Dining Room Make-Over

When I first painted our dining room three years ago, I painted it a dark brown.  It felt warm and cozy and I really liked it.  But recently it felt like everything in that room was brown or cream.  I wanted some color!!

So after about a million paint samples, I finally chose a nice blue color I loved.

I chose the one on the far right!

Once painted I moved a few things around and redid my photo wall and Skip's wall of honor.  Since those last pics were taken, I have also painted the sideboard table, removed the carpet, sewed some new curtains, and added two dressers-turned-china cabinets.  I am soooo happy with the way it all turned out!

My wall of honor {just my diploma}

Skip has way more stuff...doesn't seem fair, haha

I will soon be sanding down and painting the chairs a dark brown, keeping the white seat cushions.  I was going to wait to post this until that was done, but I've gotten behind on starting that.  I'll just have to update again when I'm finished!

DIY Headboard

Today's house project was one of the easiest and biggest impact I did.  You need a little back story first.

Skip and I have never had a "real" bed since we got married.  The condo we lived in for the first three years of marriage was teeny tiny so we only had room for our queen sized mattress on the frame it came with.  We always said we'd get a real bed when we bought a house.

Well in May 2008 we finally bought our current house.  And while the master bedroom was indeed bigger, we still didn't buy a bed.  In fact we ended up not even using the bed frame anymore.  You see, Shiba {the dog we have that I hardly talk about} sleeps upstairs in our room.  And she would hide under the bed and attempt to bite you if you ever tried to get her out.  We tried putting things under the bed to block it off, but she still got under.  So putting our box spring and mattress straight on the floor was the best plan for now.  I felt very Asian with my bed choice.



See, not too weird looking


A few weeks ago we moved Little M into a twin bed.  She had been in her crib turned toddler bed since last year.  I would have originally moved her into a twin bed from her crib, but since it was a drop-side crib I didn't feel safe using it with Baby C when she came along.  Since I had to buy a whole new crib them, I didn't want to shell out the money for a twin bed too....I'm cheap like that.

But with Little M getting bigger, it was time for her to have a proper bed {she now sleeps in my own twin bed from when I was a kid....so fun!} So just after we got back from Florida, we took down the toddler bed and put up her new bed and mattress.  And you can bet I shed a few tears.  This was the first big piece of baby equipment that we bought when I was pregnant with Little M.  It's the bed I put my first sweet babe in.  I couldn't just throw it out. 

So I got an idea.  Armed with a few cans of spray paint I got to work.  I painted the largest portion of the bed and strategically wedged it behind our bed and the window.  It looked perfect! Skip and I may still have out box spring and mattress on the floor...but at least we have a headboard now!!

Counter Top Remodel

This is actually a project I worked on last summer, but I never got around to blogging about it.  Since we first moved into the house, one of the things I hated the most was the kitchen.  It's a good space, but definitely not my style.  But since everything had been put in brand new before we moved in, I could not justify spending money to replace it. 

But after a few years I just could not stand our counter tops anymore.  They were green and hideous and GREEN. 

I ideally want to put in quartz counter tops, with a subway tile back splash, and a deep new sink.  But none of that is in the budget.  But what is in the budget is this lovely box. 

I'll be honest, I was pretty intimidated by this project.  It was definitely the biggest project I had taken on to date...and the most expensive.  So I watched the video enclosed, read the directions about a million times, and finally got to work.

Let me tell you...this really wasn't that hard!  It took me only two nights to complete and the results really are fabulous.

It makes a huge difference {I'll be honest, I don't love the color with cabinets as much as I thought, but totally livable until I can buy that quartz....or paint my cabinets;-) }  You can also see that I ended up repainting the kitchen as well, from a pale yellow to a really pale grey.  Looks so much better overall!

Living Room Make-Over

Once we got home from Florida, I was getting the painting itch again.  Every year or so I get bored with one of the pain colors in our house and feel the need to repaint it. First up was the living room.  I actually really liked my living room color, but there were a few places we had to patch after water damage from the hurricane.  I didn't have any extra color, and when I went to buy more, I found out it was discontinued.  So paint the whole room {and stairwell and hallways upstairs, since they're all connected} it was!



This was Little M about a year ago!


Since I was repainting anyway, I figured I'd get a whole new fresh start and paint it something much lighter to brighten the place up.

I have to admit, I don't really love the new color.  It just looks boring white to me, even though it's not supposed to be.  Oh well.  I'm sure I'll get the itch to paint again in a few years anyway!

I can't just seem to do one project in a room though, and the living room was no different.  Our ottoman was no longer serving it's purpose and the couches were looking a little worse for wear.  I had money in the budget to get a new ottoman but not new couches...so slip covers and throw pillows it was!  I'm really happy with the way it all turned out! {even if I don't like the paint color}

Shadow Box Memories

Hello Readers!!!  I am very excited for my next few days of blogging.  Every day this week I have decided to showcase a different project that I did around the house.  My house is no where near perfection or real fancy, but I like it.  And please excuse all the pictures, I meant to clean up before I took them, but I just ran out of time! 

This first project of mine was inspired by things I have seen on Pinterest {what did we do before that by the way?!?!}  I wanted a way to showcase the outfits I brought the girls home from the hospital in...it made me sad to thing of them just sitting away in the attic. 

So when I was at Michael's a few weeks ago, they had some shadow boxes on sale...perfect!  I grabbed two and headed home to get to work.

This was seriously one of the easiest projects ever.  I wrote up the girls stats on the computer {name, birthday, birth stats} in Microsoft Word, printed it out, and cut them to fit inside the box.

Then I just attached their outfits to the back of the shadow box and voila!!!

I simply LOVE how they came out and get soooo many compliments on them!  I cannot tell you how easy and quick it was to do as well.  I will be making smaller shadow boxes with their hats {or bow in Baby C's case} and their hospital bracelets, though you could include those into the bigger shadow box instead!

I added them to my already set up photo wall area and think the completed it just perfectly!

Sponsorship

Hello readers!  After some careful consideration I have decided to open up my blog to monthly sponsorship!  I am very excited about this and am hopeful for a good response.  Do you have a small business or blog you want to promote here on my site?  Let me know!  Leave a comment or email me at mommymandymusings@yahoo.com for details and pricing!

Fitness Friday

I've had a few people emailing me since my 9 months up 9 months down post asking about how I lost the weight.  Just seemed easier to post about it than email everyone the same thing!

Now yes, my weight loss tips here have to do with my losing weight post-baby.  But these tips can also be applied to just regular weight loss in general. 

Mandy's Unofficial Weight Loss Tips

1. Portion Control - Now in full disclosure, my eating habits are really only a step above horrendous.  Truly.  Candy for breakfast, cookies for lunch, why not?  Hubs always jokes about my ability to make a meal out of Twizzlers.  And while I have gotten much better over the years, I still think life is too short to not be able to indulge when I want to.  That's where portion control comes in.  If I'm going to eat a gooey piece of cake, I will eat less of my dinner.  I also will limit the amount of cookies I eat, aiming to just eat 1 or 2 that day.  If I go to a restaurant, I NEVER finish my meal.  I am always bringing home at least half for leftovers.  It helps my weight and I'm getting more bang for my buck.  I truly believe you can eat what you want in moderation.

2. My Fitness Pal - This kind of goes along with what I was saying above.  This is an app for the IPhone where you plug in your current weight, goal weight, and how quickly you want to achieve it.  It will then tell you how many calories to eat per day.  You then add in everything you eat and what exercises you have done.  My favorite thing about this app is that you can scan the bar code of what you are eating and it automatically knows the nutrition info!  Most chain restaurants are on there as well. I'm sure it's a lot like weight watchers, but this was free, so that's why I chose this.  I didn't find out about this till most of my baby weight was gone, but it helped shed those last 15 lbs quick...and during the Christmas season!

3. I Work Out - This is really the most important one in my book.  I work out like a maniac.  Seriously, I love it.  I loved working out before I had kids, but now it not only gets me in shape, but it is an hour a day I have to myself!  And I know we are all busy and it is hard to fit in exercise, but if you want results, you will find the time.  I make sure everything is set so I have no excuse.  I have a gym membership, go running/walking outside in my neighborhood, and have a ton of workout videos.  So no matter the weather, or my time constraints I have time to get it done.  Now I am not one of those people who can get up at 5 am to work out.  But I have no problem doing the Shred at 10:30 pm.  It's all about what works for you.  But do it, every day.  Sure things come up some days and you can't workout, and that's fine.  But aim to do it every day and you'll do it more than not!  I also write down every time I workout on my calender...makes me feel a sense of accomplishment when I look at the month as a whole. 

4. Weigh Yourself Regularly - Now you don't want to become obsessed with the number on the scale, but weighing yourself once a week shows you all the great progress you're making.  Even though I am at my goal weight now, I still weigh myself once a week.  That way if I start to put a few pounds on again, I know to step up my workouts or start logging in my food on MFP again.  When I am maintaining I don't let my weight go more than 5 lbs over what my ideal is.

5. Water, Water, Water - We all know this one already, but drinking tons of water really does help!  I notice a big difference in how I feel on days I chug a lot of H2O...I have better workouts as well when I am super hydrated!  I also rarely drink my calories for the day.  Other than coffee, and the occasional milk in my cereal, I only drink water or diet coke.  I would much rather eat all my calories for the day.  And if you are more of a juice or alcohol drinker than I am, don't forget to factor those into your calorie counts!

6. Waist Trimmer - I bought a Belly Bandit off of Ebay when I was pregnant with Baby C.  Honestly, I didn't love it that much.  I don't know if it's because my torso is short or I bought it used, but I found like it just rode up and didn't help much.  But what did help was this waist trimmer.  It will literally fit everyone, and I was able to adjust it for whatever size belly I was sporting at the time.  It really ups your sweat factor around the waist so I didn't feel as bloated.  I wore it all the time, working out, sleeping, etc.  It does look a little bulky under clothes, so I didn't really wear it when I when out or had people over.  I really loved it though and still work out with it now!

7. Every Day is New Year's Day - You know how everyone eats healthy and does a long workout on New Year's Day?  Pretend every day is a brand new start!  If you eat a ton one night, don't think you're whole week is shot and continue to binge for the next week.  And if you're not able to workout for a week or so, don't just give up all together.  You should not have an all-or-nothing attitude when it comes to be healthy.  Wake up every day with the attitude of doing right!  Also, if you have a big, unhealthy lunch, don't just assume that day is shot.  With every meal, and every opportunity to work out, start fresh!


So there you go.  I'm not a doctor or fitness instructor or dietician.  But these are my tips for losing weight and getting in shape.  Hope I was able to help some of you!  Now it's a gorgeous day out...hit the streets for a run!

Happily Ever After

From the time we're born, it seems as though we're programed to always be working towards the next thing.  Middle school is prepping you for high school.  High school prepping you for college, military service, or a job.  Moving out, marriage, a career path, children.  Everyone has their own path to follow, but the overlying idea is that we should be always working towards the next thing, our next goal and milestone.

I was no exception to this.  My whole life I knew I wanted to graduate college, become a teacher, get married, and have babies.  Simple really.  And this past June completed those dreams for me.  I was a married, college grad, former-teacher, mother to two little girls.  We were settled in a house we can live in for many years to come and two fur babies running around completed the picture.  Everything I had ever wanted has come true.

But as I thought about it, I got kind of nervous.  I only know life as working towards the next thing.  Establishing goals and taking steps to get there.  But now what?  Unless life throws us a curve ball, {which I really hope it doesn't...please don't...knocking on wood a million times} this is it.  Would I get bored or restless only living in the now...not really needing to think about the future just yet?

Then I realized...my attitude shouldn't be this is it.  It should be, this is IT.  This is my happily ever after.  This is the life I have always dreamed of having.  I am so blessed with the gifts I have been given.  At only 29 I am perfectly happy, fulfilled, and content.  My life is truly everything I wanted it to be, and so so so much more.

I'm sure there will be many curve balls ahead and plans will change, but for now I'm going to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the view:)

Cop Kids

Everyone knows that life can be hard when you are a military kid.  You have to move a decent amount, your military parents is gone for long periods of time, it is confusing and frustrating at best.  But something most people forget, myself included until recently, is that cop kids have a rough go of it as well. 

I knew what I was signing up for when I married Skip, who was already a cop at that point.  Long hours, missed holidays, dangerous work, worrying all the time would all become second nature to me.  I knew it would affect our kids as well, but I really didn't think about the details and all the day-to-day stuff. 

When we first had Little M, she was far too little to understand Skip's job or everything that comes along with it.  That's the stage Baby C is at now, but as Little M grows, she's starting to get frustrated with the situation.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Skip had to work a lot over Easter weekend.  The hardest shift was working Easter morning and missing out on the basket-opening and taking the girls to mass.  It was the first time he would miss a critical part of the holiday that Little M would be aware of.  My heart ached for them both.

Actual Easter weekend turned out to be pretty good though.  Little M didn't keep asking about Skip or why he wasn't there, so I thought we were good.

But in the past few weeks, Little M is definitely acting a little stranger around Skip.  She only wants me to put her down for her nap or to bed at night.  So only wants me to help her in the bathroom or to give her a bath or to help her get changed.  She'll resist more when Skip is disciplining her, more than she does with me.  She'll play with him and go out and run errands willingly, but there is definitely a change.

It breaks my heart to see it, for both her and Skip.  He knows that she just can't articulate her feelings enough yet to say that she doesn't understand why he has to go to work, that's she's missing him when he's gone, but it still stings him.  It's hard for Skip, who has been SUCH a hands-on dad since the moment Little M was born, to have her push him away. 

It's hard on my little girl as well.  Even when I try and explain, she doesn't quite understand that Skip HAS to work, even when he would much rather be home with all of us. Our trip to Florida confused her as well.  In her mind, why was he with us so much then, and not now?  The fact that he works shift work doesn't help either.

But the worst thing about all of this, is that I know it will only get worse as the years go on.  Sure the girls will then be able to understand that he has to leave and would much rather be with us, but when they are older they will also understand the danger more.  They'll know that he might not always be safe.  And what do you say to that?  I can't promise them he will be okay, because Skip can't make that promise to me.  The thought of ever losing my husband is overwhelmingly horrific.  But the girls not having their dad one day?  Makes me never want to get out of bed.

But we cop wives know you can't live your life that way.  We get up, go about our day, and pretend our husband's are sitting safely in an office somewhere {whatever helps us survive right?}.  I guess our kids will just have to learn to do the same.  We will have our rough patches I'm sure, but we'll just adjust our expectations, take a step back, and figure it out together.  And at the end of the day the pride I have for Skip and his career, the pride the girls will soon have, always outweighs the worry and frustrations.

All you veteran cop wives...what tips and tricks can you share with me for helping your kids through all of us?

I'm a Girl Mom

I'm totally late to the party, but today I'm liking up with Kelly for her Show Us Your Life series.  Today's {well, last Friday's} topic was moms of girls....how perfect for me!

If you're stopping by from SUYL, my name is Mandy and I have two sweet little girls.

Little M is three.

Baby C is almost 10 months.

And since Baby C is our last baby, it's official...I'm a girl mom!!  And I have to say, I love every second of it.

I am about as girlie-girl as they come.  Pink is my favorite color and I love nothing more than doing my nails, hair, make-up, and gettting all dressed up.  I have always played with dolls and used to play dress-up for hours.  Romantic movies and books are my favorite, and other than my love of football, I'm about as far away from a tomboy you can get.  So when the doctor first cried out, "It's a girl!" when Little M was born, I was elated!  My own sweet little girl.  Bows, dolls, and everything pink danced through my head.

The joy of raising Little M is so amazing that when we found out Baby C was a girl as well, my heart leapt.  Not one, but TWO sweet girls to raise!  Proms, wedding dress shopping, pedicures, long talks ala Gilmore Girls....I could not be more excited for all of it.  Sure, the teenage years can be rough with girls, but I would not trade them for anything.

A lot of people ask Skip if he wants to try for another baby...to try and get his boy.  Apparently some people still care about that whole carrying on the name thing.  But not Skip, he is 10000% overjoyed at being able to raise these two sweet girls.  There is nothing sweeter than watching my man with his two little princesses.

You can't tell, but his shirt says D.A.D.D.  Dads Against Daughters Dating, hahaha

I could not be happier to be a girl mom...the tutus, the headbands, the matching outfits, the Barbies, so many sweet memories to come....and I wouldn't have it any other way:)

Three on Thursday - Spring Must-Haves!

I'm very excited to be linking up with Andrea and Cole today for Three on Thursday!

Today's topic is What are three of your spring 'must-haves'?

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of spring.  I like it a whole lot better than winter, that's for sure, but I feel like it's kind of a tease.  I just want the hot summer weather already!

But it is nice to start to shed some of the winter layers and enjoy the sun.

Here are the three things I need most once March and April roll around.

A fresh pedicure in a nice pink color.  Time to get away from all the dark, winter nail polishes!

Bad picture, but this Kohl's juniors maxi dress.  It's so comfortable, and the long length makes it perfect for the slightly cooler spring weather.

White jeans...now I don't actually own a pair yet, but I am hoping to sometime soon!  They just scream spring to me!

So what about you?  What is on your must-have list for spring?