My Summer DIY Bucket List

Lately I've felt like I could totally transform into a hermit and I'd be completely cool hiding out in my own house. I'm sure that I'd get tired of it after a week or two, but the thought of it's been pretty appealing! I think it's just because I've felt like I've been on the go more this past year than ever before.

It's been officially summer for four days now and I know that last year I was very much into creating a summer bucket list of things that I wanted to do with the kids. While I still love the idea of doing that again, I think this summer I'd like to shift my focus from going and doing so many activities to more DIY activities around the house. After 7 summers here it's time to start sprucing up.

My husband works pretty long hours most of the time, and having had babies and toddlers since we've moved in here, there's a lot of things that haven't gotten finished (or started!) at our house. With Anika turning 11 this summer, Emma 6 1/2 and Noah being 4 years old now, I feel that I can actually accomplish some of these things with both of my hands while having the kids here. People take things for granted like mowing the lawn, or even weeding - because it's so hard to do when you have a baby teething or needing fed! I think the kids are finally at ages where I can work on something for more than 2 minutes at a time while they play together.

So, this summer bucket is still coming (if you need ideas for yours here's 31 summer activities), but here's a glimpse at my to-do list. I know that it won't get all done in the next 11 short weeks, but that's okay as long as I keep plugging away at it.

• Buy and install a new screen door
• Build a raised garden (hint - this one will be on the blog soon!)
• Stain the fence and decks
• Tile the bathrooms and repaint the walls
• Clean the bedroom carpets
• Repaint the house
• Fix our garage door - so it will actually work!
• Clean the garage and organize it
• Finish building the play structure for the kids
• SOMEDAY lay hardwood flooring down
• Create a chalkboard wall that I can hang on our fence for the kids
• Mulch the yard

Do you have a summer DIY list started? What's your number one project to get done before school starts back up?

~Melissa

My Little Kitchen, & Thank You's...

Here's my little Kitchen. Its nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. It has an eclectic collection of creations from my children included sporadically throughout it. It isn't magazine perfect, and its slightly cluttered. But it is where a majority of my time is spent. If I had my dream kitchen I would opt for almost anything other than oak cabinets, icky fake pergo floors, and the green counter tops would go too. But it is my first house, and if you have little kids, you know you don't want anything 'too nice' because it surely will not stay that way.

 

The fridge is a proud revolving art gallery of my children's creations. A little calendar with the family's schedule is always hanging.

 

Even less organized on the side, is where I throw all the junk mail until I get around to going through it, obviously in this picture it was about time! The not-so-good picture of the wooden basket next too it, is where I keep our bread and apples. It was a cool find at a Christmas bazaar one year. Its made from a tree trunk and the handle is a root.

 

 

I keep our knifes handy on the counter, and our most used cooking utensils in a mason jar. The blender and coffee maker stay on the counter as well, because we use them pretty frequently. Between them is one of my favorite little items, an old glass cake stand that I found for a steal.

But perhaps my favorite part in my kitchen is our little farm animals. These are NOT pretty to most, but I simply {heart} them! My two girls made these when they were little, they are little plaster of Paris creations we poured into little animal molds and they then painted them. Anika must have been 6, and Emma just 2. They have had lots of love, and a few bite marks in them!

 

If my husband gets off of work in time, we are going to go down and check out the Saturday market, and Mcminnville is having an "Artists Village" this weekend outside the oak trees at Linfield college. Over 50 Oregon artists, 10 local winery's, and some delish snacks will be there. Hope we can check it out, and if we do, I'll be sure to take pics :)

Lastly, I'd like to thank Kimberlee from The Peaceful Mom and Terry from Cherished Treasures for both featuring my post 31 Fun Kid Activities.

ALSO, much thanks to Sugar Plums and Lollipops for nominating me for the Versatile Blog Award! When I get a few extra minutes I will talk more about it :).

Well off I go, back to mom-world.

Til next time,

Pictures Galore!

 So, I eventually will show more photos of my house, we live in a 'cozy' (by cozy I mean rather smallish) 3 bedroom two bath home that we purchased five years ago next month. I am the kind of girl that aspires to be organized but as much as I try, I'm never going to be the next Martha. And having three little 'helpers' doesn't help much either! But, when I get super frustrated with the lack of cleanliness; which happens often, I just remind myself that I am NOT wonder woman. Sometimes, the mess will just have to wait. But, I'm not showing you pictures today of my messy house, or my organizational skill, today I wanted to show you my dining area and photo collage. I had this big old blank slate of a pumpkin wall that I just couldn't figure out what to do with. Then I actually stole and modified an idea from my friend, and I'll tell ya, the kids love it... I take so many pictures that this works really good for me. All I did was hang a twine (you could use string, yarn, whatever you have) and then clipped clothespins on with some of our favorite pictures. I even got fancy and painted them white and added little rhinestones to some of them. :)

 

This is where the pictures start, over the sliding glass door, and I kept all of these black and white, and gradually added the colors in...

 

Here's the start of my big ol' wall, we eventually added another row of pictures, and a few of the kids artwork pieces to show off :)

 

 More photos...

 

and more artwork...

 

Here's the bigger picture, and yes, sadly that is my laptop over there in the corner, my office has gradually gotten smaller and smaller as my family has expanded and what once used to be in a bedroom is now shoved into a dresser in the corner. I actually painted the dresser white, and the little cabinet thing on the other side as well. Our house is very colorful, so I like to add white in to brighten it up a bit, plus, it makes all of our mis- matched pieces of furniture look a little bit better... still haven't done anything to that poor ol mis- matched table and chair set! 5 years later everything is a work in progress, as we haven't had extra funds to purchase many new furniture pieces. That's okay, I think I would be even more frustrated if the kids messed up new chairs. These poor chairs have been through a lot!

 

And last but not least, Mr. mess-maker #3 had to sneak in the picture, on his sisters bike, proudly showing off the mess he helped create in the living room!

Well, there is a peak at what I came up with to fix a blank wall. Like I mentioned, the kids really love it, I can't tell you how many times the pictures are talked about over dinner. And the best thing is I can changed them up whenever I want!

Hopefully I will have more to come on my house in future posts, if I can ever get them semi-camera ready ;)

Melissa