Too Many Toys

Have you ever read this book...?

You should. It's good. Especially if you have kids that are reluctant to give anything away. We have closet clean outs quite often because 1. My kids have too many toys. 2. They have a hard time keeping their rooms clean, and 3. I find the clutter to be stressful. Now don't get me wrong...my house is full of clutter. It's usually hidden in drawers, under beds, or behind closed doors, and if I don't see it most of the time I'm okay. But it never fails, at some point the clutter seeps its way out of hiding and onto every bit of exposed counter space, or floor, and I eventually reach my boiling point. It's then that I threaten to give everything away...including my children. 

So, the other day I was heading to Finn's room to tell him that he needed to clean it up before I had a meltdown. We try to enforce the "put things up before you get more out" rule because Finn has the amazing ability to get everything he owns out onto the floor in about 5 minutes, and then, when it comes time to pick everything up, his arms are too tired and no longer work. Well, I walked into his room and found my two kids, surrounded by the mess, reading Too Many Toys. Oh the irony.

My hope was that they were learning the lesson, or that they could at least see that Finn's room looked just like Spencer's, but no. Instead they were picking out their favorite toys in the book, and I gave up.

I let them continue, and decided to live with the mess for one more day.

xo

nessa dee

Oh, and I'll be listing some new paintings in my shop sometime tomorrow. And since I've now mentioned this on my blog...I have to hold to my word.

Hello, Tuesday

We had a lovely Memorial Day weekend together, and since my husband was off work and my kids had a break from school, I decided I would forgo my usual Monday post. Why do I do the Monday posts? Well, as our school days got busier, and projects, work,  and extra-curricular activities got more extensive, I found that my blogging suffered quite a bit. I started posting every Monday to keep me honest, so to speak. It gives me consistency. But even so, I've found that my constants have to be a little flexible, too. So, instead of blogging yesterday, I found myself doing something so exciting that I couldn't even take the time to tell you about it; I was cleaning out my kids' closets!

Don't worry, though. It wasn't all fun and games here. We did take advantage of Dad being home and we made him go swimming, we cooked some good food, and had a few friends over. But now that it's Tuesday, we are back to our normal routine.

Here's what we've been up to...

:: My sweet neighbors generously let the kids raid their peach trees last week.

So my grandma, my mom, Audrie, and I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon peeling peaches to make cobbler.

I would show you the finished results, but I spent the better part of Monday stuffing my face full of peach cobbler and have only a mangled mess left. Perhaps when I attempt to make peach jelly, I will take a few seconds to snap pictures of the finished product before I inhale it.

:: We woke up Monday morning to find our second caterpillar had emerged from his cocoon. We didn't notice at first, but one of his wings didn't fully form. I couldn't help but feel responsible somehow, but I know that we didn't do anything differently this time around. Sometimes these things just happen.

Regardless, we think he's beautiful.

:: Audrie invented a new sandwich and insisted I post it on my blog. It's the barfing man sandwich. Enjoy.

:: I'm finally putting some finishing touches on quite a few paintings. I don't know why I have the hardest time getting past this point. I have so many almost finished paintings in my studio, but finishing those last few details have become quite a challenge.

It's probably my subconscious brain not wanting to ever let go of anything I make, hence why I have a closet under my staircase that's full of paintings I made in college. I'm too embarrassed to hang them up in my home, but give them away? I don't think so.

Happy Tuesday

xo

nessa dee

Sources for our stuff

I've been trying to keep up with the questions about our house, so I thought I would go ahead and post an addition to our source list on the house tour. When I made the list, I tried to include sources that people could actually seek out if they wanted a particular piece, and while I included some mentions to hand-me-down furniture, or Craigslist finds, I didn't want to bombard the list since most of our furniture was either thrifted, given to us, or carried with me from childhood. That being said, I'll will source some more of my stuff in hopes of answering your questions and addressing any future questions.

PIANO ROOM:
Piano: handed down from my grandparents
Rug: brand is Kaleen, the style is Bombay. I got it at a discount store [Marshall's, I think]
Chair and ottoman: Craigslist
Paint color: Distance from Behr
Curtains: Pottery Barn, they came with the house
Pillow cover: from either Syria or Iraq, gift from my brother

POWDER ROOM:
Stencil: from Hobby Lobby painted with Rhino from Behr. This room had wallpaper in it before, so we didn't have to compete with textured walls. In my past life as a muralist, though, I have stenciled over textured walls, and the trick to doing this is making sure your stencil is secured well either with painter's tape or spray adhesive, using a very dry brush, and pouncing the paint on. Also, latex paint tends to seep under the edges, so you can use something thicker, like acrylics to help prevent this. Just make sure you seal it afterwards.

BREAKFAST ROOM:
Table: Pottery Barn outlet, not sure if this design is still available, we purchased it 9 years ago.
Chairs: hand-me-downs repainted [for the second time]. I took the easy way out this time and spray painted them in Aqua from Rustoleum. The fabric is from Joann fabrics 

LIVING ROOM:
Union Jack ottoman: Home Goods

PLAY ROOM:
Box house in the corner: blog post about it here.
Correction on the yellow stripes: Citrus Zest from Behr
Armoire: antique from my childhood

AUDRIE'S ROOM: 
Bed, chest of drawers, vanity: Antique set given to us. Bed and drawers were painted in a soft white, the vanity color is Dragon Fruit, Behr.
Chair: trash find. I can't remember the color, but the fabric is from Joann fabrics.
Dollhouse: handmade, mine from childhood

FINN'S ROOM:
Chest of drawers: hand-me-down antique painted in Tomato from Glidden.
Map mural: painted in a shade darker than the wall color...I drew a couple of guidelines and the rest was free handed.

BABY'S ROOM:
Chair: antique found on Craigslist
quilt: made by my mom, grandmother, mother-in-law, and daughter

STUDIO:
Cubbies: garage sale find
Chest of drawers: hand-me-down
--both painted in Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Glidden, knobs from Hobby Lobby
Chair: garage sale find painted in Tomato, Glidden, and covered in fabric from Joann fabrics.

That's all my brain can conjure up for now. I hope I've answered all the questions. If I haven't, let me know.

xo

nessa dee

Crafty Friday: Button Collages

I have a confession to make. This craft wasn't supposed to be button collages. I was actually going to do a repeat craft of our robot collages we did several years ago. It was strictly for selfish reasons, as I wanted the kids to each create a piece of art to hang in the baby's room. Well, that plan flew out the window when my son started rebelling. He was in no way going to make a robot collage. So, I gave up and started helping him sew a robot toy instead, but while I was cutting material, Finn found arranging buttons on a piece of paper to be quite fun, or cathartic, or both.

 Either way, he ended up with a robot made of buttons. All you really need for this craft are lots of buttons, a thick piece of paper or cardboard to glue them to, and some glue. We threw in a few washers and metal lids, too. After writing a special note to his brother and signing the piece, he was done.

Audrie, on the other hand, opted to draw a robot and his dog, and then glue a few key pieces on for texture.

I love 'em both, and can't wait to hang them in the baby's room!

Happy crafting!

xo

nessa dee

Our house is on Apartment Therapy!!

I've been hinting that something big was going down at the Roeder house, and here it is:

We have a house tour on Apartment Therapy!!

[photo taken by Chris Perez]

I was contacted last month by Chris Perez, a contributor for Apartment Therapy, to see if I was interested in doing a house tour feature for their site. To say I was shocked would be an understatement, but I answered with a big, resounding YES! As soon as that word left my mouth, though, the nerves set in because at that point, we had three sample colors painted on our kitchen cabinets, two bathrooms with peeling wallpaper, a baby's room that hadn't even been thought out, an art studio that looked more like a storage room, the list goes on and on. So for the last month we've been working like crazy people to finish a lot of those projects. We still have a plenty of projects to tackle, but for now I am taking a long hiatus from house work and focusing on preparing for a baby. I've heard that it's a good idea to have things like a car seat, baby blankets, and enough clothes for the child before you take him home from the hospital.

You can check out our house tour right here. And be nice...remember, I'm pregnant and emotional, so lie through your teeth if you need to.

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Monday!

Today...

:: I'm enjoying our little art gallery between the kids' rooms.

:: She's liking her much larger bed.

[Hey look, there's the baby!]

:: He's reading every book he owns.

:: It's found a new sleeping spot in the baby's room.

:: And we're all loving our new picture of this sweet little one:

[A profile shot of baby boy sticking out his tongue]

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee

Sneak Peek

I'm sorry I checked out for a few days, but it was for good reason. I mentioned several posts back that I had some big news to share [and no, I'm not pregnant with twins]. For the last six weeks we've been preparing like mad  to get our house ready for something exciting, and Saturday was the big day. I'll share the rest sometime this week, but until then, here's a little peek of what went down.

xo

nessa dee

Elmo the Butterfly

Success! I can't tell you how proud I am of this beautiful butterfly. I was so afraid something would happen to him before he made his appearance [i.e. we'd kill him.] But, no! We have achieved what millions of others before have achieved; we have raised a butterfly from it's larvae state.

Is he not the most beautiful butterfly you've ever seen? [Maybe I'm just a bit partial.]

We had a bit of a set back when we let him go. He had been in his bugbox all day and hadn't tested out his wings. We placed him on a plant that butterflies love, and checked on him periodically, but he was not budging. With thunderstorms in our forecast that night, we put Operation Butterfly Transfer in effect. We moved Elmo to our front porch, placed him on a potted plant, and hoped. The next morning, fearing the worst, Jonathan went to check on our baby. To our surprise, he was still alive, but seemed weak. The kids and I researched what we could feed Mr. Elmo, and fruit juice was on the menu. We tried to coax him onto our delectable cuisine, but he seemed irritated and tried to flutter off without success. We had to leave him for a while, and when we came back, we found him drinking away. After our second trip to town, he was gone...out on his own in the big wide world. I was so relieved and proud and sad and happy. [Is this what it's like sending your kids to college?]

Now that we're old hands at raising caterpillars, we've taken on another. Since finding Mr. Grover last Thursday, he has tripled in size, and is eating through as many leaves as we can provide.

We just hope Mr. Grover can thrive as well as his older brother.

As for the cocoon that is my growing belly, I just had a sonogram showing that this little Mr. is already weighing in at three and a half pounds.  He is above average, hence the extra large belly. I was hoping this would push my due date up a bit, but those doctors won't give a pregnant lady a break, or at least false hope! I got some new pics of my baby, though, and I can't help but smile each time I look at them [which  has been about a hundred times today.] I can't wait to meet this big boy, even if it means waiting a bit longer.

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Monday!

Today...

:: I'm enjoying my Mother's Day flowers from my dad. Tulips are my favorite!

I'm also enjoying my new camera from Jonathan, although, there's something wrong with auto focus, but I'm sure it's just me. I'm using the manual mode until I can take the class on how to use this fancy thing. Me + technology = disaster.

:: We are raising our second caterpillar. This is Grover. He was found the day Elmo came out of his cocoon. [I'll post about that tomorrow]

:: I've got newly painted cabinets and shiny hardware to match!

:: I started this last night. My neck and shoulders aren't happy with me this morning.

Jonathan says it looks like the Space Invaders video game, and I have to agree, which means that we love it!

:: I finished the alphabet. Now to figure out a way to hang everything without turning the wall into Swiss cheese.

:: I also finished the robot. I managed to hang this one all by myself.

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee

Happy Mother's Day...

to all the moms in my life.

My mother's day is going to be spent trying to locate my feet.

Oh, there they are!

They look so small and far away. My doctor just told me that I'm measuring large for my due date. I just don't see it.

I hope all the mom's have a wonderful day!

xo

nessa dee

Night Stories

I went to tuck my kids in bed the other night and found them busy at work. Finn was narrating a story and Audrie was quickly writing everything down. The funny thing was that despite our having modern conveniences like electricity, they chose to do this by flashlight.

It sure was a cute scene. The story, however, was filled with a lot of gross little boy humor, so I'll spare you.

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Monday!

Today...

:: I carried my new and improved chair back into my studio, and realized how poorly a job I did painting the thing. Three coats, and I gave up. This paint did not cover that well, but we'll just say it's antiqued and leave it at that.

:: I'm working on a little project for the baby's room. Yes, I know I'm missing an H.

::Look what I snagged at some garage sales this weekend. My globe collection has finally increased to more than one.

:: The baby's quilt is finished! So far, Audrie, both of the baby's grandma's, and one great-grandmother have had a hand in making this quilt. How special is that? Now, if I add a few stitches, I can say I helped as well. :)

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee

Crafty Friday: The Box House

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted. I woke up this morning with a cold, and didn't feel like doing much of anything today, but I finally made myself get out of bed and get to work. Hopefully this craft will be worth the wait.

To be honest, I'd been telling my children that we were going to build a box house for months now, and I had them gathering boxes all that time. What it amounted to was a big box trash pile in our game room for that time. We had so many boxes and it looked so bad that I started throwing things away thinking we would never get to this project. I'm glad we didn't give up on it, though because I love what it has become.

Here's what you need:

-a ton of boxes, all difefrent shapes and sizes
-a hot glue gun
-packing tape
-scissors
-markers

Extra embellishments we used:
-straws
-moss
-pipe cleaners
-construction paper
-fabric/felt
-string
-golf tees
-styrofoam balls
-old jewelry

We started by cutting out windows and doors in some of our boxes, and drawing windows and doors on other ones.

Then we did a "dry fit" so to speak, stacking and arranging boxes. You need to have a few bigger boxes at the bottom to give the structure a sturdy foundation. We used a combination of packing tape and hot glue to attach the pieces together.

Then, it was an "arrange as you" go format to figure out the layout as we built up, making sure that we added any text, or drawings onto the boxes before we glued them to the structure. Finally, we added all kinds of embellishments including trees made out of styrofoam balls, golf tees, and moss, balconies out of cardboard, a clothes line in the alley, a mail box, a trash can, stairs, window boxes pieces of jewelry used as signs or garden stones, and a flag pole and lamp post out of straws. 

[Wasn't it sweet that my daughter put my business at the top of the structure. It was all her idea...I promise!]

We had more fun figuring out all of the tiny details, and that's the other reason I'm posting this so late. As I'm typing this, Audrie is still working on embellishments. I don't know if we are ever going to quit. Who knows, by the time this baby's born, our whole game room might consist of a box world with it's own government, indoor plumbing, electricity. That reminds me...where did I pack the Christmas lights?

Happy crafting!

xo

nessa dee