Birthday Balloon Wreath

I found the tutorial for a balloon wreath on Missy's post over at HowDoesShe.com balloon wreath.  I originally made this wreath for Tadpole's Dr. Seuss 2nd birthday party(one day there will be a post about it). I found my inspiration for the Dr. Seuss wreath over at catchmyparty.com,  Dr. Seuss balloon wreath. 

For once, I had thought ahead about the fact that my house is small and decided to make my wreath reusable. Instead of going with his party colors, I did a multicolor balloon wreath that I could re-decorate for birthdays to come. Being on a tight budget means doing everything on my own. Instead of buying all of the adorable printable packages available on etsy, I had to get creative with all the party decorations. To make the sign, I downloaded a free Dr. Seuss font(see cute cat in the hat hats next to his name?), added some scrapbook paper, and there you have it. I also found foam stickers at Michaels of Dr. Seuss books and attached them to the ballons. Next time I will remember to take an up close photo. 

I have hung the wreath on the door for everyone's birthday this year and changed it up a bit. Unfortunately I didn't take pics of them all. My downfall is remembering to take pics! I did remember on Bean's Birthday and this is what I did for his little family party we had this year, as we spent his birthday in Disney. 

The wreath was super easy and inexpensive to make! Now that it has been on the door for everyone's birthday this year, it has become a new tradition in our home. 

I have some great ideas for some other wreaths to celebrate family events. I will be posting them soon. 

While you are visiting, please stay a while and follow Lotus Rock (thank you!!)

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Family Established Signs

I was inspired by many of the family established signs I had come across on Pinterest and decided to create my own. I had two friends getting married, and I thought this would be a great handmade with love gift.  Supplies I used included a 16x20 canvas, acrylic paints, stencils, wooden letters, and carbon paper. 

When I get around to doing one for my family, I will post a tutorial with pics. 

This was the first one I made, and I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I hope her and her hubby are as well. 

 I had to get a little creative with the second one, as I wanted to be sure to include my friend's children in their wedding gift. I was lucky that her new last name and her children's last name both start with a S. I am still brainstorming other ideas for blended family signs as I think it is important to include the kids. 

I was thinking about possibly adding them to my Etsy shop in the near future. What are your thoughts about them?

While you are visiting, please stay a while and follow Lotus Rock (thank you!) 

I have also been busy creating a facebook page for the blog, come like us http://www.facebook.com/LotusRockLife 

 

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This blog just went down the toilet before it was ever noticed.

Rock and I have been married for 6 years. For some of my readers that is nothing, but for us I assure you this is nothing short of a miracle. To say our marriage has been through a lot, is an understatement! So I am starting to get seriously concerned about my hubby's sanity. He really is a great guy, and I am wondering if he has simply suffered some sort of brain damage. I have tried a number of things and it just isn't working. I am so frustrated! 

What is this crazy woman talking about? I will show you.

Exhibit A. My Toilet: See anything wrong with this picture? Besides the fact that I posted a picture of my toilet on the internet(the question wasn't what is wrong with this person).

Exhibit B: This is a picture of the pretty little sign I made for my toilet.

                                                              

                                                              

  This is a picture of the sign up close. Too subtle?

Now before you start gossiping about how nuts I am and how I went overboard, you must undertand this just started happening suddenly. I thought it was an accident and then after 3 months of this and me asking nicely, I have decided he needs a little reminder. Fair enough right? After all, my house is 

full of the XY chromosome; 1 hubby 2 boys and 2 male dogs. I am seriously outnumbered and losing control over pretty much everything one day at a time. So I am gaining back my status of Queen of the house, one toilet seat at a time. 

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I think I was supposed to say something...

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, The Rock worked all day yesterday, over 16 hours. By the end of the night, I was so tired everything was becoming one big blur. It rained all day yesterday and has been for days and the boys had so much energy, they were so restless and impossible to get to sleep. So by 9pm, I was beyond useless. I was just on life guard patrol, meaning making sure no one died. I perked up when I heard this conversation:

Tadpole "I want milk"

Bean "Mommy Tadpole wants your milk."

"No! I want your milk." Tadpole says to Bean


Bean, with this look on his face like he had been told the most ridiculous thing ever and gesturing at his chest and his nipples, replies, "I don't have milk! I am not a Mommy. If I made milk, my boobies would be really fat(as he smooshes his chest together) because the milk would  fill them up all big and fat."


Was I supposed to interject anything here of great importance, or am I raising boys who will become healthy young men extremely supportive of  breastfeeding, or should I be offended about my really big and fat milk filled breasts?? Seeing as I always have something to say, even when I shouldn't,  the one time I probably should not have kept my mouth shut, I was just too tired to even entertain any of that.

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This puny little bicep...

Seeing as it is Saturday, and therefore a work day for  Rock, this post exists. I think my new favorite day in the gym is back and biceps. See, I loathe(hate is just too kind of a word) my arms.  No matter how much I work on them, they look undefined and just fat in pictures, but I have found something to love about them; they are STRONG, whether they look it or not. Below is a pic of Rock's left bicep(see pic on the right just in case you thought that was my hairy armpit) and I apologize for the shadow over the top of his big muscles made by his hand in the sun, but I couldn't actually ask him to pose for this post! To the left is my puny little bicep. So why do I love back and bicep day.... because this puny little bicep KICKS Rock's muscular man bicep into the ground on back and bicep day. So those puny little biceps are only lifting 5 pounds less than those massive man biceps when we are doing dumbbell curls. That's right only a 5 pound difference, and seeing as I weigh 40 pounds less than my hubby, I say I WIN. And no it isn't beneath me to pick on him in the gym  as we near the end of our workout, or on my blog. 

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Dresser Gone Beach Cottage

I received this FREE dresser. That is right FREE. How do you turn down FREE??? Nothing about it went with the beach cottage theme I am after, so it needed some help. I love painted furniture. I do not love the price tag on most painted furniture.  The makeover for this dresser was really easy.  I removed the decorative wood slats around the top row of drawers because I didn't really care for them. I sanded down the top, painted the drawers with The Freshaire Choice paint in Healing Waters, the feet were left alone, and then polyurethaned the maple wood top.

This picture is more true to the actual color of the dresser now. 

I really love this dresser now!! Happy Friday EVERYONE!!

 

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Bean's adenoidectomy

Our family has been dealing with a lot the past few months. Lots of stress with Rock's job, finances, fighting for Bean's OT/PT services, our exchange student returned home to China(hopefully she is coming back in August), and way too many colds and infections! I alone had an eye infection that lasted for over 3 weeks and became systemic. The time really has brought us closer, but I am really needing a breather! 

Bean had his adenoidectomy this past Tuesday, and I must say the stress of having medical procedures done to your children after completing nursing school, is WORSE! Not only are all the worries running through my head that a Mom has, but nursing thoughts are running through my head..."what drugs, and nothing extra that will relax his muscles more, he is hypotonic...I hope he is an easy stick because they are putting him under BEFORE his IV...please don't let my child be the 1 in 5000-50,000 with a genetic variation putting him at risk for malignant hyperthermia...please wash your hands...please be super sure you are using amazing sterile technique I don't want a post-op infection in my child... please please please just remember that your job is unlike many other jobs in the world, and I who trust no one with my child's life am putting him in YOUR hands."  

Plus, you are acutely aware of all the germs on EVERYTHING in a hospital, you no longer feel "safe" there, you know it is a plus full of sick people and germs.  So the entire time we are waiting for his procedure "Bean don't touch your face, do not stick your fingers near your nose let me get you a tissue from my bag instead, Rock please put some foam on that toy he just dropped ON THE FLOOR AHHHH!" Saying  all of this as calm as can be because Bean is scared.

 I have walked him through this whole process in 5yr old terms and assured him so many times how great the dr is, and how we will be right here. How his surgery won't hurt. I believe in honesty and I am not a fan of surprising children and causing them to be very anxious. I told him he might not feel well afterwards, and that he might have pain but that we were going to be right there taking care of him. So hard when all of the above is going through your head, but I am good at being empathetic. 

The only thing I never doubt about my future endeavors of nursing and becoming a midwife is my ability to truly care for people and be empathetic. I have been a patient enough and I refuse to EVER become burnt out.  

Watching them wheel my child off for surgery-was not fun, and this was nothing major. My heart goes out to all of those parents who have to do this much more frequently. It really is true once you are a mother your heart really does walk outside of your body! I was reminded again why I doubt I will ever go into pediatric nursing, watching Bean come out of anesthesia crying and telling me he is going to die, just isn't my cup of tea!! Liam is home and recovering, and I am so happy things went well. 

* For the sake of all the mother's out there that do not know all the medical terms I was OCDing about I didn't put it in plain English like an effective good nurse should, because I am saving you from worrying about so many hypothetical things. I am not promoting "ignorance is bliss" mentality as I am a huge believer and advocate of TRUE informed consent(being completely aware of what medical procedure is being performed and the risks involved), but at some point there is this place where you must let go and have faith because “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” - Corrie Ten Boom 

Oh and in the packet we got from the Dr.'s office discussing his procedure, in an attempt to calm parents' worries, they compare the risks associated with anestheisa to 340 elevator trips... when was the last time anyone saw something in the paper about elevator disasters, I've read plenty about surgeries gone wrong, am I missing something I need to know about???

So as I head off to bed at peace that my son is asleep safe in his bed,  one last thought enters my mind as we face this rough week ahead....

                   

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DIY Glitter Shoes

I was supposed to be in a wedding in March, and needed silver shoes. I was having a hard time finding shoes I liked. I searched the internet and came across the kate spade shoes below, but I was not about to spend $325 for a pair of shoes. 

The inspiration- kate spade charm shoes $325.00 

I found these shoes at Off Broadway on sale for $24.90 with my $10  I walked out with these shoes for  

 $15 and I decided I would just glitter them myself.  

I followed Audra's tutorial for glitter sole shoes, over at the The Kurtz Corner after discovering a picture from her blog on Pinterest.  I wanted my shoes to sparkle more like the kate spade shoes, so I decided to glitter the bows too. 

I spent another $5.09 on supplies (Glitter and Mod Podge), the rest I had at home. 

Supplies List

1. Shoes

2. Martha Stewart Fine Glitter- I used White Gold for this project

3. Mod Podge-Gloss

4. Paint brush

5. Paper plate

6. Pants/skirt hanger 

I followed the tutorial I linked to above. I even followed the same instructions to glitter the fabric bows and it worked great! One little trick I added to the supplies list is a pant/skirt hanger. I clipped the shoes to the hanger and hung the hanger to my dining room chair while my shoes dried (sorry I didn't take a pic of this). 

The shoes before I glittered them. 

 

The bow half done, This picture you can tell how much they actually sparkle.

 I was very happy with the end results. These pictures do not do justice for just how much these shoes sparkle.  I was even more thrilled that I only spent $20 on these shoes when we all came down with the stomach flu, and I never made it to the wedding. Life as a Mom! Luckily the bride, is an awesome understanding friend!  

   


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Last Day of Preschool- Teacher gifts

Wow! Bean graduated from preschool on Wednesday. Time really flies!! This year, I emotionally had trouble enough dropping him off for half day preschool; I am not ready for Kindergarten. I am not ready at all, but Bean is. Bean can't wait. His speech therapist, her assistant, and his preschool teacher were all amazing this year, and I really wanted to make them something special. I came across this idea on pinterest from Mariah over at  Giggles Galore with great instructions.  I changed a few things and will describe below. I made 3 of these and spent $10 total. I already had some supplies at home, but I am sure you can do this for about $8 a piece if you have to buy everything needed. 


Supplies List
1.  plant/flowers 
2. terra cotta pot
3. primer( I used white paint)
4. paint-yellow and black 
5. chalkboard paint-Martha Stewart has already made chalkboard paint in her line at Michaels, but I made my own following the instructions from A Beautiful Mess Really easy to do and then you can make any color you want!


6. Paint Pen - Mariah painted her lines and numbers by hand and suggested using a regular sharpie to her followers. I used a sharpie water based paint extra fine point pen. They are awesome. I get mine at Michaels with a 40% off coupon. I used them on my bellycasts and all sorts of project and No, I don't have a big enough following for someone to pay me to say this haha 
7. chalk
8. paint brushes
9. tape-I used painter's tape

 Bean's graduation ceremony 

               

Regular Terra Cotta pot. These are so inexpensive.

I primed the pot with white paint because that is what I had. Primer would be a better idea because  of how porous they are.  

                                          Then I painted the rim yellow.

Next, I Made my chalkboard paint and painted the rest of with black chalkboard paint.

Then I taped down the measuring tape using painter's tape so not to mess up the yellow paint. taping it to the bottom like the picture shown only worked so well. I got better results with my lines when I taped the measuring tape around the top and taped from the inside of the pot. I didn't take a picture of that unfortunately. 

Finally, I took the paint pen and marked my lines and number, then I  slated the chalkboard paint surface (instructions in the DIY tutorial for chalkboard paint in supplies list), and  took white chalk and wrote "Thank you for helping me grow.) I used Pentas b/c in Florida they do quite well in the very hot and humid weather. 

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