D.I.Y. Painted Door {Side Room}

I've been in the process of completing the odd room on the side of our home into a functioning dinning room. It's weird because this addition has a separate entrance to the house (that's why our house has two front doors, not more than 10 feet apart) This week I was able to paint the door in the room to match the in-process color scheme.  The room will be light gray, white, and black with accents of yellow when complete.  

Sonja played in her bouncing chair while I painted

Here is the color! Saffron Thread (reminds me of paella and Spain!) by Behr

Here's the tool!

This roller is perfect for painting cabinets and doors, there is no piece on one end allowing for smooth clean rolling right up to edges and inside grooves.  It is sooo worth the 6 dollar investment!

Paint the inner nooks first and then go back with roller for smooth coverage.

Detail of the nooks, I love these indents.  

Paint All Finished.

Before.

After painting the door (p.s. that couch is just there temporarily)

Next is the walls.

I will of course update you as we continue making progress, and hopefully it won't be too long before the room is done.

Banana Nut Muffins (with chocolate chips!)

What you'll need:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup white unbleached flour
• 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 2 overripe bananas
• 1 /2cup brown sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 duck egg (yes, I said duck, we got them at the farmers market and they're perfect for baking they're very fluffy!)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
• Optional top with *chocolate chips* to taste - this is the more desserty option :)

What you'll do with it:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 1 muffin tins. This recipe make 1 dozen muffins

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 1 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together for a about 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway. Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.  Top with chocolate chips if desired.

Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Original recipe from here

Happy Baking!

Cut and Color (Not recommended for D.I.Y.)

So, as much as I hate chemicals and consumerism and superficiallity (is that even a word?) I have been feeling a bit self critical of my hair, which is wearing down my self esteem. I feel like it's too thin, too damaged, too worn, and I wanted something new.  Thankfully, my mom made me an appointment to get my hair cut and colored.  I haven't had a hair cut since before I was pregnant so OVER a year!  Since a picture is worth a thousand words I'll just show you those...

 

Not enough to donate (not that it would be healthy enough either), but a good few inches..

Before color.

Tin Foil, could it be prettier?

Inspiration cut and color.

Post cut and color.

The next morning, post styling.

And now I don't feel like a frumpy house wife :)

What Sonja (and I) Wore no. 6

We dressed up last Sunday for Easter and here's what we wore...

  

Cupcake's dress is complements of Grandpa and Grandgla (Grandma-Angla) from Hawaii 

Her little Gpants are peaking out too.

I wore a Button up from New York and Company (a few seasons old)

Teal Skirt from our summer in London (can't remember the store sorry) I bought it and loved it but haven't been worn it much, I have to feel confident to wear it since it accentuates my tummy, ya know?

Shoes from American Eagle (2 summer's ago)

New gauges from husband, early Mother's day and Easter present from this etsy shop

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Juicy Couture charm bracelet.  I haven't added charms in years, or worn it in a while either, but I still love each meaningful charm.

Button ups are a dress up must for new moms, those and at least one good nursing bra.

(Although, usually I just wear sports bras and tank tops)

Well I hoped you enjoyed what we wore. Happy Wednesday!

D.I.Y. How to sew a pant hem

If you are a constant thrifter like myself (or sister) you might find yourself in love with pair of pants that are perfect, except... they're too long, or you're too short.  Either way you'll have to get them hemmed.  Here's the good news, it's easy to do yourself with a sewing machine.  see for yourself:

1. Put the pants on and fold them up where you want them to rest pin them there, use the heel as the lowest point and make sure you're wearing the shoes that you plan to wear with the pants!

2. Take the pants off and flip them inside out, match the unfolded leg to the original fold.  Fold that second leg up and pin the whole hem so it's all the same length. Once the second leg is the same length as the first, let the first one out and match it to the second one.  (sorry that's the most confusing sentence. to make it easier you could also pin them while wearing the pants inside out.)

3. Iron the pants on the crease without melting the pins. Don't skip this step it's what makes the sewing part go smoothly and correctly.

4. Sew while the pants are still inside out. Make sure to back stitch when starting so the hem doesn't come undone and back stitch at the end to keep it all together.

Just to show you the difference here is how much we had to cut off...

5. Sew the other leg's hem.

6. While the pants are still inside out, cut just above the hem line to finish them off.

The scrap fabric (save it for another project or trash it)

Here they are finished... although I guess looking at this photo they need to be ironed.

Happy Hemming!

Momma Monday no. 36

I actually accomplished a lot on Monday. I know, I thought I wasn't going to be able to do much this week but I wore Cupcake while vacuuming the house (my sister a.k.a. house mate has a tile vacuum). Then when she started getting fussy, I nursed her to sleep on our bed and she stayed sleeping for an hour and a half, allowing for me to mop and blog!  Then my brother-in-law showed up to help keep her routine the same even though I'm off of school and I was able to go work out 30 minutes and 2.5 miles later (I had it set at higher level- don't judge) I was 134 pounds (just 9 up from my pre-pregnancy weight) not bad for not working out in months!

Also, I paid our taxes.  We ended up owing this year, crazy since you know we got the child tax credit.  But I was able to over donate to the school I teach at and get money back from state to cover our federal.  I had to pay the same amount out of my checking account, but this way I was able to finagle all our money went towards my school as opposed to just paying it outright to the government.  Arizona is actually really good about that, a married couple can donate up to $1000 to a private school and get a refund for it if they end up not owing taxes- dollar per dollar.  Not sure if I'm explaining it right, but it worked for us, and if you're in AZ and the type to owe at the end of the year, think about donating it to a private school instead of straight to the government. Education is expensive and schools can always use the extra support. Is that funny coming from an un-schooler/teacher??

Such a quick baby, I can't even get a good photo of her dress!

She loves to stand and try to pet her Brutus...

But he always ends up moving away.

I love the back of this dress, I wish I could get a better photo.

Tuesday I also accomplished more than I expected.  I went to the bank to pay my car payment, just $5,853.55 left to go and I will own my 2008 Scion XD outright! Too bad I won't be able to afford to drive it with gas getting so effing expensive... After the bank we went to bookmans.  I sold a few vegetarian cook books (that were too fancy or too soy based) and some old Arizona and American education books.  $7.25 in store trade to buy a new dvd? I'm going to let husband pick one out this weekend. Then we headed to the park.

 After the park (and the baby ducks) we met my friend Jessica for lunch.  We got some Trader Joe's pre-made veggie sushi and a wrap.  We ate it outside under a tree on shaded grass and Sonja had a blast.  Then we walked around to a consignment shop that had the same tea cup set as bookmans! (where I snapped below photo) Maybe it's a sign I should have bought them??

 Finally, we came home to nap and blog. This week is going so much more productively than I expected.

On Wednesday my sister's best friend from childhood came over and hung out with us.  We ended up going to Lux (Suprized?) and then going to a local nursery and picking up a few seeds and flowers to add to our garden and home.  I didn't get as much done as I wanted but I did do a lot.  here's a few of the flowers and our current garden, (for more flower images check out my tumblr, I posted a few of them through out the week)

Thursday I had a few errands to run, I had to exchange an outfit that my Husband's Aunt Judy had bought cupcake, the hat was too small :( but I did end up finding this outfit and HAD to buy it.  

After running some errands I stopped by my best friend from childhood's house because she was about to be induced!  I hadn't seen her in years and it was nice to drop off a few good items for her, unfortunately after several rounds of pitocin she still hadn't had the baby and they ended up sending her home.  I feel awful for hospital birthing mama's I know that sometimes it's the only option (financially or for medical reasons) but I am so thankful for my home birth experience, it wasn't easy and I wasn't lucky.  It was hard work and it was a great experience.  I hope her next trip to the hospital is a good one and I keep praying she won't be cut open like 39% of birthing mama's last year in the U.S.

Friday Sonja and I went with my in-law's to my future sister in law's dress fitting.  Her dress is very pretty! I took some photos which I will share AFTER the wedding, the groom can't see the dress you know? and he checks in on my blog.  Sonja was playing with some expensive tiaras with her Aunt Judy...

and I wish I could get married again so I could have a veil like this...

 I joined my F-S-I-L for lunch with her mom and sister after the dress fitting and I am always surprised how surprised people are that Cupcake is still breastfeeding (almost) exclusively.  She doesn't like the texture of food, it's funny because she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth except food.  And I refuse to be one of those moms who is shoving food down their kids throat.  So no, I don't give her cheerios or rice cereal or anything else.  I let her touch food whenever we eat and I feed her breast milk, the best meal for her designed by nature, made by me.  And I will continue feeding her this way until my milk dries up.  I have no desire for her to "self-wean" this early.  I think its important for babies to drink human milk for as long as possible.  After lunch we headed home and Little Miss took a nap in my bed! and I worked on various house projects, and napped a bit myself.  I'm always shocked how much I can get done when she lays down to nap instead of laying on me.

Saturday I finally got a pedicure.  Long overdue.  My mom always invites me but its usually at a time when no one else can watch Sonja, so I have to turn her down. This week, though, Husband was able to stay home with her.  Look at these happy toes!

 It was also our friend Janay's birthday on Sunday, but that was Easter Day; so on Saturday night we joined her and a few other friends for dinner at Thai Basil.  Sonja was fussy the whole time, which is SO unlike her.  She's usually very happy and talking (dadadada, bababa, mamamama).  I think she had an upset tummy though because when we got home and tired taking her to the bathroom, she kept trying to go but nothing was happening poor girl.

not loving this "blue" effect my phone is doing inside, but at least I got a photo of the three of us.  Thanks Jess!

  

Birthday Girl, Danny and Jess

Auntie Janay tried walking her around, and it worked for a while but she was tired and when we finally did leave she ended up falling asleep in the car on the drive home.

Sunday was Easter and we went to both, my parent's house and Husband's parents house.  It was a nice family and food day.  I was full when I got home BUT I had 2 over ripened bananas I had to use up so Hubs watched Cupcake while I baked these delicious banana nut muffins, a few with chocolate chips on top.  Of course, from scratch and if you check back to my food blog later this week I'm going to post my recipe with the modifications I made.

Well I think that's all the updates I have for now, Happy Momma Monday!

Happy Easter!

I'm not much a religious person, spiritual yes, but Catholosim doesn't have the same power over me it once did.  I believe in something, just not sure if it's that anymore... Anyway, I still appreciate the holidays for the family and food.  I know it means more to some and less to others but I wanted to document Sonja's first Easter, regardless of my personal views on the day. I was inspired by this photo shoot and I decided to conduct my own for Easter this year. Little Miss is 7 months old! can you believe it? On Easter?!

I took a LOT more but these were the best faceless ones, you know the rules, no face- sorry viewers.

Hope you're all having a lovely day :)