A Touch of Color

I'm almost finished with the living room, finally. For the last 8 years that I've lived here this living room has been pretty much the same. It wasn't bad, but it was really, ummm...neutral. Everything in it is cream, brown, sage green, and a touch of black. I decided it was time to add some color. Not in the repainting the whole room sense, just in adding some accessories. I love color. I swoon over bright colors in magazines and pictures. I'm just always so conservative when it comes to actually using it my own house. I really need to get over that. In my last post I showed you the new curtains I made which have some turquoise, blue, green, and brown in them. I decided I really liked the turquoise so I took an old, rickety, drawn on and carved on little desk from our garage and turned it into this:

I love the color! I think I am going to find some cute baskets to put on the shelves.

Then I decided to recover our couch pillows and now they look like this:



P.S. I made all of these from old sheets we don't use anymore so they were totally free. Preston lovingly told me that the pleated pillows (which by the way, aren't perfect but I'm pretty proud of them considering sewing is still so new to me) look like something he would find in his grandma's house. I'm sure he meant it as a compliment. :) Don't worry, he followed it up with "well, it's cool that YOU made them..." Hahaha. Boys. I only share this because I thought it was funny. He has actually been very complimentary about everything I have done around the house lately.

Anyhoo, I decided I needed some new wall decor for above the loveseat. I googled diy wall decor and found this:

http://www.thenester.com/2011/01/how-to-make-a-sunburst-mirror.html

Would you believe this was made out of posterboard? Yeah, posterboard. You can get that for 2/$1 at the dollar store. So, needless to say, I decided I needed to make one. I had an old mirror sitting around in the basement that I thought would be perfect so I got some posterboard and went for it. It doesn't look as good as the one she did (I like the shape of hers better) but I still like the way it turned out. And so far I have gotten a lot of compliments so the $2 that I spent on it was worth it. Here she is:



So basically, that wall of my living room went from looking like this:



To this:

Maybe it doesn't even look that great to other people but when you've had a room look exactly the same for so many years, any change seems to make it look better to me. Now I need to do some more pillows for the big couch (probably not more pleated ones because apparently that will make it a "grandma" living room), and next I get to tackle the basement kitchen/laundry room.

P.S. I know this stuff is probably really boring to most of you, (if any of you actually even still read my blog) so thanks for putting up with my craft reports and room makeovers. :)

Bits and Pieces

Life has been a bit on the busy side lately between making major life decisions, getting Preston ready to graduate, working on the house, and Cohen starting to get more mobile. It's a good kind of busy but I will be glad when Preston is officially done with school and we can have more time for fun.

A lot of people have been wondering what our plans are after graduation so here is the scoop. Preston really wants to go to grad school at the University of Texas in Austin. It has the exact program he wants, a great reputation, lower tuition than most grad schools, and it is in a good area with a low cost of living. We have been praying about it for months now and we feel really good about moving to that area, at least temporarily. Unfortunately, because of the bad economy, the engineering program had an unusually high 1,100 applicants for less than 200 open slots and they had to turn away tons of qualified people that would have otherwise been selected. We were one of them. We were really disappointed and not sure what to do but after more consideration and discussion and prayer, we decided that for whatever reason, we still feel good about moving to Austin. We love Colorado and we have always talked about going back but for some reason it just doesn't feel quite right to do it right now. Hopefully someday. So the plan is to look for jobs in the Austin area and when/if Preston gets hired we will move down there. We will establish Texas residency and try again for grad school at UT next year. His second choice school is Texas A&M so if he doesn't get into UT and gets accepted there, it would be an easy move and we would still have in-state tuition. I guess we will see what happens. I have always mocked all things Texan, (including people, I admit) so it is odd that I am so excited about this.

So basically, we still don't have any definite plans. If he finds a job there it could be next month or six months or next year. He still has a job here as a backup, thank goodness, so there is really no huge rush to get down there. In the meantime, we have decided that we are going to sell the house when we move. We thought about renting it out but we would really rather not deal with that if we don't have to. We are slowly trying to fix things up around the house here and there before we put it on the market. A lot of it is just cosmetic, but hopefully it will compete well with other houses like ours when people walk through it. With Preston working and finishing up school, I have been doing most of the work so far...which is fine by me. Anyone who knows me knows I love to do stuff like that. Plus, a lot of the stuff I have been doing has involved being crafty and finding frugal ways to make our house look nicer and more updated.

PS. just a little disclosure (as in, don't have a heart attack when you read this)....I, Amber Hennrich, actually SEWED. Yes, you read that right. I sewed. As in, sat down with a sewing machine (I had to learn how to use it first) and sewed. I, along with most people, never thought that would actually happen, but it has and I have to admit I actually kinda like it. Well, I get really frustrated with it too sometimes, but for the most part, it has been fun learning something new.

I don't have any of the rooms completely done but when I do I will show you before and after shots because I LOVE the changes. But for now, here are some snippets of what I've been up to.

Kitchen Wall and Window Before

Kitchen Window After

Kitchen Wall After (made this from stuff laying around the house)

Other Kitchen Window Before

Other Kitchen Window After

I even made the tie-backs. I love them!

New Curtains I Made for the Living Room-anything beats the black ones I had there before. What was I thinking??? Oh, and I made these out of canvas drop cloths from Lowe's for $9 ($4,50 per window actually)

Fireplace Screen Before-(Please ignore the trash waiting to burned, how embarrassing!

Fireplace Screen After

Amazing what you can do with a little black spray paint and some wire hangers!

Area Rug Before (The black spots are from tank walking on it with black paint on his paws...long story). And yes, that's March Madness basketball on the TV. :)

Area Rug After-Yep, I painted it

Mantle Before

Mantle After-Still a work in progress but at least it has more color

None of these things is really a huge deal but sometimes it's nice to have a change. Once you see the whole room before and after shots of the upstairs kitchen, downstairs kitchen, and living room, it will all come together more. Today I am refinishing a desk (which I am sooo excited about-I'm going bold!) and attempting to slipcover our couch (yeah, I know, good luck right?)

Oh, and just in case this post isn't long enough already, here are a couple pics of Cohen, just cuz he's cute. :)

Isn't he getting so big!?! He's 8 months already!

PS. I dropped our camera in the tub after this shot. Talented, I know.

He can scoot around in circles and go backwards but hasn't figured out forward crawling yet.

He can't crawl but he can pull himself into standing position with no problem and he loves it!

Okay, well that's our life for now. More to come soon!

All About the Babe

I've realized lately that I haven't done any recent posts about Cohen so I need to fix that asap! He is growing up so fast, I can't even believe it. It's like he's still a baby but kinda not. I mean, he's not really a little boy quite yet, but he isn't this tiny little innocent child who stares at the wall and needs my help with everything. He is seven months old now (well, he will be on Friday), and I am enjoying being with him more and more every day. I love this age and watching him learn things and figure things out on his own. I love that we can interact more and laugh together. And this kid's smile can change my day, no matter how rough it may have seemed before. It's impossible to not smile when I hear him laugh. He really does bring so much joy to our lives. I've added pictures of him to the end of this post.

Here are some random facts about our growing boy:
1. He makes all of his cutest/most interesting noises when he is getting frustrated and about to throw a fit. (I always know it's coming but I leave him there just so I can listen to his funny noises....is that wrong?)
2. He is 17 lbs 11 oz and about 27 inches. Still kinda short but getting better!
3. He loves to spit and has learned how to do it with food in his mouth.
4. He has been feeding himself (with a bottle of course, not with a spoon yet) for a couple months now. (He has huge hands!)
5. He drinks out of a sippy cup on his own and also loves to drink out of our normal cups.
6. He now eats baby food and so far there is nothing he refuses to eat. He, surprisingly, even gets excited about peas and green beans. I know I wouldn't.
7. Whenever I go to get him out of his crib he has randomly pushed himself up into the corner of it and is covered with his stuffed animals.
8. 9 out 10 times when Preston changes his diaper, he lets loose and pees all over himself. He has only ever done it with me once...for some reason Preston just brings that out in him I guess. Male bonding, perhaps?
9. He LOVES Tank. He is always reaching for him and trying to pet him and letting him lick his hands (don't worry I try to clean them off) and he gets all excited to see him. It's cute.
10. He is finally sleeping through the night again. Hallelujah!
11. He has two teeth and is working on another one.
12. He LOVES his daddy. Smiles pretty much every time he sees him. I get kinda jealous but I can't really blame him. I love his daddy too. :)
13. He continues to have the best pouty lip I have ever seen on a kid.
14. His hair is still red but changing from fiery orange to more of an auburn and we get compliments on it everywhere we go, without fail.
15. He loves being upside down, he loves riding on Preston's shoulders, and he loves peek-a-boo.
16. He cocks his head but only to the left, slaps his knee with only his left hand, and kicks with only his right foot. Kinda quirky but cute.
17. He's a typical red-head...stubborn, feisty, and determined. With us as parents, could you expect anything less?
18. He is an angel in public. I have never had him throw a fit while in a restaurant or store or ward activity. He just sits quietly and looks around at everything wide-eyed.
19. He's not much of a cuddler, which makes me sad. Maybe one day...
20. He knows how to roll over but refuses to do it. He rolled over for two weeks straight then decided he didn't want to anymore and now he just lays there and throws a fit until I pick him up. Frustrates the heck out of us but oh well.
21. Not crawling yet but slowly getting closer to figuring out the hands and knees thing.
22. Loves being outside and going for walks.
23. Has more facial expressions than I've ever seen on such a tiny person and can change to five different ones in 2 seconds. No exaggeration. I can't get my videos to upload to my blog but I would show you if I could. It's hilarious.
24. I can give him ten different toys, including an old cell phone that no longer works and without fail, the one thing he wants to play with is MY phone. He is obsessed with my phone, the tv remote, and the laptop. In a brief moment of non-supervision (he was on my lap but I was on the phone), he managed to bookmark a random page, open an excel spreadsheet, and perform a search. LOL.
25. He is pretty much the Cutest. Kid. Ever.

I could go on forever but I won't for your sake. I'm just so grateful for this beautiful boy and that his very existence inspires and pushes me to be a better mother and a better person. It's amazing how much a child can help you learn patience, compassion, charity, selflessness, and love.

In other news, still no word from grad schools (specifically the University of TX in Austin, our number one choice) but we are hoping to hear back anyday.

I can't believe Preston finally graduates in just a few weeks. When we first got married it seemed like it would be forever and now here we are. I am so proud of him.

I can't remember if I have mentioned this before but we want to/plan to live abroad someday (temporarily of course, for just a few years) and all the places we prefer to live are German speaking so we have decided to learn German. I am actually really enjoying it. It's something fun we can do together. If you come over, please ignore the random sticky notes all over our house with German words on them. :)

I think that's all that's new with us but hopefully we will have grad school news to post soon! Here are the pictures of Cohen I promised...watch out, there are a lot!