Wednesday, January 4, 2012

"New" Bathroom Cabinet

I found this old cabinet in "the old homeplace" and have been wanting to redo it for some time now.  I finally got a chance over our Christmas Break!

The old cabinet as it was when my dad and the King ripped it out of the old homeplace.  It was FILTHY!!!!
This is what it looked like after a good washing and nothing more. I LOVED the green paint that covered half of it but there were other sections that were raw wood so it had to be painted.

Here it is after the first coat of paint.  The color is called Earthy Gray and it was perfect.  I did not tape the glass because the left pane is broken so I will be removing both of them.  They will be replaced with chickenwire.

The cabinet is hung in the new master bathroom.  I still need to remove the one pane of glass and put in the chicken wire...but I LOVE it!  It adds a TON of storage to a small bathroom and looks so cool.  I will post another picture when the chicken wire is in and the rest of the stuff is finished....but I was too excited to wait for that.  :)


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Resolutions

So, I hate new years resolutions.  I think they are primarily destined to fail because we, as people, expect to make all these new changes at the same time we are trying to write the correct year on our checkbooks. ;)  Just because we have started the year over does not make new habits easy to make or bad habits easy to break.   But that doesn't mean I don't have goals.  I just dislike the tendency to raise expectations too high simply because it is a new year.

However this year (like any year), there are a few things I want to work on....

There are 2 big ones
1.  Read through the One Year Bible in one actual year.  I started the day after Christmas to give myself a couple days head start.   Some may call that cheating...I call it smart.
2.  Like more than half of all the other people on the planet (I'm sure)....I want to work on my health.  Exercise more and watch portion control.  I want to be comfortable in my skin and happy with the way my clothes fit.  My mom and I have gotten started on this one together also getting a head start on the new year.  I have no treadmill, and do not plan to join a gym so it is bundling up and trekking outside or doing videos in the house.  We'll see how it goes.

So those are my 2 plans for January.  Maybe I'll add something new as February rolls around and maybe I won't....but I know that I can set goals at any time of any year and waiting for the new year is not all that important. 

Monday, January 2, 2012

2012! Starting the New Year!!!

We had a wonderful New Years Eve celebration with close friends and Chinese take out.  YUM!  Little guy is the only one who didn't make it to midnight.  On Jan 1, the King and I did our annual clean out of the boys bedroom...the boys aren't allowed to help and we clean it up and get rid of things that need to be gotten rid of (which is why the boys don't help). 

Today, on January 2, we have gotten back to school!  And it has gone fabulously!!!!  It is hard to believe.  First days back never, ever, ever, ever go even good...they usually suck.  But today, I may have found a method of bribery that works.  :)  They are working to EARN TV/Wii time.  For different things they earn beads that are each worth 5 minutes of time on the Wii or watching TV.  Some are just general chores that they need to do each day but I am tired of battling about (get dressed, brush teeth, and make beds).  They get a bead for 30 minutes of productive school time and for each 5 minutes they spend reading.  Whining loses a bead.  So far, so good.  And I'm figuring out things that can or should earn or lose a bead.  I don't want to make it too complicated or we'll drop it...but I want it to be clear.  So we may make a few little changes here and there.

Part of school this calendar year that I need to seriously work on is little guy.  He has really not been doing much and he could (should?) be.  I am going back to a favorite blog of mine from when the middle boy was younger and finding all those great things that I loved then.  And I am going to start using them (SHOCK!).  I have most of the supplies from the last time I used them...and many are common around the house kinds of things anyway.  I just rearranged the bookshelf a little so I can put some tot trays on the lower shelves so he can get them and put them away himself. 

2012 is off to a great start.  I am thinking about "resolutions" for myself....and about how much I hate that word.  It seems a resolution is just destined to fail....but there are always ways to improve.  I know I'm behind for making it an official resolution but I don't really care so much about that.  I'll think I'll plan to post them tomorrow.  :)