Sassy Lamp Makeover and a Mullet Mistreatment...

**Edited to Add** I am linking up with Kimba at ASPTL for DIY Thursday. Go check out all the other awesome DIY projects via this link...
It is Day 2 leading up the craft room reveal on Thursday, and today I am gonna share my new lamp and window mistreatment.
First off, I want to show you my new window mistreatment. I LOVE it and I hope it makes the Nester proud. I did not sew a stitch on these. I used my glue gun, thumb tacks, and drapery clips. I got the fabric at Hancock's when we were in TN and it was all on clearance. The fabric for my lamp, seat cushion, and curtain was all under $20.

All I did was fold and tack up the leopard print fabric...Then hot glue the pink and striped together. Glued some fringe on, and folded the top before putting it in the clips so that it looks sewn. I nailed my hooks right on the wall because I was too lazy to hang a rod. Lonnie wanted to know "where the other half was" and I told him I intended for it to look a like a mullet!

Now do you see the resemblance? I loved mullets way back when, and I love my mullet curtain now!

Now for the lamp, I wanted to make sure I had plenty of light in my craft room, so I decided I needed a floor lamp that would sit next to my sewing machine and shine directly on what I was working on. Here she is:

Didn't she turn out cute? I LOVE this lamp. In a previous life (I've had this lamp since college)she was known as Plain Jane. Now I like to call her Sassy Sofie because she is the life of the party in her pink paint and green and pink top.

Walker wasn't so sure about giving the lamp a makeover, but when I got out the pink paint he got excited. He said, "Mom I never saw you paint anything pink before."

I think it is safe to say that he now sees this lamp was destined to be pink!

This was so easy to do, and since there is no need to re-invent the wheel, I will spare you another lamp covering tutorial, and send you straight to the instructions that I followed from Ms. Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality. Here is the link to her tutorial. She is way better at giving step.by.step. directions than I am.

Well there you have it. What do you think of my Mullet Mistreatment?

Cheap Entertainment Center Re-do...

I have been hard at work in my efforts to turn our "home office" into a dedicated craft room. I am the only one that uses this room and it already housed most of my craft supplies so I figured why not go all the way and make this one room specifically mine. Since I have been making such headway, I thought I would blog everyday this week about a different project that I accomplished and then have a big reveal on Thursday. Today is day one, and I am gonna start with the first project I got finished, my craft cabinet.

Originally, this was an entertainment center in Lon's grandma's house. She was gonna sell it at her yardsale a few months ago, but when I measured it I asked her if she would sell it to me instead since it would fit perfectly into my craft room. She said no, and I was shocked. She said no she wouldn't sell it to me, that she would give it to me for free. Now we're talking! Here it is before...
And after...

Here are all the details. When my brother in law Richard was here for our staycation in June, I had him attach a piece of beadboard to the back.
I was too lazy to actually prime the whole thing, so I just spray painted it and let the spray paint act as a primer. It worked well enough.

I then decided I wanted it a fun color. This is afterall the only truly girly space in my house, so I decided on turquoise blue. Well, "Escape" if you want to get technical.

After I got a couple baskets from Hobby Lobby and piled some of my craft supplies on it, I was done.

The crown is my old ironing board I finally hung. I have told you about this old ironing board before, but had no place to put it. Well it finally found a home and I love it here.

What do you think? If you like this be sure to check back the rest of the week for even more wild color choices. Let's just say I still have a ways to go on the window treatment. Lon says it looks like a mullet. Maybe tomorrow you can see it and judge for yourself.

I'm linking this post up on DIY Thursday at ASPTL. If you want some serious inspiration, go there on Thursdays!

Gal Pals...

When I started this blog last year, it was mainly so that my friends and family in TN and WV could keep up with us on a daily basis. I think I have accomplished that. For example, every morning my grandma logs on to the internet and catches up on what has been going on in my life. (Sorry the posts have been so sporadic lately Grandma! It is harder to blog in the Summer!) Anyway, I was doing the blog for other people more than myself. I never would have guessed that in the long run, I would be the one to get the most out of it.

Besides the fact that this blog is a journal of sorts, it has also been a way to connect with others. Over these past 8 months I have met some incredible women from all over the country that I never would have known otherwise. These friendships that we have forged are as real and dependable as the ones with my girlfriends that I know from my daily life. It has been so wonderful to get to know these women and share struggles, creative ideas, laughter, and all of the ins and outs of life.

A perfect example of this is my friend Stacie. How Stacie stumbled on my blog is a mystery, but she has become a true friend in every sense of the word. She is funny, smart, a heck of a good cook, and crafty as can be. Her blog is called Park Avenue because she is a girl from the city and gettin' by in the country these days.(I'll warn you that if you visit her blog you are gonna find some ridiculously good recipes. NOT Weight Watchers ones either!) She has been especially encouraging in my efforts at losing weight, so it should not have surprised me this week when I got a package from her in the mail. I had to share this with you because it was so darn cute.

In that little striped box, she put these earrings that she MADE. Told you she was crafty. They are FABOO!
I hope this is close enough for you to read. It is a weight loss survival kit. This made me laugh out loud! Especially the little scrap of material "for next year's bikini". Such a hoot!

To all my gal pals that I have met via this blog, thanks so much for being such a special part of my life and for helping me to realize I am not alone in my day to day quest to be the best version of Mandi that I can be. I treasure you all!

Weight Watchers Wednesday, Week 24

It is Weight Watchers Wednesday, Week 24 and this week I lost a whopping .3 lbs, for a running total of, brace yourself here, 30 lbs.!! It has been a long time coming and I have had as much time off the "diet" as on, but I am relieved to finally reach 30 lbs. I still hope to lose a lot more weight, but this is the most I have ever lost so it is a milestone for me.

In the area of exercise, I have been busy busy after the boys and their 2 cousins from TN this week. We went swimming in the river, to the beach, swimming in the pool, and riding on my paddleboat. I've also discovered that the trampoline is a great workout. We just put it back up this week, and jumping and chasing the kids had me sweating like crazy!

I haven't shared pics of myself in a while, and haven't gotten any really good ones, so here are a couple fun ones from the past week. Those two specs are my MIL and I swimming from our dock to theirs at the river. I swore I would never do a bathing suit shot, but I thought this was HILARIOUS! I went down the slide at the river and Mom got the funniest pic of me holding my nose, and sporting Lon's huge lifejacket. While I can swim pretty good, the river is unpredictable and we make the boys ALWAYS wear life jackets so I do too. I'm a bit of a nervous nelly that way.
And here we are taking the paddleboat out for it's maiden voyage.
For this week's recipe I am gonna just send you to another blog I found. It is called Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes, and let me tell you it is INCREDIBLE! I am making my grocery list from this site today. She not only has mouthwatering recipes, but her pics are gorgeous and she has a ton of useful info. like a WW calculator, Restaurant food lists, etc. This is truly a goldmine if you are on Weight Watchers. So go over and visit Gina. Show her some comment love and tell her that her newest fan sent you!

Birthday Re-cap...

We had Walker's 4th birthday party on Saturday evening, and it was a great time. Here are some of the highlights...

Nonnie got here with Connor and 2 cousins, Hannah and Rebekah, right before the party, and Walker was thrilled to see them.

We didn't really have a theme this time, it was just a backyard birthday party. Walker just said he wanted his friends to come over and eat pizza. Simple enough. We got pizza...
Had a water balloon fight with 200+ balloons...

Busted open a pinata...

and played in the backyard.
The kids loved the rollercoaster and the trampoline the most.

The official highlight of the party was when Walker got his big surprise, a Basset Hound puppy he named Daisy.
We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family and the party was a blast. Walker got lots of great gifts, and I hope to share one of the homemade ones with you later this week when I get permission from the giver. I hope you had a wonderful weekend too. We still have a house full of company so we have been busy everyday, but I hope to catch up on my blogging this weekend. Have a great week!

Birthday T-Shirt...

Walker's birthday party is Saturday, and since I have still not bought him a birthday shirt I decided I better make him one. I did a quick applique with Heat and Bond on the front, and then free-handed his name on 2 different fabrics on the back. Ironed it all on, and voila! A t-shirt for about $5.

Why the dog bone fabric? Walker is getting a puppy for his birthday. We have discussed getting one for a while now, and Nana and Jerry decided this would be the perfect occasion. They bought Walker a Basset Hound. I'll post more about our new baby later when I get some good pics of her. She is staying with Nana and Jerry until the party on Saturday, but here is a little preview:

How could you not love that face?

Weight Watchers Wednesday, Week 23

It is Weight Watchers Wednesday, Week 23, and I lost 1 lb. for a running total of 29.7 lbs. I am gonna hit 30 lbs. this week, finally! I am pleased with this loss because as you remember, I have been at the beach for a week, and in TN for 3 days. I did not journal my points or even track them during vacation. BUT, I did drink my protein shake every morning and tried to eat a decent lunch every day. I splurged on dinner at night, but we did so much walking and swimming that it all evened out. It is good to be home again so I can get back on the straight and narrow.

I am walking again. I hope to get in 3 miles a day, 4 times a week. It will be easy to do these next few days because Connor is still in TN. Walker will exercise with me or stay home with Lon, but Connor has to stay right under my feet. Who am I kidding, it is a welcome distraction! He did not want to come home yesterday, so he is staying with Mimi (my grandma) during the day and Nonnie and Poppy pick him up when they get off work. I was shocked that he stayed because he has never been away from me for more than a weekend. He's having a great time, and Nonnie will bring him back to SC on Saturday for Walker's party.

Speaking of Mimi, she has a wonderful garden, so while I was in TN she packed me a basket packed full of zucchini, squash, and cucumbers. Now fried squash is my FAVORITE, but not the healthiest, so my Mom came up with another way to make it. All she did was thinly slice the squash and roll it in cornmeal and a dash of sugar. She baked it in the oven on 350 degrees until it was tender. It was so good that I made a batch last night. I have not calculated the points yet, but I know it has to be better than fried squash/zucchini.

Here is my Dad holding a portion of what Mimi gave me. Some of them are huge!

Walker and Nonnie also made Zucchini Bread, which was not quite so WW friendly, but it was delicious!

Even Con man got in on the baking goodness...

I did not get her recipe, but here is one I found online that I am gonna try to make.

Zucchini Bread, 3 points

Ingredients:
1 cup egg substitute

1 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbls. vanilla

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup oil

1/2 tsp. ginger

2 cups zucchini, ground (use smallest holes on grater)

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups flour

1/4 tsp. ground allspice
Instructions:
In a large bowl, mix first 5 ingredients together (egg substitute through zucchini); set aside.
Combine dry ingredients (flour through allspice) in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to zucchini mixture and pour into 2 (9 x 5) loaf pans.
Bake at 350° for 45 to 60 minutes. Each loaf yields 12 slices @ 3 pts. per slice.

I am gonna try to do it with the baking Splenda instead of sugar and whole wheat flour. Those 2 changes will alter the points value, and they may make it gross, but it's worth a shot. It may also alter whether or not I get this face when it is done: Chances are I may get this face instead:

I'll keep you posted on how it turns out. I hope all my WW buddies had a good week, and I look forward to hearing your progress!