Wall Stencil Finito!

I am on a roll with the dining area project. I am happy to say that the most time consuming portion is finally done: the stencilling!

Stencilling has been popular lately in the DIY world and there is good reason. It can be beautiful, impactful, less expensive than wallpaper, more customizable than wallpaper, and easier to re-do or remove than wallpaper. Back in the spring I came across an article on Casa Sugar that featured this Moroccan design that was used for a bathroom makeover:

See article here.

I fell in love with the technique right away and I knew that one day I would have to try it in my own home. The opportunity presented itself fairly quickly with the "naked wall" that we had in the dining area of our kitchen. Here is the mock up I made of the wall:

Five Question Friday - September 29, 2011

Another busy busy weekend on deck so that means it is time for the 5QF:


   1. Do you apologize to your kids if you're wrong?

Who seriously answers no to this? Of course I apologize if I am wrong. I would be setting a horrible example for them if I didn't. They might not know now if I am lying or deceiving them, but they will pick up on that sooner rather than later. I prefer not to lose all my credibility when that moment comes.

Now with my hubby that is a moot point. . . seeing as I'm never wrong.


   2. Do you have a class ring, letterman's jacket, or similar obscenely priced high school "most have"?

Not So Wordless Wednesday - September 28, 2011

A couple of weeks ago the kids got this Melissa and Doug wooden magnetic alphabet set:

This is not an advertisement for Melissa and Doug, but the set is only $9.99 - just sayin'

The point of (not so) Wordless Wednesday is to show off photos, not jibber jabber about products- so here are my kids loving their new magnets:

Finally Making Headway on the Wall

I have been talking (writing) about the empty wall in the dining area of our kitchen for a few months now and so far it has been a whole lot of me yapping, and not enough of me doing anything. Honestly all the craziness with Baby Boo's birthday party and our family portraits these last few weeks had me rather distracted and I didn't get a whole lot done.

It has been a couple of weeks since all that though, and now I am happy to report that I have made some major progress on "the wall".

To recap, this was what I had planned originally for the wall of the dining area of our kitchen back in May:

Five Question Friday - September 23, 2011

My calender on my phone says that it is Friday already. I'm not sure that I believe it, but just in case I'll answer a 5QF.

   1. Dream Job. . . realistic and completely unrealistic.

Realistic - I would get my MBA and be an executive at a company in the science field. . . rather broad, but I haven't thought it through very much since I'm rather content where I am actually.

Unrealistic - If I didn't have kids I would want to be a wine buyer for a large company. I would be wined and dined all over the world on some company's dime to pick out wines. Mmmmm wine. Since I do have kids that dream job would have to change a little. Maybe I would choose to be a professional blogger that just reviews products (and Hawaiian vacations) left and right while someone else handles actually writing and maintaining the blog. What? You asked for unrealistic so you got it!


   2. Do you fart in front of your significant other?

Not So Wordless Wednesday - September 21- 2011

I shared a couple of photos of my sweet baby girl snoozing on the couch last week. I guess I have been on a sleeping babies kick lately because I have several more to share with you this time.

Here are another couple of her passed out on the couch:

Shoes for Babies and New Walkers

Baby and kid shoes is a topic that most people don't give much thought to before they have their own children. I mean, what could be so complicated about shoes? They should be cute, and they should fit. . . right?

Turns out, it isn't quite that simple - shoes can directly encourage (or discourage) the development of walking and coordination. This means that the right type of shoe actually matters quite a bit.

When your baby is born, he/she doesn't need shoes for a while. Socks work great for keeping feet warm and toasty in colder climates. You might recall my post from last April: Shoes - A Girl's Best Friend in which I professed my love for shoes and how that has extended to my daughter's shoe collection:

Most of Hailey's shoes back in April.

THE Party!

Enough anticipation already. . . onwards with the party pics!

      (If you need to catch up, check out this post then this post)

I feel like I have built this party up immensely, and because now I'm self conscious, I will have to add this disclaimer: I put a lot of time and effort into this party no doubt about that - but in the end - it was just a first birthday party. Don't be expecting no Sweet 16 kind of shiz around here*.
  *No need to comment on my exceptional grasp of the English language either - I already know it's fantabulous!

Phew, now that I got that off my chest. . .

Here is an overall view of the picnic shelter pre-party:

See -- Simple kiddy party!

That's my momma holding the birthday in the middle there.

Birthday Cake Love

Birthday parties can be a lot of work. . . at least if you do them like me they are. I know some people don't feel like it is worth it, and I agree it isn't for everyone, but I love the results and am so glad it all worked out great in the end. Baby Boo's party has definitely been the most labor intensive party I have ever thrown, and it was definitely the coolest looking.

If you missed all the previous posts on the party preparations, check out yesterday's post for a recap.

So lets start with the cakes. Over the last few months I have been ogling cakes on google and Pinterest. I have looked at some pretty amazing inspiration and even baked a couple of practice cakes. I found myself at a point where I was comfortable working with fondant, but I still had no idea what to do for the big party cake. The only thing I knew is that I wanted to make a tiered cake.

The smash cake I had a better idea of what I wanted. I believe it was back in June that I saw this cake on Pinterest:

Originally from the amazing Sweetapolita.

Five Question Friday - September 16, 2011

A hectic week comes and goes. Me thinks I need a weekend where I don't have to do anything please.

I have been finding these 5QF questions to be kind of boring lately. . . maybe I should think of some myself and submit them. . . that would require a lot of effort. . . maybe I'll just do nothing. . . yes, nothing sounds good. Onto this week's questions:

   1. If you had a weekly newspaper column, what would you name it?

Ummm, I don't know how good I am at witty titles. Seeing as how my blog is titled Stay at Home Who? - I would probably go with that for other publications.

   2. Who is your mentor/inspiration?

Ack, I don't know if I have one specific person. I find all sorts of positive qualitites in different people that I try to emulate, but no one person that embodies what I want. My mom provides a lot of insporation to me, as well as some moms I know that appear to be super mom all the time. I know they're not, but they have so much energy and that is something I strive for in my own life.

First Birthday Party Prep - Presents and Projects

I figure I should take a break from that mountain of laundry calling my name to share photos and details about Baby Boo's 1st birthday party last Sunday. It was a big success, and we got all sorts of compliments on the decor. Upon last update, I had all sorts of ideas in my head, and I was diligently chopping away at the to-do list.

Here is a recap of the process leading up to the party:

If you weren't already aware, I spent a good deal of time planning and daydreaming about this party. This blog was my journal of sorts to catalogue all of my ideas. It started back in May when I rented a local park picnic shelter, and wrote Sixteen Weeks and Counting. Summer came and I became a little distracted with all the fun summer activities, but I always kept an eye out for inspiration on Pinterest, and wherever else as mentioned in All Over the Place. Finally in early August I lost my fondant v-card and made some homemade marshmallow fondant and a practice cake on Conquering Fondant. With less than 3 weeks left to go, I really started listing everything I needed to get done on First Birthday Party Organization. Finally, with 10 days left to go, I showed off the birthday outfit I made as well as a second practice cake on More Birthday Odds and Ends.

The week before the party was definitely hectic - hence the blog neglect. I was also trying to get everything ready for the family/birthday portraits 2 days after the party. My Amazon account was exercised rather heavily. I would arrive home sometimes to a stack of several (beautiful) brown boxes with smiles on them. They really made this shop-a-holic's heart skip a beat each time I saw them. Of course, now that it is all over, spending is being cut back big time until the holidays roll around.

Not So Wordless Wednesday - September 14, 2011

There is some serious blog neglect going down around these parts in the last couple of weeks. I have been totally consumed by random projects, Baby Boo's birthday party, her 1 year portraits, classes starting for the kids, and other random craziness that is our lives. I hope you can bear with me a few more days as I try to get back on track. I now have about a dozen loads of laundry, and some major deep cleaning of my house left to do.

In an attempt not to leave everyone hanging too much, I'll post some sneak peaks from both the party and the portraits:

Not So Wordless. . . Thursday - September 8, 2011

This is a bit of a crazy week for me since I am doing a bunch of prepping for the party on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were a wash due to the holiday weekend and family happenings so I have a 3 day week to get several projects done.

I figured I should get at least a quick post up and share some photos.

Last Saturday we went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. It was a good time for all of us and the Little Dude especially had a blast. Amongst all the activities, there were elephant rides:

10 Tips for Coping with Insomnia - Because it Sucks

I am a little sleep deprived today so I am definitely lacking for inspiration on what to write. I have many an idea floating around in my head, but they are all slightly out of reach. My mind just doesn't want to go there right now, and I have decided to not fight it for now. Instead of rambling on incessantly about  nothing, I want to share some tips a friend gave me on dealing with insomnia. Kind of random I suppose, but the tips are actually pretty decent, and she manages to put a funny spin on it all. She has dealt with severe insomnia herself since she was 12, so I guess she would know.

Her rules are in red, and my own thoughts are in teal:

1. You MUST go to bed at the same time every night, and wake up at the same time every morning. Regardless of whether you sleep or not.     I suck at this one. I am terrible at sleeping on a fixed schedule. The whole kids thing doesn't necessarily help since their various moods and ailments change up their routine fairly frequently.

Five Question Friday - September 2, 2011

Shut the front door, there is no way it is September! I totally didn't catch that yesterday. The end of summer is fast approaching, and Baby Boo's birthday is coming even faster. Next weekend is sure to be hectic so I guess I should try to relax and appreciate this one since there isn't much of anything going on. Happy holiday weekend everyone in the US, and happy weekend to everyone else.


   1. Shoes in the house - yay or nay?

Mostly nay, but if they are clean it doesn't bother me really. Sometimes I am lazy and wear them for a few minutes before taking them off. I am especially bad about taking the kids' shoes off once we get inside. This is a big no no in the winter though because that would make a horrible mess. It is funny how cultural this practice is. In Chile or Australia (from my experience), people don't normally take their shoes off before going into a house, but here some people completely freak out that not everyone does it automatically.

This question does remind me that I want to get some projects done with the front and side entryway to our house. We need knew shoe and coat rack organization because it is a big jumbly mess right now. This will probably take a few months since they will require some larger expenses, but I think they can get done this year.

Holy Harvest Batman!

I haven't done a garden update in several weeks; mostly because I have been busy and have not focused on the garden too much. That doesn't mean that it has been a flop. On the contrary, it has been a raging success!

Since this is my first real attempt at gardening ever, I didn't really know what to expect in terms of harvest. I would honestly have been relieved if I had managed to simply keep more than half the plants alive. As you may have seen in the last few garden updates, I have managed to actually harvest some honest to goodness vegetables. If you aren't familiar with my gardening journey, check out the gardening tab on the top of the blog for some history (or click here).