Phase One of Dining Room Makeover

I have had a vision for the dining room for quite some time, but never had the courage to just do it until a few weeks ago. The hubs had another business trip, so I thought it would be the perfect time to do a little board and batten:o) I had never done wood working to this scale, but thought How Hard Can This Be?.....all by myself.

Remember last time the hubs went out of town? I surprised him with an office makeover.

He may start taking my debit card away when he leaves for business trips from now on:o)

I don't have a good Before picture...just the one from S.R.'s birthday party.

Very bland walls....and no, this isn't my dining room table;o)

Here is the After

Much better:o) Here's the process that we I went thru to get to this stage.

I painted about half way down the wall. I used Olympic paint b/c I was trying to save a little money....don't waste your time. Go ahead and spend the money on GOOD paint. It is almost like painting with water. That was mistake number one. Mistake number two was not priming the MDF.

 After getting all the boards hung, I started painting the bottom half of the room with a high gloss white that matched the trim work. This part seemed to take forever. I did a little caulking, and a little mess making...

I was lazy and didn't put anything down to protect the floors. Thank goodness it came up with no problem.

Now the dining room didn't look this good after I got done with it.

I got in way over my head, and the hubs had to come and rescue me. He did a great job on the finish work. He said that he got the easy part:o) I about killed myself a few times trying to get the boards hung:o) Anyway, we still want to add a little trim to the top of the "board" part. That part will be handled by the hubs. My next job will be to make curtains. I already have the fabric. Just waiting to get the motivation...The kids are leaving to go to their grandparents tomorrow, so it may be a good time to tackle that project:o)

So here's the before again:

And the After:

In love:o)

Speaking of birthdays, E's birthday party is coming up NEXT WEEKEND!!! I really have to get on the ball. His party is Cowboy themed. I can't wait to share some of my ideas for his big day. I also have a demonstration to prepare for next Thursday for the Homemakers' Club Cultural Arts Fair....I'm not busy at all;o) 

I hope you all have a great day!!

Should I buy that nice little dress/gadget ?

You may think the $1 spent is the same $1 earned. Its really NOT ! One of the fundamental flaws human cannot control their own spending habits is because they DO NOT UNDERSTAND the value of money at the first place. The $1 spent could be equivalent to as much as $7-$10 earning !!

For example if you earn $4,000 a month and you manage to save $400 every month. By year end you would have saved aside $4,800. This money is intended to be put aside earning interest as part of the MeM (Money earns Money) mechanism. So its not just $4,800. It will be more than that as time goes. The longer it is kept there the more powerful compounding factor is working for you.

Says you take out $1,000 from this saving at year end for an unplanned luxury expense. Its not just $1,000 you have used. You have actually dug a hole in your saving - a 21% hole. If you saving return is 3%, it will take more than 7 years for this hole to be refilled back to its original amount. So you have practically used up your future 7 years on this saving for this unplanned expense.

On the other hand, if it took you 2.5 months to save that $1,000; Out of your equivalent earning of $10,000. For every $1 you use from your saving, you will have to earn $10 to get that $1 back. So when you use that $1,000 its not just $1,000 you have to replace but actually a $10,000 worth of your earning.

Does this particular unplanned luxury expense really worth your future 7 years and/or your $10,000 earning power ?

They money you get in ( earn ) does not necessary carry the same meaning to you as the ones you get out ( use ). Especially when there are so many deductions and taxes in this modern world.

It is best to put aside another $100 saving every month for 'unplanned luxury expense' category. That way if you really have to use it, you will still have $200 left ( after a year of saving ). More if somehow you are able to put that aside and go for a better future good.

If you have no such ability for this new saving category, try to increase your income or else settle with NOT use beyond your means.

At the end, this is the ONLY concept that determine if a person is an investor or a consumer all his life. Everyone want to buy Porsche and LV bags, some did it diligently, some others cost in their lives.

Menu Board Tutorial

For Updated Info on this Post, 
Click HERE.

I know that I normally save my tutorials for Tuesdays, but I finally got this thing hung and wanted to share it with you now:o) I just couldn't wait. This is my menu board:

This piece of wood has been sitting in our garage for quite some time now. It was a scrap piece of wood left over from S.R.'s Dollhouse Bookshelf. I thought I was going to make it into one of those antique looking clock faces that Pottery Barn had on the front of their catalog for ages. So I painted it. The board was so thin, that after being painted it started to draw up on itself. The hubs decided to make a frame for it on the backside to make it more sturdy. He did an excellent job. I tried my hardest to get a good even circle, but that was a waste of time and energy. So I had to totally scratch the idea of an antique clock face. 

One day while staring at this blank board, I finally got the idea to turn it into a menu board. Not sure where the idea came from, but I knew that I had to do it.

So this is what I started with

My blank board and

My trusty chalkboard spray paint. This stuff lasts forever. This is the 3rd project I have used it on. Unbelievable!

I taped off the board into 6 sections. Why 6 and not 7? I don't cook on Sundays. That is my day of rest where I do absolutely nothing but Glorify the Heavenly Father and eat like waaaay too much food:o) Hallelujah, praise God!

Once the sections were taped off, I covered the top and bottom with newspaper to catch the over spray.

When all the paint was dry, I removed the tape very carefully and got this:

Don't you just love the clean lines that tape leaves. I always get a little giddy after seeing a straight line pulled off:o)

Now this board sat for a very long time with it looking like this. I really didn't know what I wanted to do. Then the Hank Williams song "Hey Good Lookin' " started running thru my head and I knew that was what needed to be on the board. 

I borrowed my neighbor's Cricut machine....(thanks Holly!!!)....and cut all the letters out of black & white vinyl. While I was at it, I went ahead and made labels for all of my jars too. It makes things so much easier now when I am baking. I never second guess myself:o)  

Here is a closer look at some of the lettering

I just hand painted the scrolly work at the corners. Nothing too professional:o)

(This was last week's menu...appetizing, eh?)

So here's the before of this area in my kitchen

Nothing too spectacular 

And the after

More fabulous than not...HA! And just so you know, the board is hanging straight, I just can't hold a camera straight;o)

The board is a little on the blendy side with the wall color, but I am hoping to fix that shortly. Not sure on the paint color, but I do know that there will be COLOR:o)

Hope you guys like it and I hope you have a great day!!
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Updated Color:

(don't pay attention to the terrible lines across the ceiling....the painters were there to patch the ceiling and they messed up my beautiful straight lines:( It's all better now, though)

LINKING UP TO THESE PARTIES:

AND

Weekend Wrap Up at Tatertots and Jello

What's with the numbers...

What are we to make of the current market?

Lets look at the facts:

1) Sales are down. Most Agents I speak to are NOT happy. less sales = smaller commission cheques.

2) Listings are down too. There was no expected big boost in the listings in August.

3) MOI is up, but prices are still holding up.

(Note the above is for Vancouver mostly. I still expect places like the OK where listings are very high and MOI is stratospheric to show weakening.)

So what do we make of this..what explanations are there.. and remember these are all supposition..no-one knows for sure:

1) Sales demand was truly drawn forward by HST and CMHC changes, and is this is the lull afterwards. Meanwhile there just aren't that many owners that need to sell.

2) Mortgage rates are heading down and so the buyers left in the market can afford higher prices and are caving in and paying up the sellers' asking prices, who are discounting very little.

3) We are at the start of the market shift and this is always a choppy time. My views lean to this let me give you my opinion on how we got here..

People are Pavlovian, they learn from previous experiences. The most recent drop in RE that we had led to an almost instant and violent bounce back thanks to the Government's efforts. So that sends the message that any drop in demand is temporary and will quickly return.

This keeps sellers fairly firm in the prices and keeps those-who-dont-really-need-to-sell out of the market. Hence we get firm prices and lower listings. But then why are folks still buying?

I spoke to a realtor who specializes in the North Shore. Sales are down, but there are still people buying. Mostly local move-ups and buyers coming from out east..Toronto mostly. They have been transferred or moved for other reasons..have themslves sold into a bubbly market and so have brought a good chunk of equity and want to buy before the kids start school.

If that is the case, we should see sales weakening even more once school starts, and then those that didn't sell and need to, may start leading the market down.

Frustrating for the bears, for sure. the correction to sane levels seem to have been delayed yet again. However we can console ourselves in the thought that this is a national event. All major Canadian cities are bubbly and have become the talk of the Wall Street Journal and numerous US economic blogs.

I guess we will have to wait another month to see if my theory is correct or not.

Day 5- A Winner And Patience

Thank you to all of you who took the time to leave a comment on the Minnie Mouse post. All of your comments were so sweet and I really appreciate them. So, our winner is....

#11- Cassandra!

Her comment was:

I just saw your blog via one pretty thing. I love the outfit! We're taking my daughter to disneyland for her first bday next week. She already has a minnie outfit but definitly needs the clippies. Thanks for the tutorial!

Cassandra, shoot me an email so I can get you your mouse ears a.s.a.p.:o)

I know I said that I would have E's Mickey shorts ready for this morning, but a fall wreath got in the way(more on that next week), and traffic school(don't ask).

I am in a rush this morning trying to get out the door, so I hope to have the shorts completed by the end of naptime today, and I will post them later this afternoon.

Have a great Friday!!!!

Why is housing so sticky on the way down??

Why didn't US home owners sell, but hold on until negative equity and foreclosure hit them like an inevitable Tsunami.

Why, on the Gulf Islands or Whistler, where some properties have been listed for well over a year and sit unsold, are the owners dropping the price 1-2% at a time.

Here's why...

We are hard-wired by evolution NOT to take a loss, even if that is the logical thing to do. Take a small loss now or a bigger loss later.

How often have you bought a stock and watched it dip down past your stop loss, watched it bounce up reinforcing the thought that you were right to reject the loss, and then the thing dives down under the sea taking your hard earned money with it.

We have all done it. We cannot help it.

Nortel was one of those which took thousands of Canadian RRSPs into the abyss.

Day 4-Cinderella Shirt

I know that yesterday I said that I would post Mickey Mouse shorts today, but I got a little side tracked and didn't do them. They are on the agenda for today though:o) However, I did get this one done on Tuesday night.

I am kind of under-impressed by this shirt:o) I had a great vision and when this vision came to be, I was just like, 'oh, okay.' Anyway, you can tell that it's supposed to be a Cinderella shirt. This was the first time that I had worked with satin....very slippery and kinda stretchy at times. 

I really like the "bubble skirt" on the bottom of the shirt. 

Here are some views of the under side to show you how everything was sewn together. The lining is actually shorter than the actual bottom of the shirt, so when sewn together, it creates this bubbles effect. You can do this on any pattern you choose.

 I had to make sure that I got those white things on the side...not really sure what they are called:o) I am happy with how it turned out though....but like I said, slightly under-whelmed.

I was able to make this shirt for less than $4. Not too shabby:o)

**

So let me know what you think. S.R. loved it of course and wanted to touch it the whole time she was trying it on:o)

Make sure to leave a comment on the Minnie Mouse Tutorial Post for your chance to win a pair of Minnie Mouse Ears hair bows. The winner will be announced tomorrow morning. Have a great day!!

Day 3- Princess Shirt and Capris

I have seen a lot of these sweet little outfits all over the place. 

You know, the shirts that have the knots thru the button holes. The boutique shops are packed with them. While in Walmart getting all of my fabric cut by a sweet little old lady, I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I was going to do with this really pretty princess fabric. Then I remembered all of these outfits I had been seeing. Now most of these outfits come with the enormous pants with ruffles. I think they are absolutely adorable, but I'm not sure how S.R., who is 2, would handle those type of pants in the Orlando heat, so I stuck with capris. This is a very simple outfit, and it took no time at all to sew it. 

It cost around $8 to make the entire outfit. This was the most expensive to make thus far. The Princess fabric cost $4.94 a yd. at Walmart. S.R. was very excited to try it on the other night. I plan on having the phrase "Princess In Training" monogrammed across the chest:o)

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Tomorrow I will be posting a boy's outfit...I'm not going to leave Little Man out:o) And on Friday I will have a Cinderella shirt to share with you all.

Remember to leave a comment at the end of the Minnie Mouse Skirt Tutorial for your chance to win a pair of Minnie Mouse Ears Hair Bows. The Giveaway winner will be announced Friday morning. Enter as many times as you please:o)

Have a great Wed.!!

Don't leave home (to put on offer in) without it

No it isn't your American Express card. It is a good property analysis.

The minimum I would want is the following:

Assessed value

Sales history for the property

Comparables

Is the market for these properties moving up or down.

The agent you use to buy, could give you this. Could. Some probably do it all the time (like Larry). Some just want you to get down and write the offer.

However you can get the information yourself for peanuts.

HERE at Landcor.

Two types of reports, both cheap, and no one should even consider writing an offer without at least having this information.

You MAY think you have studied the market, but you NEED to know the sales history of the property.

Maybe they bought a year ago, and are just trying to flip with a 20% premium - having spent nothing on the property- even though the 'stated reason' is a job transfer.

Maybe there are comparables out there you didn't see which have been selling for less. Why? Is it the gold-plated toilet fixtures?

This isn't the whole story, but I would want a simple analysis like this from SOMEONE else too before I put hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. If you can get something like this from your agent- great. If not get it yourself.

Day 2-Minnie Mouse Skirt & Ears Tutorial

I hope that you all had a great Monday. Yesterday was E's first day of preschool. He did great. I did great until I had to leave him. S.R. and I both cried when we got in the vehicle:( She cried b/c she wanted to stay at "pwe-skoo." I cried for the obvious reasons. He was unsure about being there, but when I came to pick him up he was all smiles.
So anyway, on to day 2 of Disney Week. Today I have the bottom half of a Minnie Mouse outfit. I have a white t-shirt to go with the skirt. I am going to have it monogrammed soon. I am sharing 2 tutorials today. For the skirt and the ears hair bows. The bloomers are a pair of shorts just like the Snow White shorts, but I ran elastic thru the cuffs of the legs and added the eyelet trim. L-O-V-E It!

Here's what you need:
Skirt:


-2 Coordinating Fabrics
-Elastic
-Thread

Hair Bows:


-Black Felt
-1" Grosgrain Ribbon
-Extra Thin Ribbon(not sure the measurements on the small ribbon)
-Thread and Needle
-Stick Pin
-Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
-Alligator Clips

Directions on the Skirt:

This skirt measures for a size 3T. Make your adjustments accordingly. Cut 8 4"x11" strips from the red and 8 6"x11" strips from the black.

Next, you just start sewing the long sides together, alternating colors. If you have a serger, that's great. If not, make sure to zig zag the edges to cut down on fraying. I did a straight seam first, and then a zig zag stitch.

Once you have sewn all of the pieces together, connect into a complete circle. 

Press. Try to get all the seams pressed down in the same direction. This will help you later when running the elastic thru the casing. For the hem you will need to press 3/4" down and fold it under again and press to hide all raw edges. You will want to do the same for the waist, except fold down  1", and turn under, hiding all raw edges.

Stitch a seam all the way across the hem as close to the edge as possible. On the waist, you will want to leave an opening to run your elastic thru. Cut the elastic to the desired length. Put a safety pin on each end, and run it thru the casing.

Sew the ends together, making sure that the elastic hasn't turned, and stitch up your hole.

For the tulle skirt underneath, I just folded over the fabric ran a running stitch all the way down 1" from the fold. 

 Run the elastic thru and then sew up the seam. There was some excess, so I just trimmed the bottom when I was finished. Tulle doesn't fray, so no hemming:o)

Now for the ears:

Here is a pic of the supplies:

Make yourself a circle pattern. I used a circle cutter and it is 2 1/2" in diameter. Pin to felt, and cut 2.

Now here comes the tricky part. I will do my best to explain how to make the hair bows, but you may be better off searching online for some tips:o)

I made a 2" hair bow, so fold the ribbon over itself until you have this:

Can you see that there is 2 loops on each side? Now flare those pieces out...

Take your needle and thread and stitch that into place. Tie it off. Then wrap the thread tightly around the ribbon to make it look like this:

Make sure to tie that off as well. Now comes the fun part...hot glue...get ready to get singed;o)

Take the thin ribbon and place it in the center. 

Place a small dot of glue on the back and wrap the ribbon around the thread. I know the picture looks like the ribbon is already wrapped around, but it isn't:o) I wound the thread around several times, and the flash bounced off of the thread.

Glue the bow to the circles, and then glue the circles to the alligator clips, making sure to have the clips facing opposite directions. 

And that's it:o)

Ta-da

And because I love you all so very much....I am giving a pair of ears away to one lucky reader:o)

Just leave a comment on this post, and I will announce the winner on Friday! Have a great day my lovelies!!
Giveaway is Closed.

Snow White Outfit

We are going to Disney World soon, and I can't wait!!!  We took the kids last year on sort of a whim, and I was not prepared for what was about to take place(I had never been before). It was MAGIC. The absolute best vacation as a family....EVER! We decided that we wanted to relive the experience. 

We have actually been planning this years trip to Disney, and I started to see all the cute little outfits people are dressing their sweet ones in to visit this special place. I have been checking out Etsy, and there are a lot of great things on there. It's almost overwhelming because there is so much stuff.

So I wanted to spend this week showing you some of the outfits that my children will be sporting while we are vacationing....maybe give you a few ideas on what to dress your little ones in next time you are at Disney;o)

Being the thrifty one, I decided that I would make ALL of S.R.'s outfits.  This Snow White outfit cost me 75 cents...only because I ran out of red fabric, and had to make a run to Walmart.

Don't mind the arm:o) I was in a hurry before church and was running out of day light:o)

Now I can't take full credit for this idea. The kids were in a summer music class and one of the little girls in the class had a shirt on similar to this one. Her mother makes them and sells them on Etsy. At first when I saw how much she was charging for them, I almost flipped. But after making the shirt I now understand....the sleeves.

These puppies take FO-EV-UH. Cutting the strips(I tore mine....did you know that you can tear fabric in a straight line...saves so much time) Sewing them together, and then cutting them into sleeves. I used a pattern on hand, and the fabric was scraps left over from previous projects. I had to do some fanagaling to have enough for the shirt. But I made it work. 

S.R. loves her new Snow White outfit. She squeals every time she sees it:o) Makes me happy:o)

Here's the whole outfit again...

I did purchase some hair bows on Etsy...the kind that are shaped like the Princesses. Hoping to receive those in the mail this week. S.R. will flip when she sees them:o) May hold off on showing her them until time for the trip;o) 

On Tuesday I will have a tutorial on how to make Minnie Mouse Ears Hair bows, along with the matching skirt.