'Twas the Night Before...

...My C section 4 years ago.

Right before bedtime.

I am not sure I should post this on line... but - Too Late!

Marly and Dean arrived right on schedule the next morning on Tuesday, February 27th at 7:57 and 7:58 a.m.

Quick, Hurry, Too much to do.

We will have a busy weekend ahead with the kid's birthday looming and LOTS to do. Before we get to all that, I wanted share Tuesday morning with you all.

The best part of a good old MN snowstorm is the resulting sparkling next morning.
Yes - Sparrrrkkkkkkklyyyyyyyy best describes it.

Naturally, my lack of photography skills does not do this justice.

Quick Check In

It is Tuesday morning, and I still have NO INTEREST in coffee. Not a nice hot cup with plenty of cream, not a latte... nothing.

You really don't have to know me all that well to know I am a 1/2 caff coffee junkie. No coffee means I am STILL NOT WELL.

My stomach is still turning.

GRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The Weekend

My weekend started when I got home at 3:30 pm on Friday and crawled straight into bed (seriously). I hadn't felt well all day and came home early. The rest of the Thomberg's ate pizza and watched a movie with out me. Dean came into our room at 7:20 to check on me.

He said, "Mommy, We need to take your temperature."

"Sure, Buddy!" I replied.

He went and found the thermometer and instructed me to keep it under my tongue. It registered 101.4. Yup - I was pretty sick and spent 80% of my weekend in bed or on the couch, battling aches, pains, fevers and other unpleasant symptoms.

This is Marly on Saturday morning. Mark went to get the kids donuts. As usual, Marly ate the top off hers. I let Marly wear whatever she wanted, and didn't comb her hair. Notice her babies sleeping behind her on the couch.

Our plan for the weekend was to gear up for the kid's 4th birthday parties coming up this weekend. Instead, I slept and watched Dirty Dancing on ABC Family (twice)! Mark on the other hand was 'gittn' er done'! He set to work "jazzing up" the basement family area.

Right before Christmas, we finally purchased roman shades for the downstairs with a gift card from Christmas 2009! We wanted to change the paint from khaki and cream (boring and boring) to white and green. Yup, we picked the boring colors sometime after we moved in. We roll like that with paint. Easy come, easy go.

With the parties looming, Mark headed to Menard's for a sample. It ended up being minty kid/nursery green. That was a no go.

Next, Mark said, "Hey, what about the green in the upstairs bathroom?"

He slapped some on the wall and we both gave it a thumbs up.

The wanes coating, or bead board or whatever you want to call it all has a fresh coat of the same high gloss white as all of our trim work. It still needs a second coat. Most all of the walls (except this corner above where the TV use to sit on the cupboard that belongs in the back corner) have two coats of green.

Above is that back corner. I don't think I ever mentioned we moved the full size fridge that sat in the bar/kitchenette of sorts/serving area to the garage. It just felt weird to us there. We plan to add a full third cabinet to the top, since you can still purchase them from Home Depot.

Unfortunately, the area below was not fully carpeted. To fix this little issue, Mark added three packages of ceramic tiles two weeks ago, and we are very happy with the results. We think we may add a mini fridge, or at least centerize the cabinet below when we get the third cabinet above.

Nice work Honey!

Still left to tackle....Mark thinks he can mount the TV on the mantel (which seems to be the best room configuration).

In the mean time, the Birthday Countdown is on. I have gifts to wrap, groceries to shop for, party supplies to acquire, cakes to order, decor to create, house to CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN, and oh....my.....

It is Monday and I still do not feel 100%. (And now Dean is sick!)

Jazzing it up: Our Bedroom, continued...

Mark and I have been meaning to "Jazz Up" our bedroom for a very long time. We can FINALLY check that off our list now. When we moved in, Mark painted the walls khaki, and used a deep brown as an accent behind our bed. Overtime, we got a new duvet cover, then curtain rods and chocolate brown curtains.... and then... no progress.

Oh... and I didn't like the paint!

At some point, I purchased two old sturdy night stands from the Salvation Army. They needed refininshing, and I had high hopes of finding a sturdy long/low dresser to refinish as well. That never came to be. Mark's old particle board dresser with TV on top kept it's place.


Finally we choose a paint color. (Perhaps you rember me mentioning painting our bedroom between jobs in November...and how I didn't get farther than sample colors on the wall). Once we had the paint, Mark went to work.

Next, we made a trip to Ikea to check out furniture, and later another trip, as the weeks have slipped by. Mark did some assembling. I broke down boxes for recycling and wiped glue. We made a run to Lowe's for this and that...

And here you have it! Our "Jazzed Up" Master Bedroom. We mounted the TV on the wall and got a cord cover, which I painted to match the wall. The DVD player is stashed under the dresser. We love the long Ikea mirror, which makes our tiny room seem a bit bigger. We added hooks behind our bedroom door for added function.

And of course, we hung our Do It Yourself headboard! (post below)

Still to come - art work on the walls....

Jazzing it Up! Make your own headboard

So Mark and I have been doing some "jazzing" in our master bedroom. (The term 'master bedroom' is used liberally. The room is no larger than any other. The closet is about 2 feet bigger than the kid's room.) We painted recently, and so on and so forth.

One of our projects was a "do it yourself" headboard. You see, Mark and I had an old Slumberland Clearance Center particle board headboard. It matched Mark's lovely particle board dresser dating back to his community college days. Both of them needed to go.

All over on-line, bloggers expound about the headboards they create with minimal cash infusion. Mark and I decided to jump into the ring. We started with a old bi-fold door Mark cut down to size and attached together.

Next we searched for wallpaper to cover it. After some on line searching, I thought grass clothe was the way to go. We headed to Hirchdfields only to discover we would probably be spending well over a $100 on wallpaper. We hustled out of there and headed to Lowe's. We put paint-able wall paper into our cart. Then we headed to the aisle with window blinds. We threw a large roll-up bamboo blind into our cart, priced at $32.00. We headed home. Something would work.

We quickly decided the wall paper would be returned. I cut the blind to size and length required with a regular scissors. Next I sat and tied every single thread together on both ends so it wouldn't unravel.

Then I used small nails and wood glue to fix the blind to the doors.

Later I picked up some photo hanging thingies to screw in the back. I also took left over bamboo strips and glued it to either end to finish it off - three per end.

And there you have it. We hung it on the wall like a large mirror or framed art. Looks kinda like a hotel room, hu? All for about $40 bucks!

Family

One of the things I love most about birthdays among my immediate family - Birthday Meal Out. (Thank you Dad!) I love getting together over good food, for good conversation and celebration. Mark and I traditionally choose brunch, so that Marly and Dean can be a part of my celebration.

The rest of the family chooses to dine for dinner. It is a fantastic reason for Mark and I to pay a pretty hefty hourly babysitter rate. Next up, Rachel's b-day dinner at a location yet to be determined.

Here we are, out for brunch last Sunday after church for my 36th Birthday. I am wearing my gift/outfit from Chris (and Dad). Chris took Rachel and I out for mani/pedi's, lunch, and shopping at Hot Mama the day before. Mark's comment on my outfit, "Oh wow! You don't look like a mom for a change." Is that a compliment? I am not sure!