Paper Wreath

About a month ago, I finally painted our family room.  I went neutral with a color called "urban putty."  Very far from the shades of blue we had in our old house.  The neutral is growing on me but I just feel like everything in the room blends into the walls.  The throw pillows are the only pop of color in the room but I am trying not to let that bother me.  

My friend gave me some old, rectangular windows that I thought would be perfect above the couch.  I originally thought I'd put a boxwood wreath in front of the windows to give a little bit of color in the room.  Then, I looked at the price of pre-made wreaths and even just boxwood garland to make my own, and changed my mind because I couldn't justify spending that at the moment.  So, I decided to make a paper wreath.  Yes, something neutral to blend in with my neutral walls...

(I ended up staining the exposed wood with a vinegar/steel wool stain)

I have a few old books from my grandparents and I was excited to find this one because of the turquoise page ends.  I thought the turquoise would show up when the wreath was all bunched together.  I was proven wrong!  I had read a few do-it-yourself tutorials online and most said to use a grapevine wreath and to simply poke the pages through the wreath.  Welllll, my pages were too brittle and kept tearing.

A week later, I finally bought a styrofoam wreath, sat down with my hot glue gun and went to town.

I folded pages in an "S" shape and bent the bottom down to hold the shape.

 

 
I glued layer by layer. I filled in spots here and there as needed. I probably ended up with 3-4 layers.

I twisted a loop screw to the top of the wreath.  I wanted to find a colorful chevron ribbon to tie it with but couldn't find that at the store.  The loop is easily accessible so I can add different ribbon patterns as I please!

 It is a nice accent feature in the room.  I've read that paper wreaths are more of a winter decor but I don't care.  This baby will stay up for the spring & summer…until I get sick of looking at it!  One day, I think it would be fun to add color to the paper but I am not ready to do that yet.

Poops McGhee

I just had to share that Deaglan had his first lollipop the other day at my doctor's office.  He then proceeded to scream, on the top of his lungs, for thirty minutes while I was in with the doctor.  I could hardly talk to her about my symptoms because he was hysterical.  Oh well.  At least he experienced another first, I got medicine, and we all made it out alive.

On to the poop…

As a parent of a newborn or toddler, you talk about poop all the time.  Well, not all the time, but more often than you did pre-baby.  Did they poop enough? Why do they poop so much? What is their poop telling you?  So on, and so on.

Awhile ago, Rory nicknamed Deaglan, Poops McGhee.  He poops. A lot.  Typically on a schedule though.  The other morning, on a whim, I threw him on his potty just to see what would happen.  Sure enough, he surprised me and he went to the bathroom on his toilet.  He kept cracking up whenever we waved bye to the diaper (have a cute video but it won't post!).  I figured this was just a one time thing so I didn't think much into it.  I gave him an M&M and he was tickled pink.  I talked to my mom & she said I potty trained myself at 20 months, so then I started wondering if maybe I passed this skill along to my 18 month old.

The next morning (with a stylish new hairdo), I put him on our toilet because I figured if he is going to learn, I'd rather not have to clean his nasty little toilet.  Well, he got me again and pooped on the big toilet!  Then again later that night and now again this morning. When he is finished, he does sign language for food and makes the "tr" sound, making sure I know that he deserves a treat.

I honestly didn't think he'd take to it, so I am totally unprepared to potty train.  Guess it's time I start my research. How do I potty train when he can't even talk? I've either started something really good or really bad.  Time will tell….Oh and I am sorry future Deaglan for posting these embarrassing photos.

Spring-y Salad

A few days ago, I was not happy waking up to this…

So I decided to make this spring-y salad for lunch. 

I found this dressing on Pinterest and I originally thought I was going to use it for an Asian salad.  Rory and I like to make Asian salads with toppings such as water chestnuts, wasabi peas, asain noodles, etc.  But considering that it was so gloomy outside, I thought I'd try to make the salad more colorful. Strawberries, blueberries, avocado and the specks of poppy were just what I needed to pretend it was spring/summer weather outside.

The dressing was a good mix between sweet & salty.  Next time, I will try it without the seasoning salt just to see if it makes a difference in taste. I try not to add salt if it's unnecessary. Definitely worth trying, though, if you're tired of the same ole' salad dressing!