyczan They are both absolutely beautiful.

Another amazing source of positive stories and news is  Upworthy It's where I find a lot of videos that I show to my kids at work, as well as a place I know I can look to if I need a pick me up. It combines videos from tons of different places, but all are touching, moving, uplifting etc. in some way. A GREAT place if you're having a not-so-great day.

Lastly, for all the other yogi's out there, Yoganonymous is a fantastic source for great yoga interviews, music, posters and yoga info. There are sections for lifestyle, practice, wellness and music. Yesterday I checked out 23 Problems Only Yoga People Will Understand


I hope you get a chance to check out some of the links I've attached above. They are fantastic sites that all focus on the beautiful side of life. Something we all need a little bit more of.

Much Love xoxo

How I Overcame Anxiety Attacks